K's Prayer

"WELL TAKE THIS, JACKASS," The ash cloud littering the skies of Tobaku had only gotten thicker since its conception. What Daisuke had planned was the closest thing to suicide he had ever done, and he was quite proud. He grinned as he held his hand out and it glowed, "Katon: Senhari (Fire Release: 1000 Beams)." The beams were leaving his hand in rapid succession, as once again, the night sky flared.

K danced around the rooftop trying to dodge the beams, and avoid being hit directly. The man knew the massive amount of ash on his shirt would cause a problem, so he ripped it off and tossed it aside. He grit his teeth when a string of explosions started going off all around him. Daisuke's Senhari had powerful explosive capabilities already, but paired with the chakra infused gunpowder it was close to impossible to avoid. He tried to keep his footing, but the powerful chain of explosions knocked him back and forth around the roof.

For the first time in their fight, Daisuke had the upper hand, and he was actually inflicting damage on K. The man's clothes were torn to shreds, debris from the now destroyed roof flew everywhere and slashed his exposed skin. He could barely breathe due to the thick cloud of ash, lest he wanted his insides to explode as well, and slowly felt his life slipping away with each explosion. One more beam flew through the cloud and hit K directly in his right bicep and sent him flying out of the cloud and crashing into another roof.

There was a newly formed hole on his chest, and his blood was everywhere on the rooftop. The man was sprawled out on the ground, staring into the sky. His breaths were sporadic, and at this point; he was surprised to be alive. K's heart rate was slowing down with each breath he took. The jounin knew he only had one chance to end this battle, and make it out alive. He wasn't about to pull his trump card just yet, because that would mean he was out of options.

His chest was heaving, as he gradually brought his hands up to form a tiger seal. The man coughed up blood and couldn't even bring himself to say the name of the technique. He was out of energy and his hands fell back down to his side, "No." He mumbled to himself as he was still staring at the sky, very close to bleeding out. "Please let me power through this, I can't die like this."

'Of course you won't die, K,' a voice sounded off in his head. 'Don't let these circumstances cloud your thought process!'

K's eyes widened at the entrance of this voice, 'I haven't heard from you in a while.'His body was slowly starting to fill with the adrenaline he needed. He brought his hands up once more to form the tiger seal he originally wanted to. 'How long will I have with the life force I have left?'

'At the most, thirty seconds,' The voice was light to a certain degree, but was definitely a male. 'Don't push yourself, or you'll end up dying.' He chuckled, 'Then again, do you what you want, because I wouldn't mind having you back here with me.'

The black haired shinobi shook his head, 'My time hasn't come, yet, but thank you.' K cut off the mental connection between him and the voice. Everything went black for a moment, he couldn't see, hear, or feel anything around him.

Daisuke emerged from the slowly dispersing cloud of ash with a pained smile on his face. Apparently he wasn't fairing too well either, as he had blood and sweat caked up on his face, and his clothes were in tatters. Through all that, he still managed to smile, despite aching all over, and wanting to fall over and go unconscious, "I think I got the bastard." He looked down from the roof he stood on and saw K lying there lifelessly. Daisuke didn't feel anything from K.

Did he actually kill him?

His hands were still in the seal formation, K had gathered natural energy and absorbed it. Much like earlier in the fight, a crimson aura flickered around his body, before it fully came to life and engulfed the injured shinobi. K let himself smirk, "Kaio-ken x3 (World King Fist)."

"YOU WERE DEAD!" Daisuke screamed out as he pointed at K in disbelief, "I could feel it, you were dead! Just what the hell are you!?"

His adrenaline and strength enhancements were enough for him to push his battered body off of the ground, and finally come to stand after looking at the sky for a few minutes. He took a deep breath and planned out his next few actions. K had no time to waste talking to the the taki-nin. Daisuke was severely weakened from their fight, so he probably couldn't take much more.

K pushed himself off of the roof with his left foot and closed the distance between him and Daisuke in an instant. His arm was already cocked back, and coated in wind chakra from his hand to his shoulder. The wind was shaped like a sharp tendril that was constantly rotating, "Futon: Saishūken (Wind Release: Final Fist)," He stabbed it forward, and ripped through Daisuke's stomach with relative ease.

