AN: Hello burritos, as usual it's been awhile! Here is the next chapter! That is really all I have to say.

Inspiration: The thought of finishing my first fic!

Dedication: My burritos, you guys out there.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, the Akatsuki would all be alive and still be good. Or evil and take over, either on really.

Kakashi's POV

Kakashi could hear the blasts of the explosions. He could feel them shake the ground with their powerful force. And the momentary flash of light that he could see from above the trees was all too obvious.

As soon as the first bang echoed through the trees, the sensei knew something was awry. If that wasn't enough proof that something was off, then it could have also been the large amounts of chakra that radiated from the point of the detonation. Whoever it was they were powerful, and didn't take any notice of cloaking their formidable chakra.

Try as he might, Kakashi could not recognize the chakra; this was no ally or foe he had seen before. Kakashi was leaning toward the foe side, however, considering the sounds that he could now make out while racing to the scene. It was the distinct sound one can only get from metal clashing on metal. There was a fight. It was obvious now.

Immediately Kakashi was concerned for his team. Had either of them found Naruto? Had something discovered them? The possibilities raced through his mind, but none of them made sense in the situation.

Before he could worry even more, he sensed a familiar chakra from behind him, and he ceased to run through the trees. He recognize the feminine voice even before he turned around.

"Kakashi! I heard the explosions and came to find you! Did you find Naruto? Did Sasuke? Is Sasuke alright?" Came a female voice from the branches behind him. He turned around, and saw Sakura standing a branch away, looking intently at him, and waiting for an answer.

Kakashi internally rolled his eyes. The girl was so focused on Sasuke, that she never saw how much Naruto cared for her. It was quite amusing, the whole thing, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about some love triangle within his team. This was no Make-out paradise novel after all.

"I'm not sure yet. I came to check it out. I sense some powerful chakra, so be on guard, ok?" The kunoichi nodded at her sensei looking much more serious than before.

"I hope there alright…" She said softly, worried. Kakashi did not respond, but internally he was thinking the same thing. The jonin did not want to lose another teammate.

Maybe Sakura didn't quite understand the whole situation with Naruto, but Kakashi could tell that she knew there was more to this that meets the eye. She was a perceptive young girl, though blind to some things, she could often pierce through a situation. The young girl was smart, almost as much as Sasuke. She just lacked the same determination as the boys. Her only motivation really was Sasuke.

Kakashi pushed any irrelevant thoughts out of his mind, focusing on the situation. He motioned for Sakura to follow him out closer to the battle.

They moved slowly and silently, careful not to trigger even the smallest creak in the branches or crackle of a leaf. Not even their breathing could be heard. Kakashi's chakra was completely concealed, and Sakura's nearly impossible to sense. They were true ninja's creeping through the trees in the night, after all, there soon-to-be opponents were probably trained to pick out the slightest detail to tell if anything was out of place.

Soon, they could see the battle, and both nins stopped in shock at the scene before them.

Trees had been turned into ash and charcoal, and some leafs where still burning from what had clearly been a bomb going off. Kunai and other ninja weapons littered the ground.

But that wasn't the worst part. Kakashi could see everything that was happening. He could see Sasuke fall down, defeated and a red-headed enemy back away, a somehow emotionless smirk covering his face. He saw Naruto run, and stare in shock as he saw Sasuke. He saw Naruto's eyes flash to red, and the red-orange chakra bubble up around him, forming some sort of cloak almost, and the shape of a fox with one tail. And he saw someone from above about to take advantage of the situation, the blond nin was going to drop a bomb.

Everything was a blur, but it was so clear. Kakashi hear a voice shout.

"No! Naruto, Sasuke, run!" Kakashi wasn't sure who yelled it, himself or Sakura; he was focusing solely on the battle that was about to come. He used a kunai to intercept the bomb that was about to hit the ground. It blew up in mid-air.

Immediately, the blond's attention was focused on Kakashi. Kakashi had no choice to take this enemy on, despite the fact that Naruto was now running towards the crimson-headed man that was walking away from the defeated body of one Sasuke Uchiha.

Kakashi knew that his opponent was a long-range fighter, so Kakashi immediately took down the clay bird he was on.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted. The water style jutsu efficiently took down the bird from a long ways away; the clay didn't hold together. The ninja knew that lighting style was the only way to guaranty the stop of the earth style that was being used against him. He was lucky his idea worked to take out his enemy's advantage of height. He could now fight face-to-face.

Not that it made much of a difference. Kakashi recognized these criminals-or their tell-tale cloaks at least-from the bingo book. This was the Akatsuki. And as soon as they decided to stop toying with them, they would be dead.

Sakura's POV

"No! Naruto, Sasuke, run!" the kunoichi shouted, in vain.

Sakura stared in horror. The scene in front of her… it was terrifying to say the least. Even with Kakashi at her side, the panic of being attacked was still so strong. The pink-haired girl could tell her opponents strength, she could clearly sense there enormous chakra reserves.

She was also smart enough to see how much they were holding back. But that's not what terrified her. No, what terrified her was the person she loved falling down, defeated. He looked, well, he looked dead.

There, right there and then she wanted to break down. She wanted to cry, and shake, and make every bad thing go away. She wanted to be weak and she wanted Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi to protect her. She wanted to collapse right there and stop fighting the tears in her eyes, just let them run free. I mean how could she handle her only love being dead?

