Author's note: Thanks for the kind words, guys. Glad to see this fic isn't yet dead.

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Chapter Twelve: A last resort.

The two giant beasts ran at each other, fangs and claws at the ready. "Everyone, prepare yourselves!" yelled Jiraiya. "Those who can, protect the genin and students!" The various shinobi scrambled to protect their young, most horrified at the sight before them. After all, they were witnessing a giant fox that randomly appeared in the village and the man who single-handedly led an attack that nearly crushed them all on top of a giant snake, surrounded by several other large snakes.

A tremendous shockwave rocked the village, toppling several shinobi who were unlucky enough to be close to the battle. When the chaos quieted down, those who were still conscious were able to see the giant fox with its fangs around the snake and its paws crushing the rest of the snakes. . "Well well," said the fox, "'Kitsune-chan' it is, then. What about your name, boy? I think two partners should know each other's names."

Naruto grinned. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. It's good to finally meet you, Kitsune-chan."

She smiled back. "You as well. As a parting gift, I'll hold down that snake-wielder. And also," she said, letting Naruto off of her back. "Tell our God 'Hello'."

"Orochimaru!" roared the snake in rage, "If you don't die in this battle, don't even think of summoning me or any snake again! I will order all my young to devour you whole!" Manda and the other snakes disappeared with these words, leaving a nervous Orochimaru in the street. Suddenly, two great blasts of chakra exploded from the fox's claws, pinning Orochimaru to the floor.

With their enemy pinned, people started to approach him until Jiraiya leapt forward and said. "Stay back, he's still dangerous! After all, he is one of the Sannin, he could make a move at any time." He turned to face the battlefield, his back at the audience. "You'll just have to have faith in Naruto."

A number of murmurings sprang up in the street. Things such as, "Trust the Kyuubi brat? No way!" or "That monster will doom us all!" could be heard.

Just then, a voice rose up through the crowd. "Be quiet," said Hinata, her voice uncharacteristically strong. "If any of you have anything to say against Naruto-kun…" She activated her Juuken. "You will have to take it up with me."

"And me," said Sakura, directing chakra into her fist.

"And me," said Kakashi, hand crackling with lightning.

No more was said against him.

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"What do we have here?" asked Naruto, approaching the trapped Orochimaru. "Seems we caught a slimy little snake."

"So what?" said Orochimaru, still grinning his devious grin. "Anything you do to me will just hurt Sasuke-kun's body! You can't touch me!" He began to laugh until he witnessed the ball of chakra forming in his opponent's palm. "…What are you doing?"

"The only thing I can," he replied. "This is it… I hope it works."

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"What's he doing?" asked Sakura. "It looks like he's forming-"

"He is," answered Kakashi. "The Rasenshuriken (Spiraling shuriken)."

Eyes widened, Sakura protested, "But if he uses that, he'll utterly destroy Sasuke-kun's body!"

"It may be our only hope of getting Sasuke back," said Kakashi. "The Rasenshuriken severs nerve and chakra channels at a cellular level… so if it's currently Orochimaru's chakra and soul that's in there, there's a chance that once his cells are damaged, the flood of chakra that might return from Sasuke's soul will repair those channels and nerve endings. I'm sure Naruto's figured all of this out."

"Like I said," added Jiraiya, "He's a brilliant idiot."

Hinata was still troubled. "If the Rasenshuriken does that much damage… won't Naruto-kun suffer some damage in the arm he uses it with?"

"Oh, no need to worry," replied Kakashi, peering at the ball of chakra swirling in Naruto's hand with his Sharingan. "That's a bunshin."

"He fought so hard to get his best friend back," said Jiraiya, "now I'm sure he'd do anything to get him back, even with the smallest chance."

Kakashi nodded. "There's one last part to this plan. Sakura, Hinata, you two are medical kunoichi. Once the Rasenshuriken hits, you will need to begin healing all parts of Sasuke's body before the wounds set in too heavily."

"Of course!"

"Yes…"

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"Please, please work," he muttered, gathering the chakra in his bunshin's hand. As he stepped away, his clone said, "Here I go. Rasenshuriken!"

The effect was instantaneous. An incredible dome of swirling pain surrounded Orochimaru as the microscopic blades tore at Sasuke's body. Naruto felt a clenching in his stomach, sick with worry that the attack wouldn't save his friend, but instead kill him. The worst part was that it would be his fault. Sure, he'd tried to form the chakra just enough so that it wouldn't kill him, but his chakra control had never been the greatest.

The dome, though it seemed to have lasted forever, finally subsided. Instantly, Hinata and Sakura were on Sasuke's body applying healing to every part of his body they could cover. Naruto kneeled down and asked, "Sasuke? Can you hear me?"

