Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

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One Step Closer

Sasuke followed Tsunade. They were no longer following the pathway, but were going through dense jungle where anything could attack them at any moment. But luckily for them, they soon reached open area without any trouble. As they were crossing an open field, Tsunade suddenly stopped without warning, and Sasuke, in his haste to avoid getting in front of her, made enough noise for anybody within a mile around to hear, which was quite undesirable at the moment.

'What's up?' Sasuke asked her.

'There're some people up ahead,' she replied. Sasuke listened for the tiniest noise his ears could catch. He heard that awfully familiar voice. It was Itachi who was up ahead. He could just catch what they were saying.

'I say, Itachi-san, are you really sure that this is gonna work out?' another voice which Sasuke recognized as Kisame's said.

'If everything goes according to plan, which undoubtedly at the moment has not gone so. Our plans for Naruto-kun were for later, but unfortunately we have been forced to take care of him before the others,' Itachi was saying. Their voices were getting fainter. Obviously they were walking. Tsunade motioned Sasuke to follow slowly.

'That's exactly why I'm asking you. And are you sure that we've hidden that brat well enough?'

'Of course. There is nobody but an Uchiha who can enter that place, but my little brother has no idea how to get in. That place was mainly used by our clan leaders to protect the clan elders in case of an attack. But before Sasuke was old enough to know of it there was no clan at all.'

'Very well but for some reason I'm feeling quite uneasy about this business.'

'That is because we have some troublesome pests on our tail.' Itachi said, and without warning, Itachi was right in front of Tsunade, who was blown off her feet. Sasuke tried to rush towards her, but the earth suddenly seemed to get a life of its own as it formed a gigantic cage around Tsunade, trapping her inside.

'You just don't know when to give up do you?' Itachi said from behind Sasuke. There was something different in his voice. A real hatred, as though he totally despised Sasuke.

'Shut up,' Sasuke said. 'I've had enough of you.'

'Same here. But unfortunately for you, there's nothing you'll ever be able to do about it. My advice to you is just turn around and go back home. But it doesn't bother me to be the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan either,' Itachi said.

'I said SHUT UP!' Sasuke yelled and charged madly towards Itachi. But next second he stopped. He felt as though there were knives cutting on all the bones in his body. Next there was a screeching sound in his brain, which felt as though there was someone in his head making the sound. All that he knew next was total darkness. He didn't know whether he was dead or alive, but it didn't matter, there was nothing he could do about it now … he could here some familiar voice calling his name, but he couldn't respond … the voice grew fainter and fainter … and at last disappeared …

He knew he was dead … he couldn't feel the earth anymore … he was of no use in the end … he did not get his revenge nor was he able to save his friends. But then, suddenly there was something glittering in front of him … what was it?

Then, as though somebody had slapped him in the face, all the feeling came back into his body. He jerked his eyes open and looked around. He was lying in the very same field where he had just fought Itachi. But it was not night anymore, it was daytime and the sun was shining brightly up in the sky for the first time in about a month. He had to shield his eyes from the sun's rays, as he had not seen them for so long. His eyes began to water as he sat up, and he took almost a minute to get used to it. He looked around. Everything was so bright and cheerful that it was almost as though nothing sad had happened. He suddenly remembered that Tsunade had been with him. He searched for her but there was no sign of her, not even of the cage like thing that Itachi had made out of the earth.

Then, suddenly everything came over him again. He had failed for the second time in such a small space of time to avenge himself and to find Naruto. But wait, Itachi had said something about a place only an Uchiha could enter, someplace to protect the elders in case of an attack. That meant only one thing: it had to be in the Uchiha village. But where? He knew only one hiding place in that village that was designed by the clan for protection. But now that place was in rubbles, since that was the place where the Kyuubi and Shukaku had had their fight. But he couldn't do nothing. He decided that he'd go to the village and see if he could find Itachi. The chances were against him but he had to try. He set off back in the direction of the village. Once he got there, he saw that there wasn't even rubble, there was just plain dust.

