CHAPTER EIGHT

Make a Decision!

XXX

"Let the match begin."

Hiashi stepped back to allow Hinata and Hanabi to charge at each other. Both sisters activated their Byakugan moments before first contact. Hanabi swung first. Hinata parried. Hinata returned. Hanabi blocked.

Each strike sent bursts of raw chakra into the air.

Hinata was five years older than her little sister, but an intensive course of self-training meant what Hanabi lacked in raw strength, she made up for in her expertise of the Hyuuga clan's trademark white eye. Even with her skill though, Hinata, who was fighting at near full power, was still blocking and parrying her techniques with ease.

Hanabi stepped back.

Hinata didn't give chase.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Palms!" Hanabi assumed the Gentle Fist stance. Hinata dodged the first two, dodged the second two, parried the next four, and barely blocked the last eight strikes before kicking Hanabi in the face.

"Do not go easy on each other!" the Hyuuga elder warned, "This may be a mock battle, but I want to see you give it your all! You are the future of the Hyuuga clan, the strongest clan in the Hidden Leaf! Do not embarrass us with your weakness!"

Hinata coated her arms in chakra to block Hanabi's next few hits. "Hinata… You are the successor of the Hyuuga clan. Show me and everyone watching, that you are worthy of that title!" her father, Hiashi's words rang in her ears as she channelled chakra to her legs to block Hanabi's low hits.

Hinata faked a kick. Hanabi went to dodge.

Hinata planted her foot and struck Hanabi in the abdomen with a Gentle Fist strike.

Hanabi leaned forward in pain.

Hinata came from the side to deliver the final blow. Wait a minute?

"Onee-chan, let's play ninjas. Can we please play ninjas?" she paused when she remembered what she was about to do. There was no way she was going to attack her sister, five years her junior, at full force, all for the sake of some ritual mock battle. Hanabi wasn't a shinobi. She wasn't the enemy. She was a child. A child who couldn't even stand on her own two feet less than two years ago.

Hinata thought this was stupid. But unfortunately, Hanabi didn't share her sentiments.

The five-year-old recovered quickly. Two palms. Four palms. Eight palms. Realising what she was doing, Hanabi stopped after the eighth attack, but the damage had been done. Hinata couldn't continue. She stumbled back and hit the ground. Her chakra pathways fighting to keep her conscious.

"The battle is over," the Hyuuga elder announced.

"Onee-chan?" Hanabi disabled her Byakugan.

"Leave her," Hiashi demanded. "To fall to Hanabi, who is five years younger than her. She doesn't deserve to be helped up. The clan mednin will treat you on the very ground you lay on when she eventually gets back and finds you there. Hanabi, get inside."

Hinata spent the next few hours lying there. The mednin had gone out on a mission, so Hinata had to wait for her pathways to naturally open back up before she could get up. Her face was covered in dirt and a dried mix of sweat, tears, and blood. Instead of heading back into the compound for lunch, Hinata went out for a walk to clear her head.

She kept walking until she reached the Third Training Ground, the ground formerly used by the Third Hokage to train his students. She got to the open field and looked around for a moment. She looked over to the three wooden posts sitting near where a river met the forest surrounding her. She then looked over to the memorial stone, one of many kunai-shaped structures that listed all the ninja who died in service to the village. She walked into the clearing a bit more in search of something, or rather someone.

"Oi," a voice spooked Hinata, "You're that weird girl who lives in that big house near the centre of the village, aren't you… uh… Hinata? You know it's dangerous to be out here alone, dattebayo."

She turned around to see a scruffy-looking blonde boy dressed in a black shirt and orange pants, with bright green goggles over his forehead. "I'm sorry… I… I was looking… I didn't want to…"

"What happened to your face?" Naruto interrupted her. She tried to cover up, but Naruto didn't understand the meaning of personal space yet, so he yanked her hands away and touched Hinata's face in an attempt to get a reading of how bad her injuries were.

