Baa-chan - 9

Orochimaru and Kabuto had forced the fight into a wide, open field outside the town. Kabuto fought toe to toe with Tsunade, his hand glowing with blue chakra that was intended to severe muscles and tendons when striking an enemy.

Tsunade's brute strength was enough to keep the traitorous med-nin at bay; one hit would be more than enough to pulverize him.

After an exchange of unsuccessful blows, Tsunade saw an opening in his defenses and prepared to land a blow to his neck that would kill him instantly.

Kabuto, thinking quickly, slashed his hand with a kunai he had been wielding, and splattered his opponent with his own blood and freezing her in her tracks.

Once she had slowed down, he smacked her away and sent her tumbling to the dirt, "My, my, Tsunade! It looks as if a little blood is still enough to defeat you…"

From afar Orochimaru watched with great amusement, knowing it wouldn't take much longer before Tsunade would crack and agree to his terms.

Kabuto's hand glowed with chakra again, poised to finish her off, but before he could attack a smoke bomb went off in front of his face and forced him to back away.

Naruto and Jiraiya with Shizune and Ton-Ton at their heels stepped in front of the shuddering blonde woman who was too overcome by her fear of blood to continue fighting.

The snake sannin noted such a turn of events was unfortunate, 'They'll only complicate things…'

The blonde boy was not very surprised to see Kabuto wearing a Sound headband, remembering him and his façade during the Chunin Exam, "Gaara-kun knew you were a fraud the second he saw you, Kabuto! I'll make you pay for what you did to him!"

Jiraiya hadn't expected his pupil to know the enemies he was facing so well.

Kabuto smirked at Naruto, not very threatened, "What? I didn't do anything to hurt him! I just helped him get in touch with his inner-self is all."

Shizune kneeled beside Tsunade, covering her with her green jacket, "I'll look after you, Tsunade-sama."

Kabuto returned to Orochimaru's side a moment later, preparing to aid the snake sannin in summoning. Jiraiya, recognizing their strategy from afar, also bit his thumb and formed hand seals, intending to counter their summon with one of his own.

Smoke erupted on both ends of the field: two, huge snakes appeared for Orochimaru and Kabuto, and Gamakichi bounced excitedly on front of Jiraiya, "Hey! It's been a while since I was last summoned! How's it going?"

Jiraiya only sighed, upset that the drug had not yet run its course through his system.

Orochimaru laughed at his former teammate's pathetic display, "Just as worthless as always, Jiraiya!"

"Oh give me a break, Ero-sensei!" Naruto groaned, biting his own thumb, and summoned a massive golden toad with a large sword slung on its back

Orochimaru fell silent with rage upon seeing the Kyuubi container summon a powerful toad for his mentor.

Gamakichi hopped a safe distance away from the battle site while Shizune looked on in awe as Naruto and Jiraiya stood on the larger toad's head, 'How can Naruto be as skilled as Jiraiya-sama in summoning already?'

"Thanks Naruto!" Jiraiya smirked at his student and Naruto nodded to him, getting ready to fight.

The summoned creatures dove for each other. Kabuto and Naruto leapt from their respective sides, meeting in the air and crashed to the ground in a fierce tussle.

Naruto used his shadow clones to probe Kabuto's defenses as he had for Tsunade, using combination attacks that drove him further back towards a rocky outcrop. Three of the clones surrounding Kabuto exploded on a silent cue, barely giving him an inch to evade.

Kabuto ripped through the remainder of the clones with his chakra-enhanced hand, and leapt back in surprise when Naruto had unexpectedly called two fair-sized battle toads. One of them slashed wildly at the sound ninja with its dagger, missing him, and cut into its fellow toad instead.

Naruto growled to himself, upset with their poor performance, 'Their coordination isn't exactly what it normally is!'

Down one toad, Naruto continued attacking Kabuto, grateful when Shizune joined the fray, firing senbon at the enemy. Kabuto knocked Naruto back with a relentless kick that sent him tumbling down a nearby hill, and Shizune seized the opportunity to attack Kabuto, "Ninpo: Poison Fog!"

She spat a cloud of poisonous gas at Kabuto, upset to see he knew better than to make the mistake of inhaling any of it, and then disappeared when the mist subsided, 'Where did he-?'

He countered her attack from underground, grabbing her legs and severing her tendons with a well-placed jab. Shizune fell to the ground helplessly as Kabuto came out of his hiding place, firing senbon at him and missing by inches.

When Naruto kicked Kabuto in the back of the head he did it exceptionally hard.

The silver haired medic tumbled to the ground, his eyes blurred, and hobbled to his feet to take a moment of rest, "You're not much of a threat without your teammates, are you Naruto-kun? You were all big-talk during the exam, but now it seems it'll be hard for you to live up to all of your ideals…"

"You should be worried about fighting just me alone…" Naruto rasped, catching his breath, "But if Haku-kun and Gaara-kun were here with me…you'd be dead already!"

