A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! I decided to finish the battle for you guys, your reviews really helped! So sorry for the long update! Went to Florida for Disney World!

Warnings: Nada.

Disclaimer: If I owned the Naruto series..Naruto and Hinata would start getting closer and develop a sort of relationship because..they are the cutest couple!..So there it is.

Behind The Smile

Chapter 23: Truth Unveiled! Please, Stop it Sasuke!

(o)

(o)

(o)

Sakura couldn't read their movements at all. She assumed they were using hand seals to create all these numerous jutsu's and techniques that appeared one after the other, but she did not actually see them performing the hand seals. They were unbelievably fast. She was shocked, surprised, amazed, all of the above. One second they were one place, the next at another. There fighting styles were completely different. They held nothing back.

The three shinobi separated once again, landing on the ground a few feet away from each other. Two pairs of deep red Sharingan eyes glared calmly into pink. All eyes were filled with such intensity as the moment to attack neared again.

Four shuriken seemed to appear in Itachi's hand with amazing speed. Almost immediately Koizumi jumped back and preformed what looked to be one hand seal due to his amazing speed. A barrier of water shot around him just in time as sharp pillars of water collided with the barrier.

Sasuke's seemed to have timed the exact moment when the water barrier around Koizumi would dissipate. Little fireballs were already on there way, timed to hit at the exact moment. Koizumi noticed this, and managed to disappear right before they hit.

Both of the Koizumi's eyes seemed to glow brighter as they gracefully lifted their right index fingers in front of them. A strange beaming noise could be heard as the tip of Koizumi's finger began to light up with a very small circle of pink chakra. As soon as it appeared, a straight beam of light erupted from their fingers in a perfect line. How was he doing that? Sasuke and Itachi both jumped in different directions to avoid the chakra beams. They were forced to dodge more as the Koizumi's continued to pursue them.

They were so fast that all the Uchiha brothers could do was dodge. Chakra beam after beam came as the brothers preformed many skillful maneuvers. The clone was just as powerful as the real Koizumi. It was unreal.

Itachi appeared in front of the real Koizumi and began a combo of attacks. Both him and Koizumi went at it, delivering blows, both landing hits and taking hits.

Sakura watched as Sasuke and the clone were in a hand-to-hand combat. It was just a clone,yet, it fought just like Koizumi, and it was able to use techniques as the real one would. Sasuke jumped back a did a few familiar hand seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu!" His chest puffed up as he exhaled a huge flame from his mouth. But the clone anticipated this and disappeared with amazing speed. As soon as he did so, the Koizumi clone brought both hands up, aiming his palms at Sasuke. The familiar pink ball of chakra began to appear in his hands. It was a larger version of the chakra beams he was using earlier. Just as soon as it looked like the chakra beam would shoot, the Koizumi clone aimed his palms elsewhere.

Sakura looked with wide eyes as the pink chakra beam that was making it's way towards her. She managed to push herself off the ground, but wasn't fast enough to do much else. Luckily Sasuke had appeared using one arm to grab her around the waist, and dodge the attack. Sakura winced in pain due to the wound on her abdomen. Sasuke knew it was hurting her, but it was the only way he could have helped her dodge that fast.

But just as soon as they dodged, the clone was on them. Sasuke brought up his injured arm to block the first blow. Holding Sakura closer, Sasuke spun around, using his leg to deliver a powerful blow that sent the clone flying into a nearby wall. Sasuke and Sakura landed on the ground. As soon as he let her go, however, the clone was already on Sasuke aiming a punch. It hit Sasuke in the face, sending him flying not even three feet into the wall behind Sakura. The force of the blow created a huge crater in the wall, and huge pieces of it started falling to the ground.

Sakura was forced to jump roll onto the ground to avoid the falling pieces of wall. She looked back up to the wall, worried, only to see that Sasuke had already disappeared, and was attacking the clone.

Sakura looked to Itachi seeing that him and the real Koizumi were still battling it out. But it seemed Koizumi had the upper hand. With unbelievable speed, Koizumi punched Itachi, sending him flying. The Uchiha did a small back flip landing next to Sasuke. As Itachi stood up tall, both him and Sasuke looked at both the Koizumi's who were now standing next to each other on the huge statue at the rear of the room.

They were about to start the chakra beams again.

Before they could do so, Sasuke and Itachi decided to counter-attack. Their minds were very alike as they both thought of the same plan. Each Uchiha brother charged at a Koizumi; Sasuke unarmed, charged for the clone, and Itachi charged at the real Koizumi with a kunai at hand.

Itachi collided with Koizumi kunai to kunai. The sparks from the colliding weapons flew into the air, disappearing as soon as they appeared. He used his free hand to take out another kunai. Just as it looked like he was about to strike Koizumi, Itachi threw the kunai in Sasuke's direction.

