Chapter 3:

He ducked behind a tree as the large wave of fire passed on either side of his body. He could feel the burning of his arms through his brown long-sleeved shirt. He could smell the singing of the hair on his head. His eyes screwed shut as he held his breath, knowing that all the oxygen was being sucked out of the air. Time was running out.

Normally if a few trees caught on fire here, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, they would smoulder for a while and the fire would eventually die. Even chakra enhanced flames might catch a few more on fire, but they wouldn't spread very far, as the latent moisture in the air and in the trees themselves would give them an innate resistance to any flame. But flames this hot? He could feel the trunk behind him heating up as the other side was blackened. In fact, he thanked whatever gods were still out there that he was in this place, perfect to give him cover from immolation.

Stupid. He had completely forgotten to reinforce his clothes. He should have been quicker to act when he saw the wall of flames heading his way. Rectifying his mistake he continued onward towards where he knew his mother was fighting the two strange men. He wasn't far now, a hundred meters or so. He could already see brief glimpses of the clearing. A few seconds more and he would be in support range of his mother.

"Trace, on." he whispered as a black bow appeared in his left hand. It wasn't anything really special, just the plain black bow he had been practicing with. He didn't feel the need to dip into his arsenal just yet. Better to find how what his opponents are capable of before he hit them with his full power.

As he leapt to a branch that partially concealed him from view he saw his mother on one knee looking like she was knocking on Death's door. With his reinforced eyes, he saw the two men standing near her, one was standing looking no worse for wear, except for the fact that he had a hole in his chest and two weird mask things sitting on his shoulder. No, they were sprouting from his back. The man had a scratched Taki forehead protector. He would need to be the first to go.

The other man, (boy?) he assumed was the small hunched over creature that first appeared when he and his mother had exited their house. He had his right arm blown off at the shoulder, but there was no blood anywhere to be seen around the wound or the ground. Weird.

He saw his mother leap forward at the two-armed man slashing at him numerous times with Enkidu. Every time she seemed like she would hit him, he dodged by mere centimeters. As Naruto brought his bow up to trace an arrow to shoot the man in the head, so did the one armed man raise his arm. He saw the faint gleam of the sun off of poison-tipped senbon fire from the man's fingertips and strike his mother in the arm.

Naruto froze. His bright blue eyes started watering. She can't die like this. There's still so much time I have to spend with her. So much she can teach me about the world. He screwed his eyes shut trying to ward off the tears and dismissed his bow. He purged himself of all his emotions, shifting his mind into Steel; just like his mother had taught him. Sorrow, anger, and hatred would only hinder him in this fight. He drew back his right arm and where once there was nothing , appeared a large black falchion. Reflecting the light of the flames ominously he opened his eyes, now silver, and focusing on the threads that had found their way into his mother;s body the threw it. Gan Jiang, the Chinese blade married to the white falchion Mo Ye. Named Kanshou and Bakuya after the wife who threw herself into her husband's furnace in order to complete the impossible order given by the emperor of China.

Bakuya turned into a dark spinning disc as it flew towards Kakuzu, who noticed it at the last second and pulled his body back and leapt back a few feet with the sword severing the threads he had rummaging through Kushina's chest to grab her heart. Naruto leapt into the clearing in between the two and his mother, trusting in their bloodline to heal her.

"You will not touch her." Not a boast. This wasn't his opening line in the Standard Shinobi Bantering Ceremony. This was a statement, merely him stating the truth. There was no way they would be able to touch her. He would raze the ground they stood on before he allowed that to happen.

"And you think I'm going to let some punk little child tell me what I am going to do?" Kakuzu asked. "Futon: Atsugai" the wind mask opened its mouth and shot out a large blast of wind.

"Rho Aias." Rho Aias: The Seven Rings that Cover the Fiery Heavens. The great, seven-petaled shield of the hero Ajax, used to block the Javelin of Hector during the siege of Troy, conceptualized as a great seven-petaled flower that sprung to life in front of Naruto's outstretched hand. He didn't have much time to trace it, but against a mortal attack, he wouldn't need it.

The compressed air managed to slice right through the first layer without stopping, but wore down on the second enough for the third layer to finally stop the attack. His eyebrow raised at the thought as he continued his attack; ironic that the shield he used was able to block a thrown spear because that's what he was about to use against this creature in front of him.

A great spear materialized in his right hand. To a normal man, it would reach about shoulder height, but to a ten year old, it went well above his head. Fifty small rivets held the iron head onto the wooden shaft. Leaning back, Naruto grabbed the shaft with his other hand and parried upward the spike connected to a long cord coming at him from his left to spear him through the center. He rolled backwards over his shoulder as the spike changed direction and impaled the ground where he was.

"Well, well, well. Looks like the little kid is fast." Kakuzu spoke in that baritone voice of his. "This is your last chance, kid. Let us take the woman and go and we'll let you live."

"You'll never touch my mother."

"Another Uzumaki? Well, I'm sure someone will pay handsomely for your body. Perhaps we'll even keep you alive enough to sell you to Konoha. I'd be willing to bet that they'd love another Uzumaki after they lost their last one." His eyebrows furrowed behind his mask. "Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure she was the one that left that village." he looked over at Sasori, "Now we definitely need to keep the kid alive."

