CHAPTER 18

Dying Flame

Nariko still had one of her kodachis driven into Mizuki's stomach and she held onto it in order to keep him pinned to the tree. Mizuki's outfit had tears here and there, his arms had small lacerations from the tree cutting him earlier, his left elbow was broken from Nariko vicious assault, and now he had a weapon that was slowly tearing up his vitals organs from the inside. All in all, Mizuki was in pretty bad shape.

'What's going on...? The Dark Release: Birth of Hatred technique and being swallowed by the intense flames...I saw it happened for myself. How can she still be alive after all of that...?'

Mizuki's widen in shocked when Nariko lifted her body up a little more and he saw blood trickling off of something on her body. The blood happened to be dripping off of her other kodachi that was she using and now it was in the same place that she had pierced Mizuki...through her stomach...

"You...don't tell me you figured it out...?" Mizuki managed to breath out.

"Yeah..." Nariko said before taking in a sharp breath. "...just before the fire had tried to devoured me..."

Nariko was in a worser state than he was. She had several bruises on her arms, cuts and slits were all over her white karate shirt and almost half of it got burned in the fire, her throat was sore from being choked by him and not to mention that Mizuki had punched her in the stomach and poisoned her lungs with anestetic earlier. All of the moves he had used on her earlier were starting to take an effect on her. She just endured all that pain...until now...

"From what I could see, that particular jutsu can feed off chakra when it comes in contact with human flesh. I knew immediately that my life was in danger and had to extract it from my body before it could kill me. You were getting sloppy and desperate with your moves, so it wasn't that hard to figure it out..."

XxX

Inside the flames, Nariko had grabbed a hold of her sword and she sat up on her knees. Sterilizing the blade with chakra, she pulled it in front of her and swiftly drove it into her stomach. She continued to push until the blade pierced through her body, revealing a blackish-purplish sphere on the tip of the blade. Nariko screamed in agony from the wound that she created herself, but the pain subsided for a minute.

"I see..." Nariko said as she took a glance behind her back. "...so that's what that thing looked like..."

XxX

"You...you mean...you stabbed yourself...just to remove the Dark Chakra Seed that was embedded inside your body...?" Mizuki couldn't believe it. This girl...was she crazy? Did she really wanted to die that badly?

"That's right..." Nariko chuckled softly, "Because of that, my body is in tatters..." and she groaned, feeling the blade deep inside her flesh.

"Poor, princess...You trying so hard not to show that you're in pain, but you're struggling to do so and your chakra is reaching its limit. That wound...it must be extremely painful..."

"Not if the person inflict it on themselves..." Nariko bit back in anger. "...it doesn't hurt as much..."

"Under these circumstances, shouldn't you be fearing for your life? This time, none of us will make it out alive in this battle..." Mizuki asked before he coughed up more blood. "You're willing to go so far...just to save the Nine-Tails..."

"My dream...my family...they're all important to me and I'll do anything to make sure that they're safe from harm's way. Of course, a man like you would never understand that. Mizuki, you've committed so many evil deeds in your life and for that, you're going to repent for them all in the bottomless pits of hell! I can't think of a more fitting resting place for a man such as yourself..."

He just chuckled softly. She was still talking nonsense, even on the verge of death. Well, he had no room to talk, since he was going to die as well. "Lord Touran is the one who will destroy this world...just like how he did in your time..."

The raven narrowed her eyes at him as she forcibly pulled out the kodachi that was in her stomach. This was some new information to her. She had never heard of him before as strange as it sound, but she needed to know more about this person. At this point, any kind of information that could increase their chances of winning against the 'Bakudai' would be helpful.

"Who is this Touran character?" Nariko asked, hoping to get some more information from him. "Is he your leader? What does he plan to do? And why is he after Naruto's Jinchuuriki's element power?"

"It is not of your concern. You girls will never be able to change fate, no matter how hard you try..." He felt his eyelids become heavier and he slowly shut them. Those were his final words before he took his last breath and his body became still...

