Here is another chapter... This was a really fun chapter to write. So I hope you all love it. I would like to hear more reviews so please tell me what you think of the story cause I might make more of these.

Chapter 9

Burning Awakening

Naruto and Sakura would separate from each other, joining up later. The woman followed him, keeping her focus on him. Naruto stopped right in the perfect area where they wouldn't do any damage. Naruto looked at the woman, mostly out of curiosity.

"Funny, I was just curious to know who you are. At least give me a name before we do battle." Naruto asked, but he didn't get an answer. "Right, then let's do this. SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Three clones would appear beside Naruto, as the woman didn't move. The woman then charged right at him. They tried to block her, but she would deflect one and strike one with her knee. Making it disappear, then she would slam her elbow into the other's face and it would dissipate. The last clone would manage to strike her in the face, it was enough time for Naruto to prepare a Rasengan. As soon as the clone tried to get in closer to hit her, She would wrap her legs around its head and drive it head-first into the ground, causing it to vanish.

Naruto though would nail the Rasengan into the woman's gut, sending her into a tree. Naruto stopped and looked at the damage that he did, but then was surprised by her starting to move.

"What the hell, she shook it off like it was nothing, guess I might have to go all out against her. And I just might have to dust off that old move. MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

About 5 Clones soon appeared and he would soon rush at the woman as she was standing firm, ready to take whatever he was about to dish out at her. A few clones swept under her feet, and the other three would kick under her chin as Naruto leaped over her head and would nail her with his heel.

"NARUTO UZUMAKI BARRAGE!" He said as she hit the ground. The five clones would charge up their own Rasengan and would jump and bring down their own attacks on her defenseless body. A huge explosion would rock the forest around him. The clones stayed in formation.

"Alright men, stand ready."

The mysterious woman once again would get up and dust herself off like it was nothing. Naruto stood there in awe. He couldn't believe it, that his best move barely tickled her. Something then caught his attention, something that would terrify him. An ominous red chakra would soon surround her, it would cloak her body in the shape of a fox.

"What's going on? Why is she becoming like me? What the hell is she?"

Naruto suddenly heard the familiar growly voice he's heard so many times in the past.

"BECAUSE SHE IS LIKE YOU!" The voice said Naruto knew that it was him… the nine-tailed fox. "BEFORE YOU, SHE WAS THE JINCHUURIKI OF ME!"

"I guess that could explain the demonic chakra, but I thought if a tailed beast was extracted from their Jinchuuriki, they would die or lose their connection to the former tailed beast?"

"I'm not sure at this point, Naruto Uzumaki. My guess is that whoever is responsible for trying to steal Ashimaru is resurrecting people to fight for him, and he resurrected the former Jinchuuriki with some kind of advanced seal. And to add to it, something to tap into the remains of my power still in her body." The fox told Naruto.

"Funny, as things look right now, I kind of like this challenge. Time for round two!"

In another part of the forest, Blood clones created by Kagome were being knocked around by Sakura. Kagome was so angry with herself, being owned by such a pathetic girl.

"What's wrong, not so tough now?" Sakura said, gloating to her adversary. "You're gonna find I'm a lot harder to take down now that I'm not tied up." Sakura charged up her chakra and launched herself.

Kagome would try to kick at Sakura, but she would catch her foot. She charged Chakra directly at her foot and would kick Kagome hard. Sending her flying into some trees. Sakura would then dash at full speed at her opponent.

Kagome tried to fire a wave of poison darts at her hoping to hit her with a tranquilizer dart, but Sakura would maneuver her body enough for the darts to miss or pass her by and would nail Kagome in the gut with a Chakra-infused punch, and she would wrap her arm around her neck and slam her to the ground with enough force to cause the ground around her to fissure.

Unlike Naruto's fight with the woman, Kagome was having more trouble trying to get up. But Sakura saw something about her that freaked her out. Sakura saw Kagome's arm on the ground, her neck was broken with it looking like it was on its side. Her legs were warped and her body was bent out of shape.

"What the hell is this?"

Kagome would grab her arm and pop it back into place, she then grabbed her head and shifted it to have it correct itself. She channeled Chakra and her legs would be fully healed. She then cracked her neck.

"Much better, have to admit pinky, no one has ever dealt me that much damage. But now it's my turn to show you true fear." She said as a black aura surrounded her body. Her hair which was Blue and black soon changed into pure black. Her eyes would then shift colors to match what her hair color was with her eyes becoming black with her iris becoming blue. Her skin tone changed to a discolored gray. Sakura tried to keep her composure but her chakra was enormous.

"I know the master would kill me if I let you slip out of my fingers or hell if you died, but in this case, I can take the punishment. NOW DIE!" She said, charging at Sakura.

