Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Ch. 21: The Real Enemy

At first, Sasuke was shocked to see the man Sakura had punched. He was one of the shinobi that was supposed to lead Konoha. "Danzo."

"I had hoped the information I was given about you working with Orochimaru was wrong," Itachi said to Danzo, his tone hard as stone. "We had a deal, Danzo. I take the blame for your crime as long as Sasuke remained safe."

Sasuke jerked around to look at his brother. "What?"

Itachi was very calm, although he still seemed exhausted. The older Uchiha sighed and suddenly looked much older than his years. As if he was weighed down by something heavier than the world. "Sasuke, there is a lot you don't know about our clan and what happened all those years ago."

"What are you talking about, Itachi," Sasuke demanded.

"He's talking about the danger the Uchiha clan posed to our village," Danzo told Sasuke. Like Itachi, he seemed unfazed by the situation. His eye uncovered eye moved to Itachi. "You were supposed to keep everything a secret."

"That was before you arranged for Orochimaru to possess my brother's body and then tried to kill him when that failed," Itachi replied. "Our agreement was dependent on Sasuke's safety."

"Agreed to what?" Sasuke snapped out, tired of missing something. "What threat did our clan pose?"

"They were planning a coup," Itachi informed him. "The battle would have resulted in many deaths and the destruction of our village and the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke stared at him in shock.

"To avoid this. Danzo arranged for the clans slaughter despite Lord Third's orders not to do any such thing. I came to late to save our clan. My only consolation is that you hadn't been home when it happened." Itachi kept his eyes on Danzo as he told Sasuke the truth at last. "In order to protect you from Danzo, I agreed to accept a mission. This mission would require I take the entire blame for our clan's slaughter and become a missing nin. This of course was all dependent on you being kept safe."

"Sasuke was going to betray our village," Danzo said with a shrug. "I will do whatever I must to protect the Leaf Village. And the Uchiha are always a threat." The older shinobi sneered at Sakura's lifeless body. "I almost had you if not for that stupid girl. Then the Hidden Leaf would have been safe from the Uchihas at last."

Sasuke's body tightened as he clenched his fists. "You..." The rage began to build. "You did this." His body began to shake. "You...She was not Uchiha and she loved this village." Something in him broke and everything exploded free. "You killed her."

Sasuke flew into the fight. Even learning that Danzo had been responsible for the death of his clan didn't compare to the rage that Danzo had killed Sakura because he believed Sasuke was a threat. Believed. Danzo hadn't even known for sure. Which he couldn't have because he was wrong. Sasuke would never have endangered this village, because that meant endangering her. His lifeline. His light in the dark. Now that the light was snuffed out, he was consumed by shadows. Danzo would die.

Itachi fell to one knee and cursed. He didn't have the strength to pull Sasuke back from the dark. The Uchihas felt strongly. It was pain and love and loss that fueled the growth of the Sharingan. Unfortunately, the mangekyo was created by pain. Pain so strong there was no words to describe it. In this moment, all Sasuke could do to keep moving forward was cover that pain with rage just as strong. If he didn't regain control, Sasuke would never be the same.

"Damn Danzo and Orochimaru," Itachi cursed again as he tried to find enough chakra to do something. It was useless. Then he remembered something Sakura had said. Naruto was back. Maybe... It was Sasuke's only hope. Therefore, Itachi's last hope. But how was he going to get the fox jinchuriki's attention? He turned and saw the slug clone. If he remembered the stories about the Sannin correctly, what one of Katsuya's clones knew, they all knew. He knelt in front of the slug. "Can you get in contact with Naruto Uzumaki and tell him what's happening here?"

"I can," Katsuya assured him. She moved and crawled onto Itachi. "I'll do that as I heal you."

Itachi sat to watch the fight in front of him while he waited on enough strength to return to be of any use.

Danzo had used some sort of wind jutsu to knock Sasuke back. The younger Uchiha pulled out his sword and forced himself to think through his rage. Don't let the anger blind you, he told himself. Use it. Easier said than done. Sakura's blood still stained his clothes. He could see the pink of her hair out the corner of his eye. Then, to add insult to injury, he find that this man was the one responsible for his clan's death to begin with. Danzo was going to die.

