I'm not going to say anything for the opening notes other than this.

"monkies"

Thank you.

Chapter Twenty
"Oni Ninpou! Nine Tails Sweep!" screamed Naruto, crossing his fingers and hands after finishing the performance of intricate handseals. As though Naruto actually had nine tails, a harem of red, firey, glowing tails of chakra sprang from behind him and instantly lashed out toward Itachi. Their speed was blinding. He could only just register the catastrophic force that those tails had before he acted.

"It is said that just one tail of the Kyuubi had enough power to make an entire village vanish," he recalled hearing from his youth. He started up a few handseals to prepare for the strike.

"Not fast enough!" yelled Naruto as the tails drove home. They pinned him to a large tree behind him, which buckled but barely remained erect, cracks and splinters forming a spider web behind the tree where the force had followed through.

Itachi coughed in pain. Naruto glared at him with a sick, hungry look in his eye. "Yeeesssss," said Naruto in a hiss. "You're mine now Itachi. Can you feel it? Have you ever felt it before? You know… fear?"

Itachi struggled against his tightly bound red cords of chakra, holding him together. They constricted around him, struggling him. The tails separated from Naruto and focused on tightly bounding the Itachi to the tree.

"Now, Itachi, you die," said Naruto, forming a bright ball of chakra in his hand. Though normally blue, it started to spark with red energy. The Kyuubi's influence on this attack was surely enough to not just knock an opponent into a spiral, but instead probably obliterate whatever it hit.

Naruto dashed forward, his arm hauled back and ready to strike. He was almost there. Itachi's look was priceless. He was going to die. There was no chance of survival. This was it.

Wait a second! Yelled the Kyuubi. It's not Itachi! Don't!

Naruto registered the Kyuubi's advice barely in time enough to swerve to the side and pass by the tree to which Itachi was supposedly bound, instead hitting another tree behind it a ways, causing it to explode and incinerate. No trace of the tree was left, save for a stump, standing a foot off the ground.

Naruto turned around to see what was the matter just as a fist smacked into his face, pummeling him backwards through a series of trees. Naruto stood up just in time to dodge another punch and kick follow-up, flipping over Itachi's head and landing behind him. He retreated a few steps to put some distance between himself and Itachi.

"What the fuck?" he yelled to himself. "Bunshin no jutsu?"

Try again. It's a very well-used combination of Kawarimi no Jutsu and some kind of Henge… Look at Itachi before you. He's the real one. The one tied to the tree isn't Itachi.

Naruto, or rather, the Kyuubi, knowing a spell for the occasion, held an open hand toward the tree. "Harasu," he muttered calmly. (Harasu is Japanese for "Dispel")

The image of Itachi instantly burst into smoke, and as the smoke cleared, Gaara's body appeared, frozen in place, his eyes unmoving, though his chest rising and falling with life. He teleported himself with Gaara's body in place, and then he used an advanced Henge to make the Gaara into a perfect copy of himself… I almost didn't catch it. That's what the handseals were for just as he got hit.

"Using Gaara like that," said Naruto. "You scum. What did you do to him?" Gaara indeed seemed to be paralyzed for some reason, unable to move, not on account of the tails that held him.

"It's a paralysis technique," said Itachi plainly. "No biggie. It was necessary to keep him from spoiling that it was him and not me." Itachi snapped his fingers, and life returned to Gaara.

"How about freeing me now," said Gaara coldly. Naruto waved his hand, and the nine tails of the Kyuubi evaporated into the air. Gaara, freed now, dusted himself off, and then transformed both of his arms into the clawed, massive arms of the Shukkaku. His eyes converted again.

"I'm almost out of time," said Gaara to Naruto. "I'll have to hurry so you can finish him off quickly. Otherwise, you'll die."

"Gaara?" asked Naruto quickly.

"Don't sweat it, Naruto," said Gaara monotonously. "I know about the slim odds of you living. I'll help you."

"How… how can you-

"Shukkaku is a little familiar with the Kyuubi, he tells me," said Gaara. "He tells me they were sort of… old pals. He know about the Iris… He figures that's what your power is coming from, and that Kyuubi might've suggested you could use it to live."

