Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the characters.

Wow…I actually got over 40 reviews for one chapter…for me, that's really good! So thank you guys! To show you how much I appreciate that…I updated early! (See, good things happen when you review!)

Chapter Twenty-One: Words of a Different Nature

Sweat poured off of Sasuke as the scorching heat began to burn his exposed skin. He hissed in pain, and then swore violently.

Naruto…you idiot!

Said teammate looked at Sasuke. "Don't worry, Sasuke. I won't fight Itachi. I finally understand that it's your fight to live or die for. But that doesn't mean that I can't help!"

Naruto whipped out a scroll. When he unraveled it it was blank.

"What the hell are you doing, you idiot?!" Sasuke yelled above the roar of the midnight flames.

"Just watch me! I'm getting rid of that fire!" Naruto began writing on the scroll. Sasuke was impressed. He didn't even think Naruto could do that.

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror. "Naruto, look out!"

But the warning came too late. Itachi had driven a kunai straight into Naruto's heart.

Hinata bit her lip and played with her fingers. She was worried about Naruto. She remembered what he told her when he left, before Sakura had healed her.

Naruto's blue eyes looked down at her with concern and compassion…and something so intense that Hinata couldn't name.

"Hinata…I'm sorry for not noticing you before. I…" Naruto's throat constricted with unshed tears. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but he couldn't.

Hinata looked at him with her clear violet eyes. "Naruto…it's okay. If I was braver, maybe…Maybe things would be different…"

Naruto bravely smiled. "Don't say things like that, Hinata. You're going to be just fine."

Hinata smiled through her pain. "I know I am. This wound isn't that serious. It's just that…I'm afraid for you."

"For me? Why?" Naruto looked puzzled.

"Because people are after you, Naruto. Please, just be careful."

"You've got my word, Hinata, that I'll come back to you. If you know me, then you know that I always keep my promises. Believe it!"

Hinata nodded, and then a spasm of pain washed over her and she nearly blacked out. Before she went unconscious, her blurred vision detected another familiar person. She heard Naruto cry out, "Neji!" and then she was lost to darkness.

Hinata looked at her arm. The wound was still red and sore, and it was slightly swollen. Sakura had told her to put a cool cloth on it and the swelling would go down. She looked at the jagged cut that Sakura had stitched up in a matter of minutes. There would be an ugly scar there, Hinata decided. But she didn't think that Naruto would mind, which was all she cared about.

She felt a familiar presence.

"Neji…"

Neji inclined his head in greeting. "Hinata, how are you feeling?"

Hinata looked down. "I'm fine, Neji. Thank you for asking. How are you? You weren't hurt, were you?"

Neji scowled. "No, I managed to avoid fighting," he said bitterly, regretting that he missed a chance to test his strength and help his comrades.

Hinata fiddled with her fingers, a sure sign that she was nervous.

The gesture did not go unnoticed by the Hyuuga prodigy. "Hinata, I wouldn't have let Naruto go if I thought he wasn't able to handle himself."

Hinata raised her eyes to meet his. "Why did you not go also, Neji?"

"I am the leader of this mission. It is my duty to stay with my comrades and protect them. Naruto has to go and protect his friends. After all, our mission is also to return Sasuke to Konoha."

Hinata nodded.

"Hinata, what I'm trying to say is this. Don't worry about Naruto. As your cousin, I am honor bound to keep you safe from harm. Otherwise I would let you go to him."

Hinata noticed that he didn't say as part of the Hyuuga clan, or on her father's orders. Hinata nodded gratefully for that, but she also understood that that was the way it had to be. She just had to trust Sakura and Sasuke to protect Naruto, and trust Naruto to protect himself.

Sasuke coughed. The heat was unbearable. Sasuke swore. He couldn't escape the fire. He knew that if he touched the black flames he would be done for. Nothing could put it out. They would just continue to consume him until there was nothing left but ashes.

Naruto was busy engaged in a battle of taijutsu with Itachi Uchiha. Naruto, he could tell, was still recovering from a previous fight, no doubt. But so was Itachi Uchiha. And Naruto had the fastest healing rate because of the Kyuubi inside of him. Maybe Naruto could distract him while he…Wait a minute, he was trapped in a ring of fire, literally. Sasuke could do nothing, and the heat was rapidly sapping away his strength.

His vision was blurring, and he must have been hallucinating because he thought he saw a flash of…pink? Wait a minute…only one person he knew was related to pink. Sakura!

