A/N: REVIEW FOR IT FEEDS MY ENGINE OF CREATION! Seriously! It does!

LONG LIVE THE UPDAAAAAAATE SPREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Sorry if its short, but something is better than nothing, no?

I've been burning the midnight oil getting all these updates out, but I finally have a schedule of sorts. I'm trying to update at least once a day. If not that, then every two days. Sometimes three if my body holds up. What can I say? I may not have the best of health, but I'm stubborn. I refuse to give up! I'll be writing on this site for many years yet! Which brings us to another matter. I had a huge plan for this story, but alas, I hit a lot of roadblocks. I lost my notes, my co-writer-who doesn't use this site-gave up on the writing biz. Then health issues reared their ugly head, followed by college and work...

...well, I suppose you get the picture.

Let's have a checklist for the Akatsuki, shall we? As of the opening in this chapter we have:

Hidan=Dead.

Sasori=Dead.

Kisame=Dead

Deidara=Dead.

Itachi=Defected.

Pain=Active.

Konan=Active.

Kakuzu=Active

Zetsu=Active.

Tobi=Active.

I almost pity the poor sods.

Almost~!

Also, popular references for the win.

Seriously, just about everyone knows this one:

"You're already dead."

"Nani?!"

~?

Rock You Like A Hurricane

Water.

Beautiful and dangerous. Hard, yet soft. Hot but also cold. It can be a creature of absolute beauty one moment, then a terror the next. As fickle and ever-changing as the sea itself. You can't live with it. Can't live without it. Water helps us endure. Sustains us. Lifts us up. Yet it can also tear us down. Drown us. Suffocate. Neither good nor evil. As fickle and ever-changing as the wind itself. To love the sea means certain death for it cannot be tamed; nor bridled like a beast of burden. Water keeps us alive. In the end, water kills us. Like fire.

Fire burns.

Water douses fire.

Ice consumes water.

In summary...checkmate.

Conjured out of nowhere, the looming wall of water hung over them like a great curtain, ready to crash down on their heads in an instant. And it all stemmed from one being. One heartbroken girl, ready to tear the very world apart for her sorrows. He didn't know what to say to her. Couldn't think of the words to calm her. She'd gone well beyond rhyme or reason and there was nothing anyone, neither Naruto nor Elsa, nor any being on this green earth could say to ease her pain. Said pain was about to drown them and half the forest if they didn't do something soon. Even now he could feel a chill in the air, a sure sign that Elsa was about to defend him and send everything pitching over the edge.

He couldn't let that happen.

In her current state, Elsa would absolutely eviscerate anyone who tried to take him away. Even her own crazed sister. For the life of him he couldn't understand how how it had come to this; there were too may questions and nowhere near enough answers. Why was Anna here? How had she followed them? When did she gain command-if not mastery-over the element of water? Regardless, he needed to diffuse the situation before it came to a head or worse, the sisters went to war with one another.

"Wait, don't-

The vision took him in midstep, momentarily leaving his world behind for another.

He stood among the ashes of the world and fought for control.

Flames flickered at his fingertips, longing to lash out.

More than anything.

Where had he gone wrong?

Stooping, he reached down for her, hoisting her body up gently, ever so gently. Then he started walking. A jonin moved to intercept him, to bar his path, and turned to ash for his efforts. He didn't so much scream as he did stiffen; his body physically crumbling apart before the blond's glower reduced him to a mound of dust. No one moved to stop him after that. Wise of them. A small groan rose from his arms and he hastened his pace, rapidly marching out of the village proper

Still, Itachi could have stopped him.

He did not.

"Where are you going?"

The blond shot him a bleak look.

"Fuck this." he declared emphatically. "I'm going home."

With a wrench he yanked himself back to reality.

Just in time.

