Chapter 51: Giving Up One Life to Save Another

Sakon's POV

After retrieving Sasuke, we were heading back to the Sound Village. I narrowed my eyes as I felt a familiar chakra presence. "We're being followed." I informed. "Who is it?" Kidomaru asked. "It's that Nue girl." I said, annoyed.

"What should we do?" Jirobo asked. "You guys go on ahead. I'll deal with her." Tayuya said as she stoppped and stood on the branch. "Don't screw this up, Tayuya! We're counting on you!" I called. "That's my line, now get moving." Tayuya said as she waiting for Nue to come.

Nue's POV

I continued to run forward, trying to catch up with Sound Four. I quickly dodged a kunai knife and hid behind a tree. "You're pretty fast on your feet, Nue Houjuu." I heard a familiar voice say. "Tayuya." I said, bitterly as I peeked out from behind the tree.

I moved my eyes to the side. She's behind me. I quickly spun around and activated my kekkei genkai, trapping her in a genjutsu. I made a gun appear in my hand and aimed at her face. Before I could pull the trigger, Tayuya stabbed me in the arm.

I grunted in pain before leaping away from her. When did she get out of the genjutsu? I gasped and quickly began dodging her attacks as she tried to cut me with the kunai knife she had. Tayuya jumped up and kicked my arm so hard, it broke.

I leaped away from her again and glared at her while holding my broken arm. I took out my gun and shot at her multiple times. I quickly took out a kunai knife with a paper bomb attached to it and threw it at her. It landed in front of her as the paper bomb went off. 

"I think I got her." I murmured to myself. I turned around and bent down to pick up my weapon pouch that I had dropped. When I went to grab it, a hand emerged from the ground and grabbed my wrist. I gasped in shock and tried to take my wrist out of the hand's hold.

"I should've known. It was too easy." I said as Tayuya came out from the ground. "You didn't think I was that foolish, did you?" Tayuya smirked as she pressed her forehead against mine. I was still crouched down as Tayuya stood above me.

"This is the end for you, freak!" Tayuya flung me around and smashed me on the ground. I coughed up blood as my back made impact with the ground. But Tayuya wasn't done with me yet. She grabbed my wrist again, flung me up in the air, then smashed me on the ground again, this time, on my stomach.

When she let go of my wrist, I stayed there on the ground for a second. I struggled to get up until Tayuya stomped on my unbroken arm. I let out a sharp cry when I heard a crack, meaning my arm just broke. Then, I blacked out.

Tayuya's POV

I smirked as I stared at the unconscious girl in front of me. I grabbed her hair and lifted her off the ground so she was standing on her knees. "All that's left now is to kill her." I said. My hand reached for her throat until I saw Nue's eyes snap open.

I gasped as she quickly moved her head towards me and I felt my neck get cut. Nue jumped back, landing in a crouching position as she glared at me. I glared back at her as I raised my hand to my neck, feeling blood. How was she able to cut me?

I turned my attention back to Nue and noticed her holding a kunai knife in her mouth. So that's how she did it. I took out a kunai knife of my own and got in a guard stance. "Hope you're ready to die, freak." I said to her.

Nue kept glaring at me until she dashed forward. I took the knife that I had and stabbed her in the chest. Her eyes rolled back to the back of her head until her face turned into anger. What?! She's still conscious!

Nue moved her head towards me with the kunai knife still in her mouth. My eyes widened as I caught on to what she was doing. She was trying to cut my throat! I grabbed the back of her head with one hand and yanked her hair so she would move away from me, but she wouldn't budge.

She just kept pressing herself towards me as she tried to get her knife near my skin. So that's how it's going to be. I used my other hand to keep pushing the knife into Nue's chest. I saw one of her eyes close as she felt the pain.

Nue's POV

As I was trying to cut Tayuya's throat, I looked past her and saw my Black Shadow Clone. I used Awakening Eyes so it would be able to see, then gave it a nod.

Shadow nodded back to me and turned its hand into a spike. It thrusted the spike into Tayuya's back, the end sticking out of her chest as she gasped. I took a step back as Tayuya fell to the ground. "You bitch..." She muttered before dying.

I dropped the knife that was in my mouth, letting it hit the ground. I looed at Shadow as it stared at me. "Not bad for a shadow." I said to it. It went into the ground, then merged with my shadow. "Nue!" I turned my head as I saw Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Neji, and Naruto.

"You... defeated her." Shikamaru said as he noticed Tayuya's corpse. I fell on my hands and knees and panted slightly. "Nue! Are you okay?" Kiba asked as he was by my side. I threw my arm back, making him quickly stand up.