Hinata's blushing didn't really help with the healing process. "No, you'll… get in trouble." She squirmed at first, but the Uzumaki didn't listen. At first, Hinata just wanted to spy on the blonde. Watch him from the shadows. But him catching her by surprise, then physically touching her sent her brain into overload.

"I have just the solution," he said, reaching into his pouch and pulling out a tube of ointment that was almost finished. "I got this from Iruka-sensei a few weeks ago. This stuff's magic, fixes all my wounds up in minutes." He squirted some onto his index finger before rubbing it over her wounds. The Hyuuga princess twitched at first, but the pain soon turned to relief.

"I don't… Aren't you afraid I'll finish it?" Hinata wondered.

Naruto didn't think that far ahead. He just laughed it off, "I'll probably bother Iruka-sensei for some more the next time I get into a fight."

"Do you often get into fights?"

"Oh, all the time. I got into one just last week because some boys wanted the whole training ground to themselves when I got here first. I got into another fight the week before that when I wanted a cool mask from a shopkeeper, but I didn't have the money to pay him yet. The grownups, I don't think they like me very much… but it's okay. I'm sure they'll all acknowledge me when I finally become Hokage. Heck, I got into a fight just yesterday with some of the chuunin when I painted over the Hokage Monument."

"That was you?"

"Of course, it was me."

Why… would you do that when you know you're going to get in trouble?" Hinata wondered.

Naruto paused for a minute. He'd run out of ointment, so he threw it into his backpack and pulled out a roll of bandages. Hinata must've hit her head on something because her hair and scalp were covered in dried blood. He pulled her over to the river, where he washed most of the blood out before wrapping the bandages around the top of her dome. "I wanted the attention. I live alone. I have no friends. No family. The grownups don't like me. And their kids aren't allowed anywhere near me. Sometimes I just need someone to play with, you know?"

"I'll play with you," she wanted to say, but the words never left her mouth. She just sat there in awe as Naruto treated her wounds. Instead, she said, "I don't think I could ever get into as many fights as you do… I'm too… weak."

"Fighting is easy. Every time someone hits you. Just hit them harder. Every time they knock you down. Get back up and knock them further down. I've fought guys two, three, four years older than me and bigger than me, but because I always got up afterwards, I'm still here to fight them again," Naruto chuckled. He took a step back and marvelled at his work. Hinata was covered in blotchy patches of white cream from him trying to spread the ointment too thin, and her bandage was already damp because he forgot to dry her hair before wrapping it in a bandage. "Perfect. Now let's get you home."

"No!" Hinata protested, "I… I… I mean… I wanted to see you train. It's okay if we don't go back. Can I stay here… with you?"

Naruto burst out laughing, "In that case, sit down and watch the magic happen."

XXX

"Hyuuga heiress! Hyuuga heiress! Are you alright?" Hinata's head hurt. She rolled over onto her side to cough up some blood. She slowly regained understanding of reality. Kidomaru dropping her on her head really did a number on her, but as her senses returned to her. She knew she could carry on. "Are you okay?" Gaara was the one asking. He was shouting his questions from the beach. She gave the thumbs-up.

The battle to save Naruto was on.

"Why… you little runt!" Kidomaru groaned, still holding his crotch. "I'm gonna enjoy tearing you to shreds!" he promised as vine-like tendrils spread across his body. With one punch, he sent Hinata flying through the forest. The Hyuuga's momentum was stopped by another tree. This time, instead of taking a moment to breathe, she got up to dodge as a kunai whizzed past her. "Let the game begin."

"Byakugan!" Hinata went through all the hand seals to activate her clan's trademark technique.

"Ooh, the Byakugan? How scary…" he was in the trees, "Unfortunately for you, even though you may usually use it to buff up your stats, you'll soon see your buff turn to a nerf. Before we invaded the Hidden Leaf, Lord Orochimaru told me all about the Byakugan. So, I know that one direct hit and this battle is over for me… I also know, considering how young you are, that you can only see for a few hundred metres at most… I also know about your weak spot… so let's see what happens when I attack… from HERE!" Hinata quickly dodged the kunai dropping from her Byakugan's blind spot.

