Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Wow…thanks for the reviews and (for some of you) positive feedback! I actually got over 30 reviews for one chapter…if that doesn't sound like a lot well then OH WELL! Perhaps it was because of the kissing scene…hmmm…

Dust-in: Shikamaru and Temari went back to Konoha to inform Tsunade of what had happened. In chapter eight, Sasuke told them to go back and get Tsunade for help. I haven't included Tsunade yet because I don't think that they could make it back to Konoha plus catch up with Sasuke and the gang…but don't worry I'll be incorporating Shikamaru and Temari back into my story…

Rainingblood666--Oh my gosh I soooo want to see Sakura fight Kabuto too! That would be freaking awesome! Wait a minute! I can make that happen! (at least in my own little world called fan fiction: )

By they way if it's been a long time since you've read chapters 7 and 8 you should probably go back and reread it to refresh your memory…

If you aren't updated with the manga than you are missing out! Here's the website for the newest chapter in the manga (Sasuke kicks Orochimaru's butt!) He's so freaking hott! (yah it sounds pathetic I know) : )

h t t p://groups(dot)msn(dot)com/NarutoMangaReturns/344mq(dot)msnw

Oh, and I don't write lemons (just wondering…is that pronounced like the fruit?). I would probably be really bad at writing them…and it just feels weird. So, sorry if you guys were expecting one.

On with the story!

Chapter Ten: Itachi's Weakness

"Sasuke…there's something you should know."

"What?"

"I…I know Itachi's weakness."

Sasuke's heart nearly stopped. "What do you mean?"

Sakura spoke quietly. "When I was held captive, I discovered something." Sakura took a deep breath to calm her nerves. As much as she wanted to forget what happened in that dark hole, it needed to be said.

Sasuke, in his one moment of true kindness, said, "Sakura…you don't have to say it if it makes you uncomfortable. Wait until you're ready."

Sakura smiled gently at him. Her love for him shown in her eyes as she said, "That means a lot to me, Sasuke."

"Hn."

Sasuke shrugged it off as nothing, but Sakura knew better. She would have elaborated more on the subject if she hadn't needed to say something.

"The first thing I remember after Deidara got me was waking up in a dark room."

Sasuke nodded. "I'm pretty sure that's the same room that we found you in."

"Oh…so how did you guys find me anyways?"

Sasuke waved a hand. "I'll tell you later. Tell me about Itachi's weakness." Sasuke looked eager, a look Sakura had never seen in him before.

She suddenly stood up a little taller and thrust her shoulders back and angled her head up at him. It felt good knowing something he didn't, for once. Sakura would've kept him in suspense longer, but she knew that to Sasuke, this was no laughing matter.

Sasuke stared at her, his patience wearing thin. If he was a restless person he would've tapped his foot, but Sasuke kept still unless there would serve a purpose in moving.

Sakura took a deep breath. "Well, I really wasn't awake. More like semi-conscious. A blue man, who I later identified as Kisame, and another man, Itachi, were speaking…

Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat. Sasuke had to fight the urge to try and comfort her.

While Sakura had been reminiscing, Sasuke had felt himself growing angrier and angrier. He told himself that it was because of the mention of Itachi, but deep down inside he knew that it so much more. He heard the barely noticeable quiver in Sakura's voice as she voiced the painful memories. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves so that he would remain calm on the outside.

Sakura was about to continue when Naruto interrupted them.

"Hey, are you two coming or what?!"

Sasuke glared at him. "Go away."

Sakura managed a small smile. "Naruto, do you think you could give us a few more minutes? It's kind of important…"

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. "Fine. As long as you guys aren't over here doing inappropriate things again…"

Sakura's face turned as pink as her hair and started to stutter.

"N-Naruto, we…we weren't…d-doing-"

"We're just talking. Now go away." Sasuke spared her the embarrassment of trying to continue.

Naruto mumbled something about liars and perverts before drudging back to the others, who were now fifteen minutes ahead of Sasuke and Sakura.

"Thanks, Sasuke."

Sasuke replied in a quiet, serious way. "You know, you don't have to be ashamed of it."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm not ashamed of it, Sasuke!"

