A/N: Yo people, it's been a while, hasn't it? It's been three months since I last updated and I'm sorry for the delay, but it was of course not without reason. That being said, I apologize to everyone who found the humor in the previous chapter over the top at some points. I agree with you guys, I really tried too hard at those parts and will probably edit a few of those in the near future. I'd really like to thank everyone for reviewing ('Cept one childish homophobe that can't take a joke about Orochimaru being gay), it really meant a lot to me. That being said, please stop reviewing a million times on when I'll update if I'm taking a while. Check my profile and scroll down a bit, I've got a section with 'Notes' on the current status of pretty much everything that you want to know. If not, P/M of email me.

The next chapter is quite long. Third longest yet even. I've got some mixed feelings about it, mainly because it took me so long to write. I wish I could have added a few more dramatic scenes, but I just couldn't write them right now and I'll need to save some stuff for the final chapter, no? Chapter 19 will probably be the final chapter with chapter 20 being only there for those who'd like to read more. After that, it will mostly be alternative endings if I can get myself to write them. I'm really busy with a piece of fiction for a school project (We're making a game and I'm the story writer XD), so the alternative endings won't be written very soon. I'll try to get Chapter 19 and 20 done as soon as possible though.Oh, and I'm slowly trying to find every single gramatical and spelling error in this fic and will update content of chapters from time to time. This one hasn't been entirely checked yet, but I will look into it as soon as possible

That being all said, I hope everyone enjoys the new chapter, I'm looking forward to reading your comments again and now...

On with the story!

Chapter 18: One for Ramen and Ramen for All!

Hinata opened her eyes and slowly stood up, "Na...Naruto-kun?"

Her eyes went wide as she saw the vortex of chakra surrounding her beloved Naruto and she quickly threw a look at the laughing Arashi.

Hinata walked towards Naruto as far as she could without coming too close to the vortex of chakra, "Naruto-kun, can you hear me?! Naruto-kun!"

Arashi laughed louder and turned his towards the girl, looking at her with crazed eyes, "You should've seen the shock on his face...He just couldn't believe it."

Hinata gritted her teeth and glared at Arashi, "What did you do to him?!"

"Do...? No, I just undid something I did long ago...That's all." Arashi grinned wickedly at Hinata, "It will take some time before it will settle down, but by the time it does, it will have become mine. That power, that is...And..."

Hinata activated her Byakugan, searching for a weak spot in the vortex in hopes of getting Naruto of there but she found none.

"When I do, Naruto-kun will be dead." Arashi's grin grew wider as he stared expectantly at Hinata's face.

The girl gasped and her eyes trembled for a moment, causing Arashi to smirk, "That's right...That's the face I wanted to see."

Hinata lowered her head for a moment, "I see...Then there's still time to safe Naruto-kun...I'm happy..."

"Safe his life? This guy? You're even more naive than I thought." Arashi said laughing.

"While there's still time left, I'll kill you and safe Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she looked at Arashi with her soul-piercing Byakugan eyes.

"That's fine...Come and entertain me more while I wait for his life to fade away." Arashi grinned wickedly at Hinata.

The Hyuuga heiress took a deep breath and entered her Jyuuken pose again, before quickly changing it to a different one, "Hakke..."

"Asahi no Shobatsu!" Hinata let out. (A/N: Punishment of the Rising Sun.)

Arashi raised an eyebrow, "What the...? That jutsu is something I've never heard of..."

Hinata spun around once and her palms struck the air. A bright wave of chakra rose up from the ground, burning into Arashi's eyes.

"Heh...A flash of light won't defeat me, you naive little..." Arashi said as he stared at Hinata, but he cut his sentence off when he felt two strikes against his arms.

"That bitch...She's gotten faster...and with that light..." Arashi thought as he spun around, trying to find out from which direction Hinata was attacking.

Hinata attacked from every side however and no matter where Arashi turned, all he could see was Hinata standing in the midst of that blinding light while he was getting hit.

"This is it." Hinata said as she twirled both her hands back before thrusting both of her palms against Arashi's body. The blows of chakra that came out of her hand and were forced into Arashi's body made a few popping sounds before Arashi was thrown away by the force of the attack.

"Tsch..." Arashi let out as he laid down on the ground. He stood up, slightly hunching over and wiped the blood away from the corner of his mouth, "So you decided to not focus on pressure points this time, eh? However, your jutsu won't work a second time on me...I've already figured it out..."

"There's no need for a second time..." Hinata said as she charged towards Arashi. The Akatsuki leader laughed for a moment and then stood straight up with a grin on his face.

Hinata thrusted her palm forward, continueing her attack on the Akatsuki leader, but this time Arashi easily evaded her moves. The Hyuuga heiress threw attack after attack at him, but he simply kept evading all of them.

"Now this is fun." Arashi grinned widely, "Come on, just try to hit me already. Without that jutsu, you won't be able to."

"Why...? Why can't I hit him?" Hinata wondered as Arashi evaded her attacks, "My previous attacks should've torn up most of his muscles. Yet somehow..."

"Well, while you try oh so hard, allow me to explain to you what I've figured out about your previous attack." Arashi laughed as Hinata kept trying to hit him.

"That bright glowing wave of chakra along with your position is burned into my eyes for a while. Because of that, I won't be able to see your movements properly and thus I can't counter attack. However, you can't use this jutsu at close range or in any situation where you have comrades along with you. The latter is quite obvious, but I shall tell you why you can't use it at close range..." Arashi grinned wickedly, "It's because the movement that creates the wave of light leaves you open, right?"

"This guy..." Hinata thought as she bit her lip while Arashi kept evading her attacks.

"At a distance, your Byakugan allows you to see an attack coming towards you and allows you to alter the jutsu in time according to the attack. At close range, that movement won't allow you to dodge the counter attack. Geez..." Arashi smirked, "Back in my days jutsu used to be more complicated than that."

"This person...figured out Asahi no Bachi after experiencing it just once? Who in the world...?" Hinata looked into Arashi's eyes for a moment.

"What's wrong? Weren't you going to kill me and safe Naruto-kun?" Arashi laughed.

Hinata threw a quick glance towards Naruto, who was still trapped inside the vortex of chakra, and she then let out a battle cry as she turned back towards Arashi, "Haaaaa!"

Naruto looked at his empty white surrounding, "This place...Where the hell am I?"

Who answered him was none other than a laughing Kyuubi, "This the current state of your mind, Naruto."

"That's right! The seal...! Kyuubi! Where the hell are you, you bastard fox?!" Naruto shouted.

"You're the same as usual even in this state...As expected, I guess..."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Right now, your body will become my body..."

"What did you?! I'll never allow you to take over my body!"

"I already knew that from the beginning...However, with the seal broken and my entity and power free, this body of yours is something we'll have to fight over..."

"It's my body! I don't need to fight in order to keep it mine."

"Unfortunate for you, you have little choice but to fight...Naruto."

"I don't have the time for this, you bastard fox!" Naruto called out as he turned around, hoping to find the Kyuubi.

"On the contrary...You have plenty of time..."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, still unable to find the demon fox.

"Since time passes on an entirely different level here, you have plenty of time. Make no mistake though, unlike my chakra, your time isn't infinite."

Naruto gritted his teeth, "If you want to fight me at least show yourself."

"Before that...Allow me to show you something..."

Naruto blinked as he suddenly saw an image in front of him of Hinata dashing towards Arashi.

"Wh-what the?" Naruto let out as the image disappeared.

"That's what happening outside your body right now...You should understand already..."

"Understand what? If Hinata's still out there and fighting then I have all the reason in the world to hurry up and get back in control of my body!"

"At this rate, that girl will die." The Kyuubi stated and chuckled.

Naruto's eyes went wide and gasped, before he gritted his teeth and glared at the space in front of him, "Not while I'm alive."

"That's right...However, you won't be able to save her in your current state."

"Hurry up and show yourself then...I'll beat the crap out of you and save Hinata."

"Give me your body and I'll save the girl from Arashi."

"Show yourself, retarded fox...I'm not giving you my body..."

"Your body for the girl's life."

"I said, show yourself..."

"Your body!"

"Show yourself, Kyuubi!" Naruto roared and his white surroundings shattered and turned into darkness, the floor beneath his feeth covered with a small layer of water. In front of him appeared a person with long red hair appeared.

"Looks like you have not given up your will to fight." The Kyuubi said and turned around, "Unforunately, that's what you'll need here. This is not a fight of physical strength but of willpower. After all, you wouldn't stand a chance if you faced me physically."

"Eh?!" Naruto pointed at the Kyuubi and stared at the demon with shocked, wide eyes, "Y-You're a woman?!"

The Kyuubi laughed, "How do you like this body? I figured your resolve would weaken against a human female, so I assumed the form of a woman. Though, I didn't quite finish my make-up yet..."

Naruto twitched, "You're a demon fox! Not to mention you're using a male voice to talk in a female body! How would THAT weaken my resolve?! If you're going to pull a stunt like that, at least do it properly like I would!"

"Well..." The Kyuubi said and jumped up and down, the fox' chest bouncing up and down simultaneously, "I figured those would help a lot actually."

Naruto twitched and then smacked himself in his face, "I'm not Ero-Sennin...More importantly, start using a female voice if you're going to stay like that..."

"Then...How about this?" The Kyuubi asked.

Naruto looked up and noticed Kyuubi had transformed into Hinata, only with way more revealing clothing, if they still could be called that, "Naruto-kun...Please look at me..."

Naruto twitched and pulled himself away from the Hinata looking Kyuubi, "Wh-What the hell?! That won't work either!"

"What? Isn't she one of the girls you like?" The Kyuubi asked and chuckled.

"Of course she is! But you lack the cute part of Hinata that makes Hinata, Hinata!" Naruto pointed dramatically at the Kyuubi and as his eyes still twitched, he softly added, "Also...there's the scary male demon voice as well..."

"And this?" The Kyuubi asked before transforming into Temari.

"You lack Temari's bad ass and caring big sister attitude!"

"And this then?" The Kyuubi transformed into Tenten.

"You lack the sweet look Tenten has in her eyes!"

"Then...?"

"No! That won't work because..."

"What about...?"

"Gaaaah! How many times do you have to keep on trying?! That won't work either, since you didn't..."

The Kyuubi kept changing into different women for a while, with Naruto commenting on what he lacked while copying their physical appearances, until he eventually ended up transforming into Anko.

Naruto smacked himself in his face and took a deep breath before yelling at the demon fox again, "Will you just punch me in the face already?!"

"I see..." The Kyuubi replied and rubbed his chin in thought, "You have nothing to say about this form..."

Naruto gritted his teeth and shook his fist in anger for a moment before pointing at the demon fox in disguise and shouting, "You lack her pervertedness and her corrupted teacher aura! Also, you're not a n...ny...nympho..."

Naruto scowled and slightly twitched, "Damn it...I forgot what the word was again..."

"You mean, nymphomaniac?"

"Shut up, bastard fox! I'm thinking here!"

"So it's nymphomaniac after all...And I so am one as well."

"Gaaah...It's on the tip of my tongue..."

"Nym-pho-ma-ni-ac." The Kyuubi spelled out for Naruto, "And do you have any idea how hard it is for someone like me to be stuck inside of a kid's body?"

Naruto sat down and pondered, ignoring every single word the Kyuubi said. Until said demon's fist met the blonde's face and send him tumbling back.

Naruto stood up and rubbed with the back of his hand against his face once, "That was a cheap shot, you bastard fox."

The Kyuubi, who was now in his 'normal' female form again, narrowed his eyes upon Naruto, "That's for not letting me in on any action for fifteen years. You could've just dropped your trousers at any point in time and done a girl, but nooooo...You just had to keep your pants on, didn't you?!"

"Wh-what the hell..." Naruto let out as his eyes twitched.

"You're the worst prison ever!" The Kyuubi pointed at the blonde, "No porn! No one to force into submission! NOTHING! All I could do was drool endlessly whenever you looked at a girl or woman that was half decent!"

Naruto shivered, "You drooled inside my mind? That's nasty, even for you..."

"What? You think that endless layer of water in front of my cage was just water?"

"It...It wasn't?" Naruto backed away from the demon fox.

"It's mostly my saliva...mixed with some other things..."

Naruto twitched and pointed at the Kyuubi, "What the hell have you been doing inside me these 15 years?! I've heard of mentally fucking someone up, but this ridiculous!"

The Kyuubi grinned wickedly and emitted an even more wicked laughter before dashing over towards Naruto and punching him again.

"Wha-What the...?" Naruto thought as he stood back up, "This punch was insanely strong compared to the last one..."

"Time for talk is over, Naruto..." The Kyuubi chuckled, "And the time has come to make your body mine..."

Naruto grinned and clenched his fists, "You think so huh? Your Orochimaru act won't work though and I'll keep my body."

"We'll see about that..." The Kyuubi replied and grinned wickedly.

"This chakra..." Jiraiya let out as his eyes widened.

"No doubt about it..." Gamabunta said as he let out a puff of smoke, "That is the Kyuubi's chakra..."

"And in this large amount..." Jiraiya said, his eyes narrowing in the space on the space in front of him.

"What are you going to do, Jiraiya?" Gamabunta asked and threw his eyes back, as if to look at the white haired hermit.

"Hmph." Jiraiya smirked and closed his eyes, "Since it's come down to this, I have no choice but to unleash my wicked and ultimate cool form."

"That's right...Let's do it." Gamabunta said, letting out another puff of smoke before putting his pipe away.

"Haaaaaaaaaa..." An aura of energy surrounded him, his hair waving randomly through the upward wind created by the sudden increase in power.

He clenched his fists, the aura surrounding him started to emit lightning and it's color changed to a bright golden hue. He pulled his head back, his eyebrows evaporating into thin air and his hair growing all the way down to knee-length.

An explosion of power errupted from deep inside of him, the aura that surrounded him growing inmensely large in size. The aura blazed around him as he brought his hands together, power drawing to the palms of his hands.

The lightning raged around him, the attack he was building up increasing in strength by tremendous amounts each passing second. Then all of a sudden he stopped, the aura faded and he blinked, "What...What the...?"

"Goku! What are you doing?!" A chubby blue man with antenna's and a pair of shades let out as he threw his fists up and down in frustration, "You should've kept on charging your kamehameha until you reached it's maximum strength!"

"But, King Kai..." The orange clad hero known as Goku pointed forward and blinked again, "There's a bunch of folks here that look horribly confused and wonder why in the world they're here."

King Kai looked towards the direction Goku was pointing and straightened his shades, "Ah...I see. It seems they've wandered a bit too far away..."

"What are we going to do about them?"

"Let's send them back to where they should be."

"Alright then! I've got just the way to do it!" Goku said and brought his hands together again, "Kamehame...!"

"Goku! Goku! Wait!"

"What?" Goku blinked at the chubby blue King Kai.

"Can't you just use your instant transmission to place them back at the right spot instead of blasting them towards it?!"

"Oh..." Goku dropped out of his stance and blinked for a moment, "I guess that could work as well."

"Really...What were you thinking...?" King Kai sighed.

"Well then, guys and girls. It's time to send you back to where you should be." Goku said as he walked forward, "Honestly though, you weren't expecting another Super Saiyan spoof, now were you?"

Before the crowd could answer, Goku grabbed onto them and teleported them away.

A split second later, they were up high in the sky, above the battlefield that was on top of the mountain with the statues of the Hokage.

"Well, everyone...This is the place. Have fun and I'll see you all later." Goku placed his index and middlefinger to his forehead and said one last thing before teleporting away again, "Bye bye now."

Oriental drums were slowly being played as the view descended upon Jiraiya, who stood up from Gamabunta's head.

He started to hop on one leg for a few moments before striking a pose, "Let's do this indeed, Bunta!"

With a quick movement, he took of his bow-tie and dinner jacket and threw the two items of clothing up in the air. Which seemed to be a fast series of handseals, were in fact Jiraiya's fast hand movements unbuttoning the white shirt he wore under the dinner jacket and he pulled it open in a quite exagerated way.

The wind blew through his hair and shirt for a moment as he grinned, "My fifteen minutes of fame have finally started!"

The frog hermit flexed all his muscles for a moment and placed a hand on the scar on his stomach for a moment. He then put on his most bad ass look on his face and grinned widely, "Bunta...Let's go."

The frog boss chuckled for a moment before placing his hand on his katana and hopping towards their next destination.

"Not so fast, old man." Sasuke said as he and Manda crossed Jiraiya's path and blocked their way towards Naruto.

"You..." Jiraiya said as he narrowed his eyes at Sasuke.

"I know what you plan on doing and I won't let you do it." Sasuke said as he held his sword ready.

"Oh, is that so?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at the young Uchiha.

"You plan on going to Naruto and stop him from releasing all of his power." Sasuke stated and took a small step to the left on Manda's head, "Sorry, but I want to see all the power that clumsy idiot has."

"You're mistaken if you think you can stop me or think that is Naruto's power." Jiraiya said as he pointed with the palm of his hands towards Sasuke.

"Yeah, I already know...He draws that insanely huge chakra from the Kyuubi inside of him, right?" Sasuke eyed Jiraiya.

"When did you..."

"Orochimaru told me." Sasuke clarified.

Jiraiya smirked and momentarily closed his eyes, "Of course...However, you won't be able to stop me from reaching Naruto."

"We'll see about that..." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Jiraiya and activated his Sharingan.

"Sorry, but these are my fifteen minutes of fame!" Jiraiya shouted with a wide grin on his face, "Bunta! Give me some oil!"

"Alright!" Gamabunta let out as he leaned on his hindlegs, his stomach momentarily swelling.

"Oil?!" Sasuke let out as Gamabunta exhaled a large amount of oil and Jiraiya raced through a series of handseals.

"Katon!" Jiraiya turned around and smacked his rear end as Manda and Sasuke were being covered in frog oil, "Kiss-my-ass-if-you-think-I'll-waste-chakra-on-shrimps-like-you no jutsu!"

"What the hell, Jiraiya?!" Bunta tried to look at the white haired hermit, "You made me waste my oil for nothing?!"

"Now's not the time for talk, Bunta! We're going to run!" Jiraiya shouted.

"I understand already!" Bunta let out as he hopped onward.

However, after a hop or two, Bunta stopped in his tracks.

"Bunta, what's wrong?" Jiraiya asked as he looked at his frog summon.

"That bastard..." Bunta let out as he tried to move onward.

Jiraiya looked surprised, slightly ran back to look at Gamabunta's back and found Manda's oil covered tail was wrapped around Gamabunta's waist, "Shit!"

"Not so fast, Bunta!" Manda yelled as the thick layer of oil partly dripped off his face, "You're not going anywhere until you've given me at least a shiny new skin and a bowl of frog soup."

"You...You..." Sasuke twitched as the oil covered all but his eyes, "How dare you spit your dirty frog oil into my hair?!"

"Cry me a river, Uchiha brat!" Bunta yelled back at him as he pulled his katana out of it's sheath. He struggled a bit to turn around and in the end managed to turn about 45 degrees before raising his sword above his head, ready to strike Manda's tail.

Just as he swung his sword down towards the tail, Sakura and Katsuyu bashed into Sasuke and Manda, causing Manda to lose his grip on Gamabunta.

Gamabunta's sword, however, still pierced through the tail and pinned it to the ground.

"Damn it! Do you always have to stick that sword through me?!" Manda cried out.

"Sasuke-kun, your opponent is...!" Sakura said as she jumped onto Manda, only to slip on the oil and fall flat on her face, "Waaah!"

Sasuke smacked an oil covered hand in his face, "Sakura, you're even a bigger bother than usual..."

"Your opponent!" Sakura tried to stand up again, only to slip and fall back down.

"Is me!" Sakura jumped up and fell down again, this time punching Manda's head, making the snake shiver all over, "Damn it!"

"Oi! Brat! Watch out with the punches!" Manda yelled, "Skull fractures aren't exactly my favourite type of injury!"

"My, my...If only Naruto was here to see his girl roll through that oil..." Jiraiya chuckled as he watched the pink haired kunoichi try and try again to stand up.

When she was finally able to find her footing on the oil covered snake, she was mostly covered in oil as well.

"Geez...That oil...It's too slippery to be normal..." Sakura said as she glared towards Sasuke, though not directly at him.

Sasuke twitched, "Sakura...For the love of god, do something about the oil that's covering you...And stop interrupting my moment to make that white haired hermit pay for molesting my beautiful hair with this dirty oil."

"Looks like we'll have to finish this first, eh Bunta?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.

"Leave it to me. Hurry up and save Naruto." Gamabunta replied as he glared at Manda.

"Got it. I'll leave it in your care then." Jiraiya said as he began to run off Gamabunta.

"Not so fast, you rotten old man! You'll pay for what you've done!" Sasuke yelled as he raced through handseals, "Katon!"

"Eh?!" Sakura let out and quickly jumped back towards Katsuyu.

"Idiot! Don't! This oil is..." Manda shouted, but it was too late.

"Ryuuka no..."

Jiraiya froze at the sound of hearing flames ignite and turned his head partly around to look at Sasuke and Manda before heading onward, "Ooh...That's got to hurt..."

"Ah! It's burning! Burning!" Sasuke cried out as he and Manda dropped down and started rolling over the ground, Manda doing it as good as possible with his tail nailed to the ground.

"This all your fault, you freaking idiot!" Manda yelled, "Who the hell uses a katon jutsu when you're covered in oil?!"

"Like I knew it was flamable, you rotten snake!" Sasuke cried out.

Itachi watched the scene and rubbed his chin in thought, "It seems like I've been completely forgotten. Well, it looks like everything will be over soon..."

Manda rose up when the flames had been extinguished, "Damn...That hurt like hell. I'll be eating all of you because of the pain I've suffered...However..."

The giant snake turned towards Bunta and grinned as much as a snake could, "Your oil is good for my skin as always, Bunta. The new one came out and became all sparkly...You've got to tell me the secret of it sometime..."

"Oh, you want the secret, eh?" Bunta narrowed his eyes at Manda, "Then I shall tell you...Come closer..."

"Hm...You exactly going to tell me?" Manda asked as he moved his head towards Gamabunta.

"You know, part of it consists of all the tabacco that comes into my body every day and another part of it is because all the milk I drink...but the real secret ingredient is..."

Manda nodded a couple of times, "What is it?"

"It needs a good dosis of...Suiton: Teppoodama!" Gamabunta blew a giant ball of water out of his mouth and knocked Manda back.

