A/N: this one's a good deal longer than the last two chapters, and is for the most part serious. I've never actually written a fight scene before, and it apparently it puts me in a really dark mood, so bear with.

To my three (so far) reviewers: I'm glad you like it. 15 Black Roses, I know your lying when you say I'm your hero, because if everyone you said was your hero really was, you'd have 100 at least. Here's chapter 3.

Disclaimer: Mirror, mirror, o'er the sink. Do I own Naruto? What do you think? (…err. I'll let you guys know if I own it or not as soon as my reflection stops laughing at me)


Even Half a Chance

Time 3:00PM

Location: Sai's apartment

Sai packed up his scrolls and ink and brushes, as well as some more practical, metal weaponry. He stroked the cover of the sketchbook of the two boys, and turned to find Sabaku no Gaara in his face. To his credit, this didn't seem to unnerve him at all.

"Hello. I suppose you're here for my briefing then."

"Are you prepared?"

"Of course, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara's eyes narrowed. That tone… was Sai mocking him? Irrelevant. There were things to be done.

"Then come with me."

Location: Memorial Stone

"Hey teme, is it just me, or did you pick up another life goal?"

Sasuke looked up from where the name Haruno Sakura was etched into the stone. "… What are you talking about dobe?"

Naruto crossed his arms and nodded in mock thoughtfulness. "You show up late to meetings, and now you're brooding at the memorial stone." Here he pointed accusingly at Sasuke. "You have an aspiration to be just like Kakashi-sensei! It'll be like Gai and Lee all over!"

Sasuke looked mortified for a moment. Then his 'stoic Uchiha' genes kicked in and he recovered his bored look. "Hn. This is coming from the idiot who called an urgent meeting and then traipsed around Konoha for two hours. I thought it would be stupid to go on time when I knew that you would be busy running from Tsunade. I left when you both ran past my house the second time. …And I wouldn't be caught dead reading those books."

"Ha! Of course not! What kind of emotionless, genius ninja would you be if you got caught reading porn?!"

"Shut up, moron."

"Make me, bastard!"

"…Do you have something important to say, or do you just enjoy bugging the hell out of me?"

"Both." A pause. "You know, you're not 'sposed to walk out of a meeting until I dismiss you."

Sasuke shrugged. "You were about to anyway." 'And then you would have told me to stay after, like some troublemaking kid.' He knew what Naruto wanted to talk about. "I didn't mean it. Itachi will be the only one to die by my hands."

It wasn't exactly what Naruto wanted to hear, but it would do. Sasuke would control himself.

"Ne, Sasuke. If we pull this off, but I don't make it back… do you want to be Hokage?"

Sasuke furrowed his brows. "Idiot. What kind of a question is that? You've already died once. You're not allowed to do it again."

Naruto laughed, but there was no mirth in it. "What we talked about in the office… was plan A. It should work, and I hope that it does, because plan B's not pretty."

"I see. I'm hardly the best person to lead Konoha." He looked into Naruto's eyes, and saw a clash of hope and despair. "But I know what Hokage means to you, and so I would try."

Location: remains of the Aburame complex

Inuzuka Hana brushed a few kikai insects from her arm. They kept landing on her, crawling over her skin and looking for the holes that Aburames have to accommodate their hives. Actually, it was rather curious that there should be any kikai still here. Those Aburame who had survived the attack on their complex a month ago had moved closer to the Hokage tower, and the kikai of the dead Aburame would have starved and died out without a chakra source. She continued on, her dogs padding alongside her. If she was going to find any clues about Zetsu of the Akatsuki, it would be here.

Something broke under Hana's foot. A piece of glass. She looked around to find where the shard had fallen from. A terrarium had been knocked from the table it had been on. A butterfly was perched on one of the plants that had spilt from the container, slowly flapping its wings as if unused to having them. It must have only recently emerged from its chrysalis. There was still hope.

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Time: 5:30PM

Location: Hokage tower

Naruto is sitting in his office looking out on Konoha. Aside from the obvious destruction caused by Deidara's explosives, it was hard to tell that over three quarters of Konoha was abandoned. The civilians had been evacuated at the first sign that the Akatsuki was coming. Roughly 60 of the shinobi had been lost as well. Most of what was left was the really good nins, and the really green ones. If he could just get rid of the Akatsuki now, there was still hope for recovery.

"Do you have someone precious to you?"

"Huh?"

"When a person has someone precious to protect, that's when they can become truly strong."

