Naruto's POV

"What the...?!" Some sort of light was coming from where the real Madara was. "This chakra... This can't be..." I trailed off. "Nue's chakra." Sasuke said, finishing my sentence for me. "Yeah, I can feel it." Sakura agreed.

"What's happening over there?" I asked, then looked at Eun as she had stopped fighting. "Eun, what's wrong?" I asked. "It's her... Nue..." She faced me and I saw tears trailing down her face. "Nue's crying... Why?" She asked, quietly. "Something... is definitely wrong."

Orochimaru's POV

"Karin, Suigetsu. Stay with Tsunade. I'm leaving now." I informed. "Huh? Where are you going?" Suigetsu asked. "To save Nue. I can feel her chakra; It's unstable and dangerously increasingly at a tremendous pace." I informed.

"He's right. Nue's chakra is definitely not right." Karin said. "What's happened to her? Why is her chakra unstable?" Suigetsu asked. "She's probably witnessed a loss." I said. "A loss?" Karin repeated. "Do you know what Nue's species is?" I asked.

"Of course. She's a nue."

"Like her name?" Suigetsu asked.

"A nue is a very rare being that humans believed to be myth. When I was affiliated with the Leaf, Tsuande and Jiraiya thought nues didn't exist, but I believed they did exist. After we came across the Houjuu Clan, I began to study nues. They had many abilities, but the one thing that they were not capable of was handling their emotions. In fact, toying with their emotions was dangerous. Now that I think about it, Nue was never good at handling her emotions, let alone handling a loss," I said.

We all looked towards the sky when a bolt of lightning was struck towards the area of the war. "Judging by the amount of power coming from Nue's direction, I take it she's definitely just witnessed a loss, somebody dear to her probably." I guessed.

'At this rate, Nue will kill anyone in sight. I've got to get her to snap out of it' I thought. "Stay with Tsunade. I'll be right back." I said before running off to find Nue.

When I got to where Nue was, I saw her in her curse mark form as she was fighting the first and second Hokage. Meanwhile, Madara was just standing there, casually. He must be the cause of Nue's instability. I looked at the ground, noticing Maria's corpse.

"No doubt, he's the one who killed her," I turned my attention to the first and second Hokage. "It seems you two are having trouble." I mentioned. "We don't need your criticism right now, Orochimaru." Hashirama said with a frown.

"Since you're here, why don't you help us out?" Tobirama suggested. "You need not worry. Just let me handle Nue. But I have to get lead far away from her as possible. With the state she's in, she'll hurt everyone in sight. Or even kill them." I informed.

Nue attempted to attack Hashirama until I got in front of him and stopped her punch. "Don't do this, Nue. It's me you want. Not them." I said, trying to convince her. Nue only glared at me and scratched my arm with her tiger paw.

I leaped back and gripped my wound as blood ran down my arm to my hand. "Looks like giving you that curse mark was a bad idea. You're stronger than you need to be. Come, let's settle this someplace where it's just the two of us." I said with a smirk.

I ran off as Nue ran after me without hesitation. When we were far off from the battlefield, Nue tackled me from behind and twisted my arm behind my back, making me grunt in pain. "Definitely a bad idea of giving you that curse mark." I said, smirking at my own bad decision.

I smashed the back of my head into her face, making get off me and grab at her face while growling. While she was occupied, I got up and looked at Nue as she still had a hold of her face. I must've hit her harder than I thought.

Because she's distracted, I could use this opportunity to remove the curse mark from her. I made my neck grow longer and dash my head towards Nue, biting her on her neck, where her curse mark was. Nue cried out in surprise as she was paralyzed.

I bit down on her skin harder and removed the curse mark from her. "Get. Off!" Nue yelled before grabbing my head and tossing it back to my body. It didn't matter because I already removed the curse mark.

Then, why is she still in her curse mark form? Was it because of her abilities? I couldn't have done something wrong. "I'll kill you!" Nue yelled before dashing forward. I blocked an attack from her as she frowned at me.

