AN: I don't own Naruto, also, if you're not up to date on the recent anime or manga chapters…this chapter might not make sense….

Previously:"Sai…." She muttered as her expression turned sad.

"Sakura-chan…Let's hurry up." Naruto said as he urged his worried teammate to keep moving. Naruto looked back one more time before racing back toward the village.

"Sasuke-kun wait up!" Sakura called out as her friend was far ahead of them. By the time Sasuke reached the North gate, he stood frozen on the spot.

"Finally teme, what were…you-" Naruto's sentence drifted off as he saw what had stopped the raven haired nin. Deidara took heavy damage in the right shoulder, and was kneeling on the ground bleeding while the entire village in front of them was utterly destroyed. But the thing that brought the three in silence, was the scene that played before them. Tears rolled down Sakura's face as she and her teammates witnessed Itachi stabbing their former sensei with a kunai infused with chakra.

"Kakashi-san!" Sakura screamed.

Chapter 15 - Sometimes I Need to Let Go…PT. 1

Sasuke and the others rushed to the scene. Itachi jumped back to where Deidara was kneeling and merely watched Sakura heal Kakashi, while her other two teammates glared him down with gritted teeth.

"Kakashi-san hold on." Sakura said with a shaky voice. She exerted as much chakra as she could. The wound in his chest, seemed to be healing , but Kakashi was having a hard time staying conscious from all the blood loss. Even if she could heal him all the way, her chakra would be depleted after one good punch, and that would render both her and her former teacher useless.

"Sakura. Save your strength. I'll be fine. Just keep Naruto from transforming." Kakashi said in a breath.

"Please don't tal-"

"Yamato-san isn't here to stop it. Take this seal." Kakashi gave her a small slip of paper with a large, single symbol in the middle. "If Naruto grows his fourth tail, it's over."

"I-I understand." Sakura said as she stopped healing him.

"Take care of the team, Sakura. That's the one thing I taught you. Don't be the one of those who are lower than trash. They…" Kakashi looked over to Naruto and Sasuke. "Should come…first." Kakashi said before passing out.

"Got it." Sakura said as she stood up. She turned around to see Naruto and Sasuke already engaged in combat with Itachi. "Shit." Sakura thought when she saw that Naruto already grew out one of the kyuubi's tails. She placed the seal in her kunai pouch as she ran to assist her comrades.

"T-that bastard." Kabuto said as he laid on the ground, his body entirely burnt. Kabuto cringed in pain as his body throbbed. Sai, meters away in the same situation, laid on the floor, but with a smile on his face. A real smile. Sai reached into his brush pouch to draw one last picture, but instead he found a couple of pills. "Take this at least. It's a special kind of soldier pill." Sai remembered Sakura said. He slowly ate the pills, which caused him a great deal of pain. As soon as he swallowed them, he felt the pain slowly leave him.

"Good-bye Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun….." Sai muttered. It did sound as odd as he thought it would when called his teammates by those pet names, but after thinking about it, he felt right calling his friends by those names. Sai slowly closed his eyes. He didn't know what emotion he was feeling right at the moment, he read all the books on human emotions, but still, he couldn't tell what he was feeling. All he knew was that it was almost refreshing. It wasn't long before he heard someone yelling in the distance. He couldn't tell who it was as he entered the world of darkness.

"What in the hell?" Idate said to himself as he surveyed the gigantic demolition of land. "Sasuke?"

"Damn these suits are annoying." Kankuro said as he and Temari carried a couple of chakra armor, that was given to leaf by the Snow Country, to Naruto's team.

"Temari!" Kankuro shouted as they searched for their friends.

"What is it?" She asked. Her brother just pointed toward the South gate. There, the two saw Orochimaru, and two men in Akatsuki robes in battle with each other.

"Get Gaara and Shikamaru here now!" Temari said as she grabbed the large fan off her back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Making sure that none of them bothers us. Now find them and take these to Naruto's team!" Temari ordered as she tossed him the three chakra armor.

