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[Deidara]

A relatively calm Deidara was walking down the road leading to Kirigakure. A calm wind fluttered throughout the air around him as the hat Deidara wore covered his eyes. His hands were moving vigorously underneath the coat he wore. Waving rapidly to fuel out the adrenaline that was coursing through his body. An almost sick and twisted smile coursed over his lips, his tongue sliding out and licking against them somewhat at the sheer thought of who he was going to be fighting. The Sanbi Jinchuuriki, he was looking forward to it. Deidara was ready to ignite the place with nothing but sheer explosions.

"This is it isn't it? An actual fight after so long? With the Sanbi no less. My hands can't wait..."

Still upon the approach of Kirigakure, his attention shifted to his much shorter partner Sasori. Or, well, his sort of...rival. That was one way to put it. Deidara was ready, and the excitement could be seen on his face if one were to see it. He looked up ahead, adjusting his hat somewhat as he saw the distant entrance to Kirigakure.

[Sasori]

Sasori's large puppet body shuffled along the ground as they approached their destination. The conical hat on his head hid the five strands of hair he had designed on it's head. Glancing up at his partner it was obvious he was excited, which was not usually a good thing. His style was so damn noisy, everyone would know they were there the moment the fight started. Not to mention he had a bad habit of making him wait because he liked to toy with his opponents.

"You'd better not underestimate the opponent. A jinchuriki is no push over you know." Deidara would be the one who did most of the fighting, Sasori would just be backup if he required it. Not to mention he had another task while he was here that he needed to accomplish, one that would likely only be hindered if Deidara tried to help.

[Tsunamaru Namikame]

"Aaahhh!! C'mon! You know I'm good for it! I'll pay you back I promise!" Shouted the snow haired Jinchuuriki, protesting the bar man who was looking rather displeased with him. "I already told you Kid! No cash, no service! Now get OUT!" The man replied sternly as he pointed towards the door. Tsuna complied for once which went against his nature, He headed towards the entrance quietly. However, he kicked a stool on his way out, the force of which caused the wood to splinter to the near point of shattering as it slammed against a wall. The three tailed turtle host shrugged his shoulders casually and headed towards the village gates, a smug grin on his face as he pulled two bottles of stolen sake from his sleeves. "Heheh.. too bad for you, ya old fart." Tsuna said with a snide attitude in his voice as he exited the village. The Chuunin's attire was fairly unique compared to normal shinobi; he wore a male yukata that was half black half white with red trim with a collar that reached up to his jawline. On his back he carried a rather large summoning scroll and across his waist was a series of small belts and rope which he hung his mist head band along with two gourds(One Sake, One Elixer). After draining the bottles of sake into his custom gourd, Tsuna glanced up at two suspicious looking figures in the distance. Both wore identical attire, a large black cloak with big red cloud designs stitched into the cloth and a gaudy looking hat with paper tassels dangling from them. "Eh...??" The Jinchuuriki exclaimed as he scrunched his face into an oddly confused facial expression, watching the two approach him. He was completely unaware of the potential danger he was in so of course, he didn't take the two cloaked men very seriously.

ooc: His face = Here

[Deidara]

Deidara's footsteps stopped as he raised his head slightly to see the person standing a good distance in front of them. The guy's face...irked him. It rubbed him the wrong way, like...Like...Well he couldn't come up with an analogy at the moment but it rubbed him the wrong way dammit! His fingers curled into a fist as he tilted his head back somewhat to reveal his face to the man before beginning to shout at the man that stood a good distance from himself and Sasori.

"Oi! You got something to say to me pal?! I don't like that look you're giving me, un!"

Hands dug into the pouches of explosive clay as the mouths took hold of some, beginning to chew at it. Deidara's hot-tempered attitude showed itself, acting as rash and recklessly as ever. He was already ready to blow the area around them sky-high, just irritated at the man's face. No one should ever look at an artist in such a manner.

[Sasori]

Sasori hadn't even gotten a response before they both noticed someone stepping out of the village, a local ninja by the look of his headband. Deidara was lucky that he had showed up, he would've gone to attack him but didn't want to reveal his tail to a potential enemy. What was worse was Deidara getting all riled up over this guy, they couldn't afford to start a fight here and blow their cover. "Dammit Deidara calm down, don't forget we have a job to do." This wasn't said loud enough for the man over at the gates to hear, it was intended only for Deidara's ears.