Sasuke rushed into another attack. Danzo pulled out two shuriken and used a jutsu to create a wind strong enough to slice through stone around them then threw both at Sasuke. Sasuke caught one with his sword but the other was still coming. And orange blur zipped past Sasuke and he felt wind move around him. Sasuke grinned. Naruto.

Naruto used his own wind abilities to counter the shuriken that Danzo had thrown, knocking off course. The fox jinchuriki looked over his shoulder at Sasuke with a grin. "I heard you needed a hand."

"You were fighting Pain."

"Yes, but this is more important." The grin faded away as Naruto's very blue eyes moved to Sakura's body. His body tightened as anger burned in him. "Danzo has to pay for this. For all of it. I promised to help you. And now, it's personal. He hurt Sakura."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. Sakura was Naruto's teammate too. Together, the two of them turned to face the village elder. Naruto activated his sage mode and silently apologized to the rest of the village but he had to help Sasuke. Everything else, including Pain would just have to wait.

The village elder unwrapped his right arm, revealing the sharingan imbedded into the arm. Sasuke stared in horror as he realized there was only one place those sharingan could come from. His dead clan members. So it was all true. Danzo had ordered the death of the Uchiha clan and Itachi had taken the fall for it alone. Which meant the part about his clan planning a coup was true also. Danzo had been protecting the village all those years ago. Sasuke looked down as he wondered if maybe Danzo had been right to try and kill him too?

"I will protect the village from you and your clan's threat," Danzo snapped out.

"Protect the village? That's what you're claiming you're doing?" Naruto said in disgust. He looked at Danzo's arm covered in sharingan. "How many Uchiha had to die for that arm of yours? You didn't kill them to protect anyone. That may be the lie you tell yourself so you won't feel guilty but you weren't protecting anyone. You just wanted more power. Itachi was the one that killed to protect the village, even if it meant betraying his clan to do it."

Sasuke jerked and looked at Naruto in surprise. "My clan was planning a coup, Naruto."

"So what?" Naruto glanced back at Sasuke again. " That doesn't make Danzo's motives any less selfish. And then, Danzo pretended innocence and forced Itachi to take the blame to keep you safe. It wouldn't surprise me if he planned that part too."

The Uchiha brothers both jerked with surprise again. Itachi's red eyes narrowed in speculation. All this time, he thought he'd arranged that part of the plan himself. In hindsight however, Itachi had to wonder if Danzo hadn't manipulated him into thinking the way he had. It had been so many years since then. At the time, Itachi knew he'd bene a naive child. Only thirteen, and there's still been so much to learn. Now, looking back years later, he believed that Danzo had planed the whole thing. The Uchiha coup had been real and so had their threat to the village. Danzo's plan had been at the time the best way to handle it. But...maybe the aftermath could have been different after all.

Sasuke stepped up next to Naruto. It didn't surprise him to find that Naruto's presence had a calming effect on his rage. The jinchuriki always seemed to know just what to say or do. Now with a clear head, he was ready to beat Danzo.

"Naruto, you need to go finish Pain." Sasuke moved until he stood between Danzo and Naruto. "I can handle Danzo now. Thanks."

The blond hesitated. "Are you sure? I promised to help you, Sasuke."

"And you did. My head is clear again." Sasuke glanced back at Sakura's body then back at Naruto. "We can't let the people she cared about die. You have to stop Pain and I have to stop Danzo."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Alright. Don't die on me."

Both knew the pain of losing Sakura would come. But for now, they would have to be shinobi and put it aside until the fight was over. Sasuke didn't know if he would survive it when the pain came. He was sure it would cripple him if not kill him. Until then, he'd force himself forward to make sure Danzo didn't get away with all he'd done.

Naruto ran back in the direction of Pain. He would make sure to pull Sasuke out of the dark, no matter what. It was the only think he could do for Sakura now. His blue eyes narrowed. Danzo and the Akatsuki were responsible for his friend's agony. He'd make sure they suffered far more then his family had.