"You bastard. That was a cheap shot." Manda hissed as he tried to get back up, only to be knocked back down by Gamabunta.

"Shut up, you snake bastard! Don't try to act all buddy-buddy with me!" Gamabunta shouted, "Teppoodama!"

"What are you going to do, Sakura-san?" Katsuyu asked the one who had summoned her.

"What do you mean?" Sakura blinked as she tried to get the oil off her.

"You're worried about Naruto-san, aren't you...?"

Sakura froze for a moment and then smiled softly, "Don't worry...Naruto can hold his own...and Jiraiya-sama is heading out to aid him."

"But Jiraiya-sama is..." Katsuyu slightly turned her head around to face the direction where Jiraiya headed off to.

Sakura peered into the distance and let out a small gasp as she saw the number of shinobi crossing Jiraiya's path. Even for one of the Legendary Sannin, it would probably take a while to mow path through all those shinobi. The pink-haired kunoichi slightly tilted her head up and looked towards the vortex of red chakra in the distance, "Naruto..."

"Sakura-san..." Katsuyu said.

"It can't be helped I guess...Katsuyu, I'm leaving this up to you." Sakura said as she began to run down the large snail's body.

"Be careful, Sakura-san."

"My, my..." Itachi stated as he watched Sakura leave, "I really have been forgotten. How unfortunate..."

"Like I'd ever forget about you...Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke said, his voice drowning in a tone of hatred.

"I knew it was too good to be true..." Itachi let his head hang and sighed before he threw a quick glance at his hands, "Very well, I still have some time to play with you, Sasuke."

Meanwhile, the battle raged forth between Hinata and Arashi.

"Why can't I hit him?" Hinata wondered as Arashi effortlessly dodged her attacks.

The Akatsuki leader smirked at the Hyuuga girl as he deflected and dodged her attacks, his eyes darting back and forth between her and Naruto.

"I must focus more...Harder...Faster...Stronger...For Naruto-kun's sake...For Naruto-kun's sake...I will...I will..." Hinata thought and her eyes flared with chakra, "I will definitely kill you!"

"There's no way someone of your level could kill me without the aid of someone like Naruto-kun...Give up and I'll spare you from living a life without your beloved." Arashi grinned wickedly at Hinata, "She's actually pushing her limits further and further as the fight progresses...Her will to fight for that guy's sake...It's quite impressive..."

"Never!" Hinata cried out as her attacks slowly became faster and stronger.

"Very well then..." Arashi replied, "Unnecessary injuries are a nuisance...I'd better finish this before she becomes good enough to actually land a few attacks..."

The Akatsuki leader raised his knee as Hinata charged forward with a punch, connecting it with her face before the punch ever came close enough to do any damage.

"Ugah!" Hinata let out as her head shot back from the impact.

Arashi didn't waste his momentum and grabbed onto the girl, pulling her towards him as he aimed with his knee for her stomach. The young Hyuuga heiress coughed up some blood.

"Is that really all you've got? Pathetic..." Arashi said before sending a powerful blow to the side of Hinata's head, sending her flying towards the vortex of red chakra.

Hinata rolled over the ground a couple of times before coming to an halt only a feet or two away from the vortex of demonic chakra.

"I was going to finish you off before Naruto-kun so you wouldn't have to see his suffering, but right now I'll let you live long enough to hear every scream of agony and pain from him." Arashi shrugged and slowly walked back towards the gigantic wooden statue, "Really...You should've chosen for the easy way out..."

"I...I can't..." Hinata pushed herself up from the ground, her arms and legs trembling and tears forming in her eyes, "I'm...I'm sorry, Naruto-kun...In the end...I couldn't do it..."

Hinata sniffled a bit before her arms couldn't hold her up anymore and she fell back down, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks, "In the end I wasn't strong enough to save you...This person...I can't defeat him without your help even though I know your life depended on me...I'm sorry..."

"I thought...that I could save you...Even if I had to give up my life to do so...I would do anything to trade places with you right now...I don't want to think about you dying..." Hinata tried her best to turn around to face Naruto and with a bit of effort she managed to look at the blonde, who was still trapped inside the vortex of chakra.

"Ten days ago...You suddenly asked me out on a d-d-date...I was surprised, but really happy as well...That night, for the first time I had a different kind of warm feeling in my chest...I'm sure it's what people call true happiness...For the first time, I was smiling and laughing with you, Naruto-kun...You held me in your arms and I could only pray to every deity in existence that you'd hold me like that forever...Then, a few nights after that, I gained more fond memories that I'd always cherish...That time in the club really hurt me, but in the end you were the one who got rid of my pain again...And yesterday's morning, I got my very first kiss from you...Even though there were some embarrassing moments...There's not a single moment that I spend with you that I do not treasure..."

Hinata reached out with her right arm towards Naruto as tears flowed freely from her eyes, "I love you, Uzumaki Naruto...Before now, from now on and forever...I love you with everything I've got..."

----Flashback no jutsu----

"Hinata, can you lie a bit closer to me?"

"A-Ah...! O-Of course..." Hinata replied and shyly scooted closer towards Naruto. Before she knew what happened however, she was lying in Naruto's arms and blushing brightly, "Na-Naruto-kun...?"

"Tonight's really nice, but it's also quite cold. I don't want you to get sick, you know." Naruto replied as he stroked through Hinata's long blueish hair.

The girl shivered out of happiness and laid one her hands on Naruto's chest, "I..."

"You like me doing this a lot, don't you?" Naruto grinned widely.

Hinata's face flared up and she slowly nodded, "Y-Y-Yes..."

"It's so peaceful right now..." Naruto grinned again, "I hope that by the end of tomorrow I can say that again."

"Na...ruto-kun...?"

"Ah, that's right. It's already after midnight..." Naruto stated as he helped Hinata sit up, "It's already Valentine's Day."

"A-Ah...I guess you're r-right, N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata said as she looked away.

"Ano..." Naruto and Hinata said at the same time.

Naruto smiled, "You first."

"N-No, you c-can go first, Naruto-kun..."

"No, I insist. Say what you want to before I do."

"E-Ehm...I...I'd rather have Na-Naruto-kun go first..."

Naruto smiled at her and slightly sighed as he closed his eyes, "Then, it can't be helped."

"Hinata, close your eyes for a moment."

"E-Eh? W-Why?"

"Well...I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow, so I wanted to give you a Valentine's present no matter what."

Hinata looked with wide eyes at Naruto as her hard started to race faster and faster.

"Well then, hurry up and close your eyes." Naruto smiled at Hinata and slightly leaned towards her.

"Y-Yes!" Hinata quickly let out and closed her eyes, trying to make her heart slow down a bit in the mean time.

"Happy Valentine's Day...Hinata." Naruto said and gave Hianta a kiss on her cheek. Hinata's eyes shot wide open and as she did, a bright red blush burned on her cheeks.

----End of Flashback no jutsu----

The Hyuuga heiress trembled for a moment as the moments she spend last night with her beloved Naruto flashed through her mind. Her trembling stopped a moment later and she slowly pushed herself up from the ground again, "That's right...There's no way...I could give up...ne Naruto-kun...?"

Arashi stopped in his tracks and turned around to take a look at the muttering Hyuuga girl, "Hm?"

"Naruto-kun...Naruto-kun is the only person I love...There's no way I could give up on him...Therefor...Therefor..." Hinata swayed from left to right as she tried to stand on her legs.

Arashi blinked for a moment before letting out a chuckle and taking a deep breath, "Stand up!"

Hinata froze for a moment and by the time the Akatuski leader's voice thundered through the air again, she pulled herself further up from the ground, "Stand!"

When was standing on both her legs again, she grabbed onto one arm when he roared again, "Stand up!"

"Stand up and face me!" Arashi shouted and Hinata turned her head around, her eyes trembling a tears still flowing out of her eyes.

"I will not allow you to take the person I love away from me!" Hinata replied to Arashi's shout.

The Akatsuki leader chuckled again and licked his lips, "Nice...I'll enjoy obliterating that determination of yours while I kill you."

Hinata charged forward, roaring as tears flowed from her eyes. Arashi mercilessly met her with the end of his fist and started to give her a relentless beating. After several punches, kicks and quite a bit of blood being spilled, Arashi grabbed Hinata by her throat and held her up in the air.

"I'll ask you properly again...You wish to die now or resist and wish die after Naruto's dead...?" Arashi asked as he tightened his grip around the Hyuuga girl's throat.

Hinata gritted her teeth and slowly rose her hands up, wrapping them around Arashi's wrists, "Let go of me..."

"So you chose to resist, huh...? Unfortunate that you chose to suffer more..." Arashi slightly lowered his head and narrowed his eyes at Hinata, "Don't worry...It won't be long before Naruto..."

His eyes went wide when Hinata let out a single word as loud as possible, "Jyuuken!"

"You little bitch...I told you that your attacks are useless against me..." Arashi said as he watched Hinata's chakra seep into his arm.

Hinata smiled slightly, "You really...think so...huh?"

"W-What the...?" Arashi let out as his arm began to form immensely large swellings in multiple places on his arm.

He quickly dropped Hinata to do the floor and stumbled back as his arm became big enough that all the veins in it were litterally pulsing on exterior of it.

Hinata supported herself with one hand and used the other to rub her sore throat as she watched Arashi's arm become larger than both of his arms combined.

"Jyuuken isn't a style that stops the opponents chakra...It's something that controlls it..." Hinata stated and smiled slightly, "You lose..."

"Uhaaaaaaaaa!" Arashi let out as a moment later his arm litterally exploded, covering the surrounding area in blood, skin and muscle tissue and pieces of bone.

Hinata slowly stood up again, 'Now I just...have to finish him off while he only has one hand..."

"Hah...Hahahaha!" Arashi laughed and grinned wickedly at Hinata, "Finish me off? Foolish girl. You can't kill me, I'm immortal."

"No one is immortal...I'll prove it to you..." Hinata said as she stood back up on her feet, "Definitely..."

"You'd wish..." Arashi let out as a red glow surrounded him and flared dangerously for a moment before moving entirely towards the spot where his arm had previously been.

Hinata thought she was going to be sick as the bone of his arm sudden reappeared, along with all the muscles, blood veins, tenketsu and skin a few moments later.

"No matter what you manage to destroy of my body...As long as I even partly live, I will continue to exist." Arashi grinned wickedly at Hinata.

"N-No way...H...How did you..." Hinata was shocked to find Arashi's arm entirely back.

"Really though...You've done it now...I've got no other choice but to do this..." Arashi said as he placed his freshly regenerated arm on his other arm and started to pull on it.

"A-Ah! Don't!" Hinata quickly covered her eyes and flinched as she could hear a tearing sound coming from Arashi's direction.

"There...much better..." Arashi said with a grin on his face as he casted the sleeve of his Akatsuki robe off.

"Y-You're...sick..." Hinata said as she rubbed over her own arms, "Pulling off your own arm...That's just..."

"Huh?" Arashi raised an eyebrow, "I did what now?"

"You just pulled off your other arm and regenerated a new one, didn't you?"

"O-Oi...W-Who the hell would do that?" Arashi twitched.

"Then why did you...?" Hinata didn't even dare look in front of her, not wanting to see any randomly ripped off limbs.

"A robe with only one sleeve isn't cool. Honestly, you made me rip off the other one in order for me to remain cool and awesome..." Arashi crossed his arms.

Hinata slowly looked up at Arashi and indeed found that he had only torn his sleeve off so that he'd have a sleeveless Akatsuki robe.

She let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness..."

"Says the one who just blew up one of my arms..." Arashi replied nodding before narrowing his eyes on Hinata, "But you've truly done it now...I'll enjoy tearing you limb from limb..."

Hinata gasped as Arashi dashed towards her and threw a punch. To her great surprise, the punch never reached her and she even heard that it had collided with something or someone else.

The Hyuuga heiress blinked her eys for a moment and then tilted her head, trying to figure out who was standing in front of her.

"Who the hell are you?" Arashi asked as he slightly jumped back.

"Konoha's Noble Green Beast..."

"His younger brothers!"

"Maito Gee!"

"And Maito Laim!"

"Anti-Pervert Security! Back in action!" The two of them yelled simultaneously.

"A-Anti-Per..." Arashi smacked himself in his face and twitched, "Aren't you just two big lumps of muscles that blocked my swift punch in order to save that girl's life...? You've chosen the wrong title for yourselves..."

"Are you alright, miss?" Gee asked as he turned his head around to face Hinata.

"Y-Yes...W-Who..." Hinata blinked at the humongous men, who in front of her.

"Good to hear so! Looks like it's another succesful job!" Laim exclaimed and grinned widely, his teeth sparkling in the sun.

"Definitely, Aniki! We've saved the girl that is related to one of onii-sama's students!" Gee said and grinned just as wide as his brother.

"Ano..." Hinata let out as the two men laughed heartily.

"And we'll make sure he won't be able to inflict further harm upon her, ne Aniki?" Laim said and grinned even wider.

"Excuse me..." Hinata rose her arm up and waved slowly at the two brothers as they laughed even louder this time.

"Hm? Is something wrong, miss?" Gee and Laim asked as they looked at Hinata.

"Just exactly who are you two people? And...you aren't shinobi, are you?" Hinata slightly tilted her head and inspected the two men as much as she could.

The Maito brothers' mouths hung open and they gasped at the Hyuuga heiress for a moment or two.

"A-Aniki!"

"Aniki!"

"This young lady doesn't know who we are!" Laim exclaimed as he clutched onto his brother.

"She doesn't know us even the slightest bit! How cruel! Our perfect comeback was in front of someone who doesn't even know us!" Gee clutched onto his brother and both of them cried out loud, "Our grand comeback was a failure!"

"Tsch..." Arashi spit on the floor and took a step forward, the two brothers instantly stopped crying and hugging each other.

"I have to admit, you two have a lot of guts for non-shinobi folk to face me..." Arashi slightly spread his legs to gain a better footing on the ground.

"We've got a whole lot more than just guts, you pervert." Gee said as he and his brother gained a better footing themselves as well and formed their massive hands into fists.

"That's right...Aniki and I will show you that it isn't just shinobi in this world who can fight...Our 'taijutsu' is more than strong enough...to take any pervet out, such as yourself." Laim added as a gentle breeze blew past them.

"P...Pervert...You two are calling me a..." Arashi twitched and then took a deep breath, "Looks like I'll need to teach you two to respect your superiors, you bunch of brats..."

"Little lady..." gee slightly turned his head to face Hinata, "Recover your strength and try to help Naruto-dono out...Leave this guy to Aniki and me..."

"D-Don't! He's insanely strong! If you fight him, you'll be...!" Hinata tried to cry out, but the Maito brothers' voices drowned her own voice out.

"Did you hear that, Aniki?"

"Yeah, she's underestimating our strength."

"What shall we do about it?"

"It's obvious, isn't it..." Laim said and slammed his fists against each other, "We'll just have to beat the crap out of this guy to prove her otherwise."

"My thoughts exactly, Aniki." Gee slammed his fists against each other just like his brother did, "Let's go!"

The two brothers charged towards the Akatsuki leader, who just stood still and smirked, "They really are underestimating me..."

Maito Gee and Maito Laim roared as they started to throw explosive punches at Arashi.

"Bring it on, you pervert!" Gee and Laim exclaimed as they simultaneously threw a punch at the Akatsuki leader.

Arashi just smirked, leaped up and pushed their fists towards the ground. However, that became something he partly regretted as the entire ground beneath him shook tremendously.

"Impressive strength..." Arashi narrowed his eyes at the brothers, "But strength alone won't allow you to win or even so much as harm your opponent."

"We already..."

"Know that!"

The two brothers spun around and flanked the Akatsuki leader, both sending another powerful punch at him, "Double Maito Punch!"

Arashi ducked, but he could feel the impact of one fist against the other shake through his body nonetheless, "These two really are powerhouses...However, that's all they are..."

"Double Maito Kick!" Gee and Laim threw their legs up, both aiming a kick at his face.

The Akatsuki leader quickly placed his hands on their legs and pushed himself up, kicking the two brothers in their face before launching himself up in the air.

As Gee and Laim stumbled back from the hit, Arashi completely disappeared from their line of sight. He reappeared next Gee and kicked him towards brother before using Shunshin no jutsu to do the same to Laim.

The two brothers crashed into each other and Arashi flexed his muscles, "Strength alone won't bring me down...In a fight, speed is needed in combination with your strength."

"I...I should help them out...But...right now, I'm..." Hinata thought as she watched the two gigantic man stand back up on their feet.

"Oi, this guy has a pretty nice kick, ne Aniki?" Gee wiped the back of his hand across his jaw.

"Yeah, looks like we can't be lazy this time." Laim replied and grinned widely.

"Come...The longer you take to attempt to defeat me, the closer I get to my victory..." Arashi taunted as he smirked at the two brothers.

"Let's go!" Gee and Laim roared as they ran towards Arashi.

Hinata slightly trembled as she watched the fight go on, partly because of the Maito brothers' punches being redirected towards the ground and partly because she was having trouble with sitting straight up due to exhaustion.

"At this rate...At this rate...those two will die..." Hinata thought as she watched Arashi take on the two giants without even breaking a sweat, "I've got to think of something...That guy...he must have some weakness...He must..."

Hinata took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to analyse everything that happened in her battle against the Akatsuki leader.

"He's too fast to catch. He leaves nothing open in his defense after performing an attack and even if he gets wounded, he'll just regenerate...In other words...there's only one way to kill this person..." Hinata opened her eyes and looked at Arashi again, "Destroy his heart using an attack that's unescapable no matter where he tries to run...but with his speed, such an attack would have to be insanely huge...or just as fast..."

"You two have impressive taijutsu..." Arashi said as he effortlessly evaded Gee and Laim's attacks, "However, any move that is unable to hit it's target is useless..."

"Damn..." Laim breathed deeply in and out as they took a break from their assault, "This guy sure knows how to run, eh Aniki?"

"Yeah...He's so slippery, it's not even funny anymore..." Gee said, trying to regain his breath just like his brother.

"What's that? Tired already? You weren't even able to land a single punch on me..." Arashi shrugged and grinned wickedly, "You guys will kill yourselves at this rate..."

"Hehe...Looks like it's time to take out 'that', ne Aniki?" Gee grinned at his brother.

"It can't be helped...I'd prefer not using 'it' to win, but right now...I guess there's no other way." Laim grinned back at his brother and brothers' teeth sparkled for a moment.

"What are you two mumbling about? Hurry up and come at me...Or I'll be taking my turn to inflict pain upon the two of you again..." Arashi said as he clutched his fists.

"Let me tell you this, you red haired pervert." Gee said and pointed dramatically towards Arashi.

"I'm telling you, I'm not a..." The Akatsuki leader rose his fist up in the air and twitched.

"We are indeed no shinobi, but there's one shinobi technique we do know..." Laim said and pointed towards Arashi as well.

"Hm?" Arashi stared icily towards the two brothers and raised an eyebrow, "Bunshin no jutsu or any of the like won't save you from defeat."

"Let's do this, Aniki!"

"Alright, Aniki!"

"Anti-Pervert Security!" Laim exclaimed as both he and his brother bit one of their thumbs.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Gee exclaimed as the two brothers raced through the handseals as fast as they could.

"A kuchiyose no jutsu..." Arashi narrowed his eyes, "What the hell could those imbeciles summon..."

"Come forth!" The two brothers shouted in unison as they both placed their hands on the ground.

"Aki-chan!" Laim said as a puff of smoke appeared in front of him.

"Aya-chan!" Gee said after his brother as a puff of smoke of the exact same size appeared in front of him.

The smoke slowly began to clear up, the first thing that was revealed was a pair of pink and a pair of white bunny ears.

Next, the smoke revealed red hair underneath the pink ears and green hair underneath the white ones. After that, buns of the colors matching the color of their ears appeared. When all of the smoke had cleared up, two cute little girls in bunny suits were revealed.

"What...What the...?" Arashi rose an eyebrow at the two little girls, "...They summoned...a pair of little girls in bunny suits...didn't they?"

"Aki-chan! Aya-chan!" The Maito brothers bowed down before the two bunny girls, "Please help us out!"

"Hai, hai..." Aki-chan, the red haired pink bunny girl, patted the two brothers on their head, "Leave it up to us."

"That guy is the bad guy, right?" Aya-chan, the green haired white bunny girl, said as she pointed towards Arashi.

"Dummy, haven't you been paying attention?" Aki-chan knocked Aya-chan on the back of her head, "Of course that's the bad guy."

Hinata blinked and slightly tilted her head, "Why...Why did they summon little girls into the battle...More importantly...why are they dressed like that?"

The Hyuuga heiress watched the two bunny girls calmly walk over towards Arashi. She gritted her teeth and knew that she couldn't let things go on like this, "Stop! Run away! He'll kill you two!"

Aki-chan and Aya-chan stopped and they partly turned around, smilied at Hinata and then continued onward towards Arashi. When they were only a few feet away from the Akatsuki leader, they looked up and stared into Arashi's eyes.

"Oi, little girls...I have no intention of killing children unless they become a bother..." Arashi twitched as he looked at the little girls, "Run away while you still can..."

"This person is really underestimating us, ne Aki-chan?" Aya-chan asked as she tilted her head.

"Uh-huh...He's a bigger dummy than you are." Aki-chan said nodding.

"But I'm not a big dummy so that means..." Aya-chan replied.

"Well, I guess that's right..." Aki-chan nodded again.

"You know, for something that is supposed to defeat me, you two sure as hell are taking your time..." Arashi said as he kneeled down to look at them from their own height, "Didn't you know that I'm just biding my time here until it's time for me to start my diabolical plan?"

"Oh yeah, that's right." Aki-chan placed a finger against her chin and tilted her head.

"But so are we, right Aki-chan?" Aya-chan tilted her head as well.

"If we're all going to bide our time, I will become incredibly bored...Not to mention I'd have won long before you two do..." Arashi raised an eyebrow, "Whatever way you want to attack me, hurry up and do it. Just don't think you'll be able to kick me in the nuts, because I'll make you regret thinking such a thing."

"No, that's not our plan at all..." Aya-chan slightly frowned.

"Who's battleplan would consist of something like that?" Aki-chan raised an eyebrow at Arashi and crossed her arms.

