A giant clay bird descended from the sky, its wings beating back the afternoon winds as Deidara leaned over its edge, surveying the battlefield below. He could hear the faint, rhythmic explosions of his own clay mines—barriers he'd laid as a safety net—being set off. That should have bought them time, a distraction long enough to escape the notice of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Yet, the reunion between Sasori and Kakashi was dragging on longer than expected.
"You're late, hmm!" Deidara shouted, annoyance creeping into his voice. "My art was supposed to cover our exit, yet you're still down there yapping!"
High above, Sasori's chakra core flared with irritation. The puppet master stood firm on the clay bird's back, unfazed by the rush of air. "Shut your mouth, Deidara. We're moving."
"Art requires patience, you rusted tin can!" Deidara retorted, though he didn't waste another second. He banked the clay bird sharply, diving to scoop up Sasori and the unconscious Sakura Haruno. They had to get away before the real heavy hitters arrived.
From a distance, Kakashi Hatake watched them go, his single Mangekyō Sharingan spinning in his right eye. His chakra reserves were dangerously low, nearly bottomed out, but he refused to let the enemy walk away with his student.
"Dammit… just one more shot," he muttered.
He focused on the clay bird's claws, tracking the distance. It was just within range. With a sharp inhale, he summoned the last dregs of his strength. Space warped violently around the descending bird, black voids swirling into existence.
Kamui.
But the Impure World Reincarnation puppets weren't idle. Sensing the threat to their summoners, the reanimated figures swarmed Kakashi. Kunai flashed, and Explosive Tags sparked to life, their activation chakra screamed through the air. They moved to intercept, forcing Kakashi to choose: complete the teleportation and be skewered, or abandon the attack to save himself.
He hesitated for only a heartbeat. He couldn't let Naruto arrive to find his teammate dead.
Resolutely, he maintained the connection. The swirling distortion intensified, reaching for the bird's leg.
"Not this time, Copy Ninja," Sasori's cold voice cut through the air.
Another Impure World Reincarnation figure materialized beside the puppet master—the Third Kazekage. With a sweeping motion, the iron sand beneath their feet surged upward, forming a dense, black wall in the blink of an eye.
The Kamui's vortex slammed into the barrier, tearing a jagged hole through the iron and pulling a chunk of the sand into another dimension. But it wasn't enough. The clay bird banked away, carrying Sasori and Sakura out of reach.
"Failed…" Kakashi breathed, his vision blurring as the strain on his eyes reached its breaking point.
He collapsed backward, his body too heavy to lift, bracing for the killing blow from the surrounding puppets.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
The sounds of piercing flesh echoed around him—but none of the blades found his skin. Kakashi cracked his eye open, only to see Wood Release Ninjutsu vines bursting from the ground, impaling the Impure World Reincarnation puppets that had surrounded him.
Yamato stood a few yards away, grimacing in pain but holding his ground. He had abandoned his post to shield Kakashi, leaving Sakura unprotected to ensure the senior Jōnin didn't die. Seeing the opening, Sasori wasted no time. He leaped from the now-vulnerable position onto the clay bird, and the bird immediately ascended, taking the captured Sakura high into the clouds.
"Kakashi-sensei! Captain Yamato!"
Naruto's voice rang out, loud and frantic. He was tearing across the terrain, his orange jumpsuit a blur against the landscape.
"You bastards! Get away from them!" Naruto roared.
He formed a hand seal, and a Shadow Clone popped into existence beside Kakashi. "Sensei, I'm moving you! Don't get caught in the crossfire!"
Before Kakashi could argue, the clone grabbed him and hauled him backward, away from the regenerating Impure World Reincarnation puppets. Naruto's own eyes were fixed on the enemy, burning with fury. In his hand, he held a Rasengan that spun like a violent propeller, crackling with the sinister power of nature transformation.
He hurled it forward.
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!
The technique screamed across the field, a vortex of cutting wind ready to shred everything in its path. But it didn't reach its target.
Mid-flight, the Rasenshuriken flickered. It destabilized, dissolving into harmless air particles just as it reached the reanimated puppets.
"Huh?! What the—?" Naruto skidded to a halt, staring at his empty hand in disbelief. He jumped up and down, flailing his arms. "No way! I held it for ages this time!"
He immediately summoned another clone, frantically trying to mold chakra again. "Okay, okay, just gotta try again—"
"Naruto, stop!" Yamato shouted, limping over while clutching his injured side.
Kakashi, still recovering from the chakra exhaustion, watched the scene with a weak, familiar fondness. Even with his vision fading and his body screaming in protest, he couldn't help but think, It's definitely the Naruto I know.
The unreliable Rasengan, the frantic energy… for a split second, he'd almost mistaken him for the cold, calculating Menma, but this chaos was purely Uzumaki.
As if Yamato's command had triggered a timer, the Impure World Reincarnation puppets suddenly stopped moving. Their outer shells crumbled away like dry sand, revealing the mechanical puppet cores underneath. With a series of muffled pops, they dissolved into smoke, vanishing as Sasori used a Reverse Summoning Jutsu from miles away to reclaim them.
Naruto blinked, his anger momentarily replaced by confusion. "What the hell? Why are they disappearing? They're nothing like the First and Second Hokage."
He jogged over to Kakashi and Yamato, scratching his head. "Wait… where's Sakura? And Gyōja? Where did the bad guys go?"
He sighed, kicking a pebble in frustration. "And on top of that, I chased that bubble thing for an hour, and it turned out to be just a stupid puppet. Then on the way back, I nearly got blown up by random landmines."
Kakashi and Yamato exchanged a heavy look, then sighed in unison. Yamato silently raised his right hand, the ink character for "Sit" clearly visible on his palm.
"Gyōja and the others are fine," Kakashi said, his voice strained but steady. "But Sakura… she's been taken by Akatsuki members."
"Taken?!" Naruto's expression froze. His heart skipped a beat. "Sakura's been captured?"
"It looks that way," Kakashi said quickly, trying to keep the boy calm. "They must have targeted her specifically. She's not in immediate danger, Naruto. We need to report back to the village and organize a rescue. Don't lose your head."
But Naruto wasn't listening. His mind was racing, connecting dots he didn't want to connect. Sasuke walking away earlier. The sealed Menma. Now Sakura captured.
His pupils shifted, elongating into vertical slits. Crimson Nine-Tails chakra began to leak from his body, a violent aura flaring to life.
"Yamato," he whispered, his voice rough.
"Understood," Yamato said. He stepped forward and pressed his right hand firmly against Naruto's stomach seal. "Hokage-Style Sixty-Year-Old Technique — Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands!"
The character "Sit" flared with blue light. Instantly, the Nine-Tails' raging chakra was suppressed, snapping back into the seal.
Naruto collapsed to his knees, gasping for air, the exhaustion hitting him all at once. Yamato held him up, while Kakashi shook his head, a weary expression on his face.
"Let's go home," Kakashi said, his voice low. "We've done what we can here."
---