Sasuke braced himself and fed lighting chakra into his sword. At some invisible signal, Sasuke and Danzo leapt into battle. They moved faster than a normal person could keep up with. Danzo felt Sasuke's lighting blade slice into him, but that didn't matter. Before Sasuke's eyes, the Danzo he pierced vanished. Another Danzo appeared behind him and struck him hard. The younger Uchiha was sent flying. Itachi caught Sasuke with ease, his body finally having recovered from the use of his Sword of Totsuka to seal away Orochimaru. His chakra stores still weren't what they'd been, but there was enough to give Sasuke backup.

"I know I hit him," Sasuke muttered as he braced for the next attack.

"He's using the Izanagi," Itachi informed him, watching Danzo carefully. "With so many Sharingan he can use it multiple times."

"I don't understand. What's an Izanagi?" Sasuke questioned, his eyes staying on Danzo.

"A forbidden jutsu of the Uchiha. The user casts a genjutsu on himself which allows him to bend the line between reality and illusion. Any damage done to the user while the jutsu is active become part of the illusion, while anything that helps him stays reality."

"I see." Sasuke watched as one of the eyes on Danzo's arm closed. "A jutsu that powerful comes at a price."

"Yes," Itachi confirmed. "Blindness. The eye used to cast the Izanagi loses sight that can never be restored."

Sasuke closed his eyes. The mangekyo was still new to him and was tiring him out. "I need your help."

Itachi looked over at Sasuke. "You'll forgive my part in our clan's death so easily? Don't misunderstand all of this, Sasuke. I did kill them."

"I know. But, Naruto was right." Sasuke opened his eyes and looked over at Itachi. "I may not agree with the method. Maybe I never will. I can't say as I wasn't there. I don't know if there was another way to save our village from our clan. What I do know is that you did what you felt you had to do to save the village and me. So, yes, I'll forgive you."

Itachi closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. "Very well. What do you need."

Sasuke looked over at Danzo's arm. "A genjutsu."

His brother followed his gaze then nodded. "I understand. It can't be tsukuyomi. I don't have enough chakra for that."

"It doesn't need to be."

Itachi took off his akatsuki robe and braced himself next to Sasuke. The two brothers turned their mangekyo sharingans on Danzo. It was time the old man paid for everything.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto found he wasn't having an easy time with his battle either. Pain was proving to be difficult. It didn't help that he was distracted with worry. Sasuke was fighting Danzo right now and fighting agony over what happened to Sakura. Naruto slid across the ground after dodging yet another attack from Pain. The fox in his head wasn't helping matters either with his snide comments.

"Look," Naruto snapped at the fox. "If you're not going to help, Kurama, stay out of it." A blast from Pain sent Naruto flying back. "If you would let me use the toads to activate sage mode while fighting this wouldn't be a problem."

Kurama humphed and closed his eyes as if he didn't have a care in the world. Inwardly, he was watching Naruto and considering his host and all Naruto had lived through and fought for. Despite all the hardships, Naruto hadn't let them turn him bitter. He continued to care and fight and stand tall. It was a constant surprise to Kurama just what kind of person Naruto was at his core.

While the fox considered his host, Naruto braced himself for another attack from Pain.

"And what would you say the answer is, Naruto?" Pain demanded. "How would you achieve peace in this cursed world?"

Naruto didn't responde. Instead, he threw a rasengan shuriken. His last one. Pain dodged, but Naruto wasn't finished yet. He used clones to throw himself forward and used a regular rasengan, killing the last Pain in the village. That just left one more. Naruto looked in the direction of the final Pain. He'd used sage mode to track him.

Shifting, he made his way towards the final Pain. It was time the two students of Jiraiya had a real chat. He looked towards the other edge of the village. There the two remainin sannin battled the man claiming to be Madara Uchiha. They appeared to be winning. Elsewhere, Might Guy and Kakashi fought Kisame. His eyes scanned around to see other pockets of fighting. The tide was turning. The sand and leaf shinobi were winning at last. But, the cost was great. He saw the dead amongst the rubble of the village. Inlcuding Sakura.

His heart squeezed painfully. If it hurt him this much to think of that part, he couldn't imaging Sasuke's agony. Naruto turned his attention back to the path ahead of him. He would stop this fight. Sakura and all the other shinobi will not have died for nothing.