Good ole' Shukkaku knows his stuff.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," said Naruto. "I should've, and I wanted to-

"Don't try to explain yourself, Naruto," said Gaara, holding up a hand to silence him. "I understand. Nonetheless, it doesn't help me out any, as there's still no hope for me. So I'll help you."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Itachi. "Are you done speaking in foreign tongues, because I believe it was you who said your fight had to end soon."

Naruto looked at Itachi confusedly. You dumbass, said Kyuubi. You and Gaara are speaking in a code that only we demons know. It's a demon dialect, ancient. That way, Itachi isn't on to the fact that there's a chance you might survive this. You had no idea you were even speaking like this, only you were hearing your human tongue.

"Clever. Nonetheless, Itachi's right. We've got a battle to finish."

"Alright Gaara," said Naruto, though he wasn't sure still what language he was speaking. Gaara seemed to understand him though, as he gave an approving nod and faced Itachi squarely.

"Suna Bunshin no Jutsu," muttered Gaara. Out of the earth exploded several clones of himself make entirely of sand. Naruto had heard that a technique like this was used by Gaara a long time ago. The clones burst forward, leaving trails of sand in the air behind them. Gaara followed them, his clawed hands bared for killing.

The clones simultaneously struck Itachi with their own massive arms, but Itachi jumped away with speed no one didn't expect. Behind his retreat, he was cut off by the real Gaara though, which caught one of his legs and swung him like a mallet into the ground.

Itachi landed on his two hands safely and twisted his other leg into the air at Gaara's head, where it hit with enough speed and force to blast right past his automatic sand defense. Gaara stumbled backwards, but his arm stayed attached to Itachi's leg, and he swung his other hand in a haymaker strike.

The blow hit home, but surprisingly, Itachi seemed unfazed. Itachi drove one of his hands down and chopped right through the sand arm that held his own leg down. Gaara recoiled in pain as the sand began to already heal the wound and reform his arm.

"Your arms, though big, do not pack any power in them," stated Itachi.

"Then try this on for size!" yelled Naruto. Itachi received a hard punch to the side of his face as he tried to turn around and dodge. His time spent trying to get out of Gaara's grip had apparently been for the worse.

Itachi was crushed into a hard tree that fell over with his impact, and he fell down to his knees, coughing up blood. That was the hardest hit he'd received in a long time, if not ever. Naruto had broken Itach's jaw.

Naruto cracked his knuckled menacingly. "Broke your jaw, did I?" he asked, baring those horrifying fangs. "That's not all that will be broken when I'm done with you." Naruto performed the familiar hand seal that screamed the soon to come arrival of some Naruto clones.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he said with gusto. Ten clones of himself appeared in a wall in front of him. "Now! Take Itachi down!"

"Why is he beating me?" Itachi asked of himself. "He's somehow fooled my Sharingans. Why can't I accurately tell what's going on? It's like he too can see the future that I see… Even his taijutsu is able to take me down. It's not like he's moving faster than the eyes can see. It's just… I can't see what's really going to happen."

Five of the doppelgangers surrounded Itachi, while the other five jumped skyward to attack from above.

"Here it comes!" they all yelled.

"U-ZU-MA-KI!" they yelled, pronouncing each syllable as two clones performed a close range attack. They came in pairs as Itachi received everything from punches and jabs to sweeping kicks and powerful haymkers.

"NARUTO!" they yelled, almost ready to finish the combo. "RENDAN!"

The real Naruto burst form behind the crowd right into Itachi's stomach with both hands, open palmed, thrust forward. Itachi felt like he was falling backwards in slow motion, his blood flowing like a fountain into the air from his mouth.

He fell on his back onto the ground, with eyes wide open as he struggled to breath. That blow had practically done him in. He didn't even see it coming. It was too fast, too strong. He was going to die. There was no way he could live if Naruto didn't succumb to the Kyuubi before he was killed by Naruto.

He barely managed to stand. "You can still fight," said Naruto. "Good. I was almost disappointed that you wouldn't put up a last effort before you died."

