A/N: Thank you for the Ch. 12 comments, everyone!

Sorry I changed the rating on such short notice. I did this because I realized this fic is actually M (mature) material (due to profanity, sexuality, and violence). If any of you feel too uncomfortable to go on and read this because of the M rating, it is fine with me because this fic will become more explicit as more chapters get added. You all have been warned!

This chapter will be the beginning of an action-packed battle. Yosh!

xoxoxoxox

Sasuke awoke from the 3 hour nap he took. He saw that the sun started to set and nightfall was approaching soon. He slowly rose his head up, propping his elbows on the grass.

Ouch! My head still hurts from pounding it on the tree trunk…

He lightly touched the small open wound on the right side of his forehead. There were some streaks of dried up crimson stains left over and small splinters impaled on his cheek. I need to clean up this stupid wound…

He proceeded to stand up and look for a water to clean up his wound. About 10 minutes later, he found a river containing clear and sparkly water. He knelt down next to the flower river and gathered some of the water to splash it on his face. The refreshing coolness of the water brought him into reverie once again.

I had a dream about…her. Again. I laid my head on her warm thighs and she was caressing my face with her soft hands. Her voice sounded so soothing and melodic as she was singing me to sleep…

Why did I have to dream about Sakura again? I hate myself…

He buried his face in his hands once again.

This…is…so…torturing…

He lifted his head from his hands, took out a gauze and bandage, and proceeded to aide the wound on his head.

"Oh hell yeah!" Naruto exclaimed. He had his face buried in the newest copy of Icha Icha Tactics that he brought with him in his backpack. He was in awe with every page he read.

"Not only is Ero-sennin a great sensei, but he has superb writing and drawing skills, dattebayo!" Naruto displayed his trademark foxy grin once again. His mind was clouded with perverted thoughts and what he could possibly "try" on his beautiful girlfriend.

He was interrupted from his consumption of the book by Sakura's fist hitting him hard on the head.

"Why do you read such a perverted book? I don't see why you and Kaka-sensei like that book so much! How can you call it superb? I heard it's full of raunchy content! You're not even 18-years-old yet, Naruto! So how can you be reading that?"

"Sakura-chan, Ero-sennin gave me this book. He hooks me up with free books, right after he finishes publishing them! I'm even more special than Kaka-sensei, who has to wait until the Icha Icha series comes to the store's shelves haha!"

"Haha Naruto! You are so perverted!" Kiba exclaimed. Shino just nodded in agreement.

"Tsunade-sama keeps telling me how much of a pervert Jiraiya-sama can be! That's so disgusting!" Sakura replied in disgust.

"Oh Sakura-chan, you are such an innocent girl," Naruto was patting her shoulder. Next thing he knew, another lump formed on his head.

"OUCH! Gomen, Sakura-chan! I shouldn't make you angry anymore; your punches are super strong like Granny Tsunade's! I think I'm losing more braincells, dattebayo!" He was rubbing his swollen head.

"Then stop being so perverted like Jiraiya-sama!" Sakura scoffed.

Fuck this! I'm going to proceed on going to the Land of Lightning! I'm wasting my time here!

Sasuke stood up and gathered his belongings. He continued to go towards his destination.

"Wake up everyone! Let's get going!" Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, and Shino were awakened by Neji's command to the squad.

After many hours of conversations with each other the day before, they fell asleep at around midnight. They woke up at about 7 in the morning.

Oh crap! Today is the day we finally arrive at the Land of Lightning! Itachi better be there! Sakura thought to herself as she started to pack up her belongings.

"Yosh! It's time, everybody!" Naruto exclaimed as he shot his fist into the air, "we are going to kick major ass!"

The squad assembled and proceeded to leave towards the Land of Lightning border.

"We're finally here," Neji proclaimed to the squad. It took them about 6 hours to reach the unfamiliar land territory. They were now in close proximity to the gate of the Hidden Cloud Village.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…Sakura thought to herself as she started to tremble a little.

The squad made their way towards the village's gate, where the Jounins were seen standing in front of the massive doors.

Suddenly, the ground started to rattle underneath all of them. The Jounins frantically tried to open the massive gate doors to check if the rattling erupted from the village. One of them ran towards the ANBU squad, who were feeling suspicious of the earth's movement.

"Captain Hyuuga-san, Lieutenant Uzumaki-san, ANBU squad! You have all finally arrived! We will report to the Raikage that you are all here," he said while the trembling of the earth was still occurring. All of them tried their best to keep themselves balanced.

What the hell is going on here?

What the fuck?

W-w-what is going on?

Neji, Naruto, and Sakura were trying to figure out why this was occurring at the moment.

"Hai! Why is the ground trembling like this? Is there an earthquake occurring?" Neji asked as he tried his best to stay balanced.

