Time Apart Chapter 9

Hinata couldn't remember the last time that she was pushed this hard during a mission. Her current opponent was no slouch. Being a Chuunin, she went on C class missions regularly, but never as a squad leader. She had all the skills, but she never accepted the lead position because she didn't have the confidence. This was no C class mission. With Orochimaru present somewhere in the city, this had turned into an S class mission.

Her opponent was probably a Jounin. She had been working with Rock Lee on the way into the city, dispatching Gennin and other Chunnin with relative ease. Orochimaru tended to have a large number of ninjas that weren't trained very well, or only had one or two tricks. She was wearing down at this point, and she had been separated from Lee a few minutes earlier.

A vicious punch to the stomach brought her back to reality, and sent her sprawling. This guy was huge. He easily stood head and shoulders above her. Standing up shakily, Hinata took a defensive stance, preparing herself for the next attack. Not disappointing her, the large sound Ninja ran straight at her like a rhino.

Just as the man was about to slam into his target, Hinata rolled quickly out of the way. Jumping up spryly behind him, she deftly grabbed several kunai from her pouch and sent them flying into the man. He roared for a moment, and, for that moment, Hinata thought she may have a chance to end the fight. Rushing forward towards the wounded man, she prepared to strike at his heart.

Sadly, the roar of pain turned into a laugh as he turned to face her. Realizing too late that the man was barely hurt at all by the Kunai embedded in his back, Hinata tried to abort her charge. The man was quick though, and grabbed her head within one of his huge hands. Lifting her off the ground, he began to squeeze.

Hinata squirmed under the pain, she felt like he was going to crush her skull. He is going to kill me. I knew I was going to die on this mission, she thought to herself.

"I'm going to crush you like a melon, little girl," the Sound ninja taunted. He was right. Her vision started to swim as she struggled desperately to get free. Just as she was about to give up, Naruto flashed through her mind.

You can't die here, she chided herself. You still have to tell Naruto how you feel. She didn't have much time. She could feel her face about to give out. Swinging her body up, she wrapped herself around the man's arm. Planting her foot in his face, she used it to push herself into a spin.

While she had yet to master the Kaiten, she had been working on it. She was close to getting there, and could launch herself into an impressive spin. The part that still needed work was emitting chakra from all of her body. Thankfully, that part wasn't needed right now.

Spinning her body mass around quickly, while holding on to her opponents arm, resulted in a sickening snap. Screaming in pain, the man dropped her to the ground. At first, it was all she could do not to throw up as she gripped her head, letting the pain pass. Forcing herself to come back to her senses, she stood up uneasily.

He was in pretty bad shape as well. She decided that her spin must have been stronger than she thought. She caught glimpses of the bone sticking out of the man's arm where his elbow should have been. While he clutched it, she rushed into the attack.

Slamming her open palm into the man's chest, she used her chakra to strike at his heart. Not content to leave it at that, she launched herself into a flip, sailing over the man's head. Two taps to the back of the head were followed with a series of strikes down his spine, and into the back of his legs. When she was satisfied, she swept her feet under him, dropping him to the ground.

Hinata watched for a few more moments to make sure that his heart stopped beating. She limped away from the battle with a splitting headache, and headed for where she had last seen Lee. Once she met back up with him, they could see what they could do to help Naruto and Jiraiya.

Lee was worried about Hinata. It had been a few minutes since they had been separated, and his opponent was tough to handle. He had to assume hers was as well. Usually, Lee disabled his opponents with his speed and taijutsu skills, however this one was proving to be difficult. It wasn't that his opponent was that fantastic at taijutsu himself, it was simply his techniques. Lee couldn't get close.

Using Jutsu's, the man was sending out invisible waves of sound. The first one that hit Lee destroyed his balance completely, making him fall over in a fit of nausea. It had passed quickly, but the Sound ninja had time to swiftly cross the gap and attack with his knives. Lee regained his senses just in time to roll out of the way, but he had suffered a nasty cut along his side. The cut would heal, but now he was going to have to get a new green jumpsuit.

Since then, Lee had been moving quickly to avoid the sound blasts, but every time he tried to get close to his opponent to engage, he noticed a shimmering wave of something in front of him. Lee was guessing that it was a wall of sound. It would probably have the same effect as the blasts, and the Sound ninja would have ample opportunity to stab him to death at that range.