"Stubborn." Kankuro muttered as he raced off.

Kakuzu noticed Teamari and went straight for her. "That was fast." She thought, as she opened her fan, showing it's three moons.

"Mind if we cut in?" Asuma asked as he put on his chakra infused brass knuckles. Kurenai was already activating one of her genjutsus.

"Hmph, no problem." Temari said.

Deidara immediately created a giant clay bird and left when Itachi commanded it.

"Gah!" Naruto said as his stomach was stabbed by a stray kunai. His grabbed the weapon and pulled it out of his body. Sasuke continued to attack, as Naruto watched Sakura come to his side.

"Naruto, are you ok?" Sakura asked as she came up slowly towards him. She only heard him grunt and watched as his arm healed itself. "Naruto, change back before you lose control."

"I can't."

"What do you-"

"Not when fighting with him." Naruto growled out.

"But before-"

"Sakura. We have to get rid of him, not only to help Sasuke, but the entire village. Let's go."

"You can't trust the kyuubi's strength. You said it yourself, it's too-" but she was cut off when Naruto went charging into the battle as he grew his second tail.

Hidan and Kazuku switched opponents, and Temari, along with the other jounins, found it hard to kill the akatsuki members.

"Asuma!" Kurenai called out as his arm was cut by one of Hidan's three scythes. Hidan smirked as he licked the blood off his scythe. He painted some inscriptions onto the floor and the jounins looked at his method of attack, confused.

"My gods will enjoy this sacrifice." Hidan said as his skeleton became visible. Almost instantly, Asuma entire left side was covered by some kind of burn marks. The jounin had a hard time moving which worried Kurenai and Temari.

"Don't forget to leave his body for the bounty Hidan." Kazuku called out as he saw what his partner was up to.

"Let's get started!" Hidan called out as his body resembled a skeleton. Asuma soon after fell to his knees trying to suppress the pain he felt throughout his body.

"Asuma!" Kurenai called out as she went to his aid.

"Kuso." Temari called out as she bit her thumb. She slid her cut finger across her battle fan, leaving a small trail of blood. "Take this!" The sand jounin called out as she summoned a weasel wielding small scythe. Huge gusts of wind followed the weasel as it flew toward Hidan. Temari smirked when her summoning successfully sliced the akatsuki member to pieces. The severed head rolled away from what was left from his body.

"There's something wrong." Kurenai said. Temari looked at Asuma, who was still in pain and covered with strange markings.

"Why is he still-" Temari was cut off when she heard someone yelling. Her eye widened when she found Hidan's severed head still talking.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Hidan yelled.

"Holy shit, how the heck is he still alive?!" Temari thought.

"Kazuku, get your ass over here and help me. I need to finish my ritual!" Hidan called out. On the other side of the battle field, Kazuku was still busy fighting Orochimaru.

"That guy is so annoying." Kazuku thought as he dodged Orochimaru's sword.

"Tobi!" Kazuku yelled out. In less than a minute, the new recruit stood near him.

"Yes Kazuku-san?" He said.

"Take over while I go help the dumbass." With that, Kazuku raced off.

Tobi gulped when he saw the smirk form across Orochimaru's face.

"Idate, who's that?" A leaf genin called out when he saw Idate carrying a person on his back.

"Don't know, but he has a leaf headband. There was another nin, but he was already dead." Idate said as he ran into the overcrowded hospital.

"Damn you!" Sasuke called out as he plunged his sword into one of his brother's clones.

Naruto in turn, clawed off a piece of the elder Uchiha's robe. Sakura was still fixed on spot, seeing that if she tried to aid her teammates in battle, they might accidentally hurt her as well.

Once again Sasuke was shot backward into a series of trees from Itachi's kick. She ran to where he landed and quickly healed his major wounds.

Panting heavily, Sasuke said, "Sakura. Take Kakashi and get the heck out of here. Naruto and I can't fight the way we want to if you two are here."

"I can't leave you two. We're a team remember." Sakura said as she finished healing his leg and started on his left arm.