"I don't know, Captain! We never have earthquakes here! This is highly unusual! The other Jounins are currently checking the status of the village and reporting it to the Raikage!"

Don't tell me…this…Sakura's eyes started to widen behind her mask as she went into a daze. She kept wobbling throughout the shifting of the earth, but her companions managed to help her back up.

The massive gate doors remained open and some of the Jounins frantically ran back towards the ANBU squad with terror plastered on their face.

"It is chaotic in there! The village has smoke hovering in the air! Villagers are screaming and running around out of fear!" one of the Jounins huffed out in between heavy breathing.

"ANBU squad, let's go inside the village!" Neji commanded them and they all ran inside, along with the other Jounins.

Sakura's heart started to beat faster and faster with every step of her swift pace. Thousands of possibilities on why this was occurring flooded her mind. She felt like she was going to faint. She breathed very hard as she was running with her comrades.

Could it really be? Could…it…really…be?

Naruto had a serious scowling expression behind his mask. He hoping that Itachi wasn't hurting any of the villagers. He started to silently growl through his gritted teeth.

I want to find that fucker and kill him already!

The ANBU squad ran past frantic villagers screaming and crying. They were aimlessly running around to try and find a place to hide. They were totally oblivious to what was happening, but they knew something dangerous was occurring.

"Ah!" Neji accidently bumps into one of the villagers.

"Gomenesai, sir!"

"Gomen! There is a snake over there in the rural side!" the man pointed Neji towards the west side of the village, where an image of a snake could be seen tainting the blue skies, "look at its massive size! It's going to destroy our village! I cannot stay here! I must flee!" The man frantically ran off to another direction, passing by Naruto and Sakura.

"Oh…my…God…" Neji exasperated.

Sakura gasped and Naruto growled. What the hell is going on? both of them thought at the same time.

They all ran towards the direction where the snake was.

"...After many years, Itachi, I…will…finally…," Sasuke raised his katana up with his right arm. He scowled at his older brother from the top of the massive snake, "…KILL YOU!"

The humongous violet-scaled snake had ominous onyx eyes just like his owner. His mouth held a large katana, clasped tightly by its venomous fangs.

Itachi looked up to only see a blackish-purple blur and the threatening voice of his younger brother. Apparently, his vision has decreased dramatically after using the Amateresu on the Jounins of the village a few days ago. He squinted to get a better view, but it didn't help adjust his eye sight at all. The red wheels with black commas were furiously whirling in his pupils. How the hell did he learn how to use Orochimaru's snake summon?

"My foolish little brother, it's a surprise to reunite with you once again," Itachi gave a small smirk to his brother.

"Cut the crap, Itachi! Let us commence our battle!" Sasuke harshly demanded. His snake summon hissed loudly.

"S-S-S-S-S-Sasuke-s-s-sama, I see that you have executed Orochimaru-s-s-sama. That was a great feat you committed," his snake, Manda, commented to his master.

Below him, Itachi tried his best not to show the cringing on his face after he heard what the giant snake had said. Did my foolish brother really get stronger?

"…since you have freed me from that asshole's hold, I will do my best to fight for you, S-S-S-S-Sasuke-s-s-sama," Manda continued to hiss on.

"Arigato Manda. I definitely need your help this time since my cursed seal subsided once I executed Orochimaru," Sasuke kneeled down on his left knee and patted Manda's head.

"Aa. I see you are worthy enough to fight now, little brother," Itachi's Sharingan whirled faster as he scowled at his younger brother up above, "let's see if my words have really affected your foolish and weak mind."

"…Let's see how much stronger you have become, Sasuke…" Itachi chanted out.

"DIEEEEEEEE, FUCKER!" Itachi and Sasuke turned towards the direction where the harsh battle-cry came from. They saw a golden-haired ANBU member charging towards Itachi, with his katana gripped in his hands.

N-N-Naruto? Sasuke's mouth started to gape open.

"NARUTO! NOOO!" Sakura frantically screamed. She looked at the snake and tried her best to look at the owner that was standing on top of its head.

I heard Orochimaru was a snake summoner from Tsunade-sama. If he and Kabuto are now deceased, then that means…

Her emerald orbs widened in horror behind her mask to the conclusion she made.

"NOOOOOO!" a blood-curdling scream erupted from Sakura as she ran towards the massive snake. She had an agonizing expression behind her mask.

SASUKE-KUN! PLEASE DON'T TURN EVIL BEFORE MY EYES! her thoughts screamed out. With every step she took, she felt her heartbeat pound faster and faster against her frail chest. Tears started to water down her vision through the mask.

