Chapter 4.- Family Ties.

The days passed and the end of their time came, the day when a battle would determine the destiny of those who had some way or the other survived the massacre to the Uchiha Clan, and of those who supported them.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had been training some for those days, and preparing themselves not only physically but also mentally; the three of them knew that it was going to be a difficult battle, one from which they might not come out alive, but they also knew that if with their lives they could stop Itachi and at least one of his companions from making damage to everyone, their deaths would be worth it. They might be only thirteen, but being ninjas, and after everything each of them had lived they were matured enough to accept some things were just inevitable.

Hirome had talked to no one about what had happened that morning in the woods, not even to Kakashi, she couldn't understand if what she had felt in that moment had been truly love, and if so, if she was ready to get into a relationship. Anyway, they would both have time to take that decision once that battle was over.

.---.

About one hour before noon Sakura was almost ready. Dressed in her common ninja outfit, her short hair pulled back with the ninja band used as a bandana. She did some minutes of meditation before strapping her pouches to her thigh and hip and leaving her bedroom.

"I'm leaving oka-san!" Sakura announced to her mom.

"Wait Sakura-chan." Her mom stopped her right as she was about to put on her shoes.

"What is it okaa-san?" Sakura asked.

"Are you sure you must go on this mission dear?"

A mission, right, that's what Sakura had told to her parents. In a way it could be considered that she wasn't lying, because it 'was' a mission to go and fight Uchiha Itachi and whoever accompanied him. And even then, it was a lie, it was a lie because Sakura hadn't told her mother how dangerous it was, and that she wasn't being sent to it, she was going by her own free will.

'If mom knew all the truth then she would never let me go.' Sakura thought. 'I don't believe she would be able to understand how important this is to me. Even if Naruto and Sasuke are the ones threatened and not me, they are my teammates, my best friends; I just can't leave them alone.'

"Hai kaa-san." Sakura finally came back to reality and answered her mother's question. "But you have no need to be so itchy; after, all, it's just another mission."

"Oh Sakura-chan, it's just that I have a bad feeling dear." Her mom explained.

"Don't worry kaa-san, everything will be alright." Sakura said with a half-hearted smile "I'll be back before you even have time to miss me." 'I hope.'

With that Sakura kissed her mom goodbye, put her shoes on and left her house as always. Except that before getting too far away she turned for a moment, to watch her house right before turning a corner.

"If for some reason I do not return, please mother forgive me for not telling you the truth." Sakura whispered to no one in particular.

And without further words the kunoichi turned around and ran as fast as she could to the spot where she was to reunite with the others, all the while praying that she would have a chance to return.

.---.

Sakura was truly surprised when she arrived to the meeting spot and discovered she wasn't the last one to arrive; and even then the one missing wasn't Naruto. Incredibly enough Naruto was already there, pacing around, as if he were very excited for what was going to happen; and considering his character he probably was.

Just before noon Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Tsunade and Shizune were at the gates of Konoha, waiting for Hirome to arrive. And when she did, some of them seemed to be truly surprised: Hirome was wearing her hair in a lone braid pinned around her head, a ninja protector with the symbol of the Secret Village of Konoha went across her forehead, and over her usual fighting-outfit she now wore an open black tunic with the symbol of the Uchiha Clan in the back.

Tsunade just nodded to her student when their eyes met, for the look the Sannin noticed in them it seemed like the young woman had finally decided to face her past and take destiny in her own hands.

"Is everyone ready?" Kakashi asked, taking the lead of the group.

"Hai." The three gennins immediately chorused.

Hirome just sighed and nodded, she knew what would be coming wasn't going to be easy, but she would be ready for it; and whichever the result of this battle may be, this time she wouldn't run away, never, never again.

"Please take care." Shizune told Hirome, she really worried for the dark-eyed woman.

"I will Shizune-san, you too take care." Hirome said with a soft smile. "Tsunade-sensei, if anything happens…"

"I know girl, but you'll see everything will be alright." Tsunade said with a smile.

And so the group of five ninjas exited the gates of Konoha, and as Shizune closed the gates she heard some words from her sensei:

"You are so strong girl, you just don't know it yet."

.---.

As the time came Naruto began playing with his fingers, he was a bit nervous of what would be happening. Sure he had trained a lot to be ready for the fight, but still he preferred when he could just get into the action, waiting wasn't his thing. There was also the fact that he was waiting for the chance to see exactly how powerful that woman, Hirome, was, and what had she taught Sakura in those weeks.