It was an explosive tag.

"Game over!" he yelled.

"Wait, that tag… it doesn't say explode… it says 'decoy'!" Hinata noticed. She turned her head to see a wave of kunai coming from behind her. She dodged but a few managed to tear at her clothes and draw blood. The Hyuuga princess needed to stay focused. She was dealing with someone who knew her trump card inside-out. She wanted to save Naruto as quickly as possible, but unless she could close the distance without getting injured herself, that was an impossibility. "Naruto-kun… hang on… for me."

XXX

Fuu went straight for Sasuke. "Take this, you arrogant prick!" she leapt into the air. Tayuya dived out of the water from below and tackled her. They landed on another outcrop as Tayuya stomped Fuu's head into the rocks. Waves crashed around them but the redhead was undeterred. What was this sudden increase in speed and strength? The bandages that wrapped around Tayuya's head fell to the floor as the geometric lines running along her skin blended into one dark mass. "What are you?" Fuu asked as horns grew from the foulmouthed girl's head and her dark brown eyes turned bright yellow.

"I'm your worst nightmare, you stinking rat!" Fuu managed to kick her off, but Tayuya backflipped onto another outcrop, "Summoning Jutsu: Doki!"

Tayuya brought forth into battle three massive beings that towered over. Their eyes and ears covered, their mouths sewn shut, one wielding a metal club, one claws made of bone, the third covered from head to waist in bandages. "What kinda summoning is that?" Fuu wondered as Tayuya pressed her flute against her lips. She played a new melody.

"Fuu! Move!"

The mint-haired kunoichi jumped away. The clubbed demon tore into the rocky outcrop with his weapon. "I didn't even see him flinch!"

"Me neither, but I felt his chakra spike!"

"Do we go tailed beast mode?"

"And make ourselves a bigger target? No. Instead, let's go demon cloak… now!"

The column of deathly red chakra slammed into the water just as the bandaged demon was about to drill into Fuu from behind. It was tossed back into the water as Fuu exploded. She sprinted out of the chakra dome on all fours with four tails flowing behind her, making a beeline for Tayuya. The clawed Doki formed an X with his claws in front of Tayuya. Fuu was gonna break those claws with raw strength.

Choumei pulled her back. The two Doki smashed into each other where Fuu would've been. The jinchuuriki slid on the water. "Let me fight this battle!"

"She's just a distraction! The goal should be to save the Nine-Tails if we still can!"

"I don't care if she's a distraction, her and her team hurt my friends! I'm going to break every bone in her body, then rearrange pretty-boy's face when I'm done!"

"Stop talking to yourself, crazy bitch. Demon Revolution!"

"Did she just call me crazy?"

"FUU!"

All three demons charged at her.

Fuu dodged the clawed demon's slash. She bounced off the bandaged demon's headbutt, only to get destroyed by the clubbed demon's swing. She hit the water and quickly swam out. All three creatures dislocated their jaws to release three translucent worms, whose bodies were covered in mouths.

She jumped back but they got a nibble at her foot, stealing her chakra in moments. Fuu dropped back. She sprayed Tayuya with scale powder before igniting it to blind the kunoichi.

"My chakra… Kami-sama, she stole so much of my chakra. Okay, okay, think Fuu, how are you going to get around her?" Fuu whispered from behind one of the many outcrops jutting out of the sea.

Tayuya's eyesight returned to her. The Doki had rushed back to protect her on all three sides, but it was no use. The jinchuuriki had run away. She pulled the flute away from her lips and looked around, "Stop hiding like a rat! Come out here and fight me!"

Fuu tightened her hands into fists, "She's right. I'm a jinchuuriki, I have more chakra in my left toe than she has in her whole body! I'll charge right at her and beat the-."

