I DO NOT OWN NARUTO
Hey guys I was just thinking. . . some of you enjoy the idea of FuNaru, so I'm re-doing the pairing poll. If you liked them single, just vote pringle again.
Hinata is not an option for Naruto. Sasuke is not for Sakura and vice versa. Because they are like brother and sister it would kind of awkward.
Some of the results were taken from a few chapters ago, but the option of single has been reset.
Naruto:
FuNaru - 4
Single Pringle - 0
Sakura:
Gaara - 9
Lee - 3
Single Pringle - 0
Sasuke:
Single Pringle - 0
Ino - 2
______ (other than Sakura) - 0
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Bold, italics and underlined = Jinchuuriki telepathy
Underlined and italics = Normal telepathy
Bold = Bijuu speaking
Normal = Normal speaking
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"Naruto. . . Naruto. Naruto! NARUTO! "
"Ouch, ouch, ouch! I'm awake, I'm awake," Naruto grumbled. He had crashed onto his bed the moment he arrived back home, and he did not appreciate the rude awakening for the second time in less than two days.
"Naruto, it's Utakata."
"What do you want? " Naruto asked groggily, failing to recognize the urgency in the jinchuuriki's voice because of his sleepiness.
"The situation is urgent. The Akatsuki have found us, and I am wounded. They are currently engaged in battle with Yagura. We need your help! "
"Damn," Naruto muttered. "Can't get a single moment of rest, can I?"
"Okay, I'm coming. Press the seal and sent some chakra through it. I'll appear next to you."
"Got it."
Naruto sighed at the silence, picking up his forehead protector that had the kanji "九" and prepared to fight the Akatsuki once more. A slow grin spread across his face as a all-too-familiar cheeky glit gleamed in his eye.
"Oh Gaara~"
"What's up, I'm trying to clear my head but no, you just had to come barging in," the jinchuuriki replied surprisingly quickly in a slighty irritated voice.
Naruto chose to ignore it. "Trouble at Mist Village. Utakata is wounded, Yagura is stuck on defensive. You remember who took them? "
"The Akatsuki is on the move already? Well, I think Sasori took care of the Three-Tails and Pein took the Six-Tails. Is that all? "
"Nope."
"Wha? But I thought you -"
"You're coming with me to the Mist! Hurry up and put on your forehead protector, this battle will not be fought by shinobi, but by jinchuuriki! "
"Naruto. . ." Gaara groaned.
"Yeah? "
"See you there."
Naruto beamed. "I knew I could count on you! "
A moment later he appeared in the Mist Village via Utakata summoning him.
"What's the situation, Yagura?" he asked into the Mizukage's ear, making him jump with a small shriek.
Yagura turned around and glared at the blonde who was trying to stop smiling, and then whirled on Utakata who was smirking.
"That's not funny Utakata!" Yagura shouted.
"Yes it is," Utakata snickered.
"You're too easily startled," Naruto smiled. "Work on your senses, will you? You need to be more alert."
"It's not my senses that's the problem here, it's you creeping up on me!"
"Think of it as training in a way."
"How is you scaring the living daylights out of me training?!"
"I don't know. . . train your senses to detect me and then you'll be fine on the battlefield."
"Thank you very much but I am already fine on the battlefield."
"There's always room for improvement."
"Well -"
"Guys!" Utakata shouted. "Stop that, you're bickering like little kids! Well, you are Yagura, Naruto's just talking like a mature adult," he mumbled under his breath.
"What was that Utakata?!" Yagura shouted angrily.
"I rest my case," Utakata sighed, leaning against the wall and holding his bloodied arm.
"He is right, you know," Naruto added. "And aren't you older than me?"
Yagura blushed slightly and looked away. "S-Shut up."
Naruto shrugged before turning to the waiting Akatuski member. He immediately recognized the puppet-master hidden within another puppet.
"Sasori of the Red Sand," Naruto acknowledged, stepping in front of Yagura as the latter took out his jinchuuriki forehead protector and put it on his head, getting the message the blonde was displaying.
"Are you. . . a jinchuuriki?" the puppet-master asked in a low, gravelly voice, eyeing the kanji on the blonde's forehead protector.
"Bingo," Naruto smirked.
Sasori growled slightly. "Move, brat. I need to take the Three-Tails."