'Great …' Sasuke murmured to himself. He went looking around. If it was here then it still had to be intact, because Itachi had said that Naruto was there at the moment. He went looking around for an hour and was forced to admit that it couldn't be here. He drifted off out of the village once more. He placed himself on a rock next to the very bridge where Jiraiya had performed the Fuuinjutsu. He looked down at the river. The last time he saw it, it was full of blood … but wait a second, where had all that blood come from? His heart beating fast again, Sasuke got up and set off along the bank of the river. As he went up the river, another realization came crashing over him: a tributary that used to pass through the Uchiha village joined this river, in fact, that was the place where he had learnt his first Uchiha jutsu. He increased his speed and half-ran, half-walked up the river. He walked for nearly fifteen minutes until he reached a branch. There was a small island in the middle separating the tributary from the main river. He was slightly disappointed when he saw that the tributary had completely dried up. But as he got closer, he saw that the soil on the riverbed was stained with something dark red in colour. At once it became obvious to him that he was right: the blood that night had been coming from the Uchiha village, or near it. He set off along it and again kept walking for nearly fifteen minutes until he found his way blocked. The trees on either side of the tributary had been thrown in the form of a large barricade across the river. He could see small trickles of red liquid leaking through the gap between the trees. Sasuke walked straight up to it and started climbing it. The trees shook slightly under his weight but the stood solid. Only as he was climbing it did he realize how high it was. Soon, he was on top of it and looked beyond it and let out an involuntary gasp.

The barricade was acting like a dam to what seemed to be a vast sea. He could see the pool of blood stretching for kilometers together. Where did so much blood come from? It was impossible that there could be so much blood even if all the people in Konoha shed their blood till they shriveled up. And how was he supposed to get across this now? Then, almost instantly he realized his stupidity. Slowly he climbed down the other side of the barricade and stood on top of the sea of blood. He set off towards the horizon till he could see something. He felt slightly sick, walking on top of the blood like this. He kept going for what seemed like hours, maybe years. Then, a loud, cold voice rang out through the air.

'You are really more foolish than I thought, Sasuke. Haven't you realized yet?' Sasuke whipped around, looking for the source of the noise.

'Realised what? That you are a fool who—'

'Enough of this nonsense. You'll go no further. You have already discovered too much, little brother. Why don't you just go back? You keep going on, Sasuke, then the thing that awaits you is death,' Itachi's voice interrupted.

'So what?' bellowed Sasuke, losing his temper. 'I've had enough of your stinking rubbish for the last few months! Why don't you just shut up and back off? What's your problem anyway, coming and disrupting our lives like this?'

'Oh my, I seemed to have touched a nerve. How touching, little brother, but unfortunately these things are far beyond what your mudane brain can understand.'

'Maybe it is! But even it can understand one thing for sure!' Sasuke yelled. 'You're a filthy, stinking coward who hides from his younger brother because of the guilt of killing the whole clan! You're the worst person I've ever known and I feel like killing myself for being related to you coward!'

'Enough. Enough. You go too far. If you really feel like killing yourself then you'd better do it. Better than facing what you will face if keep moving forward,' said Itachi, his voice devoid of all the sneer that had been playing in it all this time.

'I won't go back! I've lost everything because of you! If I can kill you, then I'll—'

'Enough chat. Will you go quietly or will it have to come down to force?'

'Quietly? I'm sure I wouldn't even in the best of your dreams. Come out and face me you cow—' but Sasuke never finished the sentence. There was a colossal explosion and Sasuke sunk below the surface of the blood pool. He felt the blood around him solidifying in a sphere and before he even gasp, the blood around him had formed a sphere, trapping him in there and it slowly rose above the surface of the blood and rose high into the air. Sasuke brought his fingers together but he couldn't feel any Chakra …

'Goodbye, Sasuke.' Sasuke looked around desperately and saw Itachi standing in mid air, without any kind of support. He looked into his eyes and found them sharp and piercing in his own. Itachi raised a single finger and the sphere of blood slowly began to close in around Sasuke, who struggled with all his might to break free. But the crushing wall was as solid as iron but yet it looked exactly like a liquid sphere.

