Oh, man…you guys are excellent! Thank you so much for all your reviews and advice! I hope you enjoy this next chapter, as it is a giant fight and I hope I wrote it well enough. Get ready for some action.

Uchiha Itachi gazed down at the pair of Leaf Shinobi below him in the demolished house he now stood upon. The Kyuubi boy was standing in front of the worthless pink-haired one protectively, and his eyes shone with the Kyuubi Chakra already. Itachi smiled. He longed for that power, the power of the demon that slew Yondaime. Behind him he could hear the sounds of battle, Kisame clashing swords with the remaining ANBU guard. Surprisingly, the guard had been holding his own, but Kisame now let out a roar, bestial in nature, as he countered the ANBU's katana with an upward strike and delivered a powerful kick to the guard's chest. Kisame leapt, and though it was not necessary as the ANBU lay nursing his broken ribs on the grass, he landed on the guard, driving his sword through his chest and severing the guard's main chakra channels, causing him to flop around pathetically as he strove to regain his body's balance. With a cough of blood and a heave of his chest, the guard died. Kisame growled aggressively and licked the blood from his cheeks, standing up. His shark-like eyes flared at Itachi as he walked up to stand next to him on the wreckage, a look of disdain on his face as he glanced at the two young ninja.

Itachi snapped his fingers. A score of black-clad subordinates appeared around the two Akatsuki, standing at attention. Itachi smirked. "Uzumaki Naruto. You are to come with us now. The girl need not be harmed. Stand down and calm yourself. No harm will come to you if it is not necessary." Itachi said in menacing tones as he began to move towards Naruto.

Naruto was about to tell Sakura to run when he glanced back and realized that she had fainted. He planted his feet firmly in front of her and looked defiantly at Itachi only, his eyes blood red as he growled. "Never. I am not a force to be controlled, you Akatsuki murderer!"

But inside, Naruto knew he could not fight these people now. He would have to give himself up if he did not want Sakura to be killed. He groped in his mind for some kind of plan, some kind of way for them to escape, when he heard an earsplitting scream. Itachi faltered and looked backward towards the group of ninja behind him. One of the ninjas was writhing on the ground as if in incredible agony, and as Naruto watched the black clad assassin's body went stiff for a second, and then he shrieked. The ninja was writhing, screaming his lungs out, crawling, crying. Whatever he was seeing must not have been bearable. Naruto had to look away as the ninja's body spasmed irregularly and he began to claw his eyes out. Blood showered out of the man's face, tissue splattering the ground around him as he screamed, deafening tones splitting the calm morning air as his spasms died down and he lay still. Kisame raised his eyebrows and said, "Is that it…?" as he drew his sword carefully. Naruto gasped.

Yuuhi Kurenai appeared out of thin air next to Naruto. "Are you alright?" she asked as she eyed Itachi, who was grimacing and regaining his composure.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine…Kurenai-sensei, did you do…that…? What did you make him see…?" Naruto hesitantly whispered, and he stepped back at the look of hardened, cold fury in Kurenai's eyes. She winced.

"You don't want to know." She stated simply and gestured towards Itachi and Kisame. "You two are S-class criminals. Leaf specialty Jounin are almost here, and will kill you on the spot if you do not surrender now. Your choice." She said menacingly as she straightened up and looked at Itachi.

Itachi's eyes widened. A malicious grin spread across his face as he stared back at Kurenai. "Leaf Jouinin…" he said speculatively as he mockingly pretended to consider her suggestion. Suddenly, he broke into cold bouts of laughter, and he clenched his fists. His evil cackle split the quiet morning air like a knife, as birds fluttered out of the trees and Kisame smirked. Just as suddenly as it had begun, his laughter stopped, and he drew himself into a fighting stance. "Come." He said simply, and gestured at Kurenai. At this word uttered from his mouth, all Hell broke loose.

