Chapter 25

Namikaze Minato was truly a brilliant man. He was an exceptional seal master who managed to design a seal so powerful and so unique that it could hold the legendary Kyuubi within the navel of his infant son without destroying the child. The chakra of the demon could leak through at a gradual pace, mingling with the child's chakra at a rate that allowed Naruto's chakra canals to adapt to it rather than fight it, until the Kyuubi was no more. The seal was meant to affect the body at the most, not the mind, which made Naruto one of the most successfully produced Jinchuuriki to date. When the Akatsuki attempted to transfer the Kyuubi from one vessel to another two years ago, the basic structure of the seal was damaged beyond repair. The damage, irreversible as it was, was not enough for the Kyuubi to completely break free in that moment, and, while it did its job in keeping the Kyuubi within its prison, it was unable to be transferred as they had expected.

It seemed that the boy's will was no longer enough to uphold the seal. The blood magic, powerful though it was, could no longer keep the flimsy stitches of the seal intact. And with that alarming thought in mind, Harry watched the blur that was Naruto shoot across the high plains in a blind fury, leaping over the ravine as if it were nothing more than a stream, rapidly closing in on the stationary Akatsuki.

"You bastard! I'll fucking kill you!" Naruto roared, his voice deep and grating in his slow descent into distempered savagery. A smirk was barely visible on the lips of his antagonist, further fueling his rage. Naruto reared back his arm, his claws gleaming dangerously in the rapidly fading light. Before he could place his animalistic assault his senses went on high alert, giving him the chance to counter the three attacks coming at him from different angles.

His body reacted far before his mind could fully process the situation: One of his hands gripped the forearm of an attacker with long hair held in a ponytail, stopping the kunai from piercing his throat. His foot was crushing the wrist of one trying to attack him from below, the sword once in its hand now dropped to the ground from the weakened grip of the longhaired man. The heavy-set third was only being held off by his demonically enhanced strength that caught the meaty throat in his livid grip.

A moment into the standstill barely passed before he realized that Harry was back to back with him, holding off two more variations of Pein. Though the body shapes and personal features were different on each being, the carroty hair, numerous piercings and concentric, grey eyes confirmed that they were all part of one man.

"What did I just say about staying calm?" the wizard hissed as he pushed back against the two red-headed men. Naruto didn't reply, hardy paying attention to his own quarry as he kept his glower focused solely on the original. Pein's smirk never left his face as he hopped a good distance back from the entangled group.

"I will not lower myself by engaging the likes of you," Pein said, his voice flat yet still carrying the same infuriating tone of condescendence. The insult cut Naruto deeper than perhaps originally intended just by the implication that he would not get the revenge he craved to be released from. The blonde was hardly aware that he broke the arm of the long-haired 'Pein' as rage pounded through his body like the beat of a heart; the clone didn't react in the slightest.

"No," Pein continued, "Since you seem to be so fond of fighting demons..."

Neither boy could do nothing more than watch as pale hands and purple fingernails blazed through a serious of hand seals—hand seals that seemed quite familiar to the Akatsuki Leader judging by the ease at which the nimble fingers fell into each seal.

"...you should enjoy this."

Pein slammed both of his hands on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

The sound of the enormous form of a multi-eyed stone statue rising fluidly from the ground was nearly deafening to the avengers. The figurine continued to ascend until it towered over the cluster of combative individuals; giant hands were bare-palmed and faced the night sky. Naruto's face was pale as his mind took him back to the last time he encountered that statue. The pain, the fear, the acceptance of death...but he couldn't die this time. He had Sakura waiting for him, he had to avenge his sensei, and he had to destroy the last of the demons once and for all. He had to bring this world peace.

Pein flew into the air with all the grace and agility of a bird and roosted neatly on the tip of the statue's right thumb.

"You can't summon anything out of that without your posse," Naruto grunted with false bravado, adding a little more weight the wrist beneath his foot as it tried to inch towards its fallen sword. The blonde could sense that Pein was alone—the single, tainted aura was oddly spread around them but still one and the same—and used that knowledge to deduct that there would be no demon summoning involved. He had planned on focusing all his strength into giving the Akatsuki leader his just desserts and finding Jiraiya's body—no demon slaying involved. The six separate bodies had come as a bit of a shock to him but he knew there was one mind of Pein and he still felt he had a good fighting chance.

