Awkwardness aside, their journey was quick. With Sakura trying to talk to Sasuke, Sasuke ignoring her, and Naruto and Sasuke ignoring each other, the group felt disjointed. Sasuke was looking miserable and Naruto looked angry. Naruto glared at Sasuke from time to time. The red gleam shone dangerously bright, making Sasuke falter in his step every time the eyes settled on him. 

"Alright, everyone, we are just shy of a mile from our target's last known position. Get ready." Shikamaru said to the group. Everyone nodded and did as told. Their formation shifted so they would be able to engage in two groups when they split up. The plan was to approach from two sides at the same time and pull Sasori and Deidera apart so they could divide their strengths. Granted, it divided them as well, but three on one was a more controllable fight then six on two. The added advantage was for them that they didn't need to take into account two unique skill sets and they would be able to focus on one at the time. 

The first thing they saw of their targets were a hunched figure moving slow and an energetic blond talking away next to him like he didn't have a care in the world. While they walked, the blond was moulding clay in his hands and every now and then, he showed what he made to the other before crushing the figurine again and reshaping it. 

Shikamaru raised his hand to signal their split-up, but before he could finish his movement, Sasori stopped walking. "Come out, little Shinobi." Sasori called out. His voice was mechanical and unnatural. Shikamaru finished the few hand signs, indicating for Ino and Choji to follow him, forming team alpha, leaving Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto behind as team beta. Having been discovered, Shikamaru quickly adapted his strategy. Since three man cells were the most used format in a team, Shikamaru hoped the other three would go unnoticed by revealing team alpha. They jumped out, ready in their battle stances.

"Sasori-dono, who are there flies, un?" The blond said. Having named Sasori, it meant he was Deidera. 

"Konoha nin, it would seem." Sasori answered calmly.

"You want me to handle them, un?" 

Sasori turned his attention to the point where Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were. "No, I'll take these on. You take the stragglers hiding over there." Sasori extended a hand. The movement looked unnatural, like his voice was. 

"Alright, Sasori-dono, un!" He immediately moved towards the indicated direction. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji made no effort in stopping him, trusting the others to take care of Deidera and engaged Sasori. 

Team beta just barely caught a glimpse of Sasori calling forth his puppets before a loud explosion went off near them, forcing them to retreat to a different area. It was past a cliff, taking away their view of the others battle. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and wasted no time in rushing Deidera. Deidera moved away from him, trying to keep distance in order or be able to do his Jutsu. Deidera made a clay bird and jumped on its back to create the distance he needed. 

Using the cliff wall, Sasuke ran up so he could reach Deidera with a jump. He swiped his fist at Deidera's face, but Deidera managed to avoid the hit. The momentum carried Sasuke to the tail end of the bird, but he managed to stay on it. Again he went in for the punch, followed by quick kicks and punches. Deidera didn't seem very well equipped to handle the hand-to-hand combat and just blocked without relatialting. 

Suddenly Deidera stepped back, gave a mocking grin to Sasuke and jumped off the bird. Sasuke realised a little too late his feet were sunk into the clay bird and he were now stuck. Once Deidera was out of range, he exploded his bird, along with Sasuke. Sasuke was hit back to end near the team and recovered to look only slightly burned. Sakura gasped and moved to help Sasuke. Naruto greeted him with a giggle and Sasuke was met with a happy blue eye. "That was hot, Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed grinning. "Literally."

Sasuke was about to say something back when a small clay figurine landed between them and blew them apart. Sharp pieces of rock made the explosion that much more dangerous and all three of them took damage from it, Naruto ending up with the biggest injury as a Kunai-sized rock shard dug itself into his abdomen. He winced and pulled the rock right back out. It was followed by a gush of blood and moving was very painful. Enough so for Naruto to recognise he was indeed injured, which didn't happen often. Sakura was knocked back too, small shards of stone dug into her skin, but she only got superficial cuts. Sasuke blocked most scrap with his arms, leaving him a bit bruised, but otherwise unharmed. 

Again, it seemed to be just Sasuke to engage Deidera. Sakura stood at the side lines, gasping at dangerous moments and generally seeming upset to see Sasuke in danger, but she failed to act on it. Granted, she was specialising in Medical Jutsu and thus not inclined to enter actual combat, but instead of focussing on Naruto's injury like a medic should do, she was too busy being focussed on the battle and what was happening to Sasuke. Case and point was made when Naruto meandered over to Sakura and sat his arse down right next to her and she didn't even so much as look at him. Naruto's eyes focussed on the battle. Despite his grin and laid back attitude, he was focussed and took in everything that was happening. 