But seeing as how Deidara had already threatened him why not turn it to their advantage. "Hey you over there, you seem to be from this village. If you tell us what we need to know then we won't hurt you. Sounds like a good deal doesn't it?" Of course Sasori had no way of knowing just how strong this person was, but it was usually a safe bet to assume that one random shinobi was no match for two Akatsuki. Despite how annoying Deidara was he did have his talents, he hadn't been recruited for nothing after all.

[Tsunamaru Namikame]

Tsunamaru continued to stare for a moment before the blond male shouted to him in a angery tone of voice. ""Oi! You got something to say to me pal?! I don't like that look you're giving me, un!"" Suddenly and rather instantly, the Chuunin's disposition changed after hearing the man's small outburst towards him. A wide grin formed from his lips as he slid the tops of the empty sake bottles into his finger tips, gripping them gently as his faded sapphire hues scanned back and forth between the two strangers. The crisp moisture filling the air began to swirl around him slowly and almost noticeably, the liquid seemed to almost react to his emotion. The second, shorter intruder decided to speak to him just moments later in a darker menacing voice. "If you tell us what we need to know then we won't hurt you. Sounds like a good deal doesn't it?" That last little bit almost made him laugh, however Tsuna fought the urge to seeing as how these two appeared to mean business and he didn't want to let his guard down. The snowy haired Jinchuuriki cracked his neck gently, his focus still transfixed on their location as he replied with a calm but cocky attitude. "Hell, I got some free time on my hands. And it's been a while since I had a challenge, although I'm not sure how much of one you two will make but we'll see what happens! Catch!" Tsunamaru extended his hand outward with great speed, flinging both empty bottles from his hands with great force, one aimed at each intruder.

While the bottles were still in mid air heading to their intended targets, Tsuna reached behind him grasping his large summoning scroll. He spun the large wrapped parchment in front of him, unraveling some of the paper before activating one of his many weapon summons. Quickly shuffling the large scroll to it's former position on his back, Tsunamaru took hold of his freshly created weapon, a special kunai with chain attachment. Like most of his arsenal, this weapon was unique and carried a powerful ability. The blade itself was ten inches long with a thirty foot chain which could be extended to fifty feet by activating the summon crest attached to the handle at the base of the chain's handle. In addition to extension, the kunai chain was imbued with a series of small summoning symbols on each link. Every small crest could release three shuriken, these projectiles could also be summoned/activated by the handle. The snow haired host gripped the base of the chain along with the excess length with his left hand as he spun the blade vertically at his side with his right hand. "Lets see whatcha got." Tsunamaru taunted confidently as his smug grin became a look of satisfaction.

[Deidara]

"Don't f*ck with me, un!!"

Deidara shouted, slamming his hand against the bottle and knocking it away into the bottle that was going to hit Sasori. Deidara burst off into a mad dash towards his opponent as his hands were releasing small clay spiders that would've been hard to spot with all the dust he'd been kicking up and the cloak covering his hands. His hands shoved into the clay pouches once more before they chewed and spit out another set of clay that was being molded by Deidara's artistic hands. A larger spider launched towards the face of Tsunamaru at a tremendous pitching speed. If this spider was cut in half, it would detonate upon slice as it was one of Deidara's more favorable spiders.

"Batter up!"

Deidara had been trying to distract Tsunamaru from the spiders that were crawling rapidly towards him. The anger was natural, but Deidara still kept his train of thought...somewhat. Upon his right hand suddenly revealing a small clay bird, it exploded into its larger form as Deidara hopped on to gain an aerial advantage over the Jinchuuriki. Deidara hadn't the faintest idea that he'd been fighting the person they were after, but it was still a fight he would enjoy. Deidara's hat had gotten lost somewhere in all the commotion, fluttering down to land just beside Sasori.

[Sasori]

Well that hadn't gone as planned, from the look of it this idiot was just as hot headed as Deidara. He dahsed to the side to avoid the shattered remains of both jugs. While it wouldn't hurt him even if they did hit it was still not a good idea to let the enemy see that, he needed to keep his abilities hidden in order to maintain the element of surprise. Of course Sasori never felt pain anymore, even if his body were to be shattered to pieces it would not hurt. Of course his true 'body' was just another puppet, one he almost never used as there was hardly ever a need. He would let Deidara handle this fight and only assist him if he needed it, he just hoped that the moron kept enough of his clay to deal with the Sanbii when they found it.

Watching what the white haired man was doing, Sasori became rather intrigued when he summoned a rather unique looking weapon. Sasori was an expert in hidden traps and mechanisms, many of his puppets had very unique and deadly ways of attacking an opponent. Despite hating to be kept waiting he found himself slightly excited to see just what this weapon could do. Knowing the ins and outs of it from observing would certainly help if he had to step in, but there was also the curiosity of seeing just how much skill had been used by whoever made the weapon.

