Brand new Chapter everyone, It's sort of a small one because another action-heavy chapter is coming next. But this fanfiction should be done in the next 4 to 5 chapters at best. That will lead me to my next fanfiction loosely based on the Naruto d20 campaign I'm working on. If anyone would like to, please post reviews, the more reviews the better. Thank you and enjoy.

Chapter 15

Recovery and Rituals

After everyone left the area, Kagome and Keiko looked at the remnants of the fight. The destroyed and battered bodies of their former comrades lay at their feet. Kagome had a satisfied smile on her face, all the while Keiko was scared, she knew that this would end up driving Kagome to go after Sakura again.

"Kagome, I know I sound like a broken record but could we just leave?" Keiko said, holding her partner's hand.

"Not by any measure Keiko, this is our opportunity to get her once and for all. She should be out of chakra and should be perfect to find her now." Kagome said, walking in the direction where they were.

"Damn it, this is just gonna get worse before it gets better," Keiko said, begrudgingly going with her partner.

At the cabin, Naruto and Kai were getting bandaged up. Naruto's arm took some damage due to the uncontrolled force of the Rasenshuriken. While Kai's bones were shattered for the most part. Ino continued to provide some relief to her boyfriend while helping tend to Naruto's wounds. Tsubaki soon entered the room with a white bottle.

"If I don't mind asking right now, but what is inside of the bottle?" Naruto asked, wondering what it contained.

She drops 2 shot glasses on the table. She started to pour the liquid into the shot glasses. She then looks at the two bandaged ninja with a smile.

"Boys, this is a bone regenerator. The moment this enters your body your bones will heal. It should take about a day or two. Mostly two for Kai but because your arm isn't as damaged Naruto, this should only take at least a day."

Naruto looks at the drink with a weary expression.

"Well I guess it can't do any worse than the Rasenshuriken… bottoms up." He said, taking a swig.

As soon as the mixture goes down his throat, an excruciating pain surges through his arm. As he drops to the ground and starts rolling on the ground, screaming and crying. His arm begins to glow and he feels like his arm is literally being rebuilt.

"IT FEELS LIKE SOMEONE IS RIPPING MY NERVE ENDINGS OFF MY ARM!" Naruto screams as Kai laughs.

"Bet that smarts, doesn't it?"

Tsubaki soon slams her hand on Kai's Bandaged body. He would yell out in pain.

"Why would you do that Tsubaki-Sensei?"

"Laugh it up, chuckles because you will be in more pain than Naruto here."

That shuts Kai up, as she pours an even bigger glass for him, leaving Kai to cry a bit.

Ino sat in the living room, hearing the chorus of screams of both Kai and Naruto. Kushina had a cup of hot tea for her.

"Here you go Ino, this hopefully will help." She said, giving Ino the smile her son was famous for.

"Thank you Lady Kushina," Ino said, returning the smile.

"You did well today, Ino, helping Naruto and the others fight and defeat that Ogre guy."

"I'm glad I could be of some help. Of course, I really am quite jealous in a lot of ways."

"How so Ino, care to elaborate?"

"Well, since Sakura and I were Lady Tsunade's students, Sakura seems to be a lot more equipped to be a stronger medical ninja than me. I joined in because I wanted to be more useful for Choji and Shikamaru in battle. I wish in a way I could be as strong as Sakura."

Kushina placed a hand on her shoulder, Ino looked at the Uzumaki woman.

"You don't have to be the strongest warrior on the battlefield to be useful Ino. Like Sakura, you are just as important to all of us. You helped heal my son after he hit that move that broke his arm. And you even helped stabilize Kai when his body broke. You can be very helpful in your own way."

Ino smiled and looked at the tea, she got up and headed to the room where Naruto and Kai are in. She looks back at Kushina.

"Lady Kushina, thank you for that pep talk." She says as both women smile at each other.

Sakura is slumbering in the next room, after the intense battle they had and draining all of the energy that Ashimaru gave her it would probably take a few days for her to be at 100 percent. Naruto soon entered the room, grabbed a chair, and sat next to her. He smiled at her, watching her sleep soundly. He would use his good hand to grab hers and would kiss it.

"Sleep well and recover, I'll be right here waiting for you to awaken." He whispered, as he gently placed her hand down and fell asleep there on the chair. Kushina saw her son sleeping on the chair and would pick him up and lay him next to Sakura.

Itachi would see this and would enter. Kushina took notice of this and began to notice a change in motive that was occurring within him.

"Hey there, how's it going?"

Itachi soon took a seat next to Kushina, and she placed her hand on her shoulder.

"You are still as powerful as you were when you were alive." He said to her. "Didn't think that a woman who was once dead would be as strong as you once were."

"Well, the only difference these days is that with me constantly training with my son and his girlfriend, I've got back to fighting shape. While here you are, stronger than you were when you were a child."

"You know Itachi, if I talked to Lady Tsunade I'm sure that we could find a way to relieve you of the crimes of killing off your clan. You could live a happy life back in Konoha." Kushina said to him.

"As tempting as that may be, nothing can remove the sins I created that day. I'm sorry but I have to follow my own pathway."

"Please Itachi, let me help you. I owe Mikoto at least that. Just let me try." Kushina pleaded to him. "I'm pretty sure you would be of great assistance to fight against the Akatsuki and we can even help bring your brother back to Konoha."

"So you know about Sasuke?" Itachi asked her.

