Okay the last chapter ended kind of… Well I didn't like the ending but I also didn't want to have the chapter super long. I mean, if I made the chapter longer than I would have had less stuff happening the last few chapters. It makes sense to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But I do own two Konohagakure hitai-ates so that has to mean I'm like… at least part ninja.

Warning: Boy Love and language. Cause that's the way ((uh huh, uh huh)) I like it ((uh huh, uh huh)). That's the way… :music cuts off: Apparently my family doesn't like my singing.

Important: Dedicated to SasuNaru1025. She's awesome, this story's awesome… My mom thinks I'm awesome. We have lots of things that are in common.

An entire week.

That is exactly how long Naruto had been absent from school. Ever since that day when he had nearly kissed his raven-haired friend, he had not had the courage to be around said boy whatsoever. The blonde had thought about going to school, but had instead chosen to stay home, telling Iruka, his adopted father, that he was feeling ill and mere moments after the brunette would leave their home for work, Naruto would slip out of the small house and meet up with his fellow gang members.

None of them questioned why the blonde had suddenly stopped "attending school" as the blonde had claimed. But they all could tell the change that had occurred in the tan boy.

Naruto had not smiled once in the entire week that he had come to hang out around his fellow gang members.The cheery exterior and carefree attitude that had made up the blonde-haired boy had vanished without a trace as to where the old Naruto may have gone. The three siblings were worried about their friend, but none of them dared to question as to why Naruto was so quiet lately; fearing that he would simply snap on them and try to hurt them.

On a particularly dull Sunday afternoon, Naruto sat under one of the many bridges throughout the large city, with Gaara, Temari and Kankuro all by his side. The blonde let his head lean back against the rough cement pillar that helped support the bridge and started at the underlining of the small, but wide bridge. His blue eyes seemed distant and his face held a stoic expression in place along his features.

"So…" Temari said in order to break the awkward silent that the idiotic boys in this gang had created amongst them. "Why haven't you been going to school lately, Naruto." The blonde-haired girl teased as he let her face move closer to the apathetic blonde.

"None of your business." Naruto calmly stated back, yet his voice held a certain warning quality that told the older girl that digging deeper into the topic would mean certain death. A warning that, of course, Temari ignored for she was not going to be afraid of boy that was a good two years her junior.

"Aww, come on." She insisted. "You can tell us, Naruto."

"…" the blonde did not answer the elder of the two, but simply let his head rise back up and let his distant, blue eyes gaze into her own green orbs. "I said it's none of your business."

Temari was just about to pry further about the topic, when all four of the young teenagers heard soft footsteps approaching them. Their attention quickly focused on the source of the footfalls and noticed a familiar black cloak with red clouds embroidered onto the black material.

With one glace at the long, raven hair and the strange lines that marked the pale face, the identity of the mysterious figure coming ever closer to the small group was known to be none other that the best member of the Akatsuki… Uchiha Itachi.

Naruto's blue eyes widen at the sight of Sasuke's elder brother and he immediately rose to his feet and began to walk up to the approaching boy.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Kankuro asked as he gave the pale boy a look of distaste.

"…" Itachi remained silent and calm as the brunette began to mutter profanities at him for not answering his question.

"Hey I asked you a question!" he yelled but suddenly his voice caught in his throat when he heard the sound a gun cocking and saw the pale boy in front of him pulled out the aforementioned gun out of his cloak. The small handgun was then aimed at the small group, though it was hard to see which one of the four it was actually pointed at since the raven was still quite a good distance away.

"The hell?" Temari muttered under her breathe.

"What are you doing, Itachi?" Naruto said as the blonde boy fearlessly walked up closer to the elder boy and gave him a look filled with such confusion.

"Orders from Leader-sama, Naruto-kun." Itachi spoke softly; his voice barely over a whisper, making sure that Naruto would be the only person able to hear what he had to say. "He wants me to kill you all."

The blonde paused dead in his track. He could not have heard the elder Uchiha right. He definitely was not here to kill him or his gang members either. None of this could be happening.

"But I'm not going to do it." Itachi said as his dark eyes seemed to soften slightly while the handgun lowered down to the ground. The three siblings behind the Akatsuki member and the blonde-haired boy stood in awe at what was happening; lost as to what exactly was being said between the blonde and raven.

"W-Wha… I… I don't understand." Naruto finally muttered out in his confused state.

"I don't know why Leader-sama wants you dead, but I won't hurt the one person for whom my otouto cares deeply." Itachi stated.

