Shikamaru POV

Don't get me wrong Sakura was not heavy but it was something about carrying someone's dead weight, she was currently passed out in my arms. There was nowhere for me to actually place her, everywhere was either occupied with fighting or completely destroyed. I hated to go back on my word but in a time like this I needed Sakura to be safe, the only place I could think of was the hideout. It would be better for their baby as well, no one could protect him as well as Sakura could. I was battling with myself the entire time, I did not want to do it. I thought of millions of other places to hide her but nowhere was as safe as the hideout. My first thought was to go to their house and place her in their basement but something told me deep inside that this would be the first place they looked.

"Can we allow one more person in?"

The Anbu guards stood near the entrance, one nodded their head to the other. She went inside which I am guessing to go check. Sakura started to move around in my arms, his eyes would flutter open then fastly close back. Time was not on our side, not only did I need her in here safely but I also needed to get her some medical attention. Just by looking at her, I could tell that she was sick or maybe septic. I was no medical ninja but someone with great eyesight could see that she was not okay. Her skin was cold and clammy, there was also sweat rolling down the side of her face. The explosion that she went through did not make the situation any better.

Anbu walked back out, she held her hand out gesturing to me into the room. We walked down a long hallway until I reached the door where Ino was, without hesitating I opened the door revealing my wife holding our son close to her. Near her was Shinachiku, he was resting in a small bed with his tiny hands on his face.

"Shikamaru?" Ino stood up, placing Shikadai on the floor next to his friend, she walked over to me with a terrified look on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"Special delivery." I dryly chuckled, I tried to bring some humor to the situation but Ino was not having it. A stern look soon appeared on her face.

"What happened!?"

"Shhh," I placed Sakura down on the mat next to her son, her eyes fluttering open. It was like she knew that her son was in front of her. With one hand she pulled him into her chest, not once did she look at us. She kept her hazy eyes on him, once he was in her grasp she closed her eyes again. They both looked so calm against one another.

"She needs medical attention Ino." I leaned against the walls also closing my eyes, I needed a minute to collect my thoughts but it seemed like nothing was connecting. If it wasn't one thing then it was another.

"No shit Shikamaru, she looks basically dead." Ino once again reminded me of how badly Sakura actually looked, I hated looking at her because it was not a pretty sight to look at. She was just recovering from the labor and now she is back to square one. There is no way she can last any longer without medical attention.

"I was hoping you could muster up the courage to do it Ino," I said it lowly because I was not confident in my question. A part of me wished she didn't hear it but I knew by the way her eyes were bulging from her head that she did in fact hear it.

"What? Me?" She scoffed while throwing her hands up, "There's no way Shikamaru, you know how I feel about the whole medical thing. I can't do it, there's no way."

I sucked some air underneath my teeth, "Come on Ino that was 3 years ago, don't be like that she needs you."

Ino grabbed me by my arm, halting me from my next actions. "Do you remember what happened last time Shikamaru? That day still haunts me to this day?"Her voice was unclear, she clearly hesitated before saying that last sentence. She and I both knew that that topic was a very touchy topic.

"Yeah and it still haunts me to this day too, but I refuse to let that day define who I am." I defensively said, automatically I started to define myself. It was something I had developed over the years because I have always blamed myself for his death.

"I couldn't save him Shikamaru."

"He was already a dead man walking Ino and you know that."

Is this my way of coping? Am I telling myself this to make it seem like there was no way for me to save him?

"Where's your proof huh? There's no way that you could possibly know that."

"I highly doubt he would've left his child alone to be raised only by her mother but you know what do I know? "I rolled my eyes, clearly, I was annoyed with the conversation but Ino being the woman she was decided to push it further.

"Why can't you ever take my feelings into consideration?"

My finger gently massaged my temples, I was slowly starting to lose my shit. We had bigger issues to deal with than arguing about something that we both needed therapy for. "Don't do that right now Ino, now is not the time for this."

"Dealing with you it seems like it's never the time right? I just feel like a burden to you, sometimes I think if we didn't have our son you would've been long gone."

"Don't fill my head with all of this shit right now Ino, we're under attack right now and you want to bring our personal problems into this!?" I screamed back, and there it was. She pushed me to my limits and now I was the bad guy because I yelled at her.

"You know what? I'll do it, I'll save Sakura. Maybe that will help heal your conscience and stop blaming me for not being strong enough to save him. Admit Shikamaru, if only I had pushed myself harder and paid attention more then maybe sensei would've been here. You don't have to say it, I can already read it in your face."