Naruto whined slightly. "Why are all the Akatsuki members calling me "brat"? First Kisame and now you! Come on, don't think I'm a worthy opponent?"
"Move," Sasori growled.
"You'll get the Three-Tails. . . over my dead body," Naruto repeated the words he said yesterday, his eyes darkening as his voice lowered to a dangerous tone.
"So be it," Sasori drawled before shooting forwards.
He never got to reach his target because at the last minute, his puppet shell was pierced by sand spikes.
"I'm not late, am I?"
"Nope you're just in time. . . Gaara," Naruto smiled. His friend bore the protector he had given him, and as always, he was stoically standing on a platform of flying sand, arms crossed.
Gaara landed beside him. "Good."
Sasori was trying to recover from the blow his puppet was dealt with, so Naruto immediately took the advantage and weaved handsigns.
"Wind Style: Beast Tearing Palm." A long blade of wind sliced at Sasori, who just barely managed to dodge. His right side had a deep cut in the wood, and Naruto was confident that Sasori would eventually come out of his puppet shell, and then he could strike him down.
"Yagura, take care of Utakata. I have a feeling Sasori's attacks have some sort of seal stopping the Bijuu's fast healing abilities," Naruto said as he eyed Sasori.
"Yeah, okay."
"I think I'll be okay. . ." Utakata's statement proved false when he grimaced and gripped his wound tighter.
"No, you're not," Naruto said firmly. "Sasori uses poison on his senbon needles. He's always developing new poisons, and without making antidotes. If you can hold on, I might be able to get you back to Konoha, and then Tsunade could heal you."
"If I remember correctly, her student and your teammate, Sakura, healed Kankuro when he was poisoned, right? " Gaara asked telepathically.
"Yeah. Saki's awesome that way," Naruto smiled mentally, watching as a tuft of pinkish-red hair came out of the shell.
"Well, you do have some very powerful jutsu," Sasori chuckled, his voice moving to a younger pitch.
"You're a puppet," Gaara stated montonously. hiding his surprise.
"Last time Saki and Granny Chiyo teamed up to beat him. They shattered his puppet shell and then Sasori revealed himself to be a puppet. Of course he couldn't function as a human puppeteer without something human. He had to have a core. It was either a brain or his heart, and when he took off his cloak there was his core embedded in his chest. So all we have to do is strike that and he's out," Naruto explained.
"Sounds fairly easy," Gaara replied.
"Not really. He has puppets stashed away somewhere. Saki told me she faced the Third Kazekage, and you know better than I do what he was known so famously for."
"His Iron Sand," Gaara nodded in understanding. "So that's where the Third Kazekage disappeared off to."
"Yeah, and he also has this jutsu of a Thousand Puppets, or something of that sort. He's a real pain to deal with, and I didn't even battle him! " Naruto complained.
Gaara smirked. "Well now you are, so let's get this done and over with shall we? "
"Yeah, I'll jump in if need be," Yagura offered.
"Naw," Naruto smiled, "we'll be fine. You have yet to see me and Gaara in action. We will deal with the pesky nuisance."
"Yes, Naruto and I have flawless teamwork," Gaara agreed.
"Then show us what you can do and kick ass! " Yagura grinned as Utakata groaned.
"Injured, poisoned man here," Utakata mumbled. "Not that you would care, you're too busy cheering them on to kick ass."
"Aw, is Bubbly Sourpuss jealous~? " Yagura teased.
"What the hell man?! " Utakata shouted. "Firstly, what is UP with that nickname? And secondly, I'm not jealous! I'm just *wince* in pain here! "
"Yes yes Bubbly Sourpuss, I know I know," Yagura said flippantly, making Utakata gain a tick mark.
"YAGURA!!! "
Naruto and Gaara exchanged looks before quickly cutting themselves out of the conversation. If they kept this up Sasori could easily overpower them in no time. Geez, maybe they should stop fighting with Utakata and Yagura; they were just too distracting.
"Let's just get this over with," Gaara muttered and hovered up into the air on a platform of sand.
"With pleasure," Naruto agreed. "Wind Style: Levitation."
The blonde flew straight up and suddenly deactivated his jutsu when he was silhouetted by the sun. He came down in a hard kick to Sasori's real puppet body, but what he didn't anticipate is for him to immediately dodge.
