This is my very first fanfiction! I have edited it extensively now, so I hope it is much better than when I first published it.

Enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto.

EDITED

XXX

Sakura had to admit that the situation at hand wasn't good. It had been just a mere hour ago that Tsunade had informed her and the rest of her team that Uchiha Itachi was not the evil man that everyone knew him to be. Her mind was still reeling from the moment she heard the news.

Tsunade sat behind her desk with a glazed over look in her eyes. However, that look only lasted for a second before turning hard as steel. She looked upon the group before her, taking in the expectant faces one by one before folding her hands together in front of her on the desk. Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Hinata stood waiting.

"The mission is this: You all are to travel to the Uchiha brothers current location. I have been given information that shows they are in the middle of a battle. If they are still feuding when you arrive, you are to put an end to it by any means necessary, short of killing them. And if you arrive to find either or both of them incapacitated, you are to heal their wounds to make sure that they won't die. Both of them must be brought back to Konoha. Alive."

"…I don't understand," Naruto voiced his concern. "Why aren't we just going after Sasuke? Why do we have to bring Itachi back with us, too?"

Tsunade gave him an understanding look before explaining. "Shizune found an old mission scroll jammed inside a hole in a wall. She was looking for a medical scroll, and when she accidentally bumped into the wall, the tile fell off and she saw the paper within. According to what she found, Itachi was ordered to assassinate his entire clan by the Konoha elders."

The shocked silence settled in the air as the shinobi soaked in the information. Sakura was utterly baffled by this, and she couldn't help but think about Sasuke and what her life would have been like if he had been slaughtered along with the rest of the Uchiha clan. She shakily found her voice and rasped out, "So, Itachi couldn't bring himself to kill his own brother. To kill Sasuke. Even though he had been ordered to…"

Even as she spoke her thoughts aloud, they still didn't feel right. This was the infamous Uchiha Itachi, the man that could strike fear into you with just a look. The man who could kill you with just a look. And yet, he had an enormous soft spot for his younger brother. She was at war with herself. She couldn't shake the fear she held for Itachi, and yet she knew it was wrong. He was the victim.

Tsunade nodded at her pupil and said, "Correct."

Naruto was still confused. He took a step forward and held his hands out in Tsunade's direction. His anger was practically radiating off of him in waves. "Why would the elders want to eliminate the entire Uchiha clan? Why'd they want that!?"

Tsunade stared at him evenly. "The Uchiha clan was planning a coup d'état. They were too powerful, and that made the elders fearful. So, they gave Itachi the mission of assassinating his own clan." Her voice became a bit softer, "He had a choice though, it was either his clan or the village."

There was a moment of silence as this registered in everyone's minds. Eventually, Sai broke that silence.

"So, he killed all of the people he loved the most, excluding Sasuke, to save the village. The very village he saved has looked at him as a traitor ever since the massacre?"

Everyone was silent once more, with only Naruto mumbling something that no one could pick up. Sakura watched him out of the corner of her eye. She was having such a hard time believing all of this was possible.

Tsunade spoke up, a tone of finality in her voice.

"Your mission is to bring both Sasuke and Itachi back. Explain everything to Sasuke so he doesn't kill Itachi before it's too late. You leave as soon as you can, there's no time to lose. Go!"

When they all left in a puff of smoke, Tsunade let out a sigh.

"What is this world coming to?"

XXX

Sakura rushed forward through the forest, her mind easily in a frantic state. She was strong now, in both body and mind. But, this…this was a lot to handle. Sasuke was no doubt in the middle of a battle with Itachi, as they were given the general location of the brothers from an anbu just before they left Konoha's gates.

Sakura knew that if Sasuke came out as the victor, he would learn of the elder's mission for his brother, and regret killing him for the rest of his life. Her feet pounded the tree branches as her determination was set. She had failed him once before, there was no way she was going to do so again.

Hinata was running just a bit behind her, finding it hard to keep up with the pink-haired kunoichi. She stared at Sakura's back and wondered what she must be feeling. Hinata knew of Sakura's feelings for Sasuke, it wasn't hard to tell. She couldn't help but feel pain when she stared at her friend. And, because she had been looking at her, Hinata noticed when Sakura's body jolted suddenly.

"Do you sense that?" Sakura asked to the group. "They're close!"

Even though she could feel the two chakras clearly, Sakura could tell that both chakras were depleting quickly. She picked up her pace and shouted back to everyone.

"Hurry, we don't have much time!"

Sakura's movements came to a halt at what she saw before her when she finally found the vast clearing, all broken apart from what she knew must have been massive attacks. Itachi was encroaching on Sasuke, who was backed up against a boulder. She felt her lips tremble as Itachi poked Sasuke's forehead before falling to the ground, with Sasuke following suit soon after. Sakura bit her lip and quickly made her way to the two brothers. She assessed their conditions and went to work on the one who was in the most critical state: Itachi.

