Sasuke, still running in the forest, could only hope that Naruto was still alive when he reached there. And to his amazement, Naruto has struggled on despite in the state he's in. Looking in disbelief that Yagami, the leader of the Akatsuki clan and the eldest among the three Uchihas, Sasuke had to come up with a plan. He ran in front of Yagami and persuaded him to stop. "Brother please, this is not what you were here for, you came to see me, not to kill! Stop this immediately! You're just under Itachi's spell!"
"I won't stop until I finish my mission, and that is to annihilate the legacy of Konoha village..." Sasuke did a last minue decision by giving Yagami and uppercut to the chin, only to make him more furious and grabbed Sasuke, lifting him up by the throat. Sasuke could feel the heat of the Amaterasu flame igniting from Yagami's hand to his throat. If this was the only way to stop Yagami from killing Naruto, Sasuke would put his own life on the line for it. As he shed a single drop of tear from his cheek, Yagami seemed to get back his focus and let go of his younger brother. Seeing Naruto and Sasuke in such weak conditions, Yagami was shocked himself.
"What...what have I done?" As he stared in horror at the genin who was to become the next Hokage, unable to get up on his own two feet. Sasuke got up and hugged his brother. "You're back...you're finally back. You promised to protect me from any harm remember?"
"Yes, and I failed on my part." He walked towards the traumatized Naruto, calming him down that he will not attack him again, placed his hand onto his forehead. In an instance Naruto could feel he was re-energized again but couldn't tap into his chakra. "My deepest apologies, let me handle that...Gogyou kaiin!" As he placed his hand on Naruto's abodmen, the Jutsu destroys the five element seal attached to Naruto, allowing him once again to control his chakra, and tap into the chakra of the Kyuubi's spirit. Before that Yagami used the 'Genesis of Rebirth(Ninpo: Sozo Saise)'where he used his unused excess chakra to heal Naruto's wound. Sasuke supported Naruto up but soon both fell to the ground, tired after their battles. Yagami brought them to the academy where he was greeted by Kakashi and Iruka. Yagami handed the exhausted genins to the two jounins before fleeing the scene. When both got up from a long rest, Sasuke, shocked to see himself in the sickbay again, shouted out. "Brother? Yagami, where are you?" Iruka came in with a beaker of water before calming the young Uchiha down.
"Its ok Sasuke, your brother brought you and Naruto here, the 5th Hokage wants to see you and Naruto later in her office, she's currently in session with Kakashi." Naruto, hearing what Iruka had told Sasuke, immediately got up from his bed.
"Granny-san wants to see us? Wait till she hears about my great battle!" The two genins walked all the way up to the office, with Naruto breaking the silence, "So Sasuke-kun, how was your battle with Itachi?"
"He ran away before I could finish the fight, I bet you lost so bad to Yagami, didn't you weakling?" Agonized by Sasuke's intimitating words, He blew up in anger. " I'm not a weakling! Why not you go duel with him and see for yourself!"
"Hey hey, people, pipe down. No need for shouting in the hallway, Tsunade-san will see the both of you." Kakashi brought them in while waiting for Tsunade to tidy up her desk before telling them to explain in detail about their battle against the Akatsuki members. Sasuke told that his battle with Itachi was not an easy one as Itachi had swift agility and could anticipate each and every move his opponent was about to deliever. But when he suffered tremebdous blows from Sasuke, he immediately fled the scene. Naruto on the other hand tried to sound as if he was dominating the battle in the beginning but became exhausted and that was when Yagami turned the odds against him. Sasuke than interrupted, "Hokage-san, I know my brother well than Naruto-kun, he has learnt every skill from the various villages he travelled to, and knowing here Naruto will just rush into battle without a well-devised strategy, it's impossile Naruto-kun could have dominated at the beginning of the battle."
"Sasuke...you..." Tsunade than cut short of the intense rivalry. "You say Yagami is actually the third surviving Uchiha member from Itachi's massacre and he knows every skill there is in existence, including the forbidden ones? He might prove to be a threat. I'm rounding up all available shinobis. You two head back to the academy and get all genins to report at the front. I'll have to speak with Kakashi for a little while."
"Granny-san, put me against Yagami, I almost had him. I can take him on again, trust me. Someday I'm going to be the next..." Naruto's conversation was cut short as Sasuke dragged him out from the office. With Kakashi and her alone. She began to question on Yagami's profile. Kakashi than answered back, " We had no specific details of him knowing that no one could survived Itachi's masscare. He should be considered an S-Rank missin nin criminal since he left Konoha and joined Akatsuki, finally working his way up to become the boss. He's probably a high level jounin, considering the fact that he could perform one hand seals and the ability to control his Amaterasu flame. But he means no harm to Sasuke, if we could somehow convince him to help us, it would spell the end of Akatsuki and Itachi."
"You've a point there, but knowing he has accquired forbidden skills, he could just betray Konoha just like that, its a huge risk, but no gain without taking chances, Go and round up all available jounins and tell Sasuke to get in contact with Yagami to persuade him to assist us in the battle. That'll be all, dismissed."
In the forest, Yagami caught up with Itachi before reprimanding him.
"How dare you! I told you our mission was just to meet up with Sasuke and not to stir up any trouble, now the whole of Konoha will be hunting us down! And the cheek of you to control your leader!" Itachi than interrupted Yagami's speech. "Dear brother, the goal of Akatsuki is to become the greatest clan ever, wiping out every single clan that stands in our way. If they send Anbus to hunt us, all the better. We can show them what we're capable of. And besides you are on their wanted list. Don't worry, I already called in a few people to help us..."