Title: The Difference Between
Series: Naruto
Rating: T
Genres: Drama, sorta-angst, adventure, romance.
Warnings: Crack, swearing, shounen-ai, shojou-ai, hetero, authoress running away with the canon?
Verse: Canon Redeux.
DHC: So I come with a new fic! I was sad Itachi died in the manga...so I decided to remedy that with this to make me feel better! xDD I hope you all enjoy it!
-------------
"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled at his student as the other was making a hasty movement to leave.
"I have to go!" Naruto yelled back.
Sakura shook her head as she ran over to him. "Not without me! We promised, remember?"
Madara seemed to look on in amusement.
Naruto nodded slowly after a moment. "Hold onto me, Sakura-chan."
Sakura knew better than to ask questions. She put her arms around Naruto's neck and two seconds later, he had scooped her up and they were already flying off in a blur of speed.
-----
"Sorry, otouto....this is the last time."
Itachi whispered softly, he could feel his strength draining from him even as he said it. Sasuke's eyes were wide and glossy.
He slipped down, down, until he barely felt that his back had hit the ground. Things were fuzzy, he couldn't register anything. He drew one last breathe, before he stilled completely.
Sasuke continued to stand there, staring into oblivion. It was barely moments later before he too, collapsed and fell to the ground in a complete opposite of his brother.
-----
"Madara, they're coming at top speed. If we don't move..." Zetsu began slowly.
Madara scowled beneath the mask. "Take Sasuke, then. We don't have time to take Itachi. It's not like they'll have any use for him dead. The Kyuubi-holder is faster than I expected."
With a nod, Zetsu picked up Sasuke's near-lifeless form and the two of them disappeared in clouds of smoke.
-----
Naruto came flying out of the last tree. He looked at the desruction with wide-eyes, a shiver running through his form. Sakura was in a similar state. Snapping out of it, the blonde ran into the crumbled, near destroyed building.
"No! We're too late... Sasuke..." Naruto mumbled as he stopped, letting Sakura down.
"Wait, Naruto! There's... It's..."
Naruto looked to where Sakura was looking and saw Itachi's lifeless body lying there.
Sakura immediately rushed over to him and began to check him over.
"Well, Sakura-chan?"
"He's... He's dead, but... His chakra network hasn't completely stopped yet. I think... I think I can revive him."
Naruto chewed on his lip. He nodded after a moment's debate internally. "Do it! He knows more than we do."
Sakura nodded and made a seal, light green chakra gathering to her hands as she began to work.
"He's taken a lot of internal damage... It appears he was ill before this... I think I can heal that. If I can just...ngh..." She was weating profusely with concentration. His chakra networks were blown out of purportion. Now was the time she wished she had the Byakugan so she could see what she was doing besides just feeling.
Once she had restored the major tenketsu points, she placed her hands directly over his heart. She gathered all her chakra she could to her hands and with a hard thrust down, she surged all of said chakra directly into his heart, giving it a jolt in hopes to restart it.
Itachi's body convulsed, and a moment later, his lungs slowly started to twitch.
"Come on, that's it... A little more..." Sakura encouraged, slowly compressing his chest to him kickstart his breathing again.
Naruto watched, wringing his hands in anticipation, biting his lip. He was never good in situations like this, but he was always silently amazed whenever he watched how dedicated Sakura got when she was using her medical talents. She truly had grown. He was proud of her.
"That's it... Just a bit more..." She channeled her chakra to his lungs to keep them from shuddering or collapsing in order to help his system stablize again.
She used her other hand to heal the major parts of his internal damage as best as she could. She healed the most dangerous ones, before spending the rest of her chakra healing the more minor ones.
After a long moment, Itachi's eyes blinked, the glossy lenses beginning to focus again as he took in a deep breath.
"I-Itachi-san...?" Sakura asked softly.
Naruto stepped closer and knelt with her beside the man.
The other continued to breathe, their eyes flickering in and out of focus, before they finally seemed to settle.
"S-Sasuke..." Was the first thing he managed to say, it was cracked and there was pain laced in it.
"Itachi. Sasuke's gone. They took him."
Itachi's eyes slowly moved, focusing in on Naruto's face.
"Naruto-kun... Who? What...happened...?"
"Someone in a mask with the Sharingan told us to come here, and they took Sasuke just before we got here. We found you here and Sakura-chan revived you. We thought, you'd know more about this than we did."
Itachi's lungs seemed to collapse after absorbing the information and he began coughing.
Sakura placed her hand back over his chest and channeled her chakra into him, easing the spasms and once again began to work on his system, healing the illness that had settled into his body.
"Why...would you help me?"
Sakura smiled sadly. "If I can save even one life, no matter who's it is, then it brings me one step closer to becoming a good medic-nin. That and... Naruto and I... We care so much about Sasuke-kun... We want to save him, and if by saving you, we can help save Sasuke...then..."
Naruto sighed softly. "I know you planned to die, Itachi. But we need you. You were an Akatsuki, you know the members, we need any information you have."
Itachi was silent for a long time, just continuing to breathe. After a moment, his body gave a hard shudder, before his eyes closed.
Surprising both Naruto and Sakura, liquid began to spill from Itachi's eyes.
"It appears... That I am the fool this time..." He murmured quietly.
Just at that moment, Kakashi and the rest had caught up to them.
"Sakura, Naruto, what is--?"
Naruto raised his hand to silence Kakashi's inquisiting.
Itachi slowly sat up, wincing a little as his body was not completely restored as some of his chakra networks were still out of order.
"I had planned to free my brother from the sins of our family... And in the end... I only played him deeper into his hands..."
"Who's?" Naruto asked softly.
"Uchiha, Madara's."
Kakashi's visible eye widened. "So it's true... He is alive?"
"Very much so, Kakashi-san... However, he is not the man he once was. This...being is but a broken shell. It's disgusting to think of him as my ancestor."
"Sakura, Naruto, help Itachi stand. We're going to need a full explaination. We need to head home."
Itachi sighed heavily. "So it's come to this..."
"I'm afraid so." Naruto mumbled as he slipped one of Itachi's arms around his shoulder while Sakura did the same on the other. Together, the managed to lift him to his feet. He swayed precariously, but steadied several moments later.
"I must mend my error... I shall let you take me back to Konoha."
The others shifted a little, uncomfortable with the thought of having an S-class missing nin traveling with them.
"As long as you promise not to pull any tricks with us," Naruto responded softly.
Itachi nodded slowly. "I do not have the strength to even perform a simple jutsu, Naruto-kun. I've no intentions of harming you or your companions."
"Kiba, would you let Itachi rest on Akamaru? It would be faster this way than to attempt to carry him or force him to move on his own." Sakura asked, nodding slowly.
Kiba looked hesitant, a little torn. He looked to Kakashi.
Kakashi sighed slowly, but nodded. "Very well."
Kiba slowly climbed off Akamaru, who whined a little. He gave his friend a goot pat. "Don't worry, you'll get your reward when we're home. You understand though that this is needed, right?"
The dog gave a bark of affirmation before Kiba stepped back.
Sakura and Naruto led the Uchiha over and they carefully helped him settle onto the nin-dog.
"Alright, we should be heading back. Tsunade-sama will have a lot to sift through." Kakashi spoke.
It was with a nod from everyone, minus Itachi, who had already succumbed to slumber upon Akamaru's back, that they began their journey home to Konohagakure.
TBC