Hey, guys! I'm back. Sorry it took me a long time to finish it. Here is the new chapter of Gaara Sakura fanfiction! I hope you enjoy it! Please read and review! :)

After the events of the chunin exams, the invasion and destruction of the hidden leaf village that was being plotted by Orochimaru, things were finally beginning to be at peace. Everyone has been working diligently everyday as usual, now that it has been normal for them. However, they had to put the pieces back by construction properly where several houses got wrecked. Using the tools and equipment, others decided to renovate most of the buildings to be much more stabilize, in case of another danger coming. It wasn't a huge problem for others to repair their things anyway. They were just glad that they were alive and well.

One of the houses' windows was Sakura reading a book of what appears to be a Japanese romance novel called Koizora, which she imagines it to be her own relationship with someone when she thinks about Sasuke. Her hand was resting on her left cheek while her elbows were on her desk, daydreaming.

"This is so sweet..." She said in mind with a long sigh.

"Eep! I know right. I can't wait to read and find out more what is happening between Mika and Hiro," her inner voice said, squealing in delight. "Ahh. They are so cute together. I wonder what it would be like if Sasuke is interested in anyone."

"Hmm. I'm not really sure. That would be a dream come true," Sakura said dreamily, and continued to flip the next pages of the romantic story.

On that same day was the day where the two mysterious figures with black cloaks stopped by at the food place to eat. Kakashi, on the other hand, was standing near them while leaning against the wall, waiting for someone. He sees Kurenai and Asuma walking towards him and asks.

"Hey, you two. You guys look good together. Are you guys on a date?" He asked in a dull tone, but with curiosity.

"Idiot!" Anko asked me to pick up some sweets for her," Kurenai replied defensively, trying to hide a tint pink that crept up on her cheeks.

"What about you? What are you doing here? Are you picking up some sweets too?" Asuma asked with a smirk and his cigarette in his mouth as usual.

"Not really... Sometimes, I pass by to get some stuff. Right now, I'm waiting for someone," Kakashi said lightly.

"I'm waiting for Sasuke," a voice spoke out behind him and continued. "It's very rare to see you waiting as well." The man with sharingan eyes placed his cup of tea down on the table that made Kakashi and the other recognized his sudden appearance in dismay.

From that moment on, Sasuke had arrived and noticed his sensei standing by the small food shop.

"It's very different of you to be here," he stated coolly.

"Well, for some occasions..." Kakashi answered calmly.

Sasuke glanced at the remaining food and tea on the table that was left on the empty table and grimaced a little. "I was planning on buying some sweets... It's useless now." With that said, he walked away to go somewhere else, whereas Kurenai and Asuma went to confront the two wanted visitors near the river.

"It's been awhile, Asuma... Kurenai..." one of them greeted quietly, positioning his hat forwardly to reveal his eyes at them.

"You're originally from this village, aren't you? What did you come back for?" Asuma interrogated sternly. "You already know of us. So... you were a shinobi from this village?" He trailed off of his words when they began to remember his familiar face in disbelief that made their eyes widened.

The man gently took off his hat and unzipped his cloak halfway of his torso, putting his hand out in the open.

Asuma smirked knowingly at that, saying. "Hmm. There is no doubt about it... Itachi Uchiha."

The other man took off his hat as well and introduces himself. "So, you're already acquainted with Itachi, huh? Then, I'm Kisame Hoshigaki." He smiled wickedly at the two leaf jounins.

"I guess we were bounded to meet in the future. Now, I have the task to take you on!" Asuma narrowed his eyes with a game face mode on.

"Itachi. Your home village doesn't seemed to be very much fond of you, no?" Kisame said rhetorically.

"I've also heard of this guy. He's originally from the hidden mist," Kurenai stated to Asuma beside her without breaking an eye contact with them. "He's a daimyo killer. Wanted for suspicion of starting several destructive activities against the other tribes. The water tribe has been searching other ones to find this slippery shinobi." With that further explanation, there was no doubt that two men are considered and officially had been claimed as S-class criminals who are ranked on the Bingo Book list.

