Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 34: Counterattack

"Nine-Tails..." said Kisame calmly; his eyes didn't leave the face of the one who had just kicked him. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve; Naruto's kick was enough to draw blood on his face. "It's been a long time," he greeted Naruto with a menacing grin.

Naruto pointed at Kisame. "We're not going to let you bring Gaara away, fishface!"

Kisame's eyebrow twitched. "F-fishface?"

"Yeah!" Naruto answered hotly. "No one ever told you how much you look like a tuna? A tuna with pointy teeth!"

Everyone facepalmed.

"You have really big balls, Nine-Tails," Kisame grinned viciously. "Our mission is just to bring back the One-Tail, but Leader might be even happier if I bring back the Nine-Tails together with it."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto retorted. "Just try me, you fishfa..."

Naruto's insult was cut short when Kakashi grabbed his shoulder.

"Kakashi-sensei?" He looked back at his sensei in surprise. The jonin shook his head; both of his eyes still stayed firmly on the two Akatsuki members.

"We don't have much time to waste here. You are the only hope to stop this assault on Sunagakure; you and Sakura will go in there and put an end to this."

His Sharingan started spinning in his left eye socket when he said these words.

"You think we are going to let the jinchuriki run away that easily?" Deidara snorted, and jumped onto his clay dragon's back again, ready to take off.

But he was surprised when Sasuke suddenly appeared in front of him, his weapon, Takemikazuchi, out and activated, to deliver a merciless thrust at his torso. No one even saw the Uchiha moving. Only sheer luck helped him escape being skewered by the blade made of lightning. He kicked the Uchiha down to the ground and hastily took off on the back of his dragon; if he was that fast, it would be utterly unwise to stay on the ground any longer.

Sasuke backtracked a few steps, and looked back at Naruto and Sakura.

"Go, you two! Take Gaara away and leave this place to me and Kakashi!"

"So that's Sasuke 'Thunderbird' Uchiha, huh..." Kisame grinned, brandishing Samehada again when Naruto and Sakura grabbed Gaara's body on the ground. "This is gonna be fun. Slaying the little brother of that traitor Itachi by my own hand..."

"Whether you can do that or not, we still have to see," Sasuke rebuffed, and Takemikazuchi's energy blade flared up again. But before the Uchiha could jump Kisame, Kakashi had already stood in front of his face, his back turning toward him.

"Just leave Kisame to me," the older jonin said. "You are the only one who can fly here; you must go and take down Deidara before he can do any more harm to the village."

"Who said you can interfere, Kakashi of the Sharingan?" Kisame bellowed and leapt at the two Konoha shinobi. Samehada drew an arc on the air, coming down on Kakashi's head.

But before it could even reach the Konoha jonin, it had been stopped on its way by another sword. It was a tanto with a pointy blade, and bathing in the harsh sunlight of the desert, it shone brightly in a white light.

"The famous White Light Chakra Saber, having belonged to 'White Fang' Sakumo Hatake..." the missing-nin grinned while pushing his sword down further. "Such an honor to see a sword with such a great history..."

"That's right," Kakashi answered, sending more power into his arms to push back the giant spiky sword. "And its history will have another page written with your defeat here today."