Author's note: Here it is, people, the moment you've been waiting for, the climactic battle! In celebration, I've named it in the style of an anime episode.

Disclaimer: You think I own it? I laugh at you.

Chapter Fifteen: Clash! The Monster Within vs. The Monster Without

The smoke cleared, revealing a man with spiky brown hair, pink eyes, and six dots on his nose. "I figured this would be the easiest way of getting you here." He stepped forward and bowed. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the founder and leader of Akatsuki, Naruto-kun, and today is the day you die."

"Is that so," said Naruto, teeth clenched. "Where's your partner? Don't you Akatsuki bastards come in twos?"

"I'm afraid not," said the leader. "Thanks to your efforts, my organization has been nearly extinguished. Now, it's just me: Ten no Takamaru."

"Hawk of the heavens, huh? That's a pretty flashy name. Good thing you told me, though; I take the time to learn the names…" he leapt at his opponent, "of people that I'm about to kill!"

"That's interesting," he returned, "Because I do that too."

The Akatsuki Leader caught Naruto in midair and swung him back from whence he came. By this time, a group was forming, having heard the large explosion. Hinata landed next to him and said, "Naruto-kun, I'm here! Let's work together and-"

"No." Hinata was slightly stunned. Naruto never used such a forceful tone with her. "Stay back and whatever you do, do not come near us."

Her enhanced eyes scanned Naruto's faces. "Naruto-kun is sweating, and his breathing's shaky," she thought and reluctantly concluded, "He's really frightened about this fight." Nodding, she began to step away, saying, "Naruto-kun, please be careful." She waited for him to give her words of reassurance, some cocky phrase, maybe a cheesy thumbs-up… but it never came as she retreated to safer grounds.

"There's something you should know," said the Leader. "I am also called 'Tenchu no Takamaru (Heaven's Wrath, Takamaru),' because whenever I target someone…" in an instant, he was above Naruto, fists raised, "It is as though heaven itself has judged them."

"Shit!" said Naruto, trying to roll out of the way, only to be smashed in the side by a crushing blow from Takamaru. He flew sideways, falling ungracefully in a heap of dust. As he got up, however, he began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked the Akatsuki.

"You… you can't kill me, right? You have to go easy on me; otherwise, you can't take the Kyuubi out of me. So I have an advantage."

Takamaru glared. Materializing behind Naruto, he said, "Just because I may or may not be allowed to kill you," he grabbed his skull and smashed him into the ground, creating a sizeable crater, "Does not improve your chances of winning. And I can kill you. It's far more convenient not to, but I will if I have to. Now, get up." He walked a few yards away from Naruto. "There's something I want you to do for me. I want you to summon all nine tails of the Kyuubi."

"Tch!" said Naruto, spitting away some of the blood in his mouth, "Not a chance."

"If you want, fine. But if you don't…" he pulled out a knife and pointed it at Hinata, "I will kill each and every one of your friends, starting with your girlfriend."

"Don't do it, Naruto-kun!" yelled Hinata.

"Damn it!" Naruto held his fingers together, gathering chakra. "I can summon the Kyuubi's chakra while maintaining control up to three tails. Four tails and beyond… I can't do anything about it. My only choice is to power enough chakra through me so that it carries on after four tails. I just hope I don't do too much damage while in that state." He roared, his fangs protruding forward, his eyes glowing red and his whisker marks bolded.

"This is it," muttered the Akatsuki leader. "This is my ultimate objective."

Instantly, three tails sprouted along with Naruto's chakra shield. A fourth tail began emerging along with the darker chakra, but Naruto kept focusing, throughout the pain. Two more tails sprouted, bringing Naruto to six, while his eyes were clamped shut in agony. Two more tails growing, the darker chakra had reached an opaque orange color and had nearly reached Naruto's face. Then, as the chakra formed a complete shell, the ninth tail sprouted.

It was then that all hell broke loose.

"He's going to kill us all!"

"It's the Kyuubi! The Kyuubi!"

"I knew he couldn't be trusted!"

"He was demonspawn after all!"

"Stop," said the Akatsuki leader, staring straight into the face of the Kyuubi. He placed one finger on its nose and in a burst of sound, the chakra dissolved, leaving Naruto in a freefall from several stories up.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata gasped, rushing to catch him, but was beaten to the punch by two figures.

"Don't worry about this, Naruto," said Kakashi, laying his body gently on the ground. "We can handle it."

"You guys…" he moaned weakly. "You can't, he's too-"

"Always getting yourself into trouble, aren't you?" said Sasuke, Sharingan swirling. "Ready, Kakashi?"

"Let's go." The two leapt at Takamaru, dominant hands forward. "Raikiri (Lightning Blade)!"

"Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!"

Movements fluid, Takamaru caught the wrists of the two Sharingan users right below the electricity. "That's not gonna work."

