AN: I've been thinking for a while about what I would write here...but the truth is: I have no excuse. I had really bad writers block and I just didn't have it in me to work on this story. However, those of you who are still sticking with me, just joining the story and managed to make it through the first 15 chapters that really need to be re-written, or just got the random email about a story you forgot about a long time ago, you have my most humble apologies.

I tried to makes this one longer for you, hope you enjoy,

colonelZ

Warning: I'm not so great a judging levels of violence, but this chapter is more graphic than the others, and there's more language to. Be reminded that this is rated T.

Disclaimer: No. I do not own Naruto. It would never be updated on time if I did. Ever. (oc's are mine though, hands off unless you have permission.)

This is ridiculous, Lina thought as she decapitated another nameless enemy and moved on to the next one. No matter what she did, no matter how many she killed they just kept coming. Satarima had never outnumbered them this badly. They didn't even have a big enough population to outnumber Fang like this. Their original estimates of the invading army's size had to be wrong. This was more than five thousand. Satarima was working with someone, another village, that was the only option…unless-

Lina stopped short, her kunai inches from the jugular of another soon to be dead Satarima shinobi…except this one looked like it had already been killed. There was a kunai sticking out of the man's forehead and various senbon were imbedded in his flesh in ways she was fairly certain were fatal. So why was he still attacking her?

They're raising the dead. Shit, it's a necromancy jutsu!

She scanned the battle field, sure enough, where dead bodies should have littered the ground, only the corpses of Fang shinobi lay. Okay, think Lina. How do you beat a necromancy jutsu? She yelped as someone jabbed her with a kunai, breaking her concentration. But it was useless anyway. She had never been much of a studier in the academy, preferring to go on instinct. She had no idea what to do.

Kai! Kai studied with Hirui, he would know. With that the wolf girl snarled at her current opponent, ran him through with his own sword, and dashed off to the south turret to find her brother.

Meanwhile Naruto was grappling with an extremely irritating Auoshi. The man just couldn't keep his mouth shut. The blonde could only hope he'd been at least half as annoying to his opponents when he was younger.

Niagra had left as soon as the fight had started to check on Lina, figuring the kid could take care of himself. Naruto wished she'd stayed.

Auoshi shot him a shit eating grin. "Aww, is the Gyro's precious little golden boy getting tired? Can he not fight without his fox?"

Naruto felt rage boiling up inside of him. This was bad, really, really bad. He was exhausted, out of chakra, and Auoshi was slowly gaining the upper hand. Oh, and there was the whole problem where he was about to lose control of the Kyuubi. That was bad too, though he was beginning to wonder if it might be worth it just to watch that grin slide off Auoshi's face.

Auoshi laughed at his frustration and promptly took his legs out from under him. They were wrestling on the ground now, each doing their best to pound the other's face in. It was looking less like a ninja fight and more like a bar room brawl.

Finally he saw an opening and rammed his knee into the smuggler's groin, not even feeling the least bit sorry about the cheap shot. It there was one thing Gyro had taught him, it was that there was no such thing as a fair fight.

Auoshi howled in pain but Naruto kept pressing his advantage, kicking his opponent off of him and charging again.

Lina snarled in frustration, she had failed completely in locating her brother. The south battlefield was in chaos, Satarima was almost to the main wall. A scream caught her attention and she whirled around to her left. She knew that scream.

Kai was fairly angry at himself as he dropped to his knees, a katana through his chest. He couldn't have paid attention for two more seconds? Seriously?

He tried to get back up, really he did. But he didn't have Naruto's endurance; he'd been fighting the blackness around the edges of his vision for a while now. His mind was already at the breaking point; his chakra had been gone for almost an hour. His head was pounding, his body was aching, and hell, it even hurt to breath. So why am I still trying? For the life of him, he couldn't remember.

Panic is a strange emotion, it overwhelms your senses, keeps you from thinking straight. From day one shinobi are taught to fight against the panic, to always remain in control. The teachers never mention how hard that is when you're watching your brother die. Lina was at his side in seconds, pouring the last of her chakra into his body. There was blood everywhere, she'd seen worse in the hospital, but it had never been Kai's blood before. Never this much blood.

She kept her hands on the wound, trying to slow the bleeding. Niagra appeared at her side, touching her nose to Lina's arm in comfort. "We need to get him to one of the medic stations, he can still make it!"

The great wolf nodded, and allowed Lina to pull him onto her back. Lina was about to climb on herself when the wolf stood.

"What the hell are you doing? I'm coming with you!"

Niagra lowered her head to look the girl in the eye. "You, little one, are needed here. I will watch over your brother."

Lina started to protest but her summon didn't give her a chance. She was already weaving her way through the disorder towards the hospital. She didn't need to be here, she needed to be with her brother. She was best medic in Fang and her brother needed the best right now. Gyro's little princess howl in rage and frustration; her worry dissolving into mind numbing madness as she went back to lopping off heads. She would get revenge for her brother, even if she had to dismember ever ninja in Satarima's army with her bare hands.

Sakura felt her stomach drop as she watched Niagra shove her way through doors of the make shift hospital. Her white fur was stained with blood that was still streaming from the shinobi on her back. Please, please don't let it be him. Later, she would feel a little guilty for the sigh of relief that escaped her when she caught sight of Kai's brown locks hanging limply from the wolf's back.