"You… will die… too," Itachi managed to gurgle from his broken jaw. "A new… technique… for you…"

Itachi performed a single basic pair of handseals. "Ganjigarame no Jutsu," he choked. Not even Kyuubi knew what was coming, but from the sound of the name, it was something that had to do with being imprisoned or bound. (Ganjigarame translates to "binding")

But there was no time to move. Unfortunately, the jutsu was an instantaneous one, an attack that took literally no time to take affect. Naruto instantly realized that he was rooted to the spot. He could not move, no matter how strong or how powerful he was. Not even the Kyuubi's phenomenal Chakra output was enough to overpower this jutsu. He couldn't even perform any kind of jutsu to escape. If only he'd been able to get in a Kawarimi before he'd been hit…

"You're stuck, Naruto," choked Itachi, finally managing to put some laughter in his voice. "I've been watching your Chakra levels and movements while we fight, and judging with the way your Chakra is changing, I'd say you have only a minute or two until you die. You have failed your mission, Uzumaki, and there's not hope of escape, because this jutsu not only tightly bounds you, but it gets stronger based on how strong its victim's strength. The stronger you are… the stronger it gets."

Naruto was not only impressed by the strength of the jutsu, but he was also impressed by the fact that Itachi could still talk with the broken jaw. He must've been really fighting the pain.

"What can I do Kyuubi?"

I… don't know. I've never heard of this jutsu before. It's a new one on me. Must be an original. I can't even help you one bit. Like he said, it's so strong because we're so strong. It can't be helped.

"Oh no," said Sakura desperately. "It's over. If what Itachi says is true…"

"Naruto!" yelled Gaara. Itachi turned to look in Gaara's direction as the red-haired nin performed several hand seals that told him instantly what he was about to do. However, with the distance and timing, there was no way even Itachi could stop it in time.

"Kawarimi no jutsu!" exclaimed Gaara with a smirk. His body fazed from view while Naruto simultaneously did the same. In an instant, Gaara and Naruto had switched places, and Gaara was now bound by the Ganjigarame.

Gaara was smiled. "I hope that… helped you out… enough…" said Gaara painfully. "It's… apparently my time…" Gaara choked a few times, closing his eyes tightly in pain. "Don't just stand there!" he yelled at Naruto while the blonde boy watched him die. "Finish it quickly! Or else there won't be time for you to be saved!"

Itachi's eyes widened. He'd heard clearly just then that Naruto might be saved. It didn't matter much to him though. Naruto wasn't going to get that opportunity. Itachi performed the same set of hand seals as Naruto took Gaara's advice and ran full speed at Itachi.

"Oh no you don't!" he screamed, his eyes flashing again. "This is it!"

"Nirenpatsu Rasengan!" (More translating! This translates to "Double Barreled Rasengan!")

Naruto shoved both of red and blue balls of chakra into Itachi's exposed chest. It was a hit that struck home. Time slowed down as Itachi felt his insides being scrambled. He never specialized in anatomy, but he knew for sure that things were traveling to parts where they didn't belong. The Rasengans burned and twisted and spun around on the surface of his gut, and Itachi hung limp over Naruto's hands while all this was going on, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

He couldn't even scream.

Finally, the noise died down, and the feeling in his stomach stopped as Itachi felt himself being lifted off of his feet. He flew backwards, head over heel over head over heel, over and over and over again, until he completely lost track of what direction he was even headed. Finally the spinning sensation ended as he slammed hard into the ground and skidded to a halt just in front of a tree, spared from having to hit another one of those, as he was so accustomed as of late.

He couldn't breath. He didn't know if he was even alive or not, because his entire body was just frozen as he lay on his back, stuck in place, paralyzed. Naruto walked up to Itachi and knelt over his body, crouching over him closely.

"You heard correctly that I might live, Itachi," said Naruto almost quietly. "It's true that there's a chance, and I was thrilled to hear it. There's a chance that it might not work. Rest assured, however, that no matter my own fate…

"Yours is death."

Naruto raised a clawed hand, which began to glow red. "I'm going to attempt to spare myself while placing in you all the demonic negative energy I have received over the years. I have no doubt in my mind that this will hurt you more than you can ever even comprehend."

Naruto slammed his hand down into Itachi's stomach as the claws sank right through the cloth and into the flesh, spraying blood into the air. Itachi's grunted, trying to move, but this new attack seemed to only increase his paralysis. "Look into my eyes, Itachi," said Naruto, crouching lower over the victim.

