NARUTO

Nox Noctis Ingredior

Together Forever

That very next day…

Naruto stood in the wastes outside of the Land of Woods, just as he had been instructed to do so by his long time friend. Hands in his pockets, he stood dead center, staring out across the valley of giant trees stretching out for miles on end, waiting patiently. Of course, these trees weren't ordinary air givers. They were dead, colossal towers of dry wood; fossils of their former selves, stretching up towards the skies, hoping to reach the heavens where they belonged, as their times were up. Unfortunately, they were stuck here on earth, their home, the soil of their birthplace, and couldn't grow any further.

The sight didn't affect Naruto at all, but, really, it was what he could see and what he felt that best described the picture before him; dead skeletons of trees branching out around him, desperately clinging onto life. It was an almost perfect picture…

…a perfect picture of death

"That's… disturbing…" Naruto thought, his artificial mask hiding his expressions.

Blinking, he turned around, detecting a presence standing behind him.

When his eyes landed on Fu, a mixture of emotions began flowing through him and across his face. He was scared, happy, surprised, determined, worried… all manner of feelings passed his mind, but he didn't let any of these emotions conflict with his statues here and now. Instead, he turned to face her fully and firmly, ready to give his answer.

The Seven Tails' jinchuriki smiled back at him.

"So… Naruto-kun," Fu began, her eyes shimmering with hope and delight. "Have you made your decision?"

"I have…" Naruto replied, his voice's tone muffled by the mask he was wearing. "And I've decided… I'm going to stay here…"

Fu blinked in surprise, not expecting to hear those words rolling from his lips, and with such certainty to them.

In spite of all the memories, all the thoughts, and all the prayers of hope she had uttered in the hours leading to this moment, she expected her closest friend and crush to choose to come with her, over the other life he lived back in his village. But instead, the decision he had come to that she had been dreading, was answered in the simplest of words with no hints of regret or hesitation.

Naruto smiled under his mask before removing it, showing the girl whom he held in high regard and so close to his heart, how serious he really was.

"It's the life I chose from all those years ago, Fu-chan. I've been walking on this path for some time… for the longest time, and it was all thanks to you that I came to live the life I had. We may have walked the same path before when we were younger, but somewhere down the line, we hit a fork, and took different roads. Even though we could still see each other on opposite sides, we walked different roads…"

Fu's eyes wavered as she heard him speak. The young Jonin made it absolutely clear to the both of them that he intended to stick to his path, and that meant only one thing…

"But our lives eventually led us back to each other, at a crossroads. I want to continue down my intended path, but this time I want you to come with me," Naruto raised a hand to her, with Fu backing up a little at his gesture. "I've met other people along my path who want to walk with me by their own admission. I don't know what influenced their decision, but I can see that they are happy to be where they are… and it was their choice to be with me."

"I…I don't…"

"I've made the choice to protect and preserve their happiness, and I want to do the same for you, Fu-chan," Naruto smiled at her, and stepped forward, only to have the other jinchuriki step back, as if afraid. "Please. I've made my choice, to be with them and you at the same time. Now…I want to hear what you have decided, from you…"

Silence dawned on them as the two jinchuriki stared at each other, one certain of his decision, and the other one afraid and confused. However, after the winds of time passed them for the briefest of periods, Fu eventually returned to the real world, and life blinked back into her. In response to Naruto's words, she simply smiled back and allowed herself a little shrug, yet refused to look him in the eyes.

She laughed lightly, but it was a forced laugh.

"You don't get it… Naruto-kun…"

"Hm…" The blonde blinked in surprise.

"You just… don't get it," Fu turned away, looking up and over onto a different horizon. The wind whipped at her hair as she dug deep into the thoughts rushing through her head, and at the same time, her stare became vacant; an empty shell of the smiles she shared with the boy standing by her, waiting for her. "I can't go with you back to that world, Naruto-kun; I can never go back. Those people… those strangers… those other… insects… in that world… they've hurt me so much…"

"…"

"You may think I'm ready to go back to that world, but I can't…i-it's impossible for me. I resolved a long time ago after I was cast away for the last time, to never, ever set foot in that world again. Not after everything I went through, not after all the pain it's caused me," Fu clenched her fists as she spoke. A wave of anger and hurt, and fear overcame her; at the same time tears strung at her eyes and began to spill over. "Those people who live their comfortable, safe little lives with their 'families' and their 'friends', are nothing short of scum! They only care about themselves, about their own well being. They don't care about one little girl. Why would they? A scared, cold, homeless little girl: who was used, who was beaten when she was little, who was chased away by those who were supposed to love her, and was thrown away like garbage! A pariah is just an inconvenience to everyone, and they distance themselves from them and treat them like a leper. They only pretend to like you and to care for you for their own sake, but once they are satisfied, they'll just cast you out and hurt you!"

Naruto furrowed his brow, his hand still extended towards the girl as she cried her heart out. When she turned towards him, he felt a knife pierce his heart at the tears that were flowing, and the pain and anger reflected in her eyes.

He had been there before…

A long time ago…

He stepped closer though, only for her to step away again…

"Their embrace is only a bear trap, that will wound you as soon as you walk into it," Fu cried, moments before all that anguish suddenly turned into rage right before Naruto's eyes. "THEY WILL HURT YOU! THOSE PEOPLE! THOSE FRIENDS! THAT WORLD! All their love and compassion is just a sick little lie, a lie invented by them to preserve their civilized, happy, selfish little lives for them and only them! The moment they stuck those demons into us, we become what they hated; diseased, cursed children who are defenseless and easy prey! They find comfort in our sacrifice and our suffering, and give nothing in return! Do you know how much it hurts to be given that burden? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT HURTS TO BE ALONE?"