A thick sheathe of ice jutted from the earth to freeze a portion of the onrushing wave, creating a desperate barrier between them and the flood. Though little more than a frozen crescent, the wall held. The rest of the voluminous tide roared past them on either side, inundating the already ravaged forest. If Kiba made it to safety with Hinata's frozen form, Naruto didn't know. Nor did he have time to care. In that instant, he was too focused on keeping himself and Elsa alive. While Anna might lack the precise control of her power, unlike them, the sheer volume of it alone proved far too numerous to handle.

Even with his strength added to hers, it exacted a considerable toll on them both merely to part the waters; let alone sustain such an effort.

Flight wasn't even remotely an option anymore; the air was too saturated, too humid for him to manage enough to lift himself, let another. Even if he attempted to grab Elsa and flee, he risked certain failure. The thought galled him. To be wiped out here, by the one person they both trusted, the one soul who they'd been so sure of, so certain to never betray them...

"Any ideas?!" he shouted over the roar of the deluge. "Don't much feel like taking a bath right about now!"

Elsa grimaced into the storm.

"Just one!"

Naruto realized what she intended in the same instant that she took his hand and squeezed. A strange numbness overtook that palm, but his attention was focused decidedly elsewhere. Such as the cracks in the ice wall, now looming like so many fissures in the once impenetrable barrier. Even then he knew what she intended. Indeed, a small part of him had railed against it until this very moment. Surely there had to be a better way, he hoped. One that didn't involve him taking such a risk. Now? It no longer mattered. All or nothing, then.

"You sure about this?" he grimaced. "My aim isn't the best!"

Cold lips found his, drawing a laugh from him.

"I trust you!"

"Glad someone does!"

Pivoting on her heel, Elsa's finally dropped the wall and let the floodwaters through. In the same instant Naruto yanked hard on her hand, gathering her into one arm. Angry seas bore down on them with a wordless roar, intending to swallow both blond's whole. Too slowly. Even as a fresh wave crashed down on them the jinchuuriki gathered both legs beneath him and leaped, erupting upwards in a cone of supersaturated air. A great gust of wind howled in his ears, nearly deafening both warrior and queen alike, but neither paid it any heed. Beneath them, the world shrank away, the torrential seas little more than a mottled blue blur below.

In that moment, only one thought existed.

One purpose.

One shot.

One aim.

No sooner had Naruto's boots left the soil then he'd arched his arm back. A spear of burning ice-as fantastical as it was impossible-manifested in his right hand and he hefted it with a practiced grunt. The weight was a bit heavier than he was accustomed to, but he knew it all the same. He'd practiced with all manner of weaponry back in Arendelle and this one was no different, if a tad larger than expected. Muscles bulged in his arm, every single cell as one, united in a single common goal. It pained him to do this, more than he'd ever admit, but it had to be done. Anna simply couldn't be allowed to rampage as she pleased. He valued the woman in his arms more than life itself, and nothing would come between them.

Not even her.

As their momentum piqued and gravity sank its cruel claws into them, scarred fingers tightened around the shaft of the spear.

A lone tear trailed down whiskered cheeks.

"I'm sorry."

Then he let it fly.

Cold fury burned the world white in a monstrous thunderclap. A bold bolt of impossible light burst from his hand-there one moment, gone the next. Fire and Ice. Two elements intertwined as as one descended in a blaze of blue crimson. It was nothing short of lightning strike; divine justice flung from on high. The kind people would tell stories about, and others endlessly exaggerate. Some would call it a meteor. The fury of two gods. Others, the sorrow of a queen and her king. Still more would come to refer to it as a demon's wrath. None of these names changed what followed.

Doom.

The projectile didn't so much pierce as it did explode. It flew straight and true like an arrow loosed from a bow, arcing without fail towards Anna. Perhaps she realized what was about to happen, even in her frenzied state of disarray. Perhaps there was some last glimmer of sanity in the Who knew? Regardless, she lashed out. Whips of water arose to catch it, barriers to snatch at it, to no avail. It burned through them all to find is mark. In a cone of otherworldly destruction, the shrieking spear found its target and struck home in a roaring blaze of light.