"Now, Kakashi!" Sasuke said, activating his eye technique. "Mangekyou Sharingan!"

It seemed, for a moment, that they had won and that this menace's mind was crushed. However, that hope was abandoned when his pink irises glowed for a moment, then blasted the doujutsu (eye technique) away. "Neither will that. Now, you," he said, turning to Sasuke, "are Uchiha Sasuke. You provided quite a bit of trouble for my organization. You even managed to surpass your brother. That's something to be proud of. But I think I should at least provide some form of retribution. After all, Itachi was a good member of my team." With that, he crushed Sasuke's wrist like a twig and sent him flying with a geyser of water from his palm.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura had arrived just in time to intercept Sasuke's unconscious body. "Oh no," she murmured, looking over his body. "He's… too powerful, isn't he? He didn't use any seals or anything for that technique"

"And you are Hatake 'Sharingan' Kakashi. You were also a thorn in my paw, though you didn't exactly destroy a member of my group by yourself, did you? But then… you did manage to take out one of Kakuzu's hearts, so I suppose that's impressive enough." Again, without seals or the technique's name, a pillar of earth crashed out of his palm, rapidly slamming Kakashi away.

Rin was lucky enough to take the hit from the pillar for him, but the momentum pushed them into a wall across the street. "Kakashi… Kakashi, speak to me," she said, covering his Sharingan.

"Unh…" he mumbled, struggling to stay awake, "This man… cannot be beaten… but must not be allowed victory."

"Is there anyone else?" asked Takamaru, turning to face the audience before him. "Konoha shinobi, I do not wish to hurt you. You are a proud and good people, but if any of you try to get in the way of my work…"

"That's enough outta you," said Naruto, healed enough from the transformation into the Kyuubi. "I'm your target, right? You'll fight me and only me."

Takamaru looked once more at his foe. "That's what I would prefer."

"But there's something I gotta know, before we continue," said Naruto. "Why are you damned Akatsuki after me and the rest of the Jinchuuriki?"

"There is no 'rest.' Unless you count Sabaku no Gaara, who no longer has the Shukaku within him, there are no remaining Jinchuuriki aside from you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Then they're…"

"Dead, yes," the Leader continued. "They are dead along with everyone who tried to defend them. To be honest, there weren't that many. In fact, you're an anomaly, Naruto-kun. The only other Jinchuuriki who had any sort of liking or respect from anyone was Sabaku no Gaara and I know that was from your influence. This has made it infuriating to capture you."

"What can I say? I'm just a tricky kinda guy."

"Yeah. But I suppose as this is the day you die, you have a right to know our motivations. The reason I founded Akatsuki and recruited criminals, mass murderers, terrorists, and general maniacs is for one simple goal: Peace."

Blinking for a moment, Naruto whispered. "… Peace?"

"I know it sounds pretty crazy. Here's the short version. If we capture all the tailed beasts and offer to fight wars for countries, eventually we will control the whole war aspect and therefore, the world. When we control war, there will be none."

"So you'll put the world in your iron grip. Interesting. But I suppose, as this is the day you die, you have the right to know this." He grinned slyly. "This is a bunshin." The clone disappeared and Takamaru only had one moment to turn around before he was hit with Naruto and his doppelganger's Oodama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere). A massive hole in the ground appeared from this attack. Leaping out of it, Naruto exclaimed, "Hah! That's why idiots like you will never be able to kill me!"

The first way Naruto knew his chest was impaled on an arm was not from pain, but from the sight of it. The sight of the attack was swifter than the reaction of pain. As he was lifted and thrown a distance away, he could only hear the Akatsuki leader's voice saying, "Kill you?" as though from a far distance. Things began going dark. "Why, Naruto-kun, you are already dead."

That was when time slowed to a crawl for Hinata. There, floating as though suspended by some outside force was the man she loved. His face didn't look much different than it had moments ago. It was still light and energetic, save the color slowly draining from it. She wished she could kiss it, just one last time. And then it hit her.

Uzumaki Naruto was dead.

The pain in her heart flooded her; she felt she was going to suffocate from it. The only thing that kept her breathing at that point was the immense column of anger that supported her. It became difficult, horrendously painful to breath. In a burst of that combination of rage and agony, she screamed, Byakugan activating without her knowledge. "I'll kill you!" she shrieked and shot at the man who'd murdered her love as though the wind itself was propelling her.

"Hinata-sama, no!" yelled Neji. "Damn it!" He jumped toward the Akatsuki Leader hoping to arrive before his cousin got herself killed.

The two Hyuuga reached Takamaru at roughly the same time. Without even blinking, the cloaked man swatted his attackers away with the force of a freight train in each fist. Neji was instantly knocked unconscious, but Hinata leapt back up as though she'd merely tripped. "So it seems she has gone berserk and no longer feels her wounds… Quite a shame."

