Standing in front of the duo was a puppet with a large iron tail. According to the bingo book, this man is named Hiruko; a puppet master who defected from the Sand Village. Sasuke removed the scroll from the messenger's leg and read it before allowing the eagle to fly.

Return to the village immediately.

"We are to return to the village." He simply said.

The heiress turned to him with a curious look. "So quickly??" Then, she returned her gaze on the puppeteer. "But we have company."

Hiruko's mouth opened, impatient from waiting too long for the two to start fighting. A rain of needles shot out from his mouth as the Jounins dodged every blow, using a kunai to deflect the needles.

"Sasuke, stay back!" The said guy obeyed and the heiress proceeded with her jutsu. "Cherry Blossom Storm!"

A blizzard of pink flowers and petals surrounded the area and battled with the needles, quickly overpowering them and headed towards the puppeteer. Hiruko attempted to block her attack with his tail made of steel, but the wave was too strong. While his tail did succeed in blocking the flowers as strong as iron, it attacked from all sides, too quick and heavy to dodge; they eventually broke his shell, bursting into a wave of dust. Debris cleared the area, revealing a rather small figure with scarlet hair.

"This is the real face of Sasori?" Sakura whispered, wondering to herself how such a young man was able to join the infamous Akatsuki. He must be extremely talented.

"Let's not waste anymore time. I'll show you my best collection." He said, unrolling a scroll. In a puff of smoke, a puppet appeared with a familiar face. The two Jonins stared at it, dumbfounded.

"You killed the Kazekage." Sasuke said sternly with his fists clenched. "It is our duty to capture you and bring justice to the village's leader."

"Wrong." He smirked. "The one who killed him was Orochimaru."

"No matter what, I'm sure you had a hand in this!" Sakura yelled.

"Then come and take me out." Sasori proudly exclaimed, shooting his puppet forward, revealing large knives on his right arm, aiming for the pinkette. Sumire transformed and covered her body in purple crystals, defending her master. The force of the puppet managed to push her back but it gave Sakura time to escape; however, the puppet's left arm divided into a few compartments, each blade covered in thick chakra and hundreds of puppet arms shot out. It moved like a large snake, snaking it's way in the air and lunges at the Haruno. With her sword, she chopped off the arms and escaped the area.

The arms burst into flames as Sasuke set it on fire upon seeing the attempt of shooting poison smoke with his Sharingan. They can't afford to be poisoned without an antidote, nor do they have any time or materials to make one—not that Sasuke knows how to anyway, neither is Sakura a medial ninja. She only learned really basic things from her mother.

The Kazekage puppet opened his mouth, black dust escaping in spontaneous patterns. "Iron sand rain!" He uttered.

The black dust turned into bullets, as it headed towards the duo, they ran towards the enemy as well. Swiftly dodging the bullets, it was nothing to them. Before they could get any closer to the puppeteer, the iron sand formed into large shapes. Aka and Sumire pushed it to the side, avoiding such tools to hinder the duo's victory. It was so easy, perhaps the puppeteer wasn't that strong after all. No, Sakura thought. There must be something.

Suddenly, Sasori smiled. The shapes stuck together as he said, "Iron Sand: World Order!"

Sasuke gasped, "Not good!" He looked at his teammate urgently, but they were too far away before iron sand formed a forest of thorns quickly. Aka and Sumire transformed back into smaller forms for higher agility to avoid the thorns. "Sakura!" He yelled when the thorns grew further and almost stabbed the heiress.

She barely missed it, earning a scratch on her arm. "I'm.. fine." She gasped before collapsing onto the ground headfirst.

"Looks like the poison took its effect." The redhead smiled, moving his fingertips to shift his puppet and give the pinkette a finish blow.

Much to his surprise, Sakura rose from the ground and stabbed the puppet's head with a kunai. Her chakra were transmitted deep into the puppet before it exploded into cherry blossom trees, tearing his body apart.