"Naruto and Sakura told me all about him, about his goal of trying to kill you to avenge his clan. And how Naruto is hellbent on bringing him home." Kushina said, hoping that would at least resonate in him a chance to come back to Konoha with them.

"Give me some time to think about it, and maybe I will." He said, making her smile. He looked over at her smile and thought to himself, "I at least owe lord fourth that."

In the other room, Kai was trying to get some sleep when his body began to jolt with pain once again. He shot up from his bed, sweating profusely until he saw a glowing hand start to go over his bandaged body. It was Ino, she was sitting by his bed. The warm glow soon soothed his sore and broken body.

"Thank you Ino, that feels so much better."

"It's no big deal Kai-Kun, I'm just playing my part." She said to Kai. After spending about 10 minutes numbing the pain in his body. She looked at him as he began to feel at ease. "So how are your bones?"

"Feeling like someone is literally reassembling them, like some sort of jigsaw puzzle. Did he hurt you Ino?"

"A bit, but you know us Medical ninja, we can be tough. I did manage to heal the damage that big oaf did to me."

Ino got up from her chair and slid into bed with Kai. And both of them would lie down. Ino tried to not hurt Kai as she lay next to him.

"Do you think this is wise?" Kai asked, with Ino placing a finger on his lips.

"Well, you need someone to tend to you if your body starts to act up again, right?"

"You have a point, alrighty then." He said, giving her a kiss on the lips and they snuggled with each other. Ino trying not to do any damage to him. The both of them fell fast asleep.

Sakura soon found herself in her mind again. Ashimaru appeared to her in her human form.

"You have been doing really good with the power I've been giving you, Sakura. However the time is soon drawing near, I might be extracted from your body by a nefarious force soon."

"You're talking about the man who has been sending people to try to obtain you from me?" She asked, knowing what Ashimaru's answer was gonna be.

"You're very observant Sakura, and correct. He is a very powerful being, and he is on his way here."

Sakura, with a cocky attitude about her. Simply shrugged off the threat and smirked.

"I'm not worried, to be honest, so far we kicked all of his hired thugs' butts. I'm sure we'll do the same to him as well."

Ashimaru would poke Sakura in the head to try to snap her back to reality.

"Don't be such a cocky little girl. You may find this threat to be more of a challenge, than Kagome or her comrades. I can assure you this."

"But with Naruto, Kai, Ino, Kushina, and Itachi here. I know we can win with no problems… Right?" Sakura asked, rubbing her forehead.

"There can only be one way we can possibly defeat him… You might have to merge our spirits together." Ashimaru said, with a look of worry.

"That could be an idea, how do we go about that?"

"Well, first you must be at 100 percent. So you will have to rest for a few more days. Second, you will have to head to a location exactly 10 miles from here known as The Sacred Grounds. It's where Kai's father sealed me in the stone. And then the final step will be found in a scroll that will appear in your hand when you awake. Kai will have to be the one to perform it."

"Why does Kai have to do it?" Sakura inquired.

"He plays a vital role, he will have to surrender the elixir still coursing through his blood. Once that happens I will successfully fuse into your soul."

"That sounds interesting, but why do you look so worried?" Sakura said, seeing the look of doubt on her face.

"Because once that happens, I will cease to be. My conscience will fade and I will in a sense die."

Sakura heard that part and tears started to fall from her eyes.

"But I don't want you to die Ashimaru, I just began to get to know you. I want you to be a part of me." She said as Ashimaru wiped her tears away with her slender hand.

"I don't either, but I figure two positive things will happen from this. You will inherit all of my powers and two will be that Kai will no longer be immortal. So he won't ever have to worry about roaming this earth watching people he loves die while he continues to live on."

Sakura wiped more of tears away, she thought it over and decided to go through with it.

"Alright, I guess we have no choice. I'll do it."

"Thank you Sakura, I am relieved to have someone with a kind heart to give my power to," Ashimaru said, fading into the dark.

Sakura soon awoke, feeling a tad bit drained still but a lot better than when she was brought here. In her hand is the scroll that Ashimaru promised her. While she had reservations, she knew that this was the right approach.

A few days passed and everyone was fully healed. Sakura would emerge from her bedroom to give Kai the scroll and tell him about the ritual they will have to take to do this.

"So you want this Sakura?" Kai asked, she returned a look of determination to him. "Well, at least I will start to age like a regular human again, alright we'll take this route." He said, giving her a smile. She returned the smile.

"That means we'll start prepping Sakura for the ritual, we'll head out first thing tomorrow then," Tsubaki said, with everyone agreeing to the arrangement.

Kagome and Keiko arrived where the cabin was. Kagome was salivating at the chance to once again go after Sakura. Keiko knew if she pleaded with her partner it would fall on deaf ears so she stayed silent.

"This time, as god as my witness, we will finally bring the girl to our master… Right, Keiko?" She asked her partner.

"Sure, I know we will this time."

As they started to make their way to the cabin. Something stopped them dead in their tracks. Kagome looked behind her and saw someone sitting on a rock smoking a cigarette in a black cloak.

"Well my pretties, it looks like you failed me for the last time," Shinku said, looking at them with an evil look. "Well no matter, you are gonna help me get my prize. Even if it costs you both your lives. But hell that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

"As you wish Master Shinku." Kagome said, kneeling to him. Keiko soon joined in and bowed to him as well.

"Now I have the feeling I might know what their next step will be, so follow me." He directed the two kunoichi as they headed out.