In the village, Kai and Ino left the festival and retreated back to Kai's apartment. Ino was sound asleep as Kai looked over some of the books he sealed in a scroll that he brought from the Komoto compound, looking over the history of the clan and the history of Ashimaru. He heard Ino talk in her sleep, saying his name with a huge smile on her face.

"To be honest, I don't want to know what she's dreaming about?" He said, laughing.

As Kai shuffled through the many scrolls in his posession, something caught his attention. A scroll that was in the corner of his apartment that he must have missed. He would release it and suddenly a book popped out. He looked at the title, "Forbidden Seals of the Komoto Clan." Kai looked at it and saw that it was his father's handwriting. Kai didn't remember grabbing this book but he started to read the pages.

As he opened the book up he noticed that the pages were blank. He couldn't figure out why this was, his father was a man who would never leave a page blank when he wrote. Kai looked to even see if there was invisible ink used to hide it. Kai paced around his apartment for a bit and thought of something. Maybe it was like a genjutsu or something to that effect. He would then place his hand on the book and would release a bit of Chakra to try to reveal the text on the pages… no result.

"Damn it, Father, what were you hiding in this book?" He said, sipping some of the tea he made earlier, he was so focused on the book that it was soon cold.

Giant chakra claws lunged right at Naruto and a few of the clones would take the hit for him. One claw would rise above Naruto and slam down, a clone would push him out of the way and would vanish. One claw would dig under the ground and come up behind him and try to grab him, but the last clone would take the hit.

"Naruto… awaken me and we could take her out." The fox bellowed in Naruto's gut.

"Hell no, the last time that happened, I hurt Sakura-Hime. So no dice fox!"

"Foolish boy, if you don't she'll chew you up and spit you out." The fox scoffed at his rejection.

The woman then crouched down and her body began to emit a glowing aura around her.

"Now what is she up to?"

Huge Chakra Chains then shot from her body, flying right toward Naruto. Naruto dodged as many as she launched at him, but he would get caught and would be anchored down by them.

"Damn it, I'm trapped. I can't seem to break free." Naruto said, struggling against the chains.

The woman soon got up and slowly made her way toward Naruto, A giant kunai in her hand. The way she was walking would be like you would see a masked killer in a horror movie. Naruto dug through his ninja tool pouch and would grab his own kunai, he tried to use it to cut the chains… a fruitless effort but he had to humor himself before the final curtain. He tried to process a plan, he was immobile but his arms were free. He couldn't do a clone here because the chains were siphoning his chakra.

"Damn it Naruto, think, use your head. There has to be some sort of weakness."

Naruto then focused on her mask, and how the kanji on the mask was constantly glowing. It then came to him, that the mask could well be a weak point to her.

"That's it, it's the mask. If I could break it then maybe that would work." Naruto said he had to time it just right. He had to wait for her to approach him closer.

As soon as she was right over him, ready to kill him. It was now the chance to do it, he whipped the kunai right at her mask. The kunai flung and like a bullseye, it would hit the target. She stumbled back and the sound of material cracking was like music to his ears, as the mask slowly fell apart. The chains soon receded from her, freeing Naruto. He could see the woman holding her face, trying to hold the mask together, but it soon shattered like a window.

The woman's face was beautiful, her red hair was gorgeous. Her eyes were an amazing blue. She didn't say a word as she collapsed on the ground. Naruto went to check on her, and to his amazement, she was breathing. She was alive, but she was sound asleep. Naruto would move her to a safer location under some bushes.

"I'll deal with you later, at least you're alive and breathing. But now I have to help Sakura-Hime deal with her headache." Naruto said, running towards the ongoing battle with Sakura and Kagome.

Kagome swung her fists at Sakura, Sakura still pumping Chakra throughout her body was still faster than her strikes. Sakura would jump on a tree and try to hit her with another heel drop. But Kagome would block it, she would grab Sakura's foot and try to slam her into the ground. A log would soon appear in her place, and splinter across the forest floor.

"Man, I have to be careful, if she does that with me who knows what that could do."

"You are one smart cookie there pinky, are you sure you don't want to die? The sweet release of death is one of the most greatest feelings you could ever feel?"

"No sorry, I have a future to think about. But I'm afraid I might ask you the same thing." Sakura said, showing a bit of exhaustion.

Kagome saw her start to breath heavy. She figures that once Sakura is worn out enough, she would go for the kill.

"Blood Clone Parade Jutsu!" She said, as five blood clones would soon appear around her. They would once again charge at her, and three of them would vanish underground.