More than anything, right now Lee wished his had some sort of ranged attack. He cursed his lack of jutsu's, and then his lack of training with Kunai. When he returned to Konoha he was going to have to fix that. At least if he had something to throw at the man, he might be able to disable that jutsu in time to break through the wall. His only other option was to open the Heavenly Gates and go around, but he was unsure if the field was a bubble or not. If it was, then opening the Gates wasn't going to do him any good, and Tsunade had warned him about using that forbidden technique. After his surgery, she didn't know if his body could take the strain again.

Lee was confused when his vision started to blur. He knew that he hadn't been hit by another blast yet. Glancing down at the knife wound he had sustained earlier, he realized what was going on.

"Feeling weak yet?" the Sound ninja taunted.

Damn, poison, he thought to himself. Dodging all these sound blasts was going to get difficult. I don't think he cut me bad enough for his poison to kill me, but it will probably make me weak enough so he can finish me off. Suddenly he had a brilliant idea. He was going to take care of this fight all in one move. He only had one shot at this, so he had to make it fly the first time.

Lee began his run towards his opponent. The Sound Ninja smiled, expecting Lee be hit by the barrier. However, right before reaching it, Lee leaped upwards. Sailing into a back flip, Lee bent backwards and undid the straps for the weights on his legs. The centrifugal force of the flip slung the weights off at an incredible speed. Lee landed in time to see the two weights slam into the unsuspecting ninja. A loud boom accompanied the huge clouds of dust as the weights slammed into the man.

Lee stepped forward to investigate. As planned, the field of sound was gone, so Lee at least knew that he had broken his opponent's Jutsu. Stepping into the clouds of dust, he expected to see the body of the Sound ninja. He didn't. Ducking quickly under the swish of a knife passing through air, Lee smiled to himself. This he could handle. Free of his weights, Lee moved faster than the eye could follow.

In a few moments, it was over. His Sound opponent was laying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Lee made an abortive effort to move, but found that the poison was taking a real effect now. He crawled over to the side of a building and had a seat, catching his breath. Thankfully, he heard Hinata's voice shouting his name.

"I'm over here," he said. Within moments, Hinata walked into view.

"Are you ok?" she asked. Standing up woozily, he walked over to her.

"Yeah, just a little hard to walk is all. Some kind of drug or poison," Lee said, putting his arm around Hinata's shoulder. Together, they headed towards the center of town.

Naruto hadn't ever moved this fast in his life. Summoning all the chakra he could bear to utilize without burning off his legs, he flew across the courtyard. He planted both of his feet into Orochimaru's back, sending him flying and stopping the Jutsu. Rushing to Jiraiya's side, Naruto surveyed the damage.

It wasn't good. From the knees down, Jiraiya's legs were bubbling from the burns. It would be a miracle if he would ever walk again. The sennin was unconscious, so Naruto quickly picked him up and moved him over where Sakura was tied up. Orochimaru was walking back towards them.

"I told him he was weak. He should have ran away," the Snake Sennin said.

"I won't forgive you Orochimaru," Naruto hissed. "Not for this, and not for turning Sasuke against us."

Orochimaru laughed heartily. Then he kept on laughing. "I didn't turn Sasuke against you! The boy was hungry for power. Besides, I wouldn't worry about it now." Wiping his hand across his face, Orochimaru dispelled the genjutsu, revealing his new body.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said.

"Well not really Sasuke. It is me after all. Is it disappointing that you won't be able to get revenge on Sasuke? I already killed him. This body is mine now, along with these beautiful eyes," Orochimaru said. Naruto watched in horror as he activated the Sharingan.

Burning with rage at having his friend stolen from him, and then having his revenge stolen, Naruto howled in anger. "He didn't deserve that. Your sick games end here, I'm going to take care of it."

"You are just a vessel. A shell for a greater power. When this body is spent, I will have yours next, and tap into that power. You are nothing, there is no way you can defeat me," Orochimaru laughed through Sasuke's mouth.

"I'm not alone," Naruto said, beckoning to Kit.

"What, you have an army of Konoha ninjas behind you?" Orochimaru said. "I doubt that."

"I don't need an army. I have a demon," Naruto answered. Crouching down, Kit jumped on his back. "Beast Transformation: Fox Demon" In a puff of smoke, Kit turned into a copy of Naruto. However where Naruto had blue eyes, Kit's were red. The whiskers were jagged and he had claws for nails.