Pein's cool smile being cast upon him from his high perch upset that feeling.

"That is where you are mistaken Jinchuuriki..."

Harry and Naruto were abruptly relieved of their strenuous defense against the clones as the five other Peins flew to their respective fingertips. The beings had slipped from their hold as if they were merely toying with them the whole time.

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me," Harry breathed in disbelief as the only conclusion was drawn to the forefront of his mind. Naruto was incredulously shaking his head besides him, anger practically forgotten as he was about to witness a single man literally screw them over.

"So there really must be six of him..." he whispered, "'cause those sure as hell aren't henged shadow clones."

Pein looked down from the far right, "I guarantee you, Jinchuuriki, this will be your last battle against demons or humans alike. I will make sure of that."

It was with a detached sort of horror that the young half-breeds witnessed the six different variations of one individual run though a final series of hand seals in perfect sync before shouting:

"SHUTSUGOKU!"

Three piercing white sclera penetrated the night sky so that even a human would have no trouble seeing the eerie glow that surrounded the tightly constricted pupils. The opening of the eyes was the only warning the two boys received before hell was unleashed upon them.

Naruto felt the explosion of demonic aura long before any entities were drawn out of the statue. The malevolence, the blood-lust, the crazed desire to tear into any sort of flesh as long as it screamed was threaded within the severe backlash of youki; the primal call was almost too much for his Kyuubi-induced state to handle. His stomach gave a funny spasm right over where the seal was. He immediately felt his face heat up as his whisker marks darkened and the lining of his lips and gums turned black. His skin began to itch with the Kyuubi's chakra leaking out of his body at an increased pace. His mind went into a panic as he willed the seal to pull back the evil energy, but the first tail continued to form anyway.

"—uto! Naruto! Stay with me kit!"

Naruto gasped as Harry's voice jerked him out of his inner turmoil. By simply opening his eyes the effect the bijuus' youki was having on him diminished greatly. Harry was beside him, managing to look grim, agitated and concerned all at once, squinting his iridescent eyes against the searing winds. Naruto tried to look around to see what was happening but was nearly blinded by the physical flurry of chakra. All he knew was that Pein was no longer visible and neither was the statue. The only thing he could see was red. They were in a blistering twister of demon chakra and it threw him into another overwhelming flashback; one that involved prayer beads which burned into his wrists, a demon bursting through his stomach and Sakura's tear-streaked, heartbroken face.

His train of thought brought forth another painful tug on the seal and the stub of a tail behind him lengthened.

"Harry!" he choked out over the howling winds, "I can't control it! The seal isn't listening to me.!"

The haze of youki was beginning to clear out; separating and compiling to corporal forms.

"Yes you can!" Harry barked back, his voice deeper and gruffer with his demonic outage, "It's because you're fighting it! Stop fighting it. You are a demon! Accept it, go with it, and you'll find that it will listen to you!"

"But the seal—!" Naruto argued desperately.

"Forget about the seal," Harry cut off. He didn't have to yell as much as the air cleared out and the winds died down.

Their eyes adjusted to the added darkness as everything came back into focus. Pein was outlined against the inert statue, his entire posture oozing with self-satisfaction. The stars were now invisible to them, overruled by the tangle of lighted, swaying tails.

Harry and Naruto stood stock-still side-by-side, staring dumbly ahead as they were faced down with not one, not two, but three monstrous bijuu: the four-tailed rooster, the seven-tailed badger, and the eight-tailed snake.

Harry summed up their entire situation with one appropriate and drawn out groan.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck."

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The pulse of energy released from the statue was due to the sheer intensity of the chakra concentration that was bared to the world in one short moment. It shook the core of the Earth, rousing any nearby villagers from the lull of sleep and sending ominous chills crawling across the environment.

All around the lands—each one formerly enjoying their time off—had the four remaining Akatsuki members frozen in their respective activities. They had all felt the call from the statue, their rings humming against their knuckles, demanding that they answer to their summon: Pein wanted them present in body.

So answer they did.

Amegakure was about to get messy.