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"Iruka-sensei… Why do people risk their lives for others?"

"When a person dies, he disappears… As does his past, lifestyle, and his future. Many people die in missions and wars. They die easily and in surprisingly simple ways. Hayate was one of them. Those who die have goals and dreams. But everyone has something just as important. Parents, siblings, friends, lovers… people who are important to you. They trust and help each other. The bond between the people important to you ever since birth, and the string that binds them… becomes thicker and stronger as time goes by. Its beyond reason. Those bound to you by that string will do that. Because it's important."

If he couldn't… that wasn't an option. He definitely would not let Konoha fall to those bastards.

"You will become strong."

'I hope I have.'

"Oi, Naruto."

Naruto turned his head to see the speaker: a blue-eyed blonde kunoichi in clothes that could have rivaled Mitirashi Anko's old outfit for 'most skin shown without actually being inappropriate'. Yamanaka Ino.

"Ino. Did you find them?"

"Did you think I couldn't? Honestly, a giant blue guy, with an even bigger sword, who practices by felling trees with said jumbo sword, and a blond guy who works with explosives, aren't that hard to find. Itachi was with Kisame, like you thought. They're camping out in the Forest of Death. Deidara is blowing things up outside the village to the west. Zetsu was harder. He seems to flit around a lot. He does gravitate toward the Nara's forest where we fought Hidan and Kakuzu. He could be looking for Hidan's remains, but mostly he's just eating Shikamaru's deer."

"Thanks Ino, that helps a lot. Anything else you can tell me?"

"Not really. Aside from the obvious, they didn't seem to be up to anything today. …Whatever you're doing, it had better be good Naruto."

Once, Naruto might have tried to deny that he was doing anything, but Ino worked primarily as an 'information gatherer' so that was a no go, and wouldn't help anything anyway. "Of course it's good Ino-chan! When was the last time I came up with something that was not good?"

She raised a brow at him in an 'Are you kidding?' look. "Well there was the five times that you challenged Tsunade-sama to a drinking contest, saying that if you won, she had to make you Hokage."

"And look whose office you're standing in."

"I know. I also know that you only won that 5th time because Tsunade-sama had to stop drinking so that she could save you from dying of alcohol poisoning. She was going to make you Hokage eventually. You didn't need to practically kill yourself over it. If there's nothing else, I need to get going. Be careful, whatever you're up to."

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Time: 5:59PM

Location: Ichiraku Ramen

The Ichiraku Ramen stand, once Naruto's favorite resturaunt, was now his base of covert operations. Teuchi had given Naruto the key to the back when he and Ayame had left to cook for the evacuees. It stood in No Man's land, the abandoned outer edge of Konoha. It is one minute before the mission officially begins. Naruto sits alone.

Time: 6:00PM

Ten more people were suddenly in the room. Ten people staring at him and looking for leadership. Pride, nervousness, and adrenaline shot through him.

"You all understand that on this mission, the percent chance of all of us coming back alive is practically zero? And knowing this, do you undertake it by your own choice?"

A unanimous "Hai." was his reply.

"Good. I had Ino scout the targets' locations for us. Gaara, yours is to the west. Tenzo, yours should be in the Nara's deer preserve. Check around where Shikamaru buried Hidan. If he's not there, wait for him to show up. He frequents it often. Everyone is to keep their headsets on, and no one makes a move until all four targets are found unless you are detected. Is that clear?"

"Hai."

"Move out."

5 seconds later, Ichiraku was empty, dark, and locked once more. 3 blurs speeding away from it in 3 directions.

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"Itachi-san."

Itachi glanced up from cleaning his weaponry. Zetsu's form leaned out from the tree he sat against. "They're coming, then?"

Zetsu looked back to where he had found the leaf nins. "11 shinobi, split into groups of six, three, and a pair with a pack of dogs. The large group is heading for your target area, while the group of three moves toward the west. The dog-group's target is me."

Actually, Zetsu said more than that, but Itachi didn't really care to listen to the pros and cons of torturing Inuzukas in revenge for Tobi. In fact, he was highly tempted to roll his eyes.

"Zetsu."

Zetsu's externalized internal debate ground to a halt as he looked back at Itachi.

"If they are coming, then you should return to your post."

Zetsu said nothing more, but melded back into the tree and disappeared.

Itachi put away his weapons and went to find Kisame. It was time to go.

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Something was going to go wrong, Naruto knew it. Everything felt off, from the moment he took off from Ichiraku.

