Prelude: Naruto HC

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Contents 1 Prelude 2 Rescue Gaara arc 2.1 At Sunagakure 2.2 Fighting Sasori 2.3 Fighting Deidara 2.4 Epilogue

[edit] Prelude

This section covers chapters 245 to 247 in the manga and episodes 1 to 2 in the anime

After his failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto learns that circumstances have granted him slightly less than three years to prepare for a confrontation with Orochimaru, who has to wait that much time before he can transfer into Sasuke's body. Naruto also must prepare for his eventual confrontation with Akatsuki, who are after the nine-tailed demon fox sealed within him. To prepare, Naruto leaves the village and undergoes intensive training under Jiraiya. At the same time, Sakura becomes Tsunade's apprentice, and Sasuke trains under Orochimaru. Thus, each of the three members of the original Team 7 is now training under one of the Legendary Sannin.

When Naruto returns to the village two and a half years later, he is reacquainted with his friends, who have all been training and growing as he has. Naruto has donned a black and orange outfit and a black Konoha headband since he claims that his clothes got beaten up while training. When Naruto first got back to Konoha he found something changed as he looked at the mountain and saw Tsunade's face next to the Fourth Hokage's. According to the manga he was 145cm (about 4'9") before the timeskip, and 166cm (almost 5'6") after the timeskip. He also finds out, much to his dismay, that he is the only one who has not progressed in rank over the timeskip. Most of his comrades have since become Chunin, while Kankuro, Temari, and Neji have become Jonin. Gaara even became the Fifth Kazekage after the death of the Fourth Kazekage. After the reintroduction, Jiraiya leaves Naruto with Kakashi Hatake. Team 7 is reformed as a three-man cell with Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. They commemorate this by having another bell test. Unlike the first bell test, the point of this one is to actually get the bells. Using their new skills and Kakashi's obsession with the Icha Icha novels, Naruto and Sakura take the bells from Kakashi.

[edit] Rescue Gaara arc

This arc covers chapters 248 to 281 in the manga and episodes 3 to current in the anime

Naruto is given little time to reminisce, however. In Sunagakure, the Akatsuki team of Deidara and Sasori sneaks into the village. Gaara attacks Deidara as an intruder, and manages to crush one of Deidara's arms using his Desert Coffin. Despite his improved ability, Gaara's newfound desire to defend Sunagakure proves to be his downfall when Deidara tries to destroy the village with his Exploding Clay. Taken offguard by the attempt, Gaara accidentally allows a portion of the clay to get into his personal shield, which then detonates, incapacitating him. Kankuro is shocked realizing that their objective was Gaara. He then attempts to stop the Akatsuki members alone, but his puppets are easily fought off and destroyed by Sasori,who is revealed to be the maker of Kankuro's puppets. Sasori poisons Kankuro in the process, leaving him to die. The Akatsuki duo take Gaara back to their lair, where their leader summons a massive statue to extract and seal in Gaara's demon. The sealing ritual takes three days.

Upon hearing of Gaara's kidnapping, Team Kakashi leaves for Sunagakure with Temari, who is in Konoha to help with the most recent Chunin Exam. On the way, Naruto tells Sakura and Temari that he is the host of the nine-tailed demon fox and that Akatsuki is after the demon inside Gaara. This gives Sakura some insight into what Naruto has gone through. After learning this information, she vows to do everything she can to protect Naruto from being a victim of Akatsuki. Temari is thankful that there is someone who can understand what Gaara has gone through, and she's grateful to Naruto for changing Gaara and attempting to save him.

[edit] At Sunagakure

After arriving at Sunagakure, Team Kakashi learns of the attack on Kankuro. Before they can help, they are attacked by Chiyo, Sunagakure's resident poison specialist, who mistakes Kakashi for his father, Sakumo Hatake. Despite the failed attempt by the medics on-hand, Sakura cures Kankuro, thus demonstrating her skill with medical jutsu. Sakura is also able to develop several portable antidotes rather quickly. Using a piece of Sasori's clothing found on one of Kankuro's destroyed puppets, Team Kakashi is able to track him, thus leading them to Gaara. Temari offers to assist them, but Chiyo goes in her place since she is Sasori's grandmother, and Temari is left to guard Sunagakure's borders. Back in Konoha, Tsunade decides to send Team Guy as backup for Team Kakashi.

As they approach Akatsuki's hideout, Team Kakashi is confronted by Itachi Uchiha while Team Guy fights Kisame Hoshigaki. Itachi catches Naruto in a genjutsu by merely pointing a finger. Naruto tries to dispel the genjutsu by stopping his chakra flow (something he learned from Jiraiya) but fails. As Naruto breaks down, Sakura and Chiyo break him out of the genjutsu. Kakashi creates an opening for Naruto to use his new Great Ball Spiraling Sphere to take out both Itachi and Kakashi's clone. However, Itachi's body was actually Yura a member of Suna's advisory council. A similar person is found by Team Guy after they defeat Kisame. Apparently, these two were used as body substitutes for the Akatsuki leader's Shapeshifting Technique.

The group surmises that this was just a delaying tactic to buy Akatsuki enough time to draw the Shukaku out of Gaara. Chiyo tells the group that if Shukaku is fully extracted from Gaara, he will die. Sakura cries, realizing that the same is true for Naruto. However, Naruto tells her not to worry and that he'll save Gaara.

At the grotto where Gaara is being held, the group figures out that a barrier jutsu has sealed off the entrance. Team Guy decides to remove the four seals protecting the cave, while Team Kakashi deals with Akatsuki. However, removing the seals triggers another delaying trap, causing Team Guy to confront clones of themselves. Inside the cave, Naruto and Kakashi find Deidara and Sasori guarding Gaara's lifeless body. While Chiyo and Sakura face Sasori, Deidara flies off on a clay bird with Gaara's body, with Naruto and Kakashi in pursuit.

