HEY GUY'S! i am sooooooooooooooooo sorry for not updating! it's been so much going on that has been keeping me busy and away from updating! promise to never take this long again :( but for a reward i will upload two more chapters as an apology :) so i hope you all will enjoy! please leave any comment, advice, or questions! i'll gladly respond! xoxox

Sincerly, Pink01 ;)

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~Naruto Shippuden Opening Theme 1(Hero's Comeback)~

You woke up the next morning practically feeling like shit, from the soreness in your body and the bags under your eyes. You didn't get much sleep last night because you were tossing and turning too much. It was hard getting comfortable since you were up debating whether or not you should avoid Naruto or not but it had to be done if you wanted to get home. He was like a distraction, always getting caught up in your feelings about him instead of focusing on how to get you and Ayame back to your world. Doing this might end up hurting him and of course you didn't want to, he was your friend and here you were thinking of ways to not get attached to him anymore. The door to your room opened as Ayame walked in with her hands on her hips.

"Alright we found out where the Akatsuki hideout is so were going t- huh? Sumi are you okay?". Ayame asked with worry as she helped you to get out of bed. You looked drained of your energy with your hair messy and bags under your eyes, she has never seen you this messed up before and it concerned her.

"This isn't about Naruto is it?". She asked while making you look at her, trying to make you talk and tell her the truth. You stared at her eyes forcing a smile on your face, shaking your head no so that she wouldn't worry. She gave you a disbelief look but decided not to push it and nodded, telling you to get ready and meet up outside with the others. She walked out the room so you could get dressed while closing the door behind her.

You sighed, getting out of bed and going to the bathroom to shower your problems away. Ten minutes later you were out and dressed, walking out of your room to meet up with the others. You were spacing out again and because you weren't paying attention to your directions, you ended up to bumping into someone. You fell roughly on your bottom as you rubbed it to stop the aching pain, looking up at the person you ran into and it happened to be Naruto. You felt your heart skip a beat as you looked into his eyes, why did you have to run into him now?.

He blinked a couple times before rubbing the back of his head nervously."My bad Kasumi! Ayame sent me to check on you, uhhh here lemme help!". He offered his hand to help you up but you quickly stood up, ignoring the look he gave you and bowed your head. You mumbled sorry and took a run for it before he had a chance to say anything. Naruto stared in the direction you ran with a look of hurt on his face.

You continued making a run for it as you made it outside, seeing the others huddled up talking about something important. When you finally made it, everyone was giving you a weird look because of your stressed looking appearance and how hard you were trying to catch your breath.

"Uhh is everything alright Kasumi?". Kakashi asked with concern in his voice. You sighed and nodded, forcing on another smile. By then, Naruto ended up coming out behind you, he too looked like it was something bothering him but tried his best to cover it. Kakashi felt the awkwardness but decided not to say anything, at least not now since they had to be on the move again.

"Well alright since were all here now, it looks like were be working in conjunction with a squad from the Sand so as soon as they get here we can head out". He explained.

"Sorry were late". You heard someone say not too far from you. You looked over to see Temari and some other people behind her, who you assumed, were the squad Kakashi mentioned about. The group was about to get going until Baki stopped everyone.

"Temari, you and your squad are to stay here and patrol the perimeter". He ordered as Temari gave him a shocked look.

"Are you kidding me or what?". Temari angrily asked, wanting to save Gaara herself.

"I'm sorry but there orders from above". He said crossing his arms.

"That's not fair! just look at these Leaf ninja, They came all the way out here just to help us! This is our problem we should be the one to save Gaara!". She yelled at him. Baki stepped back in shock from being yelled at.

"If a sand shinobi needs to be present, then i am the one to go". You heard someone say. Everyone looked up to the sky to see Lady Chiyo Standing on a tall building. She jumped from the building surprising you, Sakura, Ayame and Naruto. You were amazed at her skills for being such an old woman but nothing is impossible in this world.

