It's been a long time since I updated this story. Lot of life changing events in the last few years. Starting to get back on my writing grind. I got use to writing my papers in the chicago format for my undergraduate so I did my best to train myself to not include any of those things in this creative piece. For anyone that has been waiting for a new chapter, I apologize for the long wait. For anyone new to the story, thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. Please enjoy.

Naruto and Tayuya pushed off down towards Pain as he attempted to grapple with what had just happened. His trump card had failed and the two seemed to be fully fit to continue the battle. Pain had no time to think and could only attempt to dodge each teen as they threw blow after blow.

Yet the two did have a disadvantage: time. Both knew that their backup clones they were saving dispelled because of the transformation. With a glance towards one another they recognized that each were at their limit; they only had a small amount of natural energy left and had to end the fight quickly.

Tayuya and Naruto were both attacking as if they shared the same mind. Where one created an opening the other would take advantage and where one faltered the other would cover. If he was not on the receiving end, Pain would have found it ironic that they seemed to be fighting as if they were like his Six Paths of Pain.

Pain leaped back to create some distance between them to get some breathing room. Naruto saw smoke rising from the crater that was the Hidden Leaf Village. "Did I do that?" he asked worriedly. Panic erupted after as he continued, "Wait, what happened to Hinata? And the other villagers? Are they dead?!"

"I got Hinata out of there Naruto. After that… I don't know." Tayuya replied.

Katsuyu squirmed out of Naruto's jacket gasping for breath. "I thought I was going to die!" A few hurried breaths later she continued. "You two did that in your Nine Tails state. Fortunately no casualties came of it."

Pain had enough as he called the two out. "It is time for us to end this." Both gave him their full attention as he stared at them. "Do you finally understand pain? Unless you come to know the same pain you cannot truly comprehend someone else. And even if you comprehend it you-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Tayuya interrupted.

Naruto and Pain both looked at her taken back as she continued.

"Pain this, pain that. Get the fuck over it. Or be like everyone else and bottle it up."

"That's not healthy, Tayuya." Naruto squeezed in during her rant.

Tayuya paid him no attention as she continued her harangue. "I know about you and that blue-haired woman; how you two were Pervy Sage's students!"

Naruto's mouth fell astonished from the revelation. This guy? He was my sensei's student? And he turned his back on him?

Tayuya could sense the confusion and rage radiating from Naruto. She placed her hand on his shoulder to try and calm his nerves. "I know… This is unforgivable." Looking back at Pain, she popped her neck getting ready for the fight. "Let's end this."

"Even if we beat him, we need to find the real Pain." Naruto replied.

Tayuya gave him a tight lipped smile. "I just figured that out too."

Pain opened his hand to reveal a black chakra rod begin to protrude from his hand. "You two are clever. You figured it out, just like Jiraiya Sensei. It doesn't matter. I will haul your two unconscious bodies out of here."

"I got an idea." Naruto commented to Tayuya. She nodded as the two began to separate, trying to encircle Pain.

Pain didn't allow himself to be put on the defensive and rushed Naruto. With a quick thrust he stabbed only for Naruto to catch the rod and snap it off and throwing Pain over him. Naruto then leaped back towards Tayuya as Pain landed on his feet.

"Alight, here goes." Naruto said slightly unsure of himself. He stabbed himself in his arm with the chakra receiver.

"Kami fuck Naruto! The fuck are you doing? Are you out of your fucking mind?" Tayuya screamed profusely.

Naruto ignored her colorful outburst as he closed his eyes and focused. A second passed before he opened his eyes in triumpth. He plan had worked. "I reversed tracked him using Sage Mode."

Tayuya's eye twitched as she scrunched her nose. "Give me a little warning next time before you stab yourself, Shithead."

Without a word Naruto began to move. Tayuya moved in sync with him without even registering what was happening; when one moved the other would do so as well. Both created two clones that then attacked Pain from multiple directions. He repealed them with his jutsu just as Naruto began his next step.

Thanks to their practice Naruto began to form a Rasengan with only one hand, or so it appeared. Tayuya watched as it began to spiral out and look like a shuriken. He can't do that, it'll hurt him too. Wait… He looks like he's about to…

"Naruto! Are you going to throw that?!"