Naruto lowered his head, his expression turning to one of upset and pain, one that perfectly reflected that of Fu's. He looked down, eyes becoming overshadowed and hiding the tears he was trying to hold back. Then, after giving his grief-stricken friend's words a moment of thought, once more, from the darkness inflicted upon his own soul, he looked up, and showed her the pain of their shared past life written on his own face.

The face of a raved dog that had wandered all those years ago, alone and exiled…

"I'm the only one who can understand what you've been through, Fu-chan," Naruto spoke, his voice void of emotion. "We've lived the same lives; we shared the same pain, the same food, the same bruises, and we lived in that same, cardboard box in that alleyway on the edge of that village." He tilted his head at her, and spared her a small, pained smile. "I'm still here, Fu-chan. We can still find happiness in each other, and we can be together for as long as you want, and never have to feel that pain of being alone ever again…"

"…"

"Come with me, Fu-chan…"

Looking down, Fu hid her face from him, and allowed herself to visit her conflicting thoughts for a final time. For another few minutes, they stood in silence, waiting for the one who will break the ice and provide those words of comfort for the other. However, the next time Fu looked up and showed her face, Naruto saw a look he had been hoping never to see on her in his entire life.

When she looked up at him, she showed him the same, cold, emotionless expression he wore. Dried tears carving her cheeks, she looked up at him with empty, dull, shadowed eyes.

For the first time in his life, Naruto swore he saw himself…

The Nightwalker glaring back at him…

"You purposely walked off my path and left me alone… for them," Fu spoke in a monotone voice. Though she held nothing, Naruto still felt the sting of accusations aimed at him through her words. "You may have been with me at one stage of our lives, sharing the same pain; but you never felt anything from it. All feelings and emotions swept through you like they were nothing, like you weren't even there."

"Fu-chan…"

"In reality, you were never really there. You were simply stepping onto my path from the bench you were sitting on, the side you are still sitting on today; unable to choose what road you wanted to walk on," Fu furrowed her brow, the venom in her voice climbing. "Because you walk between both sides, you could never fully understand what I experienced. You just closed yourself off from my world, just like everybody else…"

"No. That's not what I…you don't understand…"

"NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Fu snapped back with a shout, gritting her teeth. "I want that Naruto back! I want the Naruto who shared the same life I had, who shared the same food and the same bed with me, and the one who loved me and only me! I want to love that Naruto." Her fists clenched and cracked, and the blonde shinobi stepped back in surprise when he suddenly felt her chakra level skyrocket. The ground literally cracked when green energy suddenly started to waft off of her. "But that Naruto is long gone, and all I see is a ghost of his former self standing before me! A shadowless, undecided, fake… that is luring me back into a world that wants to hurt me…"

"Fu…"

"You're not the Naruto I love," Fu growled. "You're one of them! And if I want my Naruto back, I'll have to kill this one!"

Naruto frowned and stepped back into a light stance, watching as the green chakra around Fu got sucked back into her, and she began walking forward.

"You don't want to do this, Fu," the young Jonin warned. "I don't want to hurt you…"

"Don't worry…" Fu hissed, her body suddenly flickering and vanishing before the shinobi's very eyes.

Naruto's eyes widened when he lost sight of her, the jinchuriki suddenly reappearing behind him, standing at full height as if she hadn't moved. Back to back, the girl glared ahead of her, eyes still shedding tears, as the blonde boy began to spin around to meet her.

"You can't hurt me…"

Just as the blonde ninja was about to turn to face her, using unprecedented speed and agility, Fu spun around and sent a roundhouse kick straight for her opponent's mid-section. Naruto barely had enough time to block it, and just as the blow landed against him, a force of ten trains racked his body and sent him careening through the air at high speed. The blonde Jonin was propelled a distance of over a hundred meters faster then a kunai, tossing and turning before crashing to the ground and skipping several times, and eventually slamming headlong into a tree.

He disappeared into the tree, his impact against it sending debris and dust flying everywhere.

When the cloud settled and vision became clear a minute or so later, Naruto pulled himself out of the hole, staggering.

In his right hand he held his shattered mask, which crumbled into pieces between his fingers. Panting, he glared up, blood trailing down from his head and nose as he tried to seek out his opponent. He quickly spotted her, standing in the same spot where she had kicked him.

His bones cried out in agony, and he dropped to his knees surrounded by the debris of the skyscraper of a tree behind him.

"Damn it… what raw power…" Naruto growled in his head, biting back the pain. "The Seven Tailed Horned Beetle is physically the strongest of the Nine Tailed Beasts, and when in battle, its physical strength and invulnerability to any kind of attack is passed on to its current jinchuriki as a means of defense. That's insane! That kick nearly killed me!"

Just then, Fu suddenly sprinted straight for him, her speed contributed to her by her tailed beast propelling her in his direction. Her speed was so fast in fact; her form became distorted in her opponents' eyes.

Naruto responded instantaneously this time, back flipping straight up into the air and landing against the side of the tree. As a result, the green haired girl slammed head long into the tree instead of into him, going straight through it as a result.

The tree shook with the force of the impact, Naruto crouching against it and glaring down towards the cloud of dust rocketing out of the newly formed hole.

All of a sudden, Fu came sprinting straight up towards him, a stoic expression on her face as she lunged in for her next attack. Naruto leapt back along and up the side of the trunk, avoiding incoming punches and kicks. He was left shaken after every avoided blow, as he could feel the force of each hit wafting off her punches.

Ducking under a punch, he rolled between the girl's legs and leapt away from her about twenty stories above the ground. Fu followed him with her eyes, watching as the blonde spun through the air expertly.

Cocking his gauntlets, Naruto fired off a barrage of a dozen arrows towards the girl, who knocked each of them aside with her bare hands and arms. The arrows were either broken from the parries, or impaled against the tree instead of her. Abseiling through the air, the young Jonin landed against the side of another about thirty meters across the way, turning around against the trunk he landed on and firing off another arrow at his target.