It wasn't another second later when his skin had started to turn white, almost as if he was about to turn to stone, but that wasn't the case. When Nariko took a closer look at Mizuki, his body looked very soft, almost like a simple feather-like touch could easily shatter it and destroy his body. Slowly, Mizuki's flesh started to disintegrate into tiny pieces, eroding away a little by little until there was nothing left. She continued to watch as he completely disappeared, not leaving a single trace behind him...

Nariko was shocked by how this man had died. For him to die in a such a way for his leader...and for her to be the one to witness it...it was nothing short of horrific and tragic. She almost felt sorry for him...

"It's over..." Nariko said in relief, dropping her kodachi. "It's finally over..." She was so exhausted from all the fighting that she didn't even have the strength to move another inch. The only thing that was keeping her standing was nothing but sheer will power and even that little bit of strength was starting to leave her body. 'Father...I did what you told me to do. I've fought with everything I had and I'm so glad I was able to win. I hope that you're in the good mood to see me...I don't think I'm going make it...'

Wincing from the sharp pain in her abdominal, Nariko pressed her hand against her stomach, trying to suppress some of the pain, but that effort was useless. Blood was still seeping out from the wound through her fingers and the pain was becoming worse with each passing minute.

'I...I don't have anything left. My strength is pouring out of me just as my blood is...I've been at death's door so many times in the past, but it's never been like this...Is this what death really is...? Even so, I managed to take down one of the members of the "Bakudai"...'

Nariko's legs were starting to give out on her, although her will wasn't giving in just yet. 'Miyuki, Sarina, I'm sure that you guys can continue on this mission without me or find someone else to take my place. In the very end, I was able to do the very thing that I always wanted to do in my life and that was to protect Naruto...even at the cost of my own life...'

Feeling weak from too much blood lost, the puncture wound in her stomach, and the extensive use of her chakra, Nariko fell to her knees with her back hunched over, each breath becoming shorter as she hugged her abdominal area. She looked up at the clear blue sky and glanced at the sun. For a brief moment, she thought about Naruto and his warm, sunny smile that can melt the coldest heart from its endeavor and she felt a stinging sensation in the corner of her eyes. She smiled and felt the tears swelling up before the salty liquid streamed down her face in small droplets.

'I've...always lived on borrowed time...and now my time...is up...'

Not being able to hold her body up anymore, Nariko felt her strength slipping away and she slowly began to fall back into the earth below her. The Sharingan was receding, returning back to her normal coal eyes which were now losing its bright luster.

'Naruto...Sasuke...for the sake of everyone, please do everything in your power to save this world...'

With a soft thud to the ground, she landed on her side, shutting her eyes and letting her body relax until she drifted into the world of nothingness...

Down south in Konoha Forest, Sasuke was still traveling in the direction where Naruto's chakra signature was giving off. Just when he was about jump on another branch, he felt a jolt of chakra shot up his spine. He almost lost his balance because of the sudden surge, but he regained his composure.

'Someone is on the brink of death...' He clenched one of his fists. 'But... who is it...?'

Not wanting to stand around pondering over the thought, Sasuke hurried to that part of the forest to reach to that person in time.

From the north side of the forest, Naruto's eyes widen in horror when he sensed Nariko's chakra was slowly disappearing. He came to a halt and stopped on a nearby branch. "No...Nariko...you can't..." he uttered to himself but not quiet enough because the others had heard him and they stopped as well.

Sakura saw the look of fear on face and she was now worried about him. "Naruto, what's wrong?" Wasting no time in answering her, Naruto quickly ran in the direction where he remembered the raven's chakra signature from earlier. "Naruto!" The pinkette cried after him.

"What's wrong with him?" Kiba asked, not liking how Naruto was acting just now.

"Is it Nariko-san?" Hinata asked with concern.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good!" Sakura said and the others quickly followed him.

'Nariko...don't you die on me...! You hear me? Please don't die...!' Naruto jumped from branch to branch with all of his strength, praying and hoping that the young girl did not fall in battle...

* * *NEXT CHAPTER SYNOPSIS* * *

The next chapter of Changing Fate is:
The End Of The Battle

Ami isn't done in yet and she goes after Miyuki! The blonde uses a technique that she forbade even herself from using...