So, Sasuke deciding to destroy the village - the reasons will be explained in here, promise. I've made it work, so no one is gonna question again.

I'm back, and besides the meticulous construction of what transpires, I've also been busy rereading old Star Trek: Deep Space Nine works of mine and fixing some minor mistakes I never noticed before.

Chapter Nineteen

Three-Way! Squad Seven Falls!

Don't tell me, Sasuke...

"What are you talking about, little brother?" Itachi asked coldly. "I doubt it sounds like you're implying what we are thinking." And Naru, while saying nothing, gazed at Sasuke the same way he was.

"Yeah, I don't like the way you say that. What are you thinking?"

Sasuke lifted his chin at them both.

"I held my end of the bargain, you two, so now I get to do what I feel is best for you both. I know this village means everything to you, but how you have been treated is inexcusable. My own brother made into a monster to the public's eye instead of the hero he is, and my best friend locked up for standing up to the very same man responsible - the man equally accountable for the deaths of more friends of hers - that is something I won't overlook." Sasuke's words now dripped heavier venom as his eyes swirled red and black.

"That's why I'm leaving now, but I'll be back...to destroy the system of the Hidden Leaf Village."

What he said - it was an utter disgrace, and Itachi loathed himself for not predicting that. "Foolish little brother...every word in that sentence is enough to mark you a true rogue - and a failure that I am ashamed of. After everything I did for you."

His eyes widened as the only reaction to the disappointment.

Naru exploded then and there, and it was by that time they both sensed help coming, yet they stayed as they were, but Itachi had to assume his henge in time before they got here.

"You...traitorous...bastard. And I thought you were a friend! Why would you want to destroy that which your brother risked so much to protect?! This is our home, Sasuke!" She shrieked to the point of sounding like the young girl she used to be, and it must have taken Sasuke back to those times, though now was different because he had taken his revenge quest to another level - and utterly misinterpreted everything.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "The same home that treated the ones I care about like they were garbage," he spat, "and I will not let it pass like you two!" He then raised both his hands and slapped them before himself. "I will destroy Konoha and restore order."

He was gone in a puff of smoke. Naru swore aloud while Itachi did it in his mind. Damn it all, Sasuke.

Had his younger brother been alone, or just had Juugo, Karin and Suigetsu, then his plans would have been futile, but now that there was an entire village waiting for him, it was highly likely unless he and Naru as well as their friends and the Akatsuki did something about this...

"Why...why would he do this?" Naru whispered, unable to look at him. He wondered the same thing, but one thing was certain: Sasuke has become a true threat you have to deal with. You have the tool to do that.

By this time, company arrived in the form of Neji - in ANBU mask and uniform - as well as Sakura who was disheveled as much as the rest of them. The attention was on the dead carcass of Danzo Shimura himself. "It's done," Neji said to his subordinates. "Take him away and tell the others what happened..." Then he shifted his attention to him and Naru.

"...and that Naru Uzumaki returned and saved us all, with help of a friend."

Sakura looked down at the dead Hokage with a look of pure loathing, similar to when Sasuke had done so, but when she looked at Naru and saw the fire in her eyes - the Hyuuga saw this, too - she did the honor of asking her and Itachi, still in henge, to leave the room so that the corpse could be taken care of. The captain himself remained with his unit so that they could secure the scene...but they would ask questions about the missing arm of the Hokage. That was what Itachi would have to confide in secret, somehow, with Neji.

"So, what happened? I saw Sasuke come, but now he's gone," Sakura said heatedly, eyes flashing. She's been treating injured and dying, having so many on her hands, but now she found the time to come and check it out.

Naru bitterly spat it out. "Sakura, you and I are going to do what I promised you. He intends to attack the village."

Green eyes bulged with pure shock and horror, and then it subsided into raging fury. "Sasuke..." The pinkette growled through her teeth, the vein popping out in her forehead, northeast of the seal which seemed to pulsate with her ire. "Naru, you and I, just like you said. Right now. Where do you think he could have gone?"

Sage Mode was in question since someone had to track Sasuke Uchiha, and Naru's eyes flashed, then turned to look up at Itachi, nodding and giving him the silent message.

We're going to stop Sasuke together. While everyone else is working on this village.

~o~

"I'm gonna punch his skull so hard it's gonna be mopped up - and not by me - when I'm through with him!"

