A/N: Yea I decided to not be lazy and just go ahead and get started with the next chapter, hence this one you are about to read now! I'm so proud of myself haha. But yea thanks for reviewing, they make my heart smile and my lips jump with glee!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters.

Enjoy!

Behind The Smile

Chapter 14: The Last Biju

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"This is a two in one, huh Itachi?" Kisame reveled. There seemed to to be a hidden meaning to his words. They obviously came for more than the Kyuubi. Itachi's eyes were closed as he seemed to contemplate something. "Shall I deal with him?"

It was then that Itachi opened his eyes.

"It seems we cannot leave here without a fight." He started, breifly letting his view glance to Sakura before continuing. "Don't over-do it..You're moves stand out to much." His words were that of cautionary to his partner.

"Then it's settled." Kisame picked up his huge sword, letting it rest on his shoulder.

"You guys" His fiery cerulean eyes did not glance back to his comrades, his friends. They remained focused ahead to the two Akatsuki members. "This is my fight." With that he ran towards the older Uchiha, not uttering a Sound.

Hinata stepped forward, her wavering pearl eyes longing to join Naruto, as the rest of the group did. Neji threw his arm out in front of her, his Byakaguun focused on the battle.

"Not yet." He started, waiting a few moments before continuing, his voice calm. "Naruto..is much stronger than we all may think."

Before he even got to Itachi, Kisame appeared in front of the blonde-mamed shinobi, already in the motion of swinging his large sword down upon him. With great speed Naruto executed a side flip, leaving the large sword to break the ground were he once was. Particles of dust and rock fell from the large weapon as Kisame effortlessly picked it up with a single hand.

"Kage Bunshin No Justu!" Five Naruto clones appeared, already advancing on the Akatsuki member from all directions, though they were easily and instantly disposed of with one large swing from Kisame's weapon.Naruto left him no time to finish his swing as he was already upon him, a kunai at hand. Kisame's immense speed allowed him to match Naruto, already swinging his sword once again, leaving Naruto to block it with his kunai; the force of the blow knocking Naruto back, and having him preform a small flip before landing on all fours.

With the breif moment he had, Naruto let his cerulean gaze travel to Itachi, who was calmly watching from his side-turned position. He was the one that he had wanted to fight. He let his eyes transition back to Kisame as he swung his sword in a downwards motion to him. The best option he had was to bring his small kunai up again, matching the strike of the large blade. This left the two in a power struggle, Naruto's skill allowing him to fend off the sword with such a small weapon.

"Samehada!" At his call, the blade started rumbling, the bandages that were wrapped around it quickly falling away. It revealed that it wasn't a blade; of purple color, its entire mass was formed by razor sharp appendages sticking out in all directions, curving around the blade. They were all moving, as if they were hungering to tough Naruto's skin. And with their lengths, they did. "My blade does not slice, it shaves!" Naruto jumped back, letting out a small grunt of frustration as the blade tore through the clothing on his arm, breaking his skin.

He was left no small moment of rest before Kisame was on him once again. The force of them meeting weapons once again caused Naruto's arm to bleed even more so, but it did not hinder his strenght as he kept Samehada stationary. His cerulean eyes burned as he looked into Kisame's amused ones. Though his eyes averted as the glare of a kunai reflected in his eyes.

The Akatsuki member was forced to move out of the way, letting the kunai whizz past them, and into the bark of a tree.

Both gazes followed the kunai's path to look at its thrower. Hinata's pearl eyes held Naruto's for a small moment before Kisame made yet another swing for him. The sword hit the ground, breaking the earth up underneath it as Naruto seemingly dissapeared, reapearing not to far away. He was grasping his arm, his frustrated gaze looking to Kisame, and then to Itachi. Though his gaze widened as figures stepped to his either of his sides. He looked to see his comrades: Neji, Hinata, Tenten, Kiba, Ino, Shikamaru, Shino, Chouji, Lee; they all stood next to his sides, their gazes focused on the enemy.

"We're in this together, right?" Lee started.