And Anna screamed.

Bereft of her control, the floodwaters evaporated in a cloud of mist.

Her last cry nearly froze Naruto even before he landed, but he powered through and fought to ignore it.

'What have I done...?'

With a grunt he half-landed, half-collapsed to the earth.

Elsa tumbled awkwardly out of his grasp, immediately seeking his side when she realized the extent of his exhaustion. His comfort. She buried her head in his shoulder and held tight, refusing to let go. Her hands were a balm upon his skin, cool against his feverishly warm body. She murmured something to him, but in his deafness, his ringing ears could barely comprehend it. Just as well. He was too shocked to trust himself to speak, let alone the truth. As his senses gradually returned to him, he almost wished they hadn't. They both knew what they had done, and regretted it.

For what good it did them.

When his vision finally cleared, he found those peerless ice-blue eyes gazing up at him, damp with freshly shed tears.

"It wasn't your fault." to his dismay, she didn't blame him. "She was too far gone. Sh-She'd lost her mind."

Naruto didn't trust himself to speak.

"Are you...alright?" her voice quavered slightly.

"...fine." he rasped out the lie, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. "Just give me a second."

Cold lips pressed against his forehead.

"Take as long as you need."

"Yeah...just a second."

Second?

No, he'd need a few hours to even begin to recover from something like that.

Uniting their abilities...who would've thought such a thing was possible?

Not him, and it was more draining than words.

The "spear" had all but flattened the forest for miles in the direction it landed. Behind them the forest yet thrived, though it remained warped from the events forced upon it. But when he turned his gaze back to where he had last seen Anna...nothing but blackened earth and glassed ground. Anything that had lived on that side of the forest...anyone who breathed...they were gone. Obliterated. Dark clouds loomed. A foul storm rumbled in the distance, summoned by the severity of his assault against nature. That attack had been the very height of fuck everything in that direction. Worse, he hadn't even realized what he was unleashing. He'd intended to try and wound Anna, possibly even stun her, but this...

Not even the trees remained, nor was a single stump to be seen. Nothing...

...only emptiness.

So fixated was he on this wanton destruction that he almost failed to notice it; Anna had gone down too easily at the end. There hadn't been any heart in her attacks in what he assumed were her final moments; indeed, for all her earlier ferocity she lacked anything meaningful in the way of strength. Her once boiling anger had been replaced by frigid fear, and then that fear had swiftly morphed into blazing terror. Whatever was flung at the spear hadn't impeded it in the least, it was simply obliterated on the spot or boiled away by the heat. Was this a distraction of some sort, or did she truly lack control over her powers-

Shing!

A hand closed around his shoulder and hauled him backwards.

Elsa's horrified face was the last thing he saw.

"Na-!"

In an instant she vanished, receding to a blur in the distance as he crashed through the undergrowth.

In disbelief Naruto reached back and clawed at the hand holding him, only to find a disembodied limb lurking there. No...not quite, he realized. Instead of an empty arm or an attacker he found something else entirely. A winding black cord receded into the distance the latter of which seemed intent on dragging him away with sound and fury, uncaring of what he struck in the process. Twisting around in his captor's ungainly grasp, he shot a tendril of flame into the distance. For his efforts he found himself slammed face first into the muck again.

Whomever wielded it was possessed of extraordinary strength; indeed he found the grip quite impossible to break...

...but not to burn.

'A...cord? What the hell? Can't seem to catch a break today!'

A swathe of flame super-heated the air around his body, slicing into the tether the whip steam on contact. Channeling the inferno beneath his boots, the blond willed himself airborne, erupting through the tree canopy to escape whomever had sought to take him captive. Branches briefly scraped at his whiskered visage as he ascended rapidly, burning away all he encountered, seeking the safety of the sky. He was too enclosed down here in the forest. He needed to get airborne, to get away, to escape before-

Left!