"Get away from me! I don't need your help!" I snapped as I continued to pant. "But you're hurt!" Kiba said. "I'm fine." I argued. I closed my eyes and collapsed to the ground. "Nue! Nue!"

Shikamaru's POV

"Her injuries are fatal. We have to get her back to the village." I informed. "We'll take it from here, Shikamaru. You go take Nue back to the village and have her treated." Choji said. I gave a quick nod and picked up Nue as there was no time for a debate.

I quickly took Nue back to the village and got her checked into the hospital. "These things on her back... What are they?" The medics asked in fear. "Never mind that! Please, just save her!" I pleaded. The medics took Nue and began treating her wounds as I watched through the window.

"W-What the heck?! Look! Her wounds!" I peered into window and saw Nue's wounds healing. "She's not human! Not human, I tell you!" One of the medics said in a panic. 

"How is that... possible?" I asked with wide eyes.

(Some time later) Nue's POV

I slowly opened my eyes and gazed at a white ceiling. "Nue," I turned my head, spotting Shikamaru. "Where am I?" I demanded with a small frown. "You're in the hospital." He infroemd. "How long..."

"Huh?"

"How long have I been out?"

"For about two hours."

I quickly sat up and glared at the sheets. "Damn it. I've wasted too much time." I said. I threw the blanket off of me and marched over to the door. "Nue, wait!" Shikamaru said as he grabbed my wrist. "Let me go." I ordered.

"You're not going back out there." He said. "I said let go!" I repeated. "Nue, we need to talk. Just... What are you?" Shikamaru asked. I gritted my teeth before yanking my wrist out of his hold. I ran out of the hospital, then ran out of the village.

I leaped into the trees to find Naruto. No doubt, he's going after Sasuke. I jumped from branch to branch as I passed the fights of Sound Four and the others. I accidentally triggered a trap and kunai knives began to dash towards me. 

I gasped, knowing I didn't have time to dodge them. Then out of nowhere, Kyo jumped out  and got in front of me with his arms out as he shielded me from the weapons. My eyes widened as they hit him. Kyo grunted in pain before falling to the ground with a soft thud.

"Kyo!" I called. I jumped down to his body, quickly by his side. "Tell me, why?" I said. "Because I had to. You're my master... even though you don't remember me." He said, weakly. "Kyo, the other girl you were with wasn't me." I said.

"Nue... It's you, isn't it? You remember..." He smiled, softly as I placed my hand on his cheek. "I'm so... happy. Welcome back... Master." Kyo whispered before closing his eyes. I rested my head near his chest and listened for a heartbeat.

"Thank goodness. He's still alive. Just unconscious." I said in relief. I took the weapons out of Kyo's body and rested him near a tree. I flew up into the sky and dashed forward. I looked over to the side as I saw lightning strike into the air. Wait a minute. That's Chidori.

"I have to hurry." I said to myself before flying faster. I got the Final Valley, where I spotted Naruto and Sasuke about to hit each other with their Chidori and Rasengan. Without thinking, I shot myself between them.

Naruto's rasengan went through my stomach and Sasuke's chidori went through my chest. My eyes went wide and I coughed up a lot blood. I turned my head to look at Naruto, then gave a small smirk. "Sucks to be me, right?" I said, weakly.

Naruto's eyes widened and took his hand out of my stomach as Sasuke did the same, yanking his hand out of my chest. I fell to the ground with a rough thud. "Nue-chan..." I heard Naruto whisper. "Grr... This is your fault!"

I'm not sure what happened after that. I pretty much tuned everything out while I stared at the sky as it began to darken. "Oi." I turned my head, spotting my evil twin. "You finally got your memories back. But it looks like it came at rotten timing." She mentioned.

"Yeah... Talk about bad luck, right?" I whispered, turning my head back to wards the sky. I glanced to my right and spotted a phantom of a younger me with Luna Satori, Julia, and Sharon. The younger me gently grasped Luna's hand and the four of them began to walk away.

My younger me glanced back as tears were trailing down her cheeks. "Arigato..." She said, softly before the four of them vanished. I weakly smirked and looked back towards the sky again. "Zabuza... I did it. I fought until the end." I whispered.

I reached up towards the sky and made a fist. "I kept my promise." I whispered before closing my eyes. I felt a hand grab my wrist. Naruto? No, this isn't his chakra, and it isn't Sasuke's. Then, who is it?

"We have her. Let's bring her back to the base."

Who... is that?