[Tsunamaru Namikame]

The snow haired Jinchuuriki focused his faded sapphires on the shorter of the two men, shuffling to the side with surprising speed to dodge the bottle. Tsuna then brought his attention to his previous target now moving quickly toward him. The blond male rushed recklessly at him with incredible agility sending up small bursts of debris with each step. Tsunamaru thrust his right arm forward as he spun the chained weapon, launching the linked kunai towards Deidara with blinding speed. However, Deidara wasn't the weapon's target, it was his partner. The kunai with chain whizzed past the bomb specialist, just over his shoulder towards his shorter more mysterious man. The Chuunin timed his attack almost imperfectly, it seemed the aimed attack missed it's mark and flew just above Sasori. "Dodge this!" The mist shinobi taunted as he triggered the crest on the handle of the chain, activating one of the weapon's special abilities. Instantly each link of the chain began to glow, more specifically the summoning tags on them illuminated. Seconds later a barrage of shuriken erupted from the chain, sending a small shower of metal projectiles on top of the hooded man. By this time, the massive clay spider Deidara threw was airborne heading straight for Tsuna's face.

The liquid haze surrounding Tsunamaru suddenly began to react, swirling and forming into a watery wall of protection as it caught the ball of clay before it could touch the host. This unique natural defense belonged to Tsunamaru alone, the water shield was infused with Sanbi's chakra and always acted on it's own(Much similar to Gaara's ultimate defense, just weaker obviously). As the liquid defense dissolved the clay, The snow haired shinobi retracted his weapon bringing the handle of the kunai back in his grip. He watched carefully as the blond intruder suddenly forged a large clay bird before flying into the air on top of it. "Oh no you don't!"Tsunamaru responded as he spun the chain rapidly with his hand until it became a blur of metal, he then released the kunai outward with incredible speed and precision. The kunai pierced the underside of the bird, which almost immediately yanked Tsunamaru off the ground. The muscular toned Chuunin swung effortlessly, leaning inwardly gripping the handle at the base of the chain. He then triggered the other crest ability on the weapon, extension and retraction. Instantly the weapon began to shorten, retracting with such speed that it flung Tsunamaru directly over Deidara's head(about 10-15 feet about). Tsunamaru released his grip on the weapon's handle and formed a quick string of hand seals before shouting. "Suiton! Mizurappa!" The Jinchuuriki suddenly expelled a power jet of water from his mouth, aimed directly toward the bomb specialist and his giant bird.

This attack occurred within seconds, Tsuna fell downward toward the clay bird as he caught the handle of his chained kunai once more. The bijuu host held out his right hand as a sudden vortex of water and chakra quickly began to swirl violently in his palm growing larger and larger with each second he fell closer to Deidara. Tsunamaru's icy blue hues focused on his target as he gave the chain another tug, pulling himself faster towards the bird. "Suiton: Hahonryuu!" He roared as he slammed his arm forward aiming to crash into Deidara and his explosive avian creature. The water in his palm immediately expanded and grew uncontrollably violent, if it connected properly it would rebound both combatants back on the earth with great force. Tsunamaru would slam harshly into a tree not too far from the blond man's partner, the chained kunai would land somewhere else out of Tsuna's reach. The snowy haired Jinchuuriki stood up shakily, brushing off the debris from his body and tattered clothes. Tsunamaru breathed heavily as he attempted to compose himself, he scanned for the two men anxiously. "Is that all you got?"

[Deidara]

As Deidara took flight, he watched the water suddenly move on its own and turn his clay into a glop of it. However, it seemed Tsunumaru hadn't noticed his spiders in time. They'd found their Jinchuuriki, and Deidara was already excited. Hands shoved into the pouches as two spiders attached to Tsunumaru's legs the moment he was launched. Pulling his hands out of the pouches, the mouths began chewing on the clay yet again before Deidara made a hand seal. Suddenly the spiders exploded and knocked Tsunumaru's aim off for the water jet that exploded out of his mouth and left massive burns on the Jinchuuriki. He wasn't particularly worried about Sasori, the cold bastard could take care of himself.

"Looks like you missed two, un!"

However, this conceitedness was short lived as Tsunumaru came at him with a ball of water in his hands. Deidara leaped upwards, towards Tsunumaru and swung his arms in a wide arc before being taken downwards back to the ground below. In this, Deidara had managed to plant two spiders on the Jinchuuriki's back which expanded upon their impact into the Earth. As the man shouted towards them, Deidara was rising from the rubble.

"Not even close."