Arashi sighed and slightly growled, "Then care to enlighten me what the battleplan of you two shrimps consists of?"

"Itachi and Kisame." Aya-chan looked blankly into Arashi's eyes.

Arashi twitched and slightly shivered, "...Itachi and Kisame?"

Aki-chan seemed to ponder for a moment before nodding once, "Itachi and Kisame and a bed."

Arashi stood back up and twitched again, "Wha...What the hell? More importantly...why the hell am I seeing such weird..."

"Itachi and Kisame and a bed and..." Aya-chan slightly tilted her head again, "Sixtynine."

Arashi placed a hand in front of his mouth and started to shiver, "Ugh...I think I'm going to throw up...A genjutsu, eh?"

"Aya-chan, what should pick next?" Aki-chan asked her partner as Arashi slightly stumbled back.

Aya-chan slightly blushed and fidgeted and then nodded once, "It has to be Sasori and his puppets."

"Oooh! Nice one!" Aki-chan grinned widely at Aya-chan.

Arashi twitched and glared at the little girls, "What's this insane level of genjutsu...Even I can't break it...Those little brats are using genjutsu on Itachi's level..."

"Ooh! Let's throw in Orochimaru!" Aki-chan said energetically.

The Akatsuki leader's eyes widened as he continued to twitch, "There has to be a way to break this...They didn't use handseals and their eyes don't have any special techniques...How the hell..."

"Double Maito Punch!"

"Crap!" Was the only thing able to run through Arashi's mind before his face met two fists and he was flew back a couple of meters before he could stand on his feet again.

"Nice going, Aki-chan and Aya-chan." Gee said as his teeth sparkled.

"Your powers are to be feared as always." Laim's teeth sparkled as well.

"Aki-chan, could you go help out that little missy over there as much as you can? Aniki, Aya-chan and myself will handle this guy from here on out." Gee stated.

"I got it. I'll leave it up to you guys." Aki-chan said before hurrying over to Hinata.

"Geez...You guys are underestimating me..." Arashi said as he wiped with the back of his hand over his face and spat on the ground.

"I'd say that's our line, ne Aniki?" Laim stated and grinned widely.

"Yeah. Let's show him what we're made of, Aniki." Gee grinned just as wide as his twin brother.

"Are you alright, Hinata-chan?" Aki-chan asked as she was nearing Hinata.

"Y-Yes...I think so..." Hinata blinked at the little girl, "H...How did you know my name?"

"I just did." Aki-chan grinned widely at the Hyuuga heiress.

"Is that so...?" Hinata tilted her head and wondered for a moment if she had met the girl, who stood before her, in the past.

"Anyway, you've got to gather your strength and ready yourself for more fighting!" Aki-chan said as she tried to pull Hinata back up to her feet.

"But you two are doing so well against him...I've never seen a jutsu that has such a strong effect and doesn't even require handseals...Could it be that it's some sort of doujutsu?" Hinata wondered out loud.

"It isn't a jutsu, it's just mental images that we're implanting into his mind." Aki-chan grinned widely again at Hinata, "Normally we give lots and lots of good images, but since he's a bad person we gave him scary images."

"M...Mental images?" Hinata looked with an expression of utter confusion at the bunny girl.

"Ehm...Here, I'll show you! Don't worry, I promise it won't be anything bad." Aki-chan winked at Hinata and then cleared her throat.

Hinata blankly stared at the bunny girl for a couple of moments as the little girl seemed to be deep in thought.

"Ah! I know!" Aki-chan hit with her fist in her open hand, "Naruto and Hinata."

"E-Eh?" Hinata slightly blushed as a certain image crossed her mind.

"Quite impressive, isn't it?" Aki-chan grinned wickedly at Hinata.

"Y...You...How did you...?" Hinata looked with wide eyes at the girl before her.

"Aya-chan and I are plotbunnies! It's what we do!" Aki-chan flashed a smile at Hinata, "Our creator forgot about us, so he kind of felt bad and gave us something to do here, even though all of it is just to stretch things out a bit!"

"Eh?" Hinata slightly tilted her head and blinked at Aki-chan.

"But nevermind that! Here have another free mental to soothe your mind!" Aki-chan said cheerful and then winked slyly at Hinata, "Mature Naruto and Hinata..."

Hinata's face flushed bright red and she started to wobble back and forth as she mumbled a whole lot of something that could only be described as words that were no longer words.

"A-Ah! I'm sorry!" Aki-chan said as she shook Hinata back and forth, "Think about the battle in front of us again! Think about the battle!"

Hinata shook her head and, even though most of the red blush on her face had faded away, a slight blush remained on her face, "U-Uhm...That...That was..."

"Our power." Aki-chan said smiling, before leering and grinning wickedly at the Hyuuga heiress, "Now just imagine what happens when we use them for bad things, ehehehehe..."

Hinata smiled sheepishly and scratched her cheek, "I don't really want to imagine..."

"Anyway, I'm hear to explain our battle plan to you." Aki-chan closed her eyes and nodded.

"And that is...?"

"We're going to buy Naruto-kun some time. Aya-chan and I already know that we won't be able to defeat that guy, but we just need to make sure that he can't finish what he started any time soon." Aki-chan nodded again, "It won't be long before you must take over for us and defend Naruto-kun for as long as possible. That being said, I'm off to help Aya-chan."

"W-Wait!" Hinata let out as the bunny girl ran off to meet up with the others.

"Hmmm..." Aya-chan, the other bunny girl, let out as she sat on the ground and pondered while the Maito brothers were punching and kicking the Akatsuki leader again.

"How's it going, Aya-chan?" Aki-chan asked the girl.

Aya-chan frowned, "I'm running out of ideas...Either he's too strong or those two are too weak..."

"We're not weak!" The Maito brothers yelled in unison.

"Well, that's all right. We knew that it would be impossible for us to beat him." Aki-chan said nodding.

"But, you know..." Aya-chan's scowl deepened, "I wanted to at least kick his ass a bit more than this..."

"Awww...Cheer up!" Aki-chan patted Aya-chan on her head, "Now come on, it's time to complete our assault."

"Do we have too?"

"People are probably already getting mad for us suddenly appearing. We'd do best to get the hell out of here before they send a mob after us..."

"Alright. Let's do this then!" Aya-chan said cheerful as the two bunny girls started to run towards the Maito brothers.

"Aniki! It looks like this will be our final attack!" Gee exclaimed as Arashi crawled back up again, his eyes twitching as he looked at the brothers.

"Aniki, you're right! We'd better make sure it's a doozy!" Laim raised his fist up in the air.

"Heh...Bring it on, you pieces of crap..." Arashi said with a grin on his face.

Just then, Aki-chan and Aya-chan jumped over the Maito brothers and soared through the air towards Arashi.

"Prepare yourselves, you two! It's now or never!" Aki-chan shouted at the Maito brothers.

"Gotcha!" They replied and struck the nice-guy pose.

"Akatsuki harem!" Aki-chan pointed towards Arashi, who looked with wide eyes at her.

Aya-chan tok a deep breath and then pointed towards Arashi as well, "Without the girl, whose name is still a mystery Aki-chan and me!"

"That's the sign, Aniki!"

"Let's go, Aniki!"

The Maito brothers took a quick sprint towards Arashi and readied their fists as together they shouted, "Ultimate Doozy Anti-Pervert Cool Maito...!"

They thrust their fists towards the Akatsuki leader with explosive strength, "Crushaaaaaa!"

Arashi smirked, lifted his arms up and stopped the punches the Maito brothers threw at him long before they could have inflicted damage on him.

"What the...?" Gee let out as he tried to pull his hand free from Arashi's grasp.

"How did he break through their technique?" Laim wondered out loud.

"Hehe...It seems like..." Arashi smirked and looked at the two Maito brothers, "My sensei's books are more powerful than those mental images. Recalling the scenes from Icha Icha Paradise completely destroys the images those little brats insert into my mind..."

"N-No way!" Laim let out and gasped.

"I knew he was a super-pervert!" Gee exclaimed.

Arashi twitched, "That's wrong! You're supposed to say 'Oh my god! He broke free from that technique simply by recalling scenes from his sensei's book! Such impressive skill!' or the like!"

"No...It's not impressive at all..." Laim waved dismissively at Arashi with his free hand.

"Catching our fists, that was impressive. All the talking and stuff you do, isn't." Gee said nodding.

Arashi stepped away from the Maito brothers and walked away, rubbing the temples of his head, "All I want is world domination. That's all I'm asking for. Is it that hard to avoid all the hassle that I have to go through right now? Really..."

"Oi...He just released us, didn't he Aniki?" Gee raised an eyebrow and looked at his brother.

"Yeah, Aniki...He did..." Laim said nodding.

After a moment of silence the two of them ran towards Arashi again and yelled, "Attack!"

Arashi disappeared and reappeared behind the Maito brothers, who froze on their spot.

"Sorry, but playtime is now truly over." Arashi said and the Maito brothers fell to their knees.

"Aniki...Did you see him?" Gee's eyes trembled out of surprise.

"Aniki...I didn't see him." Laim replied.

"I thought I could have some fun before entering the next stage of my plan, but I've been messing around too much." Arashi stated as he took a step forward, "However, it looks like I can finally obtain my full power again. In other words, the massacre starts here...starting with..."

The Akatsuki leader tilted his head and looked at the two bunny girls, "You two little brats."

"Hey! What did we do to you?!" Aya-chan yelled at Arashi.

"Dummy...Did you forget already?" Aki-chan hit Aya-chan on her head.

"But even so..." Aya-chan frowned, "Why us first?"

"The talking ends here." Arashi said as his hands shifted through a couple of handseals, "There's no real point for me to stall anyway. I can just kill all of you and complete my plan."

"Aniki! That guy's going to...!" Laim said as he turned around to look at the bunny girls.

"I know...!" Gee replied.

"Sorry for the wait..." Arashi said as he rose his arm, lightning surrounding it and shooting from one point on his arm to another, "The mortal God of Death has come to take your lives."

"Aki-chan!" Aya-chan let out as she clutched onto the other girl.

"I know...Mission complete." Aki-chan replied as she placed a hand on Aya-chan's head.

"Raiton..." Arashi said and for a moment the lightning surrounding his arm disappeared, "Haishi no jutsu!" (A/N: Technique of Abolishment)

Lightning shot off his arm, wavered in the air for a moment before racing towards the two girls.

"No if we can help it, ne Aniki?!" Gee exclaimed as he and his brother dashed past Arashi.

"We'll protect them! Because we're the...!" Laim exclaimed.
"Anti Pervert Security!" The two of them shouted as loud as they could as they threw themselves in front of the lightning bolts.

The impact of the lightning bolts caused an explosion that send the four of them flying off into the air.

"Hmph..." Arashi let out as the Maito brothers and the bunny girls disappeared into the distance, "It looks like those little brats were able to manipulate my technique to help them escape...Well, I'll let that slip for the time being..."

Hinata stood back up and took a few deep breaths. She knew she wouldn't last long, but she also knew that she'd had to protect Naruto with everything she had.

Arashi tilted his head and looked at Hinata, "And then there's you...I'm still a kind man, so I'll ask you one more time..."

"There's nothing to be asked..." Hinata replied as she narrowed her eyes at Arashi, "More importantly...why did you suddenly change in behaviour?"

"The reason is quite simple..." Arashi smirked and closed his eyes. He opened them a moment later again and stared straight into Hinata's eyes, "I'm tired of restraining myself and let lowlifes such as yourself think they can be on par with me."

Hinata took a few deep breaths again, "In other words, you're acting tough in hopes of intimidating your opponents...Am I right?"

"Hmph...As expected of a Hyuuga...Even arrogant when they barely have strength left to stand up straight..." Arashi smirked and closed his eyes again, "But like I said, I'll ask you one more time. Run away and save your own life from certain death or stay to protect your beloved Naruto-kun and face that certain death."

"I'm...not going to abandon Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she shifted into her Jyuuken pose, "I'll fight for my most precious person until my last breath."

"Tsch..." Arashi let out, "Face your death then, foolish child."

The Akatsuki leader flashed over towards Hinata, grabbed onto her throat and rose her up from the ground. Hinata tried to wrap her hands around Arashi's arm again, but a blow to her stomach from Arashi's fist prevented that.

"Even though I can regenerate my arm as often as I want, don't think I enjoy losing it..." Arashi said as he tightened his grip on Hinata's neck. The Hyuuga heiress let out a gasp and tried her best to think of something to get her out of this situation.

"Don't worry, I won't strangle you to death." Arashi reassured her, "I'll give you a fate far worse than that...I'll poison you with the power that had been sealed inside your Naruto-kun and watch you slowly wither away."

"Naruto-kun...I'm sorry...In the end...I couldn't protect you after all..." Hinata thought as her sight slowly faded away.

"Hm?" Arashi looked towards his feet as he felt a cold breeze run past his leg. He released Hinata from his grip, the young Hyuuga heiress instantly gasped for air, and he flashed away just before a fierce wind reached the spot he had been standing on.

"Geez...I ask you to take care of Naruto and this is how you end up? Really...Next time I should just go myself..."

Hinata looked up at the girl who was now standing in front of her, her four blonde tails slightly waving in the wind, "Te...mari...san?"

"Save your breath. It looks like you could use it." Temari said as she looked over her shoulder at Hinata.

"Be careful...This person...isn't your average opponent." Hinata said between breaths.

Temari looked over to the vortex of red chakra and at Naruto who was stuck inside of it before she looked at Arashi, "I take it that's your doing."

"And what if it is, little lady?" Arashi took a step forward.

"Let me tell you..." Temari snapped her fan open and placed it in front of her, "Those who hurt the people I care about are repaid the pain a hundred fold."

"Hmmm...Such desire to fight...I like it." Arashi said as he flexed his muscles, "Let's see if you can entertain me. Make no mistake, though...I'll definetely kill every single one of you."

"Quit talking big and start showing what you're made of." Temari said as she threw her fan slightly up and caught it with a single hand.

The Akatsuki leader smirked and then flashed out of sight.

"Haaa!" Temari let out as she waved her fan once, gusts of wind immediately rising up from the ground and creating a barrier of wind around Temari and Hinata.

Arashi stopped and reappeared a couple of feet in front of the barrier of wind, smirking at the sight of the two girls inside of it, "Hmph...Pretty impressive defense..."

"Hinata..." Temari looked from the corners of her eyes at the Hyuuga heiress, "Hurry up and give me a quick heads-up on this situation."

"Y-Yes." Hinata said as she looked up towards the wind mistress and gulped.

"As you can see, he's insanely fast. Not only that, but he seems to have quite an arsenal of techniques at hand. Also, he's able to use his chakra to regenerate entire body parts." Hinata paused for a moment, momentarily thinking about if there was something else, "He plans to extract Naruto-kun's hidden power, which will kill Naruto-kun in the progress."

"I see...Is that all?" Temari asked as she looked towards Arashi again.

"Pr...Probably..." Hinata replied and looked away.

"He's trying to do the same to Naruto as those Akatsuki bastards did to my little brother..." Temari said and took a small step forward, "I won't let them go as far with Naruto as they did with Gaara."

"H-Ha...Hachoo!" Gaara sneezed and then rubbed with a single finger under his nose, "...Did I catch a cold?"

"Oi..." Kimimaro said.

Gaara looked up and blinked up for a moment at Kimimaro.

"You just sneezed all over my face..." Kimimaro stated and pointed towards his own face.

Gaara looked at Kimimaro's face and nodded, "That I did...That I did indeed..."

"What do you plan on doing about it...?" Kimimaro narrowed his eyes at the Kazekage.

"...Halve the costs of this counseling session...?" Gaara said and looked about.

Kimimaro looked at the couch he was sitting on and then at Gaara again, "...Damn it all."

"Temari-san..." Hinata said and slowly stood up again.

"Just rest and regain your strength...Don't worry, I won't let him kill Naruto." Temari stated.

"But, he's probably completely above your level as well. At this rate..." Hinata scowled and looked with worried eyes at Temari.

Temari turned her head so she could face Hinata and grinned at the girl, "That didn't stop you from protecting Naruto, now did it?"

Hinata gasped and then smiled softly at Temari, "That's right...Then..."

"Give him a beating that he'll never forget." Hinata said and slightly smirked at Temari, "Be sure to leave something left for me though."

"Heh...That's not like you." Temari said as faced Arashi again, "I'll have to disappoint you though..."

"When I'm done with him..." Temari narrowed her eyes at the Akatsuki leader, who seemed to watch the two of them with amusement.

"What's wrong? Scared of attacking me?" Arashi taunted.

"His remains will be close to nothing..." Temari whispered as she clutched onto her fan.

"Dai Kamaitachi no jutsu!" Temari called out as she waved her fan.

The sickling winds raced towards Arashi as the wind barrier shattered and left clean cuts on the ground below them.

Arashi smirked and jumped up, the wind racing underneath his feet, "Too slow."

"Who is too slow?" Temari asked.

Arashi looked up and found the wind mistress from Suna above him. A moment later, more gusts of wind raced towards him as Temari waved her fan again.

"Stop joking around...Did you think that would work?" Arashi let out before flashing out of harm's way.

Temari slightly turned her body and repositioned her fan before sending another wind attack towards the ground below. The wind split into four directions just a big above Hinata and covered the surrounding area.

Arashi stood on top of his summoned statue and watched the winds rage in all four directions.

"She's using her moves to attack and defend at the same time...That's a nice strategy..." Arashi thought as he kneeled down and stared into Temari's eyes as she landed in front of Hinata and looked towards him, "But if you can't hit your opponent, you're just wasting your chakra on defending yourself from possible attacks."

"Hurry up and get down here." Temari said, switching her fan from her right side to the left, "Or are you scared of my attacks?"

Arashi smirked and leaped down, landing a few feet in front of the statue, "Quite arrogant, aren't you? Talk all you want...The longer you wait, the less chance you have of saving Naruto-kun...Not that you had any chance to start with..."

Temari gritted her teeth and waved her fan again, sending another tunnel of wind towards Arashi. The Akatsuki leader quickly formed a couple of handseals as the wind raced towards him, "Ha!"

The wind mistress narrowed her eyes as her attack was nullified by the former Fourth Hokage. She then looked at the statue behind Arashi, "...I see."

"That attack was pretty weak..." Arashi said as he let his arms hang freely beside his body, "Don't tell me you are already growing tired..."

"Who would become tired from just that?! Haaaa!" Temari cried out as she send three waves of wind towards Arashi.

The Akatsuki leader smirked as he quickly formed a couple of handseals again, "Katon! Goukakyou no jutsu!"

Temari's eyes went wide when she saw the huge ball of fire that raced towards them become even bigger as it absorbed her wind attacks, "Shit!"

She quickly threw her fan back and changed her footing so she wouldn't be knocked back by her own technique, "Kirerukaze no jutsu!" (A/N: Technique of the Cutting Wind, not that it's not the same as Kamaitachi, Cutting Whirlwind)

A single wave of wind flew incredibly fast through the air as Temari waved her fan and headed straight for the fireball.

Wind and fire met each other soon after and engaged in a struggle for supremacy. However, the struggle didn't last long and the wind cut straight through the fireball destroying it and itself in the process.

"Oh?" Arashi let out after the attacks had vanished into thin air, "Quite impressive strength you placed in that attack. Well, it still..."

Before the Akatsuki leader could finish his line, more blasts of wind were heading his way. He flashed to safety, but Temari kept relentlessly attacking him and thus Arashi was left with little choice than to dodge her attacks for the time being.

"Her reflexes are quite good...Shame she doesn't realise that I could end it any time I wish to..." Arashi thought as he headed from one place to another.

"Tsch...This guy is damned fast...So far he has dodged all my attacks..." Temari thought as she kept launching wave after wave of chakra-imbedded whirlwinds, "But he's not trying to come closer to me. So far his distance from me has been the same no matter where he went. He must be scared of not having enough time to dodge an attack at point zero range..."

Temari narrowed her eyes on the gigantic statue. Her whirlwinds might have been missing her opponent, but the statue wasn't as lucky and took hits from what was left of the whirlwinds when they reached it.

"Alright...It looks like he hasn't noticed that yet...But something's wrong..." Temari thought as she tried to follow Arashi with her eyes as she lashed out more cutting winds, "He's been dodging even when he's able to at least perform a single counter attack...What is he up to?"

Arashi smirked for a moment and then disappeared from Temari's sight. The wind mistress roared as she send another whirldwind attack out with her fan.

A moment of silence followed and Temari narrowed her eyes, trying to detect the Akatsuki leader's presence, "Where did he go...? Did he run? No, he wouldn't give up when he's clearly still holding back...Then...Where is he?"

"Is he making his move?" Temari's eyes darted all over the surrounding area, hoping to catch a glimpse of Arashi, "He's not to the left or to the right...Either he's hiding of he's changing his position the entire time..."

A grin formed on Arashi's face and calmly uttered just two words, "Behind you."

Temari's eyes widened as she threw herself and her fan around, positioning the fan in the way of any attacks to her vital points.

Hinata's eyes widened as well when she realised that Arashi had lifted her up from the ground and holding her with one hand. The Hyuuga girl quickly raised her hand and attempted to strike the Akatsuki leader with a quick Jyuuken attack.

"Too slow..."

Arashi flickered for a moment, as if he was a temporal distorted image on a television, and Hinata dropped her hand as she coughed up some blood the very next moment.

"You..." Temari narrowed her eyes at Arashi as she firmly held her fan in a defensive position, "Are you really that cowardly that you have to use a hostage to defeat me?"

"No...I'd just like to see you suffer." Arashi grinned slightly as he stared with soul-piercing eyes at Temari, "What are you going to do? Sacrifice your friend's life or drop your weapons to save her but give up on Naruto-kun?"

"Kill her. Watch if I care..." Temari replied as she placed her fan vertically in front of her.

Arashi slightly gasped at the response and so did Hinata, though she ended up smiling slightly and closing her eyes. Arashi on the other hand started to chuckle until he bursted out into laughter.

"That's a nice poker-face...Shame that I'm not bluffing about killing her. I'd like to play poker with you one day though." Arashi said grinning at Temari, "It should be a nice game."

"No, I doubt it would be entertaining. Frankly, I suck at poker." The blonde from Suna raised an eyebrow, "The girl you're about to kill is far better at poker than I am. Well...it might just be luck..."

"Heh...You're quite rotten. Sacrificing one ally in order to try and save another..." Arashi smirked, "The mission goes first, eh? Well, that's fine with me."

