Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21

Chapter 26

Jiraiya dodged the punch aimed at his head. Naruto came into the fray with a roundhouse kick which Itachi easily blocked by catching his foot and sending him sailing through the air. Naruto managed to turn his body right side up and landed about a dozen feet away; leaving skid marks along the ground as he dug his feet in to stop himself.

As Sasuke shot bullet after bullet of fire at his elder brother his frustration grew. This was supposed to be his fight. He could put up with Naruto—he was family—but Jiraiya had no business interfering. He desperately wished he could find a way to ditch the old hermit.

Itachi's hands sped through seals. Ox, Tiger, Ox, Tiger "Suiton: Suigadan (a/n-Water Release: Water Fang Bullet)!" All at once, a large amount of the grass in the immediate vicinity of the fight died as the water was sucked out of it and turned into giant watery spikes which shot toward Naruto.

Naruto jumped to the side but wasn't quite fast enough and one of the water spikes sliced open his outer right thigh. "AHHHHHGH!" he screamed as he fell to the ground. After a moment he tried to stand up but as soon as he put the slightest pressure on the injured leg pain shot through it like an unchecked wildfire. He quickly began repairing the damage with the niji chakra.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled. He whipped his gaze back to the front and glared at Itachi. "Fine. You like spikes? I'll show you spikes." His hands flashed through a series of seals. "Ranji Shigumi no Jutsu (a/n-Wild Lion's Mane Technique)" Jiraiya's hair lengthened into long, hard spikes and then attacked Itachi.

Itachi used an impressive array of flips, jumps and twists; managing to avoid all the spikes as they drove into the ground after missing him. He stopped once all the spikes stopped moving but had to suddenly begin his 'dance' anew as the spikes started shooting up from under the ground. Seven spikes burst upwards at once, came screaming down to the ground and pinned Itachi to the newly disturbed earth.

Jiraiya smiled but the expression was quickly wiped from his face when 'Itachi' vanished, revealing only his cloak in his place. The eyes of Jiraiya and the rest of his team darted around the area in attempt to ascertain Itachi's whereabouts. Dammit. Where the hell did he go? he thought.

The question was quickly answered when the ground shook and walls of earth grew upwards and over their heads to form a dome-like prison—it didn't last long though. "RASENGAN!" The dome exploded outwards from the force of Naruto and Jiraiya's attack. Naruto's leg was still bleeding but the size of the wound was reduced by nearly half.

Sakura fought an inner battle with herself as she watched Naruto. I want to heal him, but I don't think he'd let me take him out of the fight, she thought with a frown. Suddenly, an idea came to her that was so simple she felt incredibly stupid for not having thought of it sooner. "Tamashii Guujin No Jutsu (a/n-Spirit Puppet Technique)!" Inner Sakura appeared beside her. She turned to it. "You know what to do." Inner Sakura nodded sharply and ran towards the fight.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he moved, even though it wasn't much movement. He activated his Tamagan and began gathering sugikon. His healing wasn't coming along as fast as he had hoped and sugikon spheres were the only long range attack he had. He was about to start throwing them when he noticed Inner Sakura standing next to him.

"I'm here to help," Inner Sakura explained. "Now, don't freak out," she warned.

Naruto looked perplexed. "Freak out? Why would...?" He didn't have time to finish because Inner Sakura had put herself into a liquid-like state and slithered into his open wound. His expression twisted into one of abject disgust. "EWWW!"

"Oh shut up and let me work!" Inner Sakura complained. "You concentrate on the fight."

With great effort Naruto pushed his disgust aside and began throwing the spheres he had collected.

"Naruto, we need to get this battle out into the open," Sasuke instructed. "Gamabunta has a plan but we can't do it here without putting everyone in danger."

Naruto looked at Kazehana and she nodded. "My barrier will go where I go. We can do it."

"Ero-sennin! This way!" Naruto yelled as he gestured with a wave of his hand.

Thanks to the distraction Jiraiya almost found himself impaled by a huge spike of rock that Itachi had thrust toward him from the forest floor. He glared at Naruto for an instant and then followed him.

It wasn't long before the group found themselves on a large, open field of grass. All at once Gamabunta scooped everyone up in his giant tongue and put them on his back. Jiraiya smiled. He knew what was going to happen, for he and the great toad had done it many times in the past.

Inner Sakura slid out of Naruto's leg through the tiny opening that remained. "I fixed the worst of it. You should be all right now."

"Thanks," Naruto said with a half smile/half grimace. He was still creeped out by the whole thing. Suddenly he noticed Sasuke and Jiraiya staring at Inner Sakura with their eyes twitching and laughed. At least I'm not the only one disgusted by this.