Naruto watched in awe. His former teacher, Kakashi, had sped into the crowd of Akatsuki subordinates, and he began to fight two of them with fierce Taijutsu kicks and thrusts, his body weaving and ducking as he swiftly broke one of their necks with the heel of his foot and blocked the other's punch. Kakashi's forehead protector was up on his temple, keeping his silver hair out of his face as he fought. His sharingan eye was spinning rapidly as his fluid movements boasted a lifetime of training. He yelled random syllables as he fought fiercely with the ninja.

At the same time as Hatake Kakashi had arrived to protect Naruto, several other Leaf Shinobi had also come. Naruto looked around as adrenaline began to run through his veins and his breathing increased, the thrill of the fight coursing through him.

Gai was fighting ruthlessly against three of the ninja, his eyes fierce and determined as he delivered a bone-breaking roundhouse kick to one of their sides. As the ninja he had kicked was soaring through the air, he clapped his hands in the style reminiscent of Lee's technique, and the ninja screamed as every bone in his body broke. Gai turned around only to receive a punch to the face and a shuriken in the shoulder, as two more ninja attacked him.

Iruka was fighting alongside two of his shadow clones as he deflected numerous attacks from the black-clad ninjas, two gigantic windmill shuriken spinning on his wrists as he flipped nimbly over the head of one of his attackers and cut him along the spine.

Naruto gasped as he saw Shikamaru and his father engaged in battle with Kisame. His young Jounin friend was dodging swipes from Kisame's sword as his eyes narrowed and intense concentration showed itself in his worried features. His father was weaving in and out of Kisame's reach, his hands sealed. He was muttering inaudible words. Naruto did a double take as he realized what the Nara man was doing. He looked carefully. Kisame was drooling, swinging his sword ruthlessly in flawless arcs at Shikamaru's dad and his son. Though they did not appear to be hurt, the sword looked like it should have been hitting them. Shikamaru and his dad were controlling Kisame's movements with their flitting shadows, a tiny bit at a time, in different intervals so that he missed them by centimeters every time he swiped with his chakra-cutting blade. The clear look of frustration on Kisame's face brought a look of victory to Naruto's as he threw himself into the fray.

He whipped a kunai at the nearest nin, who was fighting Kakashi, about to sneak up behind him. The kunai flew straight and true, splitting the air with a whistle as it sped towards the man. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it and flipped away…Naruto saw his movement, and smirked. "Chakra Push no Jutsu!" he said, and the man was shoved back into the path of the kunai by a barely visible wall of solid chakra Naruto had made. The kunai instantaneously buried itself in the man's neck with a wet smack. He gurgled, flailing, and collapsed, his face covered in blood.

Naruto growled. He could feel the Kyuubi's chakra coursing through his body, and he felt a need to rip, to tear apart his enemies, to strike fear into the hearts of these ninjas. He crouched down and leapt.

Jiraiya had immediately engaged himself in fighting Itachi. They were in a world apart from the others, bodies moving at speed uncanny to the human body as they detected each other's movements a split second before they happened, missing attacks by centimeters. Both looked desperately for an opening to perform a jutsu. Jiraiya frowned and let his body do the fighting for him for a minute. Tsunade was back with the rest of the Jounins defending the village. It had to have been a distraction. Those ninjas that had attacked back in the village were the same as the ones they were fighting here. It was too bad that the Hokage and the other powerful ninjas, like Asuma and Ibiki, had not been able to help them with this fight. He blinked and gasped. Itachi flinched and Jiraiya took full advantage of the second he had, concentrating his chakra and flipping high over Itachi's head. "Rasengan!" he yelled and thrust a high stage whirling ball of condensed chakra at his opponent's body. He sped towards him extremely fast, but Itachi only grinned. He formed a series of lightning quick seals and turned to face Jiraiya. "Body Blend no Jutsu." Just as Jiraiya's Rasengan hit Itachi's chest, Itachi's body literally split open. Jiraiya's fist went right through it, and out the back of Itachi. Itachi smiled. His chest had melded itself around Jiraiya's arm, the flesh strangely distorted and blurry, like the air over a fire. This Jutsu would not last long. Sharingan spinning, he formed a Rasengan. The immensely powerful ball of rapidly spinning chakra sparkled and crackled, its light glaring at Jiraiya as he tried to block it with a hastily composed chakra shield. Shit…he copied my technique that well… was all he had time to think before a condensed explosion split the air, and Jiraiya flew back from Itachi into a crowd of ninja, fighting with Kurenai and Gai. The two extremely packed masses of chakra had collided, and Jiraiya's being weaker than the Rasengan, his had been overwhelmed and the chakra had broken through. Jiraiya's arm had taken most of the blow. It lay limp against his side, tingling with fading electricity as he drew himself up and glared.