Sasuke forced his eyes open and his heart nearly stopped when he took in the sight of his former teammate. She was standing beside the scroll that Naruto had left unfinished. The power of the fire was making her bangs flutter around her face. Her short pink hair was in a high ponytail. Sasuke did a double take. He had never seen her with her hair up before. It made her look…Sasuke shook his raven-haired head to clear his thoughts. Why did he care whether Sakura looked like an avenging angel or not? The important thing was that she's alive!

Sakura glanced at him with determination shining in her jade eyes. "Sasuke, don't worry. I'll have you out of there and then you can kill that pitiful brother of yours."

Before Sasuke could respond Sakura had already leapt off to join Naruto. Sasuke swore and wanted to viciously kick something, but as he had nothing but fire around him, his options were limited.

He saw Sakura take Naruto's place battling his brother while Naruto left a few clones to help her. Naruto himself popped up beside his scroll and hurriedly scribbled some more words and drawings on it before performing the appropriate hand seals. He murmured the jutsu's name and then placed his hand on the scroll.

A light blue mist was emitted from the scroll, in which it sucked all of the black flames into it and then returned to scroll. Naruto quickly wrapped it up and tied it, and put it into his pack.

Sasuke stood up. The ground around him was scorched black and the plants were dead. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He was not letting Itachi get away this time.

Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads in the direction of a scream that had just reverberated through the forest.

They took off, each one yelling, "Sakura!"

Sakura cracked her knuckles as she told Naruto to get lost. She was not letting Itachi Uchiha get the best of her this time. No siree.

Itachi smirked. "So it's you again. I thought I killed you already."

"You can't get rid of me that easy, Itachi. I've got a long-time unsettled score with you."

"I don't know why you're still alive after all that I did," Itachi scoffed. Before Sakura could retort Itachi was in front of her and had her by the throat. He quickly leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "All those things I did to your beautiful body…you didn't enjoy that?"

Sakura nearly gagged. This man was so disgusting that just the sight of him made her want to vomit continuously. She aimed a punch at him, but he quickly jumped back and released her.

"Itachi…I'm going to enjoy seeing you die." Sakura narrowed her eyes in concentration as she attacked Itachi full on. In his weakened state, it was all Itachi could handle. One direct hit and Itachi would be finished.

But Sakura was also not in top shape. She had used most of her chakra healing her comrades, and what little was left she was rapidly using to keep Itachi occupied.

She took her eyes off of for a second to check on Naruto and Sasuke and Itachi was there. He threw a kunai aimed for her throat. Sakura noticed it barely in time. She managed to avoid a fatal blow, but when she turned her head it sliced open her throat. It barely missed her jugular vein.

Sakura cried out and clutched her bleeding throat. Meanwhile Itachi rushed towards Naruto to stop him from sealing the Amaterasu away and freeing Sasuke.

Sakura, through her blurred vision, saw this and immediately punched the earth, causing the ground to cave in and Itachi to be distracted.

Sakura used what little chakra she had left to heal the wound enough so that it wouldn't be a nuisance. Then she rushed after Itachi who was bound for Naruto again.

But by the time she cleared the rubble, there was no fire. Sasuke was rushing forward with Naruto beside him, both with a look of desperation on their faces. Upon seeing her, Naruto smiled in relief and Sasuke's face returned to one of cool deliberation.

Sakura looked around for Itachi but did not see him. Naruto had reached her and held his arms out, ready to hug her. He stopped when he saw the blood on her.

"Sakura! What happened-"

"We don't have time for that, Naruto! Itachi's disappeared. We have to find him before-"

A sharp pain appeared in her side. She looked down, amazed to find a rapidly spreading bloodstain on her shirt. She dropped to her knees in shock.

"Before that happens, Sakura?" Itachi was standing behind her, holding a bloody kunai.

"Sakura!" Naruto rushed forward, but Itachi easily smacked him aside. Naruto got right back up again, but Sasuke stopped him.

"Naruto, stay where you are. This. Is. My. Fight." He ground out each word, his voice as cold as ice.

Naruto nodded, but couldn't stop the anger from consuming him. "Itachi you bastard! I'll make you pay for what you did to Sakura!"

Unbidden, the Kyuubi became awake inside of Naruto. His chakra was swirling red around him, and his normally blue eyes became dangerously red. His nails grew into claws and his teeth became fangs as his power increased tremendously.