"Fuu! No!" Choumei yelled, "This is real life, Fuu. This is one of those life-or-death situations you dreamt about back in Taki. This isn't a sparring match, this isn't a textbook, there's no Taki shinobi around the corner ready to negotiate your surrender if things don't go right. This is the real world and out here, running headfirst into someone like that gets you killed… more importantly, it gets me killed too, so think with your head and not with your fists. She can match you in hand-to-hand combat, she's better than you in genjutsu, she can summon giant demons that move faster than we can even think, and now she can drain your chakra without even touching you? We need to be logical with this."

"Fine, if you're not coming to me," Tayuya dispelled the massive demons before putting the flute to her lips again and playing a new tune, "Demonic Flute: Chains of Fantasia."

Fuu was trapped in a dark plane of existence. She fell onto her back as chains reached out from the darkness to chain her to the floor. With her hands and ankles trapped, she could do nothing but move her head.

Tayuya stood over her with a cocky smirk on her face. She bent down and tore off Fuu's midriff shirt before cutting her chainmail armour with a kunai. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" the jinchuuriki roared. She fought and squirmed, but the chains held firm. The red-haired kunoichi then stepped aside to reveal a giant, earthen-coloured creature with nine eyes who was bound to the same four chains she was. The creature opened its mouth to reveal a translucent phantom dragon.

The seal on the right side of Fuu's chest lit up. "Choumei?" Fuu whispered as the Seven-Tailed Bug was sucked out of her by the massive entity. Fuu looked up to the skies. She threw her head back to scream as a wave of pain coursed through her body.

"Release!" Fuu returned to the real world. She fell to her knees and vomited into the water. "I'm so sorry, Fuu. The shift in your chakra flow was so slight that I didn't even notice you were in a genjutsu until you weren't responding to my commands."

That genjutsu had taken the fight out of Fuu, who needed a moment to collect her thoughts. She curled up into a ball as the sounds of Tayuya's flute continued to echo in her ears.

XXX

Gaara's eyes widened slightly as a second pair of legs popped out from behind Sakon, then a second pair of arms, then a second head. A clone? No, a twin, who had been bound to his brother by some special jutsu. A Kekkei Genkai. It didn't matter. Gaara would just kill them both.

"So, what was so important that you had to wake me up, Sakon?"

"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, Ukon, but we've got a cocky son of a bitch, who needs the smile wiped off his face."

"Are you talking about yourself again?" Ukon joked.

Gaara folded his arms, "Are you going to stand there and bicker like a married couple, or get over and accept your deaths?"

Ukon tilted his head and glared at Gaara. The duo made eye contact. Gaara's lifeless blue-green eyes. Ukon's psychopathic brown eyes. Ukon's frown crackled into a horror movie smile. "Accept our deaths?"

"Do you see what I was talking about?" Sakon commented.

"I know his type. Strong and stern, 'accept your deaths'… let's make him beg for mercy… and then, when he's done begging, break his spine in half," Ukon demanded. The Curse Mark spread across both their bodies quickly as lines and blotches until it completely overwhelmed them leaving their skin blood red. A single horn protruded from each brother's forehead as sharp armour extended along Sakon's right arm and leg, Ukon's left.

"Funny… that's exactly what I was planning to do to you," Gaara put his hands behind his back, "If you can even leave a scratch on my skin within the next five minutes… I'll be surprised."

"Prepare to be surprised."

Sakon disappeared. "That's your problem, brother, you move without thinking…" Ukon warned.

The sand gathered over Gaara.

It exploded as Sakon's kick almost broke through.

Gaara turned to his right. The sand exploded in front of him. Ukon grinned. They spun around each other. Sakon from the left. Ukon from the right. Their kicks were so powerful the sand had to wrap around Gaara to stop them.

"I'll meet you at the top!" Sakon laughed as he leapt into the air. Ukon's hands hit the floor.

"Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!" The sand lifted Gaara as a large gate rose from beneath him. Sakon came down from above to punch through the sand but got his elbow stuck. Gaara watched Sakon's armoured fist stop right in front of his face before Sakon pushed off and landed next to his brother. "I use up all that chakra summoning Rashomon on my own and you miss?"

The sand accumulated to form a staircase that wrapped around a sand pillar. Gaara slowly walked down the stairs. "That was a nice try, but-," Gaara ducked under Ukon's kick. The attack tore through the sand pillar and toppled the structure. Sakon caught it and threw it at Gaara like a spear. The jinchuuriki controlled the pillar in mid-air and spread its granules across the beach.

Sakon sprinted to one end of the beach. Ukon from the other. They both disappeared. Gaara formed a few hand seals, "Ultimate Defence: Shukaku's Shield!"

Two sand shields, resembling a tiny Shukaku, rose from the earth on either side of the jinchuuriki, enclosing him. Both Sakon and Ukon punched through their shields at the same time. Gaara stumbled backwards.

"Got you!" they screamed in unison before planting one foot, spinning at the same time and double-kicking Gaara, sending him flying back over the dunes and into the forest.

"Gaara!" Han yelled as the redhead lay there motionless.

Sakon and Ukon flashed over to the dune Gaara had scraped on his way into the forest and laughed. Ukon folded his arms in mockery of the jinchuuriki, "If you can even leave a scratch on my skin… I'll be surprised. No, you'll be dead, you cocky shit. We don't leave scratches, we leave body bags in our wake!"

Sakon clutched his stomach in laughter. He wiped a tear from his cheek before ushering his brother down the hill, "Let's go finish the little shit off."

"Gaara!" Han tried to rush over to his younger teammate, but Jirobo grabbed his leg. "Gaara! Get up! Damn it! Get off me, you runt!" the Five-Tails yelled, kicking Jirobo against a tree.

"H… Han!" Gaara moaned, obviously, in pain.

"Yeah! I'm here! Don't worry! I'll protect you," Han promised, but the demonic twins were already looming over him.

All Gaara could do was turn his body to stare into Han's eyes. The One-Tails jinchuuriki reached out to his Five-Tails counterpart and mouthed, "Climb."

"You grab his head, I'll grab his body and we'll tear his neck in half. How's that?" Sakon suggested.

Gaara rolled over to stare at the twins. His skin began to crack. "Five minutes is up," he said as his skin turned beige and crumbled in on itself.

"We've been had," Ukon realised.

Gaara emerged from the dune Sakon and Ukon had previously been standing on, arms folded. That was the end of Sakon and Ukon. "Sand Tsunami!"

Gaara used tons of sand from the beach, mixed with sand from the minerals he'd been grinding up under his feet this whole battle and launched it at the twins as a tsunami. There was nowhere to go. It was just a never-ending wave of sand that stretched as far as they could see.

"Damn it! No!" Sakon cried as the Sand Tsunami swallowed them. Han heeded Gaara's warning and reached the top of a tree seconds before the wave came through. Even with the jinchuuriki's warnings, Han wasn't completely safe as trees fell all around him, unable to handle the wave of sand. It was so fluid yet so compact, moving around trees and bushes like water, yet still taking those same trees and bushes down with the force of solid rock.

Han and Gaara made eye contact, "I'm not done yet," he said before slamming his hands onto the sand and screaming, "Giant Sand Burial!"

The sand shuddered just beneath Han's feet. Multiple shockwaves emanated outwards with Gaara as their epicentre. Han could hear the faint sounds of trees, rocks, and bones crackling, cracking, and finally, crunching into a paste as the full weight and compressive might of the Sand Tsunami destroyed anything it could.

Gaara stood up straight and folded his arms, "Now I'm done," he turned to Han and yelled, "I'm going to help out the Hyuuga heiress, assist Fuu and see if Uzumaki is okay."

"Will do," Han said, jumping off and landing on the sand.