Slightly distracted at being floored by the body of Jiraiya, Kurenai blinked and glanced over at him. Gai yelled, "Kurenai, watch yourself!" She spun around only to have the katana of the ninja she had been sparring with slice her abdomen. She staggered backward and collapsed. Gai yelled, but he was forced to turn and concentrate on the ninja he was fighting, and saw an opening. He stepped to the side of the black-clad man's outstretched fist and grabbed his wrist. He flipped the man over his shoulder and brought his booted foot around to crash into the man's face. He heard his neck break. The ninja sputtered and lay dead. He spun around, looking for Kurenai, only to see her lying bleeding on the ground. He was about to rush to her side when Naruto crashed into him and grimaced. "Sorry, Gai-sensei." He uttered as he got to his feet and ran back to the fight. Gai called to Kakashi.

"Oi! Kakashi! You need to help Kurenai! I'll cover you!" Entrusting his rival to take care of his companion, he ran to where Naruto was fighting with two more of the ninjas.

Kakashi had been in a rage of battle-induced fury. A chidori was crackling and spitting sparks in his hands. He wrenched his fist out of the ninja he had just stabbed with the Lightning Edge. Looking around, he spotted Kurenai and a stab of uncontrollable anger and pain knifed through his heart. "Kurenaaaaiii! He screamed as he spun around and ripped the nearest ninja neatly in half with his chidori, catching the man completely by surprise. He ignored the mass of blood that had splattered his face, sprinting towards Kurenai's limp frame. He grimaced as he saw the deep gash across her stomach. She was wincing, holding a sweat-stained piece of cloth to her abdomen. She smiled faintly at him. "Kakashi. I-I…AAAAAHHHGH!" she doubled over in agony and lay curled up at his feet. Kakashi crouched down and smoothed her hair out of her face. "Kurenai-chan…shhh…I'll take care of this…" he pulled up her shirt up to the gash and a stab of fear rushed through his mind. The cut was deep, and the only thing that Kakashi guessed could have stopped it from being instantly fatal was the thin layer of body armor she had and the muscles in her stomach. He looked up into Kurenai's bright crimson eyes. They were glazed over with unconsciousness. He winced and reached into his field pack for gauze and disinfectant. He gently lifted her up, pulling her into his arms for a second while he wrapped the gauze around the wound, temporarily stopping the flow of blood. However, he knew that she would not last long if she didn't get to a hospital, and fast. This battle had to end. Now. He looked around, gazing at each battle and taking into account the casualties on both sides. His eyes widened as he saw how much trouble they were in.

Gai was desperately holding off 5 ninjas with Naruto. They were back to back, fending off blows from katanas with their kunais and wrist protectors. For the moment they were holding their own, but Kakashi could see that they were quickly tiring, especially Gai, whose left eye was caked with blood, obstructing his vision, and his shoulder was bleeding freely, cut open by a shuriken that was still lodged in the muscle. He fought with the intensity of a being made for battle, one open eye hauntingly defiant, and a furious grimace on his face. Naruto, however, was in better condition, and seemed to be even becoming more energetic, the Kyuubi chakra healing his wounds as they appeared. His body was surrounded in a cloud of whirling red chakra, and his eyes shone with hatred and rage. He had a kunai in each hand, wielding off katanas. He seemed to be soaking up the rush of battle, limbs a flurry of constant motion as he danced in and out of slices and delivered quick glancing punches and kicks to his opponents. He screamed with rage and fury as he strove to find an opening for his claws.