Arashi molded some chakra in his free hand and it slowly formed into a kunai-like shape, "You decided on this girl's death. Don't regret your decision now."

"What? Didn't you hear me?" Temari slightly frowned, "I do not care what happens to her. She's just a bother to me anyway..."

"Heh...So much for comrades." Arashi let out as he raised the chakra-kunai up to Hinata's throat.

"However..." Temari said, causing Arashi to turn his head and delay the Hyuuga heiress' execution for a moment.

"I wouldn't be able to bear to watch Naruto cry when he finds out that she died." Temari said and pointed towards Arashi, "Sorry, but I won't allow you to kill her."

Hinata's eyes shot open and she let out a slight gasp as she stared at Temari.

"Tsch...Don't be foolish." Arashi said and thrusted the chakra-kunai towards Hinata's throat.

"What?!" Arashi's mind screamed as he saw a kunai flying towards him from the corners of his eyes.

Reacting to his instincts, the Akatsuki leader dodged and dropped Hinata on the floor, leaving her with only a small cut near her throat.

"Damn, I missed." Temari said as her kunai landed a couple of feet further down the road.

"You little bitch..." Arashi cursed as he twitched and glared at Temari.

"What's wrong?" Temari snapped her fan open, "Pissed off because someone figured out you'd be arrogant even when moving in for a kill?"

"Arrogant? Aren't you the one who's arrogant when it comes to me?" Arashi questioned, "How did you figure out that I wouldn't strike swiftly?"

"Sorry, sorry..." Temari said as she bit her thumb, "I'd just like to see you suffer, was it?"

"Same mistake won't happen twice. I'll end it right here and now." Arashi said and accelerated towards Temari, "You won't even have the chance to use a summoning technique!"

The blonde from Suna quickly stroke with her thumb across her fan before waving it with all her might, "Kuchiyose! Kirikiri Mai!"

"No handseals, but a summoning technique won't stop..." Arashi thought as he dashed through the waves of wind, forming handseals along the way. However, he quickly took notice that the wind he was running through wasn't an average wind attack as the wind started to assault him faster than his demonic chakra could regenerate his wounds.

He flashed out of harm's way and took a deep breath as the winds raged on.

"Tsch...That wind was dangerously fast..." Arashi thought as his wounds closed and his body healed itself once more, "Looks like the summon was summoning forth a special wind..."

Temari smirked and slightly lowered her head, "It's over."

"Why isn't she doing anything?" Arashi raised an eyebrow as he watched Temari not even bother throwing another attack or look at him.

An earth shattering howl answered that question for him. The Akatsuki leader gasped and quickly spun around to face the statue he had summoned earlier.

Wind raged over the statue, making cuts in the wood on various places. Chakra of the statue seeped out and instantly repaired the damage, but the wind just kept on assaulting it.

Arashi's eyes widened and then he quickly flashed over towards the statue.

Temari lifted her head up when the cries suddenly faded and she blinked for a moment in the direction of the statue. Her eyes widened when she laid them upon Arashi, who was standing in front of the statue with one arm raised and pointing towards her as he held a white creature by it's neck, "Y...You..."

"Who would have thought you were able to summon a spirit of the wind...?" Arashi said, lightning sparks rotated around his hand as he tightened his grip on the poor creature, "I'm even more surprised you managed to sneak him past me...They say wind spirits and their contractors have a spiritual link...Let's see if that's true..."

The Akatsuki leader further tightened his grip around the creature's neck and Temari closed her eyes, slightly lowering her head.

"And...? Does it hurt?" Arashi grinned wickedly.

"I'm sorry..." Temari whispered, "I'll make sure to make him pay for the suffering he's causing you right now..."

"Ha!" Arashi let out and, a moment later, the wind spirit disappeared into thin air.

Temari looked back up again and readied her fan, "Let's go, you bastard!"

"One moment..." Arashi said as he lowered his arm, "Allow me to ask you one question..."

"You can ask me while you try to dodge this!" Temari roared as she launched a whirlwind towards Arashi.

The Akatsuki leader easily dodged the attack and raised his shoulders up and down, "What do you hope to achieve by destroying the Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin?"

"It's obvious you'll need it." Temari stated as she threw another attack at Arashi, "Don't think you can make us believe other wise!"

"It's true that I need it, but without it Naruto would've been dead already..." Arashi stated.

"What?!" Temari halted her assault on the Akatsuki leader.

"The seal that contained the Kyuubi in Naruto's body has been broken. If it weren't for my technique, the Kyuubi would have devoured him by now." Arashi stated and smirked, "So even if you were to destroy this statue, the Kyuubi would destroy Naruto. There is no hope for him left. He's already destined to die today."

"I don't believe you..." Temari replied, her eyes slightly trembling as she glared at the Akatsuki leader, "I refuse to believe you!"

The wind mistress roared and waved her fan with all her might, a blast of wind racing towards Arashi.

"Don't be foolish..." Arashi said as he raised his hand up against the incoming wind blast. When the immense force of the blast met the Akatsuki leader's hand, it shattered and dispersed into multiple soft breezes, "Face reality. Naruto-kun's fate and yours have already been decided."

Temari was left speechless for a moment, but managed to utter at least a few words the very next, "Why...How did you...N-no way..."

"Are you joking?" Arashi raised an eyebrow, "How often did you attack me? How often were all those attacks alike except for their direction? Well...It's not like it matters if you can't figure it out..."

"Tsch..." Temari gritted her teeth and glared at Arashi.

"Let me ask you this..." Arashi said and closed his eyes, "Why are you going this far, trying so hard in order to attempt to save a worthless demonic container?"

Temari clutched onto her fan and lowered her head, "Isn't it obvious...?"

"Ah, that's right...I almost forgot..." Arashi slightly raised and tilted his head, "You're related to one of those worthless containers. Or should I say ex-container? Where were you when we extracted your brother's life from his body, hm?"

"Shut up..." Temari said through gritted teeth.

"You couldn't stop us then, you can't stop us now." Arashi took a step forward, "The only difference between this time and back then is that there won't be some senile old hag that sacrifices what's left of her life in order to make sure one of them lives on."

"Didn't I tell you to shut the fuck up?" Temari asked as she started to tremble.

"Answer me." The Akatsuki leader took another step forward, "Why sacrifice your life for someone who is destined to one day release the beast that will kill thousands?"

"Because I fell in love with him, damn it!" Temari shouted, glaring at Arashi, "As long as I'm able to see him smile, as long as I'm able to talk with him, as long as I am able to hold him..."

"Temari-san..." Hinata let out as Temari trembled and took a few deep breaths.

"What the hell does it matter he might or might not do one day if I'm able to love and cherish every moment I spend with him, huh?!" Temari yelled as loud as she could.

"If you truly wished for that, you wouldn't be yelling that at me. Actions speak louder than words, remember?" Arashi smirked, "Unless you've forgotten, it is truly only a matter of time before you have lost this battle and your so-called 'love'..."

Temari gritted her teeth and slightly trembled again until she suddenly stopped, "Geez...You sure as hell are an annoying guy..."

"I don't particurally like you either, but you don't hear me complaining." Arashi shrugged, "I'll give you one more chance to either run or attack me. You can figure out the outcome for yourself..."

"Quit your useless rambling, you bastard..." Temari said, her chakra flaring up, "I'll make you regret ever intending to inflict harm upon Naruto and Gaara."

"Then hurry up and do it. We haven't got all day, now do we?" Arashi let out a loud, maniacal laughter.

"Hinata..." Temari said as her chakra started to rise up more and more, "If you can, I suggest you move back quite a bit..."

"Eh?" Hinata let out.

"I won't be able to guarantee your safety in your current state from this point on..." Temari said as she glared towards Arashi.

"...Just how long are you going to stand there building up chakra?" Arashi raised an eyebrow, "If you take much longer, I could hold a tea ceremony."

"I'll have to apologize to Hokage-sama when all of this is over." Temari shouted at Arashi, who simply smirked at her.

"What's left of the main street of Konoha when I'm done with you..." Temari narrowed her eyes at the Akatsuki leader as her chakra covered her fan now, "Won't be a whole lot."

"Hm?" Arashi blinked at the wind mistress as gusts of wind from every direction surrounded her and her large fan.

When the wind slowly started to pull some of the lighter parts of her surroundings, including the Akatsuki leader himself, towards Temari, Arashi smirked, "Pretty impressive chakra...You even manage to affect the Kyuubi's chakra ever so slightly. Don't think pure power is just going to take me out..."

"Set upon the heavens..." Temari said in a whisper. A moment later she waved her fan up towards the sky, "Fuuton: Kazeryuudan!"

The gusts of wind intertwined and formed a long dragon, the extra wind created by the dragon alone started to make cuts on it's surroundings.

Arashi grinned widely and then started to laugh maniacally, "All that chakra and the best you can do is form a dragon with wind?! That's nice! Now just try to hit me. If you can that is!"

Temari roared and waved her fan, sending a wave of wind along with the dragon towards Arashi. The dragon lowered itself to just above the ground, tearing up anything that came in it's vicinity.

Moments before the dragon reached Arashi, the Akatsuki leader flashed away and landed on the roof of one of the nearby buildings.

"Heh...That technique could do some serious damage to me if it hit me..." Arashi commented and then narrowed his eyes at the dragon.

Temari moved her fan again and, from the centre of the dragon's whirlwind body, a second head launched itself towards Arashi. A moment later, the entire dragon was after the former Hokage again.

"Looks like she decided to leave the sealing technique alone...Good, my little talk worked as expected..." Arashi noted as he moved out of the dragon's way again.

Temari gritted her teeth as she commanded the wind dragon to go after Arashi again. The Akatsuki leader decided to keep playing his little dodging game, but the wind mistress of Suna didn't plan on giving up any time soon.

"Amazing...She's using the dragon's front to attack him and his tail to defend herself from his attacks..." Hinata stared with wide eyes at Temari, "It's destructive power is unbelievable as well...But at this rate..."

Arashi at the same time analysed the situation as well, "She won't show any openings...Looks like I'll have to make a move or this will go on for a long time..."

He flashed away and reappeared not that far away from Temari. Without losing his momentum, he ran towards the wind mistress.

"Too slow!" Temari cried out as the dragon's head formed in front of her. The Akatsuki leader simply smirked and quickly flashed away again, ending up at the spot where the previous dragonhead was.

"Just as I thought...You can't change this thing's direction within the blink of an eye..." Arashi stated as the wind of the dragon turned around in the other direction.

"It also seems that it takes a few moments before you can redirect him entirely the other way again!" He shouted as he chased the wind that was leading up to the new head of the dragon.

A loud roar from his summoning statue, however, caused the Akatsuki leader to flinch and spin around to take a look at it. His eyes widened as he found a single, tiny dragon of wind chipping small parts of wood away from the statue.

Realising that it was just a way to distract him, Arashi flashed away in order to be safe from Temari's wind dragon. To his great surprise and dismay, he found himself in front of the dragon's head and it was coming directly towards him.

He flashed towards the other direction and then he stood still, slightly tilting his head around to look around, "I see...You've managed to surround me with your technique..."

"Shame you won't have the time to be able to learn from this, but..." Temari clenched her fist, "Never underestimate a technique of a shinobi from Sunagakure."

The great dragon of wind shattered in thousands of smaller dragon-shaped gusts, which launched themselves at the Akatsuki leader.

"You should never underestimate my speed either..." Arashi said before disappearing out of sight.

He reappeared not that far from his summoned statue, covered in small cuts that were regenerating nearly instantly due to the demonic chakra that ran through his body. The Akatsuki leader stood still and watched the winds continue to rage on the spot he had been standing only a moment before.

However, he then noticed that Temari was no longer present within his view.

Arashi's eyes widened and he quickly tilted his head back. There, up in the air, he spotted Temari high above her attack that continued raging on the ground.

"Arashi!" The wind mistress yelled.

"Tsch..." Arashi let out and folded his hands together.

"I'll show you the meaning of a true storm! Haaaaaaaa!" Temari roared as she swung her fan with all her might, sending a single horizontal wave of wind towards her own attack on the ground.

Arashi gritted his teeth and quickly began to form a series of handseals.

All remained silent as the wave of wind traveled down towards the previously released jutsu, with Temari slowly following it from behind. The moment the wave of wind collided with the jutsu, the silence was replaced with the almost eardeafening sound of devastion from it's nearby surroundings.

Houses were brought down to ruins by the might of the wind that was released when Temari's two attacks collided. Windows shattered to pieces one by one as the unstopable force of wind raced towards Arashi. Enormous clouds of dust rose up from the ground as Temari landed in the wake of her attacks destruction, covering the entire main street of Konohagakure.

"It's over." Temari snapped her fan shut and strapped it onto her back.

"Katon!" Temari's eyes widened as those words reached above the high speed winds that left nothing but ruin in their wake.

"Karyuudan no jutsu!" Arashi roared, a three-headed dragon of fire rising up above the clouds of dust.

Temari's mightiest wind attack was absorbed by the fire technique as it raced towards her, further fueling it's intense heat. The wind mistress knew she wouldn't have the strength to counter attack, so she resorted to dodging it as much as she could. Moments before the fire technique crashed onto the spot she had been standing, Temari leaped away.

However, the explosive force of Arashi's fire technique was strong enough to send her flying far away.

"Temari-san!" Hinata let out and used the little strength she had recovered to jump towards Temari. The Hyuuga girl caught the wind mistress in her arms, but couldn't avoid being affected by the explosion of heat and wind.

The two of them crashed onto the ground and rolled around a couple of times before coming to an halt. Hinata and Temari breathed deeply in and out as they laid on the ground, facing the wall of fire left behind from the fire technique.

"What did you do that for?" Temari asked Hinata.

"I wouldn't be able to bear to watch Naruto-kun cry when he finds out that you've died to protect him." Hinata said smiling softly.

"Heh..." Temari let out and closed her eyes, "Let me tell you one thing..."

"Eh?" Hinata let out and blinked at Temari.

The wind mistress looked over her shoulder at the Hyuuga heiress behind her, "It's not that I hate you. It's just that I know you ca...love Naruto at least just as much as I do...And that makes us rivals..."

"Temari-san..."

"Now's not the time to talk about this though..." Temari replied as she pushed herself up from the ground, "That guy...is still trying to kill Naruto..."

Hinata placed her hands on the ground and pushed herself slowly up as well, "We'll fight him together..."

Temari looked over her shoulder straight into Hinata's eyes as she was standing on her feet again.

"For Naruto-kun's sake..." The Hyuuga heiress said.

"Yeah..." Temari replied and her fan back off her back and snapped it open.

The wall of fire in front of them split in half, creating a path way through the middle. First a shadow walked forward through the path and slowly the shadow turned into the person known as Arashi.

"You placed some impressive thought and force into that attack..." Arashi said as the flames rose up further, "Good job."

"However..." Arashi stepped forward from the wall of flames, "This is where it ends..."

"Heh...Don't count on it, you bastard." Temari grinned at Arashi as she held her fan ready.

"This time, we'll bring you down. We won't give up as long as Naruto's life is at stake." Hinata said as she struck her Jyuuken pose.

"There's no need to act tough...I know already..." Arashi said as he looked at the two girls.

He pointed at Temari, "You used every single ounce of chakra in that attack."

"And you, you barely have strength left to stand after your fight with me. Your lives end here, little girls." The Akatsuki leader said as he pointed at Hinata.

"Naruto wouldn't die if he were in our position..." Temari replied.

"That's why we won't die either." Hinata added to the wind mistress' reply.

"A fool's logic..." Arashi commented.

"Bring it, Arashi!" The two girls said in unison.

"Heh..." The Akatsuki leader let out and raised his hand up in the air, "You won't even be able to entertain me. I hope death treats you kinder than I did."

Lightning struck his hand as he brought it back down again, however all of a sudden he just froze.

He looked up and noticed a snake sinking it's fangs into his arm, several others doing the same to his legs and other arm, "I-Impossible..."

"My, my...Just what were you planning on doing to those lovely girls? I doubt Naru-chan will like it when his lovers are turned into ash." A purple headed, raincoat wearing kunoichi said as she stepped through the wall of fire towards Arashi. The snakes that had sunk their fangs into the Akatsuki leader let their tails slide further back into the kunoichi's sleeves.

"L-L-Lo-Lovers?!" Hinata let out.

"W-What?!" Temari added as she pointed at the kunoichi, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Don't worry...I'm also part of Naru-chan's little harem, so we're all on equal level." The kunoichi waved dismissively.

"Mitarashi Anko...You bitch...For a failure like you to actually be able to use a technique of that snake bastard this well..." Arashi let out.

"My, it's been a while, hasn't it Arashi-san?" Anko smiled widely as she approached the Akatsuki leader, "Also...If I am a failure, then what has become of the genius that you once were?"

"Tsch...It's only a matter of time before the paralyzing poison of your pets will lose it's effect on me..." Arashi replied as the snakes retracted from his skin and crawled back up Anko's sleeve.

"Thanks for letting me know..." Anko smiled as she laid her chin on Arashi's shoulder, holding a kunai against his neck, "I'll make this a quickie then."

"Heh...Unfortunately, I prefer enjoying it to the fullest." The Akatsuki leader replied as he glared at Anko from the corners of his eyes.

"Don't worry...I'll make sure to enjoy every single moment that you're in my control." Anko glared at Arashi and traced with her tongue over the edge of the kunai.

"Ugaaaaah!" Naruto let out.

"And Naruto? Ready to give up yet?" The Kyuubi asked the blonde and chuckled.

"Never! You damed fox!" Naruto snarled at the demon fox, who was still in the form a redhaired woman.

"In that case, come at me again..." The Kyuubi taunted.

"Wear a hat!" Naruto yelled.

"Or swing a bat!" The Kyuubi replied just as loud.

"Jan ken pon!" Both Naruto and the Kyuubi yelled, both putting out a fist in front of them at the same time.

"One more time!"

"One more time!"

"One more time!"

"One more..."

"Oh for the love of...!" Naruto slammed his foot as hard as he could on the spiritual white floor beneath him, "Why the hell are we playing Jan ken pon anyway?!"

"I see...You still haven't figured it out, eh?" The Kyuubi replied.

"What is there left to figure out?!" Naruto pointed dramatically towards the Kyuubi, "You and I are fighting for control of my body and we're deciding who gets it with Jan ken pon?! Why the hell are we doing that?!"

"The answer is simple..." The Kyuubi narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "You're afraid of facing off against me in a true battle..."

"That's a load of bull!" Naruto retorted, "Why the hell would I be afraid of facing you when I need to save someone I care about?!"

"Someone? Right now, you've got more than just a single person to save..." The Kyuubi replied.

"What? Why? We've been playing for Jan ken for days now and you told me that not much time has passed in the real world!" Naruto stated.

"I'll show you 'why'...Naruto." The Kyuubi replied and the empty white space around them transformed.

Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed another person standing beside Hinata, "Temari..."

"Oh, and don't forget this chick over here..." The Kyuubi tapped with the back of his hand at the spot where Arashi and Anko stood in the picture.

"Anko-sensei too..." Naruto said.

"I have to say it's quite touching they want to try and save you. They're also giving me some extra time to break your mind...How considerate of them, don't you think so too...Naruto?" The Kyuubi asked and chuckled some more as their surroundings turned white again.

"I won't lose to you..." Naruto clenched his fist and pointed towards the demon, "I'm not afraid of you either! I'm going to beat the crap out of you and save everyone from the Akatsuki!"

"Oh?" The Kyuubi let out, seemingly amused as he chuckled again.

"Don't underestimate me, you bastard fox." Naruto replied as he glared at him.

"You really think that talking like your more than a mere morsel for me will scare me?" The Kyuubi questioned as he took a step towards Naruto, "You talk big, but deep down inside you're afraid to face the demon that has slaughtered the largest part of your village's army. The demon that forced the leader of the village to sacrifice himself not to kill the demon, but lock it away in a child. The demon..."

The Kyuubi momentarily closed his eyes and opened them a second later, "Who will take your life!"

Naruto gritted his teeth as sweat ran down his spine. The nine tailed demon fox was litterally radiating intent to kill him.

"Don't be foolish, you damned fox..." Naruto clenched his fists, "I won't die as long as there's someone important to me that I need to protect."

"Answer me this, Naruto..." The demon fox pointed at the blonde, "Why do you wish to live on?"

Naruto slightly gasped and blinked at the Kyuubi, "I guess being imprisoned for fifteen years doesn't do your ears any good, right?"

"...It's not that I didn't hear you before...I want to hear you say it again..." The Kyuubi replied.

"Yeah, sure...You just keep telling yourself that..." Naruto stared blankly at the Kyuubi.

"Just answer me already..." The Kyuubi twitched as he glared at Naruto.

"I'm going to protect the lives of everyone that I hold dear and I won't let a bastard fox like yourself get in my way." Naruto replied and pointed towards the Kyuubi, "IN reality it's you who scared of fighting me head on, isn't it?! That's why you try to psy-...psychol...mess with my mind!"

"I already told you what type of fight this is...I'm not going to repeat myself..." The Kyuubi replied and slightly tilted his head, "And if you truly wish to protect their lives, why won't you just hurry up and die already?"

"What?!" Naruto let out, "What good can I do for them if I die?!"

"You know just as well as I do what my power could do. I want revenge for being imprisoned and the person who imprisoned me is threatening the lives of the people you care about...Put two and two together now. Even someone like you should be able to do that..."

"And what about the time after that? Or the one after that? There's no way you'd dedicate your life to protecting the people I care about!" Naruto retorted.

"Don't worry about them...Fifteen years of imprisonment give rise to certain...desires. I'm sure they'll enjoy it as well..." The Kyuubi replied.

Naruto twitched and shivered as he pointed at the Kyuubi, "Y-You...Eroero-Kitsune! Don't you dare lay a finger on them!"

"Double ero? Well, whatever..." The Kyuubi said and shrugged, "I can feel your anger...Come, let it overcome your fear for me and face me."

"If you want to fight me that badly, then hurry up and fight me, you cowardly fox!" Naruto yelled at the demon.

"Unfortunately, this realm is influenced by your emotions." The Kyuubi slightly grimaced, "As long as you fear me, every attack I will try to perform on you will turn into something ridiculous as a game of Jan Ken Pon..."