Sasuke fist dug into the statue as the Koizumi clone jumped off, avoiding his attack. Sasuke had planned for the clone to do so however. Sasuke took out his own kunai and glanced at the kunai coming in his direction. The kunai that Itachi threw seemed to be attracted to Sasuke's foot like a magnet, sliding and staying under his blue sandal, yet not touching. Sasuke was focusing chakra into his foot. Sasuke looked graceful as he planted both his hands on the concrete statue using it as leverage to carefully and graceful spin his leg around in the direction of the Koizumi clone before letting go of his chakra hold. As soon as he did so, Sasuke continued spinning, somehow lifting up his hands. He threw his own kunai in the real Koizumi's direction, before advancing on the clone.

The kunai embedded itself in the clone's abdomen. Sasuke was already on the Koizumi clone, and he delivered a combo of attacks, successfully hitting him. The clone flew into the wall. Sasuke immediately landed on the ground before performing a few hand seals. One of his arms shot out in front of him, palm facing the ground. Immediately the ground around him started to spark, producing lighting.

The kunai that Sasuke had thrown at the real Koizumi had provided Itachi enough distraction to land a few blows to the Akatsuki leader. Koizumi was forced the block the kunai coming towards him, leaving room for Itachi to make the hits. They both took a glance to Sasuke as a loud sound could be heard.

The whole room was filled with the sound of a thousand birds chirping wildly. By now, Sasuke's hand was filled with a controlled ball of lighting. Sasuke brought his arm out to his side with the support of his free arm.

"Chidori!" With unbelievable speed, Sasuke advanced on the Koizumi clone. When he was close enough, Sasuke let out a battle cry as he shoved his arm forward, digging it into the clones abdomen. Sasuke's arm protruded all the way through his abdomen until the clone disappeared into a puff of smoke. Sasuke still had his arm outstretched as the smoke dissipated.

He slowly stood up into a standing position,taking small breaths whilewatching as Itachi and Koizumi separated from each other. Itachi had landed a few feet away from Sasuke.

"Impressive." Koizumi stated. He was referring to both, mainly Sasuke for disposing of the clone. It seemed that Koizumi was still playing around with them. But Itachi left no room for conversation as he began to perform a few handseals. But he took his time, seemingly on purpose, as if he wanted Koizumi to know what kind of jutsu he was using.

"Suiton: Suigadan No Jutsu." It was the same water jutsu from earlier.

Koizumi immediately preformed the same hand seals as he did earlier, and the same water barrier surrounded him. A circle of water spikes were blocked. But this time, something was different.

"Hyoton: Haryu Moko No Jutsu!" Surprised, Koizumi looked at Sasuke.

Sakura crossed her arms, trying to keep herself warm as the entire room became freezing cold. Little white particles of snow seemed to fall from the ceiling. She could see her own breath.

Ice in the form of a large tiger was making it's way towards Koizumi and his water barrier. As each huge paw pounded on the ground, the concrete underneath it froze on contact. It was extremely cold, so cold, even before it made contact with the water barrier, it was already frozen.

Somehow the tiger let out a roar as it collided with the half frozen water barrier. It froze the water even more, trapping Koizumi inside. It was Itachi's turn. They had to act fast before Koizumi had a chance to escape.

"Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu." Itachi's chest puffed out as he exhaled an enormously large fireball in Koizumi's direction. It had began to partially melt the ice. Itachi kept the fireball going, knowing that it would need a lot more heat to melt the freezing ice. Mustering all the strength he could, Sasuke threw a kunai at the ice barrier, letting it travel through the flaming fire. With a loud clanking sound, the kunai embedded itself in the ice. The fire was slowly helping it get through the ice, and towards Koizumi.

They were working against time as Koizumi started to develop a huge ball of pink chakra in his fist. It was aimed behind him, it's purpose to break through the ice, allowing his escape. At that rate, the kunai, wouldn't make it through in time. Sasuke was immediately on the kunai, even through the fire, which Itachi finally stopped when he saw Sasuke appear. Letting out a small battle cry Sasuke started delivering blows to the kunai, in turn pushing it even further into the ice, closer to Koizumi.

Sasuke took a glance at Koizumi's hand, which was filled with the chakra now. It was a matter of seconds. Sasuke delivered more blows to the kunai, each one getting stronger than the last. The ice was cracking even more at the kunai traveled deeper. Part of it was sticking through the ice, almost touching Koizumi. By that time Sasuke could hear the beaming noise as the chakra began to explode from Koizumi's hand.

It all seemed to go in slow motion as Sasuke lifted up his foot, preparing to deliver a very powerful kick. The ice was already begging to explode around the two, the little shards cutting a few exposed areas of their skin. As Sasuke's foot made contact with the kunai, he let out a small battle cry. The kunai broke through the part of the ice. By then the whole barrier of ice had exploded, but Sasuke and Koizumi disappeared, avoiding the rest of the shards.

Itachi quickly made his way over to Sakura and picked her up, dodging the ice shards that were coming in her direction. As soon as they landed, Sakura looked past Itachi's arm, making brief eye contact with Sasuke, who immediately looked the other way. Her guilty eyes shot down to the ground. She muttered a quick thank you as Itachi moved away from her. She looked back to Sasuke.

