Chapter 27

As the silver-haired shinobi gradually disappeared beyond her sight, Naome turned to the citizens running about ahead of her. She knew she had to get them to the underground tunnels which led to the evacuation shelter behind the Hokage Stone Wall. Scanning the area, she found one of the chunin shinobi directing the civilians into an alley where there was an underground entrance.

She quickly dashed over to the tanned ninja and helped him assist the children, elderly, and disabled down the laddered steps.

"Is there anything else I can do to help?" she asked the brown haired stranger. Despite being born in a war torn nation, she had barely any recollection of what a village siege was like from when she was a child. Not having been in this village for long meant that she was not too familiar with all emergency protocols here either.

"If you can stay here and continue helping these people, I will stand by the entrance and bring any injured to the hospital so that they can be treated." The male responded. Thankfully, as Naome looked around, she realized that not many of the people were severely injured in their area as the attack hadn't quite reached yet.

"Sounds good." Naome lifted a little girl and brought her down into the hole in her mother's arms. She replied to the man with a quick smile despite the dire situation. "My name is Naome by the way."

"Iruka." He replied, a light grin playing on his lips as well.

The two worked together for a while as the fighting intensified around them. Iruka stood at the entrance of the alley way, directing stray civilians in, while Naome helped to ensure they climbed down safely. As the traffic was beginning to die down, Kakashi's words played in Naome's mind.

"Once you have as many people out of the way as possible, you will stay with them. Consider it protecting them from the enemies."

Naome heavily debated whether or not she should enter the tunnel herself as she stood at the entrance of the alleyway waiting for any remaining people to turn in. Iruka had run out to escort a civilian to the hospital. She pictured how hard the shinobi was working and knew she couldn't just leave him alone to finish the job. It would be too risky and unethical, even though she had just met the male moments ago.

A high pitched scream jolted Naome from her thoughts. She ran out to the street where the terrified screaming could be heard. Looking up, she could see and feel the creature approaching: a large orange centipede with purple eyes that resembled the Rinnegan that Jiraiya's toad had described. Naome shuddered at the thought. She knew who the enemy was, but part of her still wished it wasn't true. This just confirmed it. Pein was here.

Narrowing her eyes, she spotted a little boy running away from the large monster. His high pitched screaming pierced through the rumbling around the town. She took a frantic look around and found Iruka coming from the distance, having just returned. She turned back to the boy and knew it would be too late if she didn't act now.

"Naome!" He shouted, eyes wide open as he stared in horror at the summoning.

"I'm on it!" She called. Naome reached for her swords and pulled them out, immediately dashing in between the large monster and the small child. She lept in the air, over the centipede, and came down, her sword piercing it through the head.

The creature continued moving and thrashing though. Its tail was strong enough to knock the child a good distance away, scratching up his arms and legs. "No!" Naome cried. Drawing in as much chakra as she could she swung her remaining blade several times in large slicing strokes at the monster. The wind chakra amplified her swings, cutting the centipede into large chunks, and forcing the animal to finally die.

She retrieved her blade from the monster's head and sheathed both of them on her back. Dashing to the child, she was relieved to find that he was still breathing quite steadily. His eyes fluttered open though he immediately started whimpering and crying in pain.

Picking up the small boy, she went over to where Iruka was now watching in awe. He had barely seen the young kunoichi around town before but she proved to be quite powerful even though she looked to be the same age as some of his previous students.

"We need to bring him to the hospital." Naome said. She handed the young boy over to Iruka's outstretched arms. "He could easily have a concussion or several broken bones from the way he was hit."

Iruka nodded in agreement. "Okay. You stay here and do the final rounds. Make sure to cover the entrance way before you leave."

"Alright." Naome hovered protectively, actively scanning the street to ensure that no enemies were nearby as Iruka ran off with the child in his arms. She spent the next few minutes, diving in and out of the buildings to ensure that no one was trapped inside, especially in some of the fallen structures.

