CHAPTER 01 – REUNION
"ITACHI!" Sasuke screamed, "I've finally found you!"
"Hello, little brother." Itachi said in a tone of annoyance as he turned around.
"Today's the day you die Uchiha Itachi!" Sasuke exclaimed.
Itachi let out a sigh. "Humph, stop wasting my time."
"SHUT UP!" Sasuke yelled as he charged up his chidori, Sharingan already activated. Then moving at near blinding speeds Sasuke lunged at Itachi, aiming his chidori at Itachi's heart.
Itachi moved slightly to his right and with a well placed knee to the stomach, sent Sasuke crashing into the trees behind him.
Now coughing up blood, Sasuke slowly got back onto his feet.
Consumed by rage Sasuke pulled Kusanagi, the sword given to him by Orochimaru, from its sheath and charged at Itachi. He then swung it at Itachi's neck but stopped inches short with a look of horror on his face, 'Shit, when did he... a clone...'
Sasuke's thoughts were cut short by an abrupt kick to his back, which caused him to crash face down into the earth.
Sasuke rolled over only to feel the crushing blow of Itachi's foot dropping onto his chest repeatedly. Sasuke could feel his ribs cracking as he coughed up more and more blood. When he couldn't take anymore Itachi suddenly stopped, grabbing the collar of Sasuke's shirt Itachi picked him up and held him against a tree.
"Why are you so weak?" Itachi inquired. "To think you killed Orochimaru." Itachi laughed as if taunting Sasuke.
Sasuke, now visibly angry still had a few tricks left "Level 2 Curse Seal!" Sasuke yelled before taking to the sky, Itachi's eyes grew wide as his brother sprouted wings and turned into nothing short of a monster.
"I'll show you who's weak!" Sasuke screamed as he swooped down towards Itachi.
Itachi gave a slight smirk, and drew his katana. Sasuke came at Itachi with everything he had but somehow Itachi avoided every single attack all while landing his own and slicing Sasuke to shreds. It was as if Itachi was just toying with Sasuke, Sasuke's wounds were numerous yet none were fatal. Sasuke lunged at Itachi praying his arm would pierce a hole through Itachi's stomach, Itachi however caught Sasuke's arm and threw him back down onto the ground.
Sasuke let out a blood curdling scream as Itachi thrust his sword through Sasuke's right shoulder lodging it firmly in the ground. Sasuke's cursed seal form faded.
'Damnit!' Sasuke thought, 'Why the hell can't I hit him? All that training, I'm a hundred times stronger then I was when I fought him three years ago at that Inn. How can he still be that much better then me? Even my curse seal is useless.'
"You're pathetic little brother" Itachi proclaimed rocking his sword back and forth, blood spewing out of Sasuke's shoulder.
Sasuke grit his teeth to keep from giving his brother the satisfaction of hearing him scream again.
"I'm going to kill you, just watch." Sasuke said stubbornly, while blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
Itachi let out a wicked laugh, before abruptly turning his sword 180 degrees.
Sasuke, unable to hold back his pain let out another bone chilling scream.
Sasuke knew if he wanted to kill Itachi he was going to need some help, he was terrified to summon "him" but he had no choice, without "him" Sasuke was as good as dead.
Itachi was enjoying torturing Sasuke too much to notice him drawing something in blood.
Sasuke yelled out "Snake Summoning Jutsu!" and slapped his hand against the ground.
Itachi ripped his sword out of Sasuke's shoulder and jumped back as a gigantic purple snake appeared under Sasuke
"How dare you s-s-s-summon me!" Manda Hissed at Sasuke.
"Shut up, I need your help." Sasuke spat.
"You insolent dog, I'll eat you for that!" Manda fired back.
"Please, just help me kill that man." Sasuke pointed at Itachi.
"Fifty." Manda demanded.
'Shit' Sasuke thought... 'that many, he wants that many sacrifices?'
"I suggest you leave now snake, before you become a problem." Itachi announced.
