Sorry for not updating in so long! But summer just rolled around so I want to get some chapters out every week or so! Please leave a review of you enjoyed, and thanks for staying with me for this long :)

Chapter 15: The Village is Saved!

"Dammit! We almost got him!" Naruto yelled as him and Kakashi panted.

"We know his tricks... But it's still hard to land a hit on him. Plus he knows our strategy, and he'll be extra careful." Kakashi said.

"We just have to keep trying Kakashi sensei... We got so close that time!" Naruto replied. "Let's go one more time!"

Kakashi picked up as much speed as he could get, tossing more shuriken towards Pain. Naruto created more shadow clones and ran along side Kakashi.

"All right Naruto, remember physical attacks will work on him so get him to waste his jutsu." Kakashi said.

"Fireball jutsu!" Kakashi made hand signs and blew a huge fireball Pain's way, scorching the ground. He simply jumped out of the way.

Naruto came up behind him. "Rasengan!" The show clones came at him with huge rasengan's in hand.

Pain absorbed the jutsu, making the Naruto's poof out of existence.

The real Naruto came up from behind. "Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as he hurled towards Pain.

"Almighty pull!" Pain pulled Naruto in, holding him by his neck. The Rasengan slowly went back to nothing in his hand.

"You fool Naruto... How did you think you can beat me with such an easy tactic? I would expect better from the Nine Tails..." Pain said bitterly.

"Almighty push..." Pain sent Naruto flying in the air.

"Now die!" Pain yelled. Pain sent Naruto hurtling towards the ground.

"NARUTO!" Kakashi yelled.

...

The others were helping search around for injured citizens, trapped under the rubble of what now is the Leaf Village.

Shikamaru, Choji, Tenten, Rock Lee, Neji, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata were gathered together, while Ino and Sakura tended to the injured.

"Where'd that guy go?" Lee asked.

"I don't know... But Naruto said he would go after him. That guy is awfully powerful." Shikamaru replied.

"Should we look for them?" Choji mumbled as he was eating a bag of chips.

"How can it be after a big disaster like this you still have snacks? What a drag Choji..." Shikamaru complained. "But yes, if Naruto needs our help we need to be there to back him up."

"I-I hope he's okay..." Hinata looked down at her shoes, very worried about Naruto. "I mean.. He's in a lot of danger fighting this person... I don't want him to get hurt..."

"Well let's get looking and help him when we find him!" Lee gave Hinata and everyone a thumbs up.

"Alright everyone disperse, just call out if you see him!" Shikamaru ordered.

Everyone dispersed not so far away from each other but covering a lot of ground. They went on top of piles of rubble to get a better look of the land.

"Have you guys found Naruto yet?" Shikamaru yelled out.

"Not over here!" Tenten yelled.

"Haven't found him either." Neji said.

A couple minutes passed with the several ninja searching through the destroyed village.

"Hey guys! Is that Naruto over there? And I think that's also Kakashi sensei!" Kiba yelled out.

Everyone ran to gather where Kiba was standing. Off in the distance of levelled flat ground was Pain along with Naruto and Kakashi fighting.

"We should go help them!" Lee struck a pose as he said that.

"We need a strategy, we know nothing about the enemy except that he blew up our entire village in one jutsu. So no moves for the time being." Shikamaru said.

"I agree, we need to see what else he can do first before we jump in." Neji replied.

Just as Neji spoke, Pain brought Naruto hurtling towards himself, catching him by the neck.

"Guys I think he's in trouble! We should go now!" Kiba said.

All any of them heard were two words.

"Almighty push!"

Naruto was sent flying in the air, then sent hurtling towards the ground.

"NARUTO!" Hinata yelled.

...

'I need to act now!' He thought to himself.

He jumped from out of the shadows.

At a blinding speed, the mans clones burst out from the darkness.

The clones went charging towards Naruto, while the real one went a different way.

"What's that!" Kakashi turned his head, only to see a blur of black zip passed him.

The clones ran, and caught Naruto just inches from hitting the ground, and poofed out of existence into flocks of crows as he was set gently on the ground.

'Those crows... Could that really be...?' Kakashi thought to himself.

"ITACHI!" Pain yelled. "What are you doing interrupting my plans! You traitor!" Pain could still not see where the real one was.

Naruto was slowly getting up, shocked still at what just happened.

"Show yourself Itachi!" Pain yelled out.

"Behind you..." Itachi said softly.

Pain turned around, as a cold chill ran down his spine. He stared into the dark red eyes of the Uchiha.

Pain was caught in his Genjutsu. Although to him it felt like days have gone by, in reality it only lasted half a second. He was being tortured brutally for every second that he felt.

For that half of second in reality, he has endured days of torture. Pain fell to the ground coughing and breathing heavily.

"Why you... Itachi..." His voice was hoarse.

"You're pathetic, you can't even take a simple Genjutsu." Itachi just watched him cough on the ground.

He walked over to Naruto, still struggling to get up. Itachi stuck out his hand.

"Itachi? You... Saved me?" Naruto's eyes were wide.

"Yes, now come on, get up Naruto. We need to finish the job." Itachi pulled Naruto up to his feet.

They now both stood side by side, and Kakashi was standing a couple meters away, amazed still by what had just happened.

"Use your Sage power and finish him off, I'll use my Sharingan. Go now!" Itachi directed Naruto.

Naruto quickly went back into Sage Mode.

"Amaterasu!" Itachi set Pain ablaze with black flames. Pain was rolling around on the ground screaming in agony.

Naruto created hundreds of shadow clones and bolted towards Pain. His clones kicked him higher and higher up in the air.

"Uzumaki Barrage!" They all yelled as hundreds of shadow clones pounded Pain into the ground from high in the air.

When Pain hit the ground there was a big blast of dust and rubble, along with the silence that encompassed everyone watching. Even Naruto's classmates and team members were staring in silence.

Naruto came out of the cloud of dust and Itachi walked towards him.

"Good job, Naruto." Itachi looked at him with calm eyes.

"Well... Without you I could have died there. Why did you decide to save me? I thought you were apart of the Akatsuki who wanted world domination, yet you just took out a team member." Naruto was confused yet relieved.

"The Leaf Village will always be my home Naruto. Although people here resent the Uchiha clan and especially me for betraying the village, I have a special place here." Itachi looked around and saw the destruction that covered the village.

"To me... Home will always be home." Itachi tussled Naruto's hair, and for the first time, smiled too.