Just as she was satisfied with her search and closed the pothole cover of the passageway, she sensed the presence of a strong chakra no far off. Afterwards, there was a quaking that followed. Panic set in when she realized that was the direction that Iruka had run off to not long before.

Kakashi's commands to evacuate plagued her mind but she pushed them aside, mumbling a small apology to her sensei. She just couldn't bring herself to sit out when the village was coming under attack.

She ran, as fast as she could in the direction that the overwhelming flow of chakra was coming from. Frantically, she searched as she went, hoping to find that Iruka had either hidden, or had already run past the enemy. No sign was a good sign, she figured. Maybe the child and tanned ninja did manage to escape.

"Fuck." She cursed under her breath. Her hopes had gone down the drain when she spotted her new acquaintance curled protectively over the child up ahead. A familiar shade of orange hair which matched the body of the Pein in the autopsy, slowly approached them. She drew her swords and forced herself to be as quiet as possible as she approached.

As she got closer to the conflict, she could hear the beginnings of the conversation. Shivers went down her spine as she heard the deep throaty rumble of the enemy's voice. "I ask you again: Where is the Nine Tail's Jinchuriki?"

A small gasp escaped her lips as she realized what was happening. The enemy was turning the entire village upside down to find Naruto and the nine-tails that was locked away inside of him. The only problem was, Naruto was not here, and they wouldn't stop until they found him. She figured and prayed that Lady Tsunade had called him home already so that he could help fight this, but a sense of doubt filled the pit of her stomach. Flashbacks kicked in of her original village being torn down, and now, her new home too.

"For the last time, I don't know where he is!" Iruka shouted back at the enemy, while grasping the young boy tightly in his arms. "Even if I did...I would never sell out a comrade. No one in this village would!"

"In that case, you are useless to me."

Raising one of his arms, a rod protruded from the sleeve of Pein's Akatsuki robe. He pointed his next attack directly at Iruka and the child. The terrified shriek of the young boy's voice was like an alarm to Naome's system. Her legs moved automatically, even though she had thought she was frozen in fear. Her body acted on its own as she reached into her tools pouch and pulled a kunai attached to a smoke bomb.

She chucked it with precision into the small gap between the enemy and her endangered comrade. As soon as the smoke saturated the air, she jumped into the area with her back facing Iruka and her sword pointed at the enemy.

The blade in her right hand was tucked under Pein's chin, pressed against the flesh of his neck. She could feel it in her hand. The tip of her other blade was pointed directly at Pein's chest. As the smoke cleared, she began to see, more definitively, just how close her proximity was to the enemy.

The rings of the purple eyes seemed to be hypnotizing, almost as if it were staring in her soul and paralyzing her body. She was so close now that she could count exactly how many rods or piercings were on his face. She noticed the shorter, spiked up orange hair that had been styled differently from the one in the autopsy. The black pole that had originally been pointing at Iruka, was now dangerously close to her face. So much so that she could feel the heat of the chakra radiating against her skin.

"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" Pein spoke in a monotone voice.

"I don't know." Naome lied. Her voice was confident, contrary to the way her insides were feeling. She tightened her grip on the blades, wondering how quick she could attack in comparison to how fast he could strike.

"Then I have no use for you."

Naome braced herself. Just as she was about to stab her sword into the enemy's torso, a hand came out and grabbed the chakra rod. With a firm jerk of the wrist, the metal snapped into a few jagged pieces. The pierced shinobi had regained his posture in a quick moment and backed himself up, now watching the newly arrived opponent from afar.

"Kakashi…" Iruka mumbled, a sigh of relief escaping him as he recognized the back of the silver-haired shinobi.

"Take the kid to the hospital Iruka. We'll handle it from here." The jonin commanded. Iruka eyed the enemy for a second.

"You two shouldn't fight him alone." He replied.

"Don't worry," Naome said, an immediate wave of safety coursed through her at the sight of the familiar shinobi. "You can go. Between the two of us, we've got this."

