The sun was beginning to lower itself in the sky as Naruto and Sakura continued their search for the lost Uchiha. They had been at it for hours, and their hope was beginning to decay.

"Naruto… Maybe, maybe we should go back home."

"What? No way! What if he's just up ahead and we give up? We can't go back!"

"You're right," Sakura said being reassured by Naruto, "let's keep looking."

Naruto suddenly froze. He turned to Sakura, "do you see that?" He asked, pointing towards a figure in the distance.

Her eyes got large as she saw what he was talking about. "That's a member of the Akatsuki!" She recognized the robe on the figure that sat in the distance. "Why isn't his partner wearing a cloak, too?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "That's not just any member… that's Itachi Uchiha." His glare was dismissed as he realized who the other male sitting with Itachi was. "And… that's not his partner… That's Sasuke!"

Without thinking, Naruto blindly darted towards the brothers; Sakura hesitantly followed him. Naruto pounced on Itachi, who was taken off guard by the attack and was shoved to the ground. Sasuke was shocked as he watched his brother be pushed down by his former teammate.

"Naruto?" He asked, unsure of what just happened. He thought that it may be an illusion since he had been so tired.

"Sasuke!" Naruto ran to his friend's side after leaping off of Itachi. "Sasuke, I…" He trailed off as he witnessed Sasuke's beaten form. He grew angry and turned back to Itachi, who was rising to his feet. "What did you do to him?" Naruto screamed at the older brother.

Itachi was offended by Naruto. He would never do such a thing to his little brother, though most people did not know this. "I…"

Naruto cut him off before he had a chance to get out the second word. "Liar!" Naruto screamed at Itachi, though he had not really made a claim. Sakura rushed in and kneeled down by Sasuke.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. We are taking you home." She assured him before pulling out kunai and aiming them at Itachi.

"Both of you, stop!" Sasuke shouted at his former comrades. Shocked, the two of them turned to face the bruised teen.

"Sasuke, look at yourself! We can't let Itachi get away with doing that to you!" Naruto said defensively as Sakura nodded in agreement. They could not understand why Sasuke would be defending his brother.

Sasuke painfully rose to his feet, cringing as he did so. "Sasuke, don't over exert yourself." Itachi said as he watched his brother tremble as he tried to stand. Naruto glared at Sasuke's older brother for showing what he believed to be false concern.

"I'm fine." He replied before turning to Naruto. "Itachi didn't do this to me."

"But… how?" Naruto asked.

"That doesn't matter." Sasuke replied. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"We came here to get you from Orochimaru!"

"Well I'm not with him anymore, so you can forget about that and just go home."

"We aren't going anywhere without you!" Sakura shouted at Sasuke, who was struggling to stand.

Itachi watched the three teens bicker; he wasn't sure if he should say anything, after all, he was planning to return Sasuke to the leaf village. Itachi knew that Sasuke would oppose this; however, the best option for his little brother was to be in the safety of the village and be surrounded by his friends.

"Would you just stop? I don't need or want your help." Sasuke said.

"By looking at you, we can tell that you need help. And I don't care if you don't want it; you're going to get it!" Naruto retorted.

Sasuke sighed and sunk back to the ground. Convincing these two that he truly was in good hands was going to be impossible. Naruto stepped closer to Sasuke and kneeled down.

He placed a firm hold on Sasuke's arm and started to pull him across the ground. "Let go of me, you loser!" The Uchiha growled and violently threw a punch at Naruto. To his surprise, his fist was caught by his older brother. Naruto and Sakura were both shocked when they realized that the older Uchiha was defending his enemy.

"They just want to help. There's no need to act violently towards them." Itachi said as he released Sasuke's hand. He then took Naruto's arm and removed it from his brother. "Naruto, you admitted that he is hurt badly, so do you really think dragging him across the ground is a good idea?"

"Unhand Naruto!" The disagreeing group of four all paused and looked to see who was speaking.

This is getting hard to write! I have the basic idea of what is going to happen next, but actually writing it is proving to be a challenge! It will probably be another day or so before I get chapter 15 up because of that! Thanks for reading!

Oh! and someone left a review that I couldn't respond to asking if this was going to include NaruSasu. I don't think it will... I'm leaning towards the friendship side of their relationship. If you have any questions/comments/concerns leave a review and I will get back to you or use your advice to make the story better! Thanks again!