A/N: So sorry for not updating in forever! Life happened. Again. I shall try to be more prompt in getting my dear friend Shujou Queen to give me ideas for the next chapter…girl, couldn't do it without you! –hugs- So, without further ado, here is…

The Disclaimer! I don't own Naruto. I fact, if you have read my other stories, you will know that there are a great many things that I do not own. C'est la vie.

Chapter 3: Ikaesu Gaisen

Kakashi woke with a start to the sound of almost-silent footsteps about half a mile away. Damn, he thought, I should have heard those before they got this far! He stood, stretching, and proceeded to listen more intently to the approaching steps. The minute he stood, he could no longer hear them. Which either meant that he was going deaf (which he doubted), or that the person was a shinobi, and had heard him stand up, and masked their steps. Which was not only amazing, it was incredibly likely.

Kakashi slowly inhaled, and glanced around the clearing. The feeling of Naruto's chakra was still strong, and Sasuke's could be felt more clearly – for a brief second. He felt proud – the Uchiha boy was obviously using his chakra to scan the area around his location. Through the rain. Rain. Yuck.

He quested out, tentatively feeling for the chakra of the coming shinobi. It can't be! He thought frantically, the chakra! It's Sasuke's! But Sasuke is in the other direction…

Then, it hit him. Who would have chakra that felt like Sasuke's? The Uchiha boy's brother. Itachi. Which meant he was in big trouble.

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"Sasuke?" Sakura whispered, clinging to her teammate's arm. "What is that I'm feeling?" The raven-haired boy stared impassively into the flames. "It is a great unsettling in the chakra of some shinobi. I do not yet have to skill to know who's it is." Sakura shivered. Naruto turned from his efforts with the blaze to squint up at the pair, and query in his loud, obnoxious ton: "What does that mean?" Sakura squelched her apprehension by standing and smacking the kitsune's blond head. "You idiot! It means that the ninja out there is preparing for battle. You should know that! Right, Sasuke?" Her tone softened as she turned to her crush, her green eyes sparkling. He didn't even look at her. "I suppose you are right, Sakura. I don't know."

She blinked. He didn't know? She had expected such ignorance from Naruto, but from Sasuke? Sakura shook her head in bewilderment. Sometimes, she didn't understand them at all.

Ayumi took this in, noting Sasuke's perception of the shivers in a familiar chakra that she had been sensing for hours, and Sakura's knowledge of how it worked. The approaching shinobis (for she was sure that she sensed two different chakras) were indeed about to battle – something that could not be allowed once they got onto the estate. She stood and quietly sprinted to the door.

Naruto saw her, and loudly pointed out the fact that their hostess was leaving at a very fast pace. Well, actually, it was more like " Hey, where's she going?"

Sasuke sighed loudly and lazily rose to his feet. "Naruto, you knucklehead, she is obviously going to check out the disturbance in the chakra that we sense." Naruto continued poking at the burning logs. "Sakura said it was a battle, idiot. Listen more closely next time."

"I don't care what Sakura said. I'm addressing YOUR stupid question, dobe."

"Dobe yourself! How would YOU know anything? You were to busy cuddling with Sakura to notice anything."

"Cuddling with Sakura? You dare insult me?"

"Insult you? You idiot! Can't you see that she adores you? Do you WANT to hurt her?"

"I could honestly CARE LESS! We are talking about YOUR question!"

"Well, unless you are inside Ayumi-san's head, you couldn't POSSIBLY know the answer to my question!"

"A bit of deductive reasoning, idiot! Any fool could judge where she was headed!"

"YOU SMELL LIKE ROTTEN TUNA!"

"I CAN CONTROL MY CHAKRA BETTER THAN YOU!"

"I ACTUALLY HAVE MORE CHAKRA TO CONTROL!"

"I SAVED YOUR STINKING BUTT OUT THERE!"

"LIKE HELL YOU DID!"

"KAKASHI-SENSEI LIKES ME BETTER!"

"YOU SMELL BAD!"

"THAT OLD INSULT AGAIN? GROW UP, NARUTO!"

"GROW UP YOURSELF, UCHIHA PUNK! ANY GROWN UP WOULD KNOW NOT TO HURT SAKURA'S FEELINGS!"

"I DIDN'T! I STATED THE OBVIOUS! SOMETHING YOU CAN'T SEE!"

"What is that?"

"I don't know…"

Both boys closed their eyes, and felt the rising energy. Sakura raised stony green eyes and whispered, "It has begun."

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Kakashi fingered the kunai knife uneasily. Itachi should have been where he was by then. He inched in the direction of his genin's chakra, hoping to warn them out of the way before Itachi found them.

"You take another step, Copy Ninja, and I will not give you the opportunity for a fair fight."

Speak of the devil…

"Itachi. So good to see you," Kakashi said lazily as he moved his hand toward his headband. "That won't work, Kakashi. We both know that you only have one Sharingan, and you cannot use it much, and that I have both, and can use them as long as I choose."

Kakashi smirked. "That's not what I was doing, Itachi."