A slight smile creased across his face as he pushed more chakra into it.

"You sneaky bastard. Well, I got something up my sleeve too." Tayuya began to form her special jutsu as well. Fire began to engulf her Rasengan before enlarging into a large fireball. Right as Naruto threw his Rasenshuriken, Tayuya shot her secret jutsu.

"Rasenbomb!"

Naruto was amazed she had learned to throw her own jutsu just as he had. The two were both slack jawed as the two jutsus merged into one massive spiraling eviscerating sphere of blue fire scorching the ground as it hurled toward Pain. The two's respective wind and fire chakra meshed perfectly as the mortar barreled toward their foe.

Pain could feel the heat instantly begin to pound him as the miniature-like sun formed. "Almighty Push!" The jutsu collided with his and began to dissipate. In that instant, Pain knew that he couldn't survive another combination attack like that again. The black chakra rods protruding from his skin were slightly melted from the sheer heat of the attack.

His jutsu ended only to see another Rasenbomb launching toward him like a missile. Pain didn't have time to blink before the jutsu smashed into him and erupted into flames as it threw him back towards a wall of rocks.

Tayuya took a deep breath as she grabbed onto Naruto's arm. He looked at her and saw the violet above her eyelids had dissipated, signaling that she was out of Sage Jutsu chakra. Using her last burst of strength, Tayuya threw Naruto towards Pain before collapsing to her knees in exhaustion. "Finish it, Naruto."

Pain felt his skin melting off of his body like hot candle wax as the fire continued to consume him. Enough time had passed to allow him to use his jutsu again. With a push he fanned out the flames that had swarmed him.

The flames had scorched his throat and lungs but he still stood defiant to Naruto and Tayuya. In a raspy coarse voice he spoke, "Why won't you just give up?"

In that moment, Naruto made contact with his Rasengan into the chest of the charred corpse that was Pain.

"Give up on trying to make me, give up!" Naruto yelled as he pushed his jutsu into Pain's chest.

Pain's burned mangled body fell as Naruto came to a rest on his knee. Tayuya walked over to him still catching her breath and wiping a mixture of blood, sweat, and dirt from her face. The two looked at the seared face of their adversary as she helped him stand back on his feet.

"… Wasn't that from Pervy Sage's book? That cheesy thing you said?"

Naruto grinned and nodded. "Yeah it was."

"It sounded worse in person, but for you… I'll let it slide this one time… Shithead."

Silence permeated the air as the two tried to find solace in those few fleeting moments. The battle pushed them both to the brink. Each knew that by themselves, they probably wouldn't have been able to beat him.

"We still have the real Pain to deal with." Naruto said distantly.

Tayuya knew the real Pain was still out there and responded, "Let's go kick his sorry ass."

"I want to do this alone."

Tayuya almost smack Naruto in the back of his head for even thinking of such a thing. "Oh no, we're in this together. I'm feeling the same thing you are. We are doing this. Understood, Shithead?"

Naruto gave her a smirk of acceptance. He knew she was right. He couldn't' do it alone now. If he did and Pain didn't kill him, she would.

Shikaku and Inoichi ran out of the forest towards the battlefield to find the two standing over the corpse of Pain.

"You beat him?" Shikaku asked tentatively.

"We're going to find the real Pain and talk to him. Let us do it alone." Naruto replied.

"What?!" Inoichi hollered. "Don't get me wrong, we're all grateful that you defeated Pain, but just talk? No! It's too late for that."

"Then tell me!" Naruto spat back. "Tell me if we go and destroy the real Pain, all his minions, his village, and everything else, will that settle things?"

"What good will talking to him do?" Inoichi rebutted. "Pain is an enemy that destroyed the whole Leaf! We can never forgive him!"

"Yeah! I know! We feel the same as you do. You think we forgive him?"

Tayuya interjected, "We want to rip his fucking head off his bitch neck and piss down his throat whole. We want to crush his spine into dust for what he did to the village. That mother-"

Inoichi was a bit taken back by her anguish but asked, "Then why do it?"

Shikaku calmly jumped into the exchange. "Let him do it, Inoichi. They defeated the other Pains. Let them do it."