[edit] Fighting Sasori

Although Sasori "wears" his puppets and controls them from inside, this technique of puppeteer fighting soon proves to be futile against Sakura and Chiyo. While controlling Sakura like a puppet, Chiyo is able to get Sakura close enough to demolish the puppet with one punch using her inhuman strength.

With his puppet armor destroyed, Sasori is revealed, looking just as young as he did when he left the village. He summons another puppet to continue the battle: the Third Kazekage. It is here that Sasori reveals that he not only killed the Third Kazekage, but actually made his body into a puppet. Likewise, he has done the same to 297 other people, giving him a collection of 298. He plans to do the same to Chiyo and Sakura after winning. With its unique Iron Sand ability mixed with Sasori's poison, this puppet is exceptionally dangerous. Chiyo summons two more puppets to fight against it. These puppets were Sasori's parents, which he had turned into puppets and left with the village when he deserted it. At first, Sasori's Kazekage puppet proves to be more than a match for both Sakura and Chiyo, using its poisoned Iron Sand to disable both of them. However, the antidotes Sakura had developed earlier allows them to continue fighting. Having been trained by Tsunade to pick up the enemy's patterns in order to avoid their attacks, Sakura is able to easily dodge Sasori's subsequent attacks and demolish the Kazekage puppet, as well.

Down another puppet, Sasori reveals the secret of his youth: he made himself into a puppet. In this form, he has numerous weapons to fight with, and can even reassemble himself when destroyed, making him almost impossible to defeat. The only part of him that remains alive, and thus able to use chakra, is his heart. His heart is contained in a talisman labeled 蠍 (Sasori, "Scorpion"), which sits in his right chest. In response, Chiyo uses White Secret Technique: Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu to summon Monzaemon Chikamatsu's ten masterpiece puppets. To mock the puppets, Sasori uses his Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets to summon 100 of his human puppets.

After a spectacular battle between the two puppet groups, Chiyo throws a chakra-sealing orb to Sakura to use on Sasori. Though it appears successful at first, Sasori manages to abandon his body beforehand and take over a spare among the many puppets he had summoned earlier. Using the momentary distraction, Sasori stabs Sakura with a poisoned sword. What he doesn't realize, however, is that he is also in a trap. Having used four of his puppets to make a seal on the ground, Sasori is immobilized since he needs to use chakra to animate his puppet body. Chiyo then uses Sasori's mother and father puppets to stab him through this location in a manner similar to the hug that he desired as a child. Interestingly, Chiyo seems to believe that in the end, Sasori allowed himself to be killed - he saw the attack coming and chose not to react, and died in a way similar to how his parent puppets used to embrace him. At the end of the battle, Chiyo, Sasori, and Sakura are all fatally wounded, but Chiyo uses a jutsu she originally developed for Sasori, "to give life to a lifeless puppet," to save Sakura's life. The jutsu supposedly takes the user's life, but does not kill Chiyo (since Sakura was still alive). Sasori's last words (as a reward to Sakura for defeating him) are that he has a spy in Orochimaru's ranks, with whom he is supposed to meet in Kusagakure in ten days.

[edit] Fighting Deidara

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi chase after Deidara. Kakashi activates his own version of the Mangekyo Sharingan during the battle, using it to remove Deidara's remaining arm, and Naruto manages to destroy the clay bird using his Spiraling Sphere. Naruto's shadow clones catch the head and find a dead Gaara inside. Enraged, Naruto sends a demon-fox-powered clone to attack Deidara, who attempts to get away since he no longer has any arms to perform jutsu with. The clone then performs another Shadow Clone technique, forming four more shadow clones to further pummel Deidara, slamming him into the ground, beating him, and finishing him off with another Spiraling Sphere, but it turns out to be a clay clone. Still enraged, Naruto starts to appear feral as two tails of chakra begin to form,causing his demon-fox-powered clones to experience a burning sensation in their stomachs. Kakashi recognizes this as a bad sign and uses a special seal he received from Jiraiya to stop the transformation from proceeding any further. Naruto subsequently reverts back to his normal form.

As the rest of Team Kakashi and Guy catch up with Naruto and Kakashi, Neji spots Deidara attempting to escape. Deidara, narrowly avoiding Tenten's projectiles, moves to the remains of his bird and swallows some of the clay, creating a Suicide Bombing Clone. Neji realizes the nature of the clone and quickly directs the group to leave, fearing that not everyone will get away in time. But as the dust settles, Kakashi collapses from exhaustion, explaining that he used his Mangekyo Sharingan to send the Deidara to another dimension. With Naruto carrying Gaara's body, the two teams head back to Suna.

[edit] Epilogue

Stopping in a grassy field near the village, Sakura checks on Gaara and pronounces him dead. Naruto grows very upset, lashing out verbally at Chiyo. As he begins to cry, Chiyo moves towards Gaara and tries to use her resurrection technique, but doesn't have enough chakra. Naruto gladly lends his own chakra, and Chiyo is able to revive Gaara at the cost of her own life while the shinobi of Suna look on.

Back at the battleground, Deidara emerges from the ground, revealing his clone to be a diversion. He goes off looking for the right arm that he lost. After finding it, he encounters Zetsu and Tobi, a mysterious individual who wishes to take Sasori's place in Akatsuki. After a short banter with Tobi about his condition, Deidara attempts to strangle Tobi with his feet.

After paying their respects to Chiyo's grave and bidding Gaara and his siblings farewell, Naruto returns to Konoha after this mission, along with his comrades. Unfortunately, Kakashi is still exhausted from his overuse of his Mangekyo Sharingan and has to be carried back by Guy. Guy does so piggyback style, disturbing everyone present.