She laughed at Sakura's rant when they were on the move in the direction Sasuke was going, and he hadn't yet met up with his followers. If anyone would interfere, she was going to send a hundred of herself to stop them from getting in the way. "Believe it, I won't stop you from doing that!" Naru declared as the smell of smoke and blood became fainter behind them.

The update on Deidara and Kisame before she and her friend took off: the boys got away without a scratch, two casualties on Konoha's side and one on Suna's - surprise, surprise - and Itachi's clone had informed them of what had just transpired, so who knew if she and Sakura would see them anytime soon. And Itachi told them to keep out of it until it's really life-threatening to either of us.

Which meant the Akatsuki were going to stand by as backup and just enjoy the show.

"Let's do it together." And what she meant was what they both did together as they soared through the trees, getting nearer to the one who was flying through them at the same time, several yards away but getting closer and closer...

"SASUKE!"

Naru and Sakura hollered his name at the same time, and it caused him to halt, surprisingly. He halted, ha! Go get him, runt!

You'd better be ready to go if it comes to that then!

The two kunoichi dropped from the branches and stood before HIM in the clearing. Sakura snarled at the sight of him, the man she couldn't believe she even loved, and because he was now a threat to her village, she was ready to kill him if he planned to do so to either of them - because they were against his ideals.

Huh, finally gonna really do that to your friend? The one that I told would regret killing YOU?

I don't want to, but maybe I will if it... She halted that sentence because it was obvious enough. He just...and he had HELPED us all this time! I thought he would give up revenge now that he knew everything!

Well, I told you I didn't trust him from the start. Should have known it would not be easy. Not like he is like your Hyuuga and Kazekage friends.

"Naru. Sakura. What are you both doing here? To see me off?"

She could not tell if it was sarcasm or sincerity - or if he just pretended he didn't know altogether. "None," Sakura answered. "We're both here to stop you from leaving so that you can plan the destruction of the Leaf Village - just like Orochimaru before you."

The mere mention of the snake made his face twist. "It's nothing like that at all! Orochimaru wanted to destroy the village for his own means - and try to lay claim on me so he could take my body. My means are to restore order to the place that inflicted unforgivable pain on two people that were close to my heart," Sasuke growled, features resembling that of a beast.

"Order," Naru retorted, clenching her fists, "or is this more to satisfy your own ego because you found that the truth is hard to accept, and now you want to let your anger and hate destroy you, like it did your clan?" Unable to let go of that hatred, choosing to let it rot you to the core. She unleashed the last of the tirade in a shriek that caused the birds overhead to take flight from the trees.

"You really want to get somewhere that will leave blood on the streets - and countless lives extinguished? That was exactly what Itachi prevented by following his orders!"

His face softened a little if remaining fierce and ready to battle. He said nothing - nothing at all.

"You heard her," Sakura concurred. "If you're gonna tear everything down because you feel personally betrayed, not just because of your brother and our friend, then let's take it right here and now...just the three of us." And with that, she did the honors of starting what was going to be a brand new era their mentors passed down to them. Sakura raised her thumb to her lips and bit on the pad, drawing forth blood and then weaving the familiar hand signs that Sasuke also recognized and began to repeat, realizing what the girls who were his old teammates - now turned against him and ready to do the unimagined - intended.

Hissing, Naru was the final to do so - and all three simultaneously slammed their palms down on the ground before them. The jutsu formula appeared in the earth.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

~o~

He had arrived in time to see the smoke erupt in the vicinity of his range. Kisame and Deidara were in tow, and Zetsu materialized from the tree they were all perched atop, watching the scene from above.

"Un, what the hell are they doing now?" Deidara asked, blinking. "We come all this way at the end of the battlefield - to an EXPLOSION?" He slapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing at his own joke, refrained himself from saying his usual barbs about art, because of what the smoke cleared away from to reveal.

"Well, well - a new three-way deadlock, is it?" Kisame asked, canting his head to the side while leering with enthusiasm.

First was his brother the attention was on: Sasuke's summons was a great blue snake with a pair of light green eyes, though if Itachi had to guess on sight, he'd say this serpent was more dutiful and respectful than the mean-tempered Manda, who had been at Orochimaru's call.

How could he forget Katsuyu, the enormous white slug who served the Godaime? Now she was with Sakura Haruno, Tsunade's disciple. But she is yet to learn of her old mistress' death.

