Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 23: Children of Destiny!

"Give up... himself?" Tsunade mumbled. Jiraiya nodded.

"That's right. And that's why he so hastily rushed to the explosion site as you have just seen. It was a friend of him who was in danger, and he couldn't just stay there and watch his friend go into danger. To him, other people are always more important than himself."

Tsunade grimaced. What kind of human has that kind of ideal? That was completely stupid! Throwing his own life for other people...

She was going to open her mouth to protest, but then hesitated. She realized saying anything now was useless.

Because isn't that what Nawaki and Dan, as well as all Hokage, even her grandfather and granduncle, believed in? The Will of Fire?

And hadn't she also believed in it, some time ago?

No, she has abandoned it long before, when her last hope in life, Dan, was killed...

Then why... why is she feeling so... so weak, so ashamed right now?

"Let's go help Naruto, then!" Sakura yelled, and Sasuke and Jiraiya nodded.

The Sage turned back to Tsunade the last time. "Tsunade, it's alright if you won't come. But remember this: we Konoha shinobi won't ever abandon a friend in need, no matter who they are. Yeah, even you, Tsunade."

And the three shinobi of Konoha leapt away, leaving Shizune and Tsunade alone in the clearing.

"Tsunade-sama..." Shizune reached out worriedly, tut Tsunade was too busy thinking to hear her.

Damn it... What should I... What should I do now...?

The streets of Takayama Town felt a gust of wind rushing across them when a golden figure blurred through them to the other side of the town.

No no no... Why is this happening...? Fuu-chan...!

Naruto cursed under his breath while running with all his speed to the site of explosion. That huge spike of chakra could be of no one else but Fuu. It was tailed beast-level chakra. But what kind of enemy did she have to fight that was able to force her to use Chomei's power...?

What if it was... what if it was the Akatsuki...? He still hasn't warned Fuu about them yet...

Naruto cursed himself, and pushed even more chakra into his feet.

Then the powerful chakra suddenly, abruptedly vanished.

Naruto's heart dropped like a rock. That could only mean...

No...!

His legs moved even faster, and five seconds later, he burst through the tree range, and arrived at the scene of the battle.

The grassy clearing Fuu liked to hang out in was completely wrecked. The waterfall and the pond were destroyed, and craters had formed on the ground. And in the middle of the largest one...

In the crater, the familiar form of Kakuzu, the one who was supposed to be killed, wearing the Akatsuki symbolic cloak, towered in front of Fuu's body, which was impaled everywhere with the black tendrils coming from his arms.

Seeing Naruto arrive, the Akatsuki member sneered.

"So the Nine-Tails is here too... Very good... I was looking forward to another chance to kill his sensei... and now they come to me on their own will like this, eh?"

But Naruto didn't hear anything the man had just said. The rage from seeing his friend lying near death on the ground had exploded from inside his brain, muffling his ears from every other sound. He could hear the Tailed Beasts inside him yelling something, but he didn't care. Right now, his only concern was only the girl lying on the ground, and the bastard who had done this to her...!