Someone Screaming

The Alternate Story – Dim Light

Ayane Selznick

The two Jounins knew that Sakura's opponent was not completely defeated. They both know that he was hiding somewhere to recover from Sakura's blows. It has proven that the Medic Nin's punches are quite critical. She condenses an enormous Chakra on her balled fist to smash anything she wished to destroy. But they were all glad that it was her who had that power, because if it was someone else…

Shino glanced to his left when the insects came at his sight. Lee noticed his movement and learned what to do. They both acted as though they felt nothing, but when Kisame blew up his cover and went towards Lee, Shino quickly took off to prepare his moves.

Lee however waited for the right moment before he started moving. When Kisame was within his range, he delivered a spinning heel towards the enemy's head. Kisame blocked Lee's move only to make a counter attack by lunging uppercut. With utmost speed, Lee withdrew his foot from Kisame to block the attempted uppercut using his other foot. He used that momentum to spin in mid-air and saw an opening for him to make an attack.

"DAMN!" Kisame yelled when he was forced back meters away.

The Taijutsu-specialist narrowed his large eyes towards his opponent as if warning him. Then without a cue, he disappeared from his location. He started running around while his opponent was feeling he was outdone greatly. The Akatsuki pushed himself up to leave the circle only to be welcomed by Shino's attacks.

SAAAA!

Shino looked at how the supposed-to-be Kisame dissolved in mid-air completely turning into water. Before an enemy has the opportunity to attack him, he felt another presence behind him – a water dragon soundlessly attacked him. When they collide, Shino dissolved into a million bugs, making this an opportunity for Lee to find the culprit from the origin of the water dragon.

Hopping from top branch to another, Lee found Kisame escaping from the battle field.

You shall not escape! The beautiful green beast of Konoha confidently told to himself as he arrived at the spot where Kisame was about to step in…

But Kisame's smirk did not escape from Lee's eyes…

"You're dead, squirt."

KABOOM!

Lee just activated a field trap.

Kisame watched as the Konoha Nin clad in green jumpsuit fall lifelessly on the ground. The one who Lee is after was just a clone, so he does not have any worries if the trap was activated.

These brats took my recovered energy. Damn it.

Quickly, Kisame turned around to follow his escape route when he felt his insides churn.

"WHAT THE—!"

Not long did he felt his entire body stopped producing Chakra which he needed to drive his feet away from the field. Truly, his Chakra channels have been blocked.

"You're surrounded, so surrender now." The order was said by the leader of the Reinforcement of Team 7, Hyuuga Neji.

As the hovering Akatsuki continued throwing clay bombs at the field, not minding how many people he sentenced to death, the tactician arrived at his position with his unit hiding safe around the area, waiting for his orders.

Shikamaru watched closely, waiting for the right moment for them to blow up the opponent's plan then arrest him. Seeing as the clay bird slowly descends, Shikamaru gave the signal to make a riot. His scattered unit flung kunais and shurikens at the man on top of the bird. Considering the target is diverted, Shikamaru jumped off from his position and went towards the area near the Konoha gate.

The irritated Akatsuki shield himself from the weapons and followed those who annoyed him.

"Damn persistent midgets, mm!"

With strong gust from the clay bird's wings, he flew towards the small forest, pursuing the Konoha Nins.

On the other side, Shikamaru held his transmitter to warn his unit, "Fire in the hole."

Deidara who let his patience wear off strode towards Shikamaru's trap. The moment Shikamaru called the signal, his unit jumped at the holes they created on the ground and covered themselves with the invisible cloak. The clueless target continued his search to kill the Konoha Ninjas only to snap a string that triggered his thoughts.

DAMN!

Shikamaru shielded himself using the sturdy tree trunk.

KABOOOOM!

When the smoke slowly dissipated, Shikamaru opened his eyes and watched the direction of the sun. He looked at the massive explosion his team created to immobilize the Akatsuki.

That was one troublesome ticket to hell.

One of his subordinates went towards the explosion site.

"Sir, the body is missing. Only the clay bird is smashed into pieces." He reported.

Shikamaru's eyes turned wide for a moment. Swiftly, he took out a kunai and a tag note that says "Flash." Just as he was done preparing his things, his other subordinate saw something.

"He's still alive sir! And he's—AH!"

BOOM!

The tactician gritted his teeth. He knew for a fact that the field trap will only injure the man on that clay bird but it doesn't mean that he doesn't have any battle plans in mind. He had thousands of them… he knew a thousand possibilities.

Right on the moment, Deidara appeared from his earth sanctuary and shot another clay bomb on to random directions. As Shikamaru stayed still with some of his subordinates around the area, he found out that Deidara had lost another arm. He had heard from Kakashi that Deidara's arm was sucked inside a dimensional portal created by his Sharingan. With one arm left for the Akatsuki, he is sure to be a handicapped ninja. But as circumstances dictate it, with the help of Shikamaru's tactical offenses, the Akatsuki artist had to say good bye to his arm. There is no way that guy could make a technique.

But it was surprising to see that he is spewing out all his clay bombs from his mouth.

Shikamaru looked at his scattered team surrounding the handicapped Akatsuki then gave them the signal to distract him again.

