For One Last Time: The Re-Written Version
~By Deidara Da Kitsune (same author, different name)~
A note you should read before you read the fic: The original was written in 2008, so any errors regarding the battle between Naruto and Pein are unknown to me (I don't read the manga and I've fallen behind with the anime), so please read this with an open mind and tell me if it's better than before.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do wish I thought of the idea – the things Kishimoto-san is doing to it is slightly depressing…
Kakashi felt his hope plummet to the soles of his feet as he watched Naruto battling in vain against Pein. Naruto – as a last ditch of hope – had resorted to using his tenant's chakra. The scarecrow had allowed it, since Naruto had told him that he had finally learnt to stay in control when he went training with Jiraiya. But now he saw, this was evidently not the case.
Naruto's only thoughts were to kill Pein, despite Kakashi's attempts of recalling his conscious mind to the real world – he didn't care who he killed, or what happened to his grey-haired companion.
"Naruto! No, don't! Stop!" Kakashi yelled in despair, shielding his face with his arms as Naruto let loose another chakra ball at Pein, who leapt deftly to another rock a few dozen metres away. The shockwave which hit him was nothing he had ever experienced before. It sent him sliding backward, despite his use of chakra to keep him anchored to the ground.
Chunks of earth flew around him while he squinted his eyes to keep the dirt out, some striking his headband, others getting lodged in his spiky hair. Kakashi knew he had to get both himself and Naruto out of there. Immediately.
Pushing off with a large burst of chakra, he ran against the wind toward the creature no longer recognised as a boy.
"Naruto!" he called, "Stop! You have to come back! Pein is going to kill you!"
Naruto appeared not to hear him, racing forward to deliver a chakra backhand to the pierced face of the Ame-nin. Pein dodged neatly again, positioning himself closer to the son of the White Fang with every leap.
Kakashi's eyes widened as Naruto turned and took a massive leap in his general direction. If he didn't move, the blast from the impact between the jinchuuriki and the ground could kill him!
He instead decided to perform a kawarimi because he knew with the help of the Kyuubi, Naruto could race faster than he ever could, especially with momentum and gravity on his side.
The poor log he switched with was incinerated as it was caught up in the blast radius, just behind Pein who managed to escape with a few singed hairs.
Both older men were gradually losing their energy as the demon container continually lashed out at them, forcing them to leap away time and time again.
Breath gradually becoming more and more haggard, Kakashi decided that he had no choice but to put himself on the line and to try to intervene in the battle.
He braced himself for overwhelming pain and possible death before racing forward and grabbing Naruto around the waist, the Kyuubi's chakra burning his skin and poisoning his blood.
Naruto screamed in rage, lashing out at his sensei with lengthened claws, his intensified strength managing to force Kakashi away.
Pein stood close by, watching it all with his Rinnegan. The older Konoha-nin lifted up his headband and decided to focus on the Akatsuki member instead.
Perhaps, he thought, if Pein dies, then Naruto will recover.
The jinchuuriki leapt with a growl at the man with the red eye, forgetting about his former target who prepared a few chakra infused kunai to throw at both of the ninja of the Leaf.
Kakashi turned his head and glared at the alert man hidden in the shadows of the trees surrounding the clearing in which both he and Naruto fought.
His eyes suddenly widened when a body rammed into him with incredible force, pushing all of the air out his lungs and breaking a few of his ribs as well as bruising his spine.
He gasped for air as he stared up at the two red, slitted eyes looking down on him, cold, icy acceptance enveloping his body. He was going to die.
Naruto glared down upon the man who dared to interfere with his battle when two kunai rebounded upon his chakra cloak. He turned with a roar, fury coursing through his veins as he pushed his weight back onto his haunches to be released into a powerful leap which carried him from Kakashi's frozen body to Pein's hidden form.
The prone ninja couldn't believe his luck as he took in a few deep breaths, returning his mind to his mission. He had lost his concentration once with disastrous results and he wasn't going to do it again.
He placed a soldier pill in his mouth, ready to be eaten at the opportune moment because of his low chakra. One Raikiri was all he could afford before he would be in a comatose state, requiring the aid of Tsunade to survive until the next dawn.
Meanwhile across the crater Naruto had created earlier, Pein and Konoha's Most Unpredictable Ninja were locked in combat. The exchange of ninjutsu was hard and fast with both ninja sending out technique after technique, their chakra appearing to have no limit.
Pein's eyes followed Naruto's movements and the circles appeared to spin as he found an opening in his form. He leaned in and spinning on his heel, managed to hit Naruto with a powerful backward-side kick, following up with a full turn and hitting him again with a turning kick with his other foot.
Naruto grunted and fell onto his right side, the Odama Rasengan in his hand hitting the floor with a powerful explosion, showering the both of them with dirt, pebbles and sharp rocks which barely made them wince.
Pein used this moment of weakness to stab another one of his chakra-infused kunai into the back of Naruto's right hand, pinning it to the ground. The fading cloak failed to protect him as he howled in pain as the blood dripped out of the wound.
As the Ame-nin prepared to slit the blonde's neck, a chakra-filled punch made its way to his jaw, forcing his head to the side as blood sprayed from his mouth.
His grey ringed eyes met with a pair of mismatched ones as once again, Kakashi made himself a nuisance toward his aim to kill the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.
While he was distracted, Naruto had managed to free his hand and with gritted teeth, forced the now wind-enforced kunai into Pein's shoulder – the only place he could reach.
In the slight pause of the Akatsuki leader's movements, Kakashi swallowed the pill in his mouth and in the brief second available to him, rushed forward and shoved a Raikiri into Pein's chest before falling into the darkness at the edges of his vision and falling onto the orange-headed corpse.
Naruto, the rush of Kyuubi's chakra fading, widened his eyes as he surveyed the destruction around him.
Before him lay Pein, face down with blood pooling around him from a wound in his chest with Kakashi slumped against him, clearly unconscious. A few large craters were scattered across the clearing and trees lay felled along the irregular ground.
His breath quickened as he thought about his situation. Pein needed to be disposed of, in case something were to occur which would bring him back to life, however, he wasn't sure if Kakashi would make it if he didn't take him back straight away.
A thought struck him and biting his thumb, he summoned the boss toad himself, Gamabunta.
"What is it, runt? Why did you call me here?" the great toad rumbled, casting looks around at his surroundings.
Naruto looked up at him in desperation, "Boss! I need you to carry Kakashi in your mouth to Konoha… and give both me and Pein's body a ride there too."
Gamabunta growled, his eyes narrowing at Naruto's request, "I will fulfil your request but note that it is only because of your rise in my ranks."
Gingerly gathering the silver-haired ninja with his tongue, he lifted Naruto up on his back with his webbed foot.
Naruto looked forward with his back turned to the disaster region behind him, heading back to Konoha with hopes of a new future.
Ha HA! I finally finished it! Gosh, I seriously take WAYYY too long to finish fics. Get this: this story took a few months to write, because I started it, stopped, waited, then finished it. That's horrendously unbelievable. And gosh, I suck at action scenes…
Well… I know that this probably has a potential for a multi-chapter, but with my work ethic, I'm not too sure I should write one.
Here's what I think should happen: put me on author alert and maybe, just maybe, I may post a sequel/continuation.
Reviews would REALLY, REALLY be appreciated.
Over and out
~DeidaraDaKitsune