After a moment, Sasuke stirred. "Hey... good to see you, Naruto," he said weakly. "Listen to me, Naruto. He's going to try to come back. You need to stop me however you can when that happens."

"Sasuke," said Naruto, choking on the words, "I… I can't kill you."

Sasuke laughed weakly. "What's with that look, stupid..? You do what you need to. Save me from him, Naruto… Those who do not look after their comrades…" he stopped, coughing from his wounds.

"… Are lower than trash," Naruto continued, trying not to sob. "You jerk…"

"Naruto, calm down," said Kakashi, walking towards the two. "Leave this to me." Kneeling down directly in front of Sasuke, he activated the final form of his Sharingan. "Mangekyou Sharingan (Kaleidoscope Mirror-wheel eye)." The two went into a trance as Kakashi worked his Doujutsu (eye techniques).

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"What is this?" asked Orochimaru, outraged, "What is going on here? Why am I not in control of Sasuke-kun?"

"I'll tell you what this is," said Kakashi as he emerged from the shadows. "This is the new generation succeeding the last one. And since you're even older than the last generation…" He lifted his headband to reveal his altered Sharingan. "I think your time is up. Tsukiyomi (moon reader)."

Orochimaru collapsed an instant. Kakashi took this opportunity to fire up his Raikiri (lightning blade) and decapitated the Sannin, destroying his soul.

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"Did it work?" asked Sakura, hunched over her love as he fell unconscious a moment later.

"We can only wait," said Kakashi, panting from the use of his eye's technique.

It was a somber moment as they awaited any sort of reaction from Sasuke. Everyone seemed to have a collective heartbeat, one that thundered in nervous anticipation. Rin had arrived to help heal Sasuke's ravaged body, showing tremendous experience in her field.

"Um…" Sakura began, "Thank you for helping to heal Sasuke-kun, and excuse me if I'm being rude here, but… who are you?"

Kakashi answered for her. "Her name is Rin. A long time ago, she and I were on the same team and the same ANBU squadron."

"Nice to meet you," said Rin.

"The same team as Kakashi-sensei?" thought Naruto, "Wow. She must be strong." He could tell the others were thinking similarly.

Suddenly, Sasuke stirred ever so slightly. All eyes immediately began watching the boy, hearts beating faster and faster. "Hey…" he said finally, opening one eye just enough to see. "What's with the sad faces?"

Sakura burst out crying tears of pure joy. "Sasuke-kun…" she began, bending down to hold him but resisting as such an action would aggravate his wounds. Instead, she settled for a gentle kiss on the lips. "I was so worried!"

"I'm sorry…" he said softly, then turned to Kakashi. "I saw… what happened. What did you do to him?"

"I gave him his worst nightmare," answered Kakashi. "I made him think he was trapped in the Death God's stomach with Sandaime. I made it last an eternity for him and that crushed him."

"Sasuke-kun," urged Sakura, "Can you… can you move?"

Everyone sat with bated breath as slowly but steadily, Sasuke was able to get up. "It'll take a few days," he said, leaning on Sakura, "but I'll be okay."

"Yeah you will!" said Naruto, smiling as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Jiraiya laughed. "One in a million chance and Naruto nailed it! I knew he was good at gambling."

Sasuke smiled. "Naruto… thanks."

Grinning, Naruto replied, "Don't be stupid. I did what I had to, that's what best friends are for, right?"

"Right," said Sasuke, nodding slowly.

"Naruto-kun," said Hinata, "That summoning… that was incredible! How did you do it?"

"It was hard," he said, remembering when he'd first begun training to create a scroll…

"You want to do what?" asked Jiraiya incredulously.

"You heard me," said Naruto, two years into his training. "I want to make my own summoning scroll."

"First of all, it's not that easy. Second, what's wrong with my frogs?"

"Nothing," he said, "But they're not suited for all kinds of battle, right? When I fought the Shukaku, I had to use the Henge no Jutsu (transformation technique) in order for Gamabunta to latch on. If I'm gonna fight Akatsuki, I'll need more versatility, right?"

Impressed, Jiraiya replied, "Well, I can't believe you would say something that smart."

"Shut up!"

"But if you really want to make a new summoning scroll… it will take a lot of effort. You'll probably need to work on it for years and years."

"I've been trying to summon the animal I want, but they don't want to be summoned."

"Which animal?"

"The fox."

Jiraiya grinned. "Sounds good. Here's what you need to do in order to begin the contract. Close your eyes and meditate… focus on the fox and nothing else… Continue this for several days inside a circle of your own blood surrounded by the proper seals, I'll show you those, and if they decide to see you, with a lot of luck, you'll be able to negotiate with them."

A few days later, after no nights of sleep and continual meditation Naruto had finally managed to pull this off, and an apparition of a fox appeared before him. "What do you want, boy? How dare you, a lowly human, disturb us?"