He spun around, yelling, "Secret jutsu, Chidori Raikiri!" as he finished the seals. He ran forward, the chakra growing in his hand into a visible form of energy. Itachi merely stood as Kakashi charged, his hands behind his back. As the jounin neared him, he brought the fists forward, and whispered" Chidori Raikiri." His chakra also became visible, and Kakashi stopped dead in his tracks. Both canceled the jutsu, and Kakashi sent chakra to his feet, bounding above Itachi's head to the treetops behind him. He sent a fireball jutsu down, which Itachi easily avoided, jumping to Kakashi's level in the trees.

"There's no point, Kakashi. I can dodge your pitiful moves. I can copy your jutsus. Why not just give up now."

"Not to you, Uchiha. Not to you." Kakashi returned, jumping from tree to tree. While he wouldn't admit it to his opponent, his secret jutsu always took a lot out of him, and he was feeling weak. His one hope would be to get his genin out of the way, and traveling back to Konoha. Nothing mattered more than them, right now, and all he could do was run away from Itachi, evading his attacks, until he got close enough to warn them. He could feel even Sakura's chakra now, a sure sign that he was getting closer.

Unfortunately, he was loosing speed, and Itachi was gaining on him. Fast. "Give up yet, Copy Ninja?" the boy queried impassively, "Or must I cut you to pieces before you acknowledge my victory?"

Kakashi merely grunted, saving his ragged breath for the leaps through the trees. Usually the Chidori Raikiri was enough to end a fight, and he had a chance to rest. The jutsu used a lot of chakra, which was usually countered by its effectiveness, but not today. Today, for the first time that he could remember, Hatake Kakashi was running from an opponent. The things he did for those kids… At least he was getting closer, now. That's all that mattered.

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"I can feel it! It's Kakashi-sensei's chakra! I don't recognize the other one, though…"

Sakura sat with her eyes closed, using her knowledge of chakra to tell what was going on. "Sensei's chakra is fading fast. He must have used the Chidori, or an equally tiring jutsu."

Naruto looked confused, "Wouldn't that mean that the battle was over? I mean, no one can stand up to the Chidori!"

Sasuke shook his head. "Someone could copy the Chidori, and use it against him. I recognize the chakra. It's Itachi, my brother."

"The one who killed your entire clan?" Sakura gasped, her eyes flying open. "Guys, Kakashi-sensei is leading Itachi here! They're coming!"

Naruto reached for his shuriken pouch, "If we can catch him off-guard, maybe we'll have a chance." His raven-haired companion nodded in assent and took out his throwing stars. Wordlessly, they each handed Sakura a kunai knife. "Get back to Konoha," Sasuke told her, "tell everyone what's going on. Maybe they can come and help before it's too late. Now, go! Hurry!" With that, he pushed her in the direction of the door, and the two boys sprang out the door, into the trees. "Shadow shuriken?" Naruto whispered. "Shadow shuriken." Sasuke replied.

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Ayumi raced through the field between the estate and the woods. They must be stopped once they were upon estate grounds, and no one would stop them if not her. She whipped her old headband out of her pocket and wrapped it around her head, firmly tying it out of the way of her eyes. If her bloodline trait was obstructed, it could wreak horrible damage.

Sasuke and Naruto waited impatiently in the treetops just outside the estate's border. If they could catch Itachi here, then Sakura had a good chance of escape. They grasped their shuriken in tandem, and poised their hands to make the seals for the jutsu they would need. They looked at each other, and nodded. Their target was approaching.

Kakashi panted hard, feeling Sasuke and Naruto's chakra suddenly disappear, and Sakura's begin to fade. Damn, he thought. They must have felt the chakra, and, instead of running, had come to fight, masking their chakra to prevent detection. "Are you tired?" Itachi questioned, his voice as steady and impassive as ever. "Perhaps you need a wake up call." With that, he yelled out "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" sending a ball of fire speeding toward Kakashi. Damn, Kakashi thought, I don't have enough chakra to make a water shield, or even a low-powered water attack to block this thing. I'm going to die!

All of a sudden, there came two, no three simultaneous shouts. Two yelled "Shadow Shuriken!" and the other "Ikaesu Gaisen!"

The fireball reversed direction as a purple light flashed from the field directly behind Kakashi. Itachi's face showed genuine shock as he leapt above the returning jutsu, nearly singing the sandals off of his feet. A huge windmill shuriken flew out of the trees, aiming for Itachi, and again the voice called "Ikaesu Gaisen", again the purple light flashed, and there appeared a wall of solid wood directly in the path of the shuriken. It hurtled into the wall, landing with an obstinate thud, and a pained whine was heard from the small blond boy who fell from the wall.

The unseen voice commanded, "All of you, come here now. NOW! Move, move, move!"

Itachi and Kakashi looked at each other, then raced toward the voice. With a rustle of leaves, Sasuke fell into step beside his brother, and a "Wait up!" was heard from the blonde on the ground.

All four reached the field at the same time, and stopped short of a not-so imposing woman.

Ayumi smiled. "That's better. You know that there can be no hostile action on the estate. Let's go back to the house for some hot soup. You all look simply dreadful! Oh, and Naruto – go get Sakura. She can't have gotten too far away."

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A/N: Well, well. So, Kakashi found his genin, Sakura is probably halfway to Konoha (poor Naruto!), Sasuke and Itachi are "reunited", and the big surprise'll come in the next chapter or so. Tell me how you liked this! Again, I owe it all to Shoujo Queen. Tell her how wonderful she is for me, if ever you see her!