We both looked at one another, to say I was speechless was one thing. I was actually hurt to think that she would think that. I didn't blame anyone for his death except for myself, it was a shitty mission anyways. None of that was supposed to happen.

"Don't do it for me, do it for Shinachiku and Naruto. They need Sakura, I highly doubt Naruto could raise a kid on his own. I believe in you, I know you can do it Ino."

I walked to the door, and a part of me wanted to apologize for saying that. I was in the wrong, I'll admit it. The last thing I wanted to do was walk out of this room on bad terms but I knew for a fact that the tension was too high for me just to make up. I just had to make it back alive, not only for Ino but for my family as well.

Naruto POV

The amount of power that was radiating from both of them was crazy. It reminded me of the war when I could feel everyone's chakra, it was a bit overwhelming to feel. Kato and Ruzu were both still going head-to-head with one another. Sasuke didn't waste any time separating the two of them, but they were like magnets they found their way back to one another. I covered my eyes from the number of flashes they were both made with one another.

"Naruto!"

I shot my attention towards Sasuke, his hands were on his knees. He was chest heaving up and down. Sasuke was the one who was the test dummy which was quite odd because I was usually the one who did it. He wanted to find Ruzu's weak spots while doing it, it took a lot of energy from him.

He smirked, "Aim for the neck and we'll get this over fast."

"How do you know!?"

Sasuke pointed to his eye, "I can see where his weak spot is located. Aim there and he can't do anything."

I looked at the rhythm of how Kato was attacking, then Sasuke attacked countering Kato's movements. If I were to join there would be no way he could take all three of us to our fullest potential. I patiently waited until Sasuke threw his final punch then I attacked. It was like we were writing a song, each of our attacks moved swiftly with one another.

We were beating him left to right, it got to the point where he couldn't throw any punches back. To me, it would've been easier to summon Kurama and have him eat him but the thing is the village is almost destroyed. I don't want it to look the same way it did when Pien attacked, that took too long to repair. I also didn't want to give him the chance to steal my chakra from me.

Soon enough we started to beat him and he fell to the ground, we were basically now just beating him into the dirt. Suddenly Kato stopped, Sasuke and I both looked at him, his eyes were completely black.

"Kato?" I said breathlessly, he looked over his shoulder, he whispered, "Run"

A herd of mummified people came running in our direction, bombs started to go off in every direction. Clouds of dark smoke soon surrounded us, Ruzu was still fumbling into the ground but I could see his fingers moving in the ground.

Kato walked backward in our direction, he seemed to be a bit like himself but I could tell that whatever has a hold of him still has it. "Hold them off while I finish him off."

Sasuke was already using his lightning blade to cut them in half, I wanted to join in. This fight would be easy but something in the back of my head kept telling me to go with Kato. "Sasuke, I don't feel right."

"What do you mean?"

"Something bad is about to happen but I can't put my finger on it."

Sasuke merely chuckled but I was being serious. I didn't let that stop me from completing my task. I was taking them down left and right but it was hard for me to dodge the one who'd like to blow up. Every now and then I could find myself ducking for my life.

"I thought that I could beat you, but you're just as strong as me. So why don't I take us all out."

"I told you!" I yelled towards Sasuke, a minute hasn't even passed and I was right.

Ruzu stood up while ripping his shirt off his chest, a seal appeared on his chest. Sasuke took a step back, his eyes widened with…fear, never in my life have I seen much fear on Sasuke's face. Just like Ruzu, the mummified people began to take off their shirts, and the seal on their chests as well.

Sasuke let out a quivering breath, "They're going to blow themselves up with us with them."

"What!?"

Kato scowled down at Ruzu, "He's only killing himself because he knows that I could take his powers if we defeated him. There's no way he could defeat all of us at once, his main source of energy is already captured. He's running low on chakra."

Sasuke trekked back until his back was met with a tree. His eyes scanned the area, he was looking for a way out but it seemed that we were stuck. There was no way in hell that none of us could survive this. "Humanity in Konoha is going to be wiped off the entire planet of the earth. There's no way we're all going to survive."

The mummified human all turned in our direction and then bolted toward us, it was hundreds of them against all of us. The only thing I could think about was Sakura and our son, he wasn't even a weak old yet and all of this was happening. My throat went dry just thinking about everything that was about to happen. Was this the end? Why was I so content with giving up? Here I go again with that same thought, it killed me to not put up a fight but how could I? We were dead, there was no way in hell that we could survive all of these bombs going off.

