Blanket Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This applies to …. Forever or when I can earn a bazillion dollars to buy the copyrights to it.

Umm, this isn't finished. I actually may rewrite the whole thing. But since it's been a while, I wanted to put up something...

Sorry for putting it up so late! hopefully it'll be acceptable?

Chapter 11: For my Precious People!

Mountain Valley

The valley was littered with debris. In the midst of it all were four people, surrounded by 50 mutants.

Ino was heaving. She had fought off fifty of the mutants and the numbers just increased. Looking at her companions, they didn't seem to be faring better. Sakura was wheezing and clutching her side, blood was dripping from various wounds on her body. Since they were minor, she didn't heal them. Of course there was no time to heal them even if she needed to. Sasuke was still a picture of composure, but being observant, Ino could see the faint signs of fatigue. He was not without injuries. It looked as if his ankle was sprained and a few ribs were broken. The gash on his neck was pouring buckets. Lastly, Naruto was the worst off. His blond hair was caked in blood. Ino could see that there was still blood trickling from a wound down his neck. His left arm hung uselessly. The greatest indication of how severe injuries were was Suki. Suki was as large as a building and had nine tails. In the past, Ino would have feared the fox, but after learning the story of the Kyubi, she learned to honor the presence. Of course Naruto's spirit animal would be a fox. He's now part Kyubi.

Sasuke was tired. He had used Chidori five times during this battle and had maintained sharingan. He was exhausted. He turned to Naruto and noticed that the man was even worse off than him. The other man's pallor was pale, unlike his usual tan skin. His ever present smile was gone and replaced by a grimace. Sasuke looked at Suki. The fox was standing protectively around Naruto, protecting him. Anything that approached the blond was faced with either fire or a swipe of tails. If Suki missed an enemy, Sasuke was there to protect the blond. When Naruto fell to his knees, Sasuke jumped in front of him. "Dobe, get up. I'm always saving your ass."

Naruto smiled at him. "So tired Sasuke…"

When more of the mutants attacked, Sasuke fought them off before they reached the blond. His other two companions were busy fighting with the others. Coming to a conclusion, Sasuke performed a series of hand seals. Naruto recognized the seals. "You know, you're almost out of chakra, you really shouldn't do that."

Before finishing off the set of seals, Sasuke smirked. "What's the point of knowing it and not using it Dobe?"

Naruto closed his eyes and smiled. Pulling something out off his pouch, he handed it to Sasuke. "Take this first. I know I could never talk you out of it, but at least humor me and take this. It'll help." Sasuke took the soldier pill and swallowed it. Smirking at the blond he completed the last seal. "Animal Spirit Project! Time to come out Hiko!"

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Hiko? How do you know your spirit animal will be a male?"

Sasuke turned around as his navy puff began to glow and change. "Tch. How can it be a female?"

Naruto laughed. "Geez, you're still a pompous ass to the very end. The sex of the animal has nothing to do with the strength. Strength is dependent on spirit, but I guess you know that. But I guess your spirit would have to be strong, also, you would know best."

In front of the two men was a large Griffin. He held up his eagle head high. The body was that of a lion. The wings were spread out majestically. Sasuke looked at it in awe. Naruto looked amused. "It's big."

Sasuke smirked. "What do you expect Urasontachi? It's my spirit representation."

Naruto smirked back. "It's not always going to be that big."

Sasuke glared at the other. "Hmph."

Sakura looked over at the animal shocked. "Is that?"

Ino also looked over after finishing off her enemy. "Thank kami."

The group once again launched into the fight. Hiko took out many of the mutants with his talons and beak. Seeing that Sasuke was in danger, he gave a loud shriek and directed a lightening breathe at the enemy. A loud explosion and a crumbling of rocks marked the side of valley destroyed. Suki was stomping and whipping her tails around taking out any animals in Naruto's way. As Naruto made it to Satake, he gave a deafening yell.

Sasuke immediately sprung to his teammate's side. Ino and Sakura followed suite. Satake was shocked by the sudden appearance of the other shinobi. While he was stomping the blond in the head into the ground, the others attacked. Sakura used her brute force and knocked Satake into the side of the mountain. She took out her senbon and threw them., paralyzing the man temporarily. Ino was taking out the leftover mutants. Sasuke stood in front of Satake. "We are here to arrest you Satake, S-Class nin from Stone, for the annihilation of the Nehare clan."

Grabbing his hair, Sasuke looked into his eyes. "You will relive the nightmare of being dismembered piece by piece for the next four days. Mangekyou Sharingan." Satake slumped down against the wall. The next few hours were filled with screams.

Ino looked at the area and motioned in front of her. "I see a cabin or something over there."

Sakura looked at the group. "Well, we need to rest. Let's head off there. I need some help with Naruto." Sasuke stepped towards them reaching out, but fell down. Hiko came up beside the man and laid down his head. Sasuke looked at him. "Hiko." Sasuke climbed up the Griffin and motioned for Sakura to hand him Naruto.

Suki walked towards the Griffin and looked at Sasuke and shook her head. Walking up to Sakura and Naruto, she used her tails to gather them up and placed them onto her back. Sasuke nodded his head to the fox and then motioned for Ino. "Climb on."

Ino climbed up and promptly lost consciousness. Sakura looked over worried. "She's exhausted. I need to look at her wounds as well."

The group made it to the shack where Sasuke promptly fainted. Sakura looked at her three unconscious companions. "Looks like I've got some work to do." Taking out her bandages, soldier pills, and medicines., she lost track of time.