Chapter 349: Sasori vs Kakuzu 1

"Akasuna no Sasori. We have come for your head."

As the two new arrivals announced their presence, Temari instantly jumped out from Rei's embrace, positioning herself in front of him and Tsunade in a defensive stance with her battle fan fully open. Kankuro and Gaara reacted similarly and now stood next to Temari, blocking easy access to their clients and prepared for a fight while Fuu who was previously hiding behind Tsunade out of shyness was now also protectively standing in front of her. It was quite cute, in Tsunade's opinion.

Sasori's reaction was much more subdued. He slowly turned towards his would-be assassins and sighed in frustration, his shoulders slumping as he became resigned to the bullshit happening around him.

'The very first time I leave Sunagakure since my defection from Akatsuki and this happens. Just my luck.' He mentally grumbled.

Naturally, he was fully aware that this happened exactly because this was the first time he left Sunagakure. This was the first opportunity for Akatsuki to show him the error of his ways without prematurely revealing their existence or having to face the entire village of ninjas.

"Hidan. Kakuzu. What an unpleasant surprise." Sasori said in a dry tone and sluggishly inclined his head, acknowledging their presence with an unbothered bored gaze that instantly pissed Hidan off.

"Oi, what do you mean, you bastard!? This is a pretty good occasion! You should be happy to be sacrificed to Jashin-sama!" He excitedly shouted, causing everyone to deadpan at him.

Even Kakuzu facepalmed at that and let out a long, suffering groan, "Excuse the moron. He is a new and not so bright addition. I am almost certain they recruited him just to make me stop killing my partners for being annoying. In fact, after a month with this idiot, I indeed started regretting killing my last partner." He dryly stated.

"I feel sorry for you." Sasori replied showing a measure of understanding. 'Not.'

While the would-be combatants were having their pre-battle banter, Rei and Tsunade made themselves comfortable, sitting down and resting their backs on a nearby tree, watching the proceedings. Frankly, neither had any idea why Kakuzu and Hidan didn't try to ambush them. From what they were seeing, however, it seemed the two were not the brightest tools in the Elemental Nations so there was that.

"Temari, Gaara, I will take on the stupid one. You two take on the stupider one while Kankuro and the green-haired little girl from Taki defend the clients." Sasori ordered.

"Understood!" The three sand genins replied and their formation instantly shifted.

Kankuro stayed in front of Rei and Tsunade but Temari and Gaara distanced themselves from them in preparation to engage the enemy.

"And why would we go along with your battle plan? It is obvious that fighting team versus team will be better for us despite your numerical advantage." Kakuzu asked in mild amusement.

Not that he thought separating would be a problem. Zetsu did his scouting and information gathering and found out Sasori was accompanying a genin team on their way to Konoha while also doing a mission in-between. The only reason why they attacked now, instead of sooner, was that the clients would make this engagement extremely disadvantageous for Sasori.

If, for some incomprehensible reason, Kakuzu and Hidan had a hard time dealing with Sasori, they could always just target the important clients and Sasori will have to focus on protecting them. Not that Kakuzu thought it would come to that. Two S-rank ninjas against one S-rank and a bunch of genins? This will be a piece of cake.

"Because it is obvious you two are just that stupid." Sasori deadpanned in reply and Kakuzu started to get annoyed. He was about to retort again but apparently, he failed to take into account Hidan's short fuse.

Hidan didn't like being called stupid by a traitor and as anger took over, he charged at Sasori, shouting in anger and brandishing his scythe in a threatening manner.

"No! Stop, you moron!" Kakuzu exclaimed in surprise, only now realizing Sasori's words were not aimed at him but at Hidan.

Sasori didn't react to Hidan's charge in any way, just dispassionately looking at him as he was quickly closing the distance and Kakuzu instantly realized it was a trap.

It was too late, however. Hidan was almost upon Sasori, his rageful focus fully aimed at the young-looking redhead...

The only warning he got was subtly rising winds in the area before a massive influx of crushing winds in the form of a barely visible wind snake suddenly 'slithered' around Sasori, rushing at the incoming Hidan. The jashinist managed to only widen his eyes as the snake made of winds opened its jaw and smashed straight into his waist.

Hidan was swept from his feet due to the extreme wind pressure and the snake-like wind construct caught him in its jaws, carrying him through the air. Normally, a wind Jutsu would simply blow him back but...

Kakuzu cursed as he watched the wind snake do something that was deemed impossible for Wind Jutsus once they are released. It twisted mid-air, changing direction and pushing the struggling and bleeding Hidan away from him while creating multiple gashes all over his body. Something told Kakuzu he would not be getting time to stitch his partner up. The bigger problem, though, was that it was not Sasori who used the wind Jutsu.

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In an instant, Kakuzu adjusted his mindset. What he thought to be an easy job was shaping up to be slightly more troublesome.

His first reaction was to run towards Hidan, not letting them be separated since he doubted Hidan could beat someone capable of such a strong ranged wind Jutsu. Frankly, he didn't doubt Hidan's power. He doubted his intelligence.