"How the hell can we win this battle?" Sasuke asked while twirling his sword around, I didn't even bother to answer him. I was too in my head about everything that was happening. This was not the way that I was planning on going out. Ruzu stood there, his body shining brightly like a star, and the people around him soon began to shine. His gut-wrenching laugh filled the air, it almost made me want to throw up. He was so happy about murdering innocent people, including my son who doesn't even know what life is yet.

The thoughts came circulating back in my head, I felt so low. I had only been a father for less than a week and I was already letting my son down. I couldn't protect him, if I did then that would leave him fatherless like me. On the other hand, if I allowed it to die like this then I would be selfish, these decisions were not something I thought I would be making so soon.

The vision of the mummified people came closer, they were so close that I could stick my hand out and reach them. But I couldn't, they had suddenly stopped in their tracks. It was like time was completely frozen.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru screamed, his voice was so discreet that I could recognize it anywhere. He was in the trees kneeling down on a branch, "We could cover the explosion, I can keep them in one place while you, Gaara, Sasuke, and Kato, use your powers to shield it away."

A boost of energy found its way into my body. I could kiss Shikamaru, we had a plan to save our asses."

In a split second, Sasuke summoned his Susanoo, it had already wrapped its arms around the group of people. Kato then soon joined, he created this golden dome that hugged around the arms of Sasuke's Susanoo.

"Are you going to sit there or are you going to use my chakra, it's time you bastard." Kurama's voice circled my head, and without a delay my body was wrapped in his chakra, Kurama's chakra form wrapped around the group of mummified people. One of his tails covered Shikamaru while the other one was wrapped around Gara as he used his sand as glue to hold it all together.

Shikamaru had sweat beads rolling down his face from how hard he was concentrating, "Any minute now!" He yelled out, the great force of chakra rumbled through my body, and I could feel every drop of it.

I was now up in the air with my arms crossed my chest, I was praying to the gods above that I would be safer up here than down on the ground. I applied as much chakra as I could possibly push out to hold the amount of power that was about to burst through.

"Naruto-san."

I shrieked like a little girl, looking over my shoulder I saw Katsuyu resting on my shoulder. I was too focused to see the tiny creature slither up my leg.

"What are you doing here!?"

"Lady Sakura sent me."

"Why would she send you!?"

"Because she knows Naruto…she's already content with death. Words spread faster than you think, Hokage-sama had already informed the village that this may be a result of them attacking us."

NO, NO, NO, this can not be happening! I grabbed the ends of my hair crouching down near my knees. "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!"

"Kid we don't need this right now, don't go backing out on us."

"I need to go see Sakura-chan"

"I can read your thoughts dummy, I will eat you from inside Naruto!"

My heart began to slam against my chest, and the air up here started to become a bit denser. There was no way that all of this could end like this. I looked over to Shikamaru, not an ounce of fear was on his face but I knew on the inside that he was scared shitless. There was no guarantee that we were going to all survive this, it was a guess.

"What do you mean they're content with death!?"

"Lady Sakura is being healed as we speak Naruto so try not to get too worked up."

Then it hit me, the explosion had finally gone off. I didn't have time to prepare, the only thing I could think about was applying more chakra than the explosion. My hands were turning red from the amount of pressure I was applying, they soon started to peel my skin away. The force was so great that it was hard to stand up straight, I was fighting too hard to keep it in one place but the explosion was greater than anything we've ever dealt with.

The tree's around us were swirling wildly, and the birds flew frantically away from the scene. The dirt flew up in the air, and small pebbles on the ground would hit me on my face. Our dome around them sunk further into the ground, that impact was just that big. The clouds around the sky turned gray, it was daytime but it looked as if the sun was setting.

Out of nowhere, our contraption had a break in it, and a burned hand reached out. A burning ray of energy also followed, it was so bright that it burned my eyes and anything in its path. You could smell death in the air, that little ray was causing so much damage, now imagine if the entire thing were to blow up.

A wave of nausea hit me, and the last thing I heard was an "Oh no" from Shikamaru then all I knew was that I was thrown to the ground. The memory of how I got here is nonexistent, the barrier that we created was no longer there. The only thing left was a deep black crater, I held my hands against my throbbing head. One minute there was a hand sticking out and an explosion going on then the next minute I found myself on the ground with cuts all over my body. I looked down at my hands and they were completely burnt.