"Hn."

Sakura was about to argue more, but Sasuke stopped her.

"Are you going to tell me his weakness or what?"

"Oh, sorry, Sasuke. Well, after I woke up for the second time, Itachi was there. I asked him what he wanted, and he said that he wanted you."

Sasuke perked up. "He wanted me?"

Sakura nodded, then rolled her eyes at the display of masculine pride when Sasuke heard that his brother had finally acknowledged him.

"I asked him what he wanted with you, and he said that he wanted to kill you because then Orochimaru would be forced to have a weaker vessel, and then they would kill Orochimaru."

Sasuke's ego deflated a bit when he found out that the only reason his brother wanted him was not to fight him, but to kill him.

"We exchanged a few more questions-"

"What questions?" Sasuke interrupted.

Sakura waved a hand. "Nothing important. Anyways, he got angry when I started talking back, and the next thing I knew I was in the Mangekyou Sharingan." Sakura stopped, and frowned. She remembered what had happened to her, but for some reason she was hesitant to tell Sasuke that Itachi took the form of Sasuke while he tortured her for three days.

"You don't have to tell me what happened, Sakura. Just skip that part."

Sakura looked up. "Sasuke…you know, you can be real sweet sometimes."

"Hn. Are you going to finish or what?"

"Well, after he did it to me the first time, he left me in the room. Surprisingly enough, I was still in my right state of mind, although I was so weak I couldn't even lift a finger. I don't know how much time had passed before he came back. But when he did he became angry when I didn't answer his questions. I found myself in Mangekyou Sharingan again. Only this time, something happened. Do you remember when I fought Ino in the Chuunin Exams?"

Sasuke remained silent.

Sakura gave a bitter laugh. "Oh, that's right. You didn't see it. Well, did Kakashi-sensei tell you what happened?"

After still not receiving an answer, Sakura sighed. "Oh. Well, Ino caught me with her Mind Transfer Jutsu, and she almost won. Only, there was another person inside of me…another me. The other side of me kicked Ino out of my mind, which has never happened before."

"How is that possible?" Sasuke asked.

"Exactly. I don't know. Kakashi told me later on that it was partly because Ino was low on chakra. But then he also said that it was because of my defiant heart and combative attitude towards Ino. He told me that, like Naruto, my fighting spirit was stronger than in others, allowing me to overcome obstacles that would otherwise be beyond my abilities."

Sasuke absorbed this bit of information. He had known that Ino and her had tied for the match, as Kakashi had told him that much, but at the time he really hadn't cared. Now he wished he could've seen her match. For a moment he was ashamed at himself. He was always underestimating both her and Naruto, thinking himself far beyond their capabilities. He quickly shook off the feeling. He was an Uchiha prodigy after all.

Sakura continued, unaware of Sasuke's internal conflict. "Well, I think it was nearing the third day when something inside of me snapped. I've never felt that way before…it was like I was a completely different person…"

Itachi, masquerading as Sasuke yet again, pulled his arm back to stab Sakura again. But her screams stopped suddenly.

He looked over to the side, and he saw another Sakura, but this one was different. He had no idea what the hell was going on, so he watched as the new Sakura walked towards the one he had been stabbing, and she touched her gently. Then she disappeared, almost looking like they were fusing with each other.

He looked at her. Her head was lowered, facing the ground, and her pink hair covered her face so that he couldn't see her expression. Itachi wished that it would've stayed like that.

"Stop." Her voice was deeper, and so cold.

Itachi stopped in midair when he was about to bring down the sword again. Her head slowly raised to look at him. He could see her face…her cool gaze at him. Gone was the fear, and pain. Her expression was hard, and full barely restrained fury.

"You'd better get out of my mind right now."

Itachi smirked. "I'm impressed that you haven't gone insane yet. All you have to do is answer my question and I'll free you from this world of pain."

The last thing he expected was Sakura to smirk. "I've already freed myself."

Itachi frowned when she started to glow a light green color. Her chakra…he thought.