Itachi helplessly looked up into the eyes of the Kyuubi, horrified. The slits narrowed, piercing his own eyes like a razor sharp knife, looking into his very own mind, into his soul, dare he say it. He was afraid. Very afraid. He could do nothing.

Their eyes were locked. Itachi began to get the sensation that he was about to experience something awful, and he was right on the money. He looked carefully and saw the face of the demon fox looking right at him. The fiery beast was swarming with chakra and flames. His teeth were ever so close to him. Those teeth would kill him with ease. Those horrible eyes were terrifying him to no end. He was looking into the Kyuubi now, no longer even aware that Naruto was still there over him.

He wanted to look away, but something was preventing him from breaking eye contact. This was no genjutsu even. This was merely fear-induced hell. Itachi screamed hard and long, unable to get a grip of himself. His terror-laced shrieks of agony pierced through the whole of the forest. Birds were shaken from their trees by the disturbance. Animals ran in fear of the beast that made such a sound.

He screamed and screamed until he could scream no more, becoming aware of a hot feeling deep in him. It hurt. Something foreign was inside him, something that didn't agree with him at all. It was tearing him apart, clawing at his mind, breaking him apart with ease, devouring his very soul. He shrieked even more, finally managing to bring his hands to his forehead, gripping his hair and yelling at the pain. He clawed and ripped at his own face, driven by terror and unbearable pain.

Naruto watched with disgust as Itachi rolled around on the ground, screaming and tearing himself apart while the Kyuubi was obviously causing him this pain. He could definitely feel a lot lighter than he had moments before. He felt cool and calm, no longer sensing the intense fire inside him.

The Kyuubi was gone. The transfer, evidently, was a success.

And then, finally, Itachi just stopped breathing, and he went limp on his back, his eyes, evidently still stricken with the pain and torment from a second ago, white. Naruto fell back on his but and looked at the man that lay dead before him.

"Does this mean I will live?"

Naruto started to stand up, but as soon as he got on one knee, weakness and fatigue overtook him, and he felt himself falling forward toward the ground.

"Narutooo!" he heard. Sakura ran out and caught him in her arms just as his vision totally went black. If he was dying, it sure didn't feel too bad.

In fact, it felt relaxing, kinda like sleeping.

And though uneducated he was about death, he wasn't sure why he'd be dreaming about a box of Ichiraku Ramen hovering in front of him. Obviously, he assumed, this was what heaven was, or some kind of Utopia.

"Ah, Ramen," muttered Naruto, his voice echoing in his thoughts. "Just like from Ichiraku… I remember the last time I dreamed about you Ramen…" Naruto sniggered and suppressed a giggle. "And then I woke up, with Sakura-chan's lips pressed to mine. Ha, she sure showed you up!"

His echoing words died instantaneously as he recognized a familiar feeling on his mouth… On his lips. The Ramen image in front of him was erased and replaced with intense, bright light.

He heard a feminine laugh, a giggle he recognized and loved so much. He was coming to his senses as he realized that he was just dreaming. He rubbed his eyes fiercely to shrug off the blindness that came from the unexpected awakening, and opened them as fully as he could, blinking and squinting through the light.

However, it wasn't hard to recognize the mess of pink hair over hovering over him and the face that the hair belonged to.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered, smiling and closing his eyes again. "Oh, God, it's nice to see you again."

"Oh really," said Sakura, fighting back a laugh. "I'm pretty sure I just heard you talking to a box of Ramen in your dreams. Do you really place an edible higher on your list of priorities than me?"

"In my dreams?" asked Naruto. "You mean I'm awake as in alive? I'm not dead!"

"You're definitely alive and kicking, Naruto-kun," said Sakura. She laid her head down on his chest as she sighed. "And it's nice to see you too, Naruto… We thought you had died. As soon as you woke up I couldn't help myself but to kiss you again, like I did the last time you placed a box of noodles higher than me."

"I thought I had died too," said Naruto, tilting his head up to look around. "But it appears I've landed in the freakin' hospital again. Hey what the hell am I doing in the forsaken place?"

"You've… been out of touch with reality for a while, Naruto," said Sakura weakly and quietly as she sat back up and looked down at Naruto. Apparently, as Naruto had just discovered, she was sitting in a bedside chair while he laid in the bed. "Comatose for a month actually."