The man on the receiving end of the fist instantly spat out blood, that ended up in K's face, but he didn't fail to finish the job. K was much faster than he had been when he used the buffer earlier, and it caught Daisuke completely off guard. He grit his teeth as K forcefully ripped his fist outward and took some of his innards with him.

Daisuke stumbled backward and fell onto the ground, as he was now in K's earlier predicament, except this time would end differently. The man stepped up to Daisuke and looked down on him, and the younger shinobi spat more blood into the man's face. He would die with his pride at least, "You were dead… I was positive you were dead, there was no way you lived through that. I barely did!"

"Everyone's allowed to cheat death once in their life," The man was still glowing in a crimson aura. He stepped forward and placed his foot onto Daisuke's throat, "At first I questioned whether or not I would end yours." K furrowed his brow when Daisuke grabbed onto his ankles with the little power he had left, but he simply responded by pressing his foot down harder. The taki-nin choked on his own blood immediately, "But I decided I didn't like you because you talked too much."

All of Daisuke's power left his body, as he hands fell limply to the ground. K ended any chance of him having last words, and made him be silent for the first time in his life. It almost made the man smile, but he had more serious things to worry about, such as his own life.

He could feel time running out, and the power of his kaio-ken starting to weaken. He had already pushed himself past his limit, and the technique was the only thing willing his body to stay alive at this point.

The man's senses were extremely heightened in this state, and he could feel another presence touch down on the rooftop instantly. He turned and was pleased to see it was his student, and not enemy shinobi, "Goku, where is Tsunade?"

The boy's jaw dropped when he saw his battle damaged sensei. The man was shirtless and very scarred, glowing in a crimson aura. To Goku, he hadn't seen anything more badass in his entire life. He was so caught up in the man's appearance, he didn't even hear what his sensei said to him, "Wha?"

"Don't be foolish, Goku," His expression twisted in pain once he felt the Kaio-ken slowly coming to a close. "Tell me where she is RIGHT NOW!" His voice boomed and echoed through the whole city, and his cold onyx eyes were staring a hole through Goku.

Goku couldn't believe anything that was going on right now, he truly had to have died and went to a different universe. K was injured and raising his voice. He was practically shaking in fear once the man had gotten angry with him, "I-I-I don't know!"

K had to take matters into his own hands, using his heightened senses, and natural energy to feel out the area, so he could quickly pinpoint Tsunade Senju. He was almost panicking, "Goku, I must go. I have to find Tsunade." He disappeared in his infamous crackle of electricity and left Goku alone.

Goku was more than confused, "What the hell is going on?"

. . .

(Streets of Tobaku)

Tsunade and Shizune were running at high speeds through Tobaku, trying to get as far away as possible. The middle aged shinobi felt like the two kumo-nin she had come across were nothing but trouble, and she wanted no parts of their business. The 13,000 ryo she had made was quite helpful though, and she would probably struggle to admit that out loud.

Shizune held Tsunade's pig close to her chest, "Don't you think it's wrong to just abandon them like this, Tsunade-sama?"

"No, you heard what the man said," The moment of Daisuke entering her room replayed thousands of times in her head over the last few minutes. K showing off his technique is what stuck out in her brain so much, "His gripe is with the two bastards from Kumogakure. We have nothing to do with this, and we shouldn't involve ourselves in it."

Her partner frowned and Tonton did the same, "They could be in serious trouble right now, and our four against his one would have helped a great deal."

"Shizune, shut up," Tsunade didn't like getting aggresive with Shizune, because of what she meant to her, but sometimes the woman crossed the line. The Senju made it clear she didn't want to help, and had zero intentions of doing so, yet Shizune constantly tried to make her feel bad about her decision. "I want nothing to do with K or his damn mission."