Sasuke had landed next to Itachi and Sakura, he was a little hunched over letting out small breaths. He was also trying to control his angerat seeing Itachi and Sakura together again. When Itachi was even near her Sasuke grew upset.He was also starting to get very dizzy. He was losing way to much blood. But the Uchiha didn't care, he would fight on as long as he needed to. A few drops of blood fell to the ground from his injured arm. The Uchiha let out a big breath as he straightened up tall. The Uchiha brothers watched as Koizumi straightened up. Sasuke let out a small dissatisfied noise as he noticed the huge gash in Koizumi's face, which blood was slowly flowing from. The kunai had only grazed his face. That shinobi was able to dodge it at the last minute. But that gash in his face would no doubt leave a scar.

"Enough games" Koizumi stated unemotionally. Although he didn't care to mention that they had almost got him. Sasuke nor Itachi said anything as the Akatsuki leader continued. "I will not go down as these others have," He was referring to the other Akatsuki members. His pink eyes traveled specifically to Itachi.

"Although I would never have foreseen that you would betray this organization …most definitely not after how hard you worked to join." Only Koizumi noticed as Itachi's body grew tense. The former Akatsuki member never grew uncomfortable in any situation. Why was this any different? Itachi took a quick glance to Sasuke, then back to Koizumi, his unemotional eyes glaring even deeper. It seemed he did not wish for Koizumi to continue that thought.

Koizumi seemed to want to play off Itachi's uneasiness, knowing the tension his words would cause. He also took a slow glance at Sasuke, noticing the younger Uchiha was curious, but did well in hiding it. He seemed disgusted at the same time for some reason.

"I presume that killing your entire clan was not enough?" Itachi closed his eyes. Sakura's eyes widened as she was unable to contain a large gasp. She immediately brought her hand up to cup her mouth, looking to Sasuke for a reaction. Itachi had slowly opened his eyes as well, keeping them trained on Koizumi. It seemed he didn't want to look at Sasuke. He was waiting for Sasuke's reaction.

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes dangerously snapped to Itachi. They no longer held that emotionless gaze. Every emotion could be seen. Every emotion he had suffered over the years because of Itachi. The one that stood out the most was the fury. The disbelief at the newfound information.

Sakura couldn't believe it. Itachi had killed the clan to join the Akatsuki! He had destroyed Sasuke life, ended the life of all those people, just to join the Akatsuki? That couldn't be right. There had to be another reason. Itachi had to be hiding something. That man who claimed to be Koizumi had to be lying. No, she couldn't believe it! She wouldn't! Tears involuntarily invaded her eyes. Sasuke.

"I had believed it took much loyalty, determination, to do what you did, end the life of your own clan. Although the fact that you failed to kill your brother should have proven your disloyalty to me. I should have had you commit another, more heinous act. One that would have been much more difficult for you to perform, show how deep your loyalty ran. It was a mistake on my part." Koizumi expectantly looked to Sasuke, waiting for a reaction.

"Ni-san! Why did you do this!"

"To test my capacity"

That's what he meant. That's what he meant by capacity. His ability to become strong, to test how powerful he was. How willing. It was sick. It disgusted him. Infuriated him. Sasuke slowly began to feel the control he worked so hard for, slip away. He was fighting with himself to keep control.

Sakura watched as Sasuke bowed his head down. For some reason it scared her. She had a very foreboding feeling, it was choking at her.

"I always thought you couldn't stoop lower than killing your own clan.." Sasuke started calmly. Every word was laced with a cold venom. Sasuke turned his head a little bit, clenching his fists even tighter, trying to stay calm, still. Itachi had closed his eyes while Sasuke was talking. He sensed Sasuke beginning to shake, but just as soon he stopped shaking. He had very good control. Itachi slowly opened his eyes, looking at Sasuke.

"To join Akatsuki?..."Sasuke let a scoff in disbelief. His voice was low and surprisingly soft. "That's the reason?" Itachi's emotionless eyes seemed to waver as he stared at Sasuke, yet he said nothing. More blood started to fall from the wound on Sasuke arm due to the continuous, tight clenching of his fists. Sasuke couldn't stop the noises he heard in his head. The continuous crying of a little boy. The crying that sought to drive him over the edge of sanity.

"It's not true, Sasuke!" The desperate cry from Sakura didn't reach his closed ears.

"You left me alive…you let me live for this moment…" Sasuke's voice steadily began to rise as he found himself unable to control his feelings any longer. "I've hurt all the ones I care about," An image of Sakura and Naruto appeared in his head. "I've lived a life of solitude…I've hated you..I've detested you, I've lived on in the most pathetic way anyone can live…I've lived for this moment!"

Sakura felt him snap as if she was snapping herself. She knew the exact moment in which he had lost control, the exact moment he couldn't hold on any longer. Yet she couldn't speak, she couldn't move, she could only watch in horror as Sasuke attacked Itachi.


Thanks for Reading! I hope it was ok! Anything you don't like?

Next chapters are going to be hella packed with action..not gonna give any spoilers..but yea