XXX

Naruto floated to the water's surface. But he wasn't greeted by blue skies, a wooden bridge and Sasuke Uchiha, instead, he woke up to a dreary, damp chamber where both the water beneath him and the air above him felt warm and still. He took a deep breath in before rolling over and dry heaving. Had he eaten anything in the past two days it would've been floating on and within the ankle-deep water… at least he thought it would've, "Can you throw up in heaven?" he asked himself slightly, before propping himself up and resting on his knees, "or am I in hell?"

"We had a deal," a deep bellowing voice echoed throughout the chamber. Naruto looked around for the source. Nothing but darkness surrounded him. Who was talking? "Walk over to my voice, runt."

Naruto did just that. He wandered into the darkness and continued to wade through the ankle-deep water. He walked for a few minutes just waiting for the darkness to consume him, but it never did. Everything was covered in a thick layer of death and darkness, everything except for him. He looked up and realised a spotlight had been following him around from above. His line of sight only lowered when he finally reached a large gate lined with thick metallic bars with a seal in the middle of it.

"You… you're… the Nine-Tailed Fox," Naruto commented when the huge orange-red beast sleeping behind the gate finally turned to face his jailor. Naruto had only seen his tailed beast once and that was when Roshi brought them to a plane where jinchuuriki and tailed beast could exist simultaneously in an attempt to get Kurama talking. Seeing him up close and in full filled the Uzumaki with a sense of bewilderment. "You're… you're talking to me? Where am I? This isn't the mindscape that Old Man Four Tails showed me."

"That's because what that old fool showed you was the first layer of the Tailed Beast Meeting Point. Where we are now, only you and I can exist… we are in your mindscape… we are in the seal that binds me to you," the tailed beast explained.

"Am I dead?"

"No, I was able to save you again by repairing your wounds just as your body fell into the water. Your body is still underwater though, the only thing keeping you alive is my chakra, which has blocked the water from entering your nose and mouth."

"That sounds… amazing. How did you heal me that fast? How do you do the things you do?"

"There will be time to marvel at my unfathomable power at a later date. For now, my only question is why you haven't honoured your half of the deal?" the Fox asked, resting his head on his arms.

"I don't know what deal you're talking about…"

Kurama palmed his forehead, "I feared you'd say that, but for once, I hoped your weakness would not disappoint me." Naruto just stared at his tailed beast. The creature's words hurt, but he was too exhausted, physically and mentally, to fight back. "Before you met your end from blood loss in the Land of Iron, I promised to almost instantly heal your wounds and provide you with near unlimited chakra, as long as you hated everyone but the jinchuuriki around you."

"Hated everyone?"

"Yes! Hate! Detest! Abhor! Soak your fists in anger before you throw a punch! Dip your feet in rage before you throw a kick!"

"And how… how does that even work? Am I supposed to fake being angry just so I can use your power?"

"The people of Konoha have treated you like a second-class citizen since the day you were born! Are you telling me you harbour no resentment over the way they treated you?"

"I just… I don't wanna hurt anyway, dattebayo… I just wanna be free."

"Freedom comes at a cost… and the first obstacle is standing over your unconscious body as we speak. Runt, if you want my power. If you want me to lend you my strength in the battles to come. I want you to kill Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto began shaking his head before Kurama even finished his sentence, "I'm not doing that. I'm not killing my best friend."

"If I wasn't sealed inside you, you'd be dead. Killing you! Is that what human friends do?"

"Sasuke… he's not a bad guy. He's just confused. We shouldn't be killing people; we should be leading them down the right path."

"Your body is rising to the surface as we speak. Make a decision."

XXX

Hinata stood in the middle of a clearing, covered in blood, bruises and tears along her clothing. Fighting an enemy that she couldn't see was bad enough but fighting an enemy who knew her every weakness meant unless she thought of something quick, she was in deep trouble.

"You seem to be running low on chakra," Kidomaru chuckled.