"If you haven't noticed, I am a puppet. That means my eyes do not work as a normal human does. I am not fazed by sunlight."
Naruto cursed slightly. He had forgotten that, how had he forgotten that?
"Naruto, I can see you are sleep-deprived. It would be best if you let me take over more," Gaara's concerned voice resounded in his head. Naruto was thankful Shukaku had been careful to shut the two still-telepathically-bickering shinobi.
"And you're not? "
"I am an insomniac. I am used to it."
". . . fine. Only this once," Naruto agreed begrudgingly. He couldn't deny that he was feeling tired, and while he hated to admit it he might need some more help than usual in this battle.
"That's all I'm asking for," Gaara smiled, knowing how hard it was for his friend to agree to help when he knew the opponent was easy to defeat. Even if Naruto could be humble and modest, that did not mean he didn't have any pride.
"You have a plan? " Naruto asked, interrupting his train of thought.
"No, I was hoping you would. Sakura was your teammate, after all."
"There wasn't much tactic to his defeat. Get him out of the shell, check. Strike his heart, un-checked."
"That's it? So simple."
"Just watch out for the poison, and the puppets. If I can drive a Rasengan through his core then he's as good as dead."
"Fine. I will distract him for you."
"Let's go! "
Gaara flew forward and used his sand wall to deflect the poisoned senbon that were sent flying at him.
As the boy expected, Sasori pulled out his Third Kazekage puppet, and commanded it to use its famous Iron Sand.
Gaara winced at a close call as he quickly leapt away, a large block of iron sand crushing the ground he was on a millisecond before. The block disappeared and reformed into grains of iron sand, ready to attack again.
Gaara narrowed his eyes. The obstacle blocking him from reaching the puppeteer was this puppet. This human puppet. Made out of the body of the Third Kazekage. Surprisingly, Gaara found his blood boiling at this information. How could this former Sand ninja easily turn the greatest Kazekage alive into a puppet without remorse?
Gaara sent his sand flying at the puppet, weaving around blocks of metal and strings of iron sand. He was careful enough to not let the iron mingle with his own sand, because it could weigh it down, make it harder for him to control, and the Third Kazekage puppet could potentionally use it against him.
Gaara used his and to weave around and disable the puppet's arms, effectively taking out the obstacle of the iron sand.
Sasori made the puppet charge at Gaara, and the two engaged in a taijutsu battle. Kicks and punches and blocks went around, the clanking of wood and quiet grunts the only sounds that could be heard. The Third Kazekage kept flipping backwards and using his legs to block, while simultaneously attempting to kick Gaara. It really was an awful match; a human with defensive sand and a puppet with broken arms.
There was a pale blue shimmer and the puppet suddenly crumpled to the floor. Gaara stopped his sand mid-air, as he watched Sasori's eyes widen. The puppeteer had been so focused on the first jinchuuriki that he had, as the jinchuuriki predicted, completely forgotten he originally had two opponents. And that was his downfall.
A blue sphere had been driven through his core, shredding it.
"I'm. . . surprised," Sasori choked out. "You fight like you know all my tricks. You. . . jinchuuriki, didn't seem surprised that I was a puppet. You fought well against my human puppet. . ."
Naruto gently took his arm out and let Sasori fall to the ground.
Naruto rubbed his arm almost feverishly. "I think I know how Sasuke felt when he drove that Chidori through me. But there isn't any blood. . ."
Gaara put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't have to go all the way through. The Rasengan would've shredded it anyway."
Naruto shrugged. "I wanted to make sure he was dead. I don't do things by halves."
Gaara sighed in exasperation. "You really need to stop over-exerting yourself."
Naruto girnned. "I wouldn't be Naruto then, would I? Now come on, I need to get Utakata back to Konoha for Granny to treat him."
"Sakura could treat him," Gaara suggested.
"Oh yeah, her too," Naruto agreed as the two made their way to the two shinobi who were, believe it or not, still bickering telepathically.
Naruto and Gaara sweatdropped when their Bijuu added them to the Six-Tails' and Three-Tails' conversation.
"No, the middle of the mandarins are not called the core, it's the central column! " Utakata was saying in agitation.