Fu caught the arrow swiftly with her bare hand, and glared at it.

A paper tag unraveled from the feather end and began to burn unexpectedly. A split second later, the exploding tag detonated with a tremendous force that rocked the surrounding area, cracking the tree and engulfing Fu in flames.

Naruto hoped that the bomb was enough to slow her down, but as bad luck should have it, it didn't.

The girl leapt out of the bellowing smoke at high speed, flying towards the blonde with her fist clenched and ready to hit. Naruto leapt out of the way just as she struck out, slamming into the tree again, with her impact resulting in another blast of dust and a large crater. Naruto jumped down to a lower branch, landing crouched next to it before glaring up towards where his opponent was.

He received the shock of a lifetime when, the moment he turned, Fu was right above him, already sending another punch in his direction. He had but half a second to form a hand seal before her chakra enveloped fist rattled his body when it was thrown full on into his face. The blow cracked his skull and jaw, and sent the Jonin flying over the side of the branch, which broke from its trunk host at the tremendous force displayed.

Naruto's body dove for the earth boneless, before hitting the ground with anvil force and weight, splitting the ground on contact. After forming a crater in the earth, Fu landed a second later right on top of him, slamming her feet into his stomach on touch down. Straightening up, she then glared down at his profusely bleeding and twitching face as he lay sprawled out before her. She was considering finishing him off to end his pain.

But just as she was in mid-decision, Naruto's body exploded into a cloud of smoke, revealing a tree log pressed beneath her heel.

Surprised at the replacement, she turned to glance over her left shoulder, just in time to spot a cluster of three kunai flying in her direction, all of them laced with explosive tags. She effortlessly side-stepped them, the kunai hitting a tree some distance behind her and detonating simultaneously in the background, easily causing the dead tree they hit to collapse.

Just as Fu was assuming a casual, side-stepping motion, Naruto came charging at her at incredible, blurred speed, drawing the tanto blade from his shoulder holster and lunging at her with it. He began striking out at her with elaborate kenjutsu moves, slashing at her with one attack after the other. The girl backed away, avoiding the first ten strikes, before catching his arm, gripping him tightly in a grappling maneuver.

As a result, both opponents skidded to a stop from their fluent motions, and glared at each other across the dividing blade. The intensity reflected in each others' eyes was hard to miss.

Naruto kicked out at her chest, which she leapt back to avoid, and followed up with more slashes and lunges with his blade. However, after Fu managed to gain some distance from him, and avoid a dozen more attacks, she spun around in an agile dodge and slammed the back of her hand against Naruto's arm, easily damaging a couple of tendons and knocking the knife out of his grip. The blonde winced at the hit and leapt back to avoid a punch from the girl. She returned his assault with her own, attacking him vigorously and viciously, forcing him to begin dodging and blocking, at his own risk of course.

The pair danced around one another as Fu unleashed a flurry of kicks and punches with little effort, while Naruto had to work his best to avoid the blows. If any of them were to connect, they would severely damage him if not kill him. Even when he did effectively parry a blow, it still caused damage. Eventually, Naruto was forced to get away, ducking a hook meant for his head and leaping back low across the ground, as if he were abseiling a shadow.

While skidding back across the ground, a kunai shot out from under his sleeve and into his grip. He then swiftly threw it at her, but missed when it soared passed her head.

However, the wire attached to the blade hooked around the girl's right arm the moment she aimed to block instinctively, only to have her limb caught in a tight bind. In her efforts to remove the wire, Naruto yanked on it to prevent a successful counter, and pulled himself toward the girl, flying through the air back towards her at high speed.

Whipping through the space between them while attached to the wire, he slammed a hard jab across her face with bone cracking force, before landing on her head in a crouched position and, using her as a stepping stone, leapt off of her. Looping through the air, he spun around again and threw a cluster of shuriken down at her as he detached the wire, intending to finish his combo. The moment Fu eventually spun around, physically unharmed, she was hit head long by the shuriken, which bounced off of her without any effect whatsoever, only scratching her clothes and cutting her hair.

When Naruto landed against the side of a tree again and assessed the results of his attacks, he silently cursed himself. He was unable to contemplate the complete extent of the damage when Fu suddenly came flying up at him at high speed again, aiming a kick as she whipped ferociously through the air. Naruto dove out of the way again just as her blow hit the tree, literally splitting it in two when the force of the attack traveled through it, causing the top half to start careening to its side.

As it fell, Naruto landed against it and began rushing up its side, during the period it started leveling out. Fu pursued him, eventually catching up to him half way as it began to hit the ground. Slamming her fist into him as he spun around, she followed through with a swift, deadly assault. He blocked her following attacks, ducking under her head-aimed roundhouse kick and leaping back when she sent an axe kick down at him on a continuation of the combo. That blow went straight into the tree again, splitting the trunk in two and accelerating its collapse.

When the tree hit the ground, the result was a devastating domino effect and earth splitting impact. The moment it made ground zero, it split the earth in all directions, and caused two more trees to begin collapsing. Naruto managed to avoid damage and death by leaping off the falling tree he was currently on, just as clouds of dust and debris began shooting into the air. While in mid ascent, Naruto cocked his gauntlet around and fired off a kunai towards another tree with wire attached to it. When it hit the side of the natural structure, he pulled on it and swung. His direction affectively changed as he sailed through the air, using it as his target.

Eventually doing a full loop around the tower he was swinging from, he performed a flip using the advantage of his momentum, and landed atop of a higher branch. Crouching on his vantage point about thirty stories above ground, he turned around to where he had swung from to evade, panting, and watching the results of the other collapsing trees.