"Ahhh," Kit said. "You are very trusting to give me this much Chakra Naruto."

"You still need me alive, and unless you want to work for him, I suggest you pull your weight," Naruto responded. With a feral smile, Kit leaped off of Naruto's back and took up a crouched position beside him.

"Even two of you won't be hard to defeat. I can see your every move before you make it," Orochimaru taunted.

"Then I will just have to make sure there are a lot of moves to see. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. Soon the courtyard was filled with Narutos. Surrounding Orochimaru, they all began making the same hand seals.

One after the other, the Narutos sent balls of fire flying towards Orochimaru. Each strike altered the way the the Snake Sennin had to dodge, herding him towards Kit. When Orochimaru landed, Kit launched into his own assault.

Kit snarled as he danced in and out of Orochimaru's guard. Like a feral beast, his strikes were powerful and straightforward. In moments, several Narutos were there helping out. Wherever Kit wasn't, a Naruto would throw a strike.

Orochimaru was skilled and quick though. Each dodge became an attack of its own, as the man backed away, creating puffs of smoke from dispatched bunshin clones. Finally landing for a moment, he created several hand seals in the blink of an eye, slamming his palms into the ground.

"Earthquake Jutsu!" he said, causing the entire courtyard to shake. The earth seemed to open up and swallow many of the Naruto clones, leaving just a few. Naruto moved into his own attack, jumping from clone to clone as much as he could to keep them alive. Kit moved in as well, and together, the two pushed Orochimaru back.

One of the Naruto clones noticed as Hinata and Lee walked towards the courtyard. He broke off from the fight and ran to meet them.

"Its too dangerous here. This may get out of hand. I want you to take Jiraiya and Sakura and get out of here," the clone said.

"What about you?" Hinata asked, worried.

"If I win, then I will meet up with you back in Konoha," he said.

"Will you win?" Hinata asked. Naruto hesitated.

"I don't know."

"Then we aren't leaving. We won't desert you," she said.

"Hinata there isn't anything you can do here. Save as many lives as you can and get out," he said, and then returned to the fight.

Sakura squinted as she opened her eyes. There was pain, but she had gotten used to that. Looking out she saw Naruto fighting Orochimaru alone. She briefly wondered where Jiraiya was, but when she looked down at her feet she found out. I caused this.

Suddenly the ropes keeping her bound to the log came loose, and she fell to the ground. Looking behind her she saw Hinata and Lee.

"Sakura-san, are you ok?" Lee asked. She nodded numbly. "Can you walk?"

"Not yet. I think some of my ribs are broken," Sakura said. She propped herself up. Closing her eyes, Sakura used some medical techniques to check on her wounds. "Give me a few minutes to patch myself up and I will have a look at Jiraiya-sama."

Hinata nodded. Lee was drugged, Sakura was wounded, and Jiraiya was in the worst shape. She was the only one fit to go into combat. "I'm going to help Naruto. You two stay here."

Orochimaru was on the attack now. Naruto had to cancel his Kage Bunshin clones, because he needed as much of his chakra as possible to keep up with Orochimaru. He had already taken several hits trying to keep the clones active by switching places with them, and now he was wearing down. Even after all this time training, I'm still not up to his level. I need the Kyuubi's power like before. Kit's beast transformation is still only like a really good bunshin clone.

Kit had warned him in the Chakra Tear that when Naruto had freed him, the demon chakra would still be available for him, but it wouldn't be the same. Before they had split, when Naruto got really angry the Kyuubi would take partial control. Naruto just couldn't force all that chakra to act how he wanted it to. He wasn't a demon, he just got to borrow a fraction of its power.

Another hit sent him sprawling to the ground, and before he could get up, Orochimaru was on him. This is it, I loose, he thought as Orochimaru's fist came down. Kit saved him though, by leaping on Orochimaru's back. Naruto rolled up, and watched as Orochimaru sent Kit flying. When he hit the wall, a puff of smoke transformed him back into his normal form.

"You can't beat me," Orochimaru stated. "I have 50 years of experience and the Sharingan. Why don't you use your demon? Or was that little fox him?" Orochimaru laughed when he read Naruto's expression. "How rich! You let him loose, and in the process cut your power. You don't deserve to be a demon vessel."