Shizune froze in her tracks when she felt something or someone honing in on their location, "Tsunade look ou-"

In a crackle of electricity, a man appeared and stumbled forward into Tsunade's grasp. The legendary medic was also frozen solid with wide eyes. The man currently in her embrace was covered in blood, "Y-yo-you again?" She was staring right at the same man she was cursing at not too long, claiming she wanted to no parts in his affairs. However, her hemophobia was getting the best of her right now.

"Whatever the price, please; just help me," The man pleaded, as the crimson aura was flickering on and off. "Without your help, I will surely die."

This is what she wanted, wasn't it? K came crawling back to her, nearly begging her for help. Without it he would die in the condition he was in, and despite hating him so much; she couldn't bring herself to let go of the bloodied kumo-nin. Why couldn't she just let him die and keep going?

"TSUNADE-SAMA, DO SOMETHING!" Shizune tried to get the woman to react, but the Sannin was frozen in place. They had no time to waste, so Shizune placed Tonton on the ground. She knew the pig would stay put while she began unsealing medical equipment from a scroll.

She separated K and Tsunade from each other and laid him out on the ground. The woman had no choice but to operate in the street. She had gotten extremely serious, pushing aside her previous encounter with the man, and giving him a chance to see another day.

Tsunade's clothes were stained in K's blood, and her eyes weren't focused on anything at all. Another bloodied ninja dying in her arms brought back terrible memories, and she was consumed by thoughts from her past, while her student had already gotten to work.

Another person made an appearance, and this time it was Goku. He was shocked to see Tsunade just standing there battling her own thoughts, and Shizune leading the way to heal his sensei. Nothing made sense to Goku anymore, as he ran up to his sensei's side to see if he was still alive, "K!"

"Quiet down, Goku, I need to focus," Shizune's hands were covered in green aura as she tried to fix the extensive damage done to his body. He had cuts, burns, and his muscles were nearly all torn apart. The man truly had pushed himself past his limits to find her and Tsunade, and should she be successful in his healing; it would all be worth it.

She wasn't going to admit it out loud, but it was slightly overwhelming due to all of his injuries. Shizune was a capable medic, but she was no where near Tsunade, and this wasn't the type of thing she would do in the hospital alone. This was strictly due to the circumstances, and she surely didn't expect Tsunade to tense up like that.

Goku didn't need Shizune to say a word to see that she was having a hard time. There were so many things that needed to be done, and he only wished he could help. The boy didn't like to make situations worse, but Tsunade was angering him to no end. "Old lady, you need to snap out of right now!" He jumped up and ran to Tsunade, pulling on her hand. "Your friend can't save K's life all by herself!"

"W-Why should I help?"

"Because I need my sensei!" Goku groaned when she just looked at him with a blank expression. "You can't just let him die like this! Sure he's a piece of shit, but he's my piece of shit okay, and I kind of like him!"

"Will you finally leave me alone?" Tsunade was starting to gain her personality back, "I'm trying to get away from you two, yet you keep popping back up."

"I promise we will never cross paths for the rest of our lives, if you just help me this one last time," Goku held out his pinky, "I'll make sure of it."

Tsunade doubted it would happen like that, but she wrapped her pinky around his, "Fine, I'll help, but I'm only doing the bare minimum. He still deserves what's coming to him." The blonde shinobi walked over to the other side of K's body and joined in on healing the man.

She dipped into the medical equipment they had and immediately started working. The woman showed off her level of skill, using one hand to stitch the hole in his chest, and the other to steadily repair his muscle damage with her green chakra. Shizune covered the areas Tsunade didn't by healing his burns and cuts that were all over his body. They were demonstrating why they were a great team, and K's heart beat went from sporadic to steady.

"Is K-sensei going to be alright?" Goku ran up to the medics with wide eyes.

"He's going to be just fine, Goku," Tsunade offered a smile to the boy.

"Can you repair his emotions while you're at it?"

. . .

(The Next Day, Ran'un Hotel)

K sat up in the bed and looked around. Goku, Tsunade, and Shizune sat around a table eating breakfast, while discussing the events from the night before. His vision was hazy at first, but eventually things started to come into focus. He was returned back to his hotel room at the Ran'un casino, but last thing he remembered was blacking out in a street.