"By your side." Hinata's soft voice added.

"Can't let you take all the action!" Kiba's statement was followed by a chirpy bark from Akamaru.

"We're a team." Neji countered, his eyes were trained ahead.

"At first, we were going to let you take care of this. But it makes more sense for all of us to be fighting." Shikamaru stepped up even more so. "In other words, I have a plan."

"You guys…" Naruto's voice was almost awed, touched. He looked at all of them before letting a resolved look return to his face.

All of their gazes were trained on Itachi and Kisame, as their was to them. A rising tension continued to linger into the air. It was now, that the real battle would start. Naruto slightly parted his lips to speak.

"Let's finish this."

..ooo000ooo000ooo..

Sakura let out a small, pained grunt as she pushed herself away from the tree, which had earlier been her support. Her eyes were determined as she had long ago fixated her gaze on Itachi, she had never taken her eyes off of them, a type of fire burned in their depths.

My goal is to kill a certain man

She closed her eyes, seeming to calm, center herself, if not just to regain her breath.

She preformed a long series of handseals before bringing the last one up to her forehead. She slowly, from the bottom up, started to dissapear into the breeze.

..ooo000ooo000ooo..

His Sharingan eyes had caught her movement, and as she had dissapeared, he slightly opened his eyes wider, reinforcing his Sharingan.

..ooo000ooo000ooo..

Kisame lowered himself, one hand holding the huge sword over his shoulder. His body was in a position that gave leverage to the sword, it also cast his shadow further along the ground, to the point where it reached the ground before the shinobi of the Leaf.

Naruto nodded to Shikamaru, letting his comrade and friend do a series of handseals.

"Kagemane No Jutsu."With sight, it seemed nothing happened, but when Kisame had tried to move, he found he could not. But no worry or suprise etched his face.

"You think to keep me in one place do you?" Kisame let out a small laugh before let out a struggle to hunch over, grunting loudly and prosperously as he shot up, breaking the bind to which he was held.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered. He wasn't the only to seem dissapointed.

"Shikamaru, try it again." Naruto was abrubt with his prompt, his cerulean eyes trained on Kisame. Everyone's gazes looked to him, almost taken back.

"Did you not just see what he did?" Kiba asked in slight disbeleif.

Shikamaru's gaze focused on Naruto, almost as if he was getting an idea to what he was trying to do. Neji did too.

"Tenten, can you be ready to load him with some kunai?"

"Always."

"Kagemane No Jutsu!" Shikamaru yelled. They were all interupted by Shikamaru, who was already doing what Naruto asked. Ironically, he trusted Naruto's judgement. And his "title" as genius had no small parth it in.

"Again? Do you learn?" Kisame teased. He was about to hunch over yet again, but something interrupted him. The ground broke underneath him, and dust rose around him, causing the Akatsuki member to let out a grunt of surprise. It took a few seconds for the dust to clear, and when it did, it reveal a few Naruto clones grasping Kisame, holding him even more so in place.

Shikamaru clenched his handseal tighter, face serious as he struggled to hold Kisame under his large Shadow Hand. Realization seemed to dawn on all their faces as the situation played, and Tenten wasted no time in grasping all the weapons in her pouch, spinning to hive her more momentum before she released them in Kisame's direction.

It was the first time that slight suprise appeared on Kisame's face.

"Samehada!" His sword greatly vibrated at its call, flying away from the Akatsuki member and sweeping in a large circle as it deflected all the kunai. As the blade did so, Kisame let out another battle cry as he broke the shadow bind yet again, throwing the Naruto clones off of him, resulting in their puffs of smoke as they dissapeared.

"This guy.." Chouji let out a frustrated snarl.

Even as Kisame just broke out of the grasp of the Shadow hand once again, Naruto was already upon him, fist poised for a punch. Through with his own speed the Akatuski member was already swinging his sword, something Naruto didn't expect; he collided with the large blade unguarded, the force of the blow sending him many yards away. He grinded against the earth until the friction slowed him to a halt. A pool of blood already began to form underneath him.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinta bolted from her position, running towards the fallen shinobi. As she kneeled next to him, she could see that there were no clothes on his upper body any longer, completley disposed of by the blade. Grunting in pain, Naruto lifted up his head, letting his chin rest on the ground before him as his burning cerulean eyes looked up to Kisame.