Still, it hadn't prepared him for the fact that, when he and his team reached the entrance to the Forest of Death, Kisame and Itachi were standing in the clearing. Waiting for them. The chorus of, "Oh, shit!" that reached his ears from his comrades in person and over the headsets confirmed it.

Well at least they hadn't actually jumped out into the clearing yet.

Naruto stuck his arm out in a 'hold back' gesture.

Into the headset he asked, "Gaara? Tenzo? What's going on?"

"Well we found him, Zetsu was right where you said he would be, but he seemed to know we were coming and I don't see him anywhere now-Aw Damnit! Mokuton no jutsu!"

"Tenzo! Whats going on?!"

"We've engaged in combat with the enemy"

Naruto cursed. "Gaara, is your team alright?"

"Aa. We haven't found Deidara yet. Do we engage on sight then?"

"Yeah. It can't be helped." He dropped his arm and said, to everyone, "Do your best, guys."

"Alright. Here we go. Sasuke, Gai, take him down if you can, just keep him busy. Lee, Tenten, you're with me. Chouji, if you get an opening anywhere, take it." He grinned as he started forming a rasengan. "No regrets. It's too late to turn back now." He jumped away. The others followed suit.

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Kisame leaned Sameheda up on his shoulder. "Itachi-san, what are they thinking, sitting up in the trees like that? They waitin' for an invitation or something?"

Itachi glanced over at him. "They will come at us soon enough. They have no choice but to do so now."

Sure enough, it was only a few minutes more before several figures hurtled out of the trees.

A storm of kunai and shuriken crashed down between Kisame and Itachi, driving them away from each other.

Itachi, jumping away from the weapons, was immediately set upon by Maito Gai. A puff of smoke later, Gai had simply kicked a log. He looked down at the field from his new vantage point to see another green spandex-clad ninja, a kunoichi that he didn't know, and Uzumaki Naruto attacking Kisame. It was then that he noticed the chirping birds.

"Chidori!"

So, they had sent his little brother after him. He watched Sasuke come at him armed with the chidori and Sharingan, ready to grasp his arm and fling him away. Something was off about Sasuke's aim though. He seemed to be coming at his heart, but he was blurred, as if there were two slightly different images overtop of one another. Itachi changed his tactic at the last second, moving aside and opting to let Sasuke simply pass him. He was most surprised then, when the pain lanced up his arm anyway. Sasuke was now smirking at him, daring Itachi to ask how he did that. How could his eyes have been fooled? Ah, there was the answer-they hadn't been.

"Well, little brother, it would seem that you learned some interesting things in your time with Orochimaru. Sound-based genjutsu… laced within a ninjutsu no less. But now you've thrown away your secret in a warning strike. As foolish as ever, Sasuke. I thought that you wanted to kill me. But you still don't have enough hate." Itachi could barely move his right arm now, but Sasuke didn't have to know that.

Sasuke glared at him. "Hatred. Power. For years, I did as you said. 'run, cling to life and live pathetically' Where the fuck did that get me? I make my own path now, and you will die!" He lunged at Itachi again.

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Gaara grunted as his back hit a tree. Even with the sand to protect him, that explosion had enough force to knock him off his feet. They'd definitely found Deidara. Gaara glanced over to where he last saw the former Rock-nin. Deidara was currently occupied, fending off three large tigers made of ink. Gaara sent several tendrils of sand into the ground. He was definitely going to be needing more.

Deidara had already destroyed two of the tigers, being annoyingly coated in ink in the process. He jumped out of reach of the last one, only to hear a telltale rush of wind. He turned his head to see Temari of the Sand with her fan open, and a wall of slicing wind coming straight for him with bits of tree in tow. He jumped down to the ground, intending to jump back up and go after the kunoichi after the wind passed, but was prevented from doing so by the sand grasping at his feet. 'I should have known, yeah. Where one of these Sand nins is, the other is too. So then who's this other guy, hmm?' He reached into the pouch of clay at his side and molded it into a bird. Activating, the little sculpture grew larger than Deidara. It grasped him in its talons, dropping him onto a branch after pulling him from the sand's grip. Deidara then sent it after that black haired guy who'd set the cats on him. But if that guy was there, and the girl was off behind him somewhere, where was the third one hiding?

Sai, now hiding from the giant clay bird soaring over the trees looking for him, rushed to finish his drawing. Just a few more strokes… got it!

