Hey everyone! How's it going? Sorry I took so long, I just needed to find some inspiration xD
Do you know that, on August 28th, this story was 2 years old?! OMG! Happy birthday to everyone! Two years, that's nuts! Thank you, really, for making this story go on for 2 years already! Really, this is the 'oldest' fic in my record.
Really, thank you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Talking: "…"
Thinking: '…'
&&&&&&&&&&
Chapter 29: Love Is An Illusion.
'We... both love each other..? A happy ending?'
Sakura couldn't believe what Naruto just said; He is in love with her. He loves her.
Although both Naruto and Sakura didn't noticed, Elias' Love was beginning to bloom in the bottle that they were both holding tight.
Even though there was a lot of noise with Sakura, that only she could hear, it was deadly quiet over at Naruto.
Naruto silently gulped; 'Oh geez... What did I do?! Sakura-chan... She's going to punch me to the other side of the planet!' Although their gazes never left each other, Naruto just couldn't read Sakura's expression.
Finally, Sakura opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something. But it was replaced by a sharp gasp when Naruto let go of her hands and the bottle and harshly grabbed both of her arms.
Sakura didn't let the bottle go, but cringed at the strength Naruto had. "N-Naruto... You're... hurting me. Let go, please..." Sakura pleaded, but Naruto continued to hold on as tightly, really hurting Sakura now.
But when Sakura looked into Naruto's eyes, she saw nothing but emptiness, like he wasn't even there.
'Could it be... Genjutsu?!' She thought as soon as she saw the look in Naruto's eyes.
On Naruto's side, it went different. He was waiting for Sakura to answer, which seemed like an eternity to him. He decided he was the one who was going to take action.
Naruto let go of Sakura's hands and the bottle with the flower in it. He leaned forward with his arms wide, ready to embrace her and to never let go.
But as soon as he wanted to do that, Sakura disappeared, just like that.
"What... What happened?" Naruto asked himself, confused. "Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan!" He frantically looked around, Sakura nowhere to be found.
"What is happening...?" Naruto said, as he took a few steps. Sakura was gone, but the area looked just the same; the table was still there with everything on it, the fireflies were still there.
"Naruto!" A scream from behind him, knowing exactly who it was. He quickly turned around, but nothing was there.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled again. No reply. Nothing.
"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, "This has to be some kind of genjutsu!" But where was it coming from?
"Very good guess, Naruto-kun." A man's voice. A sinister voice.
Naruto turned to where the voice came from, knowing the person. It was a guy, older than Naruto. He as wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. His black hair was in a pony tail and he looked exactly like Sasuke.
Naruto growled; "Uchiha... Itachi!"
"Mh, it seems I was already expected, was I not?" Itachi said in a low and calm voice.
"Damn it! Do you think you can trick me with that genjutsu?!"
"You are in it now, are you not?" Itachi replied ever so calm, confirming Naruto's thought.
Naruto cursed under his breath. It's true, he fell for it. Now he had to get out, and that wasn't easy with Itachi's powerful Sharingan.
'I really hope Sakura-chan is ok....'
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she struggled in his grip. He was strong, even for a genjutsu.
That's right... He was a genjutsu.
Sakura inhaled, and withdrew her right arm.
"HA!" Sakura yelled as she gave him the hardest punch she had ever given to anyone. Naruto let go, and was thrown back with a huge speed.
'I need to be quick,' Sakura thought. 'I have to break this genjutsu.' She was worried about Naruto. Very worried. Naruto wasn't that well trained in breaking genjutsu.
The fake Naruto seemed to be gone, but the pressure in the air was thick.
"I should hurry if I were you, Haruno Sakura." A low and sinister voice almost whispered.
She looked up and saw the same guy that 'caused Sasuke's urge for revenge.
'Bastard...' Sakura thought by herself. She wanted to go to Naruto; she had yet to give her answer.
She lifted her right hand with her thumb, point and middle finger up. She closed her eyes and focused her chakra on one point to break this genjutsu.
"Are you able to break it?"
She didn't answer him; she just concentrated harder.
"You are not strong enough, Haruno Sakura." Itachi continued, but he didn't approach her. Like he wanted her to break the jutsu.
"Shut up," Sakura said, her eyes still closed. She wanted to get out of this. She wanted to see the one person she had such a great night with, until this guy ruined it.
That last thought really made her angry; it was such a perfect night.
She spilled it all out; "I want to see Naruto! I want to tell him what I really feel, I wanna tell him everything! And you are not getting in my way!"
Her chakra level grew, and she felt it. It felt good, really good. I made her feel stronger.
"KAI!" She yelled and felt a gust of wind.
'Did I do it...? Did I break through?' She slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the table they ate at. Everything was still in place. She didn't see Itachi either.
'Naruto!' She thought as she looked around. She finally saw him; he was standing still, not moving an inch.
So she was back, but it seems like Naruto was caught up in it as well. She ran towards him and stood before him. His eyes were blank, but he was gritting his teeth.
This had to stop, for Naruto's sake, whatever he was seeing!
Sakura focused her chakra to one point and laid her hand on his cheek. He felt cold; was was Itachi doing to him?!
"Naruto... Naruto!"
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto looked around, but he didn't see her.