"Chikuso.." His voice was low, frustrated, strained.

In retaliation Neji and Lee moved forward past Hinata and Naruto to attack the Akatsuki member.

..ooo000ooo000ooo..

Vines and Branches sprouted up from underneath Itachi, slowly winding themselves around him. However the Uchiha was perfectly calm, seemingly unbothered by the impending doom. Even as the large tree trunk appeared behind him, secuirng him even tighter with the vines he did nothing; only slightly tilt his head up as he transitioned his Sharingan eyes to the area above him as a body started to protrude from the middle of the tree.

Sakura's pink hair slightly hung from her face as she looked down to Itachi, a kunai poised.For some reason she hesitated. And for some reason her eyes wavered as she looked at him.He silently looked at her, no concern or emotion evident in his gaze. Only then did her eyes widen as she found herself face to face with Itachi.He was the one free, and she binded to the tree.

"An illusionary technique of this level has no effect on me." Itachi informed the surprised kunoichi.

Though he suddenly paused, his Sharingan eyes snapping to the battle at their side. Sakura's curious and wary gaze followed his, and they only widened as she saw what he saw. The vines binding her to the tree slowly unraveled, leaving her to fall to the ground. She looked up to Itachi breifly in suprise that he had released her before focusing her gaze back to the area to which she had been staring.

...ooo000ooo000ooo..

(Song: Naruto-Strong and Strike)

Hinata fell back onto her bottom in suprise, her hands planted behind her for support as her wide, wavering emerald eyes looked in front of her to Naruto. Both her locks of hair and clothing were greatly ruffling, seemingly by a strong wind, by the strong energy radiating off of him.

His clawed fingers were digging into the dirt, clenching and unclenching as a blazing orange chakra engulfed him.Slowly the wounds enclouding his body started to heal at a rapid paste, the last to go the large wound that had been decorating his abdomen, they almost seemed to sizzle as they were removed. The whisker like markings on the sides of his face protruded even more so as he opened his mouth up in a snarl, the razor-like fangs located on each side of his teeth sharpening to a point.

The earth underneath him started breaking up, bits and peices of rock starting to lift up in the air as if gravity never held them down. The debis had started swirling around with his chakra as it grew more and more to a life of its own.

When he lifted his head, his fiery fox-like eyes held Kisame.

"Kisame." Itachi's calm yet serious call to his partner only made the other Akatsuki member nod his head in a sort of acknowlegdment.

Kisame had already dissapeared, reapearing right in front of Naruto, his sword swinging horizontally, almost as if it wasn't intended to hit Naruto. Not directly.

Flashback

Kisame swung his sword, its blade cutting through the blazing orange chakra that surrounded him. upon contact, it dissapeared, along with his power, almost as if the blade had eaten the powerful chakra

End Flashback

The blade shaved through thin air as Naruto was nowhere to be found. Only when Kisame slowly straightned up, letting his gaze travel to his side was Naruto seen, setting Hinta gently down on her two feet. His fiery eyes never left Kisame.

"Not this time." His low, deep rumbling voice seemed to echo throughout the clearing, his fox-like eyes burning even more.

"Damnit..Itachi!"Kisame's eyes immediately looked to his partner, almost for help it seemed.

Itachi's eyes grew slighter wider as he reinforced his Sharigan. The hat that he had been holding the entire time was cast away to the side, the little bell attatched to it letting out a small, harmonous chime as it met the ground.


Thanks for reading!

Hopefully that was ok, and yea this chapter was basically just battles, and the next one might be too. I hope that's okay! So basically since these are just going to be battles, i will make them as detailed as possible, well without overdoing it, but i guess the'll be longer and intense? yea.Again, comment on any aspect of the story you want to. -