"But, when I just got here...You punched me and..." Naruto blinked at the Kyuubi.

"When do you think it was that you began to fear me, brat?" The Kyuubi asked.

"I'm telling you, I'm not afraid of you!" Naruto retorted.

"Deceive yourself as much as you want. But you know that there's a part of you that's scared to face me. When do you think that part was created?"

"...You mean, that when you punched me back then..."

"That's right. Your mind processed what you were up against and the emotion of fear that was created as a cause of it was so overwhelming that it limited our fights to something less 'harmful' for your mind..."

"Then I'll destroy that fear along with you and save everyone. This a battle you won't be able to win, fox." Naruto replied as he stood up straight.

"Is that so...?" The Kyuubi smirked and waved his hand. A wave of chakra raced towards Naruto and knocked him back.

"W-What the?!" Naruto let out as he jumped back up.

"That's a nice start...However, your fear is still there." The Kyuubi flexed his fingers, "Naruto, do you still dare to defy me now?"

"I've already said it a million times, you should know it by now...I'm not going to run away and I won't go back on my word." Naruto rose his head up and glared at the demon in front of him, "That's my 'way of the ninja'. I'll definitely defeat you."

The Kyuubi laughed maniacally, his laughter echoing more and more through the seemingly empty space as red chakra flared up around him.

"Show me your resolve to live on, Naruto!" The Kyuubi roared, a giant claw flying off the Kyuubi's body and towards Naruto.

The blonde gasped and tried to dodge the attack, "Damn! He's fast!"

Before Naruto even landed back on his feet again, the chakra claw lashed out towards him again.

"Damn it, I won't make it like this." Naruto let out and threw his arms in front of his face.

"What the...?" Naruto let out and lowered his arms when there was no impact.

"You dickless bastard..." The Kyuubi let out and turned his head around.

Naruto slightly tilted his head and saw a blonde man standing beside him, with one hand placed on Naruto's shoulder, "Y-Yondaime!"

The blonde turned his head towards Naruto and smiled at him, "Believe in your strength, Naruto."

"What are you talking about? Of course I believe in my strength!" Naruto replied.

"If so, why didn't you use your techniques to defend yourself?" Yondaime's smile seemed to turn into a smirk.

"But...I can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu in this realm, right?" Naruto asked.

"Anything is possible here. Remember, this battle is one of the mind and not of the body." Yondaime replied and nodded once, "...Though, your body probably won't last a whole lot longer if this keeps up."

"You've said enough, you little annoyance..." The Kyuubi unleashed a wave of chakra and Yondaime cringed.

"Yondaime!" Naruto let out as the Fourth Hokage gritted his teeth.

"It's a battle of the mind, Naruto...Show him...your desire to protect the ones you love..." Yondaime managed to bring out before groaning in agony.

"Silence, fool...I've had more than my fill of your useless ramblings..." The Kyuubi said as he glared at the Fourth.

"Hehehe..." Yondaime grinned at the Kyuubi, "You're scared of the power his emotions towards others might bring, aren't you? They were your downfall once and they will be your downfall once again."

"Enough! Go back where you came from, you half dead idiot!" The Kyuubi roared and parts of Yondaime's body slowly shattered and faded away.

"Fight for your loved ones, Naruto...It's the one thing that makes a man powerful enough to take on even the most powerful of demons." Yondaime said before completely disappearing again.

"You idiot...You're my hero...Don't go around saying such corny lines..." Naruto shifted his position slightly and clenched his fists.

"Heh...I'm glad you agree that his ramblings are for fools..." The Kyuubi grinned at Naruto.

"No, I don't like the way he said it, but I know what he's talking about..." Naruto raised his head and stared into the demon's eyes, "The people I care about...They're fighting as hard they can to save me. I'm going to fight as hard as I can to make sure they're save as well."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" The Kyuubi raised an eyebrow, "You lack the strength to defeat me."

"I won't just defeat you..." Naruto replied as his chakra flared up around him, "I'll pick you apart and strip you from all your strength."

"All talk and no action...Back up your words...brat!" The Kyuubi lashed out towards Naruto with another chakra claw.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried out before jumping away.

The space of white now mostly turned orange as an seemingly infinite army of Kage Bunshin made their appearance around the Kyuubi. Several were destroyed due to the Kyuubi's attack, but thousands more remained standing.

"Let's go, Kyuubi!"

"The real battle...!"

"Starts here!" Naruto and all of his clones said in unison as they rushed towards the Kyuubi.

"Heh..." The Kyuubi let out and smirked as the clones closed in on him.

Arashi leered at Anko from the corners of his eyes, "Is that so?"

Without wasting a sing;e moment, Anko lunged the kunai at the Akatsuki leader's neck. Mere moments before the tip of the kunai would pierce through Arashi's skin, the Akatsuki leader had disappeared from Anko's grasp.

"Just in time, eh?" Anko slightly turned around.

Arashi managed to raise a smirk at the snake-using kunoichi, "Your poison is already being purged from my body..."

"But it's still hurting you and slowing down." Anko stated and smirked at Arashi.

"All it takes is..." Arashi cut his sentence off and flashed away again, just a few seconds before a wave of wind reached the spot he had been standing, "Time..."

"It's three against one, you won't be able to take us all on in this state." Anko said and send her snakes out towards Arashi once again when she saw him again.

"We'll see about that..." Arashi replied just before he disappeared again.

"Where did he go?!" Temari let out as her eyes darted around her surroundings.

Her answer was given to her in a rather unpleasant form as Arashi gave her a blow to her stomach. Temari let out a gasp as she hunched over, but she didn't allow the Akatsuki leader to escape again and grabbed onto his arm again.

Hinata saw her chance and moved to Temari's aid as fast as she could. However, Arashi anticipated her move and took prepared himself to counter attack. Mere seconds before Hinata's attack would reach him, the Akatsuki leader raised his leg up in the air and parried the Hyuuga heiress' attack.

Not wasting his momentum, the former Fourth Hokage spun around and slammed his shin against the side of Temari's head. The blonde girl from Sunagakure staggered back, releasing Arashi from her grasp.

The Akatsuki leader molded two chakra kunai, one in each hand, as his foot reached the ground again. A moment later, he send the two kunai flying towards Anko, who had send her snakes out again towards him.

"Shit." Anko let out and quickly dodged, causing her snakes to be knocked of their track as well.

Arashi placed a hand on the floor, pushed himself up from the ground and leaped away from a charging Hinata.

He landed not too far away from Anko with a grin on his face, "It's almost entirely gone."

"Thanks for letting me know." Anko replied as she launched her snakes at the Akatsuki leader again.

Arashi dodged again and instantly spun around as he formed a series of handseals, "Katon! Goukakyou no jutsu!"

"No way." Temari said, her eyes widening as she saw the wind attack, that she managed to sneak in, being absorbed by the grand fireball and the ball of fire quickly headed towards her direction.

"Hakkeshou Kaiten!" Hinata cried out as she jumped in front of the fireball and rotated around as fast as she could, nullifying the fire attack.

Arashi took a small jump and molded two more chakra kunai in his hands as Anko's snakes raced towards him.

"How useless..." Arashi said as he threw his kunai at the lower two snakes, piercing through their reptilian skin and pinning them onto the ground.

As he landed on the ground, the other two snakes had reached him. However, the Akatsuki leader effortlessly grabbed onto them just behind their heads, "And that nullifies your poison entirely."

"Don't underestimate me, you bastard." Anko replied as four snakes speared out of the sleeve of her other arm and raced towards Arashi.

"Make no mistake." Arashi said before disappearing from sight when the snakes came too close.

"You have no chance to capture me as long as I can see those snakes." He added when he reappeared in front of her.

"He's fast..." Anko gritted her teeth and glared at Arashi.

"And you have no way of moving freely with those snakes bound to the ground." Arashi smirked, "Am I right?"

Anko let out a cry as she raised her leg up and tried to kick the Akatsuki leader. He effortlessly caught her leg however and slightly tilted his head, "We'll continue playing soon enough. First I've got to make sure the little mice don't interupt us grownups."

Anko's eyes widened as Arashi disappeared again. She send her six remaining snakes towards Hinata and Temari in hope of catching the Akatsuki leader there.

The purple headed kunoichi let out a gasp as Arashi's fist connected with her stomach.

"That means you have to be a good girl and wait your turn..." Arashi said as Anko fell down on her knees.

"Hinata, this isn't the time to be standing around." Temari said as she tried her best to run as fast as she could towards Arashi, "Let's go!"

"Y-Yes!" Hinata replied and quickly followed her blonde love rival.

Arashi turned his head around and looked over his shoulder at the two girls coming towards him, "Fools..."

He momentarily closed his eyes and when he reopened them, both Hinata and Temari froze on their spot.

Their eyes trembled as they stared back into Arashi's eyes. Countless small cuts and tears appeared in their clothing, the cloth itself being stained by the red of their blood.

"Impossible...He didn't even move..." Temari thought as she fell back and landed on the ground a moment later.

The wind mistress slightly moved her head and saw Hinata fall beside her with eyes that must have been at least just as wide as her own.

She could tell that the girl from the Hyuuga clan was still alive by the fact that she trembled uncontrollably, but other than that they both were unable to utter a single word.

"Now then...as for you..." Arashi turned back to Anko and lifted her up by her chin, "The fun is just about to begin."

Anko's eyes darted towards the two snakes that were pinned onto the ground for a moment before she looked at Arashi again.

"Ah...Why don't you pull those two back? Is it too painful or are you just unable to do that yourself?" Arashi smirked.

"Heh..." Anko smirked back at him, "Sorry, my snakes just find sharp things as much as a turn on as I do."

The Akatsuki leader rose Anko further up by her netvest and pushed her back until the chakra kunai slowly began to tear through the snakes.

Anko winced in pain as the blades cut through her snakes. Arashi then punched her hard enough to send her flying and thus the blades ripped the two snakes in half as the purple headed kunoichi fell down on the ground, "Sorry...I just don't think it's all that of a turn on."

The two snakes seemed to vaporize and disappear into thin air as Anko clutched onto her arm and stood back up, "Tsch...And here I was thinking you'd enjoy pain."

"I think you're messing up my enjoyments with Morino Ibiki's." Arashi shrugged as he walked towards Anko, "Then again, I have changed. I'll show you what I like these days."

"Heh..." Anko licked her lips, "Bring it on."

Arashi flashed over towards the purple headed kunoichi and punched her in her stomach, "Don't be so cocky. You're a woman after all."

Anko gritted her teeth and returned the favor by punching, even though it wasn't nearly as powerful, Arashi in his stomach, "That's the worst word joke I've heard in ages."

The Akatsuki leader's knee connected with Anko's chin before she received another punch in her face, knocking her back, "Really...? I thought it had a nice punchline."

The special Jounin quickly regained her footing and charged back towards Arashi, "Stop making stupid jokes!"

"Who said that was a joke?" Arashi replied as he dodged a punch Anko threw at him.

"You Akatsuki guys are sad bunch of..." Anko said as she kicked against the side of Arashi's head.

"But our smiles are for free." Arashi replied and grinned widely at Anko as he grabbed onto her lower leg.

"What the...?" Anko gritted as she tried to pull her leg free from Arashi's grasp.

"Except for Itachi's smile...You've got to pay him a whole lot before he'll smile for you." Arashi added as he released his hold on Anko's leg, causing the Jounin to fall down on the floor.

"Oh just SHUT UP already!" Anko let out as she quickly jumped back up and charged towards Arashi again.

The Akatsuki leader smirked as red chakra gathered in the palm of his hand.

Itachi sneezed and slightly twitched.

"Curse you, Itachi." Sasuke said as he glared at his older brother.

"Thanks..." Itachi rubbed underneath his nose, "I bet one of my fangirls is talking about me again...It's hard being famous."

"Tell me about it! I'm the more famous one out of the two of us!" Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke...You won't believe how mistaken you are. I've been with more women and have had more women after me than you've seen naked in Orochimaru's lab." Itachi closed his eyes and held a rose in front of his face.

"And how many would that be then, huh?! Besides, why the hell are you carrying a rose around?!" Sasuke shouted.

"Because it's part of my character description to be a badass pretty boy." Itachi replied as he looked at Sasuke.

"Ch...character description? You mean like...the one in the bingo book? I doubt it reads 'badass pretty boy'..." Sasuke twitched as he stared doubtingly at Itachi.

"Something like that...Here." Itachi flicked a piece of paper out of his pocket and held it out in the direction of Sasuke, "This is my character description."

Hesitantly, the young Uchiha avenger took the piece of paper and warily opened it, finding a picture of Itachi on the paper along with a block of text.

"Maniac who killed his entire clan, save his little brother, likes green tea for some reason that will never be explained...is insanely fast at forming handseals... has a fetish for Pocky...?" Sasuke read from the note, looking oddly at his brother after reading the last line.

Itachi shrugged and Sasuke went back to reading.

"Blablabla...Did some part time voice acting...bla...Gigolo? TOO. MUCH. INFORMATION..." Sasuke twitched before he continued reading the note, "Ah here it is...Though insane and a maniac, Itachi looks and acts like a badass pretty boy in order to get the fangirls off my ass and prevent them from asking for more Naruto Sasuke moments..."

"See. I'm supposed to be a badass pretty boy." Itachi replied and narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, "I did the pretty boy part, now it's time for the badass part."

"What the hell does this mean...? 'Naruto Sasuke moments'...?" Sasuke lowered the note and blinked at Itachi, "More importantly, you made this up just now, didn't you?"

"No. It's my true character description...Though you should've mentioned the guitarist part...it's one of my favourites." Itachi replied.

"Stop messing with me! Who do you think I am?!" Sasuke yelled at Itachi.

"I've got your character description here as well..." Itachi held out another paper.

"Give me that!" Sasuke snatched the piece of paper out of Itachi's hands.

Sasuke quickly folded it open and began scanning through it, "What the hell is an emo?"

"It means you cut your wrists at night and make up problems in your life that don't really exist." Itachi replied.

"What?! I don't do stuff that!"

"Then what are those scars on your wrists?"

"..."

"See...You're an emo...Sasuke." Itachi replied, "It's because you're weak..."

"These scars are from training..." Sasuke replied and glared at Itachi.

"If that's what you want to keep telling yourself..." Itachi said calmly, "Also I'll just say that it's at least one woman I've been with, seeing how Orochimaru's lab must be kind of...without naked women..."

Sasuke crushed the piece of paper in his hand and roared, "Uchiha Itachi!"

"...Too predictable, Sasuke..." Itachi replied

The two Uchiha siblings wrestled each other, throwing random kicks and punches at each other until Manda's nose was only a few inches away from you.

"Are the two of you oblivious to what is going, you damned bastards?" Manda asked.

Itachi and Sasuke froze and stared at the giant snake, "Can't you see we're kind of busy here?"

"Well, I guess I'll just leave then." Manda replied and started to slither away.

"Wait, Manda!" Sasuke shouted, "Before you go, eat my brother as a snack!"

"Just because I'm a pretty boy, doesn't mean I'm perfect snake food...You lack knowledge...Sasuke." Itachi replied.

"Shut it!" Sasuke roared against his brother before turning back to Manda, "Manda, for all I care you cover him in snake crap! Just be of some god damn use to me!"

"Now that would be rather anticlimactic..." Itachi commented.

"For your information, I only fight summoned animals of equal size and do not kill humans just because I'm ordered to." Manda replied, "Gamabunta and Katsuyu stopped fighting a while ago, so there's no reason left for me to stay here."

"So what is your purpose in life?!" Sasuke yelled at the monsterous snake.

"Hey, don't go all emo on me." Manda replied.

"I'm not EMO!" Sasuke yelled back, his left eye twitching.

"Anyway, I'm going to head out and see if what's over at the horizon is worth fighting." Manda replied and turned around.

"What's over there?" Sasuke asked the snake.

"Haven't you noticed?" Manda asked, "Bastard...Pay more attention to your surroundings. Can't you feel that tremendous chakra build up over in the very heart of Konoha?"

Sasuke's eyes momentarily widened and then they returned to their normal size, "Naruto, eh? That demon's chakra...He's using way more than he did two years ago."

"That's right. That's the Kyuubi's chakra." Itachi stated and Sasuke slowly turned his head around to face his brother.

"Like the big snake said, you're lacking, Sasuke...Everyone from Konoha has noticed it already and are desperately trying to push all the fighting here over towards that place." Itachi turned his head around to face the direction of the demonic chakra vortex, "Us remaining members of Akatsuki will prevent that from happening. A few have managed to head towards that place, but..."

"In other words, the plan you lunatics came up with has already failed. You won't be able to capture the Kyuubi that resides within Naruto." Sasuke replied, interupting his brother's little speech.

"No...You're mistaken...No matter when they arrive, as long as they have to face off against that man, they won't stand a chance." Itachi replied and looked at Sasuke from the corners of his eyes.

"What do you guys plan on doing with the Kyuubi once you've extracted it from Naruto's body?" Sasuke questioned and narrowed his eyes at Itachi.

"Quite simple really. We just want to make ourselves the most powerful shinobi in the world and then use that power to screw up the economy in each of the Hidden Villages so we can buy those villages and gain a monopoly in the shinobi industry. From there on out, we'll take over the world. And it's all completely legal by the laws of trade." Itachi said in one breath.

"...No, really, what are you guys planning to do with the Kyuubi?"

"...Weren't we in a fight of life and death where I'd beat the crap out of you and leave you wondering why you're still weaker than me just a little while ago?" Itachi asked in return.

"Yeah...We were..." Sasuke replied.

"..."

"..."

Itachi coughed and looked at Sasuke, who looked questioningly back at him, "What?"

The murderer of the Uchiha clan raised an eyebrow at his younger brother before slightly jumping back.

"Ah...That's right..." Sasuke said and cleared his throat.

"Uchiha...Itachi..." Sasuke said in his deepest, darkest voice, "I have come to end your life."

"Pssst...Sasuke...The line is 'I've waited a long time for this moment. The moment where I will kill you'." Itachi whispered.

"...It is?" Sasuke asked and Itachi nodded once in reply.

"I've waited a long time for this moment. The moment where I will kill you." Sasuke said and pointed with his Kusanagi sword at Itachi.

"Sasuke...I'll admit that you have grown, but you still lack...hatred." Itachi replied and slightly shifted his position.

"I won't show you any mercy, even if you beg for it." Sasuke's Kusanagi lit up with chakra and was soon surrounded by a various amount of lightning bolts.

"You're still too naive...Sasuke." Itachi replied, two Kage Bunshin appearing beside him.

"I...I am..." Sasuke slightly twitched, "Damn it, seeing three of you made me forget my line..."

Itachi looked around for a moment and then whispered, "You shout 'I am gay' really loud..."

"I am gay!" Sasuke shouted and all that heard him fell silent.

Itachi couldn't help but chuckle slightly along with the rest of the nearby Akatsuki members for a moment.

Sasuke twitched and clutched tightly onto his sword's hilt, "I am going to kill you! Itachi!"

The Uchiha avenger roared as he charged towards his brother.

"Looks like you've finally remembered." Itachi replied as his clones charged forward towards Sasuke.

Gaara stared towards the other battles, watching how everyone tried to do their best against the Akatsuki and their henchmen.

"That chakra...No doubt about it...It is Naruto's..." The Kazekage thought as a gentle breeze blew through his hair.

"Oi...Are we done yet?" Kimimaro asked.

"Everyone is fighting to save this Village and Naruto..." Gaara thought as he watched everyone fight.

"Sabaku no Gaara...I asked you something. Answer me." Kimimaro said as he rose up from the sand couch.

Gaara's eyes rested at one green-clad young man, who was currently pushing himself to his limit as he did against Gaara a long time ago.

The Kazekage remembered that fight all too well, because it was the first fight where he had to actually break a sweat in order to win. There was however one thing that was imprinted into his mind from that fight that will never leave him.

The moment the judge took a short break in his sentence when he announced the winner of the match had caused Gaara to turn around from his way back to the upper waiting area.

There he saw Rock Lee standing on his legs and with one hand raised as blood flowed down over his crushed arm and leg. That image haunted Gaara's dreams during a lot of the nights he was actually able to sleep.

He wondered what had caused the boy to stand up. Why he still wished to fight even though he was no longer able to use his arm and leg and no longer conscious.

After a while, Gaara realised that it was because humans are able to go beyond their limits if it's to protect something important to them.

He already knew this for some time, but never realised that that something could be something that isn't another human being.

Right now, the Kazekage was doubting whether he'd be able to push himself beyond his limits if he really needed to in order to save his comrades.

"Answer me." Kimimaro repeated himself once again, this time standing only a few inches away from Gaara.

"Yeah...I'll answer you." Gaara replied as he turned back around to face Kimimaro.

"I can't just keep biding my time...I have to finish this guy off somehow and aid the others...However..." Gaara slightly twitched as he eyed Kimimaro, "My power..."

"Then hurry up and answer me." Kimimaro said.

"You are a pathetic person with a fetish for snakes. The only reason why you dedicated your life to Orochimaru was because you wanted to become like him." Gaara replied and stared into Kimimaro's eyes.

"What...?" Kimimaro glared at Gaara and a moment later his ribs shot out towards Gaara.

The Kazekage managed to jump back and he raised his arm up, pointing it towards Lee at the other end of the battlefield, "There's one way..."

"Hm?"

"That I'll be able to send you back to the underworld." Gaara pointed the palm of his hand at Kimimaro instead of towards Lee, "I'll have use everything I've got."

"So be it then...I'll kill you and aid Orochimaru in whatever he desires next of me." Kimimaro said as he started to move towards Gaara, drawing out a katana of bone from his shoulder.

"Sorry..." Gaara stated and sand shot towards Kimimaro, "I think we'll spare everyone from such a sight..."

The sand slowed down the beast of bones a bit, but he was still advancing, "Your sand won't be able to stop me this time."

Gaara slightly narrowed his eyes and, with a rapid motion, closed his hand, "Sabaku Kyuu!"

Kimimaro's movement stopped, the sand held him tightly in his position even though he tried to force his way through.

The cursed seal crawled it's usual path over Kimimaro's body, "I see...You've progressed quite a bit. However, this pressure won't be enough to stop me forever."

"Allow me to ask you something." Gaara said as he slightly rose his arm up, the sand incased Kimimaro being lifted up from the ground, "Do you remember my ultimate defense?"