That left Naru with the giant orange toad with the purple facial markings, and she was stunned when she recognized him on the spot, having not expected him to reach this size, and not knowing that toads grew faster than humans. In his mind, he pictured her being upgraded to the name of "Toad Princess".

"You're right, Kisame," he mused, "but this is not like their mentors in the Second Great War." It's a new era...and this time is tearing an old team apart for better or worse.

White Zetsu giggled hysterically. "Oh, this is gonna be so much fun to watch!" "I bet it on either Naru or Sasuke, but I wish I could say for sure about the Fifth Hokage's apprentice," Black Zetsu said snidely.

But Sakura Haruno did not train under Tsunade Senju for nothing.

~o~

"Gamakichi - you've grown."

She was so amazed that he'd come instead of his father, whom she was told had been tied up with negotiations, so his eldest son arrived in his place - armed and ready, which made them both. "You humans just grow too slowly, that's all," the orange toad replied smartly. I bet his attitude has gotten just as big.

"So, Naru, what's the deal here - oh, never mind," Gamakichi said when he found himself sided with Katsuyu and the snake they were just getting acquainted with.

"Sasuke is our enemy once again. Meaning you and me, Sakura and Katsuyu against him and whoever that summons is," Naru answered, narrowing her eyes as she heard him speak to the snake, learning the thing's name was Aoda. If her memory was correct, those snake summons resided in the Ryūchi Cave, like the slugs came from Shikkotsu Forest and the toads from Mt. Myoboku.

Sakura's conversation with the great slug involved the pride that Lady Tsunade would have for her apprentice, only for the sadness to be heard in Katsuyu's voice when she was told of the old lady's death. Still, the words stood.

Though they might have been past the point of no return, she had to try one more time before there would be bruises and broken bones - and maybe blood. "You should end this now, Sasuke. Your idea of order is just going to inflict more pain on innocent people that are not involved with the Shinobi world. How you think Itachi will feel towards you when you do this?"

"No matter what, he's not gonna stop me," Sasuke replied icily. "He would just say, like you, that he knows how much I am suffering inside while knowing the truth, but could you REALLY comprehend that my whole life has been a lie because of those in authority? I could have killed the three elders responsible for his dishonor, for shunning the Uchiha clan - and therefore, the Senju-led village is just as responsible."

"So WE'RE responsible, too, for something we never knew about?!" Sakura shouted. "You're too swayed by your damned emotions to see what's in front of you!"

"Says the weak, useless girl who looked at my face instead of considering what might have gone on behind it!" he fired back, making her angrier.

"And who the hell was I to do that?" she agreed. "Weak and useless, I was, but look at me now. I hate myself for mistaking infatuation for love, but we were just kids. I've now rectified that mistake, and I'm not going to shed a tear if you were finished off here and now. That way, Naru is no longer burdened with the promise she made to me."

How would THAT feel, now that you're no longer fighting to bring him back - but to keep him from laying waste to everything?

Naru's answer was both to the fox and to Sakura's words. "We're not going to hold back any punches here, so you know we are going to bring the pain, Sasuke!"

And that was what high-level Shinobi did: never hold back the punches. This would be the final fight not just between her and Sasuke, but both of them AND Sakura. High-level...hell yeah, that's what we are! I knew it would feel better than imagined.

He seemed to mirror her thoughts, for that one-sided smirk appeared on his face. And then it was gone when he sneered at her, knowing her full intentions. "I thought you would be on the same page as me, Naru. But now that Danzo is dead, you're not with me; you're against me. The same goes for you, Sakura. I thought you'd changed now, but you're more annoying now than you were when we were Genin."

The pinkette hissed through her teeth. "You're gonna pay for that. Lady Katsuyu!"

On her new mistress' command, the giant slug released her slimy acid in the direction of the snake who opened his jaws and hissed savagely, making way for Katsuyu - and that was Naru's cue to shout at Gamakichi to jump to the attack, sword unsheathed.

My turn, too!

Gamakichi's sword made way down to Aoda's tail end, slicing it deftly off, earning a pained hiss as its owner whipped around and made way to lashing his invisible fangs at the toad, at the same time the acid missed its target, but it wasn't like the slug couldn't recharge for another try. Naru jumped off from her summons and made way, Kutone drawn and crackling with chakra, to meet with the other who also had his special sword ready to fight hers a second time.