Itachi watched the Konoha team warily. He knew for a fact they weren't cowards so when they all were put onto Gamabunta's back he knew some kind of plan was in the works.

"You ready kid?" Gamabunta asked.

Sasuke came back to his senses and nodded.

Gamabunta took a deep breath and then spit out a gigantic ball of oil and Sasuke flashed through a set of seals. "Katon: Gamayu Endan (a/n-Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)!" The flame hit the oil and created a giant fireball that incinerated the entire field.

When the flame and smoke cleared Itachi wasn't far away from the epicenter. There were crumbled bits of a rock dome all around him. He had obviously tried to protect himself with it. It hadn't entirely failed, for he was still alive, but he was badly burned and a trickle of blood had leaked from the corner of his mouth. As he stood up, trying to ready himself for the next attack, he silently cursed himself for becoming so dependant on the mangekyou over the years.

"Man, he's hard to take down!" Naruto complained. "I wish I could hit him with rasengan, but I'm not fast enough."

Sasuke blew out an angry puff of air. "Same with chidori."

"And I doubt the spit trick would work with the real Itachi," Gamabunta added.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Spit trick?"

Sasuke smirked. "I'll tell you later."

The team jumped down from Gamabunta. Itachi made a kage bunshin of himself and then the clone made a familiar set of seals. "Doton- Kane Genken no Jutsu (a/n- Earth style- Steel Wardog technique)!"

"That's the same technique Noriko used!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at the three steel canines that now flanked Itachi, although these were nearly the size of a pony.

Itachi's face remained stolid. "Who do you think I copied it from? Only the difference is that I can use a bunshin to hold the jutsu so the real me can still fight." And with that, the dogs and Itachi charged forward.

Jiraiya was dodging a pair of steel jaws when he heard Sakura's panicked voice cut through the din created by the battle.

"Jiraiya-sama! HELP!" she cried as she burst into the field with tears streaming down her face. In her arms was a very pale Rock Lee.

Jiraiya used his hair spikes to ensnare the metal beast and throw it a good twenty yards, then ran to Sakura. "What is it?!" He asked as he looked at Lee with worry.

"I can't get the internal bleeding to stop! You've got to take him to Tsunade-sama!" Sakura said, nearly in complete panic.

Jiraiya gritted his teeth. If he left with Lee Itachi could win the fight, but if he didn't Lee would surely die and he knew he was the only one fast enough to make it in time. He looked at the boys and then back at Lee.

"I'll help them fight! Please!" Sakura begged.

Jiraiya let out a puff of air and finally nodded. "Alright. Give him to me. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Sakura nodded gratefully and gently handed over the boy she loved. "Tenten should be alright by herself. I put her in a safe place."

Jiraiya nodded and left without another word, praying he had made the right decision.

Sakura ran to Inner Sakura. "Back you go. I'll need all the chakra I can get." Inner Sakura nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto had seen some of the exchange between Jiraiya and Sakura. I hope fuzzy brows will be okay. He thought as he dodged a metal paw.

Sasuke leapt over the dog that had come for him and made a beeline for Itachi. His fist hit nothing as Itachi appear right behind him.

"You're still too slow, Otouto," Itachi said as he executed a roundhouse kick to Sasuke's middle back.

Sasuke barely managed to avoid flying face first into the dirt by putting out his hands for support. He pushed upwards off his hands, flipped horizontally, raised his legs and threw them forward, using the momentum to bring himself back to a standing position just in time to avoid being punched in the face.

Unfortunately, Itachi didn't miss a beat and promptly shoved his fist into Sasuke's kidneys.

Sakura punched a thirty foot tall rock, grabbed a long spear of stone that was among the rubble and swung it like a baseball bat. It connected with the dog she'd been fighting and sent it into the sky. It smashed back down to Earth with a giant dent in one side. It attempted to get up but its efforts were futile. Its shape was now too distorted.

"Rasengan!"

Sakura turned her head in time to see Naruto blast the dog he was fighting into a hunk of twisted metal. She smiled. He may use rasengan a lot, but it certainly gets the job done.

Naruto and Sakura ran to Sasuke, who was still getting hit in the gut. Sakura charged chakra to her fist and punched the ground. Plates of rock and dirt shot upwards, forcing Itachi to jump out of the way and in the process, let go of Sasuke. Sasuke fell backwards and Naruto dove through the air to catch him. The two boys rolled to a stop.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled.

Sasuke stood up, and coughed. "I'll be fine," he said as he shakily got to his feet.

Sakura immediately began pushing healing chakra into Sasuke's midsection. "It's actually not too bad. Just give me a minute."

