High above the desert floor, the air was a battlefield of its own.
Jasper was swaying out of reach as the Narutos threw their Rasengans. But Jasper's Ōtsutsuki genetics gave him an undeniable edge in open airspace, allowing him to dodge all of the clones.
The last of the Narutos eventually lost their momentum and plummeted back to the earth. But the opening was a trap. William had already prepared his technique from a lower vantage point on the dunes.
"Wind style: pressure damage!"
He clapped his hands together, sending a compressed sphere of spiraling wind straight up at Jasper's blind spot.
"Learn your place, Male-Karin," Jasper said, pointing a single finger forward. "Purple sage lightning!"
A thick beam of violet electricity shot from his fingertip as the two techniques collided in the dead center of the airspace. The resulting explosion was massive, and the shockwave swept through the sky, carrying enough concussive force to sweep the remaining Narutos entirely off their feet.
William covered his face in the swirling sand. He was taken aback because he knew how Jasper fought. Since the latter used lightning style, wind style was the perfect countermeasure. So why had his technique, something he'd been training for years, not broken through?
Before the smoke could even begin to clear, Jasper swooped down to snatch William by his waste. No speed was lost as Jasper dragged him high into the night sky.
"Let go, ya bastard!" William cried.
"If you say so…" Jasper said, releasing his hold.
William plummeted as Naruto watched him falling from high above.
"I gotcha, cuz!" he shouted, forming a hand sign. "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!"
Dozens of Narutos popped into existence. They grabbed each other by the ankles and wrists, forming a descending ladder that stretched through the air.
Before William knew it, they had successfully caught him, cushioning his fall.
"Thanks, cuz," he breathed, steadying his feet in the sand.
"That's why we're family!"
"You two sure make a cute couple," Jasper mocked from above, looking down at them. "Let's see how you handle this one." He then pointed a finger toward the sky as a massive amount of chakra instantly built up around him. The static charge was so intense that his hair spiked. "Cry of the raijin…"
Ka-crash!
A cascade of purple lightning showered the desert below, causing the technique to tear the sand apart, leaving smoking glass and deep craters across the battlefield.
Jasper smirked, knowing he had them pinned.
His smug expression faded when a voice pierced his mind.
'Jasper!' It was Alice, utilizing her telepathic link. 'Are you trying to kill them?!'
Jasper snickered, keeping his mental tone casual. 'I'm supposed to make it believable, am I not?'
Down below, the wreckage of the Hiruko puppet shifted as the wooden shell split open. Sasori's real body climbed out of the debris and stood in the moonlight. His face was entirely unbothered by the damage his armour had sustained.
"It really has been a long time since someone's pushed me this far," he said, revealing his true form to the allied forces.
Now Chiyo saw it for herself: Sasori had indeed turned himself into a living puppet. Otherwise, he wouldn't have looked as young as he did after so long.
But it was alright. She had mentally prepared herself for this exact moment, and was here to take responsibility for bringing him into this world.
"You don't seem that shocked to see me, grandmother..."
"It doesn't matter!" Alice shouted, cutting Sasori off. "Things end now!"
"We'll see about that," he threatened, reaching into his cloak to pull out a summoning scroll.
But he never unrolled it; he couldn't.
Suddenly, Kakashi's ninja hounds burst from the ground and clamped their jaws onto Sasori's wooden limbs from every conceivable angle.
"Didn't expect us?" Pakkun grumbled, biting deep into his right forearm.
As an added layer of support, Gaara raised his hands, causing extremely dense sand tendrils to wrap around Sasori's legs and torso, binding his hold completely.
Sasori couldn't even lift a finger. As hard as he tried to force his joints to move, he was entirely locked in place. Little did he know that it was Alice who had initially used her telekinesis to prevent him from moving an inch.
He couldn't even see it. How could he when her technique was invisible?
Suddenly, he heard a piercing sound through the desert, a sound of a thousand birds chirping.
"Chidori!" Jada cried, leaving a trail of displaced sand in her wake.
Sasori's eyes widened because he could tell where she was aiming: the core of flesh housed inside his chest, his only weak spot.
Distance closed, she thrust her arm forward to deliver the killing blow.
Ka-crack!
Jada had collided with a solid wall of purple lightning.
"Ya owe me one," Jasper said to Sasori after landing close by. Then he pointed a finger at his partner. "Purple sage lightning!"
Jada quickly retreated back, only to see the dogs cry out in pain before completely dispersing. She then turned her head to see Naruto and William trying to regroup with the others.
From their wreckage, it looked as if those two had summoned toads to shield them in time.
"Thanks goodness they're safe," she reasoned.
When Naruto regrouped with Kakashi's group, he yelled at Jasper, "Quit runnin' already!"
"Oh shut up," Jasper countered, trying to free his partner.
Yet the bind they had Sasori in was much stronger than he anticipated. Not even that last purple lightning attack was enough.
Jasper knew he had to keep playing pretend. But what could he do when his enemies were overwhelming them?
For instance, Alice stood in the back, silently relaying mental tactics to the entire squad. Everyone else on the field was versatile in just about everything. Then there was the fact that this was the Wind Country, the Sand Siblings domain.
At any moment now, if Sasori or Jasper tried to push their limits, their enemies would do the same but with much higher ceilings.
What if Jasper utilized his Sage Chakra reserves? Naruto's and William's Toad Sage Modes would be perfect countermeasures. Plus there were Margaret's Dual Sage Modes. Jada could also manifest her Susanoo, while Kakashi's Kamui could bypass any physical defense. Chiyo even had decades of puppet training, and the Sand Siblings operated in perfect sync thanks to Alice.
The odds for any two-man cell of the Akatsuki were mathematically impossible to beat.
"It's time to finish this," Gaara said, slowly raising his arms up.
'Jasper, leave Sasori so Gaara can swallow him whole in the desert!' Alice relayed.
'Sucks to be him, I guess...'
But before anyone could do anything, Gaara suddenly stopped as his eyes widened in absolute horror. "Argh!" He then fell to his knees, clutching his chest.
All eyes turned to him as they screamed his name.
"Hurry up and set me free!" Sasori urged.
"Give me some time!" Jasper tried.
Jada and Kakashi used their Sharingan to check Gaara's chakra network. Yet they couldn't see anything. His chakra was just spiraling out of control.
"We have to regroup," Sasori demanded after being partially freed. "Fly us out of here while they're distracted."
But Jasper just stood there; he didn't know what to do. His orders from the group were to fake the fight and let Sasori die. Nothing about Gaara getting attacked from nowhere was part of the plan.
Then he heard Alice's voice ring in his head: 'Do not go!'
That made him hesitate.
"Come on!" Sasori urged after attaching his chakra strings to his broken puppet parts. "What are you waiting for?!"
Then it happened. Everyone finally saw what was troubling Gaara.
A thin layer of smoke gradually seeped into the air right in the center of the battlefield. The mist grew thicker, unnaturally heavy against the desert wind, until it swirled and fully formed into a solid shape that softly landed on the sand.
All of Gaara's shouting died as a crisp white coat gradually drifted down from the new arrival.
When the man slowly turned his head to face them, everyone went completely rigid.
Jada covered her mouth. Margaret's breath caught in her throat. Alice stared in pure disbelief. Sakura's eyes widened. Kakashi began to sweat. Naruto's teeth ground together. William furrowed his brows. Temari and Kankuro both froze. And lastly, Chiyo, she almost had a real heart attack.
It was the same man whom they believed to be sealed away forever; the same man who had torn their timeline apart; the same man who promised destruction to the world no matter who got in his way.
It was him: Arthur Bennett.