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"Are you sure you cleared this with Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked once more as he squinted through the twilight in the general direction they were about to set out on. The whole situation seemed so completely ludicrous and surreal to him he didn't even think to fight it. Sakura had practically bowled down his door while howling something about Jiraiya-sama being dead and Naruto rushing off to face the Akatsuki leader and how they had to go help him now.

In the dark.

With a ridiculously small unit against the most powerful nuke-nin of their time.

And perhaps some demons as well.

"I think it goes without saying that we will follow him," the third member of their party said flatly, though if the grip on the handle of Kusenagi was anything to go by, Sasuke was in high distress by the situation. He had not properly talked to Naruto since the dobe was released from the hospital after shooting off his own arm. Hell, he hadn't properly talked to him since the valley of the end nearly five years ago. He didn't know how to. How could he apologize for something like that? It was almost painful, how fast he was forgiven. He wouldn't have felt nearly so bad if Naruto was mad at him, held a grudge against him, hated him even. He felt he owed Naruto so much; he was saved from his own inner darkness because of him, he was accepted back into Konoha with minimal punishment for a missing-nin because of him, and, as a consequence, he would have never found Hinata if it wasn't for him. He was happy for the first time since his clan was murdered, and it was thanks to him.

So finding out that Naruto was all but throwing himself at the Akatsuki with what could be considered a less-than-stable mind had upset him somewhat.

"Come on, I want to get there before morning," Sakura commanded, flexing her fingers experimentally in her combat gloves. She felt she gave Naruto a decent enough head start with respects to his pride before she set about constructing her own backup unit. It quickly became apparent that there was almost no one she could truly trust with such a task left in the village, but the most important people were there—Kakashi and Sasuke—and they were all she needed.

"Hold on!" Three of the original members of team seven stopped and turned at the mouth of Konoha, surprised to see who was standing naught ten feet away from them, slightly panting and battle ready.

"I'm coming as well," Sai said with an uncommon conviction, pulling the final strap tight that held his drawing scroll to his back. The tone of passion would have never been possible for him if it wasn't for Naruto.

"Sai..." Sakura murmured, touched at the loyalty he showed, "Of course you are."

The artist smiled and stepped in line with the group. Sasuke nodded once at him with his own approval.

"Let's go," the avenger stated when he was sure there would be no more last minute additions. The group of four needed no further encouragement, even if, technically, the Hokage hadn't cleared them.

Amegakure was about to get very messy.

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Sudden, violent and blinding flashes of light tore through the inky blue that blanketed the once barren plains; Thundering blasts and ear-shattering roars caused even boulders to quake in their seat. To anyone who may have stumbled upon the high plains of Amegakure that evening it would appear to be the grounds for a one-sided battle...and the little guys were losing.

The studded Akatsuki leader seemed to be enjoying himself immensely as he watched the fight play out from his seat on the stone thumb he had yet to move from. His Rinnegan was successful in keeping the darkness from hindering his perception on the warfare as he had his other bodies spread throughout the battlefield. He took gleeful satisfaction in seeing his demons tear down those brats who had so foolishly thought they could wipe out the bijuu. Every blood-splattering gash from a claw, every earthshaking blow from a tail brought the corners of his lips up a little higher. This was justice in his eyes.

On the other hand, he was impressed by their performance. He would allow himself to admit that the Jinchuuriki and his little friend were far more powerful than he anticipated, though he was comforted by the knowledge that they would soon fall, just as his old sensei had.

The demons were healing faster than the defendants could cause damage and were surprisingly agile for their size. Under normal circumstances the Yonbi wouldn't be a problem for Harry or Naruto, but throw in a couple greater demons and even the slightest attention from the giant rooster demon could be devastating.

Naruto was having a grand old time with his arm caught in the mouth of the badger demon—a consequence of blowing off a good portion of its left shoulder earlier. The Shichibi whipped its head so sharply that the tinier body was sent crashing into the rough ground, shredding the skin of the arm that was previously clamped between its teeth.