Throwing one more hesitant look between the two, Iruka took the young child in his arms and ran off in the direction of the hospital. Kakashi had positioned himself in between Naome and the enemy ever so slightly so that he was still in front, but Naome could still see clearly around his body.

Keeping his eye Pein, he spoke. "I told you to go to the shelter."

"We don't have time for this conversation right now." Naome replied. She knew she had broken her promise, but the situation at hand seemed much more dire.

"You're right." Kakashi said as he began weaving hand signs. "Remind me to punish you after this."

"You perverted old man." Naome grumbled under her breath as she charged up her blade. Luckily, working and training with Kakashi for the past year allowed her to learn more about his techniques and fighting style. She knew, without a word, what was coming almost as quickly as Kakashi wove hand signs.

Slamming his hands onto the ground, Kakashi glared up at the enemy. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!"

A tall barrier formed around the three of them, trapping Pein inside. Immediately, Naome took off. She produced a water clone and split, charging at Pein from both his sides. In an instant, Kakashi had charged up his Lightning Blade and dashed headon towards the enemy.

Naome gasped as she saw what unfolded. Kakashi missed, despite the fact that he never, ever missed. His hand slammed into the rock next to Pein's face, and his own expression contorted in agony at the chakra rod that was now buried in his shoulder.

"Kakashi Hatake...the Copycat Ninja. What a pleasure." The purple eyes scanned the jonin, fixing themselves for a moment on the bright red Sharingan glared back at him.

Now within striking distance, Naome leaped forward with her blade, bringing it down towards the Akatsuki member. She was sure she had just nicked the cloak when suddenly, she was frozen in the air, and thrusted backwards. Because she was in the middle of an in-air strike, she was unable to find her footing after being thrown back. Her shadow clone disappeared upon impact. The wind was knocked out of her system as she landed on her back into the rough ground, her swords falling to her sides.

Scrambling to her feet, Naome took a quick look around and found that the mud wall that Kakashi had set up had been blown to pieces, and Kakashi himself had also been shoved by the force a good distance away. Naome lost sight of him, but she was sure she could sense him within the fallen debris.

Naome kept her eye on the enemy as she thought deeply about what just happened. For the hundredth time she had wished she had the analytical skills that Shikamaru had. Just what the hell was that jutsu? From the corner of her eye, she saw Kakashi emerge from underneath one of the wooden planks

Grabbing her swords from the ground, she charged her blades up. A brief second of eye contact was exchanged before she sent a large funnel of wind towards the enemy. It met with Kakashi's lightning along the way, amplifying its power into a large striking lightning bolt aimed directly at Pein's body.

She watched in horror as their combination attack was deflected, nullifying it into thin air. Realization hit, that not only could this Pein reflect taijutsu by blasting his opponent away, he could also absorb ninjutsu as well.

Naome gnawed on her lower lip in frustration. "Fuck."

Just as things couldn't get any worse, her eyes widened as another cloaked opponent appeared behind Kakashi, trapping him in the middle. "Sensei!"

Weaving hand signs, as quickly as Kakashi had trained her, she teleported behind her teacher, facing the newcomer. She cringed in disgust with the way the shinobi looked - if she could even call it a shinobi. Piercings and weapons protruded from its body, and she almost puked when she saw it detach its own arm. Missiles appeared and in a mere second, began firing in their direction.

Using her swords, charged with wind chakra, she acted quickly, hitting the large missiles that were aimed at them, and redirecting them into the surrounding area. The ground shook as the missiles detonated upon impact, but neither Naome nor Kakashi flinched.

"Good job." Kakashi murmured, his attention still on the first body. "Remember, we need to figure out each of their abilities. As Lord Fukasaku said, they each have their own specialized jutsu."

"We could split. I'll take this guy over here." Naome replied. She was most definitely expecting Kakashi to counter her proposal, being his usual self, but his response surprised her.