"A month?" yelled Naruto, sitting up fully. "That long?"

Sakura was taken aback and thrown off in shock at Naruto's energetic outburst, having only just recovered from his unconscious state. "Naruto, lay back down."

"But I'm fine Sakura-chan," he whined, struggling against her arms, trying to avoid being pinned down.

"No, you have to rest."

"I've been resting for a month!" shouted Naruto. "I want to get up."

"Naruto, will you just chill out for a second!" shouted Sakura forcefully. Naruto stopped moving immediately and looked at Sakura hard. Her eyes were visibly fighting back tears.

"Sakura-chan… What's wrong?"

"Naruto, I thought you were dead," said Sakura. "Do you realize how hard that was, to watch you fall and die in my arms?" She started to sob, letting go of Naruto's wrists. "And then, when it became evident that you were barely breathing, I was still scared out of my mind. I got you in here to the hospital just in time for them to make sure you didn't die right there on the spot.

"But still, no one knew what to do with you," cried Sakura. "All we could do was wait and hope you would recover. There was nothing we could treat you with to help you. Do you know how hard that was? I woke up every day wondering if it was going to be only to find you dead in this bed. Naruto, I was so scared." She let her head fall onto Naruto's chest as she cried. "I thought you were going to die, Naruto-kun. I don't want you to leave me… Don't you ever scare me like that again! You hear me!"

Naruto placed a hand on Sakura's back and gently massaged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I promise I won't do that again." He lifted her up carefully by the shoulders as she dried her eyes with her wrists. He bent forward and placed his lips on her forehead and kissed it. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean to scare you."

A day later, Naruto was released from the Hospital of Konoha, much to the nurses' delight, as the boy was constantly pestering them to let him out or get him out of there. They hastened with their checkups just so that they could oblige to his frantic requests, because they wanted him out of there just as much as he wanted to be out.

He stepped outside and inhaled a deep breath, closing his eyes and baking in the warmth of the sun. He couldn't stress to himself enough just how much he loved his home. He opened his eyes and looked at the people on the streets. They had stopped in their tracks, staring at him. They were normal, everyday, average joes, people he didn't know. So why were they looking at him in silence.

The entire street had stopped moving, like life had suddenly stopped to appraise Naruto. He looked up and down the road and sidewalks at them. He was used to getting "the look" by now, so why did this look suddenly make him feel strange?

And then, suddenly, a few people started clapping. One person here, and another person there, people scattered throughout the crowds. Others took notice and joined in, clapping their hands and smiling, cheering, until the whole street was filled with people clapping and applauding, shouting their praises and exhultations.

Naruto was shocked as he stood rooted to the spot, looking at the people, dumbfounded. He didn't even know these people. Sakura walked up behind him from the doors of the hospital, having just followed him out. She understood immediately, of course, the cause of the situation as she hastened to Naruto's side and took his hand.

Naruto asked, "Sakura-chan, what the hell is this? Who are all these people?"

Sakura smiled brightly and looked up a him. "You've become quite the hero recently, Naruto-kun. What'd you expect. These, my boy, are your adoring fans."

Naruto looked out at the people who were still cheering for him. "Three cheers for Uzumaki Naruto!" he heard one scream. "He's the hero!" "He's so brave!" "I can't believe I was afraid of him!" "He saved us all!" "Hip-Hip-Hooray!"

"We love you Naruto!" called an attractive female in the ranks. If looks could kill, Sakura would've killed the girl a thousand times over while inducing more pain than Itachi probably even felt in his last moment.

Naruto waved to them all suddenly, flashing his million-dollar-smile and laughing, his cheeks turning red. More people were filling the street to see what the commotion was about, and of course, once they noticed it was a spontaneous party for the Uzumaki Naruto, hero extraordinaire, they joined in with the cheering and celebrating.

It took Naruto forever to get past the crowds of people and slip past them all. He didn't really want to leave, actually, as he was greatly enjoying himself and all the praise, but he was told by Sakura that he needed to see the Hokage sometime soon.

So Naruto, using his cunning stealth and ninja abilities, slipped out unnoticed from all the people while leaving Sakura on his behalf. He later stood, a few minutes later, upside down, under the gutter of the roof overhanging the Hokage's window.