Cold brown eyes narrowed at her ability to stand as he pondered, how can she still move? Then he realised, where her wound was supposed to be, the skin was peeling off; or rather, they were flower petals made to look like skin falling off her arm. That wound was a set up!

He pressed his lips in bitterness, slowly unbuttoning his cloak. "It's been awhile since I used this. The last time was my fight with Akatsuki." When he dropped his cloak, the duo looked at him in disgust.

Complete puppet body parts. Five blades on either side like wings and a torso that stomachs a roll of rope.

That wasn't human.

"Myself." He uttered.

Knowing fire probably won't work with an Uchiha on their side, his hands were built with a metal hose in the middle. Water shot out in extremely high pressure, cutting everything in its way. He slashed at all the rocks and chased them around while they evaded his attack. It was impossible to block it, it was too much of a risk.

Quickly analysing the situation, Sakura looked at Sumire, the tigress immediately read her thoughts and bit on the rope attached to the puppeteer. She pulled it hard, unropping it from his stomach. When Sasori couldn't move any further, Sakura did her hand signs while running to him as did Sasuke. "Petals Punch!" A ball of white pink petals shaped into hundreds of fists crushed the puppeteer and broke it into parts.

Sasori smirked, he was not dead yet, of course. He is not human, he can live without his body parts connected. However, what Sasuke did next was not something he could expect.

"Amaterasu!" Black flames engulfed the puppet as he burned down into nothing, no traces of Sasori was left behind aside from his dead warriors. "Let's return." The Uchiha said, his eyes turning back into that obsidian shade.

The heiress nodded and they quickly departed after releasing the genjutsu casted in the area. They figured something urgent happened in their village since the Hokage suddenly called them back not long after they began their mission. They could only hope Gaara would be alright fighting the other Akatsuki member alone.

==

Team Asuma was the last to arrive, but the came with a devastating news. As they stepped into the office with solemn looks, wrinkled clothes and a missing mentor, everyone could guess what happened. All three remaining members of Team Asuma wouldn't dare raise their heads. The pinkette gazed at them with eyes full of sympathy, she could not understand their pain, but looking at them hurts. She walked toward her childhood best friend who grew a lot taller than her over the years; with an arm around his neck and another on his back, she gently pulled him into her embrace.

Behind them, perhaps the saddest of all is the woman with scarlet eyes that seemed to have turned dull. "No." She whispered, but she knew. Her lover was gone and as a kunoichi, she must accept it. It's a news you knew would come one day if you're involved with a fellow ninja in any way.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata screamed as the said woman collapsed. The Hyuga caught Kurenai in her arms, worried sick about her mentor. Tsunade squat down as Hinata gently have Kurenai seated on the floor. After checking her pulse, the blonde haired sannin ordered her to be rested on a couch nearby.

Shikamaru recomposed himself and wiped his tears, breaking the embrace and walked towards Kurenai. "How is she?" He asked so softly, it sounded almost like a whisper.

"She needs as much rest as she can and avoid giving her any heavy duties." Tsunade noted. "She's expecting a baby."

Their eyes grew wide, definitely not expecting such a news, especially on a day like this. Perhaps this was Asuma's last gift as he left the living world.

Minato stood up, "Alright, we'll mourn later. We must prepare ourselves before more people sacrifice themselves."

The harsh, cruel world as a shinobi. Leaving no space to be a human being, prioritising the fate of our people and family—for a greater cause..is it?

==

Dedicated to LucasDeityOfStars for voting for my story in Angelic Anime Awards!

Hey guys! It has been such a long time, I'm so sorry. This story is coming to an end, two chapters left for the first series! The storyline for the second series is already in mind, but I'm wondering if there's anything you're interesting in seeing in the second series. Anything you want me to include?

Also, what do you think about having a discord channel to discuss about this story and sharing tid bits of spoilers and progress?

~Joelle

Published: 17th March 2019