Disclaimer: Of course I do not own Naruto

A/N: You're probably going to get really frustrated with me and this story at about 3 pages into this chapter, but please, please, please don't give up hope! Just keep reading!

"You bastard," Sasuke grunted. "Put them down. Give them to me!" Sasuke glared at Itachi, but didn't have enough strength left to summon the sharingan. He hadn't used any chakra, and yet he felt so spent.

Itachi looked from one crying baby girl to the other, his expression skeptical. "Now why would I want to do that after going through all the trouble of getting them in the first place?"

"Give my daughters to me!" Sasuke shouted, forcing his arms to raise and reach out toward them.

"Dai!" Itachi ordered with a snarl.

Nausea overcame Sasuke once again, and he dropped to his hands and knees, breathing hard. "What are you going to do to my daughters?" he demanded. "What are you going to do to Naruto?" Ignoring his rolling stomach, Sasuke looked up at his brother again. "Please," he begged. "Please Itachi, do what you want with me - kill me, I don't care. But please, they're just babies. They're your own nieces for godsakes!" Sasuke never thought he'd beg for such a thing, especially not from Itachi, but it was worth it. He had no regrets, and he would not regret dying for the ones he loved if it meant freeing them from this madman... though he knew it was probably a futile attempt. Why should Itachi care about killing his nieces? It's not like he hadn't killed everybody else in his family already anyway - with the exception of Sasuke, of course.

As Sasuke had expected he'd do, Itachi refused. "Oh little brother," he said with the tiniest of smiles. "You know me better than that."

"You're going to kill them." It was more a statement than a question.

But Itachi shook his head again. "No brother... you are."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What-?" He had realized what Itachi meant nearly as soon as he said it, and it a pang shot through his body like a needle shoved into his heart. Suddenly his body jerked to its feet as if of its own accord. Dai was controlling him still! Tears spilled out and rolled down his cheeks. Itachi wasn't going to kill the people Sasuke loved... oh no, he was going to make his toture of Sasuke's life that much more complete by having Sasuke do it himself. Sasuke, and Sasuke alone, would have the stain of Naruto and the babies' blood on his hands. Everything he hald dear was about to be destroyed... by his own hand. Sasuke began to sob again.

"First for your petty little wife," Itachi said calmly. He watched his little brother as if he were watching a science experiment, his head tilted slightly to the side as if in mock curiosity. A man watching the rat in the maze.

Sasuke's body took one step toward the unconscious Naruto. "No," he breathed. "No Itachi, please don't do this." His body then took another step, and then again another, though he tried to make it stop. "Please, please." Strong enough emotion could break the bond between master and puppet, Itachi had said, but Dai had an iron grip and control over Sasuke's mind and body at that moment. His leg shook at the next step. He was getting closer and closer toward Naruto - slowly, but surely. "Itachi! Dai! Stop!" Another step, and then another. The most that Sasuke could do was cry and beg. How had he managed to fall so far? He was supposed to have protected Naruto... he was supposed to have protected the babies....

Finally, Sasuke was standing at Naruto's side, looking down on him. His hand slowly reached into his kunai pouch and brought one of them out. His hand shook now that it grasped a weapon. He was straining so hard just to make his arm stop moving. It wasn't working. "No, please, please no." He was supposed to protect his family, he had to protect them... Sasuke's tears slid down his chin and dripped onto Naruto's face. Two little droplets that didn't even make a sound.

Naruto's eyes snapped open.

Sasuke was so shocked that Naruto was awake, for a moment he had full control of his body again. Or perhaps it was Dai who was shocked, and his concentration slipped. Either way, it didn't matter. Sasuke did not have time to act.

A deep growling erupted from within Naruto's throat. Sasuke had never heard such a sound before. The wind and the trees and the leaves around them began to stir and swirl about in the air.

And then, Naruto began to change.