"Is it over?" Sasuke asked, he too looking as confused as the rest of us. All five of us had no idea what was going on, it felt like we traveled back in time. The only thing we knew was that we were severely injured and there was a crater left behind.

I shrugged my aching shoulders, I absolutely had no idea if it were over or not. All I knew was that there was a crater in the middle of the forest and we saved humanity. Although we were all standing on our last legs.

Kato walked past me, he had a curious look on his face. For him to have the injuries he had, he was up walking while the rest of us sat on our tails.

He stopped when he got behind a tree, he pointed towards the ground but I couldn't tell what he was seeing."He doesn't look too good."

I had to crawl over in his direction, my legs were completely broken. The pain was unbearable and the bottom portion of my legs was just dangling there. I used my elbows to help me push myself toward Kato.

My blood ran cold, I let out a scream of fear, and frantically I tried to rush over to my friend but I couldn't. Shikamaru was sitting upright against the tree, his face was blue from the impact but bloody from the injuries he sustained. Every bone in his face looked broken, it was completely rearranged. Not only that but there was a gaping hole in the middle of his stomach, I'm guessing that's where the force of the light hit him.

Katsuyu miniatures slithered from my body, and they all crawled in the union to Shikamaru's body. "Don't worry Naruto-san, I'm on it."

Kato looked around, "Naruto-san, What happened?"

I was speechless, I couldn't give him an answer. There was honestly no answer, hell none of us could tell him what was happening. We didn't even know if the bastard killed himself or not. Was it all over or is this all a dream?

Sasuke brushed past Kato, he took a tumble but he made himself comfortable against me. Both of his arms were wrapped around his chest, a pained facial expression never left his face."I think my ribs are broken, I could feel them move around my chest every time I breathe." Sasuke looked back at the scene of Shikamaru, he sucked his breath under his teeth, "I don't need that on my conscience, there's already enough shit up there."

"He has a family" I barked out, the foam sliding down the side of my mouth. That's how furious I was with the entire situation. "There's nothing we can do about it but watch. We're fucking watching him die!"

"How does it feel?" A crispy hand reached out of the crater, "Welcome to my world Naruto Uzumaki."

My body began to shake violently as I watched Ruzu weakening stand out from the creator. There was a demon-like man standing behind him. It was similar to the one my dad and the third used. However I had no idea how this one worked, I just knew that this could be the end of everything if he got his hands on us. He slowly stalked closer to us, one hand reached out to Kato while the other one was reaching out to me.

My heart slammed against my chest, I looked around for an escaped plan but nothing came to mind. I began to panic. Sasuke stood up but just as quickly as he did he fell back down to his knees. Blood began to pout out of his mouth, he mumbled a couple of words but I couldn't hear him.

"Lung… punctured," That was the only thing I could make out before he collapsed to the ground beside me. Sasuke was gasping for air, Shikamaru's eyes rolled in the back of his head, and Gaara was completely knocked out from the impact. It was just me, I was the one who had to save the world.

"Kurama!?"

Kurama sat with his legs crossed, he clapped his hands, and instantly I felt his chakra run through my veins. It wasn't as strong as it usually was but I could still fight with what was left. "We're going to have to make this our final blow brat, I'm running low on chakra."

Kato ran toward him, his nails were sharpened like a knife. My heart dropped, and instantly I bolted toward Kato pulling him into my chest. "Kato! Get back, you don't know what you're dealing with. If he gets you then you're done for!"

Ruzu started to bolt towards us, Kurama started to form one of his tailed beast bombs to really murder him. We waited for the perfect time but it never came. A familiar chakra entered the area, and Tezo came out of nowhere and threw himself at his brother. The man standing behind him wrapped his arms around them both, squeezing the death out of them.

"No more," Tezo said, it was loud enough for all of us to hear but it was said from the heart. Ruzu was screaming bloody murder, but Tezo held onto him tighter. He looked back at us with one last goofy grin before closing his eyes. They both fell to the ground, their eyes were purely white and their skin was wrinkly.

"Now it's over." I fell face-first to the ground, I could barely hold myself up, especially with the two broken knees. My eyes felt heavy, my body felt relaxed. My vision soon grew blurry, the only thing I could see was Shikamaru's life body and Sasuke's shallow breaths. I felt Kato's hands shaking me, he was screaming at me to stay awake but I was so relaxed.

A crowd of people came running towards me in all white. They all surrounded me but my eyes started to glue together. "Hey, keep your eyes open for us. We're medical ninja's from Suna. We're here to help you."