Both Naruto and Tayuya gave their thanks and began to head towards Pain's location. The two weren't really sure what lay ahead for them and yet they were not going to be deterred. Pain could not have the chance to escape or else he might attack the village again. This would be their final confrontation.

As the two approached Pain's hiding location both felt a combination of nervousness mixed with a bit of adrenaline. Naruto gave Tayuya a nod showing that he was ready for whatever was going to happen. Tayuya returned the nod just wanting to get it over with already. She was rather confident that they would defeat Pain.

The two arrived at the large fake paper tree Pain was residing in and stepped inside. It was rather dark; dark enough that it took both of them a few moments to adjust to the light. Out of the blackness they saw them, Pain's Rinnegan eyes piercing through the shadows at the duo. Both of them adjusted quickly and saw him hooked up to some contraption with chakra rods protruding from all over his back.

Konan was between the two, still injured from her battle with Tayuya. She had a tired look to her eyes. Pain looked at Naruto and questioned him.

"Do you hate me?"

"Yeah we fucking hate you. Why the fuck wouldn't we?!" Tayuya shouted.

Naruto almost felt the need to calm her down but he agreed with her. Tayuya was just echoing his own thoughts with more colorful vocabulary. Naruto took a step forward prompting Pain to react.

Pain shot out two rods that pierced the two. Both Tayuya and Naruto felt the black chakra rods burn in their stomachs as blood began to seep out through the wounds.

"This close, I can control each of you easily with my chakra." Pain began to gloat. "Don't worry, it's not a fatal wound-"

He stopped speaking as Naruto and Tayuya both looked up into his eyes but their intense glares wasn't what stopped him. He could see the Nine-Tails eye's staring into his own. That stare would have intimidated any other man alone, but it was all the more menacing as he could feel its intense hatred emanating from inside Naruto and Tayuya.

"That was on purpose?" Pain asked incredulously.

"I… I came here to talk to you and to find out how I feel." Naruto replied.

Tayuya gave him a slight look as she chastised him, "Fuck that Naruto, we can talk about our feelings later. Let's finish it right here."

Naruto began trembling as he looked back at Tayuya. "I can't forgive him. I want to kill him so damn badly."

"So let's just do it already."

"Pervy Sage said the day will come when people will truly understand one another."

Tayuya clinched her fists as she remembered back to that day. "He said he wanted us to find the answer… He had faith in us."

Anger filled up Pain's chest as he remembered his old sensei. In a bitter tone he responded, "It's too late for Jiraiya's idealism now."

"No… it's not." Naruto replied. "I just have to know something that's been bugging me. If you were his apprentice, how the hell did you turn out this way? I need to know before I give you my answer."

If Tayuya wasn't so focused she would have been slightly dumbstruck that she had influenced his language just a little.

Pain responded, "You answer? What could that answer even be?"

"I don't know... I want to hear your story."

Konan looked at Pain, wanting him to just finish the two off but he didn't.

"I want to hear your answer… Fine. I'll show you our pain."

Shizune found Kakashi's body among the rubble of the village. A slight choked gasp caught her throat as she stared momentarily at his unmoving body hoping that he might move, but she knew better. Slowly she walked towards him each step becoming more difficult and slower like she was trudging up a snow covered mountain that was getting deeper with every step.

Standing over his body left an empty void in her that she couldn't describe. A shiver shot up her spine snapping her out of her comatose state as her legs buckled forcing her to collapse to her knees. A torrent of tears streamed down her face as she gazed at his lifeless body. Shizune's mouth fell open to let out her agony but no sound escaped.

Some time passed before her misery strengthened and she let her face fall into Kakashi's chest. Shizune squeezed his vest as hard as she could as she sobbed feeling like her whole world had been taken from her. Through sobs and near convulsions she wailed in agony almost pleading to him.

"You can't be dead! You can't be… You just need some rest… P-please just wake up. Please. I need you."

His solemn expression didn't yield any response prompting her become angry. With tears still streaming from her eyes she raised her head and pounded on his chest clenching her teeth in anguish.

