I'm back. I have to say, I had every intention on Sakura fighting, just not on the last chapter. I needed her to see what Naruto and Sasuke would do for her. So she will fight. Also this chap, as you can expect, is mostly fighting, but it'll still have some romance. Review!

Chapter 11

Sasuke's Fall; Sakura's Stand

The tension was growing thick. Sasuke stood as his opponent made no move whatsoever. Sasuke's grip tightened as his stance took a minor change. 'What's he waiting for? Probably for me to make the first move… Dream on, if there's something I've learned, it's to never make the first move when your opponent is directly in front of you.'

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Sasuke was annoyed, very. To his surprised the other ninja just laughed.

"Are you in such a rush to die?" We're had Sasuke heard that before. "Just savoring the moment."

In an instant the Shinobi vanished and appeared behind Sasuke. 'That speed.' As Sasuke barely moved the ninja's blade ripped through the air and sliced Sasuke in half, or Sasuke's double. After a puff of smoke a broken piece of wood replaced Sasuke. This time it was Sasuke who managed stab a kunai through the ninja, more or less. It had also been a clone.

The ninja reappeared in front of the young Uchiha. "Enough warm up, time to get serious." The sound-nin quickly made a couple of hand signs. "Air Cutter Jutsu!" His hand became surrounded by incoming wind at great speeds. It resembled a Chidori, but did it have the same power? Sasuke didn't have much time to think, the sound-nin quickly attacked. He swung his fist fast, but not fast enough. Sasuke managed to evade it, but the surrounding wind was heavy. Heavy enough to send Sasuke flying towards a nearby tree.

He quickly flipped himself and adding chakra to his feet managed to sustain himself standing on the tree. Taking a quick look at his opponent Sasuke noticed that he could only see the sound-nin's incoming fist. 'That can't be good.' he thought.

The sound-nin's fist trespassed Sasuke's body and ripped it to shreds. But it was only a piece of wood. The sound-nin turned as the tree crumbled. "Is that the only trick you've got?"

Sasuke stood a few feet away from him. 'That jutsu is strong, not as strong as the Chidori, but he can use it over and over again. I need something good now. The Chidori is my trump card, I'll leave it as a surprise finisher. But… the Blind Snake Summon won't work, and my fire techniques are pretty useless now. So…'

The sound-nin quickly charged. 'I'll end this now.' He rushed towards Sasuke with full intention of indeed 'ending it', but was surprised to receive a familiar counter attack, his own jutsu. "What?"

"Eat this!" Sasuke swung his fist, but missed, the sound-nin quickly swung his in an uppercut, which also missed. Both fighters turned and clashed fist to fist, the same jutsu hitting each other. A huge gust of wind covered that area as the winds turned into a tornado like explosion, on which sent both Shinobi soaring.

Meanwhile Sakura had her hands full tending an injured Naruto. 'His breathing is stable now, and the wound has somehow began to heal. He told me he was a fast healer, but…' A huge tornado quickly formed and it's winds almost reached them. Sakura quickly stood up. She knew well enough that that was no tornado.

'Jutsu!' She quickly lowered her head at the unconscious blonde. 'Sasuke may have told me to leave, but he didn't say I couldn't return… And you Naruto, you're better now. Besides, you would never tell me to take care of you and let Sasuke get hurt.' Making sure the blonde would be out of harms way until he recovered, Sakura quickly rushed back towards the fight.

Sakura was not the only one who saw the explosion. Kakashi had also witnessed it, and the intense chakra that followed. The kunoichi smiled. "Well, there goes one of your students, if not all of them."

Kakashi smiled. "You claim to be after them, and to have been watching them. And yet, you know nothing of them. There's no way such a weak attack could take them out. But…" Kakashi quickly made a few hand-signs. "You really shouldn't be thinking about them, when you have me to worry about."

"Copy Ninja, you can't hope to defeat me."

"Watch me."

With that said Kakashi quickly activated his Mangekyō Sharingan. The kunoichi froze for a moment. 'He has… his eyes…'

"Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!" A blast of water in the form of a shark quickly headed towards the kunoichi. She moved but was blocked from behind by another Kakashi. "Doppelganger!"

Before she could move the other Kakashi shouted. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" The kunoichi had no place to go and was hit by both the dragon and shark jutsu. "Well, she's all washed up… sorry, couldn't help myself."

Quickly five kunai got stabbed on Kakashi's back. The kunoichi appeared in front of him with a smirk. "Haven't you ever heard of substitution?" Kakashi smiled and said. "In fact, I have." A cloud of smoke appeared and Kakashi turned into a piece of wood.

"There's no way, he…" Before she could even finish a kunai was placed on her neck, not piercing it. "Give up now, I may be a ninja, but killing is not one of my hobbies." The kunoichi smiled. "You are good, but not that good." In a blink of an eye the kunoichi appeared everywhere. 'Shadow clones, and a lot of them.'

Kakashi could spot more that fifty, in front of him alone, he didn't even want to think how many were behind him. 'I didn't want to have to use the Mangekyō Sharingan full power, but it looks like I have no choice.'

The kunoichi, all of them, smiled. "You really think I would be that easy?" Kakashi signed, today was not his lucky day. "I had hope so."

Meanwhile Sasuke stood behind a tree, his breath getting harder. 'That hit was to close, this technique has more power than I gave it credit. I have to be more careful.'

"Found you."

'Crap.'