Suddenly, a jagged, white light shot through the sphere. It didn't affect Sasuke but, the sphere was broken. The blood crashed down into the rest of the pool below, but Sasuke was still in mid air. He looked around for his saviour and to his enormous surprise, Kakashi was standing of top of the barricade, looking coolly intimidating as though this was a friendly chat between two old friends.

'Your game's up, Itachi,' he said.

'That's what you think. You were foolish to come here today, Kakashi. You know very well that I am not in one of my best moods.' He raised his hands together to form a seal. Sasuke suddenly flew backwards as though somebody had yanked him from behind. He went crashing down behind the barricade. He just saw Kakashi fly forwards, hands performing the fastest set of seals Sasuke had seen yet. There was another huge explosion and the barricade collapsed. Sasuke reacted just in time to jump over all the crashing trees and forward. The sea of blood started flowing. Meanwhile, a great red blood-dragon had risen from it and started forwards towards Itachi who didn't even move. He looked up straight into the dragon's eyes and it exploded, showering them all with blood. Itachi alone remained dry. Kakashi shouted something Sasuke didn't hear all the blood flowing backwards rose up into the air and started flowing with great velocity towards Itachi, who joined his hand together and stretched his left hand forward. The blood flowing towards him was deflected as though there was an invisible barrier there. Meanwhile, his right hand had formed another seal. The earth trembled and Sasuke lost his balance and went splashing down into the bloody depths. The blood had stopped flowing once more. He looked up at the red sky and saw Kakashi fall down into the blood as well. But in a puff of smoke, he disappeared and at the same time, out of thin air, Kakashi appeared and flew straight towards Itachi. As he neared him, a hundred more Kakashis appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him. Even as Sasuke watched, running out of oxygen, another hundred of them appeared, forming a Kakashi dome around Itachi, whose expression couldn't be seen through the Kakashis. All of them performed the same seal and there was a massive explosion. Sasuke could actually see waves emanting through the air until they hit the blood itself and all the blood splashed out of its way and Sasuke, gulping in oxygen, was able to stand once more, his brain suddenly clearer than it had been all week. Something came back to him from the scrolls … '… and at the moment the sun strikes the horizon will come the new beginning …' he looked up; the sun was setting. Now was the time …

Sasuke bit his finger and blood started trickling down the finger. 'Kuchiyose no Jutsu!' a huge snake suddenly reared up from the sea below, sending the liquid flying everywhere. Sasuke leapt on top of its head just in time to see Itachi emerge from the depths below, covered in blood spilt by himself too. He had a nasty gash across his cheek and his cloak with the cloud design was ripped apart. He looked up at the giant snake and Sasuke on top with the slightest of apprehension.

Sasuke closed his eyes and waited, his fingers interlocked. Then he felt it and saw it too. The sun just touched the horizon. A great wave of burning energy swept through Sasuke's body. The pain was unbearable … yet he had to bear it, only for a few moments. The earth started trembling again and with a great splashing, two gigantic figures emerged from the sea of liquid and rose high into the air. The Kyuubi and Shukaku fell forwards towards the suddenly tiny looking Itachi looking utterly bemused at all these happenings and the gigantic snake to lurched forwards, creating great ripples in the sea of blood. The three creatures met, and at the center, Itachi with his eyes closed and arms stretched out in front of him. There was yet another ear-blasting explosion from the center and a bright, glowing light and burning heat radiating from Itachi. Finally, with the hugest of all explosions, the snake, the Kyuubi and Shukaku were thrown backwards and all of them disappeared into thin air, leaving three figures to fall into unlimited depths of the blood below.

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A/N: hey ppl!! Long time no update …. I know …. I've missed writing for so long but I just haven't been getting the time!! But I still swear that I'll update whenevr I can!!! This chap might seem senseless, but I promise that I'll do my best to make you understand bfore this story ends!! Hope 2 cya soon!!

-Kai Hiwatari II