Chapter 206 - Recap of Story So Far Part 3

Notes - This is not a chapter, this is a recap, you can call it flashback or whatever, I understand new readers may not like it, if you caught up recently in the last month or so, But this is for the old readers to catch up to the story so far. In a day or two once I catch up with the last few chapters, only then even I will be able to remember what plot I had planned for this book considering it was on Hiatus for the past 2 years. I humbly ask for your understanding on the matter. Thanks and have a nice day/reading...

The following is a recap from Chapter 65 - 80

Changes to be noted so far…

Naruto has revised his Rasengan with different Nature Chakras, Is capable of performing all the jutsus he has learnt over time and also the adamantine sealing chains and Flying Raijin Techniques from teleportation, formations to combat. The only disability is not being used to his power levels as they are a bit weaker compared to a.d.u.l.t version of himself and no complete access to sage of six paths chakra due to missing portions from other tailed beasts. So far he only has access to Shukaku's chakra, thus can employ it as a part of Chakra nature.

Sasuke has had an attire change along with a sword on his back as an added weapon suited to his Lightning Natured Chakra. He now has mastery of Snake sage mode, snake sage combat, Lightning Natured amplification and a fully evolved basic sharingan that now has three tomoes. In addition his physical abilities including speed and strength, and chakra reservoir has also improved.

Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi set off towards the Hidden Sand, whereas Sasori employs his spy Yūra to take down the sand village's Border guards to lower the security, which would make it easier to kill both Orochimaru and the fourth Kazekage in one shot, as the Fourth Kazekage's gold dust could be great for quickly fulfilling Akatsuki's resources requirement, while also taking care of Orochimaru who had betrayed the Akatsuki.

Two days later on the day of the departure…

Rasa the fourth Kazekage is sent off after being reprimanded by Honoured Elder Chiyō for his carelessness in dealing with Gaara his own son and the war that was about to take place…

Hearing Chiyō's opinion Rasa sets out with a clear mind on what was to be done. Meanwhile, In a hideout along the borders of the Hidden Sand, Orochimaru and Kabuto finally decided to set off after having experimented with adjustments made to the First Hokage's Resurrection (since it was difficult to have control over his existence due to his Genetics). Kabuto and Orochimaru leave the hideout together with Kimimaro, Orochimaru's soon to be vessel.

Rasa and his entourage exit the village through the cliff entrance, where Yūra, Sasori's spy assures that Akatsuki hasn't made an appearance. Rasa nods and heads off, whereas a few mins later Chiyō arrives only to find that all the border guards had been killed leaving her shocked after finding out it was the handiworks of Yūra and an another accomplice named Mukade.

Few mins after leaving the village, Rasa and his entourage come in contact with Orochimaru and his group meanwhile, Sasori and Deidara set off to kill. Naruto and his group who have been travelling to the Hidden Sand for over two days also finally sense the two group's presence, dramatically increasing their speed. Meanwhile, Kimimaro engages Rasa's entourage consisting of Jōnins by extending Bones out of his body externally which was a part of his abilities as his weapon taking down 2-3 jōnins in the process making Rasa who was witnessing the scene very angry almost personally stepping in before which a sword as strong as Kimimaro's bone parried against it causing shocked gazes on those who witnessed the scene as it slowly revealed Sasuke who was holding sword. He made his presence known on the battlefield by announcing his name. Naruto and Kakashi stand on the sidelines keeping an eye over Orochimaru and Kabuto, meanwhile, Kakashi lets Rasa know that the team was here for escorting the Kazekage safely to the Hidden Leaf village. Back at the entrance of the Hidden Sand, Chiyō unleashes the Mother and Father puppet to quickly take care of the dead border guards who were controlled under Sasori's pupating technique, following which she immediately headed out towards the battlefield to provide support for Rasa.