The medic in her jumped to attention, helping the canine gently lower the almost lifeless teenager to the floor. Her hands went straight to the source of the red river, putting pressure on the jagged hole in the left side of his torso. "Hey, I need a gurney over hear, and some space to operate, he's bleeding into his lungs!"

Two nurses heard her over the clamor and rushed over to help. Niagra backed away, shrinking in size to give them room. "Will he live?"

Sakura looked up, slightly surprised by the genuine concern in the wolf's eyes. "I don't know, but I'll do the best I can."

"And just what is your best, child?" She growled.

The kunoichi steeled her gaze, indignant. "The best Konoha has to offer besides the Godaime herself. Now let me work."

Niagra gave her a wolfy smile, seemingly satisfied, and slipped through the doors as the medic-nin refocused on her newest patient.

Kai really was in bad shape. A punctured lung accompanied by various other wounds from the fight would have been a touch and go situation for even anyone. But Kai's body was exhausted, there was no energy left to fight through the pain. And he wasn't breathing.

Sakura worked quickly and began draining the blood from his lungs immediately. There was no way to know how long he'd gone without oxygen. They wouldn't find out until he was stable if there was any damage, but to even get that far she had to get him breathing again.

It wasn't until Lina almost sent a giant shuriken into the side of a giant fox that she came back to her senses.

Taka snarled, and swiftly pinned her to the ground. "Calm down, you annoying child." The fox growled, getting her attention. "You're doing more damage than good and the last thing we need is for both of you to end of in the hospital. Go rest behind the wall until you get your breath back and then fight like a shinobi, not an annoying, mindless monster. I'm going to help Naruto, he's fading fast. I can see the beginnings of a tail."

Lina blinked a few times taking gasping breaths, her lungs burning with lack of oxygen. She turned her head, surveying the result of her blind rage. Death littered the ground, her body and her weapons covered in blood. The surrounding area was a complete massacre, but judging from the pain spreading through every area of her body, she hadn't come out unscathed. Everything hurt so much that she wasn't even sure if she could move. Her mind drifted back to the collection of corpses surrounding her; there was something she needed to remember…

"Taka, wait!"

He turned his head back to the gasping girl, already on his way to the southwest turret.

"It's a necromancy jutsu! Every time we kill them, they just get right back up a few minutes later. I don't know how to stop it!" She glanced back over at the dead surrounding her as she spoke. At least those bastards were staying dead.

The fox nodded. "It's quite simple. Just kill the necromancer," he yelled back as he trotted off through the carnage towards Naruto.

Lina let her head drop, no longer able to find the strength to hold it up. At least someone knew what was going on. Kill the necromancer…ridiculous, she should have thought of that.

A white head filled her vision, Niagra's yellow eyes dark with fury. "What am I going to do with you? What were you thinking, you idiot…"

The rant was muffled as the wolf took a mouthful of Lina's jacket and began dragging her toward the wall. The message was lost anyway; the girl had already given in to exhaustion. Her last charge had earned her the right to sleep.

Naruto felt the Kyuubi's chakra flowing through him, but he really didn't care. He just wanted Auoshi dead, was that really too much to ask? He just wanted this whole mess to be over and go find Sakura.

He really didn't understand why Auoshi didn't just use ninjutsu on him. Surely the man must have realized his advantage. Instead, the smuggler was still just fighting hand to hand. Not that he wasn't wining anyway, but the battle could have been over fifteen minutes ago if Auoshi had just-

Naruto's train of thought came to an abrupt halt as a swift kick into his chest brought him to his knees. That had definitely broken some ribs. He coughed violently, tasting blood. Yep, definitely some ribs. He reacted as quickly as he could, fighting through the pain to tackle Auoshi's legs and bring him to the ground.

By luck, mostly, Naruto managed to grab a hold of him from behind, trying to pin the kicking and punching smuggler beneath him. The toxic chakra of the Kyuubi was burning Auoshi's skin as it quickly surrounded both fighters. The man howled in pain.

Naruto growled, adjusted his grip and twisted. There was a sickening snap, and the screaming stopped.

So did almost all of Satarima's advancing army.

The battle ground stilled as the resurrected shinobi finally fell. The remaining few quickly started dashing for the trees as soon as they realized their failure. Fang quickly gave chase, letting their night vision guide them.

Naruto was completely oblivious. The Kyuubi's chakra was being drawn back inside the seal, leaving its host devoid of energy.

"Well, I think we've found our annoying necromancer," Taka joyfully concluded as he watched humans scurrying around him, his eyes easily seeing through the dark. His humor was lost on Naruto.

His eyes narrowed. "How long have you been there?"

The fox's ear twitched. "About five minutes."

"AND IT DIDN'T OCCUR TO YOU TO HELP ME?"

"No, not really. That would have been much more annoying. You need to improve your taijutsu by the way, you almost let him win."

"IF I COULD MOVE RIGHT NOW, SO HELP ME I WOULD-"

Taka's ear twitched and his gray eyes widened. He hadn't been aware that the kit knew that kind of language.

AN: There you have it, the battle at Fang is finally over, though this story is far from it. I'll wrap up a few loose ends next chapter about what exactly went on. Feel free to ask questions.

Please review. Please, please, please review. Consider it your good deed for the day.

Hope you enjoyed,

~colonelZ