"Besides, I want to see how much my adorable grandson had grown up". Lady Chiyo said with a smirk. Kakashi nodded seeing that she was going no matter what he said. You all were about to head out, you saw Naruto motioning for you to get on his back. You ignored him getting onto Kakashi's back instead. It broke your heart even more to see the look of hurt plastered on his face. But you had to dessert your feelings for him so you wouldn't get any more attached, you wanted to be focused on getting home and nothing was going to come in-between that. Ayame looked between you and Naruto sadly, she sighed getting onto Naruto's back as they moved forward.

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You all were jumping through the forest for a good twenty minutes, heading to the Akatsuki hideout to rescue Gaara. As you all were coming up to an open field you saw someone standing in the middle but you couldn't make out who it was. Kakashi eyes widened in shock as he ordered everyone to stop. You got off his back squinting your eyes to see who its was up ahead. You saw a man dressed in a black cloak with red clouds decorating it. His hair was down with the leaf village headband on but what captured you the most was his piercing red eyes that didn't look like normal eyes. He glared daggers at everyone as he stood firmly, blocking you from passing.

"Itachi Uchiha". Naruto said through his gritted teeth. Everyone's eyes filled with shocked string at the man before them. You've heard about Itachi from Naruto one time. He's the older brother of his best friend Sasuke , who left the village in order to gain power to kill. You've heard that this Itachi person has done some horrible things.

"I see, so this is the child who killed his whole clan in one single night". You heard Lady Chiyo say as Your eyes widened with horror. Your heart was telling you to run, you really were afraid of this man before you.

"Kakashi, Naruto, Its been a long time". Itachi said glaring more daggers smirking through his cloak. Naruto sneered at his name being mentioned as he clenched his fist glaring daggers as well.

" I wasn't enough for you huh?! you had to go after Gaara as well?!". Naruto asked angrily as Itachi kept quiet, staring at Naruto with a blank expression. Itachi then raised his hand pointing towards Naruto, when he did that you didn't get a good feeling from it. Kakashi warned everyone to not look into his eyes for he posses the Mangekyo Sharingan. A genjutsu that allowed him to distort the victim's perception of time, torturing their psyche for what seemed like days in a matter of seconds.

Everyone stood still waiting for Itachi to make his move, your heart was pumping impatiently as you sat there waiting to see if he was going to do something or not. Lady Chiyo informed that if someone was to get trapped in the genjutsu, the way of it is for another colleague to hit you on the head to break you out of it or possibly flowing their chakra into you.

"So in addition to using up a lot of chakra, you risk permanent damage to your eye every time you use that jutsu don't you?". Kakashi asked him to provoke him while closing his eyes. Inside, Itachi was a little shocked that he even paid attention to that but of course he wouldn't let him know that.

"You've seem to learn a great dealt, from our previous encounter". Itachi answered plainly while staring at Kakashi.

"I wonder...".Kakashi voice trailed off as he began to raise the headband that covered his eye to reveal the same eye as Itachi, his very own Sharingan.

"Just how much damage, has already been done to your eye-sight?". Kakashi spoke again as he glared at Itachi. Itachi began to feel a bit irritated for his constant digging, soon enough he would figure out the truth about his eye and that could be a problem.

"I admit that i under estimated you back then, but i am not the same fool i was, things aren't going to go the same way this time i can promise you that". Kakashi stated as Naruto smirked, nodding his head in agreement that they both have changed and become stronger over the years.

"That's right and i hope you don't go into thinking that I'm the same kid either! a lot of things as changed since then". Naruto shouted confidently while narrowing his blue eyes at Itachi.

"Everyone just stand back and let me handle this". Kakashi ordered and got into a fighting stance. You didn't argue as you stepped back a little to give himself room. Out of nowhere, you saw Naruto running and yelling out his technique that he named Rasengan. A blue sphere formed in his right hand, it was beautiful and spiraled continuously as wind surrounded it. Your eyes followed where he was heading and realized he was shooting it at nothing, it didn't make contact with anything and you couldn't understand what he was doing. You really didn't know what was going on as everyone stared at Naruto weirdly.