Kakashi noticed Naruto's nervousness and he believed it was to be expected, after all the boy wasn't used to this kind of battles (not that he liked them even if he was used to them). On the other side he saw Sakura sitting in the floor, cross-legged, eyes closed, she seemed to be in deep meditation.

'Just like she used to do so long ago.' Kakashi thought as he turned looking around for the other woman.

Hirome was sitting on the lowest branch of a tree with a leg pulled up to rest her chin, as she discreetly watched Sasuke, who was currently standing not far away with his back on another tree his eyes on nothing in particular.

Suddenly they heard a twig break.

It was like a signal for them all.

A second later Sasuke was already on a fighting stance, kunai in hand. A few steps away from him Naruto was in a similar position, except that with three shuriken between his fingers. Kakashi stood behind them, watching everything, his hand right next to his pouch. Sakura on the other hand rose from the ground slowly, brushed her dress and took a defensive pose calmly, as if she had all the time of the world.

'She must have gotten that attitude from her.' Kakashi thought, as he turned around to see the woman he was thinking about.

And there she was, standing on the branch were she had been sitting, with a perfect sight from her place.

Kakashi had just located her there when she was already standing on the ground, in front of the three gennin.

"They are here." She said simply.

"How many?" Kakashi asked.

"Two." This time Sakura was the one to answer.

The eyes of the kunoichi were closed, as she seemed to be in deep concentration.

"You're right Sakura-san." Hirome nodded. "One of them is Itachi-san, the other one is Hoshigake Kisame."

Hoshigake Kisame, Kakashi remembered him, the tall man with the strange sword that devoured chakra.

"Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, you will stay back while we fight first." Kakashi ordered.

"Demo…" Sasuke began.

"Sasuke-kun, I know you want to fight Itachi-san, and you will." Hirome said. "But first Kakashi-kun and I must take care of the other." She turned to her student. "Sakura-san, listen to me carefully. I want you to be at the ready and use the defensive jutsus to protect yourself and your teammates. No matter what happens to me or to Kakashi-kun, don't try to help us, it would be too dangerous."

"Demo Hirome-sensei…" Sakura began.

"Just obey me Sakura-san." Hirome ordered. "I know this Kisame, you can't fight him."

Kakashi just wondered if they two could.

"Wise words my dear." Itachi said sarcastically as she arrived. "But do you think you can defeat Kisame?"

"Well, we're about to find out." Hirome replied.

Kakashi didn't seem to be patient; he immediately revealed his sharingan and attacked with taijutsu.

"Kakashi-kun matte!" Hirome called to him.

Kisame was able to block Kakashi's attack easily and sent him flying with a single punch.

"Kakashi-kun!" Hirome cried out worriedly.

"This is boring…" Itachi said mockingly.

"Seems you'll be defeated sooner than even I believed." Kisame said, he turned to Hirome, hatred evident in his eyes. "I'll make you pay for what you did to me before."

And so Kisame made a harsh movement with his big sword, he really wanted to hit Hirome with it. But she was way faster than him:

"Karui Mamoru no Justu!" Hirome protected herself and Kakashi.

Even Itachi seemed to be a bit surprised to see the shield was capable of enduring the attack without falling into pieces.

"Fine." Hirome said seriously. "You want a serious fight? A serious fight is what you'll have."

With that decision she took a battle stance; she blinked, and when her eyes opened they were no longer the deep blue eyes Naruto had seen the day she first appeared, but a crimson red with black commas: the Sharingan.

"So you'll be using the sharingan." Itachi said with a smirk. "This shall get interesting."

Hirome didn't answer, she just leapt at Kisame and began doing a series of movements, fighting him.

After a few minutes again Kisame used his sword, Hirome managed to dodge the attack, but then she had to act defensively. And proving she was really a user of the sharingan she began imitating every single movement of her opponent.

"Good." Kisame complimented her. "But not good enough."

With those words Kisame took Hirome off-guard and hit her with the sword. She was sent flying a few meters, but before her body touched the ground she did a single seal and was floating.

"Wow…" Naruto was in awe at what was happening. "What did she just do?"

"The Cloud Walk." Sakura answered.

Since the battle had begun Sakura had used the Ethereal Shield Technique to protect herself and her teammates, even when she just managed to make half the dome it was enough for the moment being.

Sasuke already had his sharingan ready, it was obvious he wanted nothing more than to jump and fight Itachi, but for some unknown reason he respected Hirome enough to do what she had said and wait.

While Hirome took a few seconds to recover from the attack, Kakashi was already fighting Kisame, although it was harder for him, having just one eye with the sharingan, and not being able to fully control it.