Seeing Hinata rise to fight time after time, other shinobi rose to fight. The rest of the original Rookie Nine, Tenten, Lee, Guy, several other Jounin and even Konohamaru's team attempted to strike down this menace. But only Hinata returned to the fight after each blow.

Tsunade had watched from above as her village's soldiers threw itself at this unstoppable man, a conflict of conscience in her mind. "I'm the Hokage! I need to defend my people," she thought, "But… they're only trying to defend one man. They would not have their leader sacrificed for one person, much less a dead one." She clenched a fist. "To hell with it."

"You keep attacking," said Takamaru, holding Hinata at arm's length by the throat. "I don't want to kill you, but can't you see there's nothing you can do? He's dead. I just need his body."

Hinata didn't respond, instead opting to smash a juuken into each side of her attacker's arm. He released his grip and she leapt back, ready and willing to try again. However, someone stepped in between them.

"That's as far as you go," said Tsunade. "You will not take Naruto."

"Ah. Tsunade of the Sannin and Hokage of this village. Have you ever thought of the fact that the village would rather not lose its Hokage again?"

"I did think of that," she replied, "But then I thought of what I told Naruto when I first chose to be Hokage. From now on, I will risk my life!" Charging her fist, she tore after the Akatsuki leader who took extra special care to dodge her powerful fists. After nimbly dodging, however, he managed to deliver several powerful strikes.

"Tsunade-sama is fighting! Everyone, quickly!" yelled a Jounin in the crowd. Immediately, every available ninja leapt into the fray, forming a semi-dogpile on the Akatsuki leader.

When it seemed he was finally smothered, Takamaru let slip the first amount of emotion he'd shown throughout the battle. From within the pile, he roared, "Enough!" and with a wave of chakra, everyone was flung away, scattered throughout the area, leaving only Hinata. She remained kneeling on the floor a few yards from Naruto's body, arms outstretched. "And so, we come back to this," he said, approaching her. "I will ask you one more time to let me through."

"No. Never," she said, even as the tears spilled down her cheeks.

He sighed and raised a fist. "Very well," he said, and struck down with it.

"I love you, Naruto-kun…"

"Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)!"

Where a second before there had been an oddly shaped kunai was now a fist blocking the Akatsuki Leader's attack. "What?'

"Naruto-kun!"

"Sorry to worry you, Hinata-chan, and sorry to everyone else. Thanks for fighting for me. But I'm back now and I swear I'm going to finish this!"

"I'm curious," said Takamaru, withdrawing his fist. "How are you alive?"

"Like I said, I'm a tricky kinda guy," said Naruto. "And you know what? I am sick and tired of megalomaniacs like you and Orochimaru claiming that they have some grand purpose behind their sick goals. Understanding of everything? Absolute peace? Bullshit! You just want power over everything." He leapt above the Akatsuki leader. "And to tell you the truth, I won't have any more of it!"

The two returned to an incredibly intense battle. Of course, only the members of the Hyuuga house, Sasuke, Kakashi, and a few with especially sharp eyes were able to see the battle at the speed it was occurring. "His speed's improved," thought Takamaru, "In fact, every aspect of his combat is better. The hole in his chest has even stopped bleeding, but there are no markings of the fox's manifestation."

Just then, Naruto increased his speed, smashing his fist into his enemy's face. "This is for spearing your hand through my chest!" Another fist, directed toward the abdomen. "This is for hurting my friends!" He leapt to meet his foe in midair and kicked his back. "That's for attacking my village!" And finally, grabbing his leg, spinning around and throwing him into a wall, he said, "And that was for hurting Hinata-chan!"

He only stayed down for a second. "Is that it?" he asked, standing up and brushing the debris off of him.

"Not quite," thought Naruto, holding his right palm up.

Sasuke and Kakashi were sitting near each other, nursing their wounds, but viewing the battle with their Sharingan nonetheless. "Kakashi…" said Sasuke, "Are… are you seeing this?"

"I am, but I don't believe it."

Each of Naruto's fingers on his right hand had begun glowing with one of five differently colored lights. "N-Naruto-kun…" said Hinata, viewing the scene with her Byakugan, "What are you doing?"

"I have no idea. Katon (fire release)." A red, flickering beam emerged from one finger, stopping just above the center of his palm. "Suiton (water release)." A blue beam, wavering like a stream. "Doton (earth release)." Black, straight and rigid. "Raiton (lightning release)." Yellow, a crackling, zigzagging line, and finally, "Fuuton (wind release)!" Grey, spinning like a miniature tornado. The beams converged a few inches above the center of Naruto's palm and began…

"… Swirling? What the hell is he doing?" asked Sasuke.

"Simple…" said Kakashi. "He's making an omni-elemental Rasengan."

"You call that simple?"

"Well, relatively speaking. The most insane part is that he's doing it one handed."

