Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 73: Hope Remains

"YUKI!"

Someone was calling out her name. She tried to open her eyes. She really did, but they just wouldn't. She was tired. The endless fighting was becoming too much for her. She kept hearing voices calling out her name. Who were they? A cold chuckle could also be heard. The chuckle seemed a lot closer than the voices calling out her name. And then there was doubt. She wasn't even sure if Yuki was actually her name. Her head was in pain. She tried to clutch onto her head to help alleviate the pain, but she couldn't move her arms up. Her hands were tied together. She tried to open her eyes again. Finally, they were able to distinguish some lights, but the lights, even the smallest amount, blinded her. She bit her lip very hard so that the pain from her headache would be shared elsewhere. It worked. She managed to open her eyes a little bit wider. She looked at her hands. They were bound by wood. She looked up. There were two men standing there. She shook her head again as her vision got blurry. Her consciousness was escaping her again.

Yuki. Was that her name? That voice that called to her sounded familiar. She felt dizzy, but her body did not feel heavy. She opened her eyes with no problem at all. She did not recognize where she was. She was standing or, rather, she was floating in a sky filled with stars. She should have been scared, but she wasn't. She felt warm in this place. She was only confused as to where she was.

"Yuki. Did you already give up?" The same voice that called out to her earlier said.

She woke up, breathing and sweating profusely. Her eyes blinded by the lights again. Her heart was beating extremely fast. She looked up. One of the man was already gone. She could hear fighting coming from lower. The other was still standing there.

"Madara…" She mumbled trying to catch her breath in the process.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to make it." He said in a relaxed tone. "I should have known you would. I meant it when I said that you reminded me of the Senjus. I can recognize the essence of their chakra anywhere."

"I thought I told you I had no last name." Yuki replied while trying to free herself.

"Don't bother. I placed a seal on the cuffs." Madara said. "I only kept you alive because I want you to witness the despair yourself and give up on that stupid will of fire. I want to extinguish every bit of that fire."

"Despair? As long as there's life, there will be hope." She replied trying to figure out the seal and break free of it. Madara wasn't paying much attention to her. He was focused on the battle down below.

If she wasn't mistaken, Naruto was fighting the masked man they had met before along with Kakashi, Gai and Bee. It also meant that that they failed in keeping Madara away. Naruto's chakra was much stronger than before. Meanwhile, Gai and Kakashi were probably reaching their limit soon due to the extended fighting. What was keeping them going was their will to fight and protect the world. She had to break free and help them. She already failed once. She wasn't going to let it happen again. This thing that they were on was increasingly growing in chakra. She could sense it. If she wasn't wrong, it had to be the future Juubi. She felt a rush in having to find the key to the seal.

"YUKI! Are you okay!?" She heard Naruto call out to her.

"Kid, worry about yourself before you worry about others." Madara replied instead of her.

"Naruto! You can sense it right? I'm fine." She replied. "I won't die so easily."

"You could." Madara then said to her. "I'm only being merciful as we are from the same clan and out of respect for your ancestors."

"Again with your speeches about clans." She mumbled as she felt like she might have figured out what seal he had used to handcuff her. "Your obsession with them is your weakness."

The cuffs broke and she teleported herself to Kakashi. Madara stood up from where he was sitting to watch the show below.

"Obito. She'll be troublesome to deal with. Can you handle them all?" He asked.

"Obito…?" Yuki murmured as she looked at Kakashi.

"The masked man is Obito." He replied.

"I've seen her a few times now." Obito said to Madara. "It should be done over soon. Don't worry and I can handle them all, at least for a while." He then turned to Yuki to address her: "Yuki, was it? I guess now we get to have that fight you were ready for back then."

"Yuki. Our priority is to destroy the Demonic Statue you see here." Kakashi told her.

"With the size of that thing, Naruto and Bee should deal with it. Gyuki and…"

"Kurama. This is Yuki by the way. She was one of friend I talked to you about." Naruto said.

"And Kurama are the only ones who can have a chance of destroying it. We have to stop Obito from blocking their way." She replied tightening the ribbon that held her hair in a ponytail while acknowledging Kurama. "I'm assuming from his injuries that you have figured out how to counter his abilities."

"Observant as always." Kakashi said. "Naruto, Bee. You heard her."