"I…" he started, a bit unnerved by the fox's teeth and claws, then regained his usual confidence. "I want to forge a blood contract with your kind."

It was a very odd thing for Naruto to hear a fox laugh, but after that had subsided, it said, "A rat like you? Forge a contract with us? Don't be absurd. We foxes have more pride than to let a mere human such as yourself summon us whenever he pleases."

Naruto was getting fed up with this fox. He purposefully enlarged his fangs, thickened his whiskers, and turned his eyes crimson. "What if... I weren't just a human?"

The fox was astounded at the tremendous amount of chakra emanating from the boy, especially because it was so very familiar. "You… you have the chakra of our lord, the Kyuubi-sama… how is it possible?"

"The Kyuubi is sealed inside of me. I control its power."

Grinning with intrigue, the fox said, "Very well. We'll give you a chance… but to fully awaken our power, I can guarantee it will take many, many years of training. Take your scroll."

"Really? Thank you!" he exclaimed, picking up the scroll and writing his name in blood inside it.

"Don't thank us yet," said the fox, fading away. "Farewell."

"You finished the training within a year and a half?" asked Sakura, "How can that be?"

"The same way he completed the Fourth's Rasengan in a few months," said Kakashi. "You used the multiple bunshin training, right?"

"Yep!" said Naruto, a cheeky smile covering his features. "And now I have my own summon."

"I don't want to break up this party," said Jiraiya, "But Sasuke probably needs to get some rest after being hit with the Rasenshuriken."

"Oh!" said Sakura in realization, carefully picking up the wounded shinobi. "Come on, Sasuke-kun, we'll get you to a hospital." With that, she was off, bounding over rooftops to reach her destination.

"By the way, Naruto, I forgot to commend you on your impressive combat skills," Jiraiya said. "Well done."

"Thanks, Ero-sennin! But it's nothing for the man who'll be Hokage some day!"

Smiling, Jiraiya thought, "The day you have your mug carved into that rock will be a momentous occasion for us all." "Now go on, get out of here. I think your lady wants to leave this battlefield." Naruto did as he was told, summoning a frog and riding it away with Hinata. "Tsunade will probably want to discuss what happened here, so I'll be off. See you, Kakashi," he said, before summoning his own frog and leaping away on it.

Kakashi waved for a second, and then turned to Rin. "I see your skills haven't dulled."

"Well, when I left, I roamed around various countries performing medical ninjutsu, so I've had practice." After a moment, she said, "That was Orochimaru inside the body of Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Yes."

"So he perfected that forbidden technique?"

"Yes."

"Wow…" She contemplated this for a bit. "What else has happened while I was away?"

"If you'd like to come over for a cup of coffee, I'll fill you in on everything."

"I don't drink coffee."

"Neither do I. Come."

She couldn't help but smile at her old friend. Even if she still loved him, even if that pain was incredible, it was soothed a bit by being back in her own land. "So little Uzumaki Naruto handled that battle expertly," she said as they walked toward Kakashi's place. "You must be a great teacher."

"Thanks, but I can't take all the credit. Jiraiya also trained him for three years."

"Jiraiya-sama? Naruto was trained by one of the Sannin? That explains things…"

"Not fully, though. More than any of us, two things have propelled Naruto's growth: His own inborn potential and his tremendous will. Plus, having the Kyuubi inside him doesn't exactly hurt."

Rin nodded. "He's an anomaly of a Jinchuuriki, though… most of them are outcast by society, growing hateful for the people around them and essentially living forever alone. Naruto seems to have done the opposite."

"He got that from his mother," said Kakashi. "She was the same way, remember? But now, most of the Jinchuuriki are dead… which means Akatsuki should be coming to get him any time now."

"Haven't they tried already?"

"They have. But thanks to our efforts, mainly Naruto's, each attacker has been killed, incapacitated permanently, or…" he thought of Hidan for a moment, "…buried for all eternity under tons of rubble and guarded by deer."

"What?"

"Never mind. I'll explain later when we get to the house."

Eventually, the two reached Kakashi's meticulously neat apartment. There, Kakashi explained things to a wide-eyed Rin, who regretted leaving and missing all of these events. After Kakashi got tired of remembering the past few years, they reminisced about times before that, all the time they had enjoyed as Jounin and ANBU after the war and about how much they missed the Fourth and Obito. After that, because Rin had only recently returned to Konoha, Kakashi prepared the couch for her to sleep upon. After she drifted off, Kakashi walked towards his room with one last glance at his former teammate.

Kakashi, however, had become used to getting no sleep, either because of various ANBU missions or because he was fearful of dreams from the past. But seeing Rin triggered some memories for him, such as the one where his master had first crafted his ultimate technique.