"No, it's the core! You're confusing it with the bigger mandarins! " Yagura argued.
"How many times do I have to say it, they're not called big mandarins! They're oranges! " Utakata snapped.
"No they are the same fruit! Stop denying it! " Yagura shouted.
"What did we walk in on? " Naruto sweatdropped. How did they get from arguing about jealousy to mandarins? What was going on through their minds?
"I don't want to know, do I? " Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Oh," Yagura looked up, making his Bijuu sigh in relief that his host had stopped the meaningless argument with the other jinchuuriki.
"How did you get from talking about jealousy to arguing about mandarins?" Naruto scratched the back of his head confusedly.
"Well," Yagura looked sheepish, "I was teasing him about being a Bubbly Sourpuss, and then he started shouting stuff about me having a screw loose in my head and then we started insulting each other. . ."
"And he compared me to a dog, but I thought he said "frog" and then we started arguing about what it was. This buffoon here thought it was a reptile, but I said it was an amphibian," Utakata glared at Yagura.
"Yeah whatever. Anyway then I said they were slimy and Utakata said that snail trails felt even worse and so we started arguing about if snails could live without shells or not. I argued that they could, since there a slugs, but Utakata said that snails were born with shells and slugs are different animals. I don't think so," the Mizukage crossed his arms.
Naruto and Gaara sweatdropped at his lack of intelligence.
"So. . . from teasing to insulting, then to dogs, to frogs, to snails. . . and then to mandarins?" Naruto tried. How did he become friends with these people again?
"Yeah, I said if we peeled the shell from the snails they would become slugs. That supposedly reminded Utakata of mandarins and he said we could try it if I could name every part of the mandarin. As in grind, peel, you get the idea," Yagura continued.
"We argued that mandarins and tangerines were different fruits, and eventually Yagura started listing the parts of the mandarin. And then we started arguing about whether it was the core or central column, and that's when you walked in," Utakata finished.
Once again, the blonde and redhead majorly sweatdropped.
"You guys are strange," Naruto commented.
"And you're not?" the two Mist shinobi shot back simultaneously.
"Touché," Naruto conceded.
"We should get you to Konoha, Utakata," Gaara intervened. "I'll come along with you," he said, turning to Naruto who nodded.
"Hold onto me, you guys," Naruto said, crouching down and holding out his arms.
With questioning looks on the two Mist shinobi's faces and neutrality on Gaara's, they placed their hands on the blonde's arms. Naruto closed his eyes and focused, before disappearing from the battlefield and reappearing in his bedroom.
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Sasuke jumped when a dark orange flash awoke him. He looked around to see four shinobi in his room. A mop of blonde hair in the silver moonlight assured him that Naruto was the one who teleported them into their room.
"What's wrong, Ruto?" Sasuke asked tiredly.
Naruto shifted his head to see his brother propped up on his elbows in his bed. "Akatsuki," he said simply.
Before he could blink, Sasuke was in front of him, checking him over for wounds. "Are you okay?! Why didn't you tell me?! Who did you fight?! Do we have to go to Saki?! Geez Naruto, tell me next time!" Sasuke fussed as Naruto sweatdropped.
"Ke, I'm fine," Naruto insisted. "It was just Sasori."
"Just Sasori?!" Sasuke freaked. "He uses poison senbon! And puppets! And a tail that has poison on it! Sasori uses poison without antidotes! We need to get you to Saki right now!"
"Ke, I didn't get wounded," Naruto said slowly to make sure his mother-hen-like brother understood. This was a new side of Sasuke he had never seen before, and he was starting to wonder if their mother was rubbing off on him.
"Then why is there blood on you?"
"Hm?" Naruto looked at his arm. "Oh, right. This is my friend and fellow jinchuuriki, Utakakta. He's the one who got wounded by Sasori, so yes we do need to go to Saki."
Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief and flicked his brother's forehead, frowning. "Naruto stop giving me heart attacks. I really thought you were poisoned there. Next time you face that Akatsuki, you are going to tell me you hear?!"
"Yes sir," Naruto said obediently.
"Thank goodness that was only your first encounter," Sasuke sighed in relief.
"Uh. . ." Naruto looked nervous. "Actually, I may or may not have fought Kisame when I met Roshi and Han."
"NARUTO!!!"