The damage being sustained to the surrounding areas was insane, Fu obviously being enveloped in the titanic collapses and the clouds of smoke, dirt and dust rising into the air and clouding much of the valley surroundings. Honestly, could the trees be any bigger than a hundred stories?

Gritting his teeth, Naruto gripped his right shoulder, feeling his muscles and bones tremor mercilessly from the blows sustained and the effort it was taking him to move at the speed and agility he had to against his opponent.

In truth, he was moving as fast as he could possibly go in order to keep pace with her.

"Damn it… this is hard…"

Just as he was beginning to relax, he felt Fu's chakra level suddenly skyrocket again and he looked down towards the collapsed tree he was previously on with wide eyes. When he did, he saw pure red and green energy begin to twist around a certain point amidst the clouds, followed by black and white orbs of heavy chakra.

The sight not at all one to be taken lightly, Naruto rose to his feet quickly, just as the black and white energy compressed itself into a perfect 8:2 ratio. A split second later, there was a thunderclap, and in a blink of an eye, a beam of pure red energy rocketed from the clouds of dust and forced them apart, cutting through them and flying straight towards Naruto's position thirty stories above.

Gasping in shock, Naruto leapt out of the way just as the Tailed Beast Ball struck the branch he was on and detonated. The moment he landed on another branch to avoid the explosion, he was forced to evade again, leaping away just as more concentrated balls of red chakra were lobbed in his direction, hitting the enormous trunk in several places. They were obviously aimed for him, but he managed to stay ahead of death by mere inches.

The tree's upper half was decimated as a result of the punishment it was suffering, and began to cave in, just as Naruto leapt off of it, aiming for another tree and abandoning his previous one.

He landed hard against the next one, and turned around so that his back was pressed against the side of the wooden structure. The young Jonin sat about twenty stories up as the tree he previously sought refuge on gave way and started to keel over.

Naruto was in the process of catching his breath, when moments later, the spot Fu was shooting energy orbs from became clear. The moment it did, the girl flew through the air towards him once again, readying another punch. Naruto, unable to avoid fast enough, chose to face it this time, crossing his arms over his body as soon as she was in range and threw the punch in his direction.

When the blow landed, it was like trying to stop a bullet train, the force of it resulting in a catastrophic blast of force, with debris and dust hurling into the air in one huge cloud. The force being too great for both him and the tree to sustain, Naruto was eventually sent hurling out the other side of the tree, a perfect hole punched through the entire trunk.

Shaken, and his body vibrating from the colossal force of taking the hit, Naruto pulled out a wire from under his sleeve, the entire metal strand laced with kunai. Unfurling the cluster through the air around him, he then tossed the assorted weapons straight ahead of him the moment he saw Fu come flying after and towards him, following through the hole formed by him.

The interconnected kunai slammed against her one after the other, yet she pushed through the rain, aiming another punch for Naruto's face. Not wanting to sustain another blow, the boy managed to catch it and absorb the impact, quickly wrapping the wire from his gauntlet around the girl's arm and hooking it.

During their continued flight and steady descent through the air, with Naruto securing his opponent's arm in a grapple and Fu attempting another attack, the kunai the young Jonin had thrown, impacted the tree he had previously gone straight through, and lodged tightly into place. As a result, when the wire lost slack, Fu was held back and her momentum was effectively stopped. Naruto continued his backward getaway on his own when he released her.

Performing a back-flip, Naruto landed against the side of another tree and glared up, watching as Fu struggled against the wire tied around her.

She began to fall when her direction was reversed, the wire holding her tightly as she descended towards the ground, before slamming into the side of the tree, still entangled. The blonde sighed in relief, and took whatever seconds of reprieve were given to him to rest up. It was like a mouse was tackling a raging bull head-to-head. That was how impossible the fight was.

Time, of course, was short, and before long, Fu had found a way out of her predicament.

Opening her mouth, black and white pellets of chakra began to spin around in front of her mouth, quickly forming into a black orb of raw, heavy chakra. Naruto detected the spike in the incredibly dangerous energy, and quickly made to evade. A few seconds later, Fu fired off a beam of pure red chakra, the attack striking the tree Naruto was kneeling against as he leapt from side to side to avoid the deadly stream.

The beam punctured the tree and cut the trunk to pieces, and consequently, Naruto began falling with the branches and debris that broke away.

With the continuous beam being fired from her mouth, Fu spun around where she hung and cut through the wire with the consecutive blasts, and at the same time, sliced the tree she was hanging against, in two.

Once again, the giant trees began to fall, the rubble and wood plummeting towards the ground. The debris caused widespread damage, as the huge chunks of wood crashed to the earth, cracked it, and began splitting the surface with the weight of each piece. Naruto and Fu, as a result of the collapsing titans, became buried by the rain of wood, which stopped seconds later, leaving clouds of dust hanging over the area in question.

It didn't take long for both ninja to pull themselves out of the ground, Naruto with the aid of his clones lifting the material off of his back, and Fu, under her own raw power. Dusting himself down, the blonde Jonin dispelled his clones and leapt down off of the half-a-tree trunk he was situated on and landed on the flat ground, just as his opponent kicked aside a large log to make herself some space.

Standing at a distance of forty meters apart, the two combatants faced each other through the dust still choking the air. When the comfortable amount of time passed them by, Fu took her change and charged in for another assault, with Naruto forming a hand seal to counter.

"Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A wall of about a hundred clones exploded in front of the original user, and all at once, charged towards Fu. They met her in force, opening up attacks with lunges utilizing fists, kunai and hidden blades. The jinchuriki target however, expertly maneuvered around and into the fray, blocking strikes, taking them, and beginning to flat out pummel the onslaught of copies challenging her. Clones came in left and right, leaping over one another to get to their objective, and attempted to strategically pick her off from all her blind spots. However, in spite of their efforts, even blows they managed to land on her had little effect, as a good half of them were quickly wiped out in a matter of seconds.