His brain shrieked a warning almost too late. The thrusters on his feet flared fiercely; furious fires kicking him backwards into the clouds just as a pillar of heavenly wrath immolated the space he'd occupied a heartbeat before. Naruto watched the lightning crackle past and cringed as it sundered the stormy sky overhead. He might be nigh invulnerable to heat and resistance to cold but even he would perish if something like that struck him. Lightning-electricity-was an element he'd encountered only once before. He'd once fought off an assassin with a frightening ability-the ability to conjure lightning-who'd come for Elsa's head.

He'd nearly lost his own in the process back then.

As such, he had no desire to revisit that past experience again.

Alas, as ever, it seemed fate had others plans for him and his beloved.

Naruto twisted aside in midair, his body wrenching violently to the right as another column of light arced past. Beneath his feet blue jets of flame flickered, allowing him a bird's eye view of the conflict raging below. The trees were burning around them as the cloaked soldiers of the Akatsuki laid siege, sacking the sundered forest around the village. Wait. When did that happen?! In disbelief he gawped at the small army that'd somehow escaped his notice prior to this very moment and felt an ember of unease ignite in his chest. Everything was moving so suddenly. Too suddenly. This reeked of a trap.

"Alright, gotta get back to Els-

Something struck him.

Like the invisible hand of an angry god, so too did some unseen force smite him from the sky.

Ripped-no, pushed!-from his aerial perch, the blond grunted in surprise. Instinct compelled him to shield his face before he slammed back into the canopy of twisted trees. For all the good it did him. A second blast struck him not five seconds later, dashing his back against a particularly sturdy bough. Breath burst from his lungs and he felt something twist in his side. From there gravity claimed him, forcing him to the ground. He hadn't the strength to resist this time, and folded down onto a knee.

Pushing himself into a painful crouch, the last jinchuuriki hissed out an aggravated breath in spite of his ribs.

"Alright, you might as well come out! I know you're there!"

Remarkably, someone emerged from the shadows.

"Very well...Uzumaki Naruto."

If one could call Sasori a puppet, then this man was clearly also among the undead as well. Poison green eyes rimmed with crimson sclera regarded him in open contempt. His retaliatory blast had seared well through a portion of the man's cloak, exposing dead brown skin that reeked of decay. A strange patchwork of black stitches crisscrossed his body in a latticework of sutures, that truly disturbed him. Creaking whenever he moved, they seemed to writhe and shift the longer he gazed at them. Almost as if they were somehow living, acting with their own will. He suspected the rest of his face was in a similar state beneath that cowl of his.

"The fuck're you? A zombie?"

"I suppose." the masked man answered in a monotone, the slight tilt of his had the only real sign of any inflection. "A little bird told me you did Hidan in." A pause pushed its way between them, broken only by the sounds of battle above. "Suppose I should thank you for that. He was beginning to annoying me. Still, you asked for my name. You may call me...Kakuzu."

Coughing harshly, the blond stood.

"No, you're already dead."

"What?"

The whiskered warrior cocked his hand back, fingers forming a taut point of attack.

"Oi! C'mere, ya zombie bastard. Ill roast you the same way I did that damn-

"Bold words." A fresh voice echoed behind him. "Are you so certain?"

Fire leaped from his fingertips and set fire to a nearby tree, but it didn't taste the one he sought. With an irritated grunt he raised his gaze toward a nearby bough and found another lurking there. In hindsight, he shouldn't have been surprised when he saw her. Amber eyes gazed down at him in silent contempt, set within a face sharpened by cold indifference and framed by bright blue hair the color of endless blue skies. Clad in an Akatsuki cloak just as her fellow her comrade, she should've been utterly unremarkable, and yet Naruto still found himself gaping.

After all, wasn't everyday you saw a woman with paper wings.

"Wait, Konan."

The Elemental swore.

