I'm currently on episode 324 of the show, and I have just this to say thus far after everything: MADARA IS BOSS. :D My boyfriend who loves this anime and the manga so much (and who got me into this show to begin with) was happy beyond the boundaries, given he waited forever for me to see what a GOD Madara Uchiha truly is.

Chapter Ten

If It Takes Every Breath and Bone

"Sasuke."

To stand before them all made him turn his marked nose upward, regarding every single member with contempt - especially at the pale-skinned young man he assumed was his replacement, and the male Shinobi had to have been ANBU at one time, but it begged WHY he had joined his former team. To see Kakashi made him sneer, but none moreso than at the dobe whose emotions were not betrayed.

Sasuke stood before them all, wings spread out on either side of him, and Sakura was in his arms redressed and wearing her cloak which had been recovered. "Never thought it would come to this, huh, Kakashi?" he asked with a snort, setting her down and ignoring her altogether as well as the look she gave between him and her team. "You are all here to take me back."

"That's right, Sasuke," the silver-haired masked man answered grimly. "It pains me to see you..." His revealed eye traveled up and down once. "...like this. Orochimaru's doing. I wish I was there when Yamato and Sai here ran for you at Orochimaru's lair with Naruto and Sakura...and I am feeling what I assume is the agony the late Third Hokage felt when he fought against his own pupil." The day the snake attacked the village, he branded me, at the Chunin Exams...the days my life was once again changed.

"Save your sob feelings for the boy you remembered, my old sensei," Sasuke spat. "What you are looking at now is a monster - a monster. A monster who ravaged helpless victims like reported to the small-minded, and the elders who cling to traditional ideals instead of today's importance. Even if I were to go back with you, there'd be no hope at all for me. I left because I was supposed to destroy the one who ruined my life and butchered my clan I would have restored when he destroyed it. You tried to stop me once, but look at me now!" His voice raised an octave at the last part, and he gestured over himself with one clawed hand that made Naruto flinch and step back.

Kakashi closed his eye and let his raised hand in a silent plea drop to his side.

The beast-man narrowed his eyes at the brunette ninja whom he learned was named Yamato. "Kakashi," he said, "it's no use trying to reason with him now. He's too far gone."

"Captain Yamato is right," the pale-skinned fool agreed, looking at Sasuke with eyes dark and ranging with an unreadable myriad of thoughts that the Sharingan became baffled as its owner. "Sasuke Uchiha is too narrow-minded to listen anyway." Now that was enough to set the Uchiha into an internal frenzy. His lips pulled back with a feral snarl.

"Say that again, small fry." Just how did they find someone like him to be my replacement? I'll be satisfied to stain my blade with his blood. He took a step forward, drawing forth a kunai before Sakura had to plea with him.

She turned all the way around and raised her open palm before him...and placed it over his chest. Over his heart. Sasuke stopped, feeling his eyes widen and saw the same reaction from the other men. Sakura stopped me - no, she TOUCHED me. His heartbeat began to pick up because of it; he never let another before her touch him this way, or the way she did last night. It made him feel weak and infuriated that she had to stop him with a simple caress over one of his vital pressure points. "Sakura," he hissed, glaring down at her, tightening his grip around the handle of his blade, "take your hand off at once."

"No," she ground. "Sai is a good friend. He means well, and he's been with us all this time to try and help bring you home to us. He didn't understand in the beginning because he was cursed by Danzo, lost his brother if not entirely the same as you - but he WAS forced to turn against him towards the end of their lives together...was forced to fight him. You have no idea how much pain he was in at the time. And now that Danzo is gone, Sai is lifted of his entrapment, and he's one of us completely. He's going to marry Ino soon."

Sasuke found himself making eye contact with the other man, Sai, wrinkling his nose. Hn, someone is dumb enough to marry HER...wait, he had a brother? Just exactly how much of brothers happy around me and losing one am I supposed to take in a lifetime?!

"He was forced to fight his own brother. You have no idea how much pain he was in..."

The haunting words echoed in him. He felt paralyzed, standing this way for an eternity before the ones he once called friends and comrades. Closing his eyes, Sasuke took all of this in...but he did not let it touch him completely. Whoever this fool's brother was, he didn't slaughter their family like...

"It does not concern me any further," he said at last. He would NOT let any of them get to him. He needed to get away from here; he'd been in their presence long enough. Yet when he found himself looking into Sakura's eyes, pleading with him as she pleaded with him all night in and out of the cave, he had to curse to himself. Even more when the Shinobi, Yamato, had to speak up.

"The semen we found within the body of your latest victim, Karin Uzumaki, was matched with yours." Wait, Karin is related to Naruto?! Not that it concerns me; they found means to track me down. "You've been heralded as a cannibalistic rapist and murderer, Sasuke Uchiha. We are all under orders of the Hokage to bring you in alive and unharmed, and you are surrounded by ANBU, so if you resist..."

"I'm afraid all of ANBU assigned is dead. You must already know that well enough, but to lie to my brother like this won't do any good. He isn't going with you, Leaf Village Shinobi," a familiar low and rich voice filled with cold malice caught the attention of all behind Sasuke himself. When he turned around, he turned his back to his former team and the newcomers he had met amongst them. He sensed Sakura take a step backwards so she was beside Naruto. Good, he thought, half with a smirk and half with a sneer at the one before them all.