"You know, my side stings." He said casually. Sakura looked down on him and for the first time she noticed he had a serious injury. She knew she had to act, had a moral obligation to do so, but hated the idea of helping the killer of her mother and the one that stole Sasuke away from her. She glared down at him, conflicted, but her moral compass won over her grudge. "Stand up." She barked and so he did.

She yanked his shirt up, ignored the fact that it made Naruto wince in pain. She put in minimum effort, just enough to stop the bleeding, but to her surprise the wound closed at incredible speed with little effort from her. When she was satisfied the injury wouldn't be cause of death anymore, she stopped. "I'll leave it at that. I have to conserve Chakra in case anyone needs my help." She said, retracting her hands like she had been touching something disgusting. Naruto rolled his eyes, but didn't comment. At least she showed some compassion, even if it was professional responsibility. 

Sasuke was struggling to keep the battle in melee range. Deidera used his clay to create and keep distance, putting Sasuke in a constant disadvantage. When he missed yet another opening, he cursed, but a flash of blond appeared behind Deidera, catching Deidera off guard. Naruto kneed him in the back, sending him back in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke caught the incoming chance and caught Deidera in the stomach with a fist. Deidera doubled over and stumbled backwards before recovering and jumping away again. 

"Finally, I thought you weren't going to help at all or something." Sasuke called to Naruto.

"Well, you're an ass so that was the general idea." Naruto said, sticking out his tongue. "But I can't let that pretty face get damaged, so..." With a grin and a wink Naruto turned his attention back to Deidera. Sasuke stared at Naruto feeling guilty. He never meant to hurt Naruto, he just didn't know what to do with his feelings, so pushing them away was the easiest answer. Yeah, he's stupid like that. He needed to apologise and ignore Sakura. After a day of contemplating, he didn't even understand why he ever listened to her in the first place. Kami knows he never listened to her about anything else.

Then there was that wink and smile from Shikamaru. He knew. Something like this wouldn't be missed by Shikamaru and he seemed to have no problems at all with it, also off-setting the idea planted in his mind by Sakura. Now Sasuke needed to find a way to make up without too obviously admitting he was in the wrong.

While Sasuke was distracted by his thoughts, Naruto was having the time of life yelling weird things and taunts at Deidera, avoiding the bombs with childish ease, all the while giggling. Deidera didn't handle the fact that Naruto was making light work of his art all that well. He became erratic, chucking bigger and bigger pieces of clay at Naruto without caring for any damages caused or Chakra spent. 

To avoid the next explosion, Naruto jumped backwards past Sasuke. At the same moment, Deidera crash-landed a big clay bird almost directly at Sasuke's feet. 

Sasuke was thrown back like a ragdoll by the explosion, his back hitting the rock-face of the cliff hard enough to leave an indent. Naruto landed not three feet away, unharmed and laughing like the maniac he was at Sasuke. "Did you notice the explosions explode? You should try to avoid them." Naruto said dryly, raising an eyebrow. He held out his hand, which Sasuke grabbed after a short moment, and Naruto pulled Sasuke out of the dent. 

Sasuke's head was throbbing from the pain of the impact and he couldn't help but feel Naruto let him hit the cliff on purpose because he was angry with Sasuke. "Can you please start taking this seriously?" He snapped at Naruto. It seemed to him like Naruto hadn't taken any of this seriously yet, not even when Naruto himself got stabbed right through his abdomen with the rock. 

"Right, right, life and death, pain, danger. I will. I am." Naruto nodded as he spoke. His eyes drifted from Sasuke to Deidara, his eyes changing from one happily blue to one dangerously red to both dull in a way not many people had seen before. The change was usually so sudden it looked to be instant, but this was a slow and deliberate change, forced, and at the request of Sasuke. Naruto didn't seem to struggle with it per se, but it did take effort and concentration. It was scary to watch, like Naruto was getting possesed or something. It wasn't just his eyes. His whole body changed from relaxed and laid back, to a proud stance with a straight back. The very aura around him changed.

Deidera visibly froze underneath the cold gaze that settled on him. Slowly, an evil smirk crawled onto Naruto's face. He set off at a run, faster then he had all battle, catching Deidera by surprise. The momentum with which Naruto hit Deidera backwards was enough to make Deidera end up on the ground. Naruto followed through with his movement, keeping up with Deidera up to the moment Deidera came to a halt. 

Naruto stood looking down on Deidera, pinning Deidera with the intensity and intent behind the gaze. The silent threat of death was thick in the air and it felt like just Naruto's mere presence was enough to make breathing difficult. "You are easily read." Naruto said in a cold, monotone voice. He cocked his head. "I will crush you." There was no passion or any emotion behind the statement and it was just that, a statement of a fact.