His eyes went crimson red; the color leaking and spreading first from his pupils, into his irises, and staining the whites of his eyes pink. Sasuke could see all this because he was still standing directly over the boy. Naruto looked like a demon. For the first time in months, Naruto looked dangerous. Then, his hair began to shorten on its own; it seemed to be sucking backward into his head rather than growing out. Soon it was in messy spikes, the way it used to be before he had gotten pregnant and turned into a full-time woman, except a bit wilder. His whiskers began to grow wild on each side of his face, and he began to scream. It was not the scream of a little woman who had just given birth, it was the scream of an older boy in pain. Sasuke had never been more relieved to hear it, and yet never more frightened at the same time.

Chakra began to stir in the air around Naruto - fiery red chakra that lit up the night. Sasuke jumped back; he was sure that the chakra would burn him were he to touch it. It swirled about like a fiery tornado around Naruto's body, and yet the boy was still changing and screaming. Was he going mad? What was going on? Sasuke had never seen anything like this before. "Naruto!" he shouted, but his voice was lost in the sound of the wind and Naruto's screaming. "Naruto!" But Naruto could not hear him. "Naruto please!"

Naruto's body convulsed. His fingers stretched into claws, his teeth bared fangs. The pupils of his eyes grew thin and vertically slanted. Naruto's back arched in what seemed like either anger or pain, convulsions racking the boy's body as his claws ripped up the dirt at his side and continued to tear at the earth. Tears spilled out of the corners of his wide, red eyes.

"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed in vain.

Suddenly something seemed to burst from Naruto's chest, and he let out the most horrible, pain-filled shriek Sasuke had ever heard before. It seemed the pain of a thousand screaming souls existed in that one, single shout. The red chakra, still swirling crazily about, shot straight up into the sky, and grew and grew, wider and wider.

"I had not anticipated this," Sasuke heard Itachi say, and then his brother was gone. Sasuke looked around. Dai had already fled away.

Sasuke saw the path of the red chakra speeding in his direction, and knew that he should move, but before he could even act on that thought, the chakra passed through him like a blast of hot air, and was suddenly past him. Sasuke stood within the chaos now, his hair and clothes thrown in all directions by the fierce wind. Naruto's agonizing scream continued, along with a strange new ripping sound. White swirls of smaller wisps of chakra shot up into the air as well, coming straight from Naruto's stomach.

In that moment, Sasuke realized what was happening. The seal on Naruto's stomach was weakening... or Naruto was becoming stronger and breaking it. Either way, he knew, the Kyuubi would soon be free. "No!" he screamed defiance into the unforgiving wind. What would happen to Naruto if the beast was free? What would happen to him? To Konoha? To his daughters?

Sasuke didn't have time to think or react to what was happening. Suddenly, Naruto just... exploded. A cloud of red and an angry orange light appeared, burst outward in a loud explosion, spread, and then suddenly, sucked back in, toward Naruto's body.

Then, everything stopped. All the chakra and light seemed to have been absorbed back into Naruto's body, or somewhere near Naruto's body. The light had been too bright for Sasuke to see, and even now after everything had fallen silent, the dust had still not cleared. The silence was painful compared to all the noise that had been going on just a moment before. Sasuke could barely see anything around him; he could make out only a few indistinct shapes and shadows through the dust.

Then, it all began to clear. The dust finally began to settle, and Sasuke heard himself take in a sharp intake of breath. Miles around was nothing but destruction and death. All the trees that had once been standing, the green grass, the flowers, the animals, and the plants... all of it was dead, charred, and black. It was as if there really had been an explosion, and the only things left alive were Sasuke himself, and... the Kyuubi.

The first thing Sasuke noticed - after gaping around at the new scenery, and at the demon standing before him of course- was Naruto, in male form, lying motionless at Kyuubi's feet. Kyuubi snarled and barked, looking directly down at Sasuke. What do you want? he desperately wanted to demand, but he just couldn't find the strength to do it. Sasuke was not ashamed to say that he had never been more afraid in his life. He was now standing under the gaze of a mad demon, his family-murdering brother had both of his newborn babies, and he had no idea what kind of condition Naruto was in.

Suddenly, Kyuubi's gaze jerked away from Sasuke, and it barked at something behind him he could not see. Then, the enormous demon bounded away. Without thinking, Sasuke cringed, and then rushed toward Naruto, pulling the boy into his arms.