"Lucky for me that I don't have that kind of restriction." He struck the anvil inside of his soul, "I am the Bone of my Sword."he gripped the spear tightly in his two small hands and shifted his feet and tensed his body. "Iron is my Blood, and Glass is my heart." The spearhead started to glow cherry red as it started heating up.

Its name was Lúin Celtchair, wielded by the Irish warrior, Dubthach Dóeltenga, at the Battle of Da Derga. The spear was wreathed in fire and is said to slay a man with every thrust, and should it be thrown, nine. However there is a condition for the final attack: there must a king or royal heir within the nine.

When Naruto saw Kakuzu's eyes flick towards his partner, he leapt forward. Kakuzu noticed the glowing spear and flowed through hand seals, "Suiton: Suijinheki" a large wall of water sprang up through the ground in a large semicircle in between the two.

"Luin-" Naruto ceased his forward movement while drawing his right arm back. When his body's forward momentum stopped, he used it to slingshot his right arm forward, thrusting the spear towards the water wall, "Celtchair!"

The spear extended.

What the hell is with this family? I've never seen attacks like this. In his one hundred and fifty years or so on this planet, he was being pushed far beyond what he had ever been, save once. His battle with the First Hokage. That man had only managed to destroy two of his hearts. This brat's mother had already managed to do the same. Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, Earth. Out of those five all he had left were his Wind, Water, and Fire. That red-haired bitch had managed to kill his two with one strike.

It was all a roll of the die now. If she had an Earth or Lightning elemental affinity, bounty be damned, she would restock him.

Of course the little child has an attack like his mother. I'll definitely have to keep Sasori in check after this. He's going to want to keep the child for himself. His eyes flicked towards his partner for a second to see what he was doing. Sasori had his arms extended forward and his palms facing the child. He planned on using his flamethrower attack. He felt the massive pulse of chakra from the small child and his eyes whipped back towards him. That's when he noticed the spear glowing a cherry red. He could kill two birds with one stone here. His Water Encampment Wall would suffice to cool the spear down and stop the child's assault, while protecting him from Sasori's counter-attack. So he made the necessary seals.

The Water sprang up in front of him obscuring the boy's visage momentarily. Not that that would matter. As soon as he saw the massive glare of flames through the water he would drop it and ensnare the brat with his threads.

Then the glowing spear head came through the water and pierced into the center of his chest.

One good thing about having a red-hot piece of metal thrust into you: the wound was instantaneously cauterized. So at least he wasn't going to bleed to death. But now he had yet another dead heart and the spear was cooking him from the inside out. He grabbed the shaft below the eight-inch spearhead, and ignoring the fact that it was wood and yet still burning the hell out his hand he ripped his body backwards and assimilated his Fire Heart off of his shoulder and back into his body.

He needed to regain his bearings. He would not be killed by this child. He needed time to think; time to regain his bearings and think of a solution to the boy's mysteries. As his wall of water dropped, so did the boy's spear retreat back to its normal length and ceased its glowing. The boys eyes were wide with surprise of the fact that he was still alive. Good if he's wondering about my powers that will help me for when we next meet. Tactically retreating was not beneath him. The dead had no use for Pride.

Kakuzu, Sasori, return to Ame immediately, there is a situation that needs to be dealt with.

Speak of the Devil, and He shall appear. He looked at Sasori and nodded, receiving his partner's nodding of assent back. Flicking away, he swore to defeat that small child when he more fully understood what he was facing. There was research that needs doing.

Steel receded from Naruto's mind as he felt the two men disappear from the area. As soon as he was sure they were gone he whirled on his downed mother and started taking stock in her appearance. His eyes were first drawn to her face. He noticed her pallid complexion and shallow breathing.

"Mom? Mom, can you hear me?" no answer. He pinched the piece of meat between her thumb and index finger and was satisfied to hear her groan of discomfort. Good, that meant that she still had feeling in her hands and that she wasn't completely brain-dead.

He then moved his attention onto the needles that were in her arm. He dare not just yank them out, for fear of doing more damage than good. There was a doctor in the nearby town. That man could probably diagnose her better. I don't understand, why aren't you healing? He put his hands on her arm, and using his Structural Analysis he saw that the needles weren't aimed at any certain bundle of nerves or arteries or tenketsu in particular, so he pulled them out gently and placed them on the ground next to her. He would need to get her to the doctor as quickly as possible and get those needles there as well. During his analysis of her body, he detected a large amount of a corrosive poison, eating away at her blood vessel and chakra coils.

With her coils as damaged as they are already, she wouldn't last a day, much less three. It was times like this he was glad that his mother knew how to play far ahead. She had stashed drop bags in a hollowed out rick a few hundred meters from their house just in case they had to pack up shop and leave in a hurry. She would be fine for now. Not much was around them except for a few minor critters skittering and scampering about.

So he dashed off in search of their drop bags. Then he'd get her to the doctor. "Trace, on." Time was of the essence, after all.