"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN ME, A MERE HUMAN!" Manda screamed.
Manda charged at Itachi, full force. "I'LL DEVOUR YOU!"
Itachi closed his eyes, when he opened them moments later he quietly said. "Mangekyou Sharingan, Tsukuyomi."
Manda stopped an inch from Itachi's nose and proceeded to fall over. Dead.
Sasuke rolled off of Manda's head and onto the ground 'Impossible' Sasuke thought.
"Pathetic." Itachi said as he gazed at Manda's corpse. He then turned and walked towards Sasuke, sensing the end was coming Sasuke gathered all of his remaining chakra into the back of his throat and when Itachi was in range blew it out in the form of an enormous fireball.
"Did I get him?" Sasuke wondered...
--
"Ugh! Why the hell are we on patrol duty, this is Chuunin stuff." Naruto proclaimed, obviously annoyed.
"Because were on the lookout for Akatsuki, and a Chuunin can't fight them." Kakashi explained, in his trademark bored tone.
"Well then why the hell am I here, I'm the one there after." The blonde continued to protest.
"Because you called Tsunade an old hag Naruto." Sakura clarified.
"Oh ya..." Naruto began to sulk "Well it's still not fair."
Sakura and Kakashi both rolled their eyes at Naruto.
"Well how much longer are we going to be here for?" Naruto asked.
"Gah Naruto, don't you ever listen it's a 5 day mission." Sakura explained, again.
"Well sorry I'm not as super goody goody perfect as you are Sakura." Naruto said laughing.
Inner Sakura flared. "THAT SMUG SON OF A BITCH, LET ME AT HIM IM GONNA BEAT HIM WITH HIS OWN LIMBS AND TURN HIM INTO RAMEN!"
"Hahaha you're too evil sometimes, but he does deserve a good lashing." Sakura responded to her alter ego.
"YA! THAT'S THE SPIRIT, KICK HIS ASS!"
"Were on a mission, I can't just break him in half."
"WHAAAAAT, AH YOU GOT MY HOPES UP AND EVERYTHING, ALRIGHT THAT'S IT, I'M LEAVIN..."
"Huh? And where are you going to go, you're inside my head."
"SON OF A BI..."
"Hey Sakura, SAKURA!" Naruto yelled.
"Huh what, what is it?" Sakura mumbled.
"Uhhh you were kind of spacing out on us." The blonde explained.
"Oh, yaaaaa I was just, it was nothing really." Sakura said with a smile.
Kakashi could tell those two weren't going to stop bickering for a long while, so he got comfortable and whipped out Icha Icha Paradise Volume XII personally signed by the man himself, JIRAIYA!
A few hours passed and everyone had settled in and was beginning to relax, it was technically Kakashi's patrol shift, although how well you can patrol while reading a perverted book was up for debate.
The sun was going down in about another hour or two and so far everything seemed nice and normal, 'Maybe this isn't going to be so bad' Naruto thought; after all he was alone with Sakura for the next five hours!! But before Naruto could get too excited an enormous fireball scorched the sky.
"Whoa what the heck was that?" The blonde asked.
"It looks like it happened a few miles north east of our location." Sakura concluded.
Kakashi appeared back at camp "Looks like we get some excitement Naruto. Gather your equipment we leave in thirty seconds." Kakashi commanded.
"We're ready Kakashi." Both Naruto and Sakura stated, twenty-five seconds later.
The three ninja sped off jumping from tree to tree unaware of what they would find, from the size of that fire blast it wasn't an ordinary ninja, Kakashi had a strong feeling it was someone from Akatsuki.
"What's our status Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
"Judging from my calculations, we should be there sometime within the next three minutes." She replied.
--
As the smoke from Sasuke's great fireball cleared, a powerful kick hit him in the side of his face that sent him skidding across the ground.
"Your pathetic attacks have no chance against me, little brother." The older Uchiha said smugly, mocking Sasuke all the while.
Sasuke had used nearly all of his remaining chakra in that final fireball and was now struggling to do something as simple as turning over.