"Of course." Kimimaro said as he broke through Gaara's sand with a single arm, "You're going to have to use it again."

"Then you must also remember your strongest bone breaking against it." Gaara said as he pointed with the palm of his other hand towards Kimimaro, sand wrapping back around the arm that just came through the encasing of sand, "I shall tell you the difference between the sand I use to attack and the sand I use to defend..."

Kimimaro pushed harder against the sand's pressure, this time making it through with both his arms and part of his body.

"The difference is..." Gaara turned his other hand into a fist as well, "Nothing."

Kimimaro roared as the sand wrapped around his body again, this time applying enough pressure to actually create fractures in his bones.

"This is the end for you." Gaara's eyes turned ice cold as he stared at Kimimaro.

Anko was fast, but not fast enough to match up to the speed of the Akatsuki leader.

The instant she was within range to launch an attack, Arashi was in front of her and slashed with a blade of chakra. The blade cut straight through Anko's netvest and clothing, leaving a perfect vertical blood-red line from just above her bellybutton all the way to her collarbone.

The Jounin's eyes widened and she quickly threw herself back. Arashi smirked and twirled the blade of chakra around in his hand once before bringing it back down again.

"How's that? Do you like it, Anko-chan?" Arashi asked with a sadistic grin on his face.

Anko glared at the Akatsuki leader as blood trailed down her body, "Tsch...What? With that amazing speed you can't inflict a wound deeper than this? Quite pathetic if you ask me..."

"Now what would the fun in that be? I might not like pain, but I do enjoy seeing the look on people's faces when they know their life is at the mercy of someone like me." Arashi smirked and walked towards the purple-haired Jounin.

"Whose life is at mercy of you?!" Anko let out as threw three kunai at Arashi. The kunai seemed to go straight through him, but in reality he had evaded them by utilizing his high speed again.

"Heh...Konoha's shinobi have become pathetic...I'd expect someone of your status to at least assault me with a squad." Arashi stated as he kept on walking towards Anko, "Who'd think that you were foolish enough to believe that you could single-handedly save the village from me..."

The kunoichi gritted her teeth and glared at the Akatsuki leader, "Damn...I've got to do something...Naru-chan is counting on me...on all of us."

When Arashi reached her, he tilted her head up slightly, "Such potential wasted...Well, don't worry...I'll send you to hell in a way that's befitting for someone like you."

Anko gritted her teeth again and with a single rapid motion she stabbed a kunai into Arashi's side, "Who's going to hell?"

"Owie..." Arashi gripped onto Anko's wrist and lifted her hand up from the kunai, "That hurt."

Anko gasped as Arashi pulled the kunai out of his side and the wound almost instantly healed completely. The Akatsuki leader raised the kunoichi up to her full length, "My turn, eh?"

Anko quickly shook her surprise off and tried to punch Arashi with her free hand, but it was useless as he easily evaded it. After grabbing onto her other hand as well, Arashi brought his knee to her face.

The Jounin could feel her power fade away and if Arashi didn't hold her up, she would've fallen down on her knees from the blow to her face. Anko quickly stood back on her feet however and tried to kick herself out Arashi's grip, but he released her from his grip and send her flying away with a single kick.

She crashed into a nearby wall and winced in pain, "His speed is ridiculous...I don't have a lot of options left..."

The kunoichi tried to get back up again, but halfway through she noticed that her enemy was right in front of her already.

"Poor little Anko-chan...You're just as foolish as those two girls over there..." Arashi motioned towards Hinata and Temari, "Just because they have something they wish to protect, they think they can defeat me...How naive."

Anko glared, folded her hand with Arashi's hand and called out as loud as she could, "Ninpou! Dual Snake Destr...!"

Before she could finish her line, she gasped for air and bend over, coughing up a bit of blood. Arashi twitched and pulled his hand free from the kunoichi's hold as she fell down onto the ground, "Did you think you'd be able to take me out with that technique? I've spend enough time with Orochimaru to know what he has taught his very first apprentice."

"Hehehe..." Anko slightly tilted her head up and glared at the Akatsuki leader, "Almost had you..."

"Despicable...Giving up on your life to save a village that is doomed to perish one day anyway..." Arashi replied and spat on the ground.

"Who said I was going to give up my life for the village?" Anko said with a smirk on her face as she pushed herself back up again.

"Hm?" Arashi raised an eyebrow and took a step back as Anko rose up.

"I'd give my life for him. After all, I've got to do something in order to apologize to him about being such a big tease." Anko said grinning.

"Him?" Arashi repeated and looked over his shoulder, "Don't tell me you mean..."

"Yeah." Anko's grin widened, "I'm talking about that cute guy called Naru-chan. I wonder if he'd cry if I'd die for him...He probably would, just because he's that kind of guy."

"Tsch...Each and every one of them..." Arashi muttered as he turned his attention back to Anko, "Why?"

"Why?" Anko repeated and smirked, "It's because of a corny reason, really...He's the first guy that has been able to make my heart pound in a different way."

"Is that so?" Arashi sighed, "Geez, that's number three already. Never thought he'd be this much of a ladies man..."

"Oh, and just so you know..." Anko's smirk turned into a wicked grin, "I'm one hundred percent sure he's more potent in every way than you've ever been or will be."

"Wh-What?! Why you..." Arashi twitched as he glared at Anko.

His eyes then widened and he quickly jumped back. A moment later, explosion covered the area where he just stood and it send Anko flying away.

"That kunai was damned fast...Which means that..." Arashi turned his head slightly around, "More mice have appeared."

"Damn it, Tenten..." Temari said, "I told you to gather up the others to fight this guy."

"Sorry, Temari, sorry..." Tenten placed a huge scroll in front of her, "If I had done that, you guys would've surely died."

"He's not someone you can take on." Temari replied, "Hurry up and run."

"Temari-san is right, Tenten...He's on a different level. He's too fast to catch and his attacks are powerful as well." Hinata let out, "Please..."

"Hinata, Temari...Even if I'd run now, it would be useless." Tenten smiled softly at the two girls, "He has already seen me."

"You threw that kunai pretty damn fast." Arashi said in a loud and clear voice, "But do you honestly believe you can keep up with my speed?"

Tenten turned her attention towards the Akatsuki leader, "Who knows? There's only one way to find out."

"Hmph...Aren't you the confident one..." Arashi stated as the vortex of chakra surrounding Naruto flared up, "Looks like it's almost time..."

The wind that the vortex created blew violently through Tenten's hair and the weapon's mistress threw a glance at Naruto before looking straight at Arashi again, "I want to ask you one thing."

The Akatsuki leader raised an eyebrow, "And what would that be?"

Tenten narrowed her eyes and glared at Arashi, "Where is Nemar-kun? What did you do with him?"

Arashi looked surprised at the weapons mistress and both Hinata and Temari let out a gasp.

"I completely forgot about him...He's not here, so..." Temari thought with her eyes wide open.

"Ah..." Arashi smirked and let his shoulders hang, "That guy..."

"Answer my question." Tenten commanded.

"I'd normally say make me, but you wouldn't be able to do so in a million years...Alright, I'll tell you..." Arashi said and his smirk grew wider as he crossed his arms, "That guy is dead. I killed him."

"T-That's..." Tenten's eyes grew wide out of shock, her face having almost the exact same expression as Temari and Hinata.

"A lie...It has to be a lie..." Temari muttered, tears swelling up in her eyes as both sadness and anger fill her entire being, "He's lying...There's no way..."

The wind mistress gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as a couple of tears slipped from her eyes, "I swear...I swear, you will pay..."

"N-Nemar-kun...d-di-di..." Hinata trembled out of shock, not even able to say much else.

"You..." Tenten gritted her teeth and clutched onto her scroll.

"Don't you believe me? Really...he was so weak...I killed him almost instantly. Was he really a shinobi?" Arashi grinned wickedly.

Tenten clutched tighter onto her scroll, "You killed someone I hold dear to me..."

Arashi laughed, "Hahaha! And what are you going to do about it, little girl...?"

Tenten gritted her teeth and with one swift motion she pulled her large scroll open, "Why you..."

"Don't believe him!" Anko called out, lying against a wall due to the explosion

Tenten froze for a moment, Temari opened her eyes and Hinata just stopped trembling.

"Nemar-kun is still alive. He's fighting for his life, but he's alive." Anko said as she turned her head towards Tenten.

"Wh-What?" Tenten let out and looked with wide eyes at Anko, "How do you..."

"Don't believe a word this guy says. He's still alive, but not yet safe. He won't be safe until this guy is dead." Anko told the other girls.

Arashi turned his head towards Anko, "I see...So you knew about that as well? Looks like Konoha was properly prepared for the Akatsuki in a certain way..."

"You bastard..." Tenten growled, "I'll kill you and save Nemar-kun, Naruto and everyone else. I won't let you hurt the people I care about anymore."

"Hmph...And here I thought that Anko-chan had calmed you down..." Arashi grabbed onto his right wrist and flexed his hand a bit, "Very well. Show me what you can do."

"I'll make you regret your actions to the fullest." Tenten said as she placed her hand on the first seal of her scroll.

Anko sat up and sighed as the battle commenced, "Maybe I should've told them that their Nemar-kun is in fact Naru-chan...Though, I'm sure Naru-chan would get mad at me then..."

The kunoichi winced in pain from her injuries, "Damn it...I should help Tenten-chan out. I couldn't do so with Temari-chan and Hinata-chan, but..."

She gritted her teeth as another pain shot through her body, "Well, first I should treat this wound of mine..."

Anko turned around and faced away from the battle with explosions, blunt weapons and sharp kunai. She took her raincoat off and took a moment to look at both her injury and the blood covering her clothes. As she took her netvest off, she winced in pain again and prayed that she could treat her biggest injury without being interrupted.

Anko took her shirt off and looked at the cut that led from her collarbone straight down to her bellybutton, "Damn...I'll have to stop most of the bleeding fast...I can't afford to pass out during this battle..."

She ripped her shirt in half and started to wrap the fabric around her body, covering her wound. Anko turned her head around and saw Arashi continuesly evading Tenten's attacks, who was dangerously swinging a flail around at the current moment.

She then quickly finished wrapping the cloth around her and put her raincoat back on, "That bastard...He really wants us all to mentally break down. And cutting my body like this...I swear that I'll visit him in hell if Naru-chan isn't attracted to my body anymore because of this wound."

Anko closed her raincoat and made sure it was tightly shut as she slowly stood up. The Jounin threw a look towards the defeated Hinata and Temari and then at Arashi and Tenten.

"I can't help Hinata-chan and Temari-chan...Seeing Tenten-chan's fighting style, I don't know if I should help her out. Close combat combined with her long ranged destructive techniques might not work out for the best..." Anko thought as she analysed the situation before turning her head towards Naruto's location, "Naru-chan...What would you do?"

Naruto's fist clashed with that of the Kyuubi, the impact sending out a wave of chakra from both parties. The blonde shinobi knew it wasn't truly chakra even though it looked like it.

"We're just two forces in a collision, both struggling to overpower the other..." Naruto thought as he and the Kyuubi jumped away again.

A moment later, the two charged towards each other again.

The Kyuubi dodged Naruto's punch and counter attacked with a punch of his own, which send Naruto flying back.

"And, Naruto...Feel like giving up yet?" The Kyuubi laughed as Naruto pushed himself up from the ground.

"I'll never give up, you damned fox." Naruto said before rushing back towards the Kyuubi.

The two of them continued to exchange blows, each one packing more power than the last one.

Naruto glared at the widely grinning Kyuubi, who seemed to be enjoying the fight to the fullest.

"Just hold on everyone..." Naruto thought as he delivered a powerful punch to the Kyuubi's face, "I'm going to beat this bastard and protect all of you."

Tenten threw kunai after kunai, shuriken after shuriken at the person who could be called the fastest shinobi alive.

She knew it was quite useless to waste all of her kunai and shuriken in attempts to hit the Akatsuki leader, but she still had plenty more in her arsenal and it gave her time to figure out a way to fight someone of his level.

The weapons mistress could tell that Arashi was fast enough to close in on her and attack her at any time and that she was slowly running out of time.

"Damn it...Even with my perfect aim and fast throwing, he's too fast..." Tenten thought as she quickly moved around from one spot to another and threw several shuriken at Arashi.

Several dozens of kunai and shuriken littered the ground with many more and a whole lot of other weapons prepared in Tenten's weapon scrolls.

However, none of those would help if she couldn't land a hit.

"He won't keep evading my attacks forever...I've got to stop his movements or find a way to lure him into a trap, but so far nothing has worked..." Tenten thought as she gritted her teeth and kept moving about.

"What happened to making me regret what I've done?" Arashi smirked at Tenten, "Hurry up and bring out your better weapons."

"Take this!" Tenten let out as she summoned forth six kunai and threw them in a wide angle.

Halfway through on their path, the kunai left a trail of sparks and started to make sizzling sounds. Arashi flashed forward, grabbed one of the kunai out of the air and threw it back towards Tenten.

"Shit." Tenten cursed as she tried to stop her movement and dash the other way in order to avoid the kunai, but it the explosion from the exploding tag that was attached to it came too fast.

The weapons mistress managed to avoid any serious injuries, but she was unable to escape the explosion entirely unscathed.

She landed on the ground in a kneeled down position and glared at Arashi, "So you had enough of running away, huh?"

"I don't like explosions..." Arashi coldly stared back at Tenten, "Don't think you can defeat me simply by combining kunai and exploding tags..."

"Hehehe..." Tenten let out as she stood back up again, "I just thought that I might catch you off guard."

"Rest assured...I want to see what you've got, but there's not a chance I'd drop my guard while doing so." Arashi replied as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I see..." Tenten said as she properly placed her weapon scroll on her back, "Looks like you didn't underestimate me after all."

"Underestimate?" Arashi repeated and slightly chuckled, "Not a chance. What weak excuse of a shinobi would drop his guard against an opponent, no matter what their level of skill is?"

Tenten smirked at Arashi and softly whispered, "We'll see if you're that person."

The weapons mistress darted straight towards the Akatsuki leader, not even bothering to draw a single weapon from her scrolls.

"Tsch...Did none of them learn the basics of combat?" Arashi muttered as he crossed his arms, "Well...Bring it on already."

A few meters before coming within melee range, Tenten leaped up in the air.

"Hm?" Arashi tilted his head back and watched Tenten, "So you're going to attack from up there, eh?"

"Take this!" Tenten said and held her hands out in front of her, her fingers stretching out as far as they could reach.

A single sparkle from the sunlight made Arashi gasp and he shifted his position, unfolding his arms.

He turned his head around and gritted his teeth, "Tsch...She's pretty good."

Countless metalic wires rose up from the weapons surrounding Arashi and every single wire let back to Tenten, who had turned her hands into fists by now.

The Akatsuki leader slapped his hands together as his eyes darted around, "She took care of the outer areas the instant she jumped up in order to lock me in. And then she used the other wires to restrain my movement entirely. Not bad, but..."

Tenten ran chakra through the wires, solidifying and strengthening them enough for her to perform a handstand on the ends of all the wires combined.

"Looks like I've caught you." Tenten smirked as she moved one hand off the metalic wires, supporting herself entirely with her other arm, and reached for weapon scrolls, "This is the end."

"Really now?" Arashi raised an eyebrow as he ran through a series of handseals.

"Take this!" Tenten yelled as she snapped one of her weaponscrolls open.

"Raiton." Arashi said calmly as he finished with his handseal sequence with the rat handseal, "Raigeki no Jutsu."

Lightning struck the wires that surrounded the Akatsuki leader and surged up towards Tenten.

"Aaaaah!" Tenten let out in pain as the electricty hit her, the wires instantly losing their solidified state and the cage of wires collapsed around Arashi as Tenten fell down from the sky.

The impact on the ground had the young weapons mistress coughing up blood and smoke rose up from her body.

"I must congratulate you. You managed to hide the initial wire cage from my sight and managed to raise the wires inside the cage fast enough to hold me down." Arashi said as he walked towards the fallen Tenten, "The normal, average enemy would've been dead at that point. Nice planning, I'm impressed. However, I'm not your average opponent."

Tenten placed her arms on the ground and slightly pushed herself up, her arms slightly shaking underneath the weight of most of her body.

"Damn it..." The girl let out as she glared towards Arashi and then she pushed herself further up.

Arashi stopped walking, "You can still stand after taking such a fall? Lie back down, girl. You don't have the strength left to even survive a single blow from me."

Tenten picked up her scroll and glared towards Arashi again, "I told you...I'm going to make you regret all that you have done...There's no way I could lie back down."

"Tsch...It can't be helped then...I'll just..." Arashi cut his sentence off and gritted his teeth.

"You'll do just what?" Anko asked with a grin on her face.

Arashi slightly turned his head around and found a single snake sinking it's teeth into his leg, "You sneaky little..."

"Tenten! If you got a weapon there to kill him, do it now!" Anko shouted at Tenten, whose eyes widened.

"Like I'll let that happen!" Arashi let out, a shuriken of chakra shot out of the palm of his hand and severed the snake's head from it's body.

Anko winced and kneeled down as the snake's body disappeared.

Tenten quickly snapped her scroll open and summoned forth a katana. She didn't waste another moment and pressed her legs forward.

"This is for what you did to Nemar-kun and Naruto!" Tenten shouted as loud as she could as she raised the katana above her head.

"Damn it..." Arashi let out and glared at Tenten as she slashed downwards with the katana.

Blood covered Tenten and Arashi's face and their eyes trembled.

"Impossible." Tenten let out as Arashi slowly grinned.

"Surprised?" Arashi asked, "My level of form manipulation is as high as it can get..."

"Though who would've thought I'd have to resort to such a troublesome technique like creating a katana out of chakra." Arashi said as his chakra katana applied some pressure to Tenten's, which had struck the Akatsuki leader's left shoulder.

"So you managed to stop a lethal attack..." Tenten said, "I'm still going to take your arm."

"Sorry, I already had a new one today." Arashi's eyes sharpened and became ice cold, "I have no desire to get another one."

Tenten gasped as the blade of Arashi's chakra katana began to spin violently and effortlessly cut through her own katana.

"It's over." Arashi said as he turned his hand and sliced upwards from Tenten's right hip to her left shoulder, "For you, that is..."

Blood shot out from Tenten's wound mere moments before the weapons mistress fell on face down on the ground.

As if reacting to the wound inflicted to Tenten, the ground underneath Naruto's feet slowly started to crack and the vortex of chakra raged more than it did ever before.

"It's about time..." Arashi said as the sword of chakra in his hands shattered and disappeared.

The Akatsuki leader walked past the defeated weapons mistress and headed onward to the statue he had summoned.

"Not...yet..." Those words made Arashi stop and turn around.

"This battle..." Tenten said as she pushed herself up with shaking arms, "Is not..."

"Shut up and lie down...You're in no condition to fight." Arashi stated as he narrowed his eyes at the struggling Tenten, "I have no interest in you anymore."

"It's not..." Tenten said as she rose to her feet.

"It's not over yet!" The weapons mistress shouted as loud as she could and charged towards her enemy.

"Heh..." Arashi smirked and flashed away.

Tenten stopped and instinctively threw her arms in front of her in order to defend herself from any possible incoming attack.

Surprised when no attack came, the young weapons mistress looked about trying to spot the Akatsuki leader.

"Over here." Arashi said as he held one of Tenten's weapon scrolls in his hands.

Tenten gasped, "Y-You...! What do you think you're doing with my...!"

She cut her sentence off when Arashi threw her scroll towards her. The weapons mistress looked at the Akatsuki leader with wide eyes, "Wh-Why...?"

"If you want me to destroy your will to fight, at least try to defend yourself." Arashi shrugged.

Tenten opened her scroll, her eyes darting between the seals written on the scroll and Arashi.

"Come at me however you wish. I won't run away." Arashi smirked, "After all, you won't be even able to hurt a single hair on my head."

Tenten gritted her teeth and glared at Arashi before placing her hand on a seal.

"If I were you, I'd hurry though...That wound looks painful." Arashi stated and then laughed at the girl.

"You're in no position to laugh, you bastard!" Anko dashed behind the Akatsuki leader with a kunai ready in her hand.

She thrusted the point of the kunai towards Arashi's neck, who just quickly raised a smirk.

"Be a good girl and go to sleep, Anko-chan..." Arashi said as he slammed the back of his fist into Anko's face, sending the Jounin flying back.

Anko crashed into a wall and gritted her teeth as the stones fell on top of her, "D...Damn it..."

"Now where were we..." Arashi turned his head back towards Tenten, who was channeling chakra into her scroll.

The girl took a deep breath and then swiftly moved her hand over the scroll, summoning forth a katana that seemed to have a longer blade than most katana.

"What? Another sword?" The Akatsuki leader raised an eyebrow, "You know you won't last very long in a sword fight with your current state..."

"Shut up and fight!" Tenten roared as she charged towards Arashi.

The Akatsuki leader sighed and molded enough chakra to form another chakra katana, "Some just never learn..."

Tenten slashed with her sword and Arashi parried with his own, the impact of Tenten's katana on the chakra blade making the earth beneath them tremble.

"What in the..." Arashi let out as he quickly withdrew his sword from it's position and readied it for an attack.

However, Tenten didn't allow the Akatsuki leader to have a moment to strike and struck with her katana again. Each of Tenten's swings were parried, but each created shockwaves more powerful than the previous one.

"I see...The chakra she was channelling into the scroll...Quite the technique..." Arashi thought, "However..."

"You're still no match for me." Arashi said and sliced with his sword at the girl.

A small smirk appeared on Tenten's face as she twisted her blade and shifted the position of her hands as she countered Arashi's attack.

The chakra katana was knocked into the air and exploded in a burst of chakra.

"She managed to disarm me?!" Arashi thought as his eyes widened, even more so when he felt the cold metal of Tenten pierced through his stomach.

"You can't beat a real sword with your cheap imitation..." Tenten said as she twisted the blade around once, making the Akatsuki leader cough up some blood.

"An attack that doesn't instantly kill me..." Arashi placed his hand on Tenten's katana.

"Won't defeat me either!" Arashi emitted an enormouss amount of intent to kill.

The Akatsuki leader pushed himself towards her and cut her more often than she could count within the blink of an eye.

"D-Damn." Tenten let out as she staggered away from Arashi, blood dripping down on the floor from the wounds on her arms and legs.

The Akatsuki leader gritted his teeth and pulled the katana out of his stomach.