Back on the battlefield in the Desert, Sasuke and Kimimaro start exchanging moves, with both of them slowly revealing their bag of tricks one after another. Kimimaro was pressured by Sasuke and his body's condition due to very limited life force, following which he pressures Sasuke in turn causing Naruto and Kakashi to be immediately blocked by Orochimaru and Kabuto to prevent the duo from helping. Orochimaru suggests to Naruto that they continue the battle that ended in a draw back in the Forest of Death, to which Naruto helplessly accepts as long as it would keep Orochimaru occupied. However, before leaving Orochimaru tries to sow discord by mentioning the Kazekage's involvement with the Leaf Destruction plan to which Kakashi reassures the Kazekage that the Hidden Leaf is aware of the situation and chooses to maintain the current state of balance causing Orochimaru to frown, following which he unfurls a scroll in which the The Reanimated version of the Third Kazekage (reanimated from organ remains) emerges causing all the people on the battlefield to be shocked especially those from the Hidden sand. The third Kazekage awakens, turning into an emotionless puppet immediately after meanwhile Kabuto starts battling Kakashi. Sasuke who was battling against Kimimaro uses his Sharingan ready to take the battle to the next stage starting off with a Chidori which immediately put Kimimaro in a defensive position extending an entire Ribcage to protect himself causing Kabuto to worry about the immediate plans for the Hidden Leaf's Destruction. However, Kimimaro soon counterattacks with his own style which injures Sasuke a bit causing Sasuke to rethink his approach…

On the other side of the battlefield Naruto gives Orochimaru a run for his by Hurling Rasengans and Rasenshuriken causing Orochimaru to summon a single Rashomon to protect himself whereas Rasa on the other battlefield meets the Third Kazekage's attack with an even powerful attack, destroying the body in the progress only to find out, that the Reanimation jutsu cannot be shut down easily. The Third Kazekage forms 3D Geometric shapes of Iron Sand and sends it after Rasa who made a clone and was hiding behind a sand dune preparing to launch his Water Blade jutsu. The water blade jutsu destroys one of the shapes but leaves another two remaining which is in turn finally stopped by Honoured Grandmother Chiyō who finally makes an appearance on the battlefield by announcing her presence, meanwhile Kakashi who's tried of hand-to-hand non-sharingan combat decides to get serious by summoning ninja dogs to lock Kabuto in place and uses a Raikiri against him. After receiving the Raikiri, Kabuto smirks instantly regenerating the damaged part of his torso until he's caught off guard by a hidden injury. As this happens, Chiyō who just saved Rasa immediately targets Kakashi mistaking his identity as The Leaf's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo who had killed her son and daughter. As this happens, Kakashi immediately blocks the attack and clears up the misidentification causing Chiyō to backoff, who decided to not pursue Kakashi for the sins of his father, also considering his ally status on the battlefield in mind…

Kabuto who is struggling in pain looks towards Kimimaro for backup only to see him waiting patiently for Sasuke to power-up. At this moment, Sasori appears on the battlefield instantly catching all off guard causing Kimimaro's and Kabuto's plans to change. The duo instantly retreated from the battlefield towards Orochimaru on the other side, while Sasori who had just entered the battlefield reminisced about the Third Kazekage he had killed personally long back.

On the other battlefield Naruto asked Orochimaru to back off from the Hidden Leaf Destruction plan only to see his suggestion fall on deaf ears. However, before the duo could engage in a battle again, Deidara suddenly makes an appearance causing Orochimaru to frown, immediately followed by Kabuto and Kimimaro's appearance. Learning of Sasori's presence on the other side, Orochimaru and his team flee the battlefield, before which he asks Naruto to help in getting rid of the Akatsuki. Deidara seeing Orochimaru escape knew that Sasori would be disappointed for failing in the mission, but that didn't stop him from his search of artists who shared similar ideals, as such he approached Naruto and asked if Naruto was interested in art. Naruto being the trickster he was instantly answered by saying "Yeah, I love Art!", He instantly makes a Rasengan, firing it off to a sand dune behind him, causing a dust of explosion to rise as he said… "Art is an Explosion!"