"Damn you Kakashi. Why are you such a jerk? You can't leave me like this. I never got to tell you how I really feel. What the hell is your problem? Why couldn't you beat him? Why couldn't you come back to me?"

Kakashi's eyes were devoid of any hint of light as she pleaded to him. His body shook as Shizune pounded on his chest grasping at any chance that he might awake and quell her torment. His vest was drenched from her tears that wouldn't stop flowing.

Her tone shifted to one of exasperation as the anger left her body. "If only I was here… Why did it have to be you? If you would have just let Choji… Damn it. That isn't right. You did what I would have done… Maybe I can do something?"

Kakashi remained motionless as she lifted him up in a hug. "Please don't take him from me. I'll do anything…" Shizune's voice began choking up as she hugged him and let out a whisper. "Please don't go…"

Tears spilled on his back as she squeezed him against her body and pressed her face into his shoulder. "I can't do this. I won't accept this." Shizune held him for what could have been hours as she wept feeling like her heart really had been ripped out of her chest.

A green light shot up high into the sky in the distance before fanning out over the village before different streaks began raining down. Each different streak of light shot into a lifeless body. Shizune looked up and saw it rain down all around her including on Kakashi's body.

"She's great dad… More than I deserve."

Kakashi's dad nodded in understanding. "You regret it? Leaving her?"

A sigh escaped from Kakashi as he mulled the question over. "There are many things I regret. Shizune… I wouldn't change a thing. I just wish I had the chance. The chance to show her how much she meant to me."

"Maybe in the next life. I never thought we'd both die so young." His father said solemnly. "Though, not as young as your mother…"

"You did what you could. You broke the rules for all of our sakes. I'm proud of you dad." Kakashi replied.

A green glow enveloped Kakashi surprising the two of them. "What is this?"

His dad let out a small smile somehow knowing what was happening. "Looks like you get another chance, son." He let a few moments pass before adding, "Don't make my same mistakes. Seek her, embrace her. Don't let her go. You don't want to end up here like me waiting for your son, pondering every decision that led you to that point."

Kakashi and his dad approached each other and looked one last time grateful for the reunion. They embraced for only a few moments before his dad let go of him. "Go back to them, Your story isn't over yet. You still have a lot to do."

"Thank you, dad… I guess I'll see you around."

He turned around and walked away from the fire leaving his dad by himself watching his son proudly.

"Looks like I can finally move on. I get to see your mother again. Protect them, son. I believe in you. And thanks… Thanks for forgiving me."

Kakashi blinked only to see darkness. He could also feel tears streaming down him and his face being smothered. Where am I? Slowly he tilted his head to look up to see Shizune holding him in a hug.

"Shizune?"

Shizune's heart stopped as she stared into his eyes. Her tears continued seemingly just pouring out with no emotion apparent in her face. "K-Kakashi? Y-you… You're alive?"

Instead of answering Shizune, he hugged her back and pulled her into his body. "I'm sorry…"

Shizune squeezed him harder without letting out a word.

"I'm sorry I never told you. I love you Shizune."

At that point Shizune began wailing as she nearly squeezed the life out of him again. Kakashi just held on patting her on the back trying to soothe her.

"Don't leave me again… Not without saying goodbye." She croaked.

"I should have told you sooner. I thought you may know but I never said it. I won't make that mistake again."

"I love you too, Kakashi. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Kakashi started to stand up sending Shizune into a frantic.

"It's alright. I feel fine now…" Then he looked around and noticed the whole village was destroyed. "What happened?"

"Pain used a jutsu to destroy the village. Naruto came to stop him."

"Naruto." Kakashi pondered that for a moment before continuing. "Is he okay?"

"The Nine Tails was released. We're not really sure what's going on now. Tayuya came to help but it was released from her as well."

Kakashi began to walk towards where the green light emanated from.

"You'll die if they're both on the loose."

Both of his hands rested on his hips as he looked down at the ground knowing what he had to do.

"I might… I'm sorry but I have to try."

Shizune pulled down his mask and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. His baffled expression almost cracked her serious composer.

"You're not going without me. I'm not letting you die again."

Kakashi nodded and the two began to head over towards where the green light was dissipating.

Pain finished his jutsu heaving heavily from the exertion.