Blue eyes widened once again, but not due to the fact that Itachi had decided not to kill him, but the fact the elder Uchiha had said that Sasuke "cared deeply" for him. Of course at the time, Naruto did not exactly now what the raven-haired boy had meant by that, but he hoped with all his heart that Itachi had meant that Sasuke returned his feelings for him.

"Aniki! Don't do it!" Sasuke shouted as he came running toward his elder brother and the blonde boy standing in front of him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto questioned with a more confused expression.

"What are you doing here, otouto?" Itachi asked, his voice still calm as ever.

"…" Sasuke paused as he slowly walked over to his friend and his brother, utterly puzzled as why the two of them seemed to talking to one another rather than trying to kill each other. "I… I followed you to your gang's hideout and overheard Pain tell you to kill Naruto and his gang." Sasuke paused to look over at the rest of the gang members, none of them harmed in any way. "Did I hear wrong?"

"No. You heard right." Itachi replied.

Dark orbs widened and then quickly narrowed within less than a second. Sasuke was about to warn his brother to not follow the orders when his curiosity got the better of him and decided to ask a question that had been bugging him for a while now. "Well, if it's true… why didn't you kill them?"

"I saw no point in killing them." Itachi paused and then let his dark eyes gaze up at the gray, cloud-covered sky. "They were all very strong. Barely got out alive from the fight. Unfortunately none of the Suna members were killed." The elder raven then let his gaze peer back down to look into the blue eyes of the still confused blonde-haired boy. "Or at least that's the story I'll tell when I get back. I'll apologize to Leader-sama when I return for not completing my mission."

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at the elder Uchiha in awe at the sudden act of kindness. Neither of the two boys knew what to say such a situation as this, but nonetheless, even if they could not put it into words, they were both equally grateful to the taller boy.

"I knew you wouldn't do it, Itachi-san." Spoke a voice that seemed to be coming from behind the three siblings. Everyone turned around to spot another person in the same cloak as Itachi whose face was covered by an orange mask with a swirl design leading into a small black hole.

"Tobi." Itachi said, his voice low and dark. It was obvious to the other that the elder raven did not expect another member of his gang to follow him on his assignment.

"Leader-sama asked me to make sure that the job was completed. He obvious didn't have a lot of faith in you, Itachi-san." Tobi's voice held a certain cheeriness that seemed completely out of place in the current situation. It made Naruto skin crawl as he listened to the happy voice speak of such a morbid topic.

Without any warning, the other Akatsuki member held up his one gun and aimed it at Naruto. The blonde gasped and then let himself gaze over at Sasuke through the corner of his eyes, not wanting the younger raven to be here during this dangerous situation.

Everything happened so suddenly after that. Kankuro, Temari and Gaara had tried to block the older man from hitting his target, they believed to be Naruto, but Tobi was able to pushed all three of them out of the way and onto the hard cement road beneath them. He aimed his pistol back up at the blonde-haired boy and fired one bullet.

Before Naruto could even react, he heard Sasuke shouted out something, but his ear refused to register what the raven-haired boy had actually said. The blonde thought that the bullet would, with no doubt in him, but just before the small piece of metal pierced though his flesh, he felt his body being pushed aside by a larger body, causing his to fall onto the hard asphalt road.

Another 'thud' rung through Naruto's ears as his blue eyes finally reopened and saw Itachi's cold lifeless body lying beside him, his eyes cold glazed over. His breath hitch in his lungs and the tan boy forgot just how to inhale for a moment.

Before Tobi could shoot anyone else, Gaara had gotten back up from his spot of the ground and kicked the pistol from the Akatsuki member's hand and began to beat the shit out of the elder man.

But all of that went unnoticed by the blonde-haired boy as his blue orbs continued to gaze into the dead eyes of his friend's brother. Not only had the older man not killed him, but he also stopped Tobi from killing him as well. Naruto could not describe the feeling that began to grow inside of him, but for now he pushed all thoughts of himself out of his mind.

For as the tan boy looked up into the terrified face of his best friend, his real question would have to be how was Sasuke going to handle his brother's death?

--

"Naruto," the Fifth Grand Lord began as she tried relentlessly to convince the blonde that what he was doing was reckless and stupid. Though she doubted that any of her pleas were going to get through the spirit's thick head. "Try to understand. You may lose your last chance to live!" she spoke slowly so as to make sure that the blonde understood every single word she said. "Do you want that?" Sakura's emerald eyes were glued to the male spirit beside her. Her tears had all dried up now, yet her eyes still remained slightly puffy and red from her little outburst she had moments before.