Naruto nodded. "I'll make sure you have time." He charged up his chakra until the rainbow colors were clearly visible. It looked very similar to the first time he had covered himself in the Kyuubi's chakra during his fight with Neji.

Itachi watched Naruto for a moment. "I'm curious. Why didn't you do that from the start?"

Naruto looked confused for a moment. He hadn't expected Itachi to strike up a conversation with him. "Because I didn't need to. I had others fighting with me till now. Why waste the chakra?"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "I think that's the most logical I've ever heard him say," he said quietly to Sakura.

"Plus it looks really cool to suddenly be more powerful in the middle of a fight," Naruto added with a grin.

Sasuke's face fell and he smacked his hand to his forehead. "Never mind."

Naruto's expression fell into his game face. He charged up a rasengan and shot forward with incredible speed. It was only thanks to his sharingan that Itachi was able to dodge. Unfortunately for him, he didn't see Naruto had created a second rasengan at the last second in his opposite hand and was struck a glancing blow to his side as he attempted to flip out of the way.

Sakura stopped the flow of chakra and stood. "You're ready. Just try to avoid getting hit in the same spot."

"Thanks," Sasuke replied. He ran to help his little brother and Sakura followed.

Sakura mostly stayed back from the main area of the fight—punching the ground and throwing large rock chunks from the boulder she'd smashed earlier. She didn't have the speed that the others did so this was the best way she could help with someone as fast as Itachi.

Naruto reached into his pouch, pulled out his shiki kunai and threw it at Itachi's feet.

Itachi cocked an eyebrow. "Where are you aiming?" His eyes widened when he saw Naruto's hands form the rabbit seal. He barely managed to get out of the way in time to avoid Naruto's kick when the boy rematerialized near the kunai. "So my suspicions were correct. You are the son of the fourth."

Naruto smirked. "The one and only."

"Naruto, c'mere," Sasuke requested. Naruto walked over to him. "I think it's time to try it out."

"But we can't do more than graze him. Even with my speed," Naruto replied.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No time to explain."

"Okay, but if you need speed I can throw you."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at Sakura and smiled. "Okay then. Here's what we need to do..." Naruto began.

Itachi watched team seven in curiosity. After not more than a few seconds they turned around.

"Taiju kage bunshin no jutsu!" Four hundred Narutos appeared around Itachi and began to attack. The real Naruto formed a rasengan and looked to his brother. "Now remember, don't do it till we get close enough."

Sasuke gave him a look. "No shit." He and Naruto jumped and Sakura caught their ankles. She spun in a circle a few times to build momentum and released them toward their target.

Suddenly all of Naruto's clones jumped Itachi at once, managing, just barely, to hold him in place. When Naruto and Sasuke were a mere ten feet from him when Naruto called out. "NOW!"

Sasuke put his hand close to the backside of the rasengan, careful not to actually touch it. "CHIDORI" The rasengan became a ball of niji chakra and lightning.

"UZU RAIKAGAI (a/n- Vortex lighting assault)!" Naruto and Sasuke shouted together.

Sakura's eyes were wide as she watched the new jutsu. It pretty much looked like a basketball sized mass of rainbow colored lightning. She knew it would be deadly, but at the same time she was in awe of its beauty. The boys went down hard and fast, plunging the new jutsu deep into Itachi's chest. The ground around them shook and dirt blew outwards in a giant concussion ring.

Blood sprayed upward from the gaping wound and Itachi coughed up even more of the red liquid. Sasuke stood and watched him with feelings of triumph and disbelief. Was it over? Was it really over? He set his jaw, glared at Itachi and suddenly—violently—it all came tumbling out at once. He held up his blood covered first. "You see that?! You see that, you god damn BASTARD! That means it's OVER! That means I WON!" he screamed. And then Itachi did something Sasuke would never have expected. Sasuke had come up with countless scenarios over the years; Itachi begging for his life, Itachi pitifully trying to kick Sasuke in an effort to get in one last shot, Itachi cursing Sasuke to hell with his dying breath. Never...never in all his fantasies did Itachi...smile.

"Good job...otouto," Itachi said in a strained voice.

"What?!" Sasuke demanded.

"I just hope I have enough time left to tell you everything," Itachi croaked out.

Sasuke was confused, to say the least. What the hell does he mean? he wondered. He wanted so desperately to shut Itachi up before he could further taint his victory, but he was morbidly curious. What could the man who had sent his life into a downward spiral have to say in his last moments?

"I'm glad...you won. It was difficult...holding back enough to give you a chance without making you suspicious. But...I have to admit...you got me completely by surprise with that last maneuver. Well done," Itachi said a smile of pride.