"Dying like trash. Never ending hatred. Pain that never heals… That is war. That is what you must face, Naruto… Tayuya. My role is over now. Naruto… You can really…" Pain's voice trailed off as his eyes slowly slid shut.

They all watched as his last breath left his body leaving him limp in front of them. Naruto wasn't really sure what to feel about him; Pain had caused so much agony and destruction but he had brought everyone back. He may have redeemed his actions at the end but it still didn't erase what he had done to his sensei, Jiraiya.

Konan stood beside him outside of the paper tree and began to use her paper to cover his body. "Nagato believed in you, so I believe in you too. Amegakure will help you make that dream come true."

She then held out her hand as more pieces of paper swarmed together to form a bouquet of flowers. "I hope for you these will be flowers of hope that never die."

Naruto reached out to take the flowers and instead got a knee in the stomach causing him to keel over and knocking the wind out of him. Before he could react a swift kick met the side of his head sending him hurling through the air into a tree.

The assailant turned her attention towards Konan and clotheslined her before she could react to the interruption. Without breaking her stride the blonde woman threw several kunai with explosive tags towards Tayuya making her dodge and create distance between the two.

The woman then flipped over and landed next to Naruto and stomped on his head before he recovered knocking him unconscious. It went by so fast Tayuya would have missed it if she had blinked. She recognized the woman instantly; long flowing blonde hair, the speed, and the brutality the woman possessed was all too familiar.

The woman looked down at Naruto's body and began talking aloud. "It doesn't matter how strong you are. All it takes is one good hit to get knocked out." She turned her attention towards Tayuya and said with a vexing smile, "So… if isn't that little bitch I let go last time. What was your name again? Tayuya?" She said in a mocking tone.

Tayuya glared at her with eyes full of malice remembering their last encounter. "Kuki." She then glanced at Naruto seeing he really was out for the count. Shit, I can't take her now. I'm too wiped already. Even if I was up to full strength I still don't think I could take her alone. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Konan began to recover as she started to stand back up. She was visibly weak from her fight with Tayuya and the surprise attack certainly did not help. "What are you doing here? And why did you attack me?"

Kuki waved her off as she replied, "Tobi sent me here to pick up something that belongs to him. Now, where are those eyes?"

A sense of panic enveloped Konan as she looked at Tayuya. "Tayuya, we can't let her have Nagato's eyes. Hate me if you will but she cannot take-"

"Shut it." Kuki calmly said as she appeared behind Konan.

Tayuya could only watch as Kuki backhanded Konan sending her hurling into a tree like Naruto had.

"Now it's just us again. You really need to start hanging out with stronger friends. Those two didn't even see me coming." She finished with a slight chuckle before becoming completely serious.

"Naruto isn't weak, you just took us by surprise." Tayuya refuted.

Kuki paid her no attention as she seemingly teleported over to Naruto.

Shit she's faster than before.

She grabbed and lifted Naruto's head by his hair. "This guy doesn't seem too tough." Tayuya inched forward only to stop as Kuki pressed a kunai to his throat. "Calm down little girl. Another step forward and I carve his face." Kuki looked at his face causing hers to scrunch up. "His face…"

"Don't you fucking touch him!" Tayuya yelled almost seething. The rage filling her body was almost beginning to boil over and cause the Nine-Tails to break free again.

"Wh-who is this boy? Tell me." Kuki replied.

Thoughts began flooding Tayuya's mind as she tried to think of a plan to get out of the situation. Even at full strength I probably couldn't take this bitch on and in my current condition, there's no way. I'm all out of chakra... It's suicide. She's thinking the same thing too. But she has Naruto…

Her body moved on its own as she threw a kunai towards Kuki. The blonde woman dodged it with ease as Tayuya simultaneously went straight towards Kuki who almost laughed at her feeble attempt to rescue the boy.

Pulling a move out of Naruto's book, Tayuya went for a straight frontal attack on the heels of her kunai blade soaring towards Kuki and poured all the strength into one last punch. Kuki batted it away right as she sidestepped the kunai. With another swift kick, Kuki rammed Tayuya's face and she turned into a puff of smoke.