"You need to snap out of it, Nue! This isn't you!" I tried reasoning with her. Nue didn't respond as she glared at me and leaped away from me. She flapped her wings and levitated a few feet off the ground. "Lightning Style: 1,000 Volts of Pain!"

"Uh-oh."

I quickly dug myself into the ground to dodge her attack. When I felt attack made impact with the ground, I felt the earth shake. I dug myself to the surface and spotted Nue looking around, trying to find me. "There you are!" Nue said, once she spotted me.

She darted towards me as I did the same, darting towards her. Before Nue could throw a punch, I made the first move and grabbed her throat with both hands. I tackled her to the ground and straddled her waist.

"Don't you understand what you're doing, Nue? Doing this won't bring Maria back." I said. "I know... but at least I can finally share my pain with these wretched humans." Nue said, staring at me with a blank face.

"I won't allow you to give up on yourself, Nue. Maria wouldn't want you to give up."

"Don't talk about Maria like you know her!" Nue snapped. She bit down on my wrist, drawing some blood. I let go of her and she kicked both of her feet into my chest, kicking me off of her. "Listen to me, Nue! It doesn't have to be this way! I can help you!" I said.

Nue frowned before spitting the blood she got from biting me to the ground. "Prove it! Bring back my maid!" Nue ordered. I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'm sorry... but that's impossible." I replied.

"Bullshit! I know you brought back the First and Second Hokage when you attacked the Leaf Village! You even brought them back again along with the Third and Fourth Hokage! Bring back Maria! Now!" She snapped.

Nue created fireballs in her tiger paw-hands, preparing to throw them at me. "Justice will prevail. The Houjuu Clan shall be avenged once and for all." Nue announced. "How can you call this justice, Nue? You're murdering people who haven't done a thing to you!" I said.

"I will stop at nothing to avenge my people." She replied. "You're not the only one who's lost people!" I argued. "You know nothing!" Nue threw the fireballs at me before breathing out a bolt of lightning.

I was able to dodge the fireballs, but I failed to dodge her lightning attack. My body got electrocuted and Nue covered herself with her black feathered wings. When she removed her wings from her body, I noticed her entirely body was covered in flames.

No, not flames. Lava. A technique she must've picked up from the Four-Tails. "Being as gifted as she is, I'm not surprised she was able to master that move." I mumbled to myself. If I used my Shadow Snakes on her, there's no doubt they'll just burn away.

"I would've done anything to live like all of you. But that's not possible, I know that now." Nue said, sounding hurt. Nue leaped in the air and went to kick me, but I managed to duck under her attack.

I kept leaping back as Nue tried to land a strike me while her body was still covered in lava. I punched Nue in the chest and stomach, but as I expected, she didn't give up that easily. Both of us dashed forward and clashed, our forearms pushed against each other as we fought for dominance.

"Do you really think Maria would want this?! Or your mother?! Your father?! Do you think they'd want any of this?! No! They'd want you to make things right, Nue!" I said. "Shut up! Shut up! You know nothing!" Nue screamed at me.

Nue broke the clash by grabbing my shoulders, tossing me up into the air, then kicking me to the ground. I quickly rolled out of the way when Nue aimed to punch me. But due to my quick reflexes, she missed and punched at the ground, creating a small crater.

I stood to my feet as Nue rose to her feet while rubble left her tiger fist when she punched the ground. The lava that surrounded her body dispersed as she looked at me. "You're in pain. I know that, Nue. But this won't-"

"No! No! I don't wanna hear it! I'm done listening!" Nue interrupted me as a black katana appeared in her hand. I summoned a sword of my own as I knew where this was heading. We began to fight each other with everything we had, neither of us giving up.

"All I ever wanted to be accepted! To be loved by the people who feared me! Rejected me! Insulted me! All I wanted was their acceptance! But all I get in return is death! Everywhere I turn, there's nothing but death! I've lost my family and there's nothing I can do to get them back!" Nue yelled as she fought me.