His hands were formed as a seal, initiating the explosion of the spiders. Whether or not Tsunumaru had noticed them in time was entirely up to the ability of the jinchuuriki. These would do some major damage however, if they weren't taken care of quickly. Especially with how close they were to the head. His breathing was only slightly heavy, Deidara's bird took most of the attack with its last minute angling but Deidara was still knocked to the ground which hurt like hell!

[Sasori]

((I'd just like to say I think Deidara's bombs shouldn't be affected all that much by the water shield. They are Doton based, and Doton beats Suiton. Not criticizing or anything, just wanted to bring that up :) ))

Sasori watched the weapon launching with interest, it seemed it was quite similar to his own tail. It quickly became obvious he was the target of the attack, looked like he had no choice but to get involved now. Sliding his tail out from under his cloak he prepared to divert the incoming attack, but soon realized it wouldn't be necessary. He highly doubted that he had missed on purpose, and with his careful eye noticed the summoning seals a split second before they started glowing. Extending his tail more he held it above his body and made it into a circular shape, almost like a metal umbrella. The multiple shuriken bounced off his tail and scattered in all different directions, just one of them managing to make a small tear in his cloak. It wasn't anything that would reveal what the cloak was hiding so there was no cause for concern.

The weapon was then withdrawn to be used more properly against Deidara and Sasori retracted his tail a bit so that the tip just hung above his head, making him look like a scorpion. Now that it had been revealed there was no sense in hiding it, it was better to have it out for better reaction times. The fight continued and he simply observed, following the white haired man's path as he crash landed not too far from him. Noticing the weapon was loose Sasori took full advantage of the opportunity. His tail shot out and pierced the weapon, quickly retracting it and flicking his tail in such a way that the weapon would fly off and smash into a tree. Now not only was it far out of his reach but it was most likely inoperable from being stabbed and smashed into a tree. Once again putting his tail in the aforementioned position he backed up a bit to give Deidara more room, wouldn't want to get caught in an explosion after all.

[Tsunamaru Namikame]

The snow haired Jinchuuriki looked up in horror as the bladed chain was picked up and thrown harshly into a nearby tree, most likely damaging it beyond repair. His pale blue eyes flickered with anger towards the short, hooded man as he gritted his teeth in frustration. However, the mist shinobi had other things he needed to focus on, he'd have to deal with Sasori in due time. "Your gonna pay for that.."Tsunamaru said as he shakily rose to his feet once more, recovering from the shock wave of the explosion as he breathed somewhat heavily. His shins stung like hell from the small explosive bugs, he'd have to be more watchful of those things from now on. And then a chilling thought suddenly occurred to him, what if there was more planted on him that Deidara hadn't detonated yet? Tsunamaru had little to no time to search his body for the ticking time bombs so he did the next best thing. The snow haired Jinchuuriki formed a string of hand seals, holding the final sign as he shouted. "Suiton! Baku Suishouha!" Suddenly an enormous body of water seemingly formed out of nowhere, filling in from the trees and seeping up from the ground below until it engulfed the area like a flash flood. Tsuna dove into the water without hesitation, plunging down into the depths of the massive lake he created. Sanbi's chakra began to pour out temporarily and mix with the immediate water around him, forming a protective shield around him; although it may have been too late.

The soggy clay spiders attached to his back suddenly detonated, blasting with downward with incredible force while a large rush of water exploded on the surface above. Tsuna's clothing on his back was shredded, hardly hanging by the threads that were still attached. He gripped the sleeves of his yukata and pulled them down off his shoulders, tying what was left of the shirt across his waist revealing the thin plate armor covering his upper body. The back of the armor was completely shattered, the force of the explosion managed to destroy it as well as leave his back with light burns. Tsunamaru unlatched the shoulder hinges for the armor and let it fall down to the bottom of the lake, revealing his bare upper body. The turtle host was surprisingly muscular underneath it all, and on his back below his neck he bared the three tailed turtle seal which looked like a tribal style turtle shell tattoo.

The snowy haired suiton user took a moment to think things through as he held his breath under water(which isn't hard for him since hes trained under water several times). Normally he'd just go in recklessly until everything was destroyed, however those tactics weren't gonna work on enemies of this caliber. After a few moments of contemplation, a light went off in the man's head sparking a new idea. Tsunamaru brought placed his thumb in between his teeth and bit down until he drew blood. He then formed the needed hand seals for the summoning jutsu. "Kuchiyose No Jutsu! Sukubashi!" Tsuna screamed although it would be impossible for anyone on the surface to hear. The water began to bubble until it looked as though it was boiling, the liquid surface above began to glow a bright yellow as the bubbles intensified. Moments later a large slender creature erupted from within the boiling gold water, like a lightning bolt chasing the the sky. The massive basilisk summon landed on the surface of the lake, his brightly glowing yellow eyes pierced daggers at Deidara. The monstrous reptile was dark green with white spots patterned along his side and fin, large metal spikes protruded from his back and one from his forehead. These spikes channeled the raiton chakra and allowed it to flow through his body to use for electrical jutsu.