Hidan clearly had enough brute strength and endurance to face S-rank ninja but he was not a very bright guy. A ranked wind user who could dice and slice him from afar was the moron's natural enemy with his penchant for rushing in head-on and whatnot.

Unfortunately for Kakuzu, his instincts abruptly screamed at him, forcing him to jump back, widening the distance between him and Hidan even more as a large pyramid made of iron dust almost flattened him.

"See?" Sasori smugly asked, trying to distract Kakuzu as he inwardly focused on shaping the objects from the iron dust.

He made use of Kakuzu's short distraction and surprise when Temari revealed her Jutsu to summon his Third Kazekage puppet without being noticed.

Kakuzu couldn't answer as a cube of iron sand flew at him, making him dodge... much to his frustration, again in a direction that got him further from his partner.

The cube landed and Kakuzu managed to evade it but as he was about to go into offensive, the cube suddenly lost its shape and spikes erupted from its surface, forcing Kakuzu to hastily step back. It wasn't the end though. New spikes arose from the old spikes as the iron dust shifted, causing Kakuzu to inwardly curse as he was yet again made to back off even more.

The spikes were dangerously aimed at his chest area and Kakuzu realized the puppet bastard was fully using the intel he gathered during his time in Akatsuki. He obviously knew his biggest advantage and weakness.

The same trick wouldn't work multiple times. When the iron dust again rearranged itself to create a new set of spikes rushing at Kakuzu, he, instead of jumping back again, crouched as his hands blurred into a sequence of quick seals. All he needed was a small breathing room to shift from defense to offense.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!" He exclaimed, creating a current of highly-pressurized winds and making it smash into the iron dust.

When he saw Kakuzu forming his hand seals, Sasori cursed and scrambled to counter it. He only barely managed to predict what technique his opponent was about to use and made his Kazekage puppet gather its iron dust, shifting it from spikes to a wall. He couldn't let it reach his genins... or worse, the clients.

Wind Release: Pressure Damage was a far too widespread Jutsu and Sasori was fully aware Kakuzu used it only because he had no regard for Hidan's well-being.

'Ah, well. Hidan should be strong enough to deal with some genin brats. I guess I will have to deal with Sasori by myself.' Kakuzu grinned as he watched his technique battle with the wall of iron dust for supremacy. His winds would eventually lose. That much he knew. But this earned him a much-needed window of opportunity.

His hands again blurred into another set of hand seals as he announced, "Lightning Release: False D-" Kakuzu's eyes widened as he noticed a tendril of iron dust coming at him from the back. Realizing his intel on the amount of iron dust Sasori could manipulate through his puppet was too outdated, Kakuzu spun on his heel, "-arkness!" And finished his technique, causing a massive and very concentrated lightning strike to intercept the incoming iron dust, unhappy that he was unable to throw it at Sasori.

Lightning Release: False Darkness was not a defensive technique but its eclectic properties electrified the iron dust, making it huddle together into a blob and causing Sasori's control to slightly slip. He was unable to continue with his surprise attack.

Fortunately for Sasori, Kakuzu's Wind Technique was finished and his iron wall managed to keep it contained. He could once again stop focusing on its form and let it crumble into a dune of iron dust, only giving it a small nudge to create a wave of iron dust rushing at Kakuzu.

Kakuzu naturally dodged it with ease but that didn't matter. Sasori's next attack was already prepared. All he had to do was to keep Kakuzu occupied and away from Hidan.

If he was attacked when alone, Sasori would be mildly worried. Attacking him when he was escorting the Suna siblings... now that was a mistake. He was one of Sunagakure's higher-ups and while he was not privy to many secrets because of his past, he at the very least knew that Temari was one of the village's best ANBU, Kankuro was his on and off student, and Gaara had his own reputation.

"If you think I will just roll over and die for you, then you have another thing coming. I plan to spend many, many years creating my artworks. Unfortunately for you, that means you will have to die here." Sasori coldly smirked as he felt a huge chakra fluctuation coming from a distance away.

Suddenly, a massive wave of sand rose towards heaven in the distance behind Sasori before falling down and leveling a good part of the forest with the ground, creating a small ocean of sand and broken trees.

Kakuzu's eyes widened at the scale of that attack in the distance and for the first time, he started to have doubts about Hidan's capability to deal with these 'genins'. 'I will have to hurry this up. There is no way I can face whatever little monster that can cause that much damage and Sasori at the same time. If I fail to kill Sasori before his brats deal with Hidan... I will have to retreat.' He sourly realized and clicked his tongue. Well, it was better to live and get scolded by the leader rather than lay down his life for this 'no-longer-so-easy' mission.

Seeing Kakuzu's brief faltering, Sasori couldn't help but feel a bit amused. 'I almost pity the fools. They thought I would be an easy target only to unknowingly attack one of Sunagakure's strongest teams. It is definitely not me who is the most dangerous person here.'

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