Hinata tracked his voice, keeping him out of the Byakugan's blind spot. Every so often, he would slip close enough into her field of vision for her to see his leg or his arm. Hinata could see him setting up a trap. Some sort of kunai trap held together by webs. She needed to make a move before he could set it off, "And what gave you that idea?" she asked moving around the clearing, following the strings of webbing.

"The webs… they're infused with my chakra. My chakra is constantly flowing through them, meaning whenever they stick to you, touch you or you step on them, I can get a reading of how much chakra is flowing through you… so would I be wrong in saying you have… maybe two more jutsu left before you pass out from chakra deprivation?"

Hinata backed herself up against a tree to cover her blind spot. The only problem was Kidomaru's trap was now aimed at her specifically. She had to think of something quickly. She had to get up into the trees… no, in the trees, he was in his element. She'd be defeated in seconds. There was no way she could keep up with his ability to hop from branch to branch. But how was she going to get him on the ground when she didn't even know where he was.

"If you only have two jutsu left in your system, then how about I end this battle now then to spare you the suffering?" Kidomaru asked. He was toying with her. She moved her head around to get a good look at the trap. Hinata manoeuvred over to another tree, making sure to keep her blind spot covered. She continued moving in that manner until she returned to her first tree. She couldn't find the trigger. She couldn't find where the first kunai would come from. She couldn't find an escape. What was she going to do? What would Neji do? What would Hanabi do? What would Naruto do? "You have two jutsu left. So, I'll hit you with three. Any of those three could kill you… so, it's up to you to decide… how you want to die," Kidomaru explained pulling a bow from his mouth. The human spider had taken his power to the next level, allowing the Curse Mark to completely envelop him.

"Come on, Hinata… you can do this," Hinata calmed herself down. She got into the Byakugan stance. All she needed was one hit.

"One!" Kidomaru triggered the trap. Hundreds of kunai knives made from Kidomaru's golden armour exploded from the trees, attached to guided webs that followed her as she rushed into the centre of the clearing.

Hinata took them like a champ. They cut into her thighs, her arms, her stomach. She blocked her face to keep them away from her eyes, but nothing could stop them from penetrating the rest of her body.

They grew spines. Locking the kunai knives in Hinata's skin. She couldn't move. She couldn't get out.

"Wrong move, princess! This is attack two! Game over!" Kidomaru pulled on the bow, "Spider Bow: Fierce Rip!" the technique tore through the trees, weaving around branches until it penetrated the clearing and made a beeline for Hinata. Kidomaru disconnected himself from the web and moved to a new spot.

She sent a wave of chakra out, remembering what Kidomaru had told her before. "My chakra is constantly flowing through them, meaning whenever they stick to you, touch you or you step on them, I can get a reading of how much chakra is flowing through you," she used Kidomaru's chakra flowing through the guided webs that locked the kunai knives to her skin to get a sense of where Kidomaru was moving and where he was going to next to prepare his next attack.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms Guard!" Hinata deflected the arrow. It bounced off her protective sphere and cut through a tree. She only had one jutsu left. This was it. Kidomaru's last move. Hinata knew exactly where he was. In her blind spot. She just had to wait until just before he released the third attack. "I'll have to use that technique…" she inhaled.

"Spider Bow: Deadly Accurate Fierce Rip!"

Hinata turned. She tore all the kunai knives from her skin and leapt onto the arrow. The moment her foot touched the web guiding Kidomaru's arrow, he knew what was going on. "You bitch! You covered every pore on your body in chakra just before my trap went off… but how much chakra has that cost you?" Kidomaru tried to jump back but his body refused. Hinata was within range. Kidomaru looked down at his feet.

Sand had attached itself to the bottom of his feet. It wound around his toes and clasped around his ankles like a pair of shoes made of minerals. That was that.