On the other battlefield however, The Reanimation Third Kazekage suddenly resumed his attacks, now focusing them on Sasori, causing Sasori to reveal a puppet version of the Third Kazekage which ticked off Chiyō. Chiyō went nuts calling out Rasa on all his stupidity over the years from handling Gaara to the handling of the Third Kazekage's remains as well to which Rasa couldn't argue. The third Kazekage fought against the Puppet, however after exchanging a few moves and defeating the puppet version, the soul within the reanimated body finally put an end to being controlled by forcefully ascending the plane causing the Reanimation to be undone. Chiyō seeing that Sasori now became free enough to handle the both of them, chose to handle Sasori all on her own, while Rasa retreated back to stand beside Sasuke in position to cover Chiyō if she needed any help.

Back where Naruto was facing Deidara, Naruto's response excited Deidara to the point that he wanted to witness more…

Soon the duo introduced themselves through which Naruto learnt about Sasori's presence and Chiyō's arrival. As conversations continued, The duo came to dilemma when Naruto addressed Deidara respectfully, whereas Deidara preferred to be called a senpai to which Naruto suggested an art contest between the two called the Festival of Explosions where the two would be judged on their art by Kakashi using his Sharingan. The end result will have the loser calling the other his senpai, which sparked off an interesting competition between the two. As Kakashi activated his Sharingan to become a judge, it caught Deidara off guard in an almost bad way after having recently being defeated by Uchiha Itachi thus making anyone who had Sharingan an eyesore to Deidara. Doubts were soon thrown away as the contest became serious with Naruto outperforming Deidara on every round leaving art in both the explosion and after, with the final explosion literally creating a mirror finish crater on the desert that reflected a Shiny Light Beam into the sky. The Light Beam and Crater itself would later become a monument called the Time-Light Dome, a famous landmark for the entry into the Hidden Sand with a light beam that changed angle of reflection according to the Sun's position that also acted as a Time/clock of sorts.

Back on the other battlefield, Chiyō had her hands full operating 10 puppets, one on each finger after seeing Sasori unleash a hundred puppets testing the limits of both puppet masters. The end was both ended up with all their puppets destroyed. Sasori seeing that he had yet to complete the main objective of capturing Orochimaru withdrew immediately, leaving behind Chiyō who was busy catching her breath, meanwhile Sasuke and Rasa were quickly heading over to Naruto's side after witnessing a Light Beam pierce into the sky. As soon as the duo reached the battlefield, Rasa began to suspect Naruto after seeing him get along so well with Deidara meanwhile Sasori regretted not being able to capture Orochimaru nor get a snake puppet in return. After reaching the battlefield, Sasori questioned Deidara learning about the events that took place and Naruto's identity, immediately after which an argument on art breaks out after Naruto supports Deidara's definition of art whereas Kakashi disagrees by holding out a make-out paradise book causing Naruto, Deidara and Sasori to be triggered.

Soon, things were settled with Deidara waving off to Naruto as he and Sasori left, after Sasori learnt that Deidara was also out of clay like he was out of puppets, thus effectively forcing them to retreat due to lack of resources for any battles. Rasa, after seeing the Akatsuki duo leave, immediately questioned Naruto's involvement with the Akatsuki. Soon doubts were cleared followed by Chiyō's arrival to Naruto's battlefield thus resulting in everyone being one spot. Rasa learning the situation of the Village's border guards made him to submit an official mission request to escort him, on the spot, since Naruto's mission was not an official one in the first place. Since the battle was over and seeing the scroll for a mission request in hand, Naruto accepted the request being the team leader and reported everything that had happened back to the Hidden Leaf using a messenger frog. Since Naruto already had plans to show Sasuke about things that would affect the future war, Naruto decided to send his clones along with Kakashi to escort the Kazekage whereas he and Sasuke would be leaving in another direction thus completing the main objective of what he had set out to do.

The team had split while back in the Hidden leaf, preparations were being made…