'Damnit, how did this happen?' Sasuke thought to himself 'Itachi doesn't have a scratch on him, and I can hardly move.'
Itachi moved slowly towards Sasuke, as if giving his younger brother time to realize he was done for.
Itachi stood over Sasuke, slowly raising his sword "You were a disappointment three years ago, and you're a disappointment now. So die a disappointment, little brother."
The fear was clearly visible in Sasuke's eyes as he began to tremble realizing how hopeless the situation really was. As Itachi thrust the sword downward towards Sasuke's heart, a hiss could be heard drawing closer. A shuriken was heading straight for Itachi's neck, he had no choice but to jump backwards and avoid it.
"SASUKE!?" A voice cried out in the distance.
A voice Sasuke hadn't heard in over a year, since his last failed attempt to bring Sasuke back to Konoha.
'Humph, Naruto' Sasuke thought to himself. 'What the hell is he doing here?'
The three Konoha ninja landed about thirty yards in front of Itachi, Kakashi's eyes opened wide "What on earth is that?" he said in amazement staring at Manda's lifeless form.
Naruto gasped. "Is that, that's Orochimaru's snake." Naruto stated in disbelief "There's just no way Itachi could have killed that thing!"
Turning there focus back on Itachi, Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura all got into their battle stances.
Itachi looked around and surveyed the situation. "Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura..." Itachi's mouth curled into a slight smile as his eyes fixated on the last ninja "Uzamaki Naruto."
"You're surrounded Itachi, now surrender peacefully." Kakashi ordered, all the while knowing the S-rank criminal would do no such thing.
"Hand over Naruto, and I might let you live." Itachi said in a serious tone.
"I'M YOUR OPPONENT, ITACHI!" Sasuke screamed while slashing a kunai at Itachi's leg from behind.
Itachi easily avoided Sasuke's attack and proceeded to stomp on the arm holding the kunai, Sasuke let out a yelp when he felt his arm break under the pressure.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Sakura yelled.
"That was rude, little brother, the adults were talking." Itachi said while continuing to stomp Sasuke's now motionless body.
"STOP IT!" Sakura cried, now running at Itachi with every intention of killing him.
Sakura was good but she was no match for Itachi and his Sharingan, the only person who even stood a chance was Kakashi but even he feared the true power of the Sharingan. Itachi was simply too fast for Sakura to hit and the speed at which he preformed Jutsu's made it hard for even Kakashi's Sharingan to follow. Itachi was far above any S-rank criminal and having fought Itachi on several occasions Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi still had no advantage or gauge on Itachi's true power.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, moments later more then fifty Naruto's littered the battlefield; Naruto gave a smirk "You're going down Itachi." The blonde stated in a cocky voice, sending his shadow clones on the attack.
"If I kill you, they will disappear." An ominous voice whispered to the blonde.
"SHIT, BEHIND YOU NARUTO!" Kakashi screamed.
Naruto's eyes widened while his blood ran cold, but before he could turn around he felt a sharp pain in his neck and collapsed, his shadow clones disappearing.
"He's lucky we need him alive." Itachi said "But that isn't true for you two." Itachi glanced at Kakashi and then at Sakura.
"Just try and get behind him Sakura and don't take your eyes off of his feet." Kakashi said "I'm the only one who can fight him head on."
Sakura nodded and the two raced towards Itachi, Kakashi kept throwing shuriken in an attempt to force Itachi's back to Sakura in hopes that she would be able to land just one crushing blow. Itachi gave his back to Sakura surprisingly easy, which Kakashi didn't like one bit.
'Now's my chance!' Sakura thought, as she lunged at Itachi's exposed back, all of her chakra concentrated in her right hand.
Itachi smirked at Kakashi.
Kakashi's eyes grew wide as Itachi grabbed Sakura's right wrist, turned around and slashed up and across her chest, with the kunai in his left hand.