That first strike was enough to drive each other back in opposite directions, and it was by this time Katsuyu's acid made another strike - and this time she hit Aoda again, only for him to shed his skin and escape the melting death.

However, that snake did not escape Sakura's merciless beating when she built up her chakra into her fists. God, Naru prayed she could get out of that thing if he decided to open his jaws to swallow her whole...both those times Orochimaru's serpents tried to eat me up...and at that rate, she's gonna beat that snake to a pulp.

Except she should have counted on the fact that snake was more nimble and fast compared to Orochimaru's horned beast. He even wrapped himself around Katsuyu only for the big girl to dissolve into hundreds of smaller clones only to reform again.

Naru had to refocus herself back on Sasuke again, having an idea which involved turning on Sage Mode, staying a good long distance from him as she charged him all the same, making it look like she'd missed him; he was baring his teeth in a grin that spoke volumes of reaching her for the kill...

...but the slash she threw at him hit as he never saw it coming. She cut his cheek as well as the front of his chest, drawing blood but not in a fatal amount.

"Gotcha!" Naru said proudly, thinking to Kurama, How about THAT? He simply laughed and whipped all his tails. And of course, down Sasuke went, reaching for his chest wound but keeping Kusanagi in his grasp, nursing it while glaring murderously up at her.

Above them, Sakura was coming down, shouting at the top of her lungs, "CHAAAA!" Her leg was raised out, and she brought it down for the impact of breaking the earth in this area, then causing those pieces to elevate like the petals of the flower she was named after. This sent Sasuke off his balance and in the other direction. The look on his face as he was getting his ass handed to him by both girls he once thought annoying!

Meanwhile, their summons had their own fight amongst each other. That meant the three former members of Team Seven had it on their own.

Now she and Sakura were back to back as they looked at their fallen opponent as he picked himself up, hissing sharply with his breathing. "These wounds are nothing."

For a moment, she considered using shadow clones along with her sword, but the Sharingan could assess who was the real one, and it would be a waste of her chakra. Next time on someone else would work, if she would use the big girl again after today.

"Leave him to me, Naru, for now," Sakura said, marching over to him and she pulled out two of her kunai - the poison-coated ones, she recognized - and threw them right out long-range, even though they would be deflected easily when he picked up his sword again...except before that, Sakura had surprised them altogether that Naru never thought she'd see anything like this.

Those kunai...there are shadow clones of them! Oh, God, when did she master a jutsu like THAT?!

"CHIDORI STREAM!"

Unfortunately, the lightning that would have stopped them did not deflect the numerous blades, some striking him and grazing, but he was down again. "Don't worry, Sasuke," Sakura told him with a twinkle of sadism in her eyes. "You're not gonna die, but you're paralyzed for now. This is so I can continue beating and breaking every bone in your body myself."

Oh, ho, Sakura, you really are something else. You're more of a monster than I knew you'd be. Naru grinned at her, but that was a mistake, because that meant a guard lowered that she NEVER should have let happen.

A great impact sent her and the pinkette backwards, and that was Aoda's tail coming down, but then he was gone in a gigantic puff of smoke. Maybe his chakra was exhausted out? And that just left Gamakichi and Katsuyu in the picture to stand by and watch the rest of the show while it lasted.

Regaining their footing but crouching, Kutone behind her back once again for now, Naru and Sakura both looked with shocked horror at the sight before them. When Sasuke stood up, the black flames of the Curse Mark had covered his entire body.

"Damn it, why didn't I think he would use that?" Sakura whispered harshly.

"I'm partially paralyzed, but it's not going to last," Sasuke growled. "When I defeated Orochimaru, when I ended up trapped in the world of his Transference, I used my Sharingan to turn his devouring beast back onto him. That's where he ended up..."

Horrified, Naru subconsciously backed into Sakura who did the same, the thought mirroring: He devoured the snake into his own body. That means he has Orochimaru's chakra in himself, and some of his abilities with his own...oh, God. That also means he's immune to some forms of poison, like most venomous snakes are.

But that didn't stop Sakura, who readied herself again, and this time, Naru knew just how to get the bastard off for her once more. And that was when Sasuke weaved the signs and heaved a large breath in - for the great Fire Ball that came their way, and the girls leaped out of the way, but not if Naru had anything to say about it. She finally found it in herself to ask for Kurama to go into Tailed Beast Mode with her, so here she was now.