"You are pretty brave to come back and set your foot on this village after causing that incident," Asuma pointed out firmly.

"Asuma, Kurenai, please do not interfere with my affairs... You will only get killed if you do," Itachi said in exasperation.

"So, how do you plan on doing these by the words you had spoken? And also, either something is wrong with the way you think or you are just too full of yourself. It turns out it would have been better for you to not come," he said as a warning and questioned. "What is your purpose here?"

Itachi didn't answered him, but continued to stare at them stone cold when Kisame raised his hand to grab his wrapped-up sword handle behind his back, swinging it at the front. "Just do what I say. Just make sure they don't get back to the village. But don't do too much. Your work can be too excessive." He gave him an order quietly, which Kisame approved and placed his weapon upon his shoulder, pausing for a few second until he makes his move to slash it towards Asuma.

The leaf jounin quickly blocked it with his fists up, whereas Kurenai hastened to demonstrate a few hand signs to perform a genjutsu on Itachi. Her body was vanishing through a thin air, but the eyes of his Sharingan was able to counterattack. On the other hand, the sword was pressuring Asuma by its power, just when Kisame gave a little slice on his arm, splattering a few drops of blood out. He stepped back with his two hands on his sword to slice him again to bits.

While Itachi was caught up in an illusion of him being bundled up by thick tree roots around him, Kurenai appeared within the tree to stab him with her kunai knife above his head, saying. "This is the end."

Suddenly, she got switched into places with him in shock. There, she noticed that he countered her genjutsu.

"At that level, it has no effect on me," he said, holding a sharp knife to pierce her. Luckily, she escapes and slides back to charge at him. Though, she didn't have much time when his foot set on her wrists, pushing her back as she stumbled onto the river.

"Kurenai!" Asuma exclaimed.

"Not paying attention is the end of you," Kisame swung his sword at him, but missed his target.

Kneeling on foot on the water, Kurenai heard Itachi's voice behind her standing and saying. "As expected of you, this is it. For you..."

At that point, Asuma dodges every strikes or sword blows from Kisame and tries to cut his side of his face, using his chakra blades. Therefore, he managed to drip out blood from his cheek successfully.

"What?!" Kisame reacted at it. Then, he performs a water release jutsu on him, but he was promptly dismissed by none other than Kakashi's sharingan eye. The waves of the water shifted him off right away. "The same jutsu as mine!"

Asuma looked at his masked friend impressively, saying. "Oh. It's just you. You just got here, huh?"

"No... I got here just a while ago. So I ask you," Kakashi paused for a moment to finish behind Itachi with a kunai knife on his shoulder and said. "Well, let's put an end to this." He tries to attack him with a water technique, but got deflected. Itachi glanced at him in peculiar and glared daggers, which Kakashi took a note of that in mind. "Those eyes, they are... Those of a true Sharingan Successor... This is the worst possible situation. There's nothing I can do about it now..."

"Now, it's time to dance. I have a reason to show my jutsu. With the exception of Itachi, this one has the Sharingan as well. He is very well known as the Copy Ninja," Kisame uttered.

Kakashi observes carefully, saying. "This is surprising. These were the two suspicious people down at the tea shop. I didn't think that it would be Itachi Uchiha and the mysterious hidden mist ninja, Kisame Hoshigaki. Am I right?"

"Well, well. You know my name. I'm honored," Kisame said, feeling flattered.

"I see now that the mist's 'seven-way shinobi Katana jutsu' is in this guy's large katana, the Samahada. Is it not?" He asked notably.

Kisame slightly chuckled at that and questioned. "You are asking for death, aren't you weakling? Got anything to say before we fight."

Kakashi replied in approval. "Yeah."

Kisame's eyes widened in eagerness, saying. "There's slicing to do in this direction."