The real Naruto, behind a defense of ten of his shadow clones, gritted his teeth in frustration as he watched Fu beat the snot out of his doppelgangers one after another; dispelling them with no effort exerted whatsoever.

"She's too strong… I can't beat her like this…"

Throwing off a crowd of a dozen clones in one feral swoop, Fu spun on the spot, effectively making room for herself to perform her next technique.

Taking a stance, she cracked her right fist back, and in a flash, sent it straight into the ground with a shout of anger.

Conclusively; she literally split the earth with her bare fist.

A lightning effect of cracks spread out from the center of her punch and fanned out at a distance of a hundred meters all around. Seconds later, the ground began to cave in, split, topple, and explode. Huge chunks of boulders, rubbles and alike were hurled through the air and tumbled across as a wave was formed, the clone army dispelling all at once when the shockwave hit them. In a matter of moments, the wave of earth hit the real Naruto, who leapt away just in time to avoid it the blast of force, which carried a majority of the danger.

However, he was not prepared for the next stage of the earth rattling blow, when all of a sudden, just as her attack was forming a sink hole in the very land itself, jets of water exploded into the air around Fu in gallons. That number then multiplied in force when an ocean's worth of water suddenly rocketed up into the air in the form of a wall, and began spewing out profusely, as if a giant fire hydrant was smashed out of the way. The amounts of water jetting into the air then turned into a tidal wave as the now forming ocean spread out from the center and outwards at a high velocity.

Naruto had to once again seek refuge atop of one of the nearby trees when a tidal wave came thundering towards him. He was able to make the distance and height in time as the wave washed crashed headlong into the surrounding trees, shaking them, and sending water in the amounts of the Black Sea in all directions for over a kilometer.

Eventually, when the influx of the sudden irrigation settled to form a choppy lake in the middle of the wastelands, Naruto looked around for his opponent from his perch on the tree just a couple of stories above the level. At the same time, he marveled at the catastrophic results of their battle thus far, which was literally reshaping the landscape.

"So this is what a real battle between jinchuriki is like…" he murmured, looking ahead and towards the lake surface, to the area where it all started about a hundred meters in front of him. He was sweating, bruised, bleeding, and probably had a few broken bones.

But all in all, he was still going to continue this fight to defend himself, even if he perished. "You're really serious, aren't you Fu-chan? You really want to kill me?"

Just then, a whirlpool formed before his very eyes, and a split second later, his opponent leapt out of the lake and landed to float atop of the wavy waters. She glared up towards the blonde the moment she surfaced, as he knelt suspended against the side of his sanctuary, scowling back at her. Even though the trees that managed to stand were still situated in the ground, the water level was about twenty stories above ground, meaning the trees lost close to one third of their height.

Naruto furrowed his brow. "She's incredible. Not only has she mastered her abilities as a jinchuriki to be able to fire Tailed Beast Menacing Balls when not even transformed, her attacks are so strong they can level landscapes. That punch created a shockwave so great it decimated a platoon's worth of my shadow clones and at the same time, ruptured an underground lake and brought it to the surface."

Fu cracked her neck to the side, and then took a stance, holding her left arm in front of her and extended her hand. As soon as she did, black and white chakra began warping around her palm, producing another Menacing Ball to fire. Naruto sweated nervously and gritted his teeth, his body aching from the efforts he was dishing out for the battle.

"She's much stronger then Anko and Yagura… perhaps even the same strength as Killer Bee on skill basis alone. There's no way I can win this," Naruto thought. "She isn't even trying!"

In no time flat, Fu fired off another, powerful beam of red energy straight towards Naruto, a shockwave ringing out on the execution of the attack. Seconds before it hit, the blonde leapt out of the way, the collision of the attack decimating the tree's top half in the resulting explosion. Spinning through the air, Naruto threw a cluster of kunai straight down towards her, as the energy she was pouring into the attack was cut off and died down.

When she turned to lock onto him as he sailed through the air, kunai struck her in the face and shoulders, bouncing off of her.

She opened her mouth again, a split second later, another black orb formed. She fired the small, concentrated orb like a gunshot, which hit Naruto squarely in mid-air, and detonated with catastrophic force. The explosion engulfed a wide spread area despite the attack's small size, and caused the water to part violently with the force. Fu wasn't at all affected by it, and simply glared towards the cloud of black hot smoke and ash.

A moment later, a kunai flew out of the cloud and straight towards the girl, who took the knife in the forehead, which bounced off. But just then, there was the faint sound of a pop, as Naruto materialized right behind her from the kunai. With a loud shout and a lunge, he thrust the kunai into her neck, its blade glowing with pure blue wind chakra.

Fu ducked at the last second, easily avoiding the intended hit, and quickly spun around, sending a kick straight up at the blonde from under him. She slammed the blow into his chest and sent him flying, rendering his Flying Thunder God Technique useless against her. When Naruto eventually slammed into a tree some distance away, it caved in and collapsed to the lake around him, along with the young Jonin. Amidst the dust cloud, Fu lost sight of her opponent.

However, just as she was beginning to think she had taken the boy out of the fight permanently, a pair of hands unexpectedly shot up out of the water and grabbed her ankles. She looked down in surprise, seeing Naruto glaring back up at her, looking a bit more damaged then before. At that moment, shadows began cascading around her on the water's surface, forcing her to look up and away from the blonde who had her cuffed. When she did, five Shadow Clones of Naruto came careening down at her from the sky one after the other, dropping axe kicks right on top of her.

"Clone Spinning Axe Kick!" The assorted copies bellowed, the blows staggering the jinchuriki a bit with each heavy hit, and after leaping away to put distance between the two of them, the shadows clones then summoned up their hidden blades and lunged at her in simultaneous fashion, sending the knives into her.

