I watch carefully as the two sparred in close combat. Naruto was good—better than ever before—but I didn't think he could beat Pain alone. Not as he currently was. Which was why I was here, ready to interfere at the opportune moment.

Just as Naruto was about to get the upper hand, Pain lifted his arm, and Naruto's body flung towards Pain's lifted hand. In that moment, I used the enemy's gravitational pull to speed my movement.

I slashed downward at his arm before his hand could grasp Naruto's throat. The scenario, however, did not work out as I had expected. With reflexes faster than lightning, the puppet had taken my actions into account, and positioned his body so that my blade would swing right through Naruto's shoulder.

I narrowed my eyes and manipulated my own momentum, twisting and releasing the blade that would have severed Naruto's arm. It flung out of sight as I landed in a feral position, low on the ground, scowling. Thankfully though, Naruto's shoulder had only been grazed by the blade, not severed.

Instead of acting in his normal, foolish manner, Naruto ignored the wound and narrowed his eyes at me. It was obvious he would like to shout at me, but the priority focus was the enemy who currently had his hand grasped around Naruto's throat. "Get out of here," Naruto rasped through his constricted airways.

Pain took this opportunity to slam Naruto down, stabbing a metal rod right straight through his hands. Naruto flinched and gasped in pain, but kept his focus on me. Through grit teeth, he said again, "Get...out--" I launched myself at Pain, ignoring Naruto. While he did seem changed, more mature and much more powerful, I didn't—I would never—take orders from him. I wouldn't have Naruto to distract Pain anymore, so I would have to find a new strategy of attack. For now, I would have to depend on my physical prowess.

Pain stuck another rod in the side of Naruto's body, and he yelled out in agony again. I advanced faster than a normal eye would be able to perceive, switching gears. Almost without my awareness, encouraged by adrenaline and injuries and facing an opponent so much stronger than me, I reverted back into Claw mode: attack, attack, attack. Pay no mind to blows received, damage inflicted. Continue to attack. The damage sustained would be worth it, if—

Aiden and Aisa's face flashed trough my mind, and, unwillingly, briefly, I wondered what they would do if I died here. Acting like a Claw. My self-preservation lowered to nothing in my bid to gain some ground against a much more powerful opponent. Would they understand? It was either maybe survive here, fighting against someone who could destroy me if I made the smallest mistake, or definitely die when Naruto failed alone and the puppet got the chance to make another massive attack.

I paid for my moment of distraction dearly, receiving a kick to the thigh that immediately cramped my muscles, making every step agony. My cracked ribs hurt like a bitch, blood trailed from my scalp down my face, getting in my eyes (why did head wound always bleed so much?), and there were numerous other small wounds that, as a whole, were hampering my movements.

I had to find a way to turn his ability to my advantage; the only blow I'd managed to land was a slice on his upper arm, and it wasn't effecting him at all. I was too low on chakra from my initial fight; I couldn't use ninjutsu in fear of collapsing from chakra exhaustion. Right now, I desperately needed some sort of distraction, or backup. I thought Kakashi would have sent someone, if not come down himself, despite the fact he had been nearly dead less than half an hour ago. I wondered if he'd passed out again.

Then, I sensed an approaching chakra, and despite the blood coating my face, I smirked. Just what I needed: a distraction.

Of course, Hinata was basically useless. Her strengths did not amount to anything when compared to Pain. I'd always regarded her as so much wasted potential, with her kekkei genkai and all. Never the less, she was exactly what I needed; someone weaker who Pain would focus on taking out quickly before refocusing on me. It would give me time to formulate an effective plan against Pain. No one would have come to my aid, if they hadn't come yet; they must have been explicitly instructed to stay away. Hinata, however... Her not so secret love for Naruto had finally proved useful.

She appeared on the battlefield, kicking off one of the metal rods controlling Naruto's body in one fell swoop. Taking a wide, protective stance in front of Naruto, she calmly assessed the situation. "Cashile! You distract him while I help Naruto!"

"Uh..." I murmured, staring. She didn't seem to recognize that she was going to be the distraction, and that I was not interested in freeing Naruto. Freeing Naruto was an additional task that would distract me from, y'know, surviving against the leader of the Akatsuki. She then illuminated her fists, and Pain's attention shifted to her, and my body reacted almost before my mind processed his awareness move away from me, ready to take advantage of any possible opening.

He tried to slip past me in favor of stopping Hinata, and for his carelessness I managed to slice his thigh, though not deep enough to properly cut the femoral artery. He pivoted smoothly on the injured leg as though the cut didn't even bother him and the other one crashed into my side. I was thrown away, at least one rib smashed. I rolled onto hands and knees, slowly clambering to my feet and gritting my teeth at the feeling of bone shifting and grating against bone. Though I'd gone through much worse as a Claw, the pain coursing through my body made me nauseous, and I reached for my water before remembering that I'd handed it to my genin.

A groan escaped me, full of pain a frustration and exhaustion, and the slug still on my body quietly asked if I was okay.