"More... Kisame," Itachi instructed in a low voice when he looked at him in the corners of his eyes. "If you fight with only one person, this matter could quickly be resolved. But you're about to fight many shinobi's and that would take too long and more will come. However, remember why we are here in the first place. Getting injured is not the reason why we came here!"

"Then, would you mind telling us why you've come here?" Kakashi muttered calmly.

"We've come looking for something," Itachi gazed behind him.

"Looking for something?" He repeated and continued to interrogate. "What's this all about?"

"If it were me that you were facing, and not Kisame, this would take more time," With that said, they both were facing each other till Itachi started to throw shurikens at him between his fingers. But Kakashi covered himself up with a water barrier.

"That's an incredibly fast jutsu. My eyes can't even keep up. Those shurikens in his right hand are used as a bait to make me come out of Suiten underfooted," he said thoughtfully.

"Your 'penetrating eye' is remarkable as expected of you," Itachi commented and appeared behind his back, stabbing him with his kunai. "Isn't that right?"

"A shadow clone? His jutsu speed is exceedingly fast," Kurenai looked at them in astonishment.

Apparently, it was only a water clone that flows down and Itachi notices a hand reaching to grab on his ankle. But when Kurenai was about to attack him, Kakashi got out of the water, pushing forward to prevent her away from the explosive shadow clone. There, it made a few drops of rainfall on them, then steadied themselves.

"Keep your guards up. This man became a leader of the ANBU Black OPS at the age of 13," Kakashi warned his friends.

"Is that all he has?" Asuma asked.

"No. That's not his full power yet. He has to show all of it," Kakashi answered, furrowing his brows at the opponent's way.

"You are not blood related to the Uchiha Clan. We are the true masters of the Sharingan. Still, your body is suitable for the eye, but it does not contain any of our blood," Itachi remarked.

"That's right... He gets straight to the point," Kakashi agreed in mind.

"Do you know why the Uchiha clan is the most powerful and feared clan of all? I will show you the true powers of the bloodline of Sharinga Masters!" He said as he then closed his eyes and reopened them to reveal his unimaginable hypnotic jutsu as the Tsukiyomi of Mangekyo Sharingan.

Kakashi told them not to look directly in his eyes since they would be caught in a trap of illusion, known as "the world of Graping Moon," all space, all time, every matter. However, he was the one who had fallen, whilst him being chained up and getting stabbed by the katanas, continuously for 72 hours.

"What's wrong, Kakashi?! What just happened?! While this guy was talking, you just collapsed," Asuma stated in wonder with eyes still closed.

"I see... Though, it felt like 3 days... It happened instantly. Why didn't he just try to kill me?" Kakashi asked himself in thought, panting breathlessly in a sweat and muttered under his breath. "Grr... It's not over yet."

Kisame stood beside Itachi and heeded. "Heh... That jutsu is used to cause a breakdown in one's spirit, isn't it? I'm surprised that he's still alive. But, you should be careful because the 'eye' is dangerous to you as well."

"Guh... you're looking for Sasuke, aren't you?" Kakashi guessed his reason.

"No..." he said. "We are after the fourth hokage's son."

"Wait... what did you say?" Kakashi was confused and suspicious.

"What do they want with him?" Kurenai asked beside him in curiosity. She and Asuma didn't have any clue, except him who realized and recalled a day back where he had a conversation wth Jiraiya.

He remembers how one of the legendary Sanin informed him that he will be keeping Naruto in custody, which was the role of the third generation to watch over him. A good decision that the hokage made Kakashi protect him. Jiraiya once told him that he has been following Orochimaru's movements after he left the village and would return one day. Now that it's already clear, it was beginning of something at first when he joined a certain organization. They do not know the full details from what they referred it as the Akatsuki that consists of S-rank shinobis. Up until recently, there has been a little activity and only some espionage was done. None of it hasn't been any major problems so far and most of the people were listed on the Bingo Book. The remaining nine S-class criminals have gathered several of the volunteers, hinting the fact that they must be up to something.

FLASHBACK:

"And that person is the Nine-Tails, isn't it? Are you sure of this?" Kakashi asked.