Kuki registered it was a shadow clone instantly right as the kunai disappeared revealing the real Tayuya. She then used her arms to pull Kuki into a chokehold with one hand pressing the woman's face down towards Tayuya's forearm. At the same time she also wrapped both her legs around Kuki's stomach trying to squeeze out the air out from her.

In slight astonishment Kuki took a few uneasy steps back as she felt her breath being choked away. It was only momentarily as she began to try and pry Tayuya's arm from around her neck. In a slightly choked voice she bellowed, "You think you can choke me out? This is your big plan?"

Tayuya squeezed with all her strength not wasting any energy in answering Kuki. I have nothing left. If I can hold on long enough, maybe Naruto will wake up. Please…

A chuckle escaped from Kuki's throat as she pulled a kunai from her pouch and rammed the tempered steel into Tayuya's kneecap. The smallest grunt escaped through her clenched teeth as she felt the kunai imbed deep into her knee. Kuki's face began to turn red as the veins in her forehead began to protrude from the lack of oxygen.

Wasting no time, Kuki pulled out another kunai and slammed it into Tayuya's other knee. Her leg's grip lessened slightly which allowed Kuki to pull Tayuya by her head, pull her over her, and slammed her into the ground. A stomp followed, which Tayuya barely managed to roll out of the way only to get caught with a devastating kick to the ribs from Kuki.

A gasp of pain fell from Tayuya's mouth as she rolled through the air before landing with a hard thud on the ground. Before she could even think to move, Kuki was already on her and grabbed her by her neck. Tayuya was slammed against a large tree as the blonde woman then stretched out Tayuya's arm and slammed another kunai into her open palm, pinning it to the tree. She could only watch as Kuki pierced her with several more kunai in her arms and other hand, leaving Tayuya stretched out slightly above the ground.

More laughs came from Kuki as she watched Tayuya heaving in pain. "This is only going to get worse for you. I made sure that the kunai were under your bones in your arms so they can rest nicely on them. Don't want your flesh ripping through them too quickly."

The only sound that Tayuya could make was a muffled cry as she tried to move her body. However, it was no use. She was at her limit; she was physically exhausted and out of chakra. Tayuya could only watch as the blood drained out from where she was stabbed.

Kuki strolled over to Tayuya and punched her arms between the kunai blades causing Tayuya to grimace in pain. "Just breaking your arms in a few places, don't mind me."

Struggling, Tayuya could only wallow in pain.

"I'm going to make this hurt, so please try to hold on for as long as you can." Kuki said coldly.

A punch to her face was the first blow. A kick to her side followed. Kuki mercilessly beat Tayuya as hard as she could. Every punch and every kick was just shy of having the power to knock Tayuya out from the pain. Each time Tayuya tried to look up at Kuki, she was met with a blow to the face. She hung there waiting for the beating to end. Between each thought another strike landed.

Fuck… This is it. I can't move my legs. My knees are broken… Pretty sure a few ribs are and I know my nose is. Just end it already. You won already, you bitch. Sorry, Naruto. Sorry I couldn't-

Another punch to the face broke her line of thought. Kuki stood laughing as she watched the the redhead's body go limp. Only the muffled sound of small gasps gave any indication that Tayuya was still alive. Kuki walked over to Naruto and yelled out to Tayuya.

"If you don't want me to kill him, find the strength to lift your head."

Tayuya slowly lifted her head in a daze from the beating and the blood loss.

"Good you're awake." Kuki lifted Naruto's head by his hair. "Now tell me, who is this kid."

"Naruto…" Tayuya replied faintly. She knew there wasn't really any way out of this situation. All she could do was bide time to see Naruto for the last few moments she had.

Kuki looked at him mulling the name in her head. "Naruto… I know him from somewhere. I don't know exactly but I know him." Naruto's face was then slammed against the ground. "You remind me of someone I hate!" She kicked Naruto repeatedly causing Tayuya to squirm with the kunais tearing her skin.

"Oh! You don't like seeing him get hurt?" Kuki kicked him again watching the turmoil on Tayuya's face.

Tayuya could hear bones breaking with every kick. Naruto was still unconscious and helpless to the beating he was receiving. Kuki began to become more restless as she grabbed Naruto by the throat.