"Hey, Kakashi."

"Yes, sir?"

"Watch this," the Fourth said, and swirled chakra in his palm into what appeared to be a… sphere of spiraling chakra.

"The chakra… it spins randomly and chaotically inside that little bubble, increasing in force and becoming self-sustaining, doesn't it?"

The Fourth smiled. "Impressive as usual, Kakashi. After one look, you're able to decipher its secret. This is my own original technique."

"What's it called?"

"Hmm…" the Hokage said, pondering this question. "I haven't given it a name yet. How about Rasengan?"

"Short and to the point. Sounds good to me."

"Great! Rasengan it is, then. You know," he said with a cocky little grin, "I bet this thing could beat your Chidori. It's an A-rank technique, after all."

"I wouldn't want to pit them against each other, but I imagine it could," replied Kakashi. "But against my new version of Chidori, the Raikiri, it would have a little bit of difficulty."

"Raikiri? That's quite a name. What'd you do, cut lightning with it?"

Now it was Kakashi's turn to smile. "Actually… yeah. You can ask that Guy fellow, he was there to see it."

The Fourth laughed. "I wouldn't put too much faith into what Guy says. He gets a little overenthusiastic. Say, Kakashi," began Arashi, "Do you want to learn the Rasengan?"

Kakashi blinked a few times. "… What?"

"You heard me. It's not quite done yet, but you would benefit from learning it. After all… it looks like one of you is going to have to teach it…"

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Let me show you how to do it. The first step is to swirl around this balloon…"

Kakashi smiled nostalgically as he looked back on this memory. "Well, it ended up being Jiraiya who taught it," he thought. "At least I was the one who taught him how to complete it."

"Kakashi?" came a small voice in the doorway.

"Come in, Rin."

"I'm sorry to bother you," she said, stepping inside the room. "It's just… it's been a hell of a day, and… I really, really miss them, Kakashi." Tears began to spill from her eyes. "I know it's been years and years, but I've ignored that pain until now… seeing you and little Naruto again… it's just been very painful. I know this is a lot to ask from you, especially after all these years, but… will you stay with me?" she asked, a pleading look in those enormous brown eyes.

In one swift step, Kakashi was in front of her, a hand under her chin to raise her gaze and a smile on his face. "Of course," he said and began laying out a futon with pillows and a blanket.

Rin chuckled. Kakashi turned as he organized her sleeping arrangements and, raising an eyebrow, asked, "What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I just thought of something. You were about to wear your mask to sleep, weren't you?"

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Sasuke's body convulsed for what Sakura counted as the eleventh time within the last hour. This meant that from Sasuke's chakra returning to his body, a few areas of his body were overwhelmed. Rising from her chair, Sakura began administering the proper healing to each designated area. "I envy Hinata-chan," she thought. "This would be so much easier with the Byakugan."

"S-Sakura…" breathed Sasuke, laying his one open eye on his beloved. "You…" he coughed, "You should g-go home… there have to be other medics in this hospital that can heal me."

"Sasuke-kun, don't worry," she said, finishing the last of the healing. "I've already switched shifts so that I can be with you. Besides, Tsunade-sama wanted the best medic in this place to be taking care of you, her most severely injured patient." Sakura smiled, proud of the orders straight from the Hokage herself.

Smiling weakly, Sasuke said, "Sakura… you know I love you, right?"

"I do. I love you too, Sasuke-kun." Before returning to her chair, she planted a very soft kiss on her wounded love's lips. "Sleep well."

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"Naruto-kun?"

"Hm?"

"You're amazing."

Naruto grinned. "I'm not that great… just a little."

Sitting up from her position in Naruto's lap, Hinata replied, "But you are! You created your own summoning scroll, you completed the Rasengan, something not even the great Yondaime could do, and using that, you successfully countered a forbidden technique and defeated Orochimaru of the Sannin! You're not even eighteen yet! Naruto-kun, I know I praise you a lot, but listen when I say this: If you're not chosen to become the next Hokage, this whole village is doomed."

He could only sit there, mouth slightly agape. That was the most Hinata had said in a long, long while. "Well," he finally said, "I guess that stuff was pretty impressive… but I've got a long way to go before I can become the Rokudaime."

Hinata pseudo-pouted. "I still think you're incredible."

Naruto didn't respond. Instead, he kissed her, leading them to another "fun night."

"Indeed, Naruto-kun, you are quite incredible," said a figure cloaked in black with red clouds, walking away from the Hokage's mansion. "Soon enough, your Kyuubi will be mine. For now, however, I'll let you enjoy this night…"

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Ooh, spooky ending, right?

Well, I'm not sure that's how you guys wanted me to finish the fight. But I thought it was a good way to do it. Anyway, if you read, ya gotta review, right? … Right? … Hello?