"It's very likely. The chakra is one of the strongest. After all, it is one of the demon-beasts," Jiraiya stated and continued. "Look, Naruto's destiny is to live always watching his back. It is the fate he was given. Also, I want you to look out for Sasuke. It will be important for him to learn how to use the Sharingan because Itachi is in that organization. I will take Naruto to the Shinobi training Center and take care of him."

END OF FLASHBACK

Kakashi squinted his eyes to question them. "Your target is the nine-tailed fox inside of Naruto, isn't it? You have begun to move, you think we don't know? The name of your organization is the Akatsuki, right?" By his further statement, it surprised them, therefore, making Asuma ask him what it is.

"Kisame, take Kakashi out. It's time for these people to disappear," Itachi demanded when his partner quickly dashed towards him but was overthrown by someone else's attack of the leaf spinning style jutsu.

The shark-faced man was sent flying back, splashing the waves of the water in a distance. "What the!"

A leaf jounin appeared in front of them, much to their surprise. "The prideful green beast is Might Guy."

"Better yet, I just mistaken you for an exotic animal," Kisame remarked with a smirk.

"Don't take that man lightly," said Itachi.

"So... it really is him?" Guy thought, then he heard a noise behind him, who appears that Kakashi has lost his strength. He carried him upon his shoulder when he took a notice at his limit.

"Don't look into Itachi's eye, Guy! That's how the jutsu is done!" Asuma said.

"I already know about that. The way of fighting with Kakashi was done through the Sharingan. I already took into consideration how to fight him. Both of you, open your eyes!" Guy glanced at them firmly. "You are eye to eye when fighting with the sharingan. It's fine as long as you don't look into that eye. Using the reflection is the only way you are recognized and dealt with."

"The way you talk about it... So that's how it's done," Kurenai understood this.

"That's pretty smart. But there is only one person that can do it... you," Asuma pointed out.

"You could say that. But you must fight while focusing only on his feet," Guy instructed. "There is a method to it. Though, we do not have time for that. At any rate, get used to it now."

Asuma moved his eyes at him and asks. "What are you going to do now?"

Guy gave Kakashi away to Kurenai and informs her. "Take him to the medical treatment center." He positioned himself in a Taijutsu way where his palm was held up, ready to fight. "I've already arranged for reinforcements. For now, we will take them on here."

Kisame smirked maliciously and noted. "Aren't you brave?"

"Stop it," Itachi said dismissively. "We did not come here to start a war. Regrettably, this is nothing more than nonsense. Let's go."

"With this much trouble, it is unavoidable," Kisame muttered in irritation as they both jumped off, leaving them standing in the water as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sakura were having a small talk about how she and Naruto risked their lives to protect each other at that time in battle of the invasion. It made Sasuke a bit jealous since both of them had thunderous powers in their own unique ways that almost made him feel like he's weak.

"How can I... How can I grow that sort of power?" He asked himself in mind as he looked back at what his both teammates had accomplished.

"We really did survived from those attacks. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be here right now," said Sakura with appreciation. Yet, Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed a little fazed by that. But overall, he was still proud of her by her strength and the only way for him to improve just like them is to train harder next time, so he wouldn't feel bad for himself.

Elsewhere on top of the huge stone rock above the forest trees was Itachi and Kisame discussing about the recent incident with the leaf jounins down by the river.

"You can fight how and where you want. But I don't know... The time is wrong," the shark-faced man remarked.

"Ah. To meet those two and kill them, it's a good place to fight. They can't increase the number of people they have," the man with the sharingan eyes stated as he rests his arm on his knees in a comfortable sitting position.

"It was good that we found him at the Ramen shop. But he's protected by one of the legendary sanins. That kid might be a match for the number one of the Leaf and one of the Mist's Seven strongest shinobi," said Kisame smirking.

"But, it's said that every strong man has a weak point," Itachi pointed out.

Inside the leaf's hospital in one of the rooms, Guy and the others stayed up to check on Kakashi's current state of condition in bed.