"You are considered as a copy ninja Hatake Kakashi." Itachi said from a side. "But you aren't and will never be an Uchiha."

"He doesn't have that surname." Hirome said approaching the two fighters slowly. "But some who do don't deserve it."

"Speaking for yourself?" Itachi asked with a mock.

"Before this day ends either you or I will be dead, and that will answer the question." Hirome replied without doubt.

Their conversation was abruptly interrupted when Hirome heard a yelp of pain coming from one of the fighters.

"Kakashi-kun!" Hirome cried as she spun around to see the hurt shinobi, she immediately was ready to attack. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

This traditional technique from the Uchiha Clan was strong enough to distract Kisame and give Hirome enough time to dash to Kakashi and use her healing abilities.

"Hirome-sensei!" Sakura cried out when she noticed Kisame attacking the two ninjas.

Hirome heard the warning and turned, just in time to act. It was something risky, but it was also the only way she could think of defeating Kisame. She used chakra in her feet to jump out of reach of the sword and then managed to kick the weapon off his hands.

"You won't do any more damage." Hirome said, both hands on Kisame. "Chakra Tenkou no Jutsu. Heidon!"

This jutsu, created by a certain sky-blue eyed kunoichi Hirome had known and respected a long time ago (and no, it's not Tsunade), could work both to give and to take chakra, this time Hirome had used it to take her enemy's chakra, so he wouldn't be able to harm anyone.

"You know." Hirome said getting off him slowly. "I normally wouldn't hurt fallen people, not even when they're my opponents; I believe it to be dishonorable. But in this case I'll make an exception."

"Would you really?" Itachi asked from a side. "Since I remember, you could never hurt anything, not even a flea; not even when we were part of the ANBU."

Hirome didn't answer, she knew what he said was true.

"Good thing I'm not like her." Kakashi said unexpectedly from Hirome's side.

And before any of them could really understand what was happening they saw Kakashi's hand right on Kisame's chest, a kunai in his hand, and blood pouring from the wound, he had just killed the ninja.

Hirome gasped, she hadn't been expecting something like that.

"Well, well, well." Itachi said from the side with a little smirk. "Seems you did have the power to defeat Kisame."

Just looking at his face anyone would be able to see he didn't care that his companion had just been killed.

"How can you be so cold Itachi-san?" Hirome asked. "I don't remember you being like that when we were young."

"That was a very long time ago." Itachi replied. "You left, I changed, and that foolish little brother became the useless weak brat he is now."

Sasuke was about to yell something, but Hirome was faster.

"Don't you dare insult Sasuke-kun!" she yelled.

And as she yelled she threw some shuriken, Itachi dodged them, almost laughing at her, until he noticed some scratches had just appeared in his body.

"Kage Shuriken?" Itachi guessed.

"Hai." Hirome nodded. "It's a surprise you couldn't see it, even with the sharingan."

"Maybe I was expecting you to be the same stupid scary kitten you were in the past."

"If you believe so then you aren't following your own words. You said you changed in the time I was gone, and don't believe me capable of changing." She sighed. "And even when I have changed so much, I still wish we could be like before. You remember? When you were the great Itachi-kun, who would bring great honor to the Clan, the one who was a genius at everything, the best in everything; the one that was my hero, my example to follow. To think that for so long I wished to be like you, to, even if just for once hear Chichihue tell me 'I'm proud of you', like he told you so often."

"There you go again, back to your sentimentalisms. Just a weak and useless woman."

"Is that what you think of me?"

"You say you're a ninja, and yet a ninja must have no feelings."

Sakura remembered reading that in the books. It was true, it was one of the rules to be ninja, never to show feelings.

"So I suppose that's why you killed everyone in the Clan." Hirome continued. "All our family, our friends, those who did nothing but be proud of you."

"You were no longer a part of the Clan." Itachi said, almost laughing at her words. "After all, you were the one who abandoned the Clan and the Village one year before. You gave up on our name, and now you expect to come back, to get everything to be back to how it was before you left."

"It's never too late to set things right." Hirome insisted.

"Things will only be right when you and that useless little excuse of a brother die."

"To believe I once looked up to you Itachi-kun. You've turned from my hero, into a monster."

"I really don't care what you believe of me. I told you if you messed in my business again you would die. And you will, although maybe I'll first kill Sasuke…"

Itachi hadn't even finished the sentence when Hirome was already in a battle stance, right before Sasuke and the other two gennins.

"You won't touch Sasuke-kun." Hirome said, dead serious. "I would first die a thousand deaths."

"That can be easily arranged." Itachi said viciously.