But, she stopped herself from doing that. She caught hope in the slight, slight, shallow but fast breathing she could spot. Sasuke wasn't dead, but he might be. He might die if they didn't get out of there fast.

Kakashi sent a kunai flying in the air, before heading into the fight. Right off the bat, he used a powerful jutsu, which Sakura knew wasn't good. His sharingan was out, so Sakura could tell that he was taking this battle seriously.

Sakura knew she couldn't hide or wait until the battle was done. She looked at Sasuke, the sadness she got from seeing her crush hurt (but he did look cute with his eyes closed!) turning into anger as she say the poison master smirk at the boy's pitiful state.

Determination and hope in her eyes, Sakura ran toward the red-head. She didn't notice Naruto heading in the same direction until they were about to cross paths.

Naruto spun around, and faced her. Sakura stopped abruptly, staring at shock at the person that was supposed to be Naruto. But his eyes, his chakra-it gave of an animalistic anger. No, anger wasn't the word for it. There was anger, but the overwhelming thing she was sensing was hate. That wasn't Naruto at all.

Sakura stepped back slightly, scared and confused. What on earth had happened? But just as she backed away, Naruto lunged at her, pushing her back into the tree where Sasuke lay.

She let out a yelp of shock and pain, struggling to get her breath back.

The pink-haired girl was perceptive, and being so she could tell Naruto wasn't exactly in control… but of what she had no idea.

There was no way she could keep up with this fight. Everyone was just too powerful. She took one look at Sasuke, and picked him up. She could at least get him out of the dead-center of the battle, and maybe stop the bleeding coming from his shoulder.

She scooped him up, and ran out of the clearing, hurt and confused about what had just happened. There was a lot of questions that needed answering once they were done with this.

Naruto's POV

Naruto wasn't aware of Kakashi and Sakura's arrival. All he was aware of was the burning fire that was taking over him. His body was moving, almost of its own accord. He could sense something, something else, in his mind. It was a mix of hate and bloodlust; pure white-hot anger. It drove him towards the person who had hurt his friend.

That's right. He hurt your friend and I'll help you make him pay… Just let me take things from here

Naruto fought the darkness, trying to stay on control of this overwhelming power. Why fight, brat? Just give in… He didn't notice when Sakura was right in front of him. He didn't think when he shoved her away. She'll only stand in your way, the stupid girl.

Part of him,-the part that had given in to the Kyuubi's raw power-wanted to chase after Sakura, to hurt her. But the other part of him stopped that. He battled with himself, and turned his attention to his target.

The teme that did this to Sasuke.

He let out a feral growl, and lunged at the puppet master, who sent out another batch of various poisoned weapons with ease.

Finally, a fight! Give me your chakra, I'll give you my power...

Naruto dodged them, with just as little effort, the Kyuubi giving him the speed and skill necessary. He reached out with his hand, clawing the air. The so called 'Sasori' looked in shock to see the wood that made up his body scratched, at least three inches deep.

The jinchuriki's rage was only fueled more when the red-head muttered "Just as expected of the Kyuubi's host."

They locked in a battle, much fiercer than before. Naruto never let a weapon so much as scratch him, but Sasori kept them coming, keeping the blond on his toes. Several puppets were destroyed, and the parts littered the scene of the battle.

If there was a bystander, they would never believe that one of the two ninjas was merely a genin. Nor, if they were from Konoha, believe that this was Naruto Uzumaki. Not with a look of bloodlust in his eyes.

The battle must have carried on for an hour, and Naruto's chakra was slowly fading. He was breathing heavily, and sweating. On the other hand, the puppet's attacks were just the same, forcing the blond to take the defensive.

The battle was going downhill, and if Naruto had looked over at his sensei, he would see him being backed up into the same figurative corner.

Naruto's defense didn't last long, as the last of the nine-tails chakra drained out of him, with a cruel laugh from the beast. Seeing this, his enemy took advantage of the situation. With a simple flick of his wrist, the puppet master used his chakra strings to send two puppets to corner Naruto. One held the boy, making it impossible to move. The other held a kunai knife to the boy's throat.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw a thin purple layer of liquid coated on the kunai. He knew that he was just this close to having that knife split the skin in his throat, both poisoning and splitting his jugular vein. Naruto's eyes focused unintentionally at the glistening sharp edge. He was trapped and he knew it. He wouldn't have enough chakra to stand if the puppet trapping him wasn't holding him up as well.

"…bastard…" He managed to weakly spit out.

Naruto glanced at Kakashi, horrified to see that he was in a similar position. Kakashi raised a hand, signaling for Sakura to stay back, but the bomber smacked his hand down.

"We know the little bitch is there, un" he said.

Naruto's eyes filled with horror. If they died here, both Sakura and Sakura would be killed as well.

This really was the end. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, as Kakashi looked down in defeat.

"Now, brat."

AN: don't worry this isn't the end, there is still one more chapter. And I think I have a problem. I just love cliffhangers, there so addicting! I can't stop writing them!

On a different note, I am also continuing a story by ilovemyboys! It's called Deidara Goes Into Shock. Please check it out, as well as other stories by ilovemyboys. They are an AMAZING author, one of my favorites.

Please review! Let me know what you think of the story, it will help me update faster!