"Uuagh," Naruto groaned as his arm was torn from its socket. He reflexively rolled into a crouch, streaking blood along his path in the process, and, upon coming to a stop, snapped the injured arm out sharply so that it wrenched itself back into place The Kyuubi's cloak was already nearly finished in closing the last of the lacerations. He managed all of this a split second before springing high into the air, narrowly avoiding a claw of earth that had risen from the ground behind him to try and smother him in a wave-like fashion. He brought his arms up in a defensive cross as a tail came out of nowhere and smacked him out of the air at a high velocity, back down to the ground. He was ready to recover as quickly as possible and attempt to attack back but found his legs immobile.

The Shichibi—the seven tailed badger demon—was known for its affinity to earth and clay and Naruto thought it was doing a wonderful job at demonstrating it. At the moment he was ankle deep in rock-turned-clay and it was enough to keep him from escaping as the Shichibi lunged directly at him in an animalistic attack, teeth bared and claws several feet long, extended and gleaming in the moonlight. Naruto was already running through hand seals.

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi" he growled in his throaty, kyuubified voice. The rocky ground that was just beyond his 'quick-clay' burst to life, shooting up fast enough to catch the demon off guard. He had put so much power behind the jutsu that the Shichibi struck it head on and bounced back from its own element of choice.

With a mighty roar Naruto sprang free of his mucky prison, not even catching a break as the Yonbi barreled him over from the right. Naruto gritted his teeth and dug the balls of his feet into the ground to stop the momentum of the Yonbi's tackle as he grabbed a hold of the wildly clicking beak. The Yonbi was not pleased that a tiny hanyou could stop it from devouring him, although Naruto wasn't in the best of moods either seeing as the orifice he was holding back inches from his face reeked of death and rot.

He should have been more suspicious when the Yonbi's struggles against his hold lessened. Its mouth was still open as an opaque, green cloud tumbled forth into his face. Naruto sucked in a small breath of shock and was immediately wracked with coughs. Poison.

His first instinct was to let go and escape the toxin, but then the Yonbi jerked forward to bite him and he had no choice but to stay and strengthen his hold on the oversized beak that had to be five times the size of his own body. The poison was filling his lungs—only a fraction as effective as it should have been on him, but enough for him to realize he would never be able to take on the Shichibi he noticed approaching out of his peripheral. Especially with it barreling towards him at an alarming speed, a slight hobble due to its shoulder injury.

He needed Kyuubi to get him out of this one.

Naruto fell into a well-practiced meditative mindset, ignoring the physical strain on his body and using the precious few seconds he had at his disposal to concentrate on summoning his demonic chakra. Despite what Harry said earlier he didn't feel completely at ease using it. The red heat surrounding his body condensed, darkening to a deep ruby as a second tail was fully formed. It felt like putting on an old sweater to his body, giving it a comfortable warmth as the otherwise poisonous chakra coursed through his veins in greater concentration. It was the knowledge of what it would inevitably lead to that made the experience so disconcerting for him.

Being a Jinchuuriki required that he could differentiate between different entities and influences within his own body. Training with Inuyasha in Occlumency and constant meditation over the last two years had left him with an unusually great awareness of his mind, body and soul. As he felt the Kyuubi's essence in him strengthen he noticed that he reflexively closed off a part of his mind that was privy to the demon's call—something he had learned to do when training with Yamato to help escape the influence under dire situations. When he reached enough tails (and in those days it was four) this blockade would break, and the sudden onslaught of demonic instinct, craze, and bloodlust would be too much for his human mind to handle, automatically submitting him to the demon's will.

Naruto's eyes widened a fraction as everything rapidly clicked into place. He hadn't used the Kyuubi's chakra since he first left the shinobi world two years ago—before all the training and developing and the Change. He suddenly understood what Harry had meant earlier: "Stop fighting it. You are a demon! Accept it, go with it, and you'll find that it will listen to you!"

He was fighting it by reflex and that was what caused it to fight back. He was trying to use the demonic chakra as a tool separate from his body, not as a part of it. Not as his own.

It was with this thought in mind that, without further ado, he opened up that carnal division of his brain, embracing it into his being.

Something within him changed forever.

He snarled as he felt the power flush his body, the Kyuubi's chakra was being added to his own rather than overpowering it. He had unlocked the key to being a true Jinchuuriki: simple, unadulterated acceptance. He knew, at that point, that he would never be human. He was a demon, a hanyou. And by the simple act of accepting that fact—not saying he would accept it to placate Inuyasha or Harry, but truly accepting it for himself—he would never have to fight the Kyuubi for control of his body ever again. This demon chakra was his now; his to mold, his to utilize, and his to wipe the floor with this annoying, moronic chicken that was breathing poison all over him.