"Naruto!" he breathed, shaking him. Why wasn't he waking up? Sasuke shook him harder. Naruto's skin was pale and cold. Sasuke could not feel the other boy's chakra, nor his pulse. No, no, no, no, oh god NO! Tears spilled over again. How many times would Sasuke cry today? "Naruto! Naruto!" he called, but the blonde boy's eyes never opened, or even fluttered.

And the truth hit him like a brick to the chest: Naruto was dead; his eyes weren't going to open. Infuriated and miserable, Sasuke bent over his lover's body and sobbed. Then, he screamed - screamed at nothing, screamed at the sky, screamed at anything.

His anger had been revived, stronger than ever. Sasuke stood, gently placing Naruto in the dirt and kissing him once on his cold, dead lips. Then, he glared out toward where he could see Kyuubi above the trees, snarling and growling and snapping at the air. Sasuke ran for the creature.

He would see Itachi dead if it was the last thing he'd ever do.

Due to some trouble caused by inexperienced chunin, Tsunade had been forced to work extra late that night, and didn't arrive home until around eleven or so. She was relieved to be able to come home and sit in her living room on the couch and relax. She was so tired that at first she didn't notice that she was the only one home. The guards outside hadn't said anything, but... Tsunade glanced at the clock. Ten minutes until midnight; she'd been nearly an hour off in guessing what time it was.

She called repeatedly for Sasuke and Naruto, but after a few minutes, it became apparent that they weren't there. She opened the front door and turned to one of the guards. "Where did Sasuke and Naruto go?" she asked.

He seemed surprised at being addressed by her - she had never spoken to him personally before. A little unsure of himself, the man bowed, and then shrugged relunctantly. "I'm sorry to say that I don't know. I just arrived here a moment ago, Hokage-sama."

She shrugged off his formalities and turned to the other guards. "Were any of you here when Sasuke and Naruto left? Or do any of you know where they might be?"

One of them cleared his throat to get her attention, and she turned to him. "I saw them leave, Hokage. They just walked out, Naruto first and then Sasuke a little later. They just said they had things they needed to do."

She looked at the man for a moment, thinking. He seemed to grow uncomfortable under her gaze. "And you have no idea where they went?" she asked.

"No, Hokage," he answered.

"Hm.... Send for Kakashi."

"No need," the silver haired man announced, appearing out of the fog. Tsunade hadn't noticed the mist growing until then. This was turning into a strange night. "Hokage... Tsunade..." Tsunade had not noticed until then how panicked Kakashi was. He was hiding it well, but still, she could tell - his eyes were just a tiny bit too wide, his words came out just a little bit too quickly, and he couldn't seem to keep completely still.

She decided to take control of the situation immediately. If there were any bad news, she did not want him to blurt it out in front of people only for panic to spread. "Please, come inside Kakashi." She held the door open for him, and he looked relieved.

"Thank you, Hokage." And he followed her in.

Once inside, Kakashi walked straight for the stairs. "What is it Kakashi?" she demanded impatiently from behind. He did not answer, so she followed him. Kakashi continued upward until he reached Sasuke's room - the highest room in the house, facing east. She glanced around at all the dust. Sasuke had hardly ever slept there; mostly he chose to sleep in the same bed as Naruto.

"There's something you need to see," Kakashi said, and he stepped up to the rather large window and tore open the blinds.

At first, Tsunade saw nothing of importance, but then she could see movement in the night, past the wall of Konoha. Something was moving out there - something big. "What is it?" she demanded, surprised.

"We think it's a demon," Kakashi replied quietly.

They shared a look for a long moment. Suddenly Tsunade gasped. "Naruto! The Kyuubi!"

Kakashi's eyes grew wider, and he held out his arms in case she fainted. "What?!" he demanded. He had not made the connection she had.

She smacked his hands away impatiently. "Didn't you hear me talking to the guards? Naruto and Sasuke are missing! If Naruto's emotions got out of control.... That could very well be the fox demon out there!"