'Damnit, people all day today-

Startled, he turned to face the newcomer.

And found himself staring into a legion of dead, rippling eyes.

At first he genuinely believed he was seeing double; rather than one, he found himself facing six separate individuals. Though each bore the signature cloak of the Akatsuki, they couldn't have been more asimilar if they'd tried. Strange faces bore all manner of piercings, their hair the color of an amber sunset. Yes, different in every way, shape or form...save their eyes. Though he failed to recognize their origin, the sight of them stirred a strange dread in him regardless. Rather, it was their owners surrounding him that drew the most concern.

Each had claimed a place in the trees above.

Each bore matching pairs of horrible, rimmed violet.

Each of them gazed at him with those cold, heartless eyes.

Spirits...what in the blue hell had he gotten himself into this time?

As he looked one, one of them forsook their perch in the boughs above.

Alighting in a pointed crouch, the man whom he could only assume to be their leader extended an open hand to him.

"We've been waiting for you, Uzumaki Naruto." their leader smiled tersely. "You would be wise to surrender and come quietly."

For a moment, a fleeting sliver of eternity, he actually considered it.

Azure orbs flicked upright, taking stock of the bodies both above and below.

Eight.

There were eight of the bastards, counting that winged woman and the zombie with the stitches. Those weren't betting odds. One he knew he could face with impunity, but eight? Even a certain gambler knew better than to bet against those odds. He couldn't surrender; a singe false move and they'd descend on him like crows to the slaughter. Escaping to the village was out of the question. They had matters of their own to tend to, likely fighting for their lives as they were now. Besides, from what he'd seen, few if any were capable of fighting these bastards. The villages had been pushed back for a reason, after all. No, short of getting a message to Itachi he was alone in this. A fighting retreat seemed the only option, yet even then he doubted he'd get away clean...

...or at all, really.

'Ah, damnitall. Sorry, Elsa. I really did want ta give you a happier ending this time.'

One word encapsulated his existence in that instant, but he refused to utter it.

"Suppose I refuse your generous offer." he grimaced slowly, "What then?"

"Then perhaps your woman would prove an admirable substitute."

Naruto felt his shoulders stiffen at that, his spine turning rigid.

"Did...did you just threaten my Elsa? Are you an idiot, oi?"

He dropped into a crouch, hand sscraping the ground.

"Right, then. Come at me! I won't go quietly!"

The leader's face hardened infinitesimally.

...very well. You will know Pain."

Then they fell upon him.

A/N: Did...did I just kill Anna?

No, did I just NUKE Anna?

Don't believe it until you see a body, I always say. When I kill someone off, its obvious. Again, wait until you see a body before you start throwing words around. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that she basically took the equivalent of a point blank shot straight to the face. But hey, we've seen people survive worse...or not. In all honesty, it depends on what YOU the readers have to say pertaining to that unexpected surprise there.

We've got the big showdown with Akatsuki coming up, but will Naruto and Elsa live to see the end of it?

Remember, he's the last jinchuuriki remaining, and Tobi wants him at all costs.

And Naruto's running out of juice to fight back...

...we're down to the final chapters now!

So...in the immortal words of Atlas...

...Would You Kindly Review the story of this humble man? And of course, enjoy the previews!

(Preview)

"But...your arm!"

"Tch. I only need one arm to kick his ass!"

"Enough! Bad girl! BAD!"

She yelped as Naruto flicked her forehead.

"Ow! What the hell?! Did you really think that would-

The whiskered warrior flickered her again, rendering her words a squeak.

"Bad!"

"Naruto, stop it!"

"Bad, bad, bad girl!"

Each word, and another flick.

Distracted, denied focus, her element flickered and guttered out harmlessly.

Not so her temper.

"STOP! THAT!"

"I'll stop when you calm down!"

"Nothing personal, kid."

Blue eyes bulged.

"Wait, I remember you...

What will happen?! FIND OUT NEXT TIME! R&R! =D