Sasuke seethed at the cloaked man with the slashed headband of the Leaf Village. After all these years, those cruel words that damned him to a wild life and a stunt in his quest.

"Itachi."

~o~

Assuming the position beside Kakashi-Sensei, Naruto on the other side, she clenched her fists when all five of them turned their attentions from the beastly man who abandoned them - cut off all his ties to them, shattering hearts and hers most of all - to the one who made his bold appearance known to them all.

Itachi Uchiha.

She was tempted to hurl a kunai at him, but he would catch her in that genjutsu of his for sure. Just remembering what he did to Naruto, to Sasuke, Kakashi-Sensei ten years ago...it was unforgivable as the murders of his own clan. She felt her lips pull back, baring her teeth. "Itachi...Uchiha," she hissed, knowing Naruto was with her on this one.

"There should not be any violence today between reunited old comrades," the elder Uchiha said in a calm, monotoned voice as he looked straight at his younger, transformed brother who kept his hold on his knife. "Sasuke...it has been a long time since we last met." He just thought he could casually stroll in like nothing happened, did he?! It made Sakura angrier, Naruto more fired up, and Kakashi narrowed his eye. Yamato and Sai, however, held their ground, the former ready to use his Wood Style to ensnare both of them if he had to. But Itachi could gain the upper hand with his malevolent Sharingan, though Captain Yamato knew better than to let that happen.

"It has...and you couldn't have come at a more perfect timing, brother," Sasuke replied heatedly, bending at one knee and then sliding the other behind him, assuming a semi-crouching position.

The assuming pose did not amuse the elder, or so Sakura thought. He was hard to read, this one. "Hmm, you really are foolish after all these years if you think you can take on the likes of me, brother," Itachi stated with a flick of a finger. "The rest of you - this concerns only my brother and myself...unless you all wish to face the wrath of the Mangekyo Sharingan."

It was Naruto's job to snap, but this time was Sakura's. "You murderer," she shouted, "what will your brother accomplish by killing you?"

All eyes were on her, and all shocked: Sai, Yamato, and even Kakashi. Naruto's bulged and blinked at a rapid pace. Sasuke? He remained ever passively frustrated, one corner of his mouth tugging into a half-scowl. Itachi regarded her coolly and unflinchingly. "Haruno-chan..." She flinched on the inside when he had the nerve to call her dear. When did he have the right?! "...you really are brave to stand up to my brother. Just like the Jinchuuriki, you don't wish to see Sasuke killed." That was when he did smile, and it made both her and Naruto angrier.

"Sasuke, you know your brother is -" Naruto started only to get cut off.

"I KNOW WHAT HE'S LIKE, DOBE!" he roared. "Now stay out of this - the BOTH of you!" Just like the "good old days", when he told Naruto to stay out of his way...and then again, I was almost the same, and I got rescued by them more times than I picked myself up...

She decided then and there to step up again, ignoring Kakashi's hand on her shoulder, feeling more like Naruto than ever. "We'll never give up on you! We'll go to Lady Tsunade; there is no way she can refuse the hunt for that snake and force him to find a cure, and we can even do one of our own based on what he can give us -" Assuming Orochimaru does cooperate. "- and we will rather die than let you live more years, or even the rest of your life like this!"

"Yeah, remember what I told you to, to get it through that thick skull of yours, teme!" Naruto hollered back. "If you kill your brother this way - yes, I agree what he did was unforgivable, and I still hear you when you said a long time ago I never had a family like you - you'll be no better than he or Orochimaru! Hell, what you've done to innocent people was all because of HIM, and we'll make the whole world see that if it takes every breath and bone in our BODIES!" By this time, he was out of breath, and a long, eternal silence followed before it was broken by none other than Kakashi.

"Naruto, you can stop now."

He looked long and hard at both brothers; Itachi was watching all of this with collected interest. "You're wasting breath and precious time here. As I have said, I have no quarrels today with either of you, nor am I interested in Naruto for the matter," he stated simply, taking them all by surprise. "Like I said, all tailing ANBU are dead by Kisame's hand...just so I could get to my dearest brother here."

~o~

At least the Leaf Shinobi were wise enough to heed my warning and flee...and now is my chance. Itachi found himself standing face to face with Sasuke once again, but his brother's reaction was the same as ever when he stood before the Akatsuki.

"Don't expect me to thank you for getting them away from me," Sasuke said through his teeth, "and don't expect me to go easy on you now that we are alone." He reassumed the crouching position, but Itachi clicked his tongue.

"I have been calling you a fool for years, otouto," he said, "but you are an even bigger fool over the Haruno woman. I think it is time we had a familial conversation, leave out the hostilities just for today, and the time to come when you show me how strong you have gotten now...or have your abilities rusted with your apparent lack of self-esteem about your image? Over the years I have kept close watch on you, and never have I felt such tremendous disappointment in you, Sasuke. What I witnessed last night made me realize I ought to put my foot forward and be your 'kind and gentle' older brother once more..."

There you have it. Let's see how big brother "helps" Sasuke with his situation while Sakura faces major issues regarding the failed mission (once again, obviously) and her personal ones with the one she finally gave all her love to - to the degree love can be, even if it is unrequited on their parts. But is it REALLY one-sided?