When the blades hit though, they shattered against her stomach, proving ineffective against her tailed beasts' impenetrable, skin defense.

Fed up with the petty display, Fu managed to yank her legs out of the submerged Naruto's grip, and with a swift pivot, slammed a roundhouse kick around at all five clones in a swift, 360 motion, knocking them flying and dispelling them. Then, stopping her spin, she slammed her foot down onto the one holding her by her one ankle, knocking him back under the water and out of the fight.

The moment she took out all the clones, and she gracefully lowered her leg back down, the lake's surface surrounding her began to spin, as if a whirlpool was beginning to form. Strangely enough, she felt the wind begin to rush and the oxygen level decrease, a rather uncommon occurrence for whirlpool that formed in water.

The rotating water chopped violently in a anti-clockwise direction for a few seconds before parting sharply, forcing Fu to leap into the air to avoid damage, and took to the skies about fifty stories up. As she quickly gained altitude, the hundred-meter wide whirlpool forming beneath her unexpectedly shot up towards her in the form of a large water spout, before inevitably exploding outwards as a mass of whirling wind tore it apart. The visible twister of wind that rocketed out from below the lake's surface suddenly formed into a dragon and tiger, which morphed together and respectively transformed into a giant collaboration of the two creatures.

The attack then lunged up at her, roaring loudly.

"Wind Release: Dragon versus Tiger!"

Undeterred by the sight of the wind creature, Fu cranked her head back, her mouth agape as black and white chakra once again whipped around in front of her mouth, and compressed itself into a small, black ball. She then let it rip, a powerful blast of pure red energy thundering straight down towards the wind dragon and tearing it apart. The force of the energy attack caused a ripple affect in the air and a crack of thunder to occur as the sound barrier broke. When it hit the water a second later, the technique blasted a huge hole into its surface moments before it detonated.

The explosion that sent tidal waves in all directions was tremendous, like the force of an atomic bomb going off. The fires from the blast engulfed the area and vaporized a lot of the water, causing serious damage to the surroundings. The giant trees that once stood proudly in the middle of the valley burned up, collapsed, or fell to pieces from the results of the shockwaves. Eventually, the cataclysm faded and the mushroom cloud was blown away onto the wind, with the lake's total mass beginning to fill up the huge space left behind by the Menacing Ball's detonation.

When Fu managed to land back on the choppy water's surface, she looked around, intent on finding her opponent to finish the job.

In her search, she almost immediately spotted Naruto standing a top of a tree trunk floating on the water's surface, almost surfing it on the waves as he came into view. Clenching his fists, it was noted that the entire left part of his body was burned severely, as if he had just reverted back from the Nine-Tails' form, his clothes charred and ripped to pieces. The only pieces of clothing he wore that were still intact were his pants and sandals.

Shaking off the attack, Naruto flipped the log he was standing on into the air like he was on a skateboard and, spinning on the spot, kicked the length of wood straight towards Fu, as if it were a large spear. The girl responded quickly, pivoting on the spot as well and jabbing out with two fingers extended towards the incoming projectile. When she struck it in the center, she split it in two as it flew at her, and eventually passed her in two perfect halves. The moment the threat was removed, she sprinted straight towards Naruto across the mounds of water as they came.

Flicking his hands out, clusters of kunai laced with explosive tags appeared in between his fingers, and in one swift movement, threw all of them at the girl as she rushed at him. Each one of the blades struck her or the area around her, and detonated semi-automatically, deterring the girl slightly, but not damaging her in the least. One particular kunai grazed her hair as it flew past, while another one was batted aside, and exploded a second after it was knocked away. Regardless of the attacks, she continued her sprint towards the Jonin, who formed a hand seal when she was in close.

At that juncture, Fu launched herself at him and lunged with a punch, the boy fading away and causing her to hit nothing and stumble forward. When she missed, she spun around and struck out at a countering Naruto, who was coming in with a kunai. He faded away when her fist passed through him, with the blonde this time reappearing on her blind spot to her right. Fu quickly rotated on the spot with a swift, backwards round-house kick, slamming it across the boy's face and sending him flying. However, she only ended up hitting a shadow clone, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After defeating the clone, the jinchuriki looked around her wildly. Just then, the lake around her for the second time erupted violently, and all of a sudden, an army of about a thousand shadow clones strong surfaced from the lake all around her en masse. The Naruto copies promptly all flew at her, intent on taking her down once and for all. However, just as they were forming an offensive dome in the air space surrounding the green haired girl, Fu responded to their attacks with a swift, chakra blast.

Black and white energy formed in both her hands into two black orbs, compressing them as tightly as she could. Spinning on the spot, she unleashed two beams of energy that sliced through the air, cutting through the masses and effectively taking them out. The clones vanished with simultaneous screams and puffs of white smoke.

The remaining few were easily taken out when they attempted to engage her in hand to hand, and were knocked out one after the other.

Surrounded by a bellowing cloud of white smoke from the resultant death of the clone army, Fu looked around again for her opponent. When she eventually did relocate him, the white cloud was already dissipating, and was blown away by a bright, blue light rushing through it.

Spinning around, she target her opponent flying straight towards her through the air, a blue ball of compressed wind spinning in his hand, surrounded by four prongs rotating at a high velocity.

The moment she saw him begin diving towards her from a height of two stories and at a distance of thirty meters, she brought her right hand around to her side and opened it up, black and white chakra beginning to spin in her grip. It then formed into a black, steaming, heavy orb of raw power, which scorched her skin where she held it. The pure energy she howled in the wind, almost as loudly as Naruto's technique, which screeched as he lunged down at her with it.

"It's useless…" Fu murmured, her attack entering its final stages of development. "You can't win…"

Gritting his teeth, and pretty much betting the whole of the fight on this last attack, Naruto roared and thrust his technique down at her.

