35 - The Ghost of Sun Star

Kakashi was waiting, hidden, for his cue to join the battle. He was a good distance away, being able to just barely keep an eye on the battle.

"Excuse me."

The jonin whipped around in surprise that he hadn't sensed the literally floating lavender haired boy beside the tree he stood on. "Who are you?"

"My name is Yurei. I have been sent by Sun Star due to the temporary quasi-alliance with Konohagakure in order to dispatch the Akatsuki," he replied plainly.

"I... see," Kakashi responded. He had heard about the agreement, but he hadn't expected a floating lavender-haired boy who Tsunade claimed did crayon drawings and collected organs in jars.

'He's kind of like a more messed up version of Sai,' the silver haired man noted, with the drawing and lack of visible emotion. "And what powers do you have for the fight?"

"I'm dead," Yurei offered, his expression not changing.

Kakashi choked. "You're what?"

"Or perhaps undead is the word. It is complicated." The Sun Star member landed on the tree. "I can take on a spirit form at will, including invisibility, intangibility, and levitation."

Kakashi nodded slowly, not quite understanding. "Well, we already have a plan but I suppose you can stay around as backup. Invisible, preferably."

"I see." Yurei took a step upwards, levitating again. Now that Kakashi focused, he could sense a subtle change of his chakra. Then, in the next moment, Yurei slowly turned transparent until he had disappeared entirely.

"I will remain around until assistance is needed," the lavender-haired boy's voice said from the air.

Kakashi nodded slowly. 'Well that just happened.'

Due to the large group, Yozora summoned two Aquila instead, with Fuyuka, Sakura and Naruto on one bird while Yamato, Sai and the purple haired boy himself sat on the other.

"So what do you think about your chakra affinity?" Sakura asked, striking up casual conversation. "Are you going to train with it?"

"At some point, yeah, but it's not like finding out suddenly changed my whole fighting style," Fuyuka replied, summoning a stellar snare which she morphed the shape of just for fun. "But water is blue, so water release is immediately deemed awesome."

"Of course you say that," Naruto laughed.

Kakashi managed to attack Kakuzu, interrupting their fight and joining the fray. Soon after, Shikamaru led Hidan away into the forest. The silver haired man caught the Nara before he could leave, informing him of Yurei's presence.

"Yurei," Kakashi whispered to the air, earning a 'yes?' in response from slightly to the left and above. "Go with Shikamaru and Hidan, remain invisible and provide assistance when needed."

"I will."

The lavender haired boy lifted into the air, still invisible, and tracked the Nara and the Jashinist into the forest. He watched the spiky-haired chunin's strategic fight with mild interest, not seeing a need to interrupt just yet.

"Wind Release: Rasengan!"

"Water Release: Tearing Torrent!"

It felt only slightly awkward for four ninja to stand casually on the sidelines as Naruto and Yamato did the cool stuff.

"Sakura, Sai, Yozora, go look for Shikamaru and provide assistance if needed," Yamato commanded, the three mentioned immediately rushing off.

Naruto turned to Kakuzu, ready to fight.

"Careful, he has five hearts he can use to revive and we've only taken down two," Kakashi warned, earning a casual shrug from Fuyuka. "Then we'll just have to kill him three times."

"Leave it to me, guys!" Naruto announced, creating several shadow clones, a few which he sent to fight Kakuzu while two remained to help form a Rasengan.

The Akatsuki member took down the clones with ease, turning towards the three Naruto's before him. The Naruto clones sped up the Rasengan forming as their decoys began to deplete.

"You guys, distract him for a second!" the blond shouted. Fuyuka summoned a hexagonal Stellar Snare, which she hurled at the slightly very creepy grandpa. As an easily deflected projectile, it obviously did nothing, but it was enough to buy a few seconds for Naruto to complete his Rasengan- or rather...

"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"

Unfortunately, despite all the dramatic stuff, it failed to hit Kakuzu enough for any damage. Several stitches then flew towards the hyperactive blond, entangling him.

Yamato and Fuyuka moved to attack Kakuzu with their respective moves while Kakashi cut the threads with a Chidori, freeing Naruto. When the Akatsuki member moved to attack once more, the Naruto he hit turned out to be a shadow clone while the real Naruto jumped down from somewhere above, driving a Rasenshuriken right into him.

The attack successfully managed to destroy all three remaining hearts (shame, he kind of deserved to die three times instead). The man collapsed to the ground, hearts gone and stitches unravelling.

Fuyuka really wished she actually got to do something. Ugh.

"That was another level, Naruto," Kakashi praised, surprised at how many times the blond managed to cast the move. "That's one down. I wonder how Shikamaru is doing."

The silver haired man explained Yurei's appearance and the fact that he will intervene should it be needed.

"With that and Sakura, Sai and Yozora, I think they'll be fine," Fuyuka concluded.

Yurei noticed Shikamaru's very slight miscalculation, Hidan standing a few centimeters off of the designated spot.

"Help me out," the brown haired boy shouted out, earning a scoff from Hidan. However, Yurei knew what he was talking about.

The lavender haired boy landed behind the Akatsuki member, taking physical form and surprising the gray haired man.

"What the fuck?!" The Jashinist took a step forward to distance himself from Yurei, standing exactly where Shikamaru's trap sat, before jabbing his retractable spear towards Yurei under the assumption he did not know about his powers.

The lavender haired boy was in fact aware, but he merely stepped aside enough so the weapon would not hit anywhere fatal. His face was blank of emotion, although someone who knew him very well could see the slightest glint of amusement that no blood spilled when the spear grazed his arm.

"I hurt you, I'm certain!" Hidan complained with a frown. Yurei did not respond, glancing at Shikamaru who had retrieved his paper bombs while the Jashinist was distracted.

"Too bad you'll never know what happened," the Nara mocked, entangling Hidan in the explosive tags and revealing the deep pit beneath him.

"You know I can't die, right?" the Akatsuki member laughed, but Shikamaru only calmly lit a lighter in his hand and threw it, setting off the paper bombs.

Yurei switched to spirit form, intangibility saving him from the explosion as he lifted into the air, landing a safe distance away.

With the gray haired man now in the pit, Shikamaru and Yurei looked down into it. The former lifted a kunai with an explosive tag attached, but Yurei shook his head.

"That is unneeded."

He placed his foot on the dirt around the pit, a certain chakra radiating from it. A moment later, the rubble collapsed, burying the Jashinist.

"The deer in the Nara forest will not let him escape," Shikamaru announced, turning away and nodding to the various deer standing around. "So, you're from Sun Star. And you're not fully alive, I believe."

"That is true," Yurei responded plainly, taking spirit form and beginning to levitate away. "My mission is completed. Farewell, Nara-san."

I tried to fit yurei into the fight without changing anything idk