"I'd rather remember my life than forget it ever happened at all." Naruto retorted with a certain glimmer of determination in his eyes.

Tsunade let out a long sigh and sat back down in her comfortable leather chair that sat behind her large wooden desk. "I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, am I?" she asked as she let her honey-colored eyes close and her brow purse together in frustration.

"…" Naruto continued to gaze seriously at the elder spirit, waiting for her to respond once again.

"Fine, gaki. Keep your damn memories." Tsunade said as laced her long fingers into her long blonde bangs, pushing them away from her face in the process. Naruto then let his serious expression falter as the beginnings of a grin began to make their way onto his young face.

"Arigatou." He replied with a smile.

"But just remember that if you remember anymore memories I won't be able to save you next time!" the Grand Lord shouted, trying to hide her concern for the younger spirit.

The blonde-haired boy could not keep from smiling, as he noticed the faintest hints of a blush tint the elder woman's cheeks momentarily. Knowing that Tsunade was worried for his well being just made the blonde want to smile.

"You seem perfectly fine now, so get out of my office. Don't you have something that you need to do?" As Tsunade spoke she spun her leather chair around so that the back of the chair was blocking the other three spirits' view of her body or, what she wanted to hide most of all, her face, which seemed to be becoming more flustered by the moment.

"H… Hai. Tsunade-sama." The pink-haired Shinigami finally spoke up after such a long moment of silence on her part. Naruto, with a small smirk on his lips, turned around and began to follow Shizune out of the Fifth Grand Lord's office.

"Sakura-san." Tsunade called out, not turning around to face the younger woman as she began to follow the blonde and raven out of the office. The pink-haired woman stopped in her tracks and quickly turned to face the back of Tsunade's large leather chair, as she wondered what the elder spirit could have to say to her now.

There was a short silence between them as neither one dared to speak.

"Take care of him." Tsunade finally stated, knowing that the Shinigami would know about whom she was speaking.

"Hai." Sakura nodded and then continued to exit from the Grand Lord's office and to once again meet up with the blonde-haired boy waiting for her outside. Once she heard the sound of the large metal doors that led to Shizune's own little office close, Tsunade let out a soft sigh as her eyes gazed down at the floor.

Honey orbs closed tightly as she prayed with all her might that everything would turn out fine.

--

Large wooden doors closed with a loud and audible 'clank' behind the two silent spirits as they exited from the large floating castle. Emerald eyes peered momentarily over at the blonde-haired boy beside the Shinigami as she tried desperately to see his face. Sakura kept silent as she waited for the blonde to give any sign at all that he was going acknowledge her, whom was still standing beside him, but it seemed as if Naruto was purposely ignoring the pink-haired woman.

Almost as if he was pouting.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura asked finally having built up enough courage to ask the unusually stoic blonde.

"What is it?" the tan boy snapped, making Sakura winced at the harsh tone in his usually kind and cheerfully voice. The Shinigami, without a doubt, believed that the blonde was angry with her now, if his silence and pouting weren't enough of a hint before.

"You don't have to yell at me. I was only trying to help!" Sakura retorted back to her stubborn companion.

"And you think me forgetting everything that we've learned so far would help?" Naruto finally turned his body around so that he and Sakura were facing one another. Though the pink-haired Shinigami, after seeing the furious expression that the blonde had etched onto his young face, would have liked it better had Naruto not turned to face her at all. For the first time since they had meet, she was actually… frightened of him.

"You… You might have turned into a ghost if I hadn't done anything!" Sakura's voice cracked slightly during her short statement, but she was able to mask her mishap as she narrowed her emerald orbs at the blonde spirit, hoping to intimidate him somewhat.

"What if I had just remembered something that would have helped us with remembering my death?! And then that old hag in there would have erased my memories!"

"But you've told me everything so I could have just—" Sakura's sentence was cut off short by the blonde's own infuriated shouting.

"No I haven't!!" The blonde clenched his fists tightly and brought up from his sides and swung his right fist forward. Sakura shut her eyes tightly, raising both of her arms in front of her face hoping that they would protect her from Naruto's wrath. There was a loud thud and a sickening crack that reminded Sakura of the sound of bones breaking, but the fist that Naruto had swung forward never came. The Shinigami opened her eyes slowly to see what exactly had happened and was shocked to see that Naruto had slammed his fist into the castle wall and not her young looking face.

"N-N-Naruto?" Sakura stammered.

