Minato's Daughter

Chapter 39 - Death

Miyuki

I managed to locate the real Naruto who was flying directly towards us. I braced myself and caught him, feeling his body slam into mine. I felt the wind get knocked out of me as I dug my feet into the ground, bringing us to a stop. I tried to hold on to him, dropping his as gently as I could before I fell forward, gasping in pain.

"Are you two alright?" Lord Fukasaku asked as he and Lady Shima hopped over.

"Yeah, Miyuki sensei caught me just in time," Naruto reassured as he pushed himself off from the ground.

"I'm... Alright..." I managed to wheeze out.

"That was a good catch," Lady Shima praised as I coughed out a thanks.

The three large toads began to battle the Pains while I tried to catch my breath.

"Miyuki sensei, are you alright?" Naruto asked, sitting up.

"Yeah... Couldn't be... Better..." I said, giving him the best reassuring smile that I could.

He didn't look convinced and I was sure that if the roles had been reversed, I'd have the same expression on my face as he did now. Before we could say anything else, all of us turned to see the three giant toads go flying. Pain had used shinra tensei again, knocking all three toads unconscious.

"This is bad," Lady Shima said, seeing the situation in front of us.

"We should use genjutsu. With that, we'd be able to exploit his five second interval," Lady Fukasaku told us.

"Alright, let's do it," Lady Shima agreed. "We're going to need time to prepare though. Both of you, do what you can to distract them."

Before either of us could say anything, Pain began to pull Naruto towards him.

"Naruto!" I yelled as I watched helplessly. 

Once Naruto was near Pain, the other who could absorb ninjutsu restrained him. His sage mode began to disappear as the one restraining him began to absorb his chakra.

"Kessho Rokkaku Shuriken!"

I created the crystal shuriken again, launching them towards Pain. Five seconds, make it in five seconds, I begged silently.

"Shinra tensei!"

The snowflake shaped shuriken came back at me quickly. I jumped, dodging each of them. I grit my teeth in irritation as Pain's attention returned to Naruto. His eyes were closed and it looked as though he had all but given up.

"So you've finally resigned yourself," the other Pain, the one who spoke, said.

However, Naruto suddenly opened his eyes, a smirk plastered on his face. "You know, nature energy is really hard to control."

The Pain that was holding him began to morph. I stood, staring in disbelief. He looked as though he was part frog and his body was beginning to turn to stone. Once the Pain had fully solidified into stone, Naruto pulled, breaking the stone arms and falling forward.

"Now, it's just you," Naruto told the Pain in front of him.

"Well, not exactly," Pain replied simply. 

"Alright, we're ready. Let's do this ma!" Lord Fukasaku said as he held out his arms in front of him.

"Gotcha!" Lady Shima said, following his movements.

However, suddenly Lord Fukasaku flew up into the air and I watched in horror as he was being pulled towards Pain. 

"Pa!" Lady Shima yelled.