Wind chakra automatically utilized in his claws at the smallest thought and with such power that he was almost taken by surprise himself. A feral grin was etched into his features and he moved his claws experimentally. The vicinity was suddenly filled with the outraged and pain-filled squawks of the Yonbi as its entire beak was shattered, leaving a giant, bloody, gaping hole where its mouth was. It reared back, allowing Naruto to bask in the shower of blood that he fashioned. The poison had already cleared from his system and he found his strength return to him two-fold.

An enormous sickle of blood flew overhead and immediately proved itself sharp enough to cleave two of the Shichibi's furred tails clean off, saving Naruto from his grave error of overlooking the demon during his newfound revelation.

"Thanks!" Naruto yelled behind him, not bothering to look at Harry as he took after the Shichibi with renewed vigor.

Harry allowed himself a little grin and forgave Naruto for his slight blunder; he was truly happy that the kit had finally figured out the secret to balancing out a hanyou's essentia. Even Inuyasha was beginning to wonder when Naruto would give up that false hope that he could still be human. Acceptance sounded so easy but it was probably one of the hardest things a person can do when trying to overcome an obstacle from within. The excitement and power rush would die down over time and eventually Naruto would no longer feel so brutish when fighting.

"Spiculum Talea!" His reminiscing almost cost him a tail to the head and he reacted quickly for it. Said tail was now full of bloody, cone-shaped spikes that drove it a safe distance away from the green-eyed half-breed. Naruto may have unlocked some hidden potential, but it still wouldn't be enough for a victory. Already, he and his comrade were fatiguing faster than the demons.

A serpentine tongue flicked out at him as if mocking him for his thoughts and Harry bared his teeth right back at the Hachibi. There was something about snakes that just irked Harry, ever since his years back at Hogwarts. It didn't help that his greatest nemesis of that time happened to adore them. That was one reason why he was focusing on the Hachibi. The other reason was most likely to get the most threatening demon out of Naruto's way; the boy was good but he wasn't that good—the Yonbi and Shichibi were already more than he could chew.

The third and most obvious reason Harry targeted the Hachibi was because it was supposedly notorious for summoning evil spirits. Evil spirits come from Hell. Harry was a guardian of Hell. That was one point to the little guys.

Even so, keeping half an eye on his gate for any emerging entities, a half on Naruto to make sure the younger was surviving this ordeal, and a half on his own situation with the eight-tailed freak left his eye in too many halves.

"Lammina!" Scythe-like projectiles flew from the palms of his hands, taking chunks out of the Hachibi's neck as it tried to dodge. He didn't let up.

"Catena redimio!" Two chains shot out from pools of blood littering the ground and each wrapped around an attacking tail, allowing Harry to dart back a little farther before they were broken by the appendages' unmatched strength.

He hated those tails with a passion, each one rattling with power and knocking away half of his attacks like they were nothing (which was not good for his ego). The thing was damn powerful and he couldn't remember whipping out this many blood-based spells since the gates crashed at the millennium. In between every other Latin chant he would take a swig out of his hipflask filled with blood-replenishing potion–even so, the blood loss was starting to get to him.

"Naruto!" Ruby eyes spared him a glance in the midst of staying afoot a mudslide courtesy of the Shichibi all while manipulating his own chakra tails into striking down a lunge by the Yonbi. It was enough in letting Harry know that he was at least listening. "We can't destroy them!"

Blood magic was only going to help so much; he knew this the moment the tailed beasts were released. There was a reason they were legend above all other demons. He had been trying to force the Hachibi through his gate for the past couple hours, but every time the demon would start to transcend into the other plane of existence it would be fully corporal once more in this one. It was like trying to squeeze an elephant through a doorway—it just wasn't going to happen. It didn't help that he was extremely young for a gatekeeper; he needed support from Naruto.

It had taken a moment for Naruto to register that Harry had spoken in English and despite weaving through a forest of fur-lined tails he understood that it was to keep Pein from understanding.