Kakashi knew this was his only chance to take down Itachi; he was exposed while he attacked Sakura, or so Kakashi thought. As Kakashi flew towards Itachi, kunai aimed at his neck, Itachi tossed Sakura aside and grabbed Kakashi's arm and neck slamming him into the ground below.
Naruto and Sasuke were both unconscious, Sakura was frantically trying to heal her chest wound, and Kakashi was now pinned to the ground by quite possibly the most dangerous ninja the leaf village had ever produced.
'This doesn't look good' Kakashi thought to himself as Itachi choked the life out of him. Everything was going dark and the world began to spin around Kakashi as he struggled for air.
Just as Kakashi thought to himself "This looks like the end" an earth shattering kick sent Itachi flying off of Kakashi and skidding across the ground.
"Am I glad to see you." Kakashi coughed.
Itachi while slowly getting up, looked at the man who was now standing before him "Jiraiya." He said while holding his stomach.
Itachi was no fool, on any other day he probably could have taken the legendary sannin but not today, after already using Tsukuyomi once to dispose of Manda; Itachi was weakened greatly by it. If he wanted to take out a legendary sannin he would need to be at full strength. Itachi looked at Naruto's unconscious body and scowled "We will continue this another day."
Just as quickly as the battle began, Itachi was gone in a puff of smoke.
Jiraiya walked over to Naruto and with his Kunai cut Naruto's finger, Naruto sprung to his feet and planted one hell of a kick on Jiraiya's face.
"OH SHIT!" The blonde screamed. "PERVY SENSEI... you ok?"
Shaking away the stars Jiraiya grabbed Naruto. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
"Hehehe" Naruto looked at his feet. "I thought you were Itachi."
"I'M MUCH BETTER LOOKING THAN ITACHI, HOW COULD YOU EVEN COMPARE US!" The sannin shouted, thoroughly offended by his student's lack of taste.
Naruto let out a sigh. "I didn't mean it like that."
Sakura had just finished healing her chest wound, and Kakashi was back on his feet after getting back his breath.
Jiraiya put his hand on Manda's lifeless body, "To think he was able to kill the King of snakes, humph I doubt even I could fight against Manda without the help of Gamabunta." Jiraiya said "But what's even more amazing, is that this kid could even summon Manda, I guess he really did kill Orochimaru."
Sakura's eyes grew wide as she remembered Sasuke; she ran over to his unconscious body and knelt down beside him. The other three ninja walked over,
"How is he?" Naruto asked the young medic-nin. As she ran her hands over his body.
"Bad, REAL bad." she cried. "He has six broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken arm. He's also lost a lot of blood from his shoulder wound and is suffering from chakra exhaustion." Sakura said while trying to hold back tears "We have to bring him to Tsunade, his injuries are too severe and numerous for me to treat."
"I don't think Tsunade is going to be too happy about this." Jiraiya said truthfully. "He abandoned the village after all, Sasuke will be lucky if she doesn't just kill him." Jiraiya never liked Sasuke, there was just something about him Jiraiya didn't trust, and when Sasuke left Konoha Jiraiya knew his assumptions were correct.
"I WONT LET THE OLD HAG HURT HIM!" Naruto yelled out "He was our teammate and I said I'd bring him back to Konoha, no matter what."
"Humph." was all Jiraiya said.
"It will take us five hours to get back to Konoha from our current location, will he make it?" Kakashi asked the pink haired medic-nin.
"If I can stop his bleeding and give him some chakra, then... he should." She replied in a sad, worried tone.
When Sakura had done her best to stabilize Sasuke, the ninja set off for Konoha. Seeing that the situation was under control Jiraiya parted ways and went in pursuit of Itachi, and the rest of Akatsuki.
Kakashi had Sasuke on his back and could feel how cold Sasuke had become from the loss of blood; Sakura kept a worried eye on Sasuke the entire journey back. Just under five hours later "Team Seven" burst through the gates of Konoha and headed straight for Hokage Tower.
To Be Continued... (CHAPTER 02 - CONSEQUENCE)