Kakashi's one visible eye grew very wide. Quickly he threw open the window and readied himself for the leap to the ground. "Ready the entire village!" he demanded. "I'll go on ahead. Gather up every able bodied ninja and every villager willing to come. You remember the destruction from the last time the Kyuubi was free." And then he jumped.

Tsunade stood there frozen for a moment, and then rushed to do her job. She realized immediately that she would also have to plan an emergency evacuation for all the women and children. If the Kyuubi is really free...

Sasuke heard his babies before he saw them; they were still crying. And it was no wonder, with all that was going on. It was a surprise they were both still alive. If Itachi was planning on exterminating the entire Uchiha clan other than himself, why hadn't he killed the two babies yet? Why was he even bothering to keep them alive? Simply because he wanted Sasuke to be the one to kill them? However, with Dai gone, that seemed unlikely now. Sasuke doubted that the man was brave enough to stick with Itachi now - Dai's abilities were near to nothing when it came to demons.

Sasuke stayed hidden in the trees - the ones that hadn't already been burned and blackened, of course. Kyuubi was not very far away, growling and snapping at something on the ground. Sasuke peered over to see Itachi, holding one newborn in each arm, standing directly in the demon's path. "Why haven't you attacked me yet?" Itachi called to the Kyuubi. His voice still held a note of indifference. How could he be so cool and collective, face-to-face with the fox demon, Sasuke wondered? "I'm standing right here. Why aren't you snapping me up?"

Kyuubi snarled at him. "Oh, I see," Itachi continued. "You don't want to hurt the babies." He scoffed. "You've grown soft, and now you've become attached to human emotions. How pathetic."

The demon growled and roared in Itachi's face. "How dare you insult me," Kyuubi said. Sasuke was shocked. He hadn't known that the demon could speak. He had heard through Naruto of course, but he figured that it had just been the Kyuubi's mind speaking to Naruto's. Sasuke had never actually heard the demon's voice before.

"I thought the fox demon of Konoha was supposed to be terrifying. It turns out you're just a well trained dog after all." Kyuubi continued to roar and scowl, but Itachi ignored him. Suddenly Itachi turned his head and looked directly at Sasuke. "Come out little brother. Don't you want your chance to kill me?"

Without word or thought, Sasuke jumped from his hiding place and lunged at Itachi. Itachi dodged him easily. Sasuke hoped that carrying two babies would somehow throw Itachi off, but unfortunately his brother seemed not to even notice they were there, and Sasuke had to fight just as hard as he would have if Itachi were not holding anything at all - even harder considering that he did not want to harm his children. Kyuubi simply stood at the sidelines and watched.

"Who's side are you on, Kyuubi?" Sasuke demanded. He was already sweating from the battle.

"I am on no one's side," the fox demon hissed.

Great, Sasuke thought.

It seemed that Konoha had arrived just in time. Kakashi had been watching Sasuke and Itachi's battle from the moment Sasuke had jumped down from the trees. Kakashi had been surprised, and a little impressed, by the sheer amount of damage the fox demon had caused by simply breaking his seal and coming out. However, he had been saddened to see Naruto lying cold and lifeless amongst the midst of the ruin. He had not had the time to mourn, so he left the boy's body in Tsunade's hands once she and her little army arrived.

A surprising amount of villagers had agreed to come with Tsunade, once they had gotten an idea of what was happening. Women and children were safely evacuated, and everyone who had come along was well-armed.

Suddenly Kakashi noticed another movement off to the side. A few branches down from him, the man he recognized as Dai Akamatsu was watching the battle as well, eyes wide and frightened. He had obviously not expected a demon to be involved in this fight, and had probably run in the midst of the confusion. Kakashi leaped down to join him. "Enjoying the fight?" he asked dangerously. Before Dai had the chance to react - Kakashi saw the tattoo of that strange symbol on the back of the man's neck, so he knew it was really him - Kakashi took out a kunai and coldly slit his throat.

He then left the man for dead.

"We have an audience, I think," Itachi announced as Sasuke continued to come at him. Itachi managed to dodge every one of Sasuke's attacks.

"An audience?" Sasuke demanded, breathless. He did not stop his assault.

