A/N: An update? This quickly? I'm trying guys I promise ^^ I hope I can make up for all the times I've taken forever.

"It wasn't only your memories and emotions that were taken when you were experimented on." Itachi watched unconcerned as Naruto and Gaara winced in pain ahead of him. "In fact, there was a small implant connected to your nervous system so that the scientists could control a certain aspect of you, if you can understand that."

Naruto gritted his teeth, his head pounding but he could also feel something else looming over him, a state that he had always tried to keep at bay but had had a habit of coming out when he was fighting in the arena at the lab when the fight was proving too difficult. He chanced a glance over at Gaara, knowing from what he had seen of his fights before that he was more than happy to let the change happen, though he was shocked to notice that Gaara was also trying to fight the urge at the moment. He glared up at Itachi and what he assumed was a remote in his hand. "Why?"

"Why what exactly? Why did they give you that implant? Simple, so that they had a way of controlling you." Itachi played with the remote control in his hands. "Or why does this work? That would be because the chip stops certain nervous functions. This state you are entering is how you should be, it's what you normally would be but the chip represses it and locks it away so that it can only be used when needed by those in control of you. Of course I'm sure there are some faults to the programming, as you don't appear to be shocked by the change happening inside you. Then again you are 'demons' after all." Itachi smirked slightly as he looked up.

"It's just the head ache that isn't normal." Gaara gripped his head with one hand, somehow hoping this would help suppress the pain.

"Well if you let your natural self take over then it won't hurt anymore. Why not just accept who you are? How you were made to be? It's not your fault you're like this, so why not use the power to your advantage?"

Sasuke watched on from the sidelines, feeling more and more useless as time went on. What was he supposed to do in this situation? What could he do? He jumped as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, not even knowing he still had it on him. He looked up; making sure that no one was focused on him and slipped the phone out, noting that it was Kakashi and that Iruka must have told him what had happened. He clicked the call on before slipping it back in his pocket, hoping that Kakashi would be able to trace the call quickly. He looked up again when he noticed Gaara's stance relax slightly, Naruto's following suit soon after.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it? And don't you feel more powerful now? More in control?"

"More in control, yes." Naruto flexed his hand, tightening it into a fist. "But then again, wouldn't that make you less in control of us?"

Itachi looked surprised for a second before looking down at the remote; before he could look up he heard a muffled growl of pain beside him, turning around to see Gaara his hand extending through another Akatsuki member covered in black stitches, blood drenching the floor behind him. He blinked, and suddenly Gaara wasn't there anymore, a small dust cloud left in his wake.

"My speed does come in handy sometimes." Gaara grinned, sending a shiver down Sasuke's spine, his face covered in blood as he looked over the other members of Akatsuki, his blood splattered hand dripping blood in a small pool at his feet. "So much for controlling us."

"You OK, Kakuzu?" A white haired man standing next to him, watching him stand up shakily from the floor.

"Of course I am, Hidan." Kakuzu stood up properly, shifting his weight to regain his balance. "He didn't hit anything vital after all." He looked down at the hole high up in his chest, sighing annoyed. "Though I'm going to have to stitch myself up yet again later."

"You shouldn't have told us that." Naruto grinned as he felt more than saw Gaara disappear from beside him, going in for a second attack.

Kakuzu froze as suddenly Gaara was in front of him again.

"I'll have to make sure I hit something this time then, won't I?" Gaara smirked sadistically as he clenched his fist ready.

Itachi watched as Kakuzu went down again, this time becoming still. "Obviously there is a vital flaw in the programming." He clicked the button on the remote a few times but nothing happened, the two boys in front of them seeming non responsive to it now that they were in their 'demonic' forms.

"Well, no shit, Itachi." Deidara glared at him. "So now what do we do?"

Itachi sighed. "Take them in by force I guess." He stared at Deidara. "You can do that, can't you?"

"Tch." Deidara glared back before spinning to face the two boys, or the one he could see anyway. "Of course we can."

"Though they aren't going to be of use to us, are they?" Itachi thought it through before shrugging. "Kill them; otherwise they'll just become hassles."

Sasuke stood shivering as he watched Gaara 'play' with his prey. Movement caused him to look at Naruto who was looking ready to run into the fight as well, the grin on his face unnerved Sasuke. This wasn't the friend he'd made. The one who was always smiling even when he didn't understand what was going on. The one who understood how lonely he had felt even though he'd tried desperately to hide it. He shook his head, knowing that he had to do something, even if it was reckless and stupid. He ran forward as Naruto made a move, pulling him back.

"What are you doing?" Naruto turned to Sasuke, only a small inkling of recognition going through him.