"That guy still hasn't found Naruto," Guy muttered.

"It's not funny that he enters a crowded village like that. In this town, finding Naruto is pretty simple. Because of that, Itachi knows his face," Asuma inquired.

"Shh!" Guy placed his finger to not mention any specific details, regarding when Sasuke enters the room and noticed his unconscious sensei in shock.

"Why is Kakashi sleeping? Why are the jounins gathered up here while he's resting?" The dark-haired boy questioned further in demand.

The door bursts open by one of the leaf jounin, asking. "Is it true that Itachi has really returned and that he is chasing after Naruto?" He paused for a moment to look around and realized that Sasuke was standing near as he heard of this which he probably now regrets it.

"Ugh," Guy face palmed.

"Idiot," Kurenai uttered towards him.

The dark-haired ninja has his eyes widened in resentment and ran off to go find his brother, shoving the leaf jounin out of its way.

"Where are you going?" Guy shouted for him to answer. But it was already too late when he started taking ahead.

While Sasuke was searching his target around the village in every shops, he was questioning things to himself in thought. "He's come to this village. And he's after Naruto? Why did he say that? Anyway, if that guy catches him, it'll be over." He began to ask the man who was working at the Ichiraku Ramen. "Excuse me? Naruto usually comes here for lunch. After that, do you know where he went?"

The old man answered. "Ahh, Naruto. Let's see. I'm sure Jiraiya came and ate ramen with him. He said he was going to leave town for a little bit, take the cattle-road down to the hotel-town or something. He took him along when he left."

"Jiraiya?!" Sasuke repeated in puzzlement.

"A great ninja. The legendary Sanin. Spotting him is easy," the old man stated but was ignored when the dark-haired ninja ran to go find them.

Once he arrived at the town, he got a little annoyed by the fact that it has a lot of buildings and knew that he couldn't go to all of them. Instead, he went inside to one hotel that the old man mentioned and asked the person working at the service counter.

"Hey. Have you seen a stupid-faced blonde who is about my age and a large white-haired man staying here?" He asked in a hurry.

"Hm... Yeah, I think I know the people you are looking for," the guy said.

"Which room?" Sasuke asked until a few minutes later of knocking on the door. He pulled the handle and forced himself in with an exclamation. "Naruto!" But after seeing the similar faces of two people staring at him weirdly, he finally noticed that it was the wrong room.

Meanwhile, Naruto tries to unlock the door while a few of the knocks has been made through it. As he pulled it slowly, he looked up at the stranger in front of him blankly. He was beginning to recognize the sharingan eyes, staring back at him dully.

"It's not him... who is he? He's got the same ones as Sasuke," Naruto stated in mind, wondering at how he has similar features.

"Hm. Could this kid be the Nine-Tails?" Kisame asked quietly beside his partner.

"Wait. How does he know about the Nine-Tails? How did he find out?!" The blonde-haired ninja asked in suspicion.

"Naruto. We would like you to come with us," Itachi informed and commanded. "Come out of the room."

"Uhh! This guy isn't normal," Naruto thought fearfully, but he did as he was being told.

"Itachi, it's time we got started. We don't need him running around. We should cut off a leg," Kisame suggested.

Naruto's eyes widened in a panic expression with his mouth gaped open. "Wha... What's going on?" He watched the shark-faced man holding onto his sword handle behind him to prepare his attack.

"It's been awhile... Sasuke," Itachi greeted lightly without looking behind him since he can sense his familiar presence.

"Itachi Uchiha..." the dark-haired ninja muttered firmly under his breath.

"Eh?!" Naruto was shocked and feared what was going to happen in front of him.

Kisame gazed his eyes in sideways and smirked. "Indeed. Today is a special day, don't you think? This is the second time I've seen another Sharingan."

Sasuke stood for a moment and declared. "I will kill you!"

The weak disappears from this world. That is how life works. It will continue doing so, for the sake of one man. A brotherly fight is about to begin...