Sasuke let out a growl of rage and frustration. He grabbed Itachi by the front of his outfit. "What the hell is this?! Are you trying to mess up my mind even more before you die?!"

Sakura stared at Itachi's chest. The wound took up his entire right side, so at least one lung was completely gone and the other one probably wasn't in great shape either. "How are you talking? How are you even alive?"

"I studied medical ninjutsu under Tsunade." Itachi explained quickly. He turned his gaze back to Sasuke. "Otouto, you must know the truth." He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a shaky breath before continuing. "Our clan was not loyal to Konoha as the public was led to believe."

Sasuke's expression was torn as he slowly put his brother back on the ground. "What do you mean?"

"The Uchiha had fought with the Senju clan for supremacy for many years. Finally the two clans decided to make peace...and created Konoha. Over the years our clan became corrupt. The Uchiha considered their current status as Konoha police to be beneath them." He looked at Sasuke. "By the time you entered the academy there was a coup planned to overthrow the third and take control of the village. I love Konoha. It's one of the few things I hold dear. The elders knew of this and gave me a mission...to assassinate our family."

Sasuke's eyes widened to their full capacity. "That's a lie! You did it to test your power!" he insisted.

Itachi shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry, but it's the truth." He sighed. "I knew I couldn't do it on my own and asked Pein, the leader of Akatsuki, for help. I also knew I needed more power. I learned about the mangekyou and told Shisui of my plans. Neither of us wanted to die, but to protect Konoha one of us had to. We flipped a coin. I lost. But as he was preparing to kill me I asked him to spare you and our parents. He said it would be foolish to leave witnesses, so I killed him instead."

Sasuke's eyes widened, remembering what Shisui's ghost had said.

(("Neither of us were in a hurry to die but the clan was so full of scum by that point that there was no choice. We simply flipped a coin. I won. As I was preparing to kill the only friend I'd ever had he betrayed me...and I was killed instead." Shisui's face became angry. "As I lay dying he told me he believed it was better if he was the one who survived because he thought he was stronger and had a better chance than I did." ))

Sasuke shook his head to bring his thoughts back to the present. "But you killed mom and dad anyway!" he cried.

"No. That was Orochimaru. I found him standing over their bodies. He asked me if there was anyone else. I lied and said no, so the Akatsuki left. I'd done what I had to, but the pain in my heart was too much. I wanted to die, but even after what I'd done I didn't have the courage to kill myself. I decided the best way to end my life was to make you think I had done everything alone—to make you want to kill me."

Sasuke's eyes filled with tears as memories came back to him of that horrible night. Suddenly everything he had thought he remembered over the years was wrong. Images he'd repressed. Images of himself chasing Itachi, and of Itachi...crying. It all came back to him with such swiftness that he felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.

"I'm sorry, Otouto. I'm sorry for all I've put you through. I hope that someday you can forgive me. Please...protect Konoha...and protect those you love or it was all...for noth..." He didn't get to finish his sentence. His eyes slowly closed and Uchiha Itachi...was no more.

Sasuke stared in disbelief. He had wanted this. He'd hunted Itachi, prepared himself through training but he hadn't counted on all these revelations. Suddenly he dropped to his knees, overwhelmed with grief. "NII-SAAAAAAAAN!"

Sakura's hand went to her mouth as tears rolled down her face. To see Sasuke like this was awful. She wanted to hug him, comfort him, but she knew he would just shove her away.

Naruto tried to stop his tears but was miserably unsuccessful. Sasuke...

"Dammit dammit dammit!" Sasuke screeched as he punched the ground with each word. "It wasn't supposed to be like this! You were supposed to be evil. You weren't supposed to be the brother I remembered. I was supposed to be happy today!" He took a few shaky breaths. "Who said you could make decisions for me?! I WOULD HAVE FORGIVEN YOU!" He fell forward, sobbing, onto Itachi's chest. "I would have forgiven you," he finished in a soft voice.

Naruto and Sakura did the only thing they could do—They sat down on either side of him...and let him cry.

...TO BE CONTINUED

I am so glad that mess is done with. I hope I did their final battle justice. Thank you very much to my brother CrakBaby, who made sure I wasn't lazy with the fight. :)

I'm sorry this took so long. I truly am, but as usual, life got in the way. I also just got over a nasty flu. I hope I can get the next one out sooner. I seem to be loosing readers. ((wince)) But even if just ten people want to keep reading, I'll keep writing. I wanna see the end too. :)

Once I finish chapter three I'm quitting on the radioplay. I just don't have the time for it. I'm sorry to all those who enjoyed it. Maybe I'll pick it up again one day.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. :)

Ja na,

Song