"Choujuu giga!" Ink lifted from the surface of Sai's scroll and took flight as a large bird, shooting off to meet Deidara's. After a short aerial dogfight, clay and ink rained down as Deidara's bird exploded, dispelling Sai's ink bird as well. Unfortunately, Sai didn't notice the spider crawling up his leg.

Deidara grinned smugly as he made a seal. "Katsu!" The spider exploded, obliterating Sai's leg. Sai cried out, and fell from his branch, but what hit the ground was a splash of black ink. An ink clone.

Gaara took the opportunity to send a flight of sand shuriken at Deidara. The blonde dodged, but failed to evade the wave of sand that shot from the ground at him, hurling him into a tree. The sand wrapped around his form, holding him prisoner in Sabaku no Gaara's famous 'Sand Coffin'. From outside the grainy cocoon, four nin's watched carefully as Gaara prepared to crush Deidara's body to bloody bits.

Gaara's sand swelled, before exploding violently in all directions. Temari was clear of the blast, being a long range fighter, and Gaara's sand shielded him from it, but Sai got the full brunt of it. He went flying, and neither Gaara nor Temari saw where he landed. Gaara's view was obstructed by his own shield, and Temari had something far more interesting in her sight. Deidara.

She went at him, aiming to swing her closed fan down on the man's head. He moved at the last second, barely moving his skull from the fan's path. Temari ended up striking him solidly across his chest and left shoulder. Years of experience and training hardened her to the sickening, dull smack as her fan struck his flesh, and the additional give that meant at least some of his ribs were broken. Fighting up close and personal was a lot different from waving a wind storm at someone. More visceral.

She kicked out at him as she pulled back her fan, but he jumped back to another tree, holding his left arm, and trying not to wince. She probably wouldn't be hitting him again anytime soon. He was good at dodging. "Che, fine then!" She bit her thumb and snapped open her fan, painting a line of blood on it.

"Kuchiyose: kiri kiri mai!" A white weasel riding a sickle poofed into existence and flew after Deidara. Deidara took off, jumping about erratically in an effort to ditch the summoning. As he dodged, he released the seal on the bird figurine flying just off to Temari's left. The explosion sent Temari, and a good bit of the tree she'd been standing on, flying. She landed on a cloud of floating sand, but it was too late to shield her from the wood shards lodged in her thigh and side. Her fan was useless as well. Most of the material gone, and the metal frame barely intact. She was lowered to the ground, and with her out, and Sai missing, Gaara took center stage.

Deidara seemed to be flooded with nostalgia at this turn of events. "Sabaku no Gaara. …hmm. Its been a while, yeah? You're luck with people hasn't gotten much better though, has it? All alone again. …yeah." With his right arm, he pulled out a black cloth and mopped the sweat from his face. He threw the rag to the ground at Gaara's feet, where for some reason it made a metallic clanking sound. "Even your pitiful siblings have left you to fight me alone, yeah? That woman over there… and that Sasori wanna-be…"

Gaara frowned, and picked up the black cloth from the ground. A hat with a metal plate attached, bearing the hourglass of Suna: Kankuro's kabuki hat. His frown deepened, and he looked up at the smug Deidara. "What did you do with Kankuro?"

Deidara's grin widened. "Well, I don't know what happened to him. Zetsu probably ate him, yeah? He's crazy like that. Kabuki-boy was a little torn apart when I left him. He might have missed a few pieces though, so there might be something to bury if you look real hard. Hm.

Gaara's expression could now be classified as a S-Class death glare. 'I cannot allow myself to become emotional. This changes nothing. If it is the truth, or even if he is lying and Kankuro is alive, the only option is to kill him. Naruto is counting on me to do this for him.' He took in his opponent's condition. 'Temari injured him, more severely than he would like me to know. He can't use his left arm well, and his stance is off, probably from grasping his leg with the sand. He must have used up most of his clay by now, as well. I must be cautious. He will try to end this quickly now, and I am running out of chakra. …So be it. I failed my own country, my precious comrades, but I can end this before Naruto meets the same fate.'

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Hana and Tenzo's fight with Zetsu had devolved into a glorified game of 'whack-a-mole'. Zetsu had decided that it was a far better tactic to avoid damage and let his attackers tire themselves out than to actually come out and fight. After all, he was not a combat type shinobi, his skills gravitating toward observation and intelligence gathering. He was taunting his opponents by melding in and out of trees while Hana wasted chakra tearing up the poor trees with the 'piercing fang' technique, and Tenzo tried vainly to hit him with his flowing wooden pillars.