Naruto was puzzled when Orochimaru dodged out of the way of a flying Kunai. Who? Naruto thought, before he saw Hinata in the distance.

"No! Hinata I told you to leave!" he shouted.

"This your girlfriend?" Orochimaru asked. "Perhaps I will let you watch me kill her before I finish this." Naruto watched in horror as Orochimaru opened his mouth and a long sword came out. "This blade is poisoned you know. She is going to die in pain." Orochimaru flew off the ground with incredible speed, headed right for Hinata.

It was one thing to use the replacement technique on an inanimate object. It was a little harder to use it to switch places with an exact copy of yourself. It was quite difficult to switch places with someone else entirely. Naruto didn't quite know how he managed it, but the intense pain of the sword sliding through his gut was his first clue that it had worked.

Blood sputtered out of Naruto's mouth as he felt the poison working into his system.

"You fool!" Orochimaru hissed. Naruto let out a short chuckle before he started to black out.

It took a moment for Hinata to figure out exactly what had happened. One second she was trying to move out of the way as Orochimaru came screaming towards her with a sword. The other moment she was standing where Naruto had been watching in horror as the attack that had been meant for her slid into his body. What have I done, she thought.

"He needs me," she heard Kit say as he limped over to where she had fallen to her knees.

"What?" she said numbly. She turned to look at Kit, one of his paws raised up and bleeding. He had come over to her on three legs.

"I want you to kill me," he said. Hinata did a double take.

"I can't do that! What would that accomplish?" she said.

"I won't die. It will be painful, but it will send me back to my original host body. Then I can save Naruto's – or, well, our lives," the fox answered. She looked down at him.

"You like him don't you?" she said.

"Perhaps a little, but don't tell him that. It would give him a big head," Kit said. He raised his head up high, exposing his neck. Hinata got out a Kunai.

"There is no other way?" she asked.

"Nope," Kit said. Hinata closed her eyes as she put the knife through the cute little fox's neck. This day was something she would have nightmares about.

Naruto screamed, but nothing came out. He had been about to pass out, but the sudden overwhelming weight of the Kyuubi's presence had stopped that.

"Did you miss me?" the Kyuubi boomed in his mind. Naruto smiled grimly. "You know what you have to do. Do it."

Naruto looked up and stared into the eyes that had belonged to the man who used to be his best friend. "Orochimaru, you are going to regret what you've done," he said.

"You can barely move, it's over for you. Your friend over there is still going to die, all you have done is postpone it," Orochimaru said confidently. His confidence wained a little as Naruto lifted his hands. He made three slow hand seals.

"Kyuubi Seal: Partial Release"

Kabuto watched from a building as Sakura started using her medical techniques to work on herself and Jiraiya. He could probably go and kill them, but those weren't his orders. Those three were hardly worth bothering with anyway. He watched with fascination as Naruto used the replacement technique to take the blow for the Hyuuga girl.

When she killed the fox, Kabuto had a feeling he knew what was coming next. Orochimaru won't be able to handle this, but Naruto is wounded. Perhaps it is time to make my play, he considered.

He waited, and watched.

Naruto surrendered control to the Kyuubi. He was glad he had, because, while he could still feel what was happening to his body, it was dulled. It hurt even still. He hoped that he had the strength to take his body back after this gamble. He hoped Kit would let him.

Orochimaru was stunned. Naruto had just been seconds away from passing out and dying. The poison on his blade was nothing to laugh at, and any normal person would already be dead. Instead, Naruto was howling. A twisted red chakra began to swirl around him, and, in a burst of energy, erupted from Naruto's body. The shockwave sent Orochimaru flying.

When he regained his senses, he could not explain what stood before him. The chakra had ripped Naruto's shirt and flak jacket to shreds, and the pieces fanned out from his waist where it had been tucked in. Naruto was crouched low and his muscles seemed to be moving as they grew larger. Naruto screamed again.

Nails and teeth grew into large fangs and claws. Wounds, including the sword wound, emitted steam as they healed in seconds. Naruto looked up and locked his feral yellow eyes with Orochimaru's sharingan. The voice that came out of his mouth wasn't Naruto's.

"So you want to play with swords!" Naruto boomed. Raking his claws across his chest, Naruto produced the blood necessary for his swords summoning. The cuts were healed before he was even finished with the hand seals.