Sasuke saw it out of the corner of his eyes. "Naruto, control it!"

"I-can't!" Naruto yelled. A chakra tail appeared behind him, and Naruto growled, "And I don't want to!"

Sasuke swore and immediately appeared in front of Naruto, his Sharingan swirling. He immediately entered Naruto's mind and held back the Kyuubi, keeping it in it's prison.

Naruto fell to his knees, exhaustion taking over him. Sasuke told him to rest while he finished off his brother once and for all.

Itachi kicked Sakura in the back, making her cry out in pain and fall to her hands and knees, panting for air.

Itachi grabbed Sakura's hair, yanking out the ponytail in the process. He held a fistful of her pink hair and yanked it back, causing her eyes to tear and her to cry out again.

Sasuke's Sharingan was activated fully when he heard this. Sasuke threw a kunai and made Itachi jump back, away from Sakura.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and Sakura, both injured and both on the ground, unable to fight. Good. There won't be any more interruptions then. Just me and Itachi.

Sasuke did his signature mark: Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique). Within the flames he hid shurikan.

Itachi barely gave it a glance. He merely blew away the flames and threw shurikan to deflect the other shurikan.

"Foolish little brother. You can't beat me if you continue to use child's play."

Sasuke performed more hand seals. Snakes shot out of his sleeves, aimed at Itachi.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!" Itachi sent a massive fireball at them, disintegrating them all.

Their battle raged on for a few more minutes. The two brothers stood facing each other, both of them tired but neither of them showing it.

"Sasuke…"

Sasuke's sharp hearing picked up the plea. It was Sakura. Sasuke forced himself to ignore it, knowing that he couldn't afford the distraction.

"Get him to use the Mangekyou Sharingan again…it's his greatest weakness. His eyes-"

Itachi disappeared and reappeared behind Sakura, who's eyes widened. Time seemed to stand still as Itachi grabbed Sakura and spun her around to face him.

"You started out as nothing, a mere pinprick. Now you are a thorn in my side. One which will not be any longer."

Sasuke's anger surged to the surface as he rushed forward, using all his speed.

"And now, kunoichi, you die."

Before Itachi could deliver the killing blow, Sakura swiped a hand over his eyes, making her hands into chakra blades. She didn't manage to actually cut his eyes, but the searing chakra managed to burn his crimson eyes.

Itachi instantly released Sakura, who scrambled away from the Sharingan user.

Sasuke was there in an instant, shielding Sakura from any future attacks from Itachi. Before Itachi could retaliate, Sasuke thrust Kusanagi into his older brother's shoulder.

"Chidori Nagashi!" The lightning crackled and chirped as Sasuke sent it through Itachi's system, paralyzing him.

"Guh!" Itachi spit up blood as he fell on his back, unmoving, his black eyes staring vacantly.

Sasuke pulled his sword out of his brother's chest, not quite believing that he had killed his brother. Sure enough, Sasuke detected the faint and haggard breathing of his brother.

As Sasuke raised Kusanagi for the finishing blow, Itachi's obsidian eyes bore into Sasuke's matching ones. Sasuke's hands wavered. Those weren't the eyes of the cold-blooded murderer who massacred his family; they were the eyes of his brother.

Sasuke fell to his knees. "Itachi…"

Itachi stared at him intently for a few moments. Then he opened his mouth to say something, only to cough up more blood.

Sasuke did not move, neither to help nor hinder Itachi. He just sat there, watching the life of his only living relative ebb away.

Itachi tried once more to speak. "Sasuke…thank you." Then the eyes of the eldest Uchiha closed forever.

The cry of the last remaining survivor of the Uchiha clan could be heard round the world.

Whew…that was a doozy. Well, I'm fairly happy with the way the fighting turned out. Like I said before, not my strong point. But all in all I'm glad that it's over! (The fight between Sasuke and Itachi…not the story! We've got a little more to go…)

So naturally this is not the end of the story. We're close, but not quite there. I've still got to wrap up a few loose ends…maybe throw in a humorous chapter because we need some comic relief after so many deaths…but anyways.

Please review! Thank you so much!

PS. If anyone's seen "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", what did you think of it? I don't want to spoil it for anyone reading this…so I'll tell you what I thought in a reply.

PPS. I'm so excited for the manga! The new one comes out tomorrow…Sakura and Naruto are so close to Sasuke now! I'm so excited! Oh, and of course I'm anticipating some NaruHina fluff!

Adios!