Naruto is owned by Kishimoto-san

Opening theme: Name(4th opening of Monster Rancher)

Chapter 15: Naruto's Final Battle!

"Did we lose her?" Sakura asked, sitting behind a rock, panting. It felt like she and Hinata had been running for hours, being chased by that insane woman.

Hinata nodded. "Yes, she's gone." Though in Hinata's private opinion, it wasn't that they lost their assailant. While chasing them, that woman had slowed down more and more, until she was out of sight. It was if she had lost interest…

"Heey! Sakuraaa! Hinataaa!"

The sound of a young boy's voice caught their attention. Looking forward, they saw none other than the boy-sailor pair.

"Inari? Mr. Oda?" Hinata blinked.

"What are they doing here?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Ahoy!" Oda yelled, waving. "Fancy seein' you here, ladies! What's goin' on?"

"That's my line!" Sakura yelled, "Why aren't you at the ship?!"

"Well!" Inari began, about to divulge Oda's run in with the flying monster, when the sailor covered his mouth.

"Long story," Oda said quickly, "You seen a woman with super strength?"

"Seen her?" Sakura asked, stupefied, "We nearly got killed by her! Do you know who she was?"

And so…

"WHAT!?" Sakura cried, her hair becoming frazzled from shock.

"That woman…is Naruto's mother?" Hinata asked faintly.

"That's what I think." Inari answered. "'Cause Kawazaki didn't tell us there was anyone else on the island, right?"

That makes sense, Sakura thought, calming down. On further recollection, that woman's face looked a great deal like Naruto's when he was angry; a crazed, monstrous look, one that promised vengeance against the offender.

(See chapter 22, page 6, panel 1 for reference)

"So do ya know where she is?" Oda asked. "We need t'tell her that her son, the Cap'n, is alive, 'cause she thinks he's dead, an'-" Oda trailed off. "Where is the Cap'n, anyway? An' those other swabs? Weren't you all together?"

"That's a…long story." Sakura said, sweatdropping. I can't tell them we got sent flying by a monkey… "We got separated by some monsters."

"What?! But we gotta tell Bro about his mom!" Inari cried. "And we gotta tell his mom about Bro!"

"But what can we do?" Sakura asked, "We don't know where any of them are! And without Kawazaki, we'd have to search the entire island just to find one of them!"

"Umm," Hinata said, hesitantly, "I-I could do that…" When everyone looked at her, she blushed, unused to all the attention. "Well...I was thinking…maybe I could channel my chakra to my eyes…increasing the power of the Byakugan. S-sort of like what Kiba does with his nose…"

The rest just stared at her. Hinata blushed even more. "It, it's not very difficult to do… Brother Neji taught me how…"

Sakura brightened. "That's brilliant, Hinata! We could find where everyone is that way! Go for it!"

Hinata closed her eyes and began to concentrate. For a brief moment, all was still in anticipation. Then, her eyes flashed open, and the unique nerves surrounding her brain pulsed alive, and the group felt a faint sensation, like a brief wave of wind.

"I…I see them!" Hinata gasped, shaking a little, trying to maintain her focus. "Naruto, and his mother… I know where they are!" She pointed at one o' clock. "Naruto's that way! And Kushina…" She pointed at seven o' clock. "That way!"

Hinata released her concentration and her veins faded back out of sight. "I couldn't find the others, though…"

Sakura nodded. "That'll have to do. Lee, Shikamaru, and Kawazaki are smart enough to take care of themselves, but who knows what Naruto could get into unsupervised." She began to move. "Let's go!"

"Hold it!" Yelled Inari. "What about Bro's mom? We need to bring her along, that's why we came here, right?"

Sakura's mind went back to Kushina's attack earlier. "I'm not sure I want to see her again without Naruto…"

Oda took this moment to speak up. "I'm with Sakura, it'd be better to bring the Cap'n to his mom, first."

"Umm, but Naruto be upset if we don't find his mother…?" Hinata asked, worriedly.

"Okay, okay!" Sakura said, feeling a headache coming on. "We'll split up. Me and Oda will go get Naruto…Hinata, you and Inari chase down his mother. Everybody happy with that?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The three answered, feeling afraid of her facial expression(A look she learned from Princess Tsunade…).

