Chapter 47

                                    

                                          
The tentacle-man punched Kakashi, and sent him flying across the dirt.
He side-stepped a fireball and a bolt of lightning, charged up a raikiri and ducked under a spiral shot. He dashed forward, thrusted in a dead-straight line pointed straight for Kakuzu's brain.
His neck elongated, stretched out by those hideous black fibres, and Kakashi swiped at those, instead of his head.
Kakashi! Ino shouted at him. Asuma-sensei is... he's...
He turned around, looking at his friend fall down, three huge gashes in his chest. Shikamaru had hit the ground and was making a mad dash towards Jashin's Apostle.
That was a mistake.
Kakuzu slammed into him with a huge slab of rock, shattering his jaw. He staggered back, putting a glowing green hand to his mouth and fending Kakuzu off with the other.
Ino, can you contact anyone? Is anyone coming for us?
She looked up from healing him as Shikamaru lured Hidan away from them, shaking her head.
I can't tell!
Kakashi focused on simply surviving.
Lance- Fireball, homing- Whirlwind- 
He kept dodging, kept evading, kept looking for openings, anything that he could capitalise on.
If I kill all of those 'beasts', then he dies, right?
He started weaving half-seals, forcing more and more chakra into his eye as the world bathed in blood.
Maybe I don't need to kill all of them. I just need to go for the head!
That was another mistake.
He narrowly dodged another bolt from one of Kakuzu's monsters, which reflected off a puddle straight through his chest. His ironclad focus shattered, and the chakra in his hands and eye both cut out.
He coughed, making his mask damp.
Ugh, shit. Maybe it was a bad idea to insist on not having a healer.
A few seconds left.
Ino. Grab Shikamaru and run!
What? No! Shikamaru's protest was immediate.
You have to! This is an order from your commanding officer!
He barked the order out. He blocked one blow. Then another. And another. And another. 
His skin burned, broke, bruised. He rolled, ducked, and hid from the blasts of lightning, wind, and fire.
This was it. Do or die. 
A flare of all-too familiar chakra. Backup was coming. Just a second or two.
Another blow knocked him away.
Every nerve in his body screamed as he picked himself off the floor.
Obito's sharingan ached from the strain, and he forced it closed.
He dragged out the last shreds of chakra he could, pumping it all into his palm.
Kakuzu charged a huge blast of water and wind, a huge concussive blast.
The chakra in his hands fizzled out, and he braced for impact.
It never came. A huge barrier appeared around him, and Sakura started tending to his wounds. 
He groaned at the feeling of his jaw and chest being reconstructed. "Go help Asuma... I'll be fine."
He looked over to his friend and saw Sayuri crouched over his body. Naruto had run off somewhere before the black-red goop splattered next to Kakuzu.