"Wind Release: RASENGAN!"

He slammed head long into her, his attack following through. However, the results weren't as either party expected.

Naruto misjudged the distance because of his incredibly depleted chakra level, and because of his failing vision, he slammed head long into her, knocking both of them to the lake's surface. The moment his attack and Fu's attack collided with the water's surface, both of them detonated with incredible, blinding force, a towering wall of white hot fire and black smoke engulfing the both of them and covering a distance of half a kilometer, sending a huge ripple of a tidal wave in all directions, completely decimating what was left of the dead forest of trees surrounding the battlefield.

Much of the lake was vaporized at the end of both attacks going off, and in the flash of light that was all they could see…

It was over…

Half an hour later…

A kilometer outside of the hot zone…

As the waves sloshed on the banks at the shallow ends of the valley, no a lake, a hand stuck itself out from the water and began pulling the rest of the body connected to the limb from it.

Seriously wounded, exhausted and sporting huge wounds down his body, Naruto crawled out from the small ocean and onto the shore outside of the forest within the borders of the genuine Land of Woods. His breathing ragged, he bit tooth and nail to pull himself out, resisting the pain, while maintaining consciousness at the same time.

He coughed and sputtered, clearing his lungs of the water he had consumed from swimming all the way over here. With everything that had happened to him during the fight, he should have been killed.

His trench coat practically gone, a majority of his equipment floating around somewhere on the lake's surface, and only sporting half his mesh-shirt, his ripped pants, damaged gauntlets and sandals, the boy dragged his half-dead body onto dry land. Blood trailed behind him in his efforts, and as soon as he was out of reach of getting sucked back into open waters, he collapsed onto his front. Sighing in relief, he let himself lie.

"I-It's over…" Naruto groaned. "I don't think… she'll be getting up… after that…"

He spoke too soon.

After all, if that technique didn't kill him, what chance was there that it did her?

His eyes flew open and he slowly looked up when the growing presence of an enormous chakra signature flared up in his senses. The increase in the waves' ferocity and the warping of wind around him didn't escape his ears.

Fearfully, the young ninja looked behind him, just in time to see a giant waterspout form on the lake's surface. The water rotating around the area wildly about two-hundred meters out, with a silhouette of an unmistakable figure standing in the middle of it, reflected itself in the boy's widening eyes. Rolling over to get a better look Naruto saw through a face covered in blood and water, standing in the middle of a twister of wind and water, Fu.

Her hair whipped around in a dramatic fashion, as did her clothes, with her stance framing the portrait. Furthermore, much to his shock and dismay, she was unscathed and looking furious.

The expression she wore meant certain doom for the Nine Tails' jinchuriki, and Naruto had nothing left in him to give.

Gasping, he rolled over onto his back and feverishly attempted to crawl away, trembling like a leaf.

"G-God dammit!" Naruto cursed, wincing when his body screamed its protests and his blood continued to seep from open wounds. He collapsed after only making it a couple of feet. "I…I'm out of chakra. Fuck! How is she this powerful?"

Fu, letting the water fall around her, then began sprinting across the water towards her target, who was sitting done and defenseless on the shoreline. Within seconds, she was within medium range attack distance, and still coming at him, without any intention of slowing down, or showing any hesitation in stopping.

With every step she got closer, Naruto's eyes widened, and the fear of getting killed by the girl grew and grew. Through his eyes, she looked like a real ninja out to do him in, the shadows over her eyes and the visage consuming her creating a terrifying picture, one that shook him to the core.

For the first time in his life, Naruto was fearful for his own life…

"S-She's… going to kill me…!"

Fu brought her right hand forward and clenched it tightly into a fist as she charged, slowly bringing it behind her, and readying to land her final attack. This next one, was to end it all.

Naruto gritted his teeth and reached out, searching around blindly with his right hand for a weapon or some sort blunt object to protect him.

His fingers eventually coming in contact with a ten inch stick lying next to him, he tightened his gaze and grabbed it.

Not that it was going to do any good against a full-powered, undamaged, raging jinchuriki; what else could he do?

Hiding it behind him, he waited until Fu got in close. When she hit the shoreline, and was just feet from him, he pumped wind chakra into the stick, the energy extending to form the shape, sharpness and dexterity resembling a katana blade. Moments later, just as the girl lunged in with a punch, Naruto leapt to a crouched position, albeit incredible pain, and lunged as well, thrusting the attack straight into her chest.

However, he was too slow, and the blade was a few feet too short. In terms of speed and force of impact, Fu's fist was more then likely to hit him first then his wind blade, if at all.

Seeing the false visions of his past life provided by death for his own viewing pleasure cross his eyes in brief flashes, he didn't even blink once, and instead of dread, fear or anger coming into play, he allowed a small smile to form on his face, and a chuckle to escape his lips.

"Oh well… at least I'll die trying…"

His thoughts continued on to the end.

Whether it was an act of Kami or mercy shed upon him by some unknown force of nature, it was unknown…

But as soon as Fu's fist came within lethal range, she stopped in mid-strike, holding back for just a millisecond, as she looked upon the beaten face of the boy she loved so much. The green haired girl's expression softened when she looked at him, time slowing down around them, giving her a moment to look him over. During the moment of pause, her memories with him passed her by, reminding her of how much they cared for each other, and looking back…

She saw how much his heart could take in, and how he was able to share compassion, not just with her, but with others in need…

She remembered…

It took their time, but his words of assurance finally reached her…

Unable to bear the burden of killing him, and unable to bring herself to, Fu held back, allowing Naruto's wind blade to pierce her.

The thump of the blade and the spray of blood occurred a second later, with the young Jonin's eyes flying open when he realized his attack hit home.

