Chapter 18

I sighed as I ran towards the rest of the group. That fight had been disappointing. I didn't even get a chance to actually try. Well… I shouldn't take that for granted… 

I caught up with them and waved. "You're alive?" asked Yoku. 

I nodded, "Just some bandits," not telling him anything else. I signalled to Cat that we needed to talk. 

"Yes?" asked Cat. 

I started to speak. "Those were shinobi from the Sand. They're not after the poison. They're after the person that Yoku is making an exchange with. The person that's making the exchange… I think it's a missing-nin. A poison master from Suna. A puppet master." 

Cat pondered, "I did hear of a missing-nin from a few months ago. Chiyo-sama's apprentice I think." 

I froze, of course it had to be Sasori… "So…" I said quietly, "I might have told them where the exchange is happening and asked to ally with them cause there's no way we're beating Sasori." 

"How did-" Cat shrugged, "Okay… maybe I'll just tell the others about that…"

…

Three people were waiting for us. We hadn't told Yoku anything. I frowned. The three people felt like humans. I wanted to turn on sage mode and double check but that probably wasn't the greatest idea. I could sense Baki and his group moving fast. I hoped they came as allies honestly. 

"The item?" asked the man who was the leader of the other group. 

Yoku signaled his bodyguard who picked up the box and opened it. He took out one vial and tossed it to the other person. "My darling…" sighed the person, "I've missed you." I was so glad he didn't open it and sniff it. 

I cringed. That was weird. But, it confirmed that Sasori was some how involved. "The puppet?" asked Yoku. 

The man sighed and held out his hand. The bodyguard handed him the entire box. "Money?" asked the man, "The puppet is very valuable." 

"Very well," said Yoku and he pulled out box. The man took it and opened it. He checked that it was real. Then, his eyes skittered to us. We disguised ourselves as members of the group and not shinobi or ANBU. 

"Alright," said the man. He pulled out a sealing scroll and Cat stiffened. 

Poof! A puppet appeared. I froze. It was wearing red and definitely looked like of of Sasori's hundred puppets. Did he already have a hundred? I grabbed my scalpel. 

CLANG! I winced at the impact and dropped the scalpel. The puppet, holding a long sword had swung at Yoku, attacking to kill. "Ah!" he fell on his butt and his bodyguards pulled him back, "What is the meaning of this!" 

The man shrugged and his disguise fell away. "What the…" whispered Racoon in shock. It revealed a familiar puppet. Hiruko. 

"Don't let them escape!" ordered Cat. 

I could tell that we were waiting for the Sand shinobi to get here. I noticed he wasn't wearing the red cloud cloak yet. He hadn't joined the Akatsuki yet, I sighed and picked up my scalpel. The puppet's tail raised itself like a scorpion and plunged towards us. 

CRASH! The floor cracked and we jumped to avoid it. Dust flew up. Racoon threw a kunai but the tail knocked it away. The three puppets turned and ran. I couldn't see the chakra threads but I knew they were there but they had to be. 

I slashed the air wildly, hoping to get lucky. I was lucky. One of the puppets collapsed but it began to reassemble itself. "Get it!" shouted Cat. 

We ran towards the puppets and attacked. Racoon threw Cat a sealing scroll and they tried to seal the puppet. I ducked as a sword slashed above my head. Swinging my leg around, I tried to swipe the puppets legs from under it. It jumped and mounted an aerial attack toward me. 'Sh*t!' 

SWOOSH! The puppet flew backwards, pushed by strong wind. I jumped backward and turned to see Baki and his people. "I take it you're the one who left a note?" 

I nodded and pulled out my tanto, my scalpel in my other hand. "Attack!" ordered Baki and they did. 

My teammates, having been waned about them allowed them to join the capture. "Arghhh!" one of the Suna shinobi screamed as Hiruko's tail stabbed him in the leg. 

I sighed. Time to be a medic. Thirteenish people could probably capture one puppet out of four without casualties right? They probably didn't need me. I remembered the scene wher Sakura healed Kankuro and ran over to the injured Suna shinobi. "Can you walk?" I asked, slinging his arm over my shoulder. 

He stood up and limped over to the side, with me as support. I pulled out a canteen and let the healing chakra envelop my hand. Then, I picked up the water and put it on is injury, drawing out the poison. It had only been a few seconds so the poison hadn't really spread yet. "Three…" I muttered, "Two… One!" 

I pulled up, causing the wounded shinobi to scream in pain. The poison came out wit the water. "All good," I said, bandaging his wound. 

"Thank you," he said. 

They finished before I finished bandaging the wound. They captured one puppet but the others escaped. Hiruko espaced. Baki looked kind of mad. "Our mission was to retrieve the item of exchange," said Baki, "We got a puppet but we were unable to retrieve the item that Yoku gave the puppet." 

Cat stared at me and I sighed. I really didn't want to part with me poison but it was the right thing to do I guess. Plus, we could maybe maintain a better relationship with Suna that way. I sighed, "Actually…"