"Can you heal that?" I asked the slug. "The last thing I need to be dealing with is a punctured lung."

A weak green glow surrounded her for a few moments, which I took to study the fight. Hinata was losing. Badly. "That's all I can do, for now," Katsuya whispered. "It's still very weak, and it won't take much force to break it again, but for now, you don't have to worry about it puncturing a lung."

I took a deep breath, wincing at the still sharp pain. "Alright," I shook my head, trying to clear the dizziness and gather my strength. "Alright."

Despite the pain, I narrowed my eyes on the enemy who was currently fighting Hinata. I wasn't a fool to make the same mistake twice. He was currently in battle with Hinata, but his priority focus was me. He would not let me get another shot in by carelessness. He was smart.

I had to be smarter.

I launched myself at him, synchronizing myself with Hinata. He could handle both of us separately. He could take us on, on equal ground, fighting together. This was the best option... for now. The slug had healed me, but attempting full battle combat made it painfully clear that my body was still in no shape to be sparring, much less a fight to the death. In all but a moment, Pain held out his arms. The force threw me hundreds of meters away from him, and glancing at Hinata opposite of me, she was in the same shit situation.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled, struggling against the metal rods which imposed Pain's will.

Thank God he didn't yell my name. Pain stretched out his arm once more and willed Hinata into his grasp. In two swift motions, he slammed Hinata into the ground, and then he pierced her through the chest with an unforgiving metal rod.

Hinata was dead. My distraction was gone. It was just me and my battered body against pain, now.

"Hinata!" Naruto wailed in utter disbelief and horror. There was a split second where only his wide blue eyes are visible, staring at her broken body, and then, in a thudding beat of my heart, Naruto was gone, the beginnings of the nine-tails was in his place. If Pain hadn't destroyed the village already, Naruto would be doing that right in this moment.

"Fuck," I breathed. "Fuck. Fuck. Did not take this into consideration." I needed to get out of here; I truly was in the way, now. The nine-tails wouldn't care who it trampled to get to it's target. And I was on it's battleground.

I tried to stand but collapsed before I could get my feet under me. This was about to be a really, really shitty way to die. Would I be able to force my body to carry me away from the battlefield in time? I just had to ignore the pain, ignore the pain, ignore the pain.

Then someone was next to me, flinging my arm over their shoulder and wrapping their arm around me before springing away. I looked over as soon as I was set down, glimpsing pink hair.

"Ah... thanks, Sakura," I breathed, wincing in pain. I hadn't expected her to come help me.

"Thank you," she responded, voice choked. "Thank you for at least trying to help. I wouldn't leave you behind." An unspoken again was left off the end of the sentence; her believing I had stabbed myself to save them all those years ago was really paying off now.

I didn't bother to correct her assumption that I helped for Naruto, instead watching her as she assessed my injuries. Let her believe what she believed. She scanned me quickly, lips pressed tightly together, and we both ignored the tremor that ran through the ground from the fight. At least it seemed pain had led the fight away from the village, toward more open ground. Sakura hadn't started healing me, yet, eyebrows pinched together as she prodded at wounds.

"That bad?" I joked.

"Not great," she replied honestly. "You shouldn't have continued fighting. I don't know how you continued fighting!"

"Not much of a choice," I lied. Really though, it was my previous Claw senses that had prompted me to keep fighting. Ignore the damage, get the job done. With the fierce fighting style of a Claw, that self-destructive tactic generally did work. At least when stupid brothers didn't pop into mind and make you worried about dying.

"You could have retreated," she reprimanded. "You could have not gone out there in the first place!"

"And what, sit around, waiting to die if Naruto lost without any help?" I snorted. "No thanks. Can you heal me? I think it's time we find the source of these puppets, and stop the real enemy while Naruto distracts the fake one here." Also, I wanted to distance myself from the unpredictable nine tails. At least a couple hundred kilometers.

It was Sakura's turn to snort. She pushed me down gently but sternly, and I still winced as my back touched the ground. "You are not going anywhere; you're injured, and I need to check to see if there's any internal bleeding. We already have people out there, so don't worry about that. Focus on resting, you've done your part."

As if I would let my life depend on a couple idiots.

But even as I thought that, I could feel every previous battle weighing on me heavily. As the exhaustion hit, the edges of my eyes dimmed and consciousness flickered out.

_______________________________

Hey guys!

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's an update for you!

Um it's BREAK and yet I have TWO ten page papers due as soon as I get back??  Like what? Also I'm working hard on revising my workshop piece for my writing class and low key kinda hoping to get it published but we'll see we'll see.

Anyhow hope you enjoy this chapter! We'll do our best to get the next one up soon!! Please comment for inspiration and motivation!

gaara119

Hey guys!

I woke up on food day hungover and with a sore throat. Fun.

On the bright side, it's breaakkkkk. I have a much nicer break than my counterpart writer. But, so hungover. Agh. hope y'all enjoyed the chapter.

-S

Comment, Vote, and Fan!

Ja ne!

Insomniac_Lullabies