A second later not even their shadows could be seen. They were fighting so fast…even with their sharingans it was really difficult for Kakashi and Sasuke to keep track of the battle.

"That woman, it looks like she really cares for you Sasuke." Naruto commented.

"Hai." Sasuke replied.

And Sakura noted that for once he sounded truly worried.

"Well, I saw she was wearing a robe with the symbol of your Clan." Naruto commented. "Is she anything yours?"

Sakura would have poked Naruto in the arm for being so meddlesome, but she had to admit she too wished to know what was the true relationship between Hirome and Sasuke. It looked like they had a family relation, not only for the robes she wore, but because she was also using the sharingan, and she defended Sasuke with such a passion…

Suddenly there was a change in the atmosphere, and a second later they saw Hirome crashing into some rocks after having cut down a couple of trees with the brutality of the last attack received.

Hirome moaned as she slowly stood, she hurt all over, and even when pain was not unknown for her it didn't make it any easier to bear.

Kakashi had returned to fighting Itachi, using a Kage Bunshin to compensate the lack of strength he had when compared to the Uchiha.

"You stay here." Sakura said.

She did a quick jutsu so the shield would stay in place even without her there, she had left in it enough chakra to last at least three minutes, she hoped it would be enough because if not… well, the boys would have to fend for themselves.

"Sakura-cha…" Naruto began.

But the kunoichi didn't give him a chance, she immediately turned and ran to her fallen sensei; Sakura knew that Hirome had told her to stay with her teammates, and she had been really insistent at it too, but she just couldn't let the woman alone.

Sakura managed to get to Hirome without being spotted by Itachi.

"So far everything's fine." Sakura murmured as she knelt next to the other kunoichi and began healing her.

After a while Sakura noticed it was harder than expected, the injuries the kunoichi had acquired were bad, and with the level she possessed they required a lot of chakra to heal properly. For a moment Sakura even feared she wouldn't be able to heal her. Sakura had already healed half of the injuries when another idea entered her mind.

'If I can't heal her, then maybe I can give her enough chakra for her to heal herself.' Sakura thought.

Sakura had already begun making the seals when a hand stopped her.

"Iie." It was Hirome.

"Demo…" Sakura began.

"Don't do it." Hirome said firmly. "If you do that jutsu it won't help either of us. Sasuke-kun and Naruto-san are still going to need you."

"But Hirome-sensei…"

"Listen to me Sakura-san. You are strong, really strong. You are the only one that can help Naruto-san and Sasuke-kun to defeat Itachi-kun. They won't be able to manage it on their own, and I'm not fooling anyone when I say I'm in no state to present a good fight to him. You're my last hope."

"Hirome-sensei…"

"Believe in yourself Sakura-san, in your own strength."

Hirome was about to say something else when she perceived a very high killing intent, Sakura too felt it.

Itachi was about to kill Kakashi, who was already too injured to stop his opponent. But being it Itachi, he wouldn't kill Kakashi before seeing him suffer.

Sasuke too noticed what his brother's intentions were.

'He's going to use the Mangekyou Sharingan.'

Kakashi looked up, meeting up with Itachi's eyes; he immediately knew what was coming and braced himself for it. But the attack never reached, someone else got in the middle.

"You will never again hurt those I love Itachi…" Hirome murmured. 'I'll stop you, even if it takes my life, I will stop you.' She did some quick seals and prepared herself. 'I had wished to never have to use this jutsu…' "Risei Keturetsu no Jutsu!"

The Mangekyou Sharingan and Hirome's ultimate jutsu collided in an invisible explosion of chakra and will-power.

Itachi flew backwards, falling onto his knees. For the first and perhaps the only time his face showed pure shock and surprise. He had never believed the kunoichi before him to be able of creating a jutsu that would neutralize the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Hirome fell onto her knees, her breaths were short and irregular, that last jutsu had consumed all her energies. Even in her dreadful state the young woman could feel perfectly well as Kakashi's arms held her body.

"Kakashi-kun…" Hirome managed to choke out his name.

"Iie!" Sasuke's sudden cry surprised everyone even more than Itachi's expression.

"Sasuke-kun…" Hirome whispered, making a great effort to turn and look at the gennin. "Gomen nasai…Sasuke-nii-chan…"

And with those last words her body fell limp into Kakashi's arms.

"Iie…" Sasuke murmured.

Sakura and Naruto were truly surprised to see the painful expression in the Uchiha's eyes.

"Izuki-nee-san!"


Please don't kill me! (cowers behind a sofa) At least you now know why the story is called Izuki.

See ya!