Chapter 214: The Jinchuriki of the…

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 214: The Jinchuriki of the...

"Orochimaru… is dead? That's not possible…" Yamato said with a tone of pure incredulity.

"You killed Orochimaru?" Even Kakashi had a hard time believing it. It's not that he didn't trust Naruto's strength, but Orochimaru was the type of ninja who always had a dozen escape plans ready if things went south.

He had evaded capture by Konoha so many times it was hard to keep count. The idea of someone like that being killed...was hard to swallow without having seen it with his own eyes.

"We can discuss that later, I'll even show you his corpse, but right now… I need you to stop that demon from going anywhere." Naruto's eyes shifted to Yamato. "You should be able to do that with your Wood Element, right?"

Yamato gave the demon a side glance. It was currently struggling to get up but didn't seem injured. "My chakra reserves are limited and my control is nowhere near the one from the First Hokage… perhaps I can contain it for four or five minutes at best."

"That'll do." Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Can you use that technique again?"

" The 'Kamui' ?… maybe once more," Kakashi considered. That one puts a heavy strain on him.

"Then next time, aim for his head," Naruto instructed him. "Don't show them any mercy. I don't want to bring your corpse back to Konoha."

Kakashi nodded. "I won't…"

"Then you two know what to do." After saying that, Naruto walked away.

"Yes!" Yamato exclaimed.

"Ehmm… yes," Kakashi muttered. Wasn't he supposed to be the one in charge? He tried to recall the moment Naruto had taken over the team.

Sasori checked on his partner. "Can you keep going?"

"Of course… this is nothing," Deidara grumbled as he chewed on a soldier pill. He had stopped the bleeding on his stump, but the pain was still severe.

"The situation has changed. The Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi is here." Sasori said.

"What do you want to do?" Deidara asked. He wanted to suggest retreating, but with two Bijū right in front of him… he would definitely be punished for doing so.

"You know we can't go back empty-handed. But we can't afford a long fight either…" Sasori glanced at Deidara's bloodied cloak. "I say we take the blonde boy and leave."

"Naruto Uzumaki…" Deidara repeated the name.

"That's right. I'll use my puppets to capture him. Then you create a distraction with your explosives, and we escape," Sasori said.

"What about the Three-Tails?" Deidara questioned.

Sasori shook his head. "We won't be able to get both. I'm sure the Leader will understand, as long as we bring the Kyūbi back he will be satisfied with us. Remember what he said?"

"He told us to be careful with that Jinchūriki," Deidara recalled.

"That's right. The Leader considers the Kyūbi's Jinchūriki to be the most difficult. He'll be happy if we bring him in." Sasori had assumed the warning was due to Naruto always being close to Jiraiya of the Sannin. But today, he was alone. They could not leave this chance to go to waste.

"Okay… let's not delay," Deidara said, noting that Naruto was approaching them alone. "What is he doing?."

Kakashi stood a short distance away.

"Oh? I admire the confidence, at least," Sasori chuckled.

"If you come with us quietly, we won't hurt you or those two over there," Deidara pointed at Kakashi and Yamato.

"Right. We just want to take the Kyūbi sealed inside you. Then we'll let you go," Sasori promised, despite knowing it was impossible to survive the extraction process.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "The Kyūbi, you say? I'm afraid your group will never get your hands on it."

"And why is that?" Sasori decided to humor him, using the time to prepare his puppets.

Naruto's expression twisted into a feral grin. "Because I ate it."

"What?!" Sasori sounded outraged at the ridiculous answer.

Deidara, however, was staring at Naruto intently. Something about the response sent a chill through him.

"But if it's a Bijū you want, I have something else to offer." As Naruto spoke, demonic chakra began circulating around him.

"That chakra… that can't be right." Kakashi, watching from just a few feet away, was stunned. He had seen Naruto unleash the Kyūbi's chakra before, but this was definitely not the demon fox's energy.

A chakra tail appeared and swayed behind Naruto, quickly followed by another.

A cloak of light blue demonic chakra enveloped Naruto. It took on the shape of cat ears atop his head, and his pupils became vertical slits.

The way the chakra flickered around him made it look like he was engulfed in beautiful blue flames.

"The… Two-Tails?" Sasori couldn't believe his eyes.

"How cant that be?!" Deidara exclaimed.

Neither could the others.

Even Kakashi was baffled. He was certain the Kyūbi was still sealed inside Naruto. There was no reason to think otherwise.

'Other than his suspicious lack of whisker marks,' Kakashi reminded himself. He'd been meaning to ask Naruto about that.

Naruto was not going to waste time explaining anything to them. He opened his mouth and released a massive ball of blue fire toward the two Akatsuki members.

Deidara leaped away, preparing a flying mount.

Sasori hurriedly unleashed his entire puppet army...one hundred in total. His honed instincts were yelling at him to go all out from the beginning.

"Where did he go?" Even then, Sasori had lost track of Naruto.

"Ahh!" Deidara's scream was followed by the appearance of a massive sphere of rotating blue flames overhead.

"Shit! He went for Deidara first?!" Sasori realized Naruto had prioritized the injured partner.

But then he felt something behind him.

"No… I'm right here," Naruto whispered into his ear.

Sasori's eyes widened in shock. Before he could move or question how the boy moved arrived so fast to his back, he felt Naruto's hand gripping his skull.

A loud crack echoed in the air.