SWOOSH!

His team threw a handful of shurikens towards the Akatsuki. Skilled though, the Akatsuki was able to dodge every single shurikens that flew towards his direction.

Damn. They're underestimating me after I lost my arm. Mm.

When a kunai flew towards his direction, Deidara rolled to the right side and quickly spewed out bullet clays to return the attack. Once those clays landed to the target—

BOOM!

Shikamaru almost lost his balance when he heard his subordinates shouted from his earpiece. He covered the mouth piece to minimize his voice.

"Has anyone been hurt?"

He could hear that those men had been tired of chasing and withdrawing at the same time for he realized how the voice breaths deeply.

"No one was hurt, sir. We avoided his clay bullets. But how could he move freely even without his arms, sir?"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes while he jumped off from his original position to avoid being spotted or heard by their target.

"I have to be near to target. You have to deplete his Chakra by chasing and attacking at once. He will be tired from avoiding and counter-attacking. I need you guys to arrive at point B in two minutes."

"Yes, sir."

When they both cut off the conversation, the young tactician of the unit took out two flash bangs from his weapon pocket. While doing so, he watched and analyzed the enemy's movements as he travel towards the location where his plan will be stopped.

I have to shut his mouth before I get myself close to him.

He put his hand inside his vest to take out his ace.

"HA!" Sakura's fist zoomed square on Itachi's face.

However, Itachi was able to block her attack for he was able to read her movements. "Hn…" Still he was fascinated by the fact that a woman like her has this much bravery to have a Taijutsu battle with him.

She was able to heal Naruto-kun when she arrived. So she holds an important role in this team…

Itachi's calculated eyes quickly noticed his brother's movements who dashed behind him in attempt to attack him from behind. As fast as ever, Itachi pulled his little brother's attacking fist and used that momentum for his counter attack. With the same quickness from his brother, Sasuke used his lower leg to block Itachi's back fist strike.

But the next move was unexpected that Sasuke even felt like everything happened so fast.

The hand Itachi used to have a back fist attack opened and pulled Sasuke above his head to throw the body straight at Sakura's direction.

Sakura on the other hand, read the movements. While Sasuke is in mid-air, Sakura prepared herself to take the body to reduce the damage both on her body as well as Sasuke's. But Sasuke noticed the danger of her in front of them, he warned her.

"MOVE!"

The woman's eyes showed determination as well as telling him to believe in her. As Sasuke let his brother threw him towards the woman's direction, he quickly whirled himself in mid-air and landed gracefully in front of his teammate.

"Don't make me hurt you. So get out of the way." His words should have pierced Sakura's head to think more of herself than his and Naruto's safety.

Sakura had expected this scenario to happen. Sasuke had been aloof even during his childhood days. He did not like the idea of having protection from somebody else aside from his deceased family. He did not put his trust to somebody else but himself. But then again…does he have faith in himself particularly when he ran to Orochimaru to seek power?

I think not…

As she watched the brother of the murderer of his clan, Sakura then recalled what he said just a while ago.

Don't make me hurt you.

She wanted to laugh at the irony of his words and his actions if combined. He must have been blind, deaf and insensitive when he said that. Of course, everybody knows he hurt her. It was not any of physical abuse but the matters of the heart.

Her feelings…

It hurt her just how he vanished from the night then the next day he comes back bearing betrayal and endless notions about his revenge. Revenge, his brother's death, is what matters most to Sasuke. It was maybe the reason why she doesn't have a place in his heart.

However, it confused her greatly as some quick flashbacks crossed her mind.

(Series of Flashbacks)

"In our team, Sakura's Genjutsu know-how is the best. You cannot fool us all."

"You're annoying."

"Sakura…who did that to you? Tell me."

"I don't want to see those dear to me die before my eyes."

"Naruto, take Sakura back!"

"I am different from you and Naruto…"

(End of Flashbacks)

Then the most memorable yet painful recollection from her past…

They were standing at the part in the middle of the night. Sasuke was standing behind Sakura while she was crying silently for his departure…

"Thank you."

Sakura can't help but smile a little while she tried so hard to focus at the battle and set aside her emotions, however, she did not let go of this moment when she speak in her mind.

I understand that you have main concerns in your life that forces you to break away from the bonds we've created in our team…in our family. You don't want to be hurt, do you?

Her eyes softly cast at the back of the object of her thoughts.

But…Why can't you open up a bit?

A whistling kunai zoomed towards Sasuke.

He jumped to the right to avoid the attack. Seeing as Sakura is a better kunoichi, he knew that she would have jumped away to take cover, but what he saw was the contrary.

Sasuke watched slowly as Itachi's kunai flew towards the daydreaming Sakura. He knew it because her eyes told him that her mind is wandering elsewhere.

"SAKURA MOVE!"

His yell alarmed her greatly but her reflexes will not work when she watched the kunai right in front of her face. She has no time to react.

ZOOM!

From the eyes that show nothing but to conquer and destroy, his eyes turned wide in shocked. Itachi just witnessed their comrade saving the member of their unit as he was revived from his previous hit.