Slumped against each other, the two jinchuriki shared an embrace…

An embrace neither of them wanted to feel…

Naruto's eyes widened when full realization hit him. The feeling of pain, the feeling of a life force, and the feeling of Fu lying against him; her strength, speed, and fighting spirit snatched away from her in an instant.

It was shockingly quick.

Fu smiled and leaned back, allowing her body to fall from Naruto's blade as it dissipated. Gasping, the boy quickly leaned forward and caught her, with both of them now lying in the dirt in each other's arms. Though spent of any energy, the blonde ninja looked her over, from the smile on her face, to the gaping wound in her chest. He attempted to clot it with a piece of his shirt, but in his desperate attempts to provide aid, Fu grabbed his hand and stopped him.

Taking his warm hand in hers, the girl pressed it to her breast and smiled up at him, tears still trickling down from her eyes, and blood now beginning to seep from her mouth.

Naruto's shock became mixed with hurt, from a pain in his heart he could not explain. Gulping on saliva he didn't have, he spoke.

"W-Why…?"

"Why what… N-Naruto-kun?"

"Why did you hold back?" Naruto gritted his teeth, tears beginning to brim at his eyes. "You knew you had me dead! I didn't stand a chance! Why? Why didn't you kill me?"

"Because I… I love you too much… to see the light that you shared with me… vanish from your eyes," Fu grinned at him, bringing her other hand up and rubbing his cheek affectionately. She felt tears hit her face that weren't her own, as Naruto leaned over her and began to cry. Over the searing pain she was experiencing, she felt at peace for the first time in years, and didn't react to the wounds she had received that much. She chuckled in amusement. "I guess… this was my bad…"

"H-Heal…"

"Hmm?"

"Heal dammit!" Naruto took her hand from his face and pressed it against the wound, her blood still pouring out of her and onto the dirt. "You can't give up! Use the Seven Tails' chakra! You can heal yourself, I know it!"

Fu just smiled at him, earning a shocked and upset look from the boy.

"W-Why… why won't you heal yourself, Fu?"

"Silly… I can't… I'm just a beetle…" Fu giggled, referring to her Tailed Beast as it desperately tried to cling onto life, the light around its own cage beginning to fade with hers. "I can't heal; it's not in my demon's power…"

"Idiot! Of course it can heal! You're doing this on purpose! Stop holding back!"

"Sorry, Naruto-kun… but I won't," Fu replied, flashing him a grin. Coughing a bit, she then leaned back more, feeling the hand resting under her head as he caressed her. "Perhaps the next life… the one after this one… will be much more kind to me…"

"Don't say that. You can make it!"

"N-Naruto-kun…" Fu whispered, ignoring him and looking up towards the skies above them. Naruto noticed her vacant stare and her attention directed to the open blue over his head, and leaned back a bit to give her room.

He looked up too, noticing the clouds drifting overhead and heard the birds chirping as they crisscrossed the sky.

The girl laying in his arms giggled, and raised a hand up towards the beautiful sight of the sky and sun, the light breaking through the clouds creating the perfect picture for her. "H-Heaven… is beautiful… isn't it…?"

Naruto looked back down, tears now beginning to stream out of his eyes. "F-Fu-chan…" Her hand came down, and wrapped around the back of his head. With little effort, she pulled him towards her, and for one last time, she kissed him on the lips. If it weren't for the longest time, at least she could feel his warm embrace and his light for the last time.

When they parted, Naruto's lips were stained with her and his blood, and vice-versa.

Fu smiled lovingly at him, her tears mingling with his own.

"I love you… Naruto-kun…" Fu whispered. "A lot… of other people… do too. M-Maybe… it's because… you opened yourself up to the world… and let the love of others… reach you. I… I understand now… the path you walk. It was… meant to be shared…"

"Fu-chan… no…"

Her eyes started to close on him, and she felt her strength leave her completely. Her vision faded, darkening little by little, as she gazed into his eyes.

"S-Say… you love me… Naruto-kun…" Fu exclaimed, smiling. "S-So that… I can walk your path with you… for the last time… if only for a moment…"

Naruto, sniffing, nodded his head and leaned in ever so slightly, more tears falling. He just couldn't stop crying as he complied with her last request.

"I… I love you… Fu-chan…"

Fu's smile widened. "N-Naruto-kun…"

Her hand left his face, and fell away, and her grip on his other disappeared. Naruto gasped when he felt her heart stop, and her eyes close, the light surrounding them seemingly vanishing. In a time of only a minute, which seemed even longer then that, the cool embrace of death enveloped both Fu and the Seven Tails, whisking them away.

He shook her a bit, hoping to get just a small bit of life from her. However, the massive loss of blood, the wound, and at her defiance…

To his dismay…

She didn't breathe again…

Unable to hold back anymore, Naruto held her to him, his arms tight and his heart close. Seconds later, he threw his head back, and without restraint, unleashed a wail of anguish. His cries of despair and loss carried on through the sky high above and onto the horizon, tears streaming his face, and mingling with the blood of his friend's.

At the same time, a lone three-horned beetle, sitting on a leaf beneath the boy's shadow, spread its wings and flew off, disappearing into the wide open skies above…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: Stories can't always have miracles. It was hard to write, I really loved Fu. But this was all a part of the story, and will be a turning point in Naruto's life. It was something he had to bare.

I also constructed Fu's abilities around the concept of her tailed beast the Three-Horned Beetle, with it being the strongest animal in the world pound for pound. Since I knew little about her abilities, I constructed her on this info. Deidara also mentioned her to be quite powerful, and that she hated humans, and built her beliefs and personality on this idea. She's practically invulnerable to conventional weapons, explosions, as well as taijutsu and kenjutsu users. But not chakra sharpened weapons.

Fu left happy, while Naruto left heartbroken (tears). I also hated this chapter