"Interesting," said Takamaru, rushing at Naruto with lightning-quick speed. "Seems I just have to avoid that thing and I'm in the clear. Looks like it takes up a lot of chakra, too, even for you."

Naruto remained uncharacteristically silent, dodging every strike with precision. All he could think about were the words left to him in his father's letter: "You have an incredible kekkei genkai (bloodline limit), one that I tried very hard to unlock." "I guess this it," Naruto thought. "Thank you, dad. I only get one shot at this… gotta make it count!" "Tajuu Kage bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Technique)!" he roared, creating the bunshin with one hand. Said bunshin surrounded Takamaru and began attacking from every direction.

Now it became increasingly difficult for the Akatsuki leader to dodge and destroy each bunshin. It was not until it was to late that he realized he had lost sight of the original. Unfortunately for him, when he realized this, he did not see that a few bunshin had spotted an opening. One leapt up and said, "U!"

"Zu!"

"Ma!"

"Ki!"

Tsunade had time to instruct everyone to get down before Naruto roared, "Fainaru Rasengan (Final Spiraling Sphere)!" and plunged the Rasengan into Takamaru's gut. The result was a tremendous explosion of pure white energy, one that threatened to devour the entire area they were in. At least, it seemed that way until the explosion began sucking itself back in as though it were being pulled by a vacuum, annihilating everything in its radius (including several bricks in the road and a few trees) with an enormous vortex until finally, it became so compressed that it shrank into nothingness, leaving behind only a puff of smoke.

"What… what just happened?" asked Sasuke, emerging from the rubble.

"I..." began Kakashi, a little dumbstruck by this, "Right now, I can't explain what we just witnessed."

Naruto landed next to Hinata where he'd defended her. She seemed to be amazed at his sheer presence as she was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed. "Hey," he said, swaying slightly and reaching for a small box in his pocket. Opening it, he revealed a beautiful, intricately designed ring. "Will you marry me, Hinata-chan?"

These words snapped her out of her reverie. Though her tears had stopped with the knowledge of his survival, they began flowing once more, this time with joy. "Oh my… Oh my God, yes! Yes, yes, of course I'll marry you, Naruto-kun!" she cried out, kissing him intensely.

After he fitted the ring onto her finger, he said. "Good." As the blood resumed flowing from his wound, he collapsed to the ground, immediately falling unconscious.

"Naru… Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked meekly. When she saw he was barely breathing, she turned to the crowd and yelled "We need a medical team over here immediately! He's dying! Help, someone, please!"

Tsunade rushed over, flanked by two medical ninja. Picking up his body, she said, "We'll make sure he's okay, Hinata," and bolted off at top speed towards the hospital.

Hinata began to give chase, but suddenly, the pain of the wounds she'd ignored during battle reached her in full. "Hinata-sama," Neji said, arriving next to her while clutching his bruised ribs with one hand. "I need to get you to some treatment."

"I'm fine," she protested. "I'm not in life-threatening danger, I just need to be with Naruto-kun." She tried to get up, but both legs were wounded.

"Hinata-sama," said Neji, gently trying to reach her. "Naruto wouldn't want you suffering over him, would he? I promise you you'll be able to see him as soon as you get examined, okay?"

She sighed. "Okay," she said, and allowed her cousin to carry her to the hospital.

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Later, at the hospital, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Rin and Hinata waited outside the emergency room where Naruto was being treated. Sakura and Rin, both heavily bruised, sat next to the men they loved; Sasuke held one arm in a sling and Kakashi, exhausted from his use of the Mangekyou Sharingan and prolonged use of his left eye, was stuck in a wheelchair. Hinata was covered head to toe in bandages and kept twiddling her thumbs in anxiety. Every so often, some of the less-injured shinobi would stop by to check on Naruto's condition, and would then proceed to check on their other friends. No one dared to say anything, fearing the answers to their questions.

Eventually, the red light outside the room faded and out stepped Tsunade. All eyes fell on her grim expression. "He's technically stable, but…" she put one hand on Hinata's shoulder, "Due to extreme mental collapse, physical exhaustion, blood loss and most surprisingly chakra depletion, Naruto has fallen into a very deep coma."

All faces fell. Hinata began shedding tears once more, but nonetheless asked, "What is the prognosis, Tsunade-sama?"

"I'm afraid… there's very little chance he will wake up."

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Cliffhanger'd. Sorry to leave you like this, but I'd like to leave the rest of the plot to the next chapter.

By the way, for those who don't know, the Japanese would say "Fainaru" for "Final," just as Guy's "Dynamic Entry" is actually "Dainamikku Entorii."

Anyway, please review, as usual. Tell me what you think of everything; of the fight scene, whether you want me to redo it or not, of Naruto's ultimate move, of the Akatsuki Leader's name, anything. I planned this whole chapter a while ago. I just want to know if I did it right.