Meanwhile, Tsunamaru swam beneath the water's surface with incredible speed considering he wasn't a fish or a turtle. As Sukubashi fixated his gaze on Deidara, Tsunamaru approached him from below and formed a chain of hand seals under the water. "Suiton Suigadan!" The water around Deidara began to suddenly swirl in two points on either side of him, forming a small whirlpool until the liquid violently lashed upward. The water shaping into two fangs aimed to collide with the man's rib cage if it actually connected, however this was only a diversion to distract away from the summoned creature. Sukubashi was already charging his electrical chakra, channeling it down the rods on his back as he initiated his deadly jutsu. "Raiton: Denki Shogekiha no Jutsu!" The basilisk roared as the electrical current ran down his spine and concentrated into the horn on his head. The rod on his forehead illuminated and glowed a bright blinding light before firing a single powerful shot aimed directly at Deidara. If the blast successfully connected with the man's body, it would severely injure or dismember him. Even the shock waves of the blast(the area around the concentrated shot) have enough electrical charge to cause mild to moderate paralysis in part or all of the body if one came into contact with it.

[Deidara]

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Deidara shouted as Tsunumaru escaped underwater, rotating himself amongst three shadow clones that appeared as three of them retreated while the fourth remained. He wasn't going to play sucker to an underwater attack. This man must have been the Jinchuuriki they were looking for. Truth was though, Deidara was exhausted. The blow from earlier hit him a lot harder than he'd realized. He needed a bit of time for his next attack, so he figured he could tag Sasori in.

"Sasori! This is the one we're looking for! I need a bit of time for my next attack! You're in!"

Just as he finished, the summon appeared and Deidara fell to silence as the shadow clone looked up at it and pulled his cape back as it went for exploding clay. It got caught in the fangs before it suddenly vanished, giving Deidara the moment to prepare his next jutsu; the C2.

[Sasori]

This ninja was proving to be quite powerful, he certainly wasn't a pushover. As the water began to rise Sasori shot his tail upward and latched onto a sturdy tree branch. Using the retraction of his tail he was able to pull himself off the ground and flip his large puppet body safely onto the top of a tree. This amount of water was no small feat to produce, he knew from talking with Kisame that it took a large amount of chakra to do this. Whoever this shinobi was he was definitely not one to be taken lightly.

The creature he summoned was rather odd looking and unfortunately for Deidara could wield the Raiton element. It was unlikely that this person had realized that his bombs used Doton element, it was more probable he was just taking full advantage of this large body of water he had created. Looked like Deidara had managed to avoid the worst of it but his next statement was what really irked Sasori. Witnessing his abilities it was quite possible this was in fact the jinchuriki but there was no way to be certain. Still the fact remained there was only one way to calm this person down, through force.

He hadn't wanted to get involved in this but it now seemed as if he had no choice. Deidara was so incompetent at times, and he took forever doing things as well. Either way Hiruko wasn't the best for this kind of engagement and he didn't want to risk damaging it. Dropping down under the tree canopy he found a rock that was just protruding from the water's surface and was well covered by the trees. He opened the latch to let himself out and left the body here. Now using his real body he performed the Shunshin no Jutsu to flicker to another hidden spot where he could use a different puppet. Grabbing one of the many summoning scrolls in his possession he unrolled it and released the chosen puppet.

A puppet with bright blonde hair appeared and Sasori wasted no time in drawing upon the abilities retained within it. The puppet couldn't speak so there were no words uttered when it's technique was launched, just a brilliant flash of lightning as the Raijū Hashiri no Jutsu was performed. The beast of electricity made a beeline right for the opponent, Sasori made sure to have it step on the water to spread out the electricity. He could control it while it was moving so he would make sure to keep it on target. Once the attack had been dealt with he moved the puppet into the open and immediately pointed the left palm at wherever the white haired boy had wound up. Opening a hidden compartment in the hand a flurry of senbon needles were launched at him in a wide spray. If even one of them scratched him it would be enough to get the poison into his system and then it was only a matter of time until he was defeated. He kept up the assault until either Deidara was ready or there was a more imminent threat to be dealt with.