'Of course... this is a genjutsu. Everything here is fake.'
"What will you do now, Naruto-kun? You know you can't escape my sharingan."
It was strange... Naruto never looked Itachi in the eye, so why...?
"Ever heard of 'distant genjutsu', Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked, slowly walking towards him.
Naruto shifted his feet; "Should I care?"
"It'll explain how you got into this genjutsu." Naruto didn't say anything.
Itachi stopped and pointed at something that was behind Naruto; "Love... is an illusion."
"What?" Naruto said, as he looked to the side. The bottle that contained Elias' Love was lying on the ground, broken, and the flower itself... was dead.
"You... bastard!" Naruto yelled.
"You are the one who was careless, Naruto-kun."
Naruto growled, and made an, to all known, hand sign. "Kage bunshin no Jutsu!" Five Naruto's appeared beside Naruto and practically flew towards Itachi.
"Naruto-kun, don't you know?" Itachi said, as a bunshin hit him in the stomach, but Itachi disappeared and apparently, so did Naruto's bunshin.
"This is my genjutsu." Itachi made bunshin's of himself and each of them appeared behind the Naruto bunshin's. With one blow in the back, the Naruto bunshin's disappeared, leaving some dust behind.
"Even my little brother can't win from this..." Itachi's bunshin disappeared as well, but he didn't seem to notice that the original Naruto was still there, along with a bunshin.
In a matter of seconds, Naruto was in front of Itachi with an fast twirling blue ball in his right hand.
"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as he hit Itachi in the stomach. Itachi took the full blow, spewing some blood out. But as soon as the blood hit the ground, Itachi disappeared, leaving many black crows behind to fly away.
"Like I said, Naruto-kun..." Itachi said and suddenly, he was behind Naruto, leaving a gust of wind. Naruto was just about to turn around, but he was too late.
Itachi struck him with his hand in Naruto's back, piercing trough him. Naruto let out a gasp, and when he looked down, he saw Itachi's hand coming out of his stomach.
"Argh!" Naruto spit out. There was no blood, there may not even be a hole in his stomach; but he felt it. He felt his arm pierce through his back and stomach.
"This is my genjutsu. And you are not going to get out. This jutsu will drive you insane, it will make you beg me to kill you." Itachi whispered from behind.
"N-no!" Naruto managed to get out, and somehow, his strength was fading. 'How... is this possible!? Is this... what Kakashi-sensei once experienced?'
"Naruto!" Sakura screamed this time, her chakra still trying to reach Naruto. 'Maybe... maybe I used too much for myself last time.' She felt her chakra fading, which shook her awake.
'No, no! Keep going, Sakura! You have to... keep going!' Sakura now placed her other hand on Naruto's neck, while her other hand was still on his cheek. She looked into his eyes, even though those were blank.
"Naruto! Don't you dare... to leave me! Don't you dare! I want you here with me, don't that Itachi win! Come back. Please come back!" Tears started to form, and she couldn't stand to look at his blank look.
"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto!" She held him tighter. 'How can I... bring him back...?' At that moment, she noticed some light from the corner of her eyes. Elias' Love was lying there, unharmed, unbroken. It seemed like it was shining brighter than before.
'That's right... I still have to... tell him how I feel.' Sakura thought and looked again in Naruto's eyes. She shuffled a bit, suddenly her heart beating faster. She closed her eyes, and was beginning to stand on her toes.
'Naruto...'
She touched his lips softly with hers, letting some tears fall. This was her last hope, she would give everything she had to bring him back.
She kissed him a little bit deeper, and noticed that his lips, as well as his cheeks, started to warm.
'Is it working?' She wouldn't dare to open her eyes.
Naruto held up his hands, no longer feeling scared. He felt warm; what was this?
His lips were tingling and he even didn't noticed that Itachi's arm was still piercing through him.
"Naruto-kun... You are a fool..." And at that moment, Itachi was gone, there was no hole in his stomach, there was only warmth.
Naruto closed his eyes, and wrapped his arms around the figure that was standing before him. Her lips were soft against his and he didn't wanted to let go of her.
But they had to part, there was still danger in the air.
They both opened their eyes at the same time, locked into each other's gaze.
Sakura couldn't see to control her tears; "Naruto... oh, Naruto!"
Naruto grinned a bit, a soft look in his eyes, "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan." Sakura shook her head and smiled.
"Naruto... Naruto I want to say... I..."
'An intention to kill?!' Naruto thought as he quickly shoved Sakura out of the way. They both were quick to react and jumped out of the way from where they were standing. And enormous crater formed from that place, but the figure who placed it, was fast.
"Aww, I almost had them!"
"Kisame... don't kill Uzumaki Naruto. We need his Kyuubi." Itachi said calm, as Itachi landed next to him.
"Naw, that attack would just hurt them a lot, but it wouldn't kill them." Kisame grinned, placing his huge sword with bandages around it on his shoulders. Kisame also had a cloak on with red clouds. His skin was blue, his teeth sharp like a shark.
'It seems like... this is not over yet.' Naruto and Sakura thought at the same time, and readied themselves from their toughest battle yet.
Ouch, my back, lol. I hope this chapter satisfy you all! I worked hard on it :D
Please review if you have the chance! See you all next time and thanks for sticking with me!