One would try to kick Sakura, as Sakura would slam her hand and push away from the attack, from the corner of her eye she saw another behind her, She would slam her other hand onto the ground and do a spin kick on both of the clones. As two would explode from the ground and grab her as one would punch her in the gut. Before another would try to kick her, Sakura flung the clone holding her so the clone would take a punch to the back and would vanish.

Sakura would then bash one in the face with her head, sending that one packing. Sakura was starting to wear out, but she had to keep fighting. There were three clones left, she wasn't gonna back down though. If they wanted her they would have to drag her kicking and screaming. One would go underground again, and two would go for the attack. Sakura leveled one with a punch, but not enough to make it go away. The other would knee Sakura in the gut, and the other would emerge from the underground, grabbing Sakura's ankles.

"What the hell, I can't move my feet." She said, before getting punched across the face. The two clones would precede to take turns pummeling Sakura to no end. With each punch, blood would fly. But still, the medic-nin wouldn't stay down. Keiko watched as the beating was getting vicious.

"Alright girls, that's enough. I think she had enough of a beatdown." Kagome said, pushing the clones away from Sakura. She then picked her up by her hair and looked right into her eyes. "Now before I kill you, what should I put on your tombstone?"

"Thank you, sir, may I have another?" Sakura said with defiance, spitting in Kagome's face.

This made Kagome's blood boil before she lifted her fist to finish her off. Naruto tackled her, sending her into the trees. His attention went right to Sakura.

"Sakura, Sakura, SAKURA!" He said, trying to shake her awake. Her body was battered and bruised, her kimono was shredded to pieces, and her beautiful face looked so bad. Naruto try to feel for a pulse, luckily for him, there was one. "Sakura-Hime, please stay with me." He would then hear a faint voice.

"Na..ru….to!" Sakura said, with a weak tone. Naruto kissed her head and thanked the gods there was life.

"You bastard, how dare you interfere with my prize. Now your fate is sealed with hers.

Naruto slowly placed her head on the ground, he glared at Kagome for inflicting critical damage to the person he loved with all of his heart.

"You did this, you did this to Sakura. I will make sure you pay for this." Naruto said, clenching his fists so hard that blood started to flow. "I will send you to hell for harming her."

Naruto threw some shuriken at her, she deflected them with one cutting her on the cheek. This only made her more mad than before. She dropped to all fours and ran at him like a rabid dog. Naruto knew he didn't have much Chakra left, but seeing Sakura hurt on the forest floor like that pissed him off he was gonna try to fend her off.

Sakura lay motionless, she could slowly feel like her life was slowly starting to fade. She didn't know why, she fought so hard to get to this point in her life. Her sight, as blurry as it was could see Naruto trying to fight the blood clones and Kagome. But she would see him get beaten. She wanted to help so badly, but her body was unresponsive. She closed her eyes, praying that this isn't the end of her life.

She soon found herself in the void again. In front of her was Ashimaru in her human form. Both girls looked at each other, Sakura with a look of determination, with Ashimaru looking at her like she was looking in the mirror.

"Sakura, the time has come for me to awaken. I see your life force is starting to fade so allow me to be of some assistance to you. Only if you will allow me to."

"My goal is to save my friends, to bring Sasuke home to Konoha, and to protect the one I love, my precious one… Naruto. Let's kick her ass and save Naruto."

Ashimaru smiled and held out her hand. Sakura did the same and both touched.

"This is a temporary power-up for you, I'm not at the point to merge with you so consider this a gift for now."

A red flame soon traveled from Ashimaru to Sakura. And a white light enveloped the area.

Kai awoke from his sleep, sweating bullets. Ino was in bed with him, sound asleep. That felt weird, and familiar at the same time. Kai added it up, he figured out what was going on… Ashimaru has finally awakened. And that could mean trouble, so he slipped out of bed so Ino wouldn't be disturbed. He kissed her on the forehead, got dressed, and headed out.

He ran as fast as he could, and soon someone was behind him. It was Kakashi, catching up with him.

"Kakashi-Sensei, you felt that too?"

"Yeah, I have a gut feeling that something is a miss "

"Ashimaru has awakened, now I have to find Sakura," Kai said, running faster than he's ever run. Kakashi is right behind him.

Kagome would slam Naruto on the ground and drop a gigantic elbow on him, knocking the wind out of him. She would then pick him up and would put him into a bone-crushing hug. With a twisted smile on her face, she would continue to apply pressure on his body. He would let out one of the most painful screams that would pierce the night.

"That's it Fox boy, scream for me as I crush the life out of you. You should have known better than to spoil my fun."

Naruto could feel his bones slowly start to break, he tried to squirm away, but her hug was like a vice grip.

"Come on boy, do you want to die tonight?" The fox screamed in his body.

"No, I vowed that day to never have to use your power. So kindly piss off!"