Sasuke froze at the look he got from Naruto. The normal smiling face holding no emotions looking the same as Gaara had when they'd first met, the uncaring look that showed he found the whole situation tedious. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? This isn't you." He spoke quietly, his thoughts of helping disappearing as he realised how useless he was.

"How do you know this isn't me?" Naruto shook himself out of Sasuke's grip, his eyes showing anger. "What would you know?"

Sasuke glared back, he was pissed now at what Naruto was saying and how he was acting. He knew it wasn't his fault but he needed to snap him out of it and fast, or that's how he took the situation. "Maybe I don't know you but I can't imagine you're that good at acting. Who was it that could read my emotions like a book?"

Naruto continued to glare at him though his thoughts took a different route.

"But not you...You don't wish for this, do you?...I have Gaara at least, who do you have?"

"Where's the weird kid gone who thought it'd be OK to ask someone to be his brother?" Sasuke clung on to the small hope he had that he could get through to Naruto.

Naruto faltered for a second, dimly remembering himself smiling at Sasuke's kitchen table.

"Hey, should we be brothers?"

He shook his head, the thought disappearing from his head as he slipped back into his expressionless mask and turned away from Sasuke. His thoughts however were still in turmoil.

"Oi, moron! Don't you dare ignore me!" Sasuke had seen the falter and knowing that it was his chance to break through, didn't give up and let Naruto walk away.

"Bastard?" Naruto froze, snapping out suddenly of the other state, stumbling slightly as the head ache hit again for a second, marking his way back to his usual self.

Sasuke stepped forward quickly, grabbing Naruto's arm to make sure he didn't fall. "Who else, moron?"

Naruto shook his head, standing up slowly. "What was I thinking?" He looked down at his hands, annoyed that he had changed so easily.

"I don't think you had much choice in the matter." Sasuke looked over at Gaara, who was still having fun leading Akatsuki around in circles. "But I think with help you can choose when to come out of it."

Naruto followed his gaze to Gaara and nodded as he thought it through. "Right, we've got to get Gaara out of it then, don't we?" He walked forward slightly, grabbing Gaara's attention and gestured to him, jumping slightly as a blood splattered Gaara appeared in front of him.

"What?" Gaara shook his head, flicking some of the blood out of his eyes.

"It's time to stop now, Gaara." Naruto looked at him sternly.

"Why?" Gaara tilted his head slightly. "Why would I want to stop?"

"Because this isn't what you want." Naruto looked behind Gaara, noticing Akatsuki discussing what to do next. "Because we need to get out of here, quickly."

"You mean this isn't what you want." Gaara looked at his hand, smiling at the blood. "I quite like this feeling." He looked up at Naruto's frantic expression. "Why can't you accept what we are?" He spun around. "And accept that I feel like killing them right now." Gaara started running again.

"But we escaped all of this!" Naruto shouted after him, hoping that he wasn't too late.

It took a few moments for the words to process in his head. He looked down at his hand, feeling the presence of another as he remembered the two of them running from the laboratory, gripping Naruto's hand as they went and pulling him along. He came to a skidding halt still staring at his hand as he fell over from the sudden stop. He grabbed his head again as the head ache welled up, willing it to disappear and let him carry on the way he was. He pulled his hand down again to stare at it, noting the blood smudged across it. He frowned as he noticed another red stain across it that wasn't blood.

"Are you sure you don't want to wash that off?"

"I like it."

"You like it?"

"Yeah, that a problem?"

"No, it's just there's not a lot of stuff you actually like so I was shocked."

He blinked up as the head ache disappeared, turning to see a relieved expression on Naruto's face.

"Good to see you back, Gaara." Naruto smiled at him.

Gaara looked down at himself, drenched in blood, wondering why he'd found it so nice to look at before. "Sorry." Back to normal, he was glad to find that he'd rather be the way he was and listen to Naruto's advice, he hadn't led him wrong so far.

"It's OK."

"Well done." Itachi clapped sarcastically before turning to the others. "You know who's best to go for first then, don't you?"

Naruto froze as he saw a metallic flash. "Sasuke, get down!" He spun, trying to push Sasuke out of the way.

The crack of a gunshot echoed through the area, though the resounding thud as it hit flesh seemed to resound more, along with the silence that followed.

Naruto peeked around warily, wondering why he didn't feel any pain. His eyes widening at the sight he was confronted with.

Gaara turned slightly to Naruto, smiling through the pain, as he held his side. A small stain of his own blood stained his clothes as he stumbled and fell backwards.

Naruto rushed forward, falling to his knees as he caught Gaara before he hit the floor. "Gaara?"

Gaara closed his eyes for a second as he gripped his side before opening them again and smiling up at Naruto.

"I told you I'd protect you, remember?"

*scurries off before she's killed by anyone*