The window was open, and Naruto could clearly see that granny-Tsunade was working hard over a few papers and folders, writing and scribbling here, folding letters there, frantic with work as always.

"Hey there you old bat!" yelled Naruto with a friendly wave from the window.

"You rude little shit!" screamed Tsunade. "I ought to kill you right where you are!" She turned around in her chair to see Naruto standing upside down above her window so that only his face and shoulders were visible. She smiled. "Well, come on in, Naruto-kun."

Naruto easily flipped through the window and landed in front of Tsunade. She stood up, and they just faced each other for several seconds. "It's good to see you're alive now," she said finally. "We were beginning to think you'd kicked it back there."

"Speaking of kicking it, granny Hokage, isn't it time you did so?" asked Naruto slyly. "I mean, how old are you now? It's got to be about your time now."

"Why you little!" Naruto flinched as the Hokage barreled down on him. Instead of being creamed, though he was expecting it, he was scooped into a tight hug that was actually beginning to crush his spine. Tsunade wasn't the super strong sannin for nothing, as he already well knew. "I'm so glad you're alive, Naruto-kun," said Tsunade, letting go and allowing Naruto to breath. "You had me and a lot of people worried, you know?"

"So I heard," said Naruto.

"You know, it was uncalled for just running off like you did, going out for a suicide mission," said Tsunade hotly.

"Oh, you found out about that?" asked Naruto, rubbing the back of his head the way he always did when he was nervous or being funny.

"Sakura told us all about your fight," said Tsunade. "She spared me a lot of the details of the actual combat of the fight mind you, but she did explain to us about the Kyuubi supposedly killing you."

"Yeah, but I'm obviously still alive, aren't I," said Naruto with a laugh. "I hope I didn't disappoint anyone."

"Of course you didn't. I would, however, like to hear much more about your fight and how you actually did manage to live. I observed you in the hospital for a long time and found no traces of the Kyuubi in your body at all. The seal on you navel is gone as well. It left no traces at all of its existence, like it was never there before."

"So that's why everyone was cheering," said Naruto suddenly. "They're glad to know the Kyuubi isn't in town anymore."

"That's nothing to do with it," said the Hokage sharply. "I could hear the cheers from in my office, and I happen to know that everyone in Konoha has been talking about you for the past month like there's nothing else to talk about… In truth, it actually has been pretty boring around here, but you don't need to know anything about that. Naruto… While you've been in the hospital, once word got out that you did all the things you did against Akatsuki ad Orochimaru, you became the hero. You're the talk of the town kid. I've heard probably a thousand different stories about how you did it, how you killed them, but none of them can possibly be legit, because Sakura hasn't even taken the time to tell me anything more that a the basics, seeing as how she's been in the hospital 24/7."

"I'm… a hero?" asked Naruto.

"The biggest hero we've had in a long time, Naruto," relied Tsunade. "Congratulations. You've been acknowledged as the greatest ninja in Konoha. And now that you're alive, it's time to celebrate."

"Celebrate?" asked Naruto. "How do you propose we go about that?"

"The biggest party Konoha has ever seen, of course," replied Tsunade. "We'll have it tonight, so I'm pretty sure that should give everyone time to be informed and be there. It'll be a party in your honor, Uzumaki." Tsunade smiled.

Naruto smiled back as a tear fell from his eye. "I've… never been so happy, Tsunade-san," he said.

End Chapter Twenty

Holy shit, twenty chapters! I didn't expect the story to be this long. I also didn't expect the chapter to be this long. It's twelve fuggin' pages without my notes. I mean, damn, that's a lot. Never written this much in a single chapter before.

Anyway, I didn't end this chapter with anything great. You'll notice it says "end chapter twenty," and this is because it's not the end of the story. No, I'll get some more in there, at least another chapter for an epilogue, maybe two.

Sincerely I hope you all have enjoyed this story. I know that I have enjoyed it much more than I was expecting to. I remember starting this and intending to end it at chapter one. I'm so glad I didn't, and I hope you all feel the same way. Now that it's ten after three AM, I'm going to hit the hay.

Oh, and krn-kimbap, I will be getting your picture to you shortly. It'll arrive by email as soon as I finish it. I'm sorry for not getting it to you sooner, as I promised you one over a month ago.