Naruto would use the last of his strength to bash her head with a powerful headbutt. Releasing her hold on him, he dropped and crumbled to the ground. Blood started to run from the hit Naruto gave her.

"You stupid bastard, how dare you headbutt me. Now I will crush your throat with my bare hand." She said, grabbing his throat. But the only thing he could do at this point is give her an exhausted grin. Like time was slowing down, he had only one thought before her hand would compress his throat.

"Sakura-Hime, I love you!"

Keiko's eyes closed knowing the end was near for him, but something amazing soon happened. Kagome looked over at a bright light from where Sakura's body was lying. Fire would soon consume her body. Sakura was screaming like she was in agony, and was slamming the ground. Her hair began to show signs of changing, The beautiful pink coloring started to show signs of black highlights, her eyes were once beautiful green but now changed into a piercing gold. A phoenix emblem appeared on her arm. The fire that engulfed them would then target her hands and feet.

Sakura's eyes were laser-focused on Kagome, Her wounds were completely healed. She looked like she was 100 percent recovered. She started to walk up to Kagome when her clones would leap at her. One look from Sakura would combust one of the blood clones, The other two were shocked, The other would dive underground while one leaped into a tree, targeting her with a sword she would sprout out of her shoulder.

The one underground would once again grab her ankles. Sakura would look down and flames would shoot out from her ankles, Sending the clone underground from the dirt, writhing in pain. The one dropping down from the sky would slice through Sakura. But it was surprised by a log. Sakura appeared behind the clone and was dealt a painful extinction by her infusing fire into her powerful punch. The last clone was shaking off the fire damage when Sakura stomped her foot into the ground and would fly through some hand signs.

"Divine Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Orb Jutsu!" And a giant fireball would shoot from her mouth and impact the last clone.

Kagome was shocked by the girl she nearly left at death's door. Now she got her second wind, and maybe it was something a lot worse. She looked down at Naruto, smiled and picked him up, and held a kunai to his throat.

"Alright Pinky, stop what your doing if you want your lover to survive." She said, with a sick satisfying grin.

"Sakura-Hime, please, don't worry about me," Naruto said, giving her that same grin, but weakened.

Sakura saw how damaged Naruto was, and she would lay out a gigantic shriek that send shockwaves towards Kagome, blowing her and the surrounding trees behind her away. With swift speed though, she would catch Naruto before he would have joined Kagome for that trip.

She placed him on the ground gently. Her eyes were full of sorrow and heartbreak. She would soon get to work on him, healing his injuries. It seemed that the phoenix enhanced her healing capabilities. Normally with the damage sustained from a battle, it would take Sakura a bit to heal, but with Ashimaru's power, she would heal him in half the time.

Naruto awoke and saw Sakura above him. He didn't feel any pain whatsoever. She hugged him, with tears running down her eyes.

"Naruto-Kun, I was so worried, I honestly thought you were dead." She wailed, as he held her head and kissed it.

"I could say the same about you, I thought you were dead Sakura-Hime. But I'm glad you are safe. And I have to say I like the new you. You look so different." He said, complimenting her on her new appearance.

"It won't be for long, I can feel this boost slowly start to fade." She said, helping Naruto up from the ground. She then looked around feeling for someone's chakra. "Listen up, I know you are still here… So take your friend who I'm pretty sure is knocked out cold and get lost!" She screamed as Keiko would do as she asked, and ran to check on Kagome.

Naruto and Sakura would then run to check on the woman that he fought. As soon as they would get close, Kai and Kakashi would soon join them.

"Sorry I'm late you guys, are you alright?" Kakashi said.

"We're just fine Kakashi-Sensei, just fine now," Naruto said, Kakashi then looked at Sakura's new look.

"Sakura you look so different, you seem stronger than before."

"It won't last sadly."

Kai looked at her, he could sense Ashimaru's awakened but like Sakura told him before, it wasn't anything nefarious. He would have to keep an eye on Sakura for now. But they quickly headed to where Naruto left the body of the woman he faced off against. He didn't tell them any details about what she could do.

"Where is she Naruto?" Kakashi said.

Naruto went into the bushes and picked up the woman and gently laid her down in front of them, a shocked look flooded Kakashi's face. He couldn't believe the person who was at his feet. Naruto, Sakura, and Kai looked at him practically stumbling back.

"Do you know her, Kakashi-Sensei?" Kai asked him.

"I…I… I can't believe it, is it really you?" He said, out loud.

"Who is it?" Naruto asked him next.

Kakashi didn't want to say it, it must be some sort of a joke. With Naruto here, he didn't want to flood him with the information. But he had to let them know.

"The woman in front of us is supposed to be dead, that is Kushina Uzumaki!"