As he dropped it on the ground and his wound closed, Tenten fell face down again as well, "I...lost...eh?"

"You're all pissing me off." Arashi said as he walked over to the defeated Tenten.

He observed her for a moment and then rose her up from the ground with a single hand, "So you're still alive?"

Tenten gritted her teeth and tightly shut her eyes as the Akatsuki leader rose her futher up in the air.

"That's right...Breathe..." He said, "Breathe for me. You have to live to witness a new dawn and to see the friend you've failed to protect die in front of your very eyes."

"I...I...won't let you..." Tenten replied, slightly opening her eyes.

"Take a closer look at reality. Did you truly hope to defeat me on your own? Or did you perhaps think your friends over there that are clinging onto their lives became like that simply because they felt like it?" Arashi narrowed his eyes at Tenten, "Fighting for people you hold dear and becoming strong by using the emotion of love as a fuel...That's the biggest piece of crap in life."

The Akatsuki leader released the girl from his grip and let her fall down on her back. Arashi held his arm up to the sky and started to form single handed handseals with his other hand.

A cry came from the statue as it opened it's nine eyes along with it's mouth as it's fingertips glowed with a dark, ominous hue.

"Now...behold the dawn of a new era. An era ruled by the Akatsuki." Arashi said as the kanji that meant 'zero' appeared beneath his feet.

Jiraiya bashed his way through countless of nameless Akatsuki henchmen.

Each of them were determined to stop the one who was called one of the legendary Sannin and, with their medical-nins backing them up, they seemed to be a near infinite army of shinobi standing in the frog hermit's way.

Nevertheless, Jiraiya fought his way through each and every single shinobi that attacked him.

"Only a bit further..." He thought as he threw a shinobi towards his comrades.

Jiraiya quickly laid his eyes upon the blonde and pink haired girl that had both been dragged into the same battle as the frog hermit. He had managed to devert the general attention of the shinobi away from the two girls and onto him, but some still crossed the path of the two kunoichi.

Jiraiya smashed his elbow into the face of a shinobi that tried to attack him from behind.

Sakura and Ino had made it past the final lines of enemy shinobi and were rushing towards the main battle scene in order to help their friends.

The hermit knew that he too had to hurry to save his young apprentice from his former student and that those two kunoichi wouldn't last very long if said former student got serious.

Jiraiya bashed bunch of shinobi away and charged a Rasengan in his hand.

Suddenly, he and every shinobi around him just froze on their spot.

Even Sakura and Ino, who had been running as fast as they could to help Naruto and their other friends, stopped in their tracks.

A shiver ran down Jiraiya's spine as he looked up towards the sky. The seemingly endless blue sky turned dark as the night and the floating white clouds turned blood red.

"This..." Jiraiya said and then gritted his teeth, "...seems to be a whole lot of trouble..."

The frog tamer turned his attention back to the enemy shinobi, who still seemed to be distracted by the sky, and smirked, "I guess I've got no choice then..."

"Sakura." Ino looked at her pink haired friend, who nodded in reply.

"Let's go." Sakura replied and the two friends dashed towards their destination.

Arashi tilted his head and noticed the two kunoichi rushing towards the battlefield.

"Damn it...Those bastards are taking too long." Arashi cursed as he saw Sakura whip out three kunai from her kunai pouch and Ino form a handseal.

The pink haired medic-nin threw her kunai towards the Akatsuki leader, who twitched as the blades rapidly approached him.

"Damn..." Arashi cursed in his thoughts again and then flashed away, the kanji that stood for 'zero' disappearing from the ground.

"Let's do this!" Ino shouted as she formed a series of handseals.

"Hmph. Looks like I'll deal with the flow of cockroaches first." Arashi let out as he raced through a sequence of handseals.

The Akatsuki leader slapped his hands together and called out, "Ninpou: Genryuu Keikai."

A golden beam shot up from the statue and created a barrier around the surrounding area.

"Wait up, Arashi!" Jiraiya shouted as he ran towards the battlefield, leaving a pile of defeated shinobi in his wake.

However, when he got closer, the barrier shot down and blocked the hermit's path.

Slamming into the force field, Jiraiya slightly twitched, "N-No way! My fifteen minutes of fame are up?! I didn't even have my epical 'Master versus Student' battle!"

"Shin Shinranshin no jutsu!" Ino let out as the Akatsuki leader was about to dash towards their direction.

The jutsu stopped Arashi in his tracks, but he tried to keep moving forward nonetheless. The blonde girl from Konoha gritted her teeth as she tried to restrain the Akatsuki leader.

"Shin...Shinranshin no jutsu?" Sakura slightly twitched and sweat dropped on the back of her neck.

"Oh shut it." Ino let out, "Like you're original when it comes to creating names for new techniques."

"I actually don't think up names at all..." Sakura waved dismissively at Ino.

"Sakura!" Ino yelled, "Stop wasting time and help everyone! I can't hold him back forever!"

The kunoichi's emerald eyes sharpened and she nodded before dashing towards Tenten, "Gotcha."

"Aren't you two quite the fools..." Arashi said as he forced himself to take a step further towards the kunoichi, "This is the point where you are supposed to attack me."

"Sorry, but sadly this jutsu isn't entirely perfect just yet." Ino replied, "And I'd rather not be the one on the receiving end of Sakura's punches."

"Tsch...Using an incomplete jutsu against me..." Arashi gritted his teeth and his muscles tensed.

Sakura's healing techniques started to heal Tenten's largest wounds, "I'm sorry we're late, Tenten."

"Don't...worry about it..." The weapons mistress managed to raise a faint smile at the medic-nin.

"Think you can give me some information on this guy while I'm treating your wounds?" Sakura asked with a serious look on her face as she slowly moved her hands over Tenten's body.

"He's one tough cookie." Tenten slightly laughed, coughing up a bit of blood, "We'll need as much strength as we can get to beat him..."

"Please don't say anything unnecessary like a joke. You're body is still in a serious condition." Sakura stroke a pluck of hair out of her face, "You've lost quite a lot of blood."

"Temari and Hinata...I think they took some big hits, but...I'm probably in worse condition than they are." Tenten stated.

Sakura nodded, "Just let me worry about them. Just rest and be ready to help us in battle soon."

"Hehe...I'll kick his ass for what he did to all of us...Even Naruto and Nemar-kun..." Tenten said before closing her eyes.

Sakura threw a quick glance at the raging vortex of demonic chakra with Naruto in it's centre, "Naruto..."

"Geez..." Jiraiya said as he kicked a hole in the ground near the barrier, which instantly filled up the hole and shielded off the small entrance it created, "Barriers aren't really my thing and this is one damned good barrier."

"I have to do something fast..." The frog tamer eyed the situation inside the barrier, "If only I had Orochimaru's knowledge on barriers..."

The snake Sannin sneezed out loud.

"This is troubling..." Tsunade said as she eyed the black sky.

"Indeed...It is..." Orochimaru blew his nose clean in a tissue, "If I catch a cold, Sasuke-kun's perfect body might get sick as well."

"I'm not talking about that!" Tsunade twitched and pointed up towards the sky, "I'm talking about that ominous sky above us!"

"Oh." Orochimaru tilted his head back and stared at the sky for a moment, "I see...This is bad."

Tsunade eyed the rest of the battlefield before turning her attention towards Orochimaru again, "So..."

"Since our summons stopped chasing us and started flirting with each other...And because more pressing matters have risen." Orochimaru raised a grin, "Let's end our battle, Tsunade..."

"I couldn't agree more." Tsunade raised her fist up in the air.

Orochimaru twitched and slightly backed away, "You know...I didn't mean it like that...I meant that we should change our focus onto the Akatsuki before settling matters between us..."

"..." Tsunade lowered her fist, "You're right. I'm not going to allow Naruto to die. Saving him comes before kicking your ass."

"I wouldn't say you'd be able to kick my ass, but..." Orochimaru shrugged and then ran off, "I've got jutsu to rip off that Arashi's soon to be dead body."

The jutsu obsessed snake sannin ran past Gaara and Kimimaro and stopped, raising an eyebrow at seeing his former vessel's body having transformed into a giant sand teddy bear.

"Kimimaro...Sorry, but you have to stop playing with Kazekage-kun. We got other things to do." Orochimaru stated as he crossed his arms.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. However, Orochimaru-sama..." Kimimaro said as Gaara patted the sand on Kimimaro's stomach before adding more sand to it, "Gaara crushed my bones into tiny, tiny pieces and, since it's taking me a lot of to recover, he decided to turn me into a giant sand teddy bear."

Orochimaru stared speechlessly at Kimimaro for a moment, "...You do realise you've been summoned from the dead and can heal abnormally fast and that you basically don't need bones now because you've got muscles and a hard casing of sand around your body?"

"But Orochimaru-sama, I'm nothing without my bones." Kimimaro replied.

"Well, that doesn't matter right now." Orochimaru slightly tilted his head, "Hurry up and follow me."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama..." Kimimaro replied and slowly started to follow the ever fast snake Sannin.

Gaara rubbed his chin in thought, "...I completely forgot about needing to rescue Naruto..."

The Kazekage slapped his hands together and sand rose up underneath his feet, lifting him up into the air, "Then...It's about time to rescue him."

Meanwhile, not too far away from the Kazekage, a certain young avenger was throwing the millionth tantrum in his life.

"Damn it, Itachi!" Sasuke yelled, "You cheating bastard! Get out of that aura that makes you invulnerable."

"Sorry, Sasuke...I've got work to do..." Itachi replied as he sat down on the ground.

"You liar! You knew I was going to kill you and you chickened out!" Sasuke replied.

"Those are some awful accusations...It wasn't me who allowed myself to enter this state." Itachi replied.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, "Why you..."

"Unfortunately, the others weren't as fast as me." Itachi moved his eyes to the right, but refrained from turning his head around, "They caused our leader a bit of trouble."

Sasuke slightly turned his head, looking towards the barrier that surrounded pretty large part of Konoha's central area, "If I kill this leader guy, will you fight me again?"

"You won't even make it through the barrier." Itachi closed his eyes and sighed, "Well, if you have the patience for us to finish killing your old friend, Naruto-kun, then I'll kick your ass again, say something that will make the fangirls squeal as I leave and have you go emo on us all again."

"Damn it, for the last time! I'M! NOT! EMO!" Sasuke yelled.

"Emo, emo. Sasuke is an emo." Itachi said in a monotonous voice.

"Shut up! Shut the hell up!" Sasuke yelled.

"Or what? You're going to cry and cut your wrists in front of my eyes?" Itachi replied, eyeing the Uchiha avenger.

Sasuke clutched onto his hair and started pulling it out as he gritted his teeth.

"He's really making this entire torturing thing too easy for me..." Itachi thought as Sasuke shook his head around and muttered things to himself.

The younger Uchiha stopped all of a sudden and pointed at his older brother, "I'm going to send you to hell after I'm done with that leader guy!"

"...Like I said, be my guest and try to go through that barrier..." Itachi replied casually.

Sasuke gritted his teeth again and then ran off.

"Looks like all of our enemies are moving in on our leader, eh Kisame?" Itachi asked the sharkman that sat not too far away from him.

"Everyone from Konoha that was fighting us headed over there the instant they figured out they couldn't touch us." Kisame grinned widely, "That hyperactive animal really is slow mentally at times like that."

"Well...All Arashi-san has to do is complete the jutsu and it's all over for Konoha." Itachi stated, "But it might still take a while for him to be able to do so."

"Resistance inside that barrier, eh?" Kisame asked and snickered, "Even so, they won't have an easy time facing off against him. No matter who they are..."

"There are few that can stand up against the former Fourth Hokage."

"Tsch..." Arashi let out as he kept pushing himself onward, "You are quite persistent."

"I could say the same of you..." Ino gritted her teeth and glared at the Akatsuki leader.

"If you think buying time to rescue your friends is going to save your lives in this battle, then you are sadly mistaken." Arashi replied and forced another step forward.

"The one who is mistaken is you." Ino said and took a deep breath, "We'll beat the crap out of you for hurting those who we care about."

"Again this kind of crap, huh?" Arashi narrowed his eyes at Ino.

"I don't know the details, but anyone who hurts my dear Nemar-kun isn't going to live to tell the tale." Ino replied, "And you also are trying to kill Naruto, right? Sorry, but he's one of Sakura's best friends and a friend of mine as well. There's no way we'll allow you to do such a thing."

"Ha! Hahaha!" Arashi laughed and closed his eyes, trying to restrain his laughter.

"What's so funny?" Ino felt her muscles tense underneath the pressure Arashi applied to her through the jutsu, "What kind of guy is he...? He's trying to completely force his way through my jutsu..."

"In other words, you're reason to fight is 'love', eh?" Arashi asked with a grin on his face.

"What about it?" Ino narrowed her eyes.

The Akatsuki leader snickered, "Do you understand what it means to be a shinobi?"

"O-Of course! I am one, aren't I?!" Ino slightly twitched.

"Then you should already understand..." Arashi slightly tilted his head back and his eyes pierced through Ino's own, "Love...companionship...and all that crap. Those are emotions that are useless to a shinobi in combat."

"W-What?!" Ino let out.

"The only thing a shinobi needs in a battle is..." Arashi's eyes slightly widened, "The desire to kill!"

Ino gasped as the Akatsuki leader shattered through her technique with brute force, "Crap!"

"Show me!" Arashi shouted at the blonde girl as he ran towards her, "Do you have the desire to kill within you?!"

"Ino, duck!" Sakura shouted and Ino responded immediately by dropping down on her knees and lowering her head.

She felt friction just above her head and a moment later she heard a gasp, "Urgh..."

Ino looked up and saw Arashi flying away, only for him to land perfectly onto his feet a moment later.

"Heh...Made it in time..." Sakura said as she breathed deeply in and out.

"That's some scary punch..." Arashi stated as he placed a hand on his chest.

"Why, thank you." Sakura smirked at the Akatsuki leader.

"But that's all it is though..." Arashi took a deep breath and straightened up, "Nothing more than a scare."

"Sorry, but these punches are all one hundred percent pure power." Sakura raised her hand up and stretched the fabric of the black gloves she was wearing, "They're to kill you, not to frighten you."

"That strength in your punch just now...I see, you're Tsunade-hime's apprentice." Arashi smirked slightly, "There's no doubt about it."

"Ino...You go finish up the healing process on Temari and Hinata. I've checked up on them, you should be able to handle it." Sakura said as she clenched her fists.

"I got it." Ino nodded and stood up.

"Forget about Tenten. She'll be ready to fight again in a few moments. I'll keep him busy as..."

"Checkmate." Arashi said and raised his hand up in the air, chakra gathering beneath his feet.

"Don't interrupt my dialogue, you bastard!" Sakura slammed her fist on the ground, shattering the earth from the point of impact up until a bit beyond Arashi's location.

The Akatsuki leader flashed away to safety, "Tsch..."

Ino quickly ran towards Temari and Hinata without saying a word. Sakura silently nodded as she ran towards Arashi.

"That's right...From here on out the time for dialogue is over...We're going to face off against him with every thing we've got...Naruto, hang in there. I'm going to protect you."

Ino looked at Sakura as she reached Temari and Hinata. The pink haired kunoichi didn't let the Akatsuki leader have single moment of rest as she threw punches left and right without end.

"Temari, how are you feeling?" Ino asked when she turned her attention to the blonde from Sunagakure.

"I've had better days." Temari smirked slightly, "Sakura treated some of my injuries already and I've recovered some chakra. After you're done with me, I should be able to fight again."

"Hinata, what about you?" Ino turned her head around to look at the Hyuuga heiress.

"I...I haven't received treatment from Sakura-san yet, so..." Hinata replied.

"Alright." Ino crossed her hands over each other and held them above Temari's body, "First we're going to patch you up and then I'll take care of Hinata."

"Ino...When you're done with Hinata, please help that Anko person too." Temari stated.

"Eh?" Ino let out a gasp.

Temari turned her head away from Ino, "I don't like her, but she told us that Nemar-kun was definitely fine and alive. And that if we'd defeat this guy, he'll be safe from everything. We owe her one."

Ino slightly laughed, "You believed Nemar-kun died? There's no way he could have."

"I know that, but that Arashi person made it sound like it was true and he was nowhere in the area, so..." Temari slightly frowned at the thought.

"Even though he's not here, I'm sure he'll be fine." Ino smiled, "Definitely."

"B-But...Right now...we should worry about Na-N-Naruto-kun, right?" Hinata asked.

"Right now, Naruto needs us more than Nemar-kun does, I guess." Ino smiled at Hinata, "I wonder what the look on his face will be when he hears we've all done our best to save him."

Temari slightly scowled, "We'll definitely save him...However, right now, it's Sakura we should worry about. Unless you'd like to see her end up like we did."

"Don't worry. Sakura is able to handle this guy." Ino said as she threw a glance at Sakura before moving her hands away from Temari, "There. All done."

"Thanks..." Temari said as she sat up. The wind mistress narrowed her eyes at Sakura's fight with the Akatsuki leader, "But you're mistaken about Sakura. This guy is merely toying with her right now..."

Ino gasped and slightly tilted her head back before moving on towards Hinata, "You guys fought him, right? I'm sure he's tiring out, no matter how much stamina he has."

Temari bit her thumb, "Tsch...Something's wrong, though...He didn't sound like he liked it when you two interrupted him just now."

"Are...Are you saying there's no reason he would go easy on Sakura?" Hinata asked as Ino treated her injuries.

"Shit!" Temari's eyes widened and a moment later she jumped up, wincing in pain from her sudden movement.

"Temari! Don't push yourself just yet." Ino said when she noticed the wind mistress grab onto her fan.

"This guy isn't going easy on her. He's definitely going to kill her." Temari replied as she gritted her teeth, "He's just biding his time..."

"Eh?" Ino and Hinata let out at the same time.

"W-What makes you say that?" Ino blinked as she quickly continued treating Hinata's injuries.

"He's insanely fast. He shouldn't be having any trouble breaking through Sakura's attacks." Temari stated, "But for some reason he seems almost afraid of attacking her."

"Could it be..." Ino gasped and looked straight into Hinata's eyes, "Hinata, can you see his chakra circulation from here?"

"Eh-Ehm..." Hinata slowly moved her hands to just above her body and formed a single handseal, "Byakugan!"

"What are you able to see, Hinata?" Temari asked.

The young Hyuuga girl gasped, "His heart...it's injured. It looks like it is beating arrhythmical. It's healing but not as fast as he regenerated his other injuries. The tenketsu around his heart are damaged."

Ino planted a kiss on Hinata's lips, "Your bloodline is amazing. Looks like this is our chance."

"E-Eh?" Hinata blushed and blinked at the blonde.

"Wh-what the...?! This isn't the time to kiss people, blondy!" Temari yelled at Ino.

Ino jumped up and planted a kiss on Temari's lips as well, "Don't worry, you can have one as well."

"Like I said..." Temari twitched and glared at the blonde as a blush crawled onto her cheeks.

Ino ran a bit away from the two girls before turning back around, "We got a chance now, but that might change soon. I'm not going to give up, but in return I don't know what might happen to me. I just wanted to let you guys know..."

"Uh...?" Temari blinked at Ino.

"You're my friends and I love you." Ino smiled at Temari, "Now let's go kick some ass together and save the day, alright?"

"Heh...Thinking of dying, blondy?" Temari smirked.

"W-Who said anything about dying?!" Ino shouted, "Is that the way you reply to a friend that says she cares about you?!"

"But if you didn't think there'd be a possibility that any of us would die, you wouldn't have kissed us, now would you?" Temari raised an eyebrow.

"Wh-Who cares?!" Ino's face flushed bright red and the blonde quickly turned away from the two girls, "Let's go grab our chance to kill this guy while we still can!"

"Heh...Don't worry...We'll stick through this together." Temari replied and extended her hand towards Hinata, who was still lying on the ground, "Right, Hinata?"

Hinata nodded and smiled softly as she grabbed onto Temari's hand and pulled herself up.

"Let's do this." Ino said before she and the other two girls ran to Sakura's aid.

"Don't forget about Tenten, blondy." Temari stated.

"Yes, I think we will need Tenten as well." Hinata replied, her usual kind, gentle eyes were sharp and focussed.

"I know." Ino replied, "You two go help Sakura. I'm going to check if Tenten's rested enough to join us in the battle."

"Alright." Temari nodded before they split up.

Naruto was slammed against the invisible floor. The blonde quickly rolled away and jumped up just seconds before the Kyuubi crashed down onto the floor as well.

He rushed to face the demon, readying his fist half way through his run. However, when he actually managed to hit the demon fox, he got a clean blow to his stomach in return.

The two combatants split up for a moment before charging each other again.

Naruto had lost track of time long ago, but he knew that he and the Kyuubi had been relentlessly fighting each other for what to him felt like days.

He realised all too well the truth behind the entire fight between the blows he exchanged with the Kyuubi.

Each punch became heavier, each kick more devastating and yet neither of them was able to deliver the other the final blow that would kill them.

"Give up, brat! It's only a matter of time before we'll both lose." The Kyuubi roared.

"I will never give up!" Naruto slammed his fist into the Kyuubi's face.

"Then I will make you give up and beg for mercy!" The Kyuubi roared as his arm extended, wrapped Naruto's legs and threw him up in the air.

"Never! I will take back control of my body and save everyone!" Naruto replied as he created some Kage Bunshin and launched them towards the demon fox.

"If you want to live that badly, then you'll have to kill me first!" The demon fox replied and launched a beam of chakra towards Naruto, destroying the clones along the way.

"I know that already!" Naruto yelled as he dodged the beam and continued his attack.

The two of them both wanted to live no matter what.

Both of them was willing to kill the other in order to do so.

No matter how many attacks it would take, neither of them would give up.

Attacks that would have been fatal were nothing at all simply because of their desire to live.

In the end, the one who will stand on his feet will be the one who has killed and completely destroyed the other.

"That's right...In this battle, there will be no defeat or victory. Just one that will live and one that will die." Naruto thought as he exchanged blows with the Kyuubi, "And I'm the one who's going to live!"

"Damn...If only I knew a way to get through this barrier..." Jiraiya cursed, "But I'm no Orochimaru...No, even so, there has to be a way to get through it before it's too late..."

"You're pathetic as usual...Jiraiya."