A huge crater was made were Sasuke once stood, its maker was none other that the sound-nin. Sasuke had jumped just in time. 'Using his jutsu won't work for me, his is far stronger than the one I copy… Time for him to meet my own.' Sasuke quickly threw as many shuriken as he could, ones that the sound-nin easily evaded.

"Are you that scared?" Sasuke fell a few feet from him. 'Ok, need a distraction.' Sasuke grabbed his last shuriken and threw it. "What is this, running out of ideas." the Shinobi mocked.

He placed his hand, jutsu still activated, and blew the shuriken away. He was going to attack when he saw another shuriken. 'A shadow shuriken.' He did the same as he did before, and blew that shuriken away. "Is that all you-huh?"

Thanks to the diversion the shuriken gave, Sasuke had managed to form the Chidori. Sasuke smiled as he once again took his fighter stance. "Time to use the trump card."

This time Sasuke rushed at him. The Shinobi quickly grabbed Sasuke's Chidori arm, to stop the jutsu from hitting him. He then swung his fist, but Sasuke did to him what he had done to Sasuke. As both ninja stood, arms incapable of movement, Sasuke quickly swung his feet and struck the ninja. He quickly rushed with his Chidori at hand. The sound-nin placed his jutsu and took a defensive stand.

Both the Chidori and the Air Cutter clashed. Jutsu vs. jutsu. Lighting vs. wind. They were practically even. 'No, I won't let some stupid jutsu beat mine.' Sasuke thought. He quickly gave as many charka as he could to his Chidori.

'That chakra, this kid… he's something else."

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" Sasuke used as many chakra as he had and blew the Shinobi away. Sasuke then stood, his body twitching. 'No, I used to much. I'm nearly out.'

The sound-nin took a stance once more. He took a glance at his now disabled arm. "It seems I've underestimated you." He spoke to Sasuke. "If it would come to power, you would have won, but I still have chakra, you have very little. You can't do a single jutsu."

Sasuke frowned. 'He's right, I can't. Unless… If I use my stamina, my life energy. I can do the Chidori once again, but… I could die… I will die.' Sasuke smiled. "Die or not, I will not lose to you."

Sasuke started recharging the Chidori. "What! You aren't going to… You'll kill us both!" Sasuke smiled. "Better than going down alone." Sasuke closed his eyes.

'Sakura, and Naruto… Kakashi… Hinata and Ino… and all the others, never thought I'd be the first one to go…'

'He's going to do it, I won't survive it if he does, I need more time to regain my strength… Is this the end.' The sound-nin thought, as he watched lighting produce on Sasuke's hand. This would be it.

"Chidori!"

…

A familiar hand was placed on his chest. He looked at the one who had done it. It was her. He was happy to see her, after all that had happened. The words that he wished to say to her…

"What the hell are you doing here? I told you to leave." Sasuke said as Sakura had stopped his from using the jutsu. "That's a nice way to say thank you."

Sasuke frowned. "Sorry, but…"

"But nothing, you were going to kill yourself, let me take over."

All he wanted to do was to disagree with her, tell her to leave, to save herself, that what he wanted to say. But the lack of chakra and strength made it so that the only thing he could do was to fall down. Sasuke now laid on the ground, unconscious.

'You surprise me sometimes Sasuke, you really care, in your way anyway.' the pink-haired kunoichi turned towards her opponent. "You almost made Sasuke-kun die, and you hurt Naruto-kun."

The sound-nin smiled. "I was going to go chase you, but you saved me the trouble. I'll kill you and take the boy. He proved his worth."

"Just try it."

Sakura charged at him. "Please." Was all he said as he did the same he tried to hit her a few times, but found her a much stronger opponent than he would have thought her to be. Not only did she block every incoming punches and kicks he threw at her, but she threw a couple of her own.

He managed to evade some, but one made a connection with his stomach, hard. He was sent flying backwards and crashed onto a bush. 'She hits hard.'

He quickly made a hand sign and doppelgangers appeared. 'She's strong on hand to hand combat, but let's see how she does with my genjutsu. Sakura smiled. "Getting scared."

Sakura quickly made a few hand signs and shouted. "Kai!" In an instant all of the clones vanished, revealing the real sound-nin. "Is that it." she mocked.

This time he smiled. "I may not be able to beat you with Taijutsu or Genjutsu in my current state, but ninjutsu on the other hand…" The sound-nin quickly made a couple of hand signs. An incredible amount of chakra was dispelled, his chakra had multiplied. "This is a forbidden technique, and it won't last long. But… It's enough to kill you ten times."

Sakura gulped. 'He's power is incredible. I'm not sure a I can hold him to long… If I fail, he gets Sasuke… so failing's not an option… Naruto-kun, I need you.'

Back in the cave, laid the unconscious blonde. In his mind, the battle that he had seen played like a movie, and what might happen after wards as well. He saw Sakura, the person he held most dear, dying, and Sasuke, his best friend, dying as well. He could not let that happen, no. But in his condition, even with the Kyubi's help, and Sakura's, the wound he received was to have him in bed for months, and to walk again would be a miracle.

It was impossible to wake up now. Sakura and Sasuke needed him to do so. But it was impossible, it just wouldn't happen. No matter what, he wouldn't wake up. That was a fact, not an opinion. He just wouldn't.

Yet somehow, someway… His eyes opened revealing a red glare from the monster inside of him…

"Sakura-chan."

Chap's done. Ok, show of hands, erm reviews, who thought Sasuke had died. Just thought it added a little drama. Oh, and by the way. Next chapter will be the semi-final one. Only two chapters left... it good and sad at the same time, Oh well... Review.