"Hinata!" she called. "Look over Sasuke! He's not in any danger of dying, but make sure nothing is going to change that!"

"Y-Yes."

Sakura turned back to the body in front of her. Her medic instincts taking over as she placed her hands over Itachi's stomach. Her green chakra glowing as she healed the damage. He had internal bleeding, broken bones, torn muscles, you name it - he had it.

She continued to pump chakra into him. She was so concentrated on the task at hand that she didn't pay attention to anything else happening around her.

Naruto slowly approached and then kneeled over his best friend's body, a look of utter shock on his face.

Hinata piped up. "D-Don't worry. He is going to be f-fine."

Naruto nodded and watched as Sasuke's chest fell up and down in a semi-steady pace. He didn't take his eyes off of Sasuke as he addressed Sakura. "Sakura…how's Itachi?"

He was answered with silence. At this, Naruto looked up. He could see Sakura's bent over back and the way that her green chakra was covering a large portion of the injured shinobi's upper body.

Kakashi came up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"She has to concentrate, Naruto. Itachi is in bad shape."

The group then waited in silence as Sakura continued to heal the older Uchiha. What must have been 20 minutes later, Sakura pulled her hands from his stomach and wiped the sweat that had appeared on her forehead.

"I healed all of his major injuries. What he needs now is rest," she explained as she shakily got up, feeling every bit of her chakra exhaustion, and stood by her team. They all looked down at the brothers lying side by side.

Sakura couldn't help but speak her thoughts. "Their past is so wrong…so wrong."

As she looked down at the two, her eyes couldn't help but to veer in the direction of the younger brother. In that moment, her throat felt as raw as sand paper, and she found that it was hard to swallow the lump that had suddenly formed. No matter how many times she told herself that she would be strong since Sasuke left the village, when she stared down at him in that moment, she couldn't help but to feel like that week, needy girl she used to be. Her feelings for Sasuke flowed through her like a river, slowly cascading across every inch of her being. She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help the tears that started to flow.

Her love for him never stopped over the years. She loved him so much that it hurt, it hurt her deeply. She knew that her feelings would probably never be returned, but she was just so happy that he was alive. She just wanted him alive.

And thankfully, she was able to save Itachi's life by the skin of her teeth. She didn't know how Sasuke would take the news that Itachi was ordered to kill his clan. Sasuke had already been through so much in his lifetime, which so much of it he didn't deserve. She didn't want to see him have to suffer anymore, but knew that there would be many more challenges to come in the near future for both of the Uchiha brothers.

It was Sai who broke her from her thoughts when he asked, "What now?"

Kakashi answered slowly. "We should take them to an inn and let them rest. When they wake up we will explain the situation."

Kakashi went over to Itachi and started to pick him up.

"Naruto, come and get Sasuke." Kakashi ordered. Naruto obliged and picked Sasuke up.

Sakura stared at her two original teammates. Her tears kept flowing silently as she saw the look on Naruto's face. Naruto was looking down on Sasuke with tears in his eyes and a soft smile on his face. He looked over at Sakura just then, and gave her a knowing grin when he saw that she had been looking at him.

They had their Sasuke back. He was coming home.

XXX

When they arrived at the nearest village, Kakashi asked a shop owner where an inn was located. The shop owner gave him directions, and Kakashi thanked the man before starting to head in the inn's direction. When they arrived, it was moderately sized and well kept. They went in, got a room, and headed towards the stairs. Their room was on the second floor.

Sakura unlocked the door and switched on the light. It was a pretty big room, considering that there were two doors leading to what were probably bedrooms. There was a bathroom to their left, and the kitchen and living room area on the right.

"We should keep them in separate rooms until we explain to them what's going on," Kakashi stated as he headed to one of the doors with Itachi.

Naruto followed suit and walked to the other bedroom door with Sasuke. Sakura, Sai, and Hinata sat at the Kitchen table. Naruto came out of the room first, and then Kakashi emerged from the other. They both went over to join them.

"So…" Sakura started. "How are we going to do this?"

Kakashi sighed and mentally willed himself the strength he needed to get through this mission. He honestly had no idea how this was going to end up himself.

"We split up and stay in the rooms with them until they wake up. Naruto, Sai, and Hinata will stay in the room with Sasuke. Sakura and I will stay with Itachi. Sakura, you may need to heal him some more, so it's easier with you in the room," Kakashi stated when he saw the slight frown on the kunoichi's face. "One person will be stationed at the window and one at the door, in case they try to escape. However, I don't think either of them has enough strength left to try anything. When they wake up we will let them ask their questions and we will answer them. Everybody got that?"

A chorus of yeses came from around the table. They all got up and went to their designated rooms. Kakashi stayed back before he headed in with Sakura.

"Well, this will be interesting," he mumbled as he shut and locked the door behind him.

XXX

RXR :)