"Let's try it."

Kakashi's trust was all Naome needed to regain her confidence. A smirk played on her face as she analyzed her new opponent. Weapons meant taijutsu, and taijutsu, she could do. In fact, this Pein seemed a lot simpler than the first one. She knew, the best way was to get this done as soon as possible, so that she could assist Kakashi otherwise.

The Pein discarded his robe, revealing its multiple arms and a large chainsaw-like tail. Running forward, she easily weaved her way in and out of the weapons and missiles that the enemy shot her way. She threw her own kunais with explosives. They barely made contact before being deflected by a large chainsaw tail.

Rather than approaching the large saw ahead of her, she stopped, charged her swords and sent blades of wind chakra, watching as it made large cuts into the body, so much so that she began to see the metal plating and wiring underneath the skin. Continuing, she sent in a large cyclone-like attack which held it in place. She jumped in, hoping to give one final blow with her sword when suddenly, the enemy disappeared.

Following the quick movement she gasped as the multi-armed Pein had repositioned himself in front of the original, his chainsaw pointed towards Kakashi.

"Get back here!" She screamed, but froze when she watched the first Pein raise his palm. In a second, her body was flying again, this time, being pulled towards the large metal saw. Using her sword, she jammed it into the ground below her and held on as tightly as she could as her body was being pulled towards the two Peins.

Kakashi, who was much closer to the enemies, threw out a long chain which anchored one end around a large block of cement. It was a lot harder for him to hold on against the force as his hand began slipping from the sweat that was pooling in his palm. The thin chain provided no room for him to grasp onto.

"No!" Naome cried in horror as she watched Kakashi's hand slip through the last couple of inches of the chain and his body was pulled at full speed towards the saw. Her body went numb and she almost let go of her own anchor when she saw Kakashi's body being pierced through to the other side.

As quickly as it happened, it was over. Kakashi's body disappeared in a bright flash of light, and a large fist the size of a building, came from the air, pummeling the militarized Pein to the ground.

The pull stopped, dropping Naome's exhausted body to the ground. Choza and Choji had arrived on the scene, destroying the second Pein in the process. Not far from Naome, there was movement in the rubble where Kakashi's body had originally flown. She felt her breath return to her as Kakashi's real body emerged from the dust, though clearly more exhausted than before.

"You idiot…" Naome mumbled as she dashed quickly to his side to support his body. Tears in her eyes almost betrayed her, but she forced herself to hold it down, reminding herself that they were still in the middle of a fight. "You...Do you have any idea how badly you scared me with your stupid lightning clone?"

"That means it worked right?" The light hint of sarcasm was contrasted by his heavy breathing as he spoke. Throwing a smoke bomb, they retreated for cover along with the Akimichi father and son duo so that they could come up with a plan.

"You still have chakra left in you?" Choza asked Kakashi once they were well hidden from the enemy. Even from the naked eye, one could tell that Kakashi was more worn out than usual.

"I can still fight, but I only have about half my chakra left. That lightning clone took a lot out of me." Kakashi murmured. "Nevermind that. For the enemy, keep in mind that all the Peins have connected vision, so they can see from multiple angles, though that shouldn't be much of a problem now that you have taken one of them out. The one that's left…he has some kind of attraction and repulsion technique. There's a timed interval in between each one, although it's short."

Naome eyed her sensei in awe. The way he spoke was different than how she had seen him in any mission or training. His strategic and war time experience showed in the way he spoke and his positioning.

"Do you have a plan in mind?" Choza asked again. "You know the enemy the best."

"Yeah...only one."

Naome's heart raced as she stood in her position according to Kakashi's plan. Everyone else was also out of sight in their own spots, and all she could see was the back of the orange head of hair on the Akatsuki member's head. She pulled out her weapons once again and stayed hidden as she listened intently for the cue. Given the amount of chakra Kakashi had left and the strength of the enemy, she knew that this would probably be the only chance they had to make it work.