"Yeah, yeah...Barriers just aren't my..." Jiraiya cut his sentence off and turned around, pointing at the white skinned man behind him, "Orochimaru!"

"In the flesh." Orochimaru said as he licked his lips.

"Ugh...and disgusting as usual." Jiraiya slightly twitched and then tilted his head back, "Wait, if you're here then that means..."

"Kukuku." Orochimaru chuckled and grinned widely.

"You..." Jiraiya glared, "I won't forgive you for harming Tsunade."

"I didn't know I was harmed." Tsunade, who appeared from a bit behind Orochimaru, said.

"Oh! Tsunade! You're alive!" Jiraiya blinked, "Then why is he...?"

"Because I can't leave something like this to you amateurs..." Orochimaru said as he walked towards the barrier.

"Tsunade...?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone's heading this way to stop the Akatsuki." Tsunade stated.

"Jiraiya, even though we're enemies, I'd like to see Naruto-kun in the Akatsuki's possession as much as you do." Orochimaru said as he crossed his arms, "Now then...Let's take care of this barrier..."

"What do we need to do?" Jiraiya asked.

"First we need to see how strong it is..." Orochimaru nodded once.

"And how do we do that?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"I can do that. Give me a few seconds..." Orochimaru replied. His tongue crawled out of his mouth and grew in length as it lapped over the barrier.

Jiraiya blinked and shivered for a moment, "..."

"I see..." Orochimaru's right eye twitched as his tongue went back into his mouth.

"Orochimaru, what does your freakishly long tongue say about his barrier?" Jiraiya asked.

Orochimaru clutched his fist, "It's over nine thousand!"

"What?! Nine thousand?!" Jiraiya let out.

"...Wait, let me try that again." Orochimaru said and lapped with his tongue over the barrier.

"Orochimaru, what does your freakishly long tongue say about his xxx?"

Orochimaru clutched his fist, "It's over nine xxx thousand!"

"What the hell do you two think are doing?!" Tsunade yelled, "And what's with the self-censorship?! Stop fooling around and destroy this barrier!"

"Barrier?" Jiraiya repeated.

"Over nine thousand!" Orochimaru yelled.

"What?! Nine Thousand?!"

"IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!"

Chouji could be heard yelling from far away, "WHEN THEY MESS WITH FOOOOOOD!"

"NINE THOUSAND!"

"What?! Nine-"

"THOUSAND!"

"Barrier."

"It's over nine thou-!"

Tsunade's punch cut Orochimaru's repetitive line off and send the snake sannin flying off, "Shut the hell up about that and do something!"

"But..." Orochimaru licked the barrier again, "It pisses me off...The chakra density of this barrier really is over nine..."

Tsunade gave Orochimaru an uppercut, "I told you to shut up!"

"Ouch! Mai fung!" Orochimaru uttered as he stood back up, "Vy vit jfoo haf fo foo fat?!"

Tsunade waved her hand over Orochimaru's tongue and it glew green with chakra for a moment, "We're in serious situation here! Do something about that barrier!"

"Well...I think that's pretty much impossible..." Orochimaru said as he rubbed his jaw.

"And why would that be?" Tsunade questioned.

"Well, because it's over nine..." A single glare from Tsunade caused Orochimaru to cut his sentence of and fold his hands together, "Put plainly, the barrier is filled with demonic chakra and it would take a whole lot of 'normal' chakra to break through it. That being said, it tastes horrible."

"In other words, it impossible for us to break through it?" Tsunade said as she eyed the barrier, or more importantly, Naruto and the girls inside of the barrier.

"Not entirely." Kabuto straightened his glasses and they sparkled.

"You! Since when are you here?!" Tsunade let out.

"Yes...It seems I have been forgotten ever since this chaotic battle truly began, but I am still around." Kabuto's glasses sparkled again, "Konoha's forces along with Sasuke-kun and the resurrected Kimimaro-kun should be here soon. Please direct all of them to attack this barrier and we might stand a chance. Right, Orochimaru-sama?"

"They sparkled twice..." Shino, who appeared next to Kabuto said.

"Huh?" Kabuto let out.

"...The glass dash shade sparkle is my copyrighted move..." Shino replied as his shades sparkled, "When this all is over, I will see you in court."

Orochimaru chuckled, "Well...It would be easier if those girls destroy the Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin in the centre, but I doubt they'll be able to do that."

"I see..." Tsunade took a deep breath, "EY! SAKURA! DESTROY THAT BIG UGLY STATUE IN THE CENTRE AND WE CAN HELP YOU OUT! WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO FORCE OUR WAY IN FROM THE OUTSIDE SOON!"

The pink haired kunoichi smirked as she slammed her fist down on the ground, "Looks like you're in trouble."

Arashi smirked back at her, "Yeah...I'm in trouble...I guess I have little options left then..."

The Akatsuki leader dodged three incoming kunai, "Especially with your friends being able to fight again."

"Sakura, he's injured! This our chance to take him out!" Ino shouted.

"So they found out, eh?" Arashi narrowed his eyes and kept moving about. A razor sharp wind passed by him as he formed a handseal.

"Injury or not..." The Akatsuki leader said as Ino shot a blast of mind energy at him.

He spun around, dodging Ino's attack and then he parried in an incoming Jyuuken attack from Hinata with his leg.

"Out of the five of you, only one was able to properly injure me." Arashi kicked Hinata away and jumped back as he formed a series of handseals.

"But that alone won't save you..." The Akatsuki leader exhaled, a sea of flames coming out of his mouth.

The girls shielded their faces with their arms and tried to dodge the fire attack, only barely being able to do so.

Sakura was the first to press herself up from the ground again and charged towards Arashi. She punched, but the Akatsuki leader simply knocked her arm down and smashed his elbow into her face.

Tenten tried to stab Arashi with her katana, however he flipped back and escaped the point of her blade, "My injury is already recovering."

Temari jumped up into the air and send a whirlwind towards the Akatsuki leader. He quickly raced through some handseals and countered her attack with a fire technique, "And once I've made sure the five of you are unable to bother me any longer..."

Hinata charged in with her Jyuuken attacks, but Arashi dodged them and brought a swift kick to her face, "Naruto-kun will die and I will win everything."

Ino send another mind blast at Arashi and this time he was unable to dodge it. He groaned but quickly regained his composure and fast enough to catch Sakura's wrist before her fist made contact with him. Hinata's next attack was stopped in the exact same way.

When both girls tried to simultaneously hit Arashi with their free hands, the Akatsuki leader jumped up and kicked them away, launching himself backwards as well.

When he landed, Temari's fan crashed right in front of his feet. The kick that followed from the wind mistress send him spinning away.

"Oi!" Tenten called out to Arashi when he fell down on the ground.

The Akatsuki leader jumped up and turned his head quickly towards the direction in which Tenten's voice came from.

"How do you like this?" Tenten smirked as she proudly presented the Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin statue, covered in explosive tags.

"Tsch." Arashi let out as he narrowed his eyes.

Tenten jumped off the statue and formed a single handseal mid-air, "Score one for the good guys."

When she was at an adequate distance away from the statue, the exploding tags exploded. By the time the weapons mistress landed on the ground beneath her, smoke covered the entire area where the statue stood a moment earlier with Arashi no where in sight.

"You did it, Tenten." Ino said cheerful and high-fived the girl.

"No...something went wrong." Temari stated.

"You're right..." Sakura replied, "The barrier still stands."

When the smoke cleared up, the statue seemed to stand unharmed and, not too far away from it, the Akatsuki leader stood.

"Nice try." Arashi said as the smoke cleared up entirely, a stream of red chakra flowing from his body towards the statue, "However, it wasn't good enough."

"That chakra..." Hinata said and slightly trembled, "It's being absorbed by the statue and causes it to restore itself."

"That's right. Right now, this statue is using the chakra of a total of eight shinobi and a bit of mine. The likes of you won't be able to destroy it." Arashi replied and chakra started to glow beneath his feet, "The chance that you'll survive this is...zero."

"Sakura." Hinata said and the pink haired kunoichi gave a quick nod in reply

Sakura glared at Arashi as she slammed her fist on the ground. The Akatsuki leader launched himself up into the air and landed on top of the statue.

Wind blew violently through his robe as he looked down upon the kunoichi below him, "Too much chakra activity at once seems to slow down the process...Looks like I won't be able to take the easiest way out..."

"What are we going to do now?" Sakura asked.

"We have to come up with a new strategy to take him on..." Temari stated, "Either we try to stall until Hokage-sama and everyone else breaches through the barrier or we have to try something else."

"I don't think we'll be able to stall this long enough for them to break through." Ino replied.

"I think we have no choice but to stop him ourselves." Hinata nodded once as she eyed the Akatsuki leader, "For Naruto-kun's sake..."

"Two definite melee range shinobi, two definite long-ranged shinobi and one who could go either way...Two medic-nin, one Hyuuga..." Arashi observed, "The instant I start to gather the chakra to finish this fight right away, the Hyuuga girl will notice and the others will interrupt me...Taking care of those medical kunoichi will come first...Then next is..."

"If we are able to stop him from moving, then we can defeat him." Tenten stated.

"Easier said than done with this guy. His speed is unrivaled." Temari replied as a drop of sweat slowly trailed down the side of her face.

"What if Hinata seals off his chakra?" Ino asked.

"I did that before, it doesn't stop him at all." Hinata tightly clutched her fist.

"We've got no choice then..." Sakura said as she readied herself.

"Yeah...The only thing that's left to do..." Temari snapped her fan open and held it behind her back.

"Attack with everything we've got, eh?" Tenten slightly smirked as she laid her hands on two of the smaller weapon scrolls she carried.

Hinata and Ino both nodded and the five girls focussed their attention at the Akatsuki leader.

"Heh...Their eyes are telling me that they expect no mercy, eh?" Arashi said to himself, "Very well. I intend to give them none this time around...Let's do this."

The Akatsuki leader jumped off the statue as the red clouds above his head started to gather and started to spit lightning at each other.

Temari launched a wind attack at the descending Arashi. He quickly formed a couple of handseals, "Goukakyou no jutsu!"

As the great ball of fire absorbed Temari's attack, the five girls split up in order to evade the attack.

Tenten threw several kunai and shuriken at the Akatsuki leader, but all of them just missed him due to the rate at which he was descending from the statue.

Sakura was the first to meet up with him at the bottom of the statue with a shattering punch. Arashi caught onto her arm before her punch reached him and he brought a knee towards her stomach.

However, the pink haired kunoichi noticed the attack and smashed her other fist onto his knee. After she obliterated the bone his knee, Sakura quickly grabbed onto him with both her hands and tossed him away.

While flying through the air, Arashi popped off and send out lightning in every direction.

Sakura and the other girls only barely managed to dodge the lightning, "Kage Bunshin?!"

The Akatsuki leader appeared behind her, "It's not a Kage Bunshin, it's a Raikou Bunshin."

The medic-nin's eyes widened seconds before a kick send her flying away.

"Haaa!" Hinata let out as she thrusted her palm forward.

Arashi knocked the arm off it's course and threw a kick at the young Hyuuga heiress as well.

He was surprised to find his kick block by Temari's fan and was even more surprised when Temari herself planted a kick in his face a moment later.

As the Akatsuki leader staggered back, Hinata charged forward again and she threw another Jyuuken-style punch at him.

"I've got you!" Arashi let out as he grabbed onto Hinata's arm and pulled her towards him.

"Not so fast!" Tenten shouted a split second before three of her kunai hit Arashi's upper arm, releasing Hinata from his grip.

"Hakke Rokkujyuu..." Hinata let out as she shifted her battle stance.

Arashi pulled out one of the kunai that was stuck in his arm, but the moment he tried to move forward he was blasted away from his side.

"Nice work, Ino." Tenten commented.

"Hehehe. I know." Ino grinned widely.

The Akatsuki leader quickly pulled out the other two kunai as well and threw them towards Hinata. However, a well timed wave of Temari's fan caused the weapons to fall on the ground.

Sakura ran towards Arashi again, who quickly formed a couple of handseals.

"Doton: Doryuuheki." Arashi let out and a large, wide wall of earth and clay was created in front of him.

Sakura easily punched through the wall, but was unable to anticipate the punch that Arashi threw back at her. The medic-nin covered quite some ground through the air before Hinata caught her.

Arashi dashed forward at incredible speeds, passed by Hinata and Sakura and headed straight towards Ino and Tenten.

The weapons mistress managed to pull out a scythe from her scrolls and pull off a single vertically slice before the Akatsuki leader reached them.

He summersaulted through the air, evading the slice, and kicked Tenten away before throwing a lightning fast kick at Ino. As the two girls were knocked away, Arashi turned around and blocked the incoming attack from Temari's fan with a single punch.

The wind mistress gasped as he spun around and threw another punch at her. She managed to block it with her fan and snapped it open just before Arashi's second punch reached her.

Before she knew it, the Akatsuki leader was on her other side already and brought a kick to her stomach. As the wind mistress hunched over in pain, Arashi spun around again and delivered another kick to her head.

Hinata charged towards him, but Arashi reached her before she reached him and knocked her away. The girls stood up again and kept on fighting the former fourth Hokage.

For them, giving up was not an option, no matter what might happen to them in the progress. Thus the five girls desperately fought on, trying to defeat the man who threatened the life of someone they held dear.

Unbeknownst to them, there was someone watching the entire fight between them and the Akatsuki leader. The girl who worked at her family's ramen stand, Ichiraku Ayame, was shivering in fear as she watched the girls take on Arashi.

She was too scared to move, afraid that if she did move, that she'd be found and instantly killed. At the same time she wanted to do something instead of idly standing by as the girls pushed themselves to their limits.

Ayame felt tears flowing from her eyes as she watched the girls, who were doing something that she couldn't do.

"Damn it...Not yet..." Sakura let out as she pushed herself up from the ground and charged towards Arashi again.

Ayame closed her eyes and bit on her lip as the sounds of combat overwhelmed her.

"At this rate..." Ayame thought as she held her eyes tightly shut, "At this rate...!"

Arashi laughed, "Aren't you all quite persistent!"

"We won't stop standing up until you're defeated..." Hinata said, taking on her Jyuuken pose again.

"I will not allow you to take him away from us..." Temari said and gritted her teeth as she ran towards the Akatsuki leader.

"Even if it costs me everything I have, you will regret hurting the people I care about." Tenten raised her weapons and headed for Arashi along with Temari.

"We won't ever give up on saving Nemar-kun and Naruto's life." Ino formed a handseal as she stood up again.

"Because he's someone we all truly love..." Sakura glared at the Akatsuki leader before dashing towards him as well.

"You won't ever be able to defeat the five of us!" The girls shouted in unison.

"Heh..." Arashi simply smirked as the girls continued their assault.

A few moments later, the girls were pushing themselves up from the ground again.

"Fighting in the name of love...What a load of shit." Arashi said as he stood in the centre of the girls, "Death has come for you, little girls. Rest assured that I'll keep you all alive long enough to see Naruto-kun's suffering, however."

"St...Stop it!" Ayame yelled as she ran towards Arashi.

The ramen girl breathed deeply in and out when she ran onto the battlefield, "Please...just...Stop it already..."

"So you were still around, you traitor..." Arashi turned towards Ayame.

"Don't kill them...Why are you doing this? You promised me that you wouldn't hurt anyone, including Naruto and yet..." Tears rolled down Ayame's cheeks.

"Heh...Naive child. There's no reason for me to keep true to my words." The Akatsuki leader replied.

"Please...All you wanted was the demon inside Naruto, right? Just take it, return Naruto to us and leave us alone..." Ayame pleaded.

"Return Naruto-kun? That kid will die the instant we extract the Kyuubi." Arashi stated, causing Ayame's eyes to widen.

The Akatsuki leader turned his attention back towards the girls, who had stood up once again in the mean time, "Now where was I? Ah, yes...It's time to kill them."

Ayame stepped in front of Arashi with her arms spread wide, "I won't allow you to do that."

"And what would you do against me?" Arashi questioned as he kept walking towards her.

Ayame bit her lip, but didn't move out of the Akatsuki leader's way.

"You're a bother..." Arashi landed a single blow to Ayame's stomach.

She fell down on her knees and coughed up some blood as Arashi kept moving onwards.

The Akatsuki leader stopped walking as Ayame clutched onto his leg, "I said I won't allow you to kill them..."

"Everyone! Now!" Sakura shouted and the five girls launched another assault on the Akatsuki leader.

"Fools..." Arashi let out as he quickly formed some handseals, "Raiton: Dai Raigeki no Jutsu!"

A web of lightning struck the girls, making them scream in agony before they finally fall back down on the ground again.

"Don't..." Ayame clutched on tighter to Arashi's leg.

"Tsch...Looks like you've got a death wish as well." Arashi said and kicked Ayame with his free leg.

The girl coughed up some more blood as the Akatsuki leader grabbed her by her throat and rose her up in the air. With his other hand, he punched her away and made her crash into a wall.

By the time she fell down, Arashi had reached her again and was towering above her body, "They say the most inner ring in hell is reserved for traitors...Be a good girl..."

The Akatsuki raised his hand and a small blade of chakra formed in it, "And confirm it for me."

Naruto was panting heavily, the ongoing fight between him and the Kyuubi seemed to last an eternity.

Right now, the two of them had a small break in their fighting. They did so from time to time to come up with a new strategy.

"Something's weird..." Naruto thought as he narrowed his eyes at the Kyuubi, "Why isn't he attacking yet?"

"Your time is up, Naruto..." The Kyuubi stated.

"Like hell it is!" Naruto retorted, "I've still got enough left in me to beat the crap out of you!"

"I know that. However, your time is up..." The Kyuubi repeated.

"What the hell are you talking about, you damned fox?!"

"I'll show it you..." The Kyuubi grinned widely and chuckled.

Naruto gasped as he saw the white surrounding changed to a colorful picture again.

"Th-This..." Naruto let out as he observed the new surroundings, "How much time has passed?!"

"Not as much as you'd think...However, take a closer look to the situation..." The Kyuubi replied.

"Ino...Tenten...Sakura-chan..." Naruto let out as he looked at the girls that lay down on the ground, "Hinata and Temari too..."

"Ah...You're forgetting the most important one in this picture...The one that is about to die." The Kyuubi raised a wicked grin.

"A-Ayame!" Naruto's eyes grew wide.
"Unless our fight settles soon, she'll be dead." The Kyuubi stated, his grin widening.

"Then quit the talking and get back to fighting!"

"You know as well as I do that this fight won't end soon." The Kyuubi retorted.

Naruto gritted his teeth and clutched his fists, "Then I'll make it end soon."

"Brat...Did you know that if a kitsune promises you something, he's bound to keep that promise?" The Kyuubi asked.

"Who the hell cares?!" Naruto yelled, "I'm going to kick your ass right here and now!"

"I'll promise to protect all those girls for you..." The Kyuubi said as Naruto charged towards him, making the blonde stop in his tracks.

"Wha-What...?" Naruto let out.

"Of course, you'll lose your life...However, you'll save the lives of those you care about. Just like how Yondaime used to be." The Kyuubi chuckled.

Naruto gritted his teeth and gave no other reply.

"Continue fighting and lose someone you care about or give up on your life and have your loved ones live on...The choice is yours, brat." The Kyuubi grinned widely.

Naruto clutched his fists, "Damn it! I can't just let that bastard fox have my body! But at this rate, Ayame will..."

The blonde closed his eyes and turned his head away from the Kyuubi, "There must be something that I can do..."

"And? What do you chose?" The Kyuubi leered expectantly at Naruto.

"I got it..." Naruto spread his arms, "There's nothing else I really can do..."

"Hm?" The Kyuubi slightly tilted his head back.

"What are you waiting for?" Naruto looked into the Kyuubi's eyes, "Hurry up and finish me. Just promise me that you'll protect Ayame and everyone I love."

"It's a promise then..." The Kyuubi's eyes glew bright red as he started to laugh maniacally.

The Kyuubi ran towards Naruto, his eyes still glow bright red as he reached with his arms extended towards Naruto's spiritual body.

"Heh..." Naruto let out and slightly grinned just mere seconds before the Kyuubi reached him.

Arashi thrusted his chakra blade towards Ayame's throat. Half way through his thrust, he froze.

The chakra pressure in the air rose up such high amounts that it felt like the gravity of the planet had increased. Sweat slid down the side of Arashi's head, a grin forming on his face.

The girls, who lay face down on the floor, gritted their teeth as they pressed themselves up from the ground again.

"What the hell...is this?" Tenten let out as the pressure of the chakra almost pressed her back down to the ground.

Arashi's grin widened as he turned around and he started to laugh. The girls turned around as well, following Arashi's gaze to the origin of the increased chakra pressure.

"Na-Naruto-kun...?" Hinata let out.

Arashi laughed louder and started counting the tails behind the boy in orange, "One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...Nine tails."

The tails whipped violently at their surroundings, as if ready to destroy anything that crossed it's path.

Arashi stopped laughing and grinned widely again, "Welcome back...Kyuubi no Kitsune."

The boy in orange opened his eyes. Two soul piercing, crystal blue eyes staring straight into the blood red ones of the Akatsuki leader, "Who the hell are you calling Kyuubi?"

The boy grinned widely, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto!"

Arashi's eyes widened as if he had just seen a ghost, "I-...Impossible!"

Naruto clutched his fists and the glass shards that lay scattered across the street shattered, "And as for you..."

"I will make you regret ever even thinking about harming my loved ones!"

A/N: I just couldn't resist but leave you guys hanging with a cliffhanger (sort of) one last time and you should be glad I decided to give the final chapter more content and thus didn't write the part yet that would have ended with the ultimate cliffhanger.

Like I said in my A/N at the start of the chapter, Chapter 19 will be out as soon as possible. And no, the next update won't take me another 3 months XD. Regarding a sequel, I decided there won't be one. Making the story script for the game I'm working on with my friends will take a whole lot of time and I just don't have the time to make another huge ass story. I will, however, make a new fic, which I'll slowly work on, where Naruto spends 7 days and 7 nights with each of the girls in Naruto. Or well...most of them. Starting off with the Naruto x Temari pairing, followed by Naruto x Anko and Naruto x Hinata...I guess.

EDIT: For those who didn't get the "WHEN THEY MESS WITH FOOD!" thing from Chouji, go play the english version Uzumaki Chronicles for the PlayStation 2. Got to love american voice acting.

Till next time folks. Same ramen time. Same ramen channel..