A sigh of relief escaped Kakashi's lips as he realized that those ninjas fighting Gai and Naruto were the only ones left standing. The look of wonder was wiped from his face, however, as he looked at the other Jounin.

Iruka had jumped over to help Jiraiya with Itachi, but Itachi was a blur of black and red attacks, the two leaf ninja desperately leaping out of his reach only to have to run again at his next onslaught. Iruka would never have been able to counter if it weren't for his clever jutsu, which looked like it involved three large leaves flying in and out of Itachi's blows, blocking them with metallic clangs. Iruka had solidified and enlarged the leaves to withstand Itachi's attacks. Kakashi started at Iruka's fascinating control and expertise over basic techniques such as these. They were now proving to be a large help in battle. Jiraiya was shielding himself with chakra over and over again, his supply running low as his stamina diminished. He leapt back as Itachi focused his next attack solely on Iruka. He had unleashed a freezing jutsu on the leaves, which had fallen to the ground weighted down by the ice that had encased them. Jiraiya muttered, "Swamp Ground No Jutsu." The ground beneath Itachi faltered and gave away, quickly turning into a sticky bog that threatened to swallow up the Akatsuki ninja. Itachi faltered, giving Iruka an opening. "Razor fist!" the ninja yelled as an edge of chakra appeared on his right arm and he punched Itachi squarely in the face. A gash appeared across the Akatsuki's cheek and he frowned, clearly frustrated that he had let the weak ninja hit him. He clenched his teeth and his eyes shone. He exploded out of the ground and kicked Iruka fiercely, sending him flying back twenty yards into a grove of trees. Glistening blobs of broken earth showered down on the battle, and Jiraiya leapt back to help Iruka. Itachi advanced towards them.

As Jiraiya was doing his swamp jutsu, Shikamaru and his dad were desperately trying to hold out against Kisame, who was sliding in and out of the ground, which had somehow turned into a pool of murky water. Kisame exploded in and out of the water, slashing at the two Nara clan men, who were standing on the surface with the help of chakra. Kakashi could see that their stamina was failing, Shikamaru's brow furrowed with concentration and his father bleeding from a slash to his leg.

"Shit, shit, shit." Kakashi muttered as he crouched down with Kurenai's prone head in his lap. Her eyes were closed, and strands of her black hair were splayed across her face in random directions. She was breathing raggedly and strained, slipping in and out of consciousness. Kakashi looked up from her eyes as he heard a scream.

"ENOUGH!" yelled Itachi at the top of his lungs, blood dripping from the gash on his face, his left cheek bruised and swollen. He floated in midair above the rest of the battling shinobi. His expression was hard to read, as it proved difficult to tell if he looked bored or furious. His sharingan eyes were spinning, but a detached, clouded look was on his face as he brought his hands up in the first seal of many.

Naruto, still hungry for blood and the Kyuubi's chakra glowing around him, gasped at the spectacle of Itachi's Jutsu before him. He ran to check on Sakura. She was still unconscious. He turned around and seeing Itachi before him, the breath caught in his throat as if choked by some invisible force, and he sat down in front of the fallen Kunoichi in order to protect her from harm.

This technique now shown to the weary Leaf ninja was known throughout the years as the Fallen Blades Technique. Powerful Shinobi used it as a last stand move, in order to try to balance the casualties on both sides of a battle. It was devastating and extremely dangerous, requiring the user to put his or her own life on the line, which wasn't saying much considering the outright chance of destroying oneself when performing this technique. However, the Akatsuki standing before them in midair was performing it flawlessly, and it seemed to be occurring without effort.

The swords of the ninjas that had been killed quivered, dragged on the ground and finally flew through the air toward Itachi, as if pulled on invisible strings with the strength of a mammoth. A ring of swords pointing outwards soon surrounded Itachi. He rotated his hand, clenching his jaw and glaring as the swords turned so their edge faced sideways as if ready to decapitate someone. The ninjas gasped at Itachi's chakra control as his eyes closed and he began to whirl around in midair, the swords dancing, twirling, whizzing in a hurricane of death as the Akatsuki spun in the air. He suddenly opened his eyes. The sharingan were spinning as fast as the swords, which were now a blur of dancing sunlight. He fell to the earth and began to move with frightening speed to attack the Leaf ninja.