And so the two pairs set off on their preferred paths.

DATTEBAYO

At this time, Naruto was staring up at the massive monster he had been fighting. Though, 'trying to fight' would have been a better description of the progress he had made against Ryukaiju. Nothing he tried so far had any effect on the giant lizard, aside from making it a little dirty.

Even this...! Naruto thought, looking at the trench knife Asuma had given him. His hide's way to thick to be cut up by normal wind chakra… No choice, I guess…

Naruto created at least twenty clones.

"Keep him busy!" Naruto ordered, and took one clone aside. "You, help me out!"

As the other nineteen clones jumped and danced around Ryukaiju, Naruto and the twentieth clone ran at least fifty yards back, far away from the monster.

The Spiral-Shuriken might be too dangerous…I'll gamble it all on the Odama Rasengan! Naruto thought, and he and the clone began to form the chakra.

While the Odama appeared to be just a larger version of the Rasengan, there were a few differences. The extra chakra packed into the sphere made it too heavy and unstable to hold with just one body. While the clone was needed to make a regular Rasengan faster(He could make it by himself, but it took longer to do so), he especially needed it to hold the Odama up move with it. Naruto tried to use the Odama one-handed once, but that ended with him waking up a week later, a mile from where he started!
It's almost there… Naruto thought, beginning to sweat. Not from the strain, but from worry. Ryukaiju had just about wiped out all of his clones! And now he had Naruto in his sights!

Good thing I put some distance between us, Naruto thought, gritting his teeth. Even if he's a fast one, it should take him a few minutes to get near me…

However, instead of moving to close the gap between, Ryukaiju did something odd. He reared back, took a deep breath…and breathed fire!

FWOOOSH!

The stream of burning energy hit Naruto dead-on, causing him to lose focus. This also had the side-effect of the Odama self-destructing.

POW!

Naruto was blasted into the air by the impact, hitting the ground with a loud thud. He lay there, unmoving, as Ryukaiju roared triumphantly.

Groaning, Naruto tried to get up, but couldn't. His left arm had lost feeling. He hurt all over.

I'm going to die…

As Ryukaiju came ever closer, the ground shaking with each step, Naruto saw it again. That red-haired, smiling face, more beautiful than anything he had seen before.

…Mama.

I wanted to see you so much. I had so much to ask you... But I guess you wouldn't want a demon-brat like me for a son anyway.

No one would…

As Naruto began to lose consciousness, a memory he didn't know he had, from the deepest, darkest corner of his subconscious…

"If I catch any of you mistreating my son…" The red-headed beauty said, her eyes full of malice and fury. "I'll kill every single one of you. Naruto's my son, and I'll fight tooth and nail to protect him, even if it means becoming your enemy."

Naruto's eyes popped open, tears streaming down his face. Was that real? Groaning, Naruto forced himself up, doing his best to ignore the pain in his body.

Mama… If you were gonna really do that for me…then I can't die here! Sakura, Inari, everyone… You're all in trouble too, right? Don't worry… As soon as I'm done here, I'm coming to save ya! Wait for me!

Ryukaiju stood over Naruto, only one step away from squashing Naruto. Naruto, too half-dead to really care, jutted out his arm straight up, palm spread out. While it was true that the Rasengan wouldn't do much, Naruto had one last hope…The wind-release Rasengan!

Please, let this work… Naruto thought, concentrating.

While it was true he couldn't hold the wind-style Rasengan for very long one-handed, Naruto was hoping that Ryukaiju would be close enough to get hit by it before it canceled out.

Form the chakra…

Ryukaiju snorted, gazing down at the whiskered ninja.

Manipulate its form…

The lizard lifted its huge foot.

Mix in the wind-element… Naruto's hand began to shake and throb.

Ryukaiju brought the massive foot down.

Can't…hold it…

BWA-WOOOOSH!!!

Suddenly, there was an explosion of spinning wind. When the dust had settled, Ryukaiju was gone. Naruto stood still, his hair was messed up more than usual, and his headband knocked off. His arm was still in the air. He had a strange, bewildered look on his face.

"Wha…What was that?" Naruto murmured, transfixed. "That wasn't a Rasengan…"

DATTEBAYO

Odama Rasengan means Great Ball Spiraling Sphere.