Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto…

Visions in Darkness

Chapter 3- Farewells

Naruto grunted as he took a blow to his stomach. He recovered quickly and dodged the next hit, aiming to kick at his opponent's legs. His opponent flipped backwards to dodge Naruto's sweep. For the fleeting moment that he was in the air, he performed a few seals before placing his fingers in a circle before his mouth.

"Katon: Ryuuka Housenka no jutsu" A flaming ball of fire flew out of his mouth and Naruto defended himself with a simple water jutsu, "Suiton: Sujinheki" The two elements clashed together and canceled out. Naruto looked up as the smoke cleared away. He searched for his opponent, who had taken the chance to hide.

"Right, left, up… It has to be-" A hand shot up from the ground, "Doton: Shunjuu Zanshu no jutsu" "Down!" Naruto jumped up as the hand neared him. Suddenly, the hand disappeared from the ground in a puff of smoke. "Bunshin…?" A familiar whistling sound neared him and Naruto whipped his body around to catch the kunai nearing him. At the same time, he pulled his arms up to block the punch that was thrown at him. Naruto struck back with a barrage of attacks, aiming randomly, as to prevent his opponent from reading his next move. "An opening!" He reared his arm back and gathered up a ball of chakra. The chakra whirled in his hand and he thrust his arm forward. "You let your guard down… Itachi." Naruto grinned foxily as he said this; it was rare a time when Itachi would actually act recklessly in a battle.

"Or so you think," Itachi smirked and flicked Naruto's forehead with his finger. Naruto slid back a few feet and Itachi dashed towards him, pinning him down, kunai ready and to Naruto's throat. "You've gotten better, Naruto, I remember a time where you didn't last a second against me."

"Oh, here comes the egotistical side of the Almighty Uchiha." Naruto joked sarcastically.

"Why don't you just admit that I'm better than you, and I'll get off of you?" Itachi reasoned.

"No way in hell! I don't want to boost that already inflated ego of yours!" Naruto smiled inwardly as he reminisced about a time when Itachi would only say "Hn" to him. His conversational skills were still lacking, but only by a little now.

"Well, you have gotten better, especially with finding me through my chakra." Itachi said.

"It's not very hard to find you, your chakra is extremely dark, it stands out against the pure white chakra of nature. Now, why don't you get off me, you're gonna crush me. Have you been sneaking candy, Itachi-koi?" Naruto smiled mischievously as Itachi blushed at the title he had been given. "Two years, and you still blush." Naruto snickered at this. He remembered the time when he had been offered training from Itachi. It was right after he had recovered from his injuries.

He was about to leave the house to set out on the way to the forest, leaving a note for the man who had taken care of him, when he was stopped. "Matte," a low voice told him.

"Nani," he asked.

"Would you like to receive training from me?" the man inquired.

"Naze? What's your purpose?" Naruto asked back.

"My purpose is to keep you safe until you can protect yourself. So, will you accept?"

Naruto thought about it for a while until reasoning with himself that the man seemed to be trustworthy. He nodded, "Hai."

That day, they started Naruto's training, starting with 100 push-ups, sit-ups, etc., the exercises started becoming more vigorous as the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into years. Their relationship bloomed and was nurtured everyday. They were lovers in their own time, but comrades during training.

Naruto was snapped out of his memories when the earth shook- from a powerful force, no doubt. The two swiftly stood up, not bothering to brush off the dirt on their clothes. They bent into their fighting stances. The smoke from the explosion cleared and two figures could be made out. The figures walked toward the couple, revealing themselves. "Orochimaru, Kabuto."

"Hello, Itachi-kun. Long time no see, ne?" Orochimaru laughed. Then it seemed he saw the person Itachi was standing in front of, protecting. "Oh, Itachi, who's the little one behind you, you're new whore?" Itachi clenched his teeth and ran towards the snake man, aiming for a punch to his head. A silver blur blocked the blow and ran towards Naruto. Itachi was too clouded with rage to stop Kabuto.

Kabuto picked Naruto up by the neck, causing the hood covering his blonde hair to slip off.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, still alive, I see."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Let go of him, bastard!" Itachi sped towards Kabuto, feinting a punch, giving Naruto the chance to escape and drive a kunai into Kabuto's arm. Naruto ran to stand next to Itachi, watching in amazement as Kabuto healed his arm. A hand on his shoulder prevented him from attacking again. "Naruto, I want you to run away."

"Hell no! I'm gonna–" He was cut off as Itachi yelled at him, "Naruto! I want you to run. You stand no chance against them without your sight." Naruto clenched his fists at his sides. His disability had held him back from reaching his potential. "Onegai, koi! I don't want to lose you!" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Itachi hardly showed his affection in public. His eyes darkened and he said, "And what about me? What am I supposed to do? I can't just run away, knowing that your life is in danger."

"You're going to have to trust me. I promise, I'll come back and find you. But for now, you have to leave!" Itachi pleaded.

"Who are these people to me? How do they know my name? Why don't I remember them?" Naruto asked. Itachi sighed at this, debating with himself whether or not to tell Naruto about his life. He finally came up with a solution, "I'll tell you when we meet later. Leave now!" Itachi ordered Naruto.

"Fine, I'll run, but you better come back. Well then, goodbye Itachi." Itachi grabbed the kitsune's face and pulled him up into a kiss. As Itachi released him, he whispered, "It's never goodbye, just see you later." The moment was ruined by the sound of clapping and a hideous voice.

"Aw, how sweet. Now, Itachi-kun, would you like to fight? Or are you going to hand over the boy?" Orochimaru smiled sadistically.

"Naruto, RUN!" Naruto complied with the order, speeding away as fast as he could. As soon as Naruto was gone, Itachi turned to face Orochimaru. "I'll never let you get to Naruto. Bring it on." Orochimaru and Itachi ran towards each other, both pulling out a kunai to attack each other. Kabuto stood on the sidelines, if Orochimaru got hurt, he would heal him, or he would fight Itachi himself.

As Itachi told him to leave, Naruto sped off into the forest, dodging the trees as tears trailed down his cheeks. "Aishiteru, Itachi."
Vocabulary

Aishiteru- I love you

Bunshin- (Clone/Split Body Skill) A jutsu that creates an illusionary clone of the user, in numbers of 1 or more. The Clone disappears after being struck with an attack, and can deal no damage.

Doton: Shunjuu Zanshu no jutsu- (Inner Decapitation Skill) The user hides beneath the ground, and reaches up to grab their opponent. The opponent is then pulled under the ground, up to their chin, allowing the head to be subject to move powerful jutsu.

Katon: Ryuuka Housenka no jutsu- (Fire Type; Dragon Fire Skill) A jutsu that sends a stream of fire towards the opponent, originating from the users mouth.

Jutsu- technique

Koi- love

Matte- wait

Nani- what

Naze- why

Onegai- please

Suiton: Sujinheki- (Water Type; Water Barrier Wall) Creates a blast of water from the mouth, usually used to block fire type attacks.

A/N: Thankies to Confetti for editing my story… Huggies! I want a M-plushie too! Arigato to all who have actually reviewed my story, and please, people who have put me on author alert, can u just send me a review, even if it is one word? Thanks. I'm gonna go back to hugging an imaginary M-plushie now…Oh yea, and special thanks to naruto chuushin for the jutsu list.

By the way, I'm very sorry to all readers of my story for lateness… I've been really busy lately, what with a math proj (making a stupid scale model of a school) and packing to move. Hope you can forgive me! (bows)

I just want to make this clear, the two (Itachi and Naru-chan) only have a few seconds to say bye, so thats why it might seem fast. They're in the midst of battle.