"Sakura, for once…just let us go."

"…W-what?"

"If you looked around lately, you'll see that this isn't the only battle taking place. This is a three-way war. Others need you more than us."

"…You sound so different from what I remember." Sakura said as she finished healing his arm. Sasuke looked at her confused. "…But I can't leave Naruto, or you."

"Damn it Sakura, hurry!" Sasuke said as he pushed her away. Sakura kept a straight face as she looked directly into his eyes.

"I promised Kakashi-san that I would look out for you two. Look at Naruto!" She said as she pointed to their teammate. He now had three tails, and everything he seemed to touch was burning. The chakra around him itself was boiling, and the two could see the more animalistic features he had. "Kakashi-san told me that once he grew four tails, it's not going to be Naruto anymore. I know first hand, that if someone can't stop him, the Kyuubi will be unleashed. Naruto won't be able to recognize…anyone." Sakura said as she showed Sasuke the one scar she couldn't completely get rid over. Sasuke looked at her right shoulder which had four barely visible dark claw marks.

"Then take Naruto now. I have to kill him." Sasuke said as he glared at his brother. "No matter what it takes."

Sakura found that there was no use in using words. Sasuke stood up and headed back into the battle. Before he was in range to attack he looked back to find her gone.

"Shino, Where's Shikamaru?" Ino asked as she dodged and attack from the eight tailed snake.

"He went with Kankuro and Gaara to help another group." He answered back. Ino let out a frustrated sigh.

"Damn it, we need him here too. Oi, Choji!" Ino said.

"We should go help Shikamaru out."

"Got it!"

Tenten was at the hospital with Lee when they saw someone carrying Sai.

"Oh my god, Lee isn't that Sai from Sakura's team?" Tenten said as she helped her limping teammate sit in a chair.

"If he's hurt that much, what happened to Sakura-san and the others?" Lee asked.

"Hmph, that pathetic level of genjutsu won't work." Kazuku said as he entangled Kurenai with chakra wires. The leaf nin fell to the ground as she struggled to get free.

"Bastard!" Temari unleashed a miniature hurricane as Kazuku shot backward.

"Stop playing around and put my body back together!" Hidan yelled.

"Damn annoying." Kazuku said as he rushed to his partner's aid. Temari was coming in for another attack when a copy of Kazuku entangled her in chakra wires, which left her in the same predicament as Kurenai. Kurenai, Asuma, and Temari watched Kazuku stitch Hidan's body parts back together. Slowly but surely, Hidan was back together.

"He isn't human." Kurenai muttered. Hidan then started to head back to his ritual circle. Before he could step one foot back into the circle, Hidan's body froze in place.

"What..the..hell?" Hidan said as he struggled to gain control of his body.

"After watching, I figured that the only way to save Asuma was to keep you away from that little circle of yours." Shikamaru said as he stepped out from behind an burnt building. Shikamaru's steps were mimicked as he stepped forward.

"Kazuku he-" but Hidan stopped in mid-sentence when he saw his partner fully engaged in battle with Kankuro.

"You ask for help too much." Shikamaru said as he tried his best to restrain the akatsuki member.

Hidan slowly stepped toward the circle once more. Asuma watched as his former student use every bit of his chakra to hold Hidan still. Asuma slowly stood up and walked toward Hidan.

"Asuma-san, you shouldn't move, your condition might get-" Shikamaru warned.

"No Shikamaru. My fate was sealed the moment I got these markings." Asuma said as he walked painfully closer to Hidan.

"Asuma-san, what are you doing?" Shikamaru said as he felt Hidan gaining back control. Asuma tightened his grip on his knuckle blades as he cut the side of his unmarked arm. He allowed his blood the stain the tip of his blade as he came closer to Hidan.

"Asuma-san!" Ino called out.

"Shikamaru." Choji said afterwards.

"Ino, Choji." Shikamaru said as his teammates came to his side.

"Asuma-san, what are you-" But Ino was cut off when Asuma stabbed his blade into Hidan's heart.