At the same moment, Sasuke positioned himself from the side of a tree and watched how the other member saved Sakura. He narrowed his eyes.

And I thought a Jinchuuriki like you have the ability to recover at fast rate.

"Heh." The blond haired Jounin gripped the kunai's handle in order to stop it before it hits his friend. "I was just taking a nap back there so don't go rushing things without me."

The only female in the battle just blinked her eyes at Naruto's wonder for great timing. She thought he had fainted and will cause him a lot of time to recuperate from the hit of the trunk and the explosion he received from the exploding clones. Truly, the rate of his recovery is just surprising.

"Naruto," She called and saw the person she mentioned the name looked back at her, "thanks for the save."

Naruto smiled at her and replied, "No problem. I must have slept for a long while, have you guys produced a plan?" He turned serious for a moment while he returned the kunai to the one who threw it.

Sakura looked at the position where Sasuke was and somehow read the look of the young Uchiha's eyes. She walked towards Naruto and whispered carefully.

"Minimize the use of force. Let Sasuke-kun have a face to face match up with his brother."

The blond ninja doubted and he debated, "There's no way he'll be able to take down his brother alone."

This made the pink haired ninja sighed, "We'll be his back up so don't worry about being yelled or beaten by him. Just don't make him see that we're helping him."

Naruto's eyes shot towards Sasuke who had been glaring his brother the entire time.

"I never imagined I'll give him a chance like this."

The only girl in the team smiled at Naruto's truthful comments, as well as adding her own thoughts, "Well, he's as stubborn as he was in his kiddy days."

He knew that while he was glaring at his brother, Sakura and Naruto are forming battle plans in their whisper. But he did not care, as long as he has the spotlight to beat his brother he wouldn't care for any nonsense reinforcements that will be given to him, after all, he knew that one of the last of the Uchihas has to die here.

However, it's not easy to defeat his brother. They both have the same Uchiha Bloodline Technique, they have learned the same skills but they differ in battle strategy of offenses and defenses as well as illusions and techniques.

They were separated by Itachi's own fault but united by fate. But before they were faced to face in this battlefield, they have lived different places and holding different goals.

I've sacrificed a lot for this moment… I was even blinded to search for power. I almost got insane for just thinking how to mutilate your idiotic brain and get me an answer for the tragedy you did for the whole clan…

Sasuke clutched his fist so hard he heard his knuckles crackling.

Someone has to die, Itachi. It's you or me.

In a flash, Sasuke rushed towards his brother at a speed Sakura and Naruto never had imagined. Both their eyes went wide as they follow the traces of dirt and leaves swirling from behind. Even the target, Itachi, was surprised at his young brother's speed.

Sasuke went towards his brother aiming his fist towards the face. Itachi almost got hit but he was able to evade the punch when he leaned his head backwards. What he did not know was Sasuke just faked his fist attack to get his elbow in right angle and force to hit it towards the same target.

Itachi felt his nose hurt and shortly started bleeding.

The young Uchiha was not yet through with his attacks when he spun his body at half rotation then used his left hand to grab his brother's head and pulled it directly to his knee cap. To add damage, he kicked his brother's abdomen to push them apart to be able to get a momentum of turning around and kicking the same spot where he had his last hit.

To Sasuke's content, Itachi just spewed out his own blood out of his mouth.

With Uchiha blood running in your veins and combining the strength you gained under Orochimaru's training, I have no doubt that you would get in this level. Heh, I would have never imagined myself giving gratitude to Orochimaru…even in hell.

Sasuke noticed the narrowed eyes of his older brother to which he felt a little satisfaction thinking that Itachi was having a hard time dealing with him.

"You made bleed the entire time when you went to Konoha. This time, it'll be my pleasure to see you bleeding to death."

With calm actions and eyes, Itachi wiped off the trailing blood in his lips and stood upright while sighing. He just looked at his brother with the same level three Sharingan.

"You haven't changed. You're stalling my time with your gibberish talks. Making me bleed must've satisfied you greatly."

This made Sasuke angry. With knitted brows, Sasuke prepared himself in an offensive stance.

"SHUT UP! I will be more satisfied to see your lifeless body lying on the ground!"

With an angry growl, Sasuke sped off for another Taijutsu attacks.

To be continued…

Author's Note: I am very, very, very sorry that you've waited so long for this installation. I had numerous school works to finish so please do understand. Another would be, thank you very much for giving me reviews, reaching 300+ until the last chapter. You guys never how happy I am n-n (again this is a smiling icon).

I also rushed this one after reading the latest chapter in the manga; chapter 301 where Sasuke meets Sai. I was surprised that the young Uchiha was able to use illusion techniques in a stare (which means… Sasuke's close to learning Mangekyou!) Above all it, I'm starting to hate Sasuke's guts even though most of the SasuSaku fans in the forum said that there was no change at all in his attitude. But what I noticed, he was mutually acquainted with his teammates but he broke the bonds just so to gain power and after three years (in the manga) this is all I will see? He becomes more stubborn, more bastard and more power-hungry avenger. I hope it lessens once Naruto and Sakura meet him.

Ugh, never mind my opinions regarding the latest chapter, I can't help it. I still hope to see you guys in the next installment!