"Holy Shit! Everyone, be careful!" Jiraiya said as he leaped over the ring and teleported to the other side of the clearing. The rest of the ninja followed his lead as Itachi spun rapidly around the clearing like an out-of-control top, the swords ringing with a deadly whir as they spun around beyond the speed of Naruto's eyesight. The Leaf ninja were forced into a deadly game of jump and duck. The whirling swords cut trees clean through and when Itachi crouched, they clipped the grass neatly and evenly. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the predicament his comrades were in.

"Naruto! Get the hell away from here! He heard Kakashi say. "Run, and don't come back! I'll take care of Kisame!" Kakashi screamed, blood dripping from his mouth as he formed the chidori. He glared at Kisame, who was crouched in a tree. As the silver-haired Jounin sped towards him, Kisame was soon forced to drop down to the ground and dodge Kakashi's Sharingan-lead swipes, weaving in and out of Kakashi's electrically charged fist, the sound of a thousand birds splitting the air and clashing with the sound of Itachi's swords harshly. Naruto looked from his teacher to his new sensei to Shikamaru and over to the wounded Kurenai, who was lying outside of the clearing on the soft grass. He bit his lip and tears came to his eyes as he realized the fate of his elders. "Ero-Sennin! I won't leave you! I can fight!" Naruto said through streaming tears as he held Sakura.

"Kakashi is right, Naruto. You need to run! Run for your life, and Sakura's! We'll hold Itachi back for as long as possible! Don't worry about us; we'll be fine! Jiraiya said with a grin as he leaped out of the reach of the singing blades. Naruto sobbed and reached towards the legendary pervert. "Don't lie, Ero-Sennin! Don't-d-don't…L-lie…" Naruto looked down and bit his lip, tasting blood as he refused to believe that his beloved teachers could die here. He was granted new hope, however, from the voice of a certain lazy ninja.

"Naruto. Don't be an idiot. You know I can't die here. There are more clouds for me to watch." Said Shikamaru confidently as he danced in and out of the swords, sweating and bleeding from numerous cuts. Shikamaru glared at Naruto. "Naruto, go! It's what we want you to do! The Akatsuki can't be allowed to get the Kyuubi…just go! Now! Run! Ru-aagghh!" Shikamaru was viciously cut across the arm, blood spattering the tree behind him, and he staggered back, trying to stop the fountain of blood leaking from his muscle. He looked unforgivably at Naruto and winced. "G-go…" he said and collapsed.

"Shikamaruuu!" Naruto screamed, but he knew that his friend was right. The Kyuubi was his responsibility. This monstrous chakra had destroyed a village once, and Naruto would not allow it to do so again. He grimaced as he watched his mentors dodge and weave, careening around like crazy men, missing Itachi's blades by inches. Luckily, the immensely powerful Jiraiya was able to save some of them from certain death as he blunted some of the blades with chakra, unbelievable considering the speed they were spinning. His face was screwed up in concentration now, prolonging the lives of his comrades moment by moment. He had no time to do anything before he had to dodge again, barely being able to help out. Itachi's sickly dance of death was taking its toll. Kakashi…Ero-Sennin…I won't fail you! Naruto never saw the rest, however, as he ran with the limp body of Sakura curled up in his arms, never looking back. He left Konoha behind, burying himself in the arms of the forest, hiding this monstrous power within him. The Kyuubi was like a weight on his shoulders, always bringing him down below the level of the normal person, requiring him to do things that no one should have to. As he ran, tears splattering from his face, he knew only one thing. He had to hide himself. He had to hide for a long time.

There you go. I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to update this for a week or so, because I'm going to a comic convention in Florida with my dad. This seemed like a good place to leave you hanging. Thanks for reading, and always remember: REVIEW, REVIEW, And REVIEW! Thanks! I'll update ASAP.