"Yes," Itachi continued. "It seems that half your precious village has come to see what all the commotion is about."

Relief rolled over Sasuke - Tsunade and the others had finally come! Itachi didn't even have the decency to look worried, and maybe he in fact didn't have reason to. He was, after all, very powerful. And though aid had finally arrived, Sasuke knew the fight was far from over. Itachi was still alive and well; Itachi still had the babies.

"That's enough!"

Sasuke and his brother seperated in the instant the shout was made, and Sasuke turned to see Tsunade standing there at the edge of the trees. "Itachi Uchiha!" she continued. "You are under arrest, and sentenced to death! You are to be executed at first chance. Please, hand over the babies and come with us quietly."

"Oh dear," Itachi said mockingly. "It seems I am outnumbered." After a moment he said, "Enough with the formalities, Hokage."

"Give the babies to us now," Tsunade continued, ignoring and glaring at him.

Itachi shrugged. "Catch."

Sasuke's eyes grew wide, and his heart nearly jumped from his chest as his brother threw one of the babies into the air. Kyuubi roared at Itachi. Sasuke didn't even have time to move. He watched as one of his daughters was snatched out of the air just before she hit the ground. "That was rather rude," Kakashi Hatake commented. His one visible eye was watching the crying baby that was now suddenly in his arms. He hushed it, rocking it gently. Then, calmly, he handed her to Sasuke.

Sasuke felt a strong tug at his heart as he took the baby girl in his arms. She was still crying quite hard, but other than being a little shaken up, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her. She looked up at him with innocent, tear-filled eyes. They were large, and bright blue, just like Naruto's. More tears rolled down Sasuke's cheeks, and Tsunade gave him a quick sympathizing look.

"How sweet," Itachi commented apathetically. The sound of his brother's voice brought Sasuke back to reality. Itachi still had the other baby.

When Sasuke looked at him, slowly, Itachi brought out a kunai, and held it right over the other baby's heart. Kyuubi growled under his breath, but didn't move an inch. Sasuke's heart pounded wildly in his chest. He clutched his daughter protectively in his arms. "Are you still so sure that you want to be doing that?" Itachi asked calmly, and he turned and looked into the trees behind him from over his shoulder. Standing there was Neji Hyuga with his own weapon in hand. Sasuke hadn't noticed him there before.

As Sasuke glanced around the trees around him, he began to see other friends of his and Naruto's there. Little Hinata was there, Sakura of course, Ino, Kiba with Akamaru, Rock Lee, who was crying but looked determined. They must have all seen Naruto's body by now. Hiashi Hyuga was also there, and Iruka, and surprisingly even Jiraiya. Even little Konohamaru... Sasuke remembered that Konohamaru had always used to look up to Naruto. Kurenai and Asuma were there together, even though neither one of them had ever been very close to Sasuke or Naruto before. Might Guy was there, of course, surprisingly not standing with Lee even though his student seemed quite upset... Shikamaru was there, and TenTen.

Sasuke had never really realized how many friends he and Naruto truly had in Konoha. It was very touching to see them all there, supporting him, helping him.

Sasuke turned his attention back to Itachi.

But suddenly, Itachi was gone. He was there one moment, and simply wasn't the next. Tsunade was gone, too. They moved so fast I didn't even see them, Sasuke thought in amazement. He wasn't used to things like that. He still didn't have enough chakra to summon the sharingan.

"Sasuke, come on!" Kakashi urged him.

"Let me take her," Hinata offered, holding out her arms to take his baby. Sasuke was reluctant to let the child go, but desperately wanted to know what was happening with Itachi. He gently handed the baby to Hinata, and asked her to keep a close eye on her. She nodded understandingly and touched on of his arms. "I understand, Sasuke-san. I will watch her, you don't have to worry about that. Now go."

Sasuke nodded once, and jumped into the trees.

A/N: I'm pretty sure that there will only be one more chapter after this, and then maybe an epilogue. At least, that's what I'm planning for. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm sorry to always be leaving you with such dramatic cliffhangers all the time. (hehe...) Anyway, at least I'm updating fast. The next chapter will be up soon, I promise.