Kabuto focused chakra into his hand again and attempted to charge forward, and was horrified to find an insidiously long tongue had seized him from behind, 'The other toad! He was distracting me so I wouldn't notice I'd forgotten it!'

With Kabuto firmly held in place, Naruto ran ahead with a fully-charged Rasengan, slamming into the traitor fearlessly and getting jabbed in the chest in the process.

Tsunade watched in wonder from her spot nearby, never expecting to see such power and bravery from a young boy.

Kabuto was hurled back, crashing into the toad with a puff of smoke, and sent careening several yards until he slammed into a large boulder.

Naruto smiled, glad that he had won.

A moment later, he coughed up blood as a result from Kabuto's attack, 'This can't be good…'

He fell backwards, unconscious.

"Naruto!" Tsunade struggled to her feet and stumbled over to the blonde boy, knowing something was wrong. She listened for a heartbeat and found that the struggling sound she heard was the sign of the heart muscles tearing, 'I've got to hurry! It's not too late!'

She tore the boy's shirt open and immediately employed her Mystical Palm Healing jutsu to repair the damage.

A fair distance away, Kabuto attempted to heal himself of the injury inflicted upon him, but found the Kyuubi's chakra was just too intense for him to overcome. Frustrated that he'd no longer be able to fight, Kabuto had one last shot at Tsunade's pride, "I cut off his chakra network from the Kyuubi so he can't use its healing abilities! Heh…there's nothing you can do to save him! He's dead!"

"Shut your mouth, Kabuto!" Tsunade howled, unwilling to give in.

Naruto's breathing stopped and she began to panic, 'No! Not yet! I won't let you die. You'll be alright!'

From within the seal, the Kyuubi could sense Naruto's life force waning.

It's beginning to shrink in here. The darkness is growing. It isn't time yet!

Tsunade began to cry hopelessly upon seeing her technique had little effect on his damaged cells. It was the same way she had lost her loved ones, Nawaki and Dan, and she couldn't bear it all over again.

"…hey…Baa-chan…"

She stared down at the boy as he reached up for the necklace dangling around her neck.

"Still up for that rematch?"

He fell quiet but Tsunade knew it was enough confirmation that the Kyuubi's healing powers or perhaps her own had been potent enough to repair some damage that had been threatening Naruto's life, 'Rest now, Naruto. I'll protect you…'

She leaned down, removing her necklace and replaced it on the blonde boy, knowing he had earned it.

Far off to the left, Jiraiya and his toad had managed to corner the two massive snakes Orochimaru had summoned in a smaller but no less effective Dark Swamp. Fending off Jiraiya's blows was much easier for Orochimaru with his opponent still struggling to call upon chakra.

He took notice that Naruto had prevailed over Kabuto and yet remained alive after the struggle, 'I had thought he'd make a fine gift for the Akatsuki after our first meeting. Now it seems the brat has a penchant for interfering! Someone like that should be dealt with swiftly!'

Orochimaru leapt from his place atop his summoned snake and Jiraiya was caught off guard, "Hey!" The toad sage immediately pursued him, only to be wrapped up in his foe's extended tongue and hurled to the ground from their unsafe height.

Jiraiya crashed painfully into the rocky ground below, too stunned to move.

The kusanagi appeared in Orochimaru's mouth and he made a bee-line for Naruto, intent on skewering the defenseless boy, "This ends now!"

His attack was halted when he hit Tsunade instead, stabbing her in the chest. Orochimaru glared at her interference, "Don't be a fool, Tsunade. This boy is too dangerous to be kept alive! Get out of my way!"

"No…" The woman backed away from the sword, determined to keep going, "I'm ready to put my life on the line too…I will protect this boy and the Hidden Leaf Village." Her eyes were crazed as she challenged Orochimaru, "I'll be dead before I let you touch him!"

"It's pointless to risk everything for one worthless village!" Orochimaru yowled, attacking with his sword again, and Tsunade again defended against it, finally able to get past her Hemophobia.

Orochimaru hadn't expected her to recover from her fear so abruptly.

Tsunade, horridly wounded, still refused to be defeated. She tapped into the Yin Seal on her forehead that contained a deep reservoir of chakra, "Sozo Saisei…"

The seal on her forehead elongated into vectoring shapes on her skin and the stored chakra immediately healed all of her wounds. Orochimaru was impressed with her technique, "I should have known you would have created a jutsu of your own after all these years…"

Jiraiya was finally able to shake off his injuries after the drug had left his system and regrouped, seeing Orochimaru had not yet won.

Tsunade wiped a bit of blood from her shoulder, preparing to summon, "Orochimaru…you're going to die here."

Orochimaru quickly reunited with Kabuto, also preparing to summon again, and Jiraiya wasn't about to be left out of the party either.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

The three boss summons appeared at the same time, towering high above the ground.