:Woohoo!! I love getting reviews! Thanks so much!

:I don't own Naruto…

:Okay… I promised some Sasuke… so here goes Chapter 16…

Chapter 16: The Beginning of the End

In the Land of Rain…

Sasuke Uchiha was leaning on a gigantic tree, thinking about the looming mass of the very difficult tasks that have burdened him for the past few years. He now had to accomplish them.

First, he had to figure out where the Akatsuki hideout is. He has known from Orochimaru, a former member of the Akatsuki, that their base of operations was here, in Amegakure, but where exactly, he still had to find out.

Then, he had to make sure none of the Akatsuki get in the way. He's built his life around this event, and it just had to be one-on-one. He didn't want to lose just because he was outnumbered. But, knowing his brother, he probably would fight alone. Still, he had to make sure though.

Lastly, he had to finish his life's goal, finally ending his life as an avenger, once and for all. He had to kill the man he loathed the most, his own brother. This was the event he's built up his whole life. He couldn't bear the thought of not accomplishing this task. He couldn't die until he killed Itachi.

He hadn't really thought so much of what comes after that, he never has. All he's ever focused his life on was the act of killing his brother; there was no time for concentrating on much else. All he knew he wanted to do afterwards was restore his clan, and that was it, the story of his life.

He had no real dreams, not like Naruto's dreams of becoming the hidden leaf's greatest Hokage, he didn't even have a strange one, like Orochimaru's dream of living forever to learn every single jutsu ever created. Not even the tiny inkling of a dream that everyone had as a child, a dream of what they envisioned themselves to be in the future.

He even thought he had nothing else to hold on to. Sure, there was a certain pink-haired kunoichi that held his heart, but he wasn't even sure she was still alive. Even more clueless, he doesn't know he has an heir. His life's plan was being carried out by Sakura, even in her comatose state.

There was also Kakashi, his sensei, that thought him the technique he has been using the most recently, well, not the exact technique, but at least variations for it. He was also the closest thing he ever had of a big-brother, he was someone he looked up to. Someone that taught him a lot, someone he owed so much to. He had also saved his life in a number of different occasions.

Yeah, he did have friends, or at least people who could be his friends…

And Naruto, of course, that noisy dobe that was his first real friend, but he would never admit to that, he didn't know if they would even speak to him after leaving and betraying them…

Wait, he didn't really betray them did he?

He just left them, to get strong and defeat his brother, it's not like he killed innocent people, or would he be a threat to Konoha's safety. Why in the world would he willingly do such things? He understood the point that he was to be Orochimaru's next vessel, and how that could be seen as a threat, but he never let that happen, he ended up ending the threat itself, he killed Orochimaru. He was also responsible for getting rid of other threats to Konoha, like killing of a few enemies when he first went in search of his brother. He has also killed a number of the Akatsuki present, or former, Orochimaru included.

Strangely enough, getting stronger and obtaining power was exactly what his brother wanted him to do. He was a clueless puppet, a mindless fool who aimlessly followed the words that came from his brother's mouth. He would never admit to this, of course. He still couldn't really grasp the fact that his brother only left him alive so that he could take his eyes from their sockets and use them as his own. He knew that transferring the sharingan was possible indeed, since his own sensei Kakashi has received one of his own, though, he never really asked from who he got it. But still, the idea of killing your clan and leaving your little brother alive to grow in hate and despise you just for eyes, sickened Sasuke like nothing ever could. It was very strange that some people actually thought that he was left alive because he loved his little brother. Could a man who killed his entire clan actually have a heart enough to spare his brother? Nope. It was a thought that never entered Sasuke's mind. He always knew it was never compassion; he thought there was something much, much more, sinister, evil, and/or simply psychotic behind that massacre. Whether he really wanted to know, he was not sure of.

Sasuke heard muffled footsteps on the trail below, and he snapped back into reality. It was time to act.

He saw a man wearing the Akatsuki cloak, dark with red clouds scattered on it. It was Kisame. The blue-skinned sword wielding Akatsuki he thought he killed when they were in the mist. This did not however, surprise Sasuke so much. He saw that jutsu that allowed him to escape, but did not go after him. They needed to get back home and get Sakura to the hospital, after all.

Sasuke jumped off the tree and landed soundlessly behind the Akatsuki.

"So… Sasuke Uchiha… here to finish me off? Or are you going after Itachi?" Kisame said, he had sensed Sasuke's chakra only after Sasuke had landed behind him, with his chokuto at the ready, it's polished, thin and razor-sharp blade already grazing his neck.

"Maybe both. You're in no condition to fight me." Sasuke said in his ear. "I have the upper hand." He said, as he removed Kisame's gigantic sword from his back, and threw it several meters away. "You have no weapon."

"I must admit, I never thought you'd make it this far… You've killed Oruchimaru and Deidara. That makes two. Counting Orochimaru, who left before you killed him." He said. "How did you do it?"

"Orochimaru tried to get control of my body. I countered him, and killed him. Deidara however, blew himself up, as a last resort." Sasuke said with a smirk on his face. He had killed more of the Akatsuki than 

anyone else. He remembered what Kakashi told him before he left Konoha for a second time, maybe working for the ANBU was really what he was meant to do.

"Now there's gonna be four of you." Sasuke said. "You and my brother are next."

"Ahh. I see. But don't you think you should find out where he is first?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"On the contrary. I will. He's been expecting you."

Sasuke was surprised at this statement. "He needs my eyes now does he?" Sasuke thought as hate and rage burned inside him like another one of their family's jutsus.

"So… the Akatsuki hideout…" Kisame began giving him the directions, he was so sure that Itachi would survive this. No way little Sasuke would be able to beat him.

"I know it's a trap. But that's a risk I'm willing to take. Now, I'll be doing Konoha a favor, and getting rid of another one of the Akatsuki." Sasuke said. "Chidori Nagashi!" He charged blue, lighting chakra into his chokuto, and did what supposedly would have cut off Kisame's head.

"Three down, one to go." He said to himself, already tasting his revenge.

He dashed up the trees, moving swiftly through the forest. He could feel how close he was to fulfilling his life's goals. He could just imagine standing over his brother's nearly dead body and telling him that he was a fool to think that he could never have done it. He could see himself taking his brother's eyes for his own, and using his own evil plot against him.

"You're going to die brother." He said to himself, and with a smirk on his face, he continued his pursuit of the Akatsuki's lair.

Meanwhile, in Konoha Hospital…

"Sakura has slowly been improving Hokage-sama." One of the med-nin said.

"I see. She is regaining consciousness slowly." She smiled. "I trust the baby is fine as well?"

"Yes Hokage-sama." She replied.

"Could Itachi be releasing her, or is she fighting it… could it be that Itachi is weakening? Or has Sasuke killed him already?" thoughts raced through Tsunade's mind as she heard the report .

"Stay strong Sakura." She said softly to her student's still unmoving body. But now however, she seemed to be breathing more, and her face had a more peaceful expression compared to the look of horror on her face when she first came in.

:Well, that's about it for this chapter… thanks for reading! I'm planning on four more chapters to go.

:I know the chapter title has been used so many times before. But it just fits this one so much!

:PLEASE REVIEW!!