She woke in tremendous pain. It radiated throughout her body and permeated her very core. Her chakra was still out of whack and she couldn't mold any of it properly. Not that she had much left anyways.

She was dying.

She had to get to Naruto before she died. She had to tell him.

She opened her eyes, "Na-" she tried to get out before her haggard voice caught. She looked around and saw that they were in a wooden room. She was lying on a white bed, with the faint beeping of an EKG machine. So she was in a hospital, good. Any amount of time that prolonged her life was more information departed on Naruto. Speaking of which, she saw no sign of her son anywhere. She had briefly hoped that he would be passed out next to her so she could have a chat before her time was up.

She fished around her for the call button used to summon the nurse. Once depressed, she waited for the inevitable entrance of someone who she could ask where her son was. While waiting, she decided to get a better feel for what kind of injuries she had sustained. Using structural grasp on herself was always a weird affair. She never figured out how to categorize seeing and feeling her own insides as if they were out on display. Kind of made her feel like a lab frog that was splayed open in a medical laboratory. She closed her eyes and immediately pictured the wire-frame of her body's skin. She delved deeper into her body, checking her Musculatory system; something was wrong. There were heavy metals that shouldn't be in there. It was starting to destroy her muscle cells. For now it was centralized in her left arm and shoulder, it was making its way into her chest cavity already, but it wouldn't be long before it hit her spine and sent her into crippling pain. Already her left arm was numb and immobile. She wouldn't last, she'd be dead by sundown tomorrow.

The door to her room opened and an elderly man with frizzy, white hair and coat walked in. His face was set with a few wrinkles here and there, but he seemed to be in his late forties. "Hello, Mrs. Shima, my name is Doctor Noguchi, how are you feeling?" A fake name? She could roll with that.

"Like I was just poisoned by an asshole in a cape."

"Well, yes; actually you were. We found quite the sufficient quantity of unknown elements in your bloodstream; sufficient enough to where we are trying to work on an antidote." at this he paused and shifted, "I've never really seen a poison this complex, and while we have every assurance that our Poisons Staff is working as hard as they can with it, it is something they've never seen before."

"Oh? And just who is your Poisons Staff?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that would be me and my colleague...and his assistant. But rest assured, we're working round the clock to find a cure and make you an antidote. I hope you don't mind, but we took a sample of your blood to help in the matter. Since you were unconscious the whole time, your son told us it was okay to do so."

"Ah, okay. Where is my son?"

"I sent him away to go get something to eat. You haven't been in here long, only about 6 hours or so, but he said he hadn't eaten all day."

"That's good."

"Quite."

"Now there are things to be done." she said gathering his full attention once more, "Firstly, I need a pen and some paper, (good thing she was right handed) secondly, I would like some food as well, no use going out on an empty stomach, and thirdly I would like for you to send your assistant out to find my son. I need him here as soon as possible. I won't be lucid for much longer, and I would like to speak to him before I am crippled with pain."

"Now look Mrs. Shima, We may not be as fancy as the Konoha Hospital, but we are still very good. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

"I am sure that by now, you've figured out that I am a ninja. I've been poisoned by the famous Sasori of the Red Sands, the very man who destroyed the Land of This. His poisons are said to kill in three days. In my already weakened condition, I won't last even half that. I need to talk to my son before I'm gone." her icy eyes bore into his and sent him back a step. She didn't really mean to send a small amount of Killing Intent into her speech, but she was under a bit of pressure, so she would forgive herself for doing that.

The doctor sighed, "Fine I'll have my assistant fetch him for you."

"Thank you. The pen and paper were just redundant, so if you can find my son quickly then I won't really have the need for them. I expect I only have about two to three hours left, so..."

"That won't be a problem, my assistant sent to a cafe just down the street, so we should have him here in just a few moments."

"Thank you. Once my son gets here I would like some privacy, please. I'll send my son out when I am ready for you."

"Very well."

She sighed and looked out of the window at the foggy village. She hoped he got here soon. Time was of the essence.

So that's that. I decided to end it here and continue on with the next chapter, so expect that within a few days.

Thanks for favving and the reviews guys. Hope you guys keep throwing em my way. I'm always glad to hear what you have to say, and any comments are very appreciated

Hope you guys liked the fight. I don't think i've ever really been good at writing and describing them, but i try to keep them a realistic as i can. Well, as realistic to how i think the battles would go. These long and drawn out battles just irk me something fierce. It completely goes against what they should be, but then the manga would be completely different and probably wouldn't have the following it does. But i will reflect how i see battles happening like I've done here, unless anyone has a good pointer or two they would like to bestow upon me in a review or pm...w/e...

One thing, Like most Americans, i don't speak another language (besides kitchen Spanish, and a smattering of German). while I'm trying to rectify this, if you leave me a review/question in another language, I'll still try to respond, I'm just going to have to run it through Google Translator first. So don't be suprised if the response is straight from there. Copy and paste works wonders.

Oh, and one more thing. If any of you guys see a hole, or some confusing part that you think i could change a bit to make easier to understand, or something wrong that i've written, please don't hesitate to let me know, and I'll fix is ASAP. I'd rather be wrong and have someone point it out and fix it, than just leave it out there for everyone to see.