"I'll just crush your windpipe and get this over with."

Tayuya opened her eyes as she felt the natural energy flowing through her. She lunged towards Kuki causing all of the kunais that had her pinned to the tree to rip through her flesh entirely. It was in vain as Kuki easily knocked Tayuya to the ground by grabbing her by the throat.

"You gathered your natural energy while you pinned up there, huh? Pretty smart." Kuki said as she began to squeeze her throat tighter.

I have nothing left… I knew that was a long shot. I only had it in me to break free. My body is all shredded up. Fuck.

Kuki punched her a few times before she noticed Naruto begin to stir. She quickly rolled off of Tayuya and pinned Naruto to the ground with her knee in his throat. His eyes sprang open as the kunoichi began to strike him in the face relentlessly. He couldn't move as his eyes began to swell and blood soaked the ground. He looked over and made eye contact with Tayuya.

A small gasp escaped from Tayuya which Kuki took notice of. She looked at Tayuya and grew frustrated. "Don't look at me like that! You are so pathetic. You look like you want to kill me but you're powerless to stop me." The two looked at each other, Tayuya defiant even though the situation was hopeless. "Fine!" Kuki snarled.

She used her full strength to unleash a barrage of punches to Naruto scouring his body. Both Naruto and Tayuya knew at least one of his lungs had collapsed. Kuki continued striking Naruto as he lied helplessly. After a few minutes of the assault Naruto passed out unable to maintain consciousness.

The blonde kunoichi got off of Naruto and moved to crouch over Tayuya. She grabbed her by the face to force her to look at her.

"I'm feeling generous, get rid of that insolent look in your eyes and accept defeat and I'll let the last thing you see be his face."

Tayuya didn't hesitate as she spit blood into Kuki's face.

"So be it." Kuki said emotionlessly. "Let the last thing you see be me."

Kuki reached both of her hands to Tayuya's face as she began to dig each one of her thumbs into Tayuya's eye sockets.

"Stop!" a voice yelled from nearby.

Kuki looked over to see a leaf kunoichi standing in the clearing. With a huff she ripped her thumbs from Tayuya as a scream echoed through the distance.

The kunoichi quickly observed her two comrades lying on the ground. She could see both were severely beaten and barely breathing. "Naruto-kun…"

"Oh you know them?" Kuki asked as she licked her thumbs clean of blood. "If you can beat me you can take them back. That red haired one over there is missing a few pieces though."

The kunoichi sprinted towards the assailant disregarding her own safety. "Twin Lion Fists!"

Kuki let out a laugh as she sidestepped each one of the strikes.

"A Hyuga, huh? I must say your clan is renowned their visual prowess. Too bad your body won't be able to catch up, girl."

As she missed another strike she replied, "My name is Hinata Hygua and I will not allow you to harm them any longer!"

Tayuya's mildly regained consciousness to find herself in isolated darkness. "HInata?" she mumbled to herself. I can't see anything… And I heard her voice. She needs to get out of here.

The slight smirk turned to a frown on Kuki's face at the young kunoichi. In between effortless dodges she said in a annoyed tone,"I don't have time for anymore games. I'm ending this."

Hinata struck again narrowly missing. She found herself in disbelief as she watched Kuki grab her by her right arm and heave a kunai in the other hand in one swift motion downwards. Blood splattered in every direction as Hinata stumbled to her side. Instantly the pain rushed in as she looked in shock at Kuki holding her arm. It only took a split second for it to click as she looked to see her arm missing at the elbow.

Reacting quickly she pulled off her headband bearing the symbol of the leaf and using her good hand and her teeth she tightened it into a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

"Are you alright!" Tayuya croaked aloud.

"Still alive?" Kuki sneered. "Well I'll give you the play-by-play. Your little friend here has her hands tied at the moment. Or should I say her hand."

Tayuya could tell how Kuki emphasized that last bit what the bad pun meant. In a weak tone she called out, "Get out of here. Just go, Hinata. While you still can."

Hinata stood up slowly on unsteady legs as she took steady breaths.

"I won't let her take Naruto-kun. Even if it kills me."