They both nodded and readied themselves to destroy the statue as soon as the coast was clear. Meanwhile, Kakashi, Gai and Yuki rushed towards Obito to fight him. She threw her kunai towards him and it disappeared. She teleported herself to where it was. She found herself in a large space with prisms surrounding her. There were no earthly logic applicable to it. Kakashi told her to wait in that area. Soon, she found out why. Parts of Obito's body would appear at random. From where she was, she was able to hit them. Knowing that she had no way to leave if he stopped coming to this place, she threw her kunai again as the warping appeared and allowed herself to be teleported back to where everyone was.

"I really don't have to do much explaining with you." Kakashi told her as she reappeared.

Obito was panting and was bleeding from the attacks. One of his knee had hit the floor. Naruto and Bee were ready to attack the Demonic Statue. Their Bijuu Bomb was launched and there was no stopping it now. Everyone felt that success was just within arm's length, but Yuki felt uneasy. Madara was too calm. Obito did not even try to use Kamui to send the bomb away. It can't be. She thought to herself. Were they already too late? The blast certainly hit the statue and it vanished. Only smoke remained where the statue was.

"Is it over?" Kakashi asked, also feeling slightly uneasy.

"Yeah…" Obito began.

The Juubi appeared amidst the dust and smoke that rose from the ground. Its size was imposing as it was, but it was much more than just size that made it impressive. Yuki could sense it. This wasn't something they could tackle by themselves. Madara and Obito got atop the creature.

"Why could none of us feel it coming?" Naruto asked.

"That thing is different." Kurama replied. "It doesn't have feelings or ideals. Its energy is like that of the Earth itself."

"Naruto, use your Sage mode if you want to be able to sense it." Yuki told him.

"He told me you were smart, kid." Kurama told her. "You sealed me a few times, didn't you? I remember your chakra."

"I'll give you a proper apology later." She replied.

The Ten-Tails began its rampage. They had never felt such a big earthquake before. Kurama quickly took all of them into his chakra cloak to protect them from the rock projectiles coming their way. Meanwhile, they started planning for an attack plan inside. Within seconds, Gyuki was above the Ten-Tails and sent one of his bomb directly in its eye. For a quick second, they believed that the surprise attack worked, but they couldn't be more wrong. Gyuki went flying back and landed on Kurama. The Ten-Tails, angered, began flicking its tails back and forth causing the earth to shake restlessly. Right at that moment, Kurama and Gyuki both vanished as well. They had reached their limit. There were only the 5 of them now against Madara, Obito and the Ten-Tails. Kakashi had reached his limit. Gai was on the ground, wounded and unable to move much.

"The world is over." Obito told them.

"It isn't over yet!" Naruto yelled back. "I have yet to achieve my dream of becoming Hokage."

"I'll let you be the Hokage in the Infinite Tsukiyomi." Obito replied. "Your efforts are futile."

"I said it before, as long as there's life, there's hope." Yuki said.

At that moment, she sensed a huge increase in surrounding chakra. She looked at the Ten-Tails and saw that it was about to attack them. However, it wasn't coming from him. As her attention was being diverted in all different directions, a blast came towards them, but missed them completely.

"Thank god he missed us." Naruto said.

"It didn't. We got help." Yuki told him.

Many familiar faces appeared from all directions. Everyone began to use their jutsu to prevent the Ten-Tails and the two others to sense them. Shikamaru rushed over to Yuki and Naruto.

"You both are doing better than we thought." He said as Naruto grinned widely seeing all his friends around him. "Yuki, do you want to give us a rundown of what is going on?"

"I think Kakashi would be better at that. I was sort of forced to be here." She replied looking over at Kakashi who was now being healed by Sakura.

"Why don't you ask me?" Naruto said, slightly offended especially when he was the first one on scene.

"Can you give us a non-disorderly briefing with all the necessary details?" Neji then said as he approached their group.

"I… No." Naruto quickly replied, scratching the back of his head as he always did when realizing he was yet again embarrassing himself.

Neji then took Yuki's hand and exchanged looks with her.

"I'm fine." She said.

"Good." He replied.

There was no time for them to say anymore. As the smoke cleared, they could see that the entire Shinobi Alliance were behind them. Despair. He had said to her. She saw none of that. More than ever, she felt strong and ready to put an end to this all. The fire that he was trying to extinguish within her burnt stronger than ever.

"This" Naruto began "jutsu is what will defeat you."

"Why can't you see that you cannot win?" Obito said. "This world is coming to an end whether you like it or not."

"Let's get this over with." Madara then interrupted their conversation. "Let's take away all their worthless hope once and for all."

End of Chapter 73

Thank you again for reading.

xox

Krystal