At the same time, Naruto was having a sparring duel with Itachi. He dodged every swing Naruto try to put on him, even with the minimal eye sight he had. Itachi managed to kick Naruto and sent him flying to the air. He landed on the ground forcefully, but managed to get up and continued to fight Itachi.
"SAKURA! NARUTO! STOP!" Neji and Kiba frantically yelled. They decided that they shouldn't just stand there and watch the whole scene. The ANBU squad and Jounins ran towards the battleground.
S-S-Sakura? Sasuke looked down to see a pastel pink-haired ANBU member run towards the massive snake. His onyx orbs started to widen and his mouth gaped even more as he saw her come closer and closer.

"S-S-Sak—" Sasuke got cut off with the swift move of Manda's head going lower, proceeding to hit Sakura with strong force using the butt of the katana. She was sent flying into the air, hitting one of the nearby tree trunks.

Sa...su...ke...

Sakura's tears flowed freely from her glazed emerald eyes. Her body slumped lower to the grassy ground.

...kun...

Her eyelids closed and she fell unconscious.

"SAKURA!" Ten-Ten screamed as she ran towards her friend and cradled her in her arms, telling her to wake up from her unconsciousness.

"MANDA! WHY THE—" Sasuke yelled to him. He suddenly stopped himself when his thoughts consumed his mind.

Remember what you told yourself, Sasuke. You're not going to show your "weak" side in front of them, especially when you're in the presence of Itachi.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, but proceeded to continue on with the battle.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Kiba yelled as he rushed to the aid of Sakura and then ran towards Manda, with a katana gripped in his hands.

Once Manda saw Kiba charging towards them, he proceeded to hit him with the butt of the katana and it sent him flying as well. He landed hard on the grassy field. Like Sakura's fate, he was knocked unconscious.

"S-S-S-S-Sasuke-s-s-sama, I'm getting rid of excess opponents for you so you can solely fight your brother," Manda hissed.

Sasuke, you fucking idiot! Remember, you do care for Sakura and Naruto! Why the hell are you doing this? Snap the fuck out of it! Sasuke's inner voice reappeared. It was trying its best to scream its reasoning into him.

He proceeded to forcefully push aside the inner voice, and concentrated on his original thoughts.

"Manda, continue pushing aside the other nins that are charging towards us. Don't kill them because they are not my true opponents," Manda did what his master told him to do and proceeded to hit the charging Jounins and ANBU members with the butt of the katana. Other Jounins were frantically trying to make ninjutsu seals, but Manda was quick enough to hit them with the butt of the katana. They were sent flying like rag dolls being tossed away.

Meanwhile, Neji came to the aid of Naruto. They were both fighting Itachi.

"YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" Naruto charged towards him once again with his katana.

"NARUTO! NO!" Neji yelled at him for wrecklessly charging at Itachi. He ran after him.

Dammit! Remember to close your eyes when you run towards Itachi! He'll put you in that damn genjutsu once again! Naruto thought as he closed his eyes when his katana made contact with Itachi's kunai. Don't look into eyes! Don't look into his eyes!

"Naruto-kun, you just can't learn how to stop huh? I don't want to fight you. My opponent is my little brother, Sasuke," Itachi stated matter-of-factly as he was blocking the sharp katana with his kunai.

"SASUKE-TEME!" So that's the one on top of Manda. How can I be so oblivious? I was concentrating too much on killing Itachi for him that I didn't even notice he's the one on top of that huge snake! Naruto unconsciously blinked his eyes open in thought of his former best friend.

"TSUKUYOMI!" Itachi yelled as crimson orbs met with azure orbs.

"NARUTO!" Neji pulled out his katana and proceeded to make a swing at Itachi.

"IT ENDS NOW, ITACHI!" Neji proclaimed as he swung his katana to the right side of his neck

A/N: Hope you all liked that action sequence! This battle is not over yet! Part II will be coming up next!

Oh yes, if any of you are wondering why the "Sa...su...ke...kun..." part sounds extremely familiar, it is reminiscent of Episode 110, when Sasuke knocks out Sakura after she confesses her love for him and was going to scream if he really does leave. After he hits her, her thoughts say, "Sa...su...ke...kun..." I thought that would be a nice addition to this fic!

Some of you might be thinking "Why is Manda glad that Sasuke killed Orochimaru? Wasn't he his bitch?" .. From what I remember during the battle between Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru with their summonings, Manda seemed extremely irritated by Orochimaru and acted a little rude towards him. I got the idea that Manda wasn't very respectful of Orochimaru. In that sense, I made him more respectful towards Sasuke. This also enhances his reason to fight for Sasuke more during this battle, especially since his curse seal dissapated after the death of Orochimaru. Plus, Manda hissing makes him sound more cooler (in my opinion) LOL.

...and yes, Itachi can still kick ass even though his vision is decreasing. If you've read the recent manga chapters, then you would know!