It was time to finish this mockery of a fight. Zetsu appeared behind the wood user, kunai in hand. Tenzo grunted as he was stabbed in the back, but looked back and grinned at the yellow eyed akatsuki member. The flesh around the kunai in his back reached out to grip Zetsu's arm as his features lost their color and became wooden. Being the genetic clone of the Shodai Hokage did have its merits. For example: wood clones, which could hold their form even after being discovered, and growing to whatever shape Tenzo willed. Now he just had to hold the psycho in place while Hana attacked.

Both of Zetsu's personalities cursed. Tenzo's chakra in the wood prevented him from pulling his arm free. He was very stuck, and that woman with the dogs was rapidly finishing the preparations for a jutsu.

Hana had thrown several small pills at her canine team and taken one herself before beginning a string of seals. A large cloud of smoke sprang up, and where once stood an Inuzuka pack, stood two monstrous gray wolves, each bearing two heads, and snarling and growling like demons. Four massive heads turned to look at Zetsu, and the right head of the nearer wolf gave a short, commanding bark. Then they leapt.

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Itachi was panting. That's how much he had needed to put into this fight. Maito Gai had been dealt with, lying unconscious or dead somewhere in the forest. The obstacle at hand was the only other living Uchiha. Sasuke was panting as well. Both had wounds, though none that were life threatening. Itachi had discarded his cloak after the torn fabric became an annoying hindrance, and Sasuke had lost his sword some time ago.

The brothers stood facing one another on the forest floor, near mirror images of each other. Dark hair, Sharingan blazing, pale skin blemished with bruises and rivulets of blood. The last of the Uchiha.

Itachi had known, that one day, Sasuke would surpass him. That it needed to happen. But he had never reconciled that knowledge with the picture of his naïve, foolish little brother. The seven year old who clung blindly to his every word and craved even a drop of their father's affection; the twelve year old 'avenger' who attacked him blindly in a hotel and ran to Orochimaru for power that he didn't believe he had… This Sasuke… was nothing like them. He was calm, and efficient. He refused to let his anger control him, as he always had in the past. And he had obtained the greatest power of the Uchiha birthright, the Mangekyo Sharingan. Itachi could only wonder how, as Naruto was fighting his partner not 50 meters away. It didn't matter. Sasuke had become a worthy opponent, and a true heir of the Sharingan, and their final battle was at hand.

Both figures blurred from existence, appearing again in a flurry of taijutsu. They were closely matched. Itachi had more experience, having lived as a mercenary S-class nin for 19 years; but Sasuke had superior eyesight, and constantly training with Konoha's number one nin at surprising people had taught him a few things.

Itachi finally landed a kick on Sasuke, who went flying into the foliage, temporarily out of sight. Itachi waited patiently for him to jump back towards him – there was no point in rushing after him, he was hardly likely to stay away. Predictably, Sasuke came at him, kunai drawn. No, it was simply a kage bunshin of his brother. Petty tricks. Itachi threw a kunai at it; it exploded into smoke. Scarcely had it dissipated before another jumped out at him. Surely Sasuke realized this was futile; with the Sharingan, one could easily tell a clone from the original. He must be trying to buy himself time.

Itachi picked up another kunai to stab it; it was to close for a throw, and he did have a limited supply. Itachi pierced the bunshin's shoulder, and felt the flesh give way, expecting his brother's form to disappear and leave his weapon bloodless. It didn't. Unfortunately, Itachi had no more time to contemplate the undying bunshin, because its kunai was in his chest, and it had him pinned firmly to a tree.

The bunshin spoke. "It is a simple matter for one who knows what a kage bunshin looks like to a Sharingan to mimic that kind of chakra flow. I'm real, brother. Chidori nagashi!" Electricity flowed from Sasuke's arms and into his older brother's body, and when the light and noise had died away, Sasuke was left staring at his brother's lifeless, electrocuted form.

Sasuke lit his brother's body on fire with the first fire technique that all Uchiha master. Sasuke, genius ninja, jounin of Konoha, and best friend of the sixth hokage turned from the flames and began walking toward the sound of violence, intent on helping Naruto.

He made it 20 meters before he collapsed from exhaustion.

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A/N-Kisame's fights up next, and the ends of Deidara's and Zetsu's will be revealed. This one was longer than I usually write, but I was having trouble cutting it off, so there you go. Reviews make my soul happy, and any advice or comments would be much appreciated, so you should definitely review.