"So what do you suggest?" he called back in the same language with blood dribbling out of the corners of his mouth—most likely from slow-healing ruptured organs. He summoned several clones, using them to distract his two opponents while holding a couple back to work up a rasenshuriken.

Pein frowned when they began conversing in foreign tongues as it meant they were drawing up some kind of a plan. The frown only deepened when the swirl of a jutsu that literally pulsated with chakra formed in the hand of the Jinchuuriki; he recognized it as the one that nearly finished off Kakuzu. In addition to this odd turn of events, he still couldn't figure out why the Hachibi wasn't casting denizens of Hell upon the cat-man. There was something very strange about the black and silver haired man that he couldn't quite place his finger on. A sliver of doubt began to creep into his mind before it was quickly squashed. Whatever these children were planning, it wasn't going to work; they were already on the brink of giving in, the amount of blood splattered across the battlefield was testament enough to that. The boys had been battling the demons for hours at this point and even they knew themselves that their time left was short.

"We need to send them directly to Hell but—," Harry paused in his yelling to back flip into a blade kick, braking a fang of the chomping snake jaws in half,"—ugh. The bijuu aren't like other demons—they're unnaturally strong and—" a sharp twist to the side managed to avoid being crushed by a thrashing tail, "—I'll need help forcing them in—argh! Fuck it! Erumpo"

Every filament, puddle and speckle of blood that ornamented the rocky terrain of the wasteland erupted as if every other white blood cell contained a mine. The explosion was deafening, as were the screeches of all three demon as they were blown backwards in a flurry of limbs, gore and even more blood. They hit the ground, large portions of their tails and legs absent; the Hachibi had lost the entirety of the underside of its whitish belly, exposing the gross inner muscles of its body; the Shichibi took the brunt of it to its backside where all but three of its tails were demolished; the Yonbi lost an entire wing in addition to being left with two feathery tails, wilting in pain.

Harry was panting more heavily than he should have, which led Naruto to believe that that was an exhausting spell, though effective nonetheless.

"Don't think I should have done that..." Harry puffed as if to confirm his thoughts, "But at least I bought us some time. Now listen carefully..."

The sounds of the Shichibi and Hachibi beginning to rise once more, albeit slowly, was enough to increase both their heart rates as time became more precious.

"I'm going to fully open my gate, and pull the demons into it starting with the strongest," Harry rushed, still speaking English. He could already feel his reservoirs beginning to replenish themselves, "that way, if we don't manage to get them all, at least we'll be left with the weakest."

Naruto was nodding, keeping a wary eye on the Shichibi's tails which were already beginning to growing back.

"I need you to be on the opposite side from me...so when I say, get about one hundred yards across from where we are—"

"Alright," Naruto whispered with urgency. He didn't feel right being stationary while the Hachibi and Shichibi were both upright and taking note of their position. The Yonbi was finally starting to stir. Harry continued with haste.

"I need you to try and force an opening to Hell, like you did before I first found you—"

"What?" Naruto yelped, forgetting the demons and fixing Harry a disbelieving look. Harry had always moaned and groaned about strained openings and how they were so annoying and causing all sorts of problems. There were so many different ways that it was impossible to create any official law against them, so it was unsurprising to him that Naruto had stumbled upon one in the shinobi world. However, he had demanded of Naruto to never use it again, even in the direst of situations because only bad could come of it without proper control.

"Force the opening," Harry stressed loudly over the outraged roar that signaled a quickly recovering demon, "I know I told you to never do it again, but I need you to force it. I'll connect them from there to accommodate the gate, but afterwards I need you to focus on powering the demons into the gate. I know with the two of us, we can do it."

"How?" Naruto couldn't hide the desperation in his voice as the seconds ticked away.

"Use your other element," was all Harry murmured before closing his eyes in the beginnings of a full gate opening. "Now go."

"But—"

"GO!"

Naruto pushed off, kicking up loose rocks and dirt and darted across the nearly destroyed plains, dodging a halfhearted swipe of a badger's claw as the demon seemed to take notice of him passing. He stopped short at the estimated distance and looked back to make sure no demons decided to follow him. It looked to him as though all three demons were struggling to move against some invisible force and he noticed Harry gritting his teeth with the strain

He wasted no more time in running through the long string of forbidden hand seals, amazed that he could still remember them through sheer muscle memory on such short notice. His arms tingled as the black, runic half-circles materialized on his forearms.