Our blades clashed with each other as Nue and I looked at each other in the eye. "You're a strong opponent, Orochimaru. But I wish you'd just give up already." Nue said. I smirked at her comment. "Now we both know that's never gonna going to happen." I said.

Both of us leaped back at the same time and skidded on our feet. "Time to end this." Nue said as she aimed the tip of her blade. "You won't do it, Nue. I know you. You won't kill me." I said.

"Shut up! You don't know that!" Nue denied. "Really? Then, prove me wrong. Kill me. Right here and now." I challenged, dropping my sword to the ground. "Nani?" Nue frowned slightly like she knew I was testing her.

"You heard me loud and clear. Kill me where I stand if you think I don't know anything like you." I smirked. Nue gritted her teeth as I saw the anger in her eyes. "Damn you!"

Nue ran at me and aimed to swing the katana down on my left shoulder, but she stopped suddenly. I stared at her calmly as she stood there with her head lowered so I couldn't see her face.

"Even back at my hideout, you hesitated to kill me. You had all the opportunities to get your revenge, back then and even now. So, why do you hesitate? What... are you afraid of?" I asked. Nue's shoulders trembled as the katana shook in her hands.

"I'm not afraid. I'm just... so tired. I don't know what to do anymore. So many times, I wanted to kill you. I wanted to kill you for all the pain you've caused me. You killed my father, ruined my life... Yet, why? Why can't I kill you? Why do I keep hesitating?" Nue mumbled.

"Mom's words always repeated in my head, how revenge won't solve anything nor bring back what I've lost. But it doesn't matter because in the end... I'm alone..." Nue lifted her head so she was looking at me as tears ran down her face.

"I have nobody left." She said. "That's not true, Nue. You're not alone." I said. "Lies!" Nue closed her eyes tightly as she shook her head. "Nothing but lies. There's... nobody left! I have no more family! Everyone I loved is gone!" Nue said.

"That's not true," I repeated. I gently pushed her blade away and stepped forward before embracing her. "You were never alone, Nue. Family was right in front of you the whole time, right before your very eyes. You have Naruto, Karin, your friends... and me."

Nue looked at me as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "You?" She repeated before shaking her head while closing her eyes. "No, I don't want your sympathy." Nue said, trying to push me away from her, but I held on tightly.

"It's not sympathy. It's empathy. You see... I've lost someone dear to me as well, so I know what it's like to feel alone." I said. "Empathy...?" Nue repeated as her curse mark slowly vanished while her long silver hair grew short, turning to black.

The tiger skin on her arms vanished, her snake tail disappeared, and her eyes faded from gold to red. "I just want it all to stop. I just... I just..." Nue trailed off as she hugged me and began to cry. "It's okay, Nue. It's okay," I said, hugging her back.

"However, this war isn't over yet. We still need your strength."

"Right," Nue broke the hug and wiped her eyes. "Where's Naruto and the others?"

"They're fighting, Obito." I informed. "I have to get over there and help them." Nue said. "If you're going in that direction, then you'll need this." I said, handing her a scroll. "This is... Mom's scroll!" Nue realized.

"Suigetsu had it, saying he found it the cave where hey found you." I explained. "Thank you," Nue thanked as she put the scroll in her pocket. "Come on, we should hurry."

Nue bit her thumb as she drew blood and performed a few hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!"

The summoning that appeared before was Manda, who I'm fairly sure he was dead. "You were able to revive Manda?" I asked Nue. "It's long a story. I'm gonna have to tell you it once we win this war." Nue said.

"Understood."

"Manda, I need you to take us to Naruto and others."

"Get on and I'll take you there." Manda said. "I see you were able to tame him as well." I said to Nue, impressed. "Nue's my new master now." Manda hissed as we climbed on his head. "Was I not a good master to you?" I asked, smirking.

"Guys, not now. Manda, let's go." Nue said. "Right." Manda replied and slithered towards the battlefield where Naruto and Sasuke were at.