"So you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune? What power!" Orochimaru said, more to himself than anything. He raised his sword and prepared for Naruto's attack.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto was gone. Even with the Sharingan, Orochimaru couldn't move fast enough to do anything but barely block the blade. He was getting pushed back by the unstoppable attacks. Naruto's style was unlike anything he had ever seen. He seemed to be a force of nature. Wherever the sword wasn't, a claw made of pure Chakra lashed out. Within seconds, Orochimaru was bleeding from several cuts.

There was no time to do any kind of Jutsus. At one point, Orochimaru tried a replacement Jutsu, only to watch in horror as Naruto didn't even finish his attack. Orochimaru was pulled from his new location by a tail of Chakra that burned his flesh as it touched him.

"I am going to make you suffer!" Naruto said. Pulling Orochimaru towards him with the tail, Naruto lashed out with the demon sword. Pouring chakra into it, he lengthened the blade and cut through Orochimaru's left hand like butter.

Orochimaru grunted in pain. "Kabuto! Get out here and help!" he yelled desperately. Naruto was on him still. Panting from exaustion and weakening by the second from loss of blood, he was powerless to resist Naruto. One by one, his limbs were removed. Kabuto never showed up. Naruto picked Orochimaru up by the neck.

"Naruto! Kit! Whoever is in there! Stop please!" Hinata screamed. "Look at yourself!"

"Kit, he's finished. We need to go back to normal," Naruto pleaded.

"Why! Can't you feel our power!" Kit said. He was obviously enjoying taking Orochimaru apart.

"Because you are tearing up my body! It wasn't built to handle this much chakra, your melting off the skin!" Naruto said. Kit obviously hadn't been paying attention to that.

Naruto tried taking back over by force. Kit struggled for a moment, but then started to recede. Naruto knew he was about to take the body back over when he felt the intense pain.

"Still haven't taken care of the poison. It will take me awhile to heal all this damage," Kit said. Naruto opened his eyes to see the face that used to belong to Sasuke. Then he fainted.

Hinata watched as Naruto dropped Orochimaru and fell to the ground. She ran to help him. When she got close she almost gagged. His entire body was covered in horrible burns. As she looked closer, she watched as the worst ones closed themselves up. They didn't heal entirely though.

She jumped into a defensive stance when Kabuto landed next to his master's body. She placed herself between Naruto's body and the enemy ninja.

"Don't worry," Kabuto said. "I'm not here to hurt you." He grabbed Orochimaru's body and in moments he was gone.

Hinata looked up as Sakura limped over to the body, followed by Lee with Jiraiya on his back. "Is he going to be ok?" she asked. She was shocked when Hinata stood up and slapped her in the face.

"This is your fault! If he doesn't survive, you are going to pay!" Hinata said. Sakura could only stand there. She had never heard Hinata say anything like that. Nodding to herself numbly, she sat down next to Naruto and got to work.

"Hinata, calm down, it's going to take more than that to kill Naruto," Lee said, having a seat next to his body.

"I've never seen anything like this!" Sakura said. "The largest wounds are sealing themselves up before I can get to them!" Hinata and Lee exchanged glances. "What was that earlier? You two know something about Naruto that I don't!" she accused.

"If the large wounds are sealing themselves up, then work on the small ones. If Naruto wants to tell you when he wakes up, then he will." Lee said. Hinata just sat beside him and stared.

"Please be ok Naruto-kun. We have to finish our conversation."

Kabuto sat Orochimaru down on the table. The legendary ninja turned his head and stared blankly at him.

"Kabuto ..." he whispered, "I need a new body ... quickly."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Orochimaru-sama. It is a miracle you lasted this long, thanks in part to my sealing up your wounds." Kabuto said, enjoying this little chat. He unrolled a bag of tools and took off his glasses.

"You ... wouldn't .." Orochimaru said.

"Ah, but I would. You won't mind of I borrow your eyes for a little while?" If Orochimaru had a voice to scream, he would have as the scalpel cut into the area around his eye. "We are going to do this one at a time."

Authors Note: Hoo Boy! Consider yourself climaxified. The next chapter should be the last, so stay tuned.

In other news, both Damewren and Kraken, my favorite Naruto authors, have been nominated for the Naruto Fan Fic awards at narutofic dot net. Check it out if you haven't already.

Also there is a pic of Naruto and Kit on my homepage that I drew (I'm not really an artist) and colored in photoshop. Check it out if you are brave.