The ground shook underneath and she held her breath as Kakashi popped out from underneath the feet of Pein, a lightning charged kunai aimed directly at the face of the criminal leader. She flinched as Kakashi was blown away, his body flying through the air like a rag doll. She forced herself to look away and refocus on the objective at hand.

In less than a second, Choji and his father crushed the enemy with the Human Bullet Tank technique. It looked as if it had worked, the enemy being squished between the two rolling boulders, but on closer inspection, Pein seemed to be pressing his palms against both of them, forcing them apart from each other.

"Shinra Tensei. Almighty Push!" The deep voice boomed. As soon as the blast subsided, both Naome and Kakashi jumped into action again, Kakashi with his lightning blade, and Naome with her chakra infused sword.

Lunging at the enemy from the front and the back, the two kept their eyes on the ultimate goal, to destroy Pein. It all happened in the briefest of moments.

The Pein they thought had been defeated jumped in front of their target, taking the full force of Kakashi's lightning blade in replacement of its leader. Deva Pein, the one with the shorter hair, turned around with an extended pole in hand, and stabbed Naome through her left shoulder, keeping her at a distance and suspended in midair.

Kakashi's heart dropped when he heard it, Naome's scream of agony as the rod continued digging deeper through her body. This wasn't in his plan. He chose for himself to be the decoy, but somehow he had hurt her along the way. He willed himself to push further, to pierce through this enemy's body so that he could get to the main aggressor.

"Kakashi! Hurry!" Naome's cries rang in his ears, reverberating in his entire body as he forced more chakra into his hand. He was almost there.

Suddenly, she was too far from him. Her shrieks of pain filled the air as their bodies were pushed away from their target, the black rod forcing itself back out of her already injured shoulder. Kakashi hit his back and his head as he fell into the pile of rubble. He tried to crack his eyes open to check on her, but he couldn't see her from this angle.

"Now...since you're the more troublesome one. I need to get rid of you first."

Kakashi'ss body was scooped up and buried in the dirt with only his head peeking through. From his new position, he saw it, Naome barely managing to sit up, her left arm limp and bleeding profusely. He looked up to the enemy, feeling his body slip in and out of consciousness already from his lack of chakra.

Pein stood at a distance, facing him, a nail placed between his fingers as he aimed the tip at the limp ninja in front of him.

"Now, you shall feel pain."

Kakashi could faintly hear the sound of Naome calling out to him as he used the remainder of his energy to focus on the nail that was shot at him. Summoning the rest of his will power, he used his Sharingan to warp away the sharp metal object. His head fell back as he began to black out from using up the bulk of his chakra. Any moment now, he knew he would faint.

He was vaguely aware of a familiar presence next to him and the rain that was dripping on his head. He smelt blood, a lot of it. "Kakashi, wake up." A small smile played on his lips at the sound of her voice. It felt so nice. It felt like love, like home, like family. It felt like everything he ever wanted.

"Please Kakashi. I'm begging you, wake up. You have to wake up."

"Now, it's your turn." The deep rumble of the voice jolted him awake, forcing his eyes open. Pein held up another nail in the same manner. This time though, it wasn't pointed at him, but rather next to him.

No! Kakashi wanted to scream. He knew she was beside him. He knew it was her arms around his shoulders as she wept. She didn't see it coming, but he did.

"Die."

Using the remainder of his chakra, he performed the impossible again. He felt the familiar strain in his eye before his vision blacked out all together. It seemed as if he was drowning and no longer able to see the surface anymore. He had only hoped it had worked

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi wanted to open his eyes. He had so much to say to her, so much he didn't get a chance to express. He wanted to console her, to hold her in his arms one last time, but he could no longer feel his body. He saw it all, all the key moments in his life leading up until now. His father's passing, joining the anbu, his teammates and sensei dying one by one, Rin, and finally, his last memory: Naome's smile, and the sound of her voice calling out his name.