Coupled with a clone of hers, she formed the Rasengan to bring down onto Sasuke - behind him, Sakura was also making four shadow clones to get the drop on him, no matter it being a usage of her own chakra - and the smoke from the fire cleared only to reveal crackling silvery-gray lightning which she remembered as the Onyx Chidori from that day at the final valley...and it came into contact with the Rasengan that formed.

The impact was as expected: the explosion sent them backwards, and the feeling in her arm resulted in the mild scarring of tissue from compressed chakra. Livid and hissing, Naru clutched her arm and watched as it slowly regenerated itself, but she couldn't relax.

What highlighted her moment was when Sakura and her clones came down and knocked the hell out of Sasuke, sending him in every direction there was, except when she looked upon his features, the mortification was there as it was on Naru's, who remembered that look of him in the second stage of the Curse Mark: the long, bluish-gray hair, his skin ashen on the verge of charcoal, the inky cross mark across his nose, lips shapely if painted purplish - similarly to a girl - and finally his Sharingan floating amidst gray darker than his skin.

Sakura was seeing him like this for the first time, finally seeing what Naru told her when they were younger, and yet she wasn't affected as much. Only disgusted.

Now Sasuke was pulling out his sword once more, going for Naru as he was still in the beastly level - and a perfect match against her Tailed Beast Mode - so she had to be ready again as she reached behind her back for her partner...

...but the Kusanagi never came any closer than a few feet away at the same time the Kutone had finally come out, when the powerful blade made contact with another that wasn't the Jinchuuriki.

"SAKURA!"

You heard her right: the pinkette got in the middle of the would-have-been clash of swords - and the middle of her abdomen was pierced through with the powerful blade infused with lightning nature. So Naru screamed her name - and so did Sasuke, except it was a harsh growl of dismay: "Sakura...why? Why did you get in my way?!"

The point of the sword sticking out through the middle of her body was covered with a thin layer of blood, so it was more pinkish than red, though the base was lined with crimson and lost a few drops which touched the ground. Sakura then turned her face halfway, showing no blood streaming from her mouth - yet - and forced a strained smile. Though her words were somewhat strangled.

"Because I'm not going to let you kill our - no, MY friend. I thought I made it clear, you strayed bastard. I never go back on my word, not anymore."

Those words...they were so similar to what Hinata said that day she let Pain toss her around. Oh, damn it! You had to let yourself be killed by him to PROTECT me!

Sasuke could say nothing to that, but not only was it because of what she said to him, but something else that Naru had no idea what to think of, because when he closed his eyes, she saw blood drip down in place of clear tears. Kurama saw this and rattled.

Naru, you'd better watch out. You know what that is?!

She did, when the eyelids flew open again, and there she saw the change: against black irises was a six-point red star, centered with a single black dot. When she saw that, something inside her built up and continued to rise within her body, making way for her esophagus. It was almost like she wanted to...

Oh, God, I'm going to throw up.

Why did she feel like this, at a time like this?! Was it because one of her old friends stabbed another before her eyes, which was just as worse as an old enemy nearly killing another? I lost Hinata, but Sakura...I don't want you...

By now, the build-up reached her mouth, and she choked it out, feeling like she was going to suffocate from the enormous thing that escaped her mouth to fly above their heads, much to the shock and disgust of both Sasuke and Sakura when they saw this. But not so much as herself. Naru was still coughing from her sitting position.

Why the hell did a crow just come out of my mouth?! Are you KIDDING ME?!

A brand new three-way showdown - had it planned from the start. :D Naru and Gamakichi, Sakura and Katsuyu, and of course Sasuke and Aoda. But the challenge was how to make it different than their mentors' battle in Part One.

Oh, and Sakura's surprise jutsu: I thought it might be a good idea to introduce something that might be new, inspired by Lord Third's Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. :D Hope ya'll liked that surprise.

Oh and if someone says the three-way was a forced event, they're not gonna have nice words from me. Other than that: OMG he stabbed Sakura. :O And you know what the change in his eyes means...

...and that crow coming out of Naru! Double drumroll. (but I promise it didn't emerge in response to Sasuke's Mangekyo)

REVIEW! :D And please, be nice. That also means more than just "thank you, I look forward to more".