"Eight Trigrams…" Hinata refused to miss a single hit. Kidomaru had been hitting her for the past ten minutes so, as Naruto had instructed her, she was about to hit him harder. Kidomaru's body shook with every chakra point disabled. He stumbled back until his body hit a tree trunk. Even then, Hinata's attack caused cracks in the wood to erupt. The eight-legged Sound ninja had already fallen unconscious from chakra deprivation after the first thirty-two hits, but Hinata just kept going. "Style Three-Hundred and Sixty… One!" the final hit landed square on his heart, shutting Kidomaru down and killing him. His body fell off the branch and landed in the clearing below.

Hinata followed. She hit the ground. Hard. To her left was Kidomaru's dead body. To her right she could hear the ocean. The Hyuuga heiress, having used her two jutsu to defeat Kidomaru, was on the verge of passing out, but she had a task to complete. She turned to the ocean and began crawling.

Gaara picked her up and placed her on his back. "You took that guy down all on your own. You've done enough for the day, Hyuuga heiress. Let Han and I deal with Uzumaki."

XXX

The only battle still going on was Fuu vs Tayuya. Which was now just Fuu hiding from Tayuya, while Tayuya limped from one outcrop to another. After a few minutes of marvelling at his newfound power, Sasuke deemed it was about time he stepped in. He stood up and stared at the mint-haired kunoichi. His onyx eyes turned blood red. His three-tomoe Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyou. Blood began to trickle from his left eye.

"Let's see what these eyes can…" something grabbed the Uchiha's foot. It was Naruto. He was soaking wet and shirtless, and the hole Sasuke swore he drilled into the Uzumaki's chest was no more. "How are you alive?" he asked. At first, he was a little relieved, but his relief soon turned to fear.

"Sasuke… why did you do this?" Naruto asked, the tears streaming from his eyes mixing with the saltwater in the ocean around him, "Why would you go down this path? Now I have to kill you… and it's not even by choice," the Uzumaki said with a kunai knife slipped between his teeth. He stared into Sasuke's eyes. Both their eyes were now a bright red.

A pale hand reached down and grabbed a handful of Naruto's hair. He was powerless to resist as Orochimaru pulled Naruto up so they could stare into each other's eyes instead. "An amazing ability that is… your Nine-Tailed Fox's regeneration. You Uzumaki have always made amazing specimen. You would be one hell of a test subject," the Snake Sennin snickered.

"What the hell are you down here for?" Sasuke asked.

"I got tired of watching this fight from my office. Plus, with Sakon, Ukon and Jirobo dead, the jinchuuriki were about to descend on your position… you would be dead in seconds," Orochimaru explained. He turned his attention to Naruto, "I also had to get a good look at this little guy for myself."

"What for? I'm the only prodigy you need," Sasuke protested.

"HEY! Naruto! Give him to me before I… before I break you in half!" Han roared from the beach.

Orochimaru gave the Uzumaki a lick, "Looks like I've angered your mutt," he dropped Naruto on the bridge before giving it a good think, "Obtaining a new experiment… but at the cost of angering a jinchuuriki. What an ultimatum they've given me, don't you think, Sasuke-kun?"

Jirobo erupted from the sand to grab Han's leg and stop him from running onto the bridge. Han looked back at the kid. Half of his body was gone, and the Curse Mark Version Two was the only thing keeping him alive, at least for the next few minutes. "Get off me or I will kill you!"

"I'm already dead…"

"I warned you!" Han shot a jet of steam at his opponent. But the steam wasn't meant to burn or melt, rather he released it with the intent to cover himself, Jirobo, and the entire archipelago in steam.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then the steam cleared.

Kokuo watched on from the beach. Jirobo was no more.

That was all the convincing Orochimaru needed. "Come along, Sasuke-kun. It's not worth engaging at this moment. Tayuya! Get in the house!"

"You better run, ssu!" Fuu yelled, peeking out from her outcrop. To be fair, none of them had the energy to run. Tayuya hobbled away whilst Fuu fluttered over to Naruto and scooped him out of the water. When Fuu landed on the beach, Han was back. He picked up both children and threw them onto his back

"Let's go! Let's get out of here! We'll be safe in the Land of Hot Water!" was the last thing Naruto heard before falling unconscious again.