Tsunade took a sip of her coffee as she looked at the now conscious K, "Hm, good morning."

He lifted his hands and stared for a moment. They were covered in bandages, as were his arms, legs, and feet. His attention shifted to Tsunade, "I appreciate the help." The man wanted to get up and walk around his room, but he went through great pain just by moving his arms. He decided to sit back for once, "We can arrange payment soon."

The blonde smiled as she sipped her coffee. She rested her knuckle against her cheek as she watched K cringe in pain with every slight movement. Tsunade had truly done the bare minimum for the injured shinobi, since she still wanted him to suffer.

"How long will K be in bed?" Goku asked once he had finished his food and pushed it to the side.

"Two more days if he listens to me," Tsunade grinned, confident in her abilities. "Give me 20,000 more ryo and I'll make sure K makes the full recovery he needs to."

"But I only made 40,000 that night at the casino!" Goku slammed his fist against the table, "K already handed over 13,000 to you, that would leave me with…" It was times like these when Goku hated math. "Shit, 7,000!"

"Don't you want a healthy sensei, Goku?" Tsunade raised a brow as she drunk her coffee.

"Don't be foolish, Goku," K said as he rested his head against the comfortable pillow. "We can't risk not making it to Iwagakure on time."

Goku was going to give Tsunade the money regardless, since he did want K to make a full recovery, but it was just the thought of all that money being looted from his pockets. He playfully pouted, "Fine, 20,000 sounds like a deal."

"I'll you pay you back once we return, Goku," K closed his eyes so he could meditate and peacefully heal. "We have two days until I can move as I once did, and that leaves one day to make it to Iwagakure and still be on schedule."

"What am I supposed to do in the mean time?" The boy wondered as he picked up his plate to return it to the kitchen.

"As much as I want to leave, I still have to look over your sensei, so you're going to be helping me out, Goku," Tsunade said while Shizune nodded. "I'm also going to give you a few tips so you don't get knocked out by one powerful kick ever again. It's the least I can do for a little gaki like you."

That didn't sound that bad to Goku. He would get the chance to make his money back and then some during his free time, and he'd be able to train with one of the most powerful ninja in the world. The boy grinned at the thought, "Ok, that sounds like a plan!" His tone changed when he looked at K, "I'm not helping bathe him though, he's on his own."

"I agree completely," Tsunade and Goku laughed when K's face almost twisted into a scowl.

"Don't worry, K-sama, I'll be more than glad to help you with whatever you need," Shizune offered, her and Tonton smiled simultaneously.

Tsunade and Goku spoke in unison, "That's disgusting."

. . .

(Outside of Tobaku)

A duo of shinobi were arriving at an illuminated sign that said 'Welcome to Tobaku' written in kanji. It was a teenage girl and boy, the girl being the taller of the two. She had her hands on her hips, but they shifted as she ran a hand through her short black hair. The girl wore a red uniform with a the right sleeve missing and a lapel over her right leg. Her flak jacket was brown, and her headband was tied proudly around her head.

The boy had long, spiky black hair that nearly touched the ground and a strong widow's peak. He wore a navy blue long sleeve with matching pants, with red bands tied around his arm and leg. His headband was tied similar to a bandana around his neck, "What is this?" He looked up to the girl that was superior for this mission.

"Can't you read, it's Tobaku," She rolled her eyes as she pointed at the sign. "I haven't been here since I was little though, I doubt much has changed."

"I'd advise you not to talk to me like that," The boy spat out before he walked into the town without caring whether she followed him or not.

"I talk however I want kid, I'm not like everyone else," She responded with a smile. He turned and looked at her with a glare, "I don't give a shit who you are to the village, you're just another kid to me, now keep moving."

He had to put his pride to the side for a moment, "Tch, whatever." The boy looked around at all the flashing lights in the town, "What are we here for in the first place?"

"We're here to collect the earnings from the casinos."

. . .

I'll be back in full effect next chapter, thanks for the reviews too. Next Chapter: It's A Small World