Deidera scrambled back in an attempt to gain some distance again. Even among the other Akatsuki members he hadn't felt such a cold presence, but the moment Naruto started channeling his red Chakra, Deidera's eyes turned greedy. "You're the Konoha Jinchuuriki! We've been looking for you. Where have they hidden you all those years, un?" His voice held a little victory. Naruto figured Deidera might find himself in good graces with the other members if he could bring back information on Naruto, or even better, Naruto himself. The kindle of hope was enough to pull Deidera past the ominous presence and he got up quickly. 

Naruto answered with nothing but a calculated stare, giving his opponent no room to settle into his new-found vigor. He ran at Deidera, collecting Chakra in a tight ball in his hand. It looked toxic with the way the red and blue Chakra mixed into a purple so deep it looked black. Slivers of red and blue Chakra cried out of the ball, burning the ground where it dropped. The Bijudama Sasuke had seen before paled in comparison to this one. It felt to Sasuke like the intent behind this Bijudama was purely to kill, while with Jiraya it had just been a quick solution with no malicious intent.

Naruto leaned forward and started to run. Deidera was standing his ground, rapidly forming a large amount of clay in his hands. He dropped the clay and jumped back himself and triggered the explosion when Naruto was about to jump over it. The explosion managed to blast Naruto back, but at the same moment he had launched the Bijudama. The force of the explosion only made it hurl towards Deidera faster.

The impact resulted in an explosion shaming anything Deidera had ever made. The crater stretched far and wide and Deidera had barely escaped it on his clay bird. He had sustained considerable damage and had multiple bleeding gashes covering his body. He didn't have time to regain his barings as Naruto appeared behind him in a flash. Naruto grabbed his hand and twisted into a unnatural position, crushing the bones in his hand into small shards. With the help of his knee, Naruto proceeded to bend Deidera's forearm at a point that should never bend, rendering one of Deidera's arms completely useless while Deidera screamed in utter agony. The crushed bones stuck out of the skin at several places.

In a panic, Deidera dropped himself from his bird and exploded it before he himself was out of range, desperate to at least do some damage to Naruto. When Deidera saw something fall straight down from the explosion, smirked and managed to land on his feet. "Nothing left of him. Now it's your turn, un." He said turning his attention back to Sasuke. To his surprise, Sasuke returned his smirk and ran straight for Deidera. In his run he gathered Chakra in the palm of his hand. It sizzled and chirped as it grew more intense, sparks escaping from his palm.

Deidera wanted to jump back, but noticed too late that he couldn't. As he stepped back he hit a wall of muscles that quickly locked him into place, leaving nowhere for him to go. Sasuke made sure the Chidori didn't sink any further into Deidera's soft abdomen than was necessary to incapacitate Deidera for good, avoiding bringing unnecessary damages to Naruto. 

Naruto dropped the lifeless body quickly after feeling the electric energy from the Chidori run through his arms. "Sasuke!" He said in a whiny tone. "That felt weird. I don't like it." He complained, flailing his arms around to shake the feeling. He was pouting as he looked at Sasuke. "You could have told me it would feel weird. It was like an electric shock, but way, waaay worse!" Nauto was still pouting and flexing his hands to get the feeling back in them when Sasuke stepped closer to him. Sasuke suddenly had the feeling he was talking to a child, energetic and emotional, the complete opposite of the coldness from before.

Sasuke followed his gut and smiled at him and placed a hand on Naruto's head, ruffling his hair. "I'm sorry." He said and Naruto looked up at him with big eyes. "I should have warned you. But you did a great job!" He said smiling. Watching Naruto's eyes, both of them, light up happily made Sasuke's day.  

"Thanks! Oh, but don't ask me to be serious like that again! I don't like being like that. It's so tiring and it feels so empty!" Naruto glomped Sasuke. "And you're still an ass for yesterday." He added in a mumble as he hid his face against Sasuke's chest. After a second of doubt, Sasuke closed his arms around Naruto. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that too. I do like you." Sasuke paused for a second. He wanted to say more, but this wasn't the time. At the very least they had to make sure the other team wasn't in trouble. "Let's talk when we get home." Naruto nodded against his chest and leaned into Sasuke a little heavier.

"Sasuke!" Sasuke yelled, running towards them. "Are you hurt? Is that your blood?" She skidded to a halt next to them, trying to push Naruto out of the way, but Sasuke's glare made her give up her attempts. A flinch from Naruto made her realise it was Naruto that was slowly forming a puddle of blood at their feet. 

Right at the moment they both realised, Naruto leaned even heavier against Sasuke, who had to actually keep him up at this point. Sasuke slowly lowered them down so they were both seated. After a quick evaluation and a few minutes of Sakura's Medical Jutsu the wounds were closed. They didn't seem to be serious enough to lose strength the way Naruto had just done, but since he just told Sasuke the forced switch was tiring they assumed that was the cause. They couldn't ask, because Naruto was soundly asleep.

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