Pein shot to his feet as he realized what was happening; it was just like two years ago, this child was going to escape death again. He flew from his stand, sending his other bodies into action simultaneously. The speed at which they traveled should have taken them to the boy in a split second, but something had stopped him. There was a force that was not from this world, keeping him from approaching the strange creation that was forming underneath the bodies of his bijuu. The same went for his other bodies as well. There was some barrier—one that was completely foreign to him—holding him back.

Piercing lime eyes met his in a taunting gesture accompanied by a fanged smirk and Pein knew at that moment that there was more to this cat-boy than he could have ever imagined.

Across the plains, Naruto drew his forearms together and completed the circle. It glowed a fierce white light and a loud crack reverberated through the night as the ground before his feet split open just as he knew it was supposed to. But something strange began to happen next; the grounds separating him and Harry appeared to...swirl. It was like someone was pulling the plug out of a bathtub. A surreal looking vortex formed starting directly between the two hunters, creating a disfigured illusion of the ground smoothing and melting into a continually growing whirlpool that sunk deep into the earth, disappearing into blackness. It was like looking at the creation of a black hole lying flat on the ground and he was connected to it.

"Naruto!" Naruto snapped to attention at Harry's call. He noticed the demons bodies slipping into the black abyss and Pein standing just outside the gate's edges, looking livid and almost at a loss.

"Naruto!" Harry cried again in exasperation that mingled nicely with his growing fatigue. The Hachibi was already slithering out of it somehow. Probably through sheer power.

"Right! Sorry!" He easily slipped into the unity-conscious state of meditation, his arms still drawn by the glowing circle that held the strained opening. He immediately became more in tune with his surroundings; the intense evil of the bijuus' youki that pulsated as it fought the gate's pull, the tainted and deluded soul of Pein not too far off from him, and Harry's own warm, potent aura. Somewhere, in the corners of his mind, he could feel the tingling of that overpowering, unique energy. The one that was so comforting it was scary, so powerful it was protective. It was around him, he could feel it, and he just had to draw it out.

"NARUTO!"

"I'm trying!" he cried back, desperately clawing for that power's attention. Why couldn't he call it forth now of all times, when he needed it the most?

The Yonbi had nearly pulled itself free and Pein immediately relaxed as he saw their pathetic little plan spiraling downhill. His demons were escaping the pull the Hell and whatever those children were doing was draining them quickly. As soon as the demons were fully free, neither would be likely to be able to stand.

Naruto couldn't understand the life of him why it wasn't working. His unity-conscious state alerted him of Harry's growing desperation, Pein's increasing contentment, and the Shichibi breaking free. He could use it when training in Inuyasha's world, even if he wasn't in control. So why wasn't it grabbing a hold of him now?

"NARUTO!"

It was there but it was slipping through his fingers...he couldn't get a hold...he would do anything for its aid right now...

Harry was losing his grip; his control over his own gate seemed to weaken when he wasn't in his native land. He was nearly drained dry of all youki and Naruto could sense this. He could sense his own swiftly emptying reserves.

...anything...

The Hachibi was free.

'...help...please...'

And suddenly, he wasn't in control anymore.

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Wow... I am an ass.

I am so, so sorry for such a long wait. Between holidays, being kidnapped off (to Maine and Canada...which is ok by my books), and the family business, it's been a hassle to try and get back into the story. That and the chi in this house is totally not working for me. I was stuck with writers block for close to two weeks! and I didn't want to throw something half-assed at you guys… But once spring semester starts again I'll fall back into my routine and the updates will be more regular (that, unfortunately isn't until the end of the month, so we'll see)

I know this hasn't been the clearest of chapters, and the ending was probably confusing as hell, but that's ok...it was supposed to be! The next chapter should kick off with a bang. This is pretty much the climax of this story, where all of what Naruto has learned from Inuyasha and co. will come into play. Ahhrrgh! I hate writing action!

Thanks to strider714 for beating me upside the head until I spouted off chapter pages!

And thanks for your patience with me, remember...for Narnia!