He could feel the air around him grow heavy, and he found himself taking a step back to observe this new development. No one had ever defied him in his own world before. What is so special about this girl? he asked himself.

The pebbles around her started to tremble. A crater was slowly forming around her. The ropes began to smoke, and then they snapped and she fell from the cross. Blood was dripping off of her, but she paid it no heed. Rather than fall on her knees, as Itachi would've expected her to, she landed quiet softly on her toes, and touched down gracefully.

Itachi decided that this was enough. He could sense that something big was about to happen, and brought up the sword to end it.

"I warned you," said the pink-haired girl.

She looked at him with her piercing green eyes and everything seemed to stop for a second. Then there was a sonic boom and the last thing he saw was a green wave of chakra coming towards him, and then darkness.

Sakura cried out in pain as her mind was free of the Mangekyou Sharingan. She was panting, and couldn't summon the energy to energy to move. She barely lifted her head and saw Itachi on the opposite side of the room, slumped against wall. He groaned and stirred, and Sakura tried to move at all. She knew she was not going to like whatever he did to her once she was awake, and commanded her body to move. Her mind may have worked, but he body wasn't listening.

Her eyes widened in fear as Itachi fully woke up and looked around in confusion. She saw his black eyes turn a frightening red as he looked at her.

He stood up and advanced towards her. She tried to move, but her body wasn't listening to her mind. He grabbed her neck and lifted her up so abruptly by it that it almost snapped. Her eyes widened and they were fearful now. He got close to her face and his voice was quiet, but she detected the barely restrained fury behind it, like the eye of the hurricane.

"What the hell are you?"

Sakura tried to speak, but no words came out. He was cutting off her air, and she couldn't even summon the strength to struggle. Her vision grew blurry and she almost passed out, but a fiery pain in her stomach woke her up.

She would've screamed had she the breath. Before he stabbed her again, Itachi leaned in and said something in her ear. Her eyes widened, and she saw, in her mind's eye, what Itachi was describing.

Sakura's mind was lost. The trauma of experiencing the Mangekyou Sharingan twice and what Itachi had just described to her made her lost to the real world.

Itachi knew it and dropped her. The both fell to the floor, Sakura wheezing from the lack of air and Itachi panting for air as well. That was how Kisame found them.

"My mind was somewhere else, but there was part of me that still awake. I could hear everything that was going on, I just couldn't respond to it. I heard Kisame come in and he asked Itachi why he used Mangekyou Sharingan if it makes him so weak. Itachi replied that it usually didn't, and told Kisame that I had defeated his Mangekyou Sharingan. He described what happened in Mangekyou Sharingan, and then Kisame told him that the plan had changed, and that a group of Konoha shinobi had appeared. Their leader ordered them to evacuate. Kisame had questioned his orders, because the Kyuubi holder was there, but the leader was in one of his moods again, so they both left. And then you guys came and well…you know the rest."

"What did Itachi whisper to you to make you lose your mind like that?" Sasuke inquired, curious.

Sakura opened her mouth, and then shut it again. "Sasuke…I-I'm not ready to remember that just yet."

She hugged her knees to her chest, lay her chin on her knees.

"Thank you for telling me what happened, Sakura."

"I'd do anything for you, Sasuke." Sakura looked at him, a serious expression on her face.

"I know." After a moment, he looked up at the sky. "So Itachi's strength is also his weakness? How pitiful."

Sasuke stood up, and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "It means a lot that you still trust me after everything, Sakura. I promise I won't do anything to break that bond now that it is so freshly remade again."

Sakura stood up and hugged Sasuke. "I love you."

Sasuke tightened his arms around her. They held each other for a few more moments and then Sasuke pulled back. He lowered his head and kissed her.

Before they got too carried away, Sasuke broke the heated kiss and said, "We should be getting back."

Sakura, wanting the kiss to go on, was disappointed, but nodded.

They quickly caught up with the others as Sasuke began formulating a plan.

Okay guys I am really sorry about the last update but I got a total of about fifteen hours sleep last week because I had to perform a play for drama all last week and then get home really late and do homework until all hours of the night. So that's my excuse. Once again I'm really sorry!