Chapter 998 Temari

Temari thought to herself, "Gaara is now much stronger, he will not be captured as easily as last time." On the battlefield, Gaara controlled the sand to surge towards Deidara like a surging wave. However, Deidara raised his lips, quickly formed seals with his hands, and shouted, "Detonate the clay!" In an instant, countless small clay bombs flew towards Gaara. Gaara's eyes were cold, and a sand wall rose from the ground to resist the impact of the explosion.

At this time, Kankuro on the side couldn't help it, and manipulated the puppet to rush forward to assist Gaara. Seeing this, Deidara separated some of the clay puppets to deal with Kankuro, and he increased his strength to attack Gaara. Just as the two sides were fighting fiercely, the sky suddenly darkened and a black shadow flashed by. It turned out that the ninjas from Konoha Village came to support. Naruto stood in the front and shouted: "Friends of Sand Village, we are here to help!" This sudden help changed the situation. Deidara realized that something was wrong and prepared to retreat. But how could Gaara let him go? The sand instantly entangled one of Deidara's feet. Deidara gritted his teeth and detonated part of the clay on his body to break free and escape.

Everyone looked at the direction Deidara fled, and did not chase him. Gaara turned his head and looked at the ninjas of Konoha Village, and nodded slightly to express his gratitude. Naruto scratched his head and smiled, "We are all companions, and it is only right to help each other." At this time, Kankuro looked solemn, and the red-haired boy in the battle just now made him feel scared.

Just as everyone was preparing to rest, Scorpion appeared quietly again. He ignored the others and walked straight to Kanjiro, saying coldly: "Your puppet skills are very crude, but I am a little interested in that Salamander puppet." Kanjiro glared at Scorpion and controlled the puppet to attack. Scorpion easily dodged, and several steel wires popped out of his hand and entangled the Salamander puppet. Kanjiro was shocked and pulled the chakra thread hard to try to take back the puppet.

Naruto saw this and rushed towards Scorpion without saying a word. Scorpion snorted coldly and turned to fight Naruto. Gaara also directed the sand to attack Scorpion. Although Scorpion was powerful, he gradually felt exhausted when facing the three people working together. He threw out a large number of poisonous needles and escaped in the smoke. Kankuro slumped on the ground, thankful that his puppet was not taken away. Everyone understood that the enemy was not far away, and looked around vigilantly, ready to face the next round of challenges. Just as everyone was on guard, the surroundings suddenly became terrifyingly quiet. Kankuro held the remaining puppet strings in his hand, Naruto entered the Sage Mode, and Gaara let the sand flow slowly around his body. Suddenly, the ground shook slightly, and Scorpion broke out of the ground. It turned out that he had been hiding underground waiting for the opportunity. This time, Scorpion directly released three large puppets, each of which exuded a powerful aura. Gaara took the lead and rolled a large amount of sand towards the puppets, but the puppets were able to cut through the sand and move forward. Naruto rushed up to fight with one of the puppets in close combat, but the puppet's joints kept shooting out hidden weapons. Kanjiro took a deep breath. He knew he had to go all out, so he took out his long-hidden trump puppet, which was the result of his secret transformation for many years. When he summoned this puppet, the puppet emitted a special light, and it temporarily suppressed Scorpion's three large puppets. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gaara trapped Scorpion himself with sand, and Naruto condensed the Rasengan and hit Scorpion's body directly. Scorpion didn't expect to be so passive, and had no choice but to abandon the three puppets and self-destruct, and fled in a panic with the help of the explosion. Everyone successfully resolved the crisis, and Kanjiro became one of the heroes of this battle. Looking at Naruto, he nodded slightly to express his gratitude. Naruto scratched his head and smiled and said, "We are all partners in fighting against the Akatsuki organization." At this time, Kanjiro examined the body of the dead Sand Ninja, frowning. Temari walked over and said, "It seems that the enemy has accomplices hiding in the dark." The ninjas of Konoha also gathered around. Shikamaru touched his chin and analyzed, "This killer's method is clean and neat, and he may have received special training." Gaara squatted down to check the traces on the ground and found some subtle footprints. Following the footprints, he came to the edge of a forest. Suddenly, several kunai were shot from the tree, and everyone dodged. A mysterious man appeared on the branch, wrapped in a black cloak, and his face could not be seen clearly. He snorted coldly: "Today I just give you a little warning, you won't be so lucky next time." After that, he disappeared. Gaara clenched his fists and secretly vowed to find out the mastermind behind the scenes. The ninjas of Sand Village and Konoha exchanged glances with each other. They knew that this battle was far from over and they would have to face more unknown dangers together in the future.

A few days later, the Sand Village received news that there were signs of suspected Akatsuki activities in nearby villages. Gaara decided to lead a small team of Sand Village ninjas to investigate and notify Konoha Village at the same time. After hearing this, Naruto immediately asked Tsunade to allow him to go with her. When they arrived at the target village, there was a strange atmosphere. Most of the houses were in ruins, and the villagers were hiding in their homes and trembling. Gaara and others dispersed to look for clues. Suddenly, Naruto sensed a familiar evil force. Everyone rushed to the source of the power and found that it was the mysterious man in black robes who had met before who was talking to another member of Akatsuki. They seemed to be planning a larger-scale sabotage operation. Just as the two were about to leave, Gaara fell from the sky with sand to block the way, and Naruto jumped out from the other side to block the retreat. The mysterious man sneered and attacked them with his companions. The battle was fierce, and the Sand Village and Konoha ninjas cooperated more tacitly. Naruto found the right opportunity to use the newly developed ninjutsu to hit the mysterious man's companion, injuring him and making him lose his combat effectiveness. Gaara took advantage of the situation to control the sand and trap the mysterious man. The mysterious man struggled in vain and was eventually subdued. After interrogation, it was learned that the Akatsuki organization was preparing a plan to jointly attack multiple ninja villages. Gaara and Naruto knew that the situation was serious and decided to return to their respective villages to discuss countermeasures and jointly resist the impending crisis.

After Gaara and Naruto returned to their respective villages, they informed the leaders of all parties of the Akatsuki's conspiracy. Sunagakure and Konoha immediately convened an emergency meeting of the surrounding friendly ninja villages. At the meeting, everyone argued over the response strategy. Some advocated taking the initiative, while others suggested strengthening defense. Naruto and Gaara insisted on collecting intelligence first, accurately locating the Akatsuki's stronghold, and then attacking.

After the meeting, the two villages sent out elite ninjas to form an intelligence team. Naruto and Gaara were among them. They quietly sneaked into the area where the Akatsuki organization might appear to conduct reconnaissance. By chance, they discovered an abnormal chakra fluctuation in a hidden valley. When they got closer, they found a huge base. Just as they were about to explore further, the alarm sounded.

Many members of Akatsuki rushed out, and the battle broke out instantly. Naruto activated the Nine-Tails mode, Gaara used all his strength to control the sand, and other ninjas also used their special skills. In the fierce battle, they accidentally discovered that there was a self-destruct device in the base. If it was activated, a large area around it would be destroyed. Everyone tried their best to prevent members of Akatsuki from approaching the self-destruct switch, and finally successfully destroyed the base and obtained key intelligence, thwarting Akatsuki's large-scale attack plan.