"You once told me that you prefer not having memories of your mortal life." The blonde started to say as his gaze was solely focused on the brick-covered ground beneath their feet, while his unruly blonde bangs hung over his blue eyes. "Was that the truth?"

"…" The pink-haired woman was stunned silent; her body still shaking slightly from the shock and surprise that the blonde's actions had sparked within her. It took the Shinigami a few second for her breathing to return to normal, but eventually she was able to find her voice once more. "I-Iie. It wasn't the truth." She reluctantly said.

"Then why did you want my memories taken away?" Naruto asked, sounding as if he could cry at any given moment.

"I… I didn't." Naruto's head shot up so that he could look into the Shinigami's large emerald eyes, unable to believe what he had heard coming from her rosy red lips.

"Eh?"

"I didn't know what was going to happen to you, Naruto." Sakura started, liquid forming in the corners of her eyes. Her pale fingers wiped at the tears and then she resumed speaking to the blonde-haired spirit in front of her. "I was scared that you might completely vanish. So I brought you here, hoping that Tsunade-sama could help you, but…"

"But?" Naruto questioned in a soft yet forceful voice, urging the pink-haired Shinigami to continue on with her explanation.

"I didn't think that she was going to try to erase your memories!" Sakura blurted out as more tears began flow down her face and stain her pale cheeks, as she was unable to hold them back any longer. "When she told me that's what she was going to do, I… I… I had to try and stop her! I know how much you want to live again! Having some of those memories taken from you would just… It would just crush you!"

Sakura let her body collapse against the taller boy, her hands clutching onto the white button up shirt and her head bury into chest as if she was trying to hide her tears from the blonde boy. Naruto blushed slightly as the older woman clung to him so pitifully and instinctively wrapped his arms around her small frame awkwardly.

Loud sobs escaped from the Shinigami's mouth and Naruto realized then just how much she must regret not knowing anything of her life when she was alive. He knew now, though he still felt so horrible about Sakura's predicament, that he would never allow himself to end up like her.

Dead and without any memories of his time he spent alive.

He patted the pink-haired woman's back gently as he pulled her hands free from his shirt, easing Sakura away from him slow enough to make sure that she was fine and not going to cry anymore. Naruto gave Sakura a warm smile as she rubbed her already red and puffy eyes dry. He could tell from the slightly pink tinge to her cheeks that she was embarrassed of how emotional she had let herself become in front of the tall boy.

"Sakura." Naruto said softly as he placed his large, tan hand on her small shoulder. "Thank you. For understanding."

Though she knew it was not the time to say so, Sakura could not help but be slightly embarrassed when the blonde did not add a suffix to her name. It sounded so beautiful to the pink-haired woman's ears when Naruto said her name like that. The Shinigami merely nodded as she was still sobbing and was afraid that she dare try to speak that her tears would start up again and that was something that she did not want to have happening in front of the blonde-haired spirit again. Once was more than enough to embarrass her for the rest of eternity.

"Shall we get going then?" Naruto asked as he let his hand fall from Sakura's shoulder so that it now hung back at his side. Sakura did not protest out loud, but she could not deny to herself that she missed the warmth that the small gesture of kindness from Naruto provided for her.

Sakura nodded once again to the blonde and then took a few steps forward, so that the tan boy could now only see her back. She wiped her eyes once again; using the sleeve of her beautiful kimono, she tried to dry the remaining tears on her face as she let out a short sniffle as her arms dropped down to her sides. Emerald eyes closed as she began to concentrate on her task at hand, all whilst her arms slowly rose above her head, which made the long sleeves of her attire bundle up around her elbows.

An incantation was softly yet quickly spoken by the pink-haired spirit, making the giant rift in the sky appear once again. Once the Shinigami finished her short mantra, she turned around to face the blue-eyed boy and held out her small, pale hand toward him.

'Naruto.' She thought to herself as she felt her heart fluttered from the simple touch of their hands. She could feel her face heating up once again, so she quickly took to the air, Naruto by her side, flying straight into the strange portal that would lead the two spirits to the world of the living once more.

And so Leader-sama's grudge against Naruto and why Itachi wasn't there when Sasuke visited the Akatsuki is explained. And yeah… I'm pretty sure that Tobi died in that fight too. Or got seriously injured. I guess it doesn't really matter. That was his only role in the entire story and it's in a flashback XP.

I must stress this note… This story is not going to be a NaruSaku story! It's true that Sakura is developing feelings for the loveable blonde, but he belongs with Sasuke X!! Sorry he wasn't in this chapter. The next few memories that Naruto will have will make up for all the one-sided NaruSaku that I put in here.