"Naruto you idiot! what are you aiming at?!". Ayame yelled to get his attention. Naruto didn't respond as he still stood there, motionless like he was in a trance or something. You felt that something was wrong with this situation, something inside told you that he was introuble. Kakashi's eyes widened when he realized what was happening to Naruto, he turned towards Itachi with a scowl on his face and started charging at him. The two started clashing in battle, both equally matched with each other.

"Please...I n-need your...c-charka". You heard Naruto struggle to say. Sakura and Lady Chiyo rushed over to him, each putting their hands on his shoulders. He was able to snap out of his trance as he stood there with shock, confused with what happened to him. A loud explosion erupted as you turned your attention to see Kakashi flipping backwards. You looked towards the others with worry wondering if Naruto was okay.

"W-what what happened?". Naruto asked in shock.

"Don't you remember? you started running and shooting your Rasengan at nothing". Sakura explained to him.

"But..what happened to his shadow clone". He responded getting more confused at the situation.

"What? there wasn't any shadow clone he's been standing there not doing anything". Lady Chiyo said with worry.

"So, i was already in the genjutsu?". Naruto asked in disbelief, looking at the two with a confused expression.

"Mhmm, I'm afraid he's using more than just a visual jutsu". Lady Chiyo said while giving her red eye enemy a glare.

Hearing her mention that, they got into a fighting stance waiting for Itachi to strike while at the same time trying to keep you and Ayame safe from harm. You looked to see Kakashi hunched over holding out his hand as lightning started to form around him, you could see the electric bolts radiating from his hand and it intrigued your interest. The battle was starting to get too intense for you all so you, Ayame, Sakura and Lady Chiyo took cover behind the trees to not get in their way.

"Lightning Blade!". Kakashi charged in full speed, firing his jutsu towards Itachi but he avoided Kakashi's attack like it was nothing.

"Now Naruto!". Kakashi suddenly yelled, giving Naruto the signal to counter attack. Naruto used his Rasengan once more as it connected with Itachi following by a loud explosion. The explosion shook everything around you and debris was flying throughout the woods from

"Did he get him?". Ayame asked, looking around to see what happened. Your eyes widened for you were scared of what happened, you looked up but couldn't see anything with all the smoke making your vision cloudy.

"Naruto!". You exclaimed and rushed out into the field to his aid, afraid that he might be hurt but Sakura quickly grabbed your wrist from going out any further.

"Kasumi wait! you can't go out there it's too dangerous!". Sakura shouted, trying to keep you from going out into danger. You shook your head stubbornly and struggled to get free, finally able to snatch your wrist away from her. You were about to run out again but Kakashi's voice stopped you.

"Stay back kasumi, it's not safe!". You heard Kakashi yell out. You halted in your tracks and look down at your feet with a mixed frown. You felt so useless in this world, feeling that you don't belong. Watching people you care about fight for their lives while you were somewhere hiding just didn't sit right with you, they were your friends and you wanted to help but you knew you weren't strong enough to. A sigh escaped your lips as you retreated back to the others.

The smoke disappeared as Itachi stood inches away from the hole Naruto created with his Rasegan. Naruto was hunched over, panting and trying to catch his breath from all the fighting, he retreated also after hitting Itachi which turned out to be his Shadow Clone. He slammed his fist in frustration because he missed again.

The battle continued between Itachi and Kakashi for sometime. You watched as they fought back and forth with strong force. You were amazed at this world for their weird abilities and this thing they called "Charkra". Naruto's eyes turned red as the spirit of the nine tailed fox was beginning to show, he used his shadow clone to form another Rasegan but this time it was different.

"Giant Rasegan!". Naruto charged at Itachi with enormous speed as his giant sphere connected with Itachi, creating an even bigger explosion causing the debris to surround everywhere.

"I-Incredible!". Sakura stuttered with excitement. Everyone else admired Naruto's power and how he's grown. You stared at the boy in shock, bewildered by his power.

"He's so strong...".

CLIFFHANGER!

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