"I don't see the point of what you're-"Hidan said, but Asuma cut him off.

"If it was my blood that caused this curse, then if you have it, you will gain the curse as well." Asuma said as his grip loosened. He soon fell to the floor.

"Asuma!" Kurenai called out. "Don't."

"Don't what, what's he doing?" Ino said frantic.

"Shikamaru, make him go back into his circle." Asuma said as blood slid down from his lips.

"That would complete the ritual. Then you…you would…Die." Shikamaru said.

"No Asuma, you can't." Choji said as tears came down his face. Ino freed Kurenai and Temari as she raced back toward Shikamaru.

"No, there has to be another way…" Ino said as she finally understood the situation.

Kurenai walked up to Asuma, and held him close.

"Shikamaru, do it. To protect the king, you have to sacrifice some pieces." Asuma said.

"Shikamaru closed his eyes shut as she slowly stepped forward, forcing Hidan to do the same.

"Stop you little bastard. Do you really want your sensei to die?!" Hidan said. For once in the akatsuki member's life, he was afraid of death.

Shikamaru froze at his words. "I…I can't." Shikamaru thought as tears streamed down his face.

"Shikamaru! Do it!" Asuma yelled out. Out of reaction, Shikamaru stepped forward, making Hidan step fully into the circle. Hidan's body was no longer skeleton like, but like Asuma's. ody was covered with the curse and he slowly fell to the floor, his hands twitching, eyes wide with shock. Soon the thought to be immortal Akatsuki member was dead.

Kurenai could no longer hold back as she cried against Asuma's chest. Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino immediately ran to their sensei's side. After Asuma's last words, smoke, and farewells, he closed his eyes and left the world of the living.

"Asuma-sensei!!!!!!" Ino yelled.

"Shikamaru just took one of Asuma's cigarettes and lit it as he placed it in his mouth. "I'm sorry Asuma-sensei."

"Sakura-chan!" Hinata called out.

"Hinata-chan. Are you and the others ok?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, but…" Hinata said as she stared at Kakashi's unconscious body.

"Naruto and Sasuke-kun are fighting with Itachi."

The young Hyuuga's eyes widened in shock. "U-uchiha, Itachi?" Hinata stuttered.

"Please Hinata-chan, can you take Kakashi-san to the hospital? Or somewhere safe. I have to go help my team."

"I'll help." Kiba said out of nowhere. Akamaru came to his side barking in agreement.

"Thank you Kiba, Akamaru." Sakura said.

"No problem. Oi, Shino, cover us will you?" Kiba called out.

"What about the huge snake?" Shino asked as he approached the group.

"The anbu are in charge of those things now. If we get those damn Akatsuki guys, then those beasts can be captured easier." Kiba said.

"I suppose." Shino said.

"Be careful you three." Sakura said. Shino and Kiba nodded in understanding. Akamaru licked her hand, and Sakura petted the over grown canine. "Alright, Hinata-chan, let's go."

"Hai." Hinata answered as she and Sakura sprinted back toward the other direction.

While running, Hinata activated her brakeman to locate Naruto and the others.

"Sakura-chan, above us!" Hinata said. The two stopped to fight Deidara hovering above them.

"Can't let you go help your comrades, yeah." Deidara said as he made two clay birds. The flying bombs headed straight for the two.

"Shit." Sakura thought, but before they could get away, someone stood in front of them and blocked off the bombs with a swirling barrier of chakra.

"Neji?" Sakura asked.

"I'm glad to see you're still in good health Haruno." Neji said.

"Neji-kun. Where have you been?" Hinata asked. In neji's hands he had three thins suits of chakra armor.

"Courtesy of the snow country." Neji said before giving them to Sakura. "When we get a chance, you have to go back to help Naruto, and Uchiha."

"Thank you Neji." Sakura said. Neji just smirked as he faced Deidara. "Let's go."

AN: Pt2 is coming soon. Just need to drink some more caffeine, stop growing, go crazy, and eat a lot of English muffins!