Avenger: Sasuke's awakening

OV: When brothers collide who will win?

AN: Finally Sasuke, but Naruto's already confessed he loves Gaara..to himself, and he's on a date with Hinata! He's Confused!! LOL He's not really even in this chapter though

(reposted with edit on 30.10.2007)

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The festival after Naruto's Hokage inauguration would go down in Konoha's history as one of the loudest, biggest, and best festival's ever. It actually hadn't specifically been planned, but it had fallen that Naruto's ceremony fell on the same day as the festival to celebrate his father's triumph over the Kyuubi. People were acutely aware that on this night they had so much more to celebrate. Today they celebrated an end to hatred, and a new beginning. The Jinchuuriki had become Hokage. No more was there a tinge of concern over Naruto; he was the village's protector now.

Unfortunately there are always those who cannot be open-minded. Some residents were drinking not to Naruto's health, but to his demise. In the belly of the village deep underground Denzou instructed his new group of Root trainees to be wary of the new Hokage. He didn't want them to give total allegiance to the Hokage, but to the village first, and to Naruto only if necessary. Denzou was still very sore at Naruto for taking one of his best men from him. It didn't matter to him that 'Sai' was an elite ANBU, he wasn't in Denzou's direct control and therefore he couldn't use him as a tool for his own greater plan.

Outside the village there were some who were wishing for Naruto's demise as well as the downfall of Konoha. Unbeknownst to the other, two pairs of sharingan were actively watching Naruto. One man in a black robe with red clouds was situated near the left flank of the village. He was in a grove of trees, and was observing the festival with a face devoid of emotion. On the farthest east side the other man was sitting in a cave with his comrades. Karin was checking chakra signatures. She had the feeling she was missing something, and was performing an inspection of the entire village with precision. Juugo and Suigetsu were arguing between themselves. The sharingan wielder, Sasuke, was concentrating on Naruto and Hinata. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could see their actions.

He laughed as he realized they were on an apparent date, causing his comrades to query as to what was so funny. He didn't answer, something they were used to by now, and so they went back to bickering and scanning.

Itachi turned his sharingan toward the edges of the village looking for the best way in. He had been paired with Tobi, and he didn't want to miss another chance to take the Jinchuuriki. His sharingan noticed a gap in the surrounding wall that had never been properly repaired after Orochimaru's attack on Konoha. Directly above this weakened spot was a cave, convenient for planning his actions. He set to watching his target again, and debated when to make his move. The biggest flaw was that the weakened part of wall was considerably far from the Hokage building.

Sasuke grimaced as he watched Naruto feeding Hinata sushi. He glowered over his sharingan as the chop sticks dipped another piece into wasabi and Naruto ate it grinning. Dobe, he thought. When he couldn't take any more of the scene below him, he turned his attention back to Karin. "So how does it look?" he asked her.

She hesitated, should she tell him about the trace signature she thought she felt, or ignore that tingling feeling that told her she was sure of who it was. "There are a lot of powerful ninja gathered." She began.

"I already know that, now tell me what you're trying to hide." He said coldly.

She pouted; he was always so cold to her. "I think I can feel a signature that doesn't belong." She said trying not to reveal her uncertainty.

"…"

She looked at him. Damn him and that impassive face of his. The most emotion I've seen in him lately was when we heard that Itachi was going after Naruto again, and he decided we'd also head for Konoha. Why can't he get excited about me?

"I'm waiting." He snapped impatiently.

"Itachi's here. He's on the west side, but I think he's moving this way." She spat the words out as if they tasted horrible.

Sasuke merely smirked. So the information was right. Come brother, I'm ready for you this time.

Karin recoiled from the look of malice on his face. She wasn't scared that he'd hurt her, but that look was enough to send shivers up anyone's spine. She once again thanked the gods she wasn't on the receiving end of that look, and hoped she'd never be. She retreated to the back of the cave, and set about preparing a small meal. They'd been hiding out in the cave for three days, and the living arrangements had become second nature to the group.

Suigetsu announced he would be heading toward the creek yet again, which prompted Karin to remark that he was a true weakling as much water as he required. He swung his huge sword toward her, and if Sasuke hadn't ordered him to stand down he'd have cut her into two right there. Instead he hopped out of the cave taking his sword with him.

Juugo sat docilely in his corner and talked to a couple of squirrels who he'd been using to spy with. They had been good gatherers of information, and had also shown him where to find a nice stash of nuts and berries. He sent them out to see if they could confirm what Karin had suspected.

Suigetsu had no more than reached the stream when he was ambushed from behind. He reeled from the kick that had caught him off guard and vowed to make whoever had just hit him pay. He turned and saw a man wearing black robes with red clouds. He didn't recognize him. "Who are you?" he asked harshly.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," said a voice tinged with humor. Suigetsu didn't like the fact that the guys face was covered by an orange swirled mask.

Suigetsu caused his arms to muscle up and faced the intruder with a laugh. "I'll make you sorry you messed with me," he leered. Tobi deftly kicked the sword out of his hand and grabbed the thick hilt. He snarled at the unknown intruder. "How dare you touch my sword with your filthy hands?" He made to grab it back, but the other guy was just too fast. This was the last threat Suigetsu ever made before his torso was parted from his hips up to his collarbone with his own sword.

Itachi was grumbling impatiently as he searched through the surrounding forest for any chakra signature. Damn that Tobi, I'll wring his neck for wandering off! He was looking not only for his teammate, but for anyone else he might run into. He had made his way to the south of Konoha when he felt another presence. He stopped abruptly, and scanned the area. 100 meters to his left was a stream. Near this stream was Tobi fighting some other guy. Itachi wondered why he had a vague feeling he should know this guy, although he couldn't recall seeing a guy with skin tinged pale blue and hugely muscled. His former partner Kisame had been blue, but he wasn't this masculine. Besides, Kisame had gone and gotten himself killed, and Zetsu had taken care of the body.

He hid in the shadows and watched for a few minutes. Tobi was holding his own, remarkably. Maybe they hadn't made such a bad choice making him an Akatsuki member after all. Itachi took a moment to scan the area for any nearby signatures. All he could find were a couple of squirrels scrambling into the cave he planned to use later. He hadn't noticed how the fight was faring, because he'd been preoccupied scanning the area, so he was surprised to find Tobi standing over the bloody body of his foe holding an extremely large sword.

Itachi wasn't exactly sure if you could actually call the body bloody, but it was leaking some liquid everywhere. He went to the body to question him before he passed out. Suigetsu refused to even tell him his name, or any reason why he might be there. Itachi having grown bored of asking activated his Mangekyo sharingan and sent the blue man into his Tsukuyomi technique. He didn't think it would take much torture to get the man to talk. He was wrong, as Suigetsu basically evaporated before his eyes while under the technique leaving Itachi to wonder over what kind of man he was. He deactivated his sharingan, and felt the all too familiar rush if weakness. It passed quickly as it always did, and he let the feeling it left behind fade as it did.

Itachi was incensed that he'd not gotten any information from the unknown man. He didn't know if he was alone, or even why he was there. Perhaps they'd just killed a man whose only crime was wandering through the wrong part of the forest on his way to the festival. Itachi trusted his hunches, and he didn't think so.

He determined to survey the area again, and saw an unclear chakra signature in the cave. It was a meshing of a couple of different signatures. He thought of the squirrels and wondered if there was a large nest up there. He looked at Tobi who was also looking up at the cave. "I think that cave will be a good place to stake out the village until night fall. It will be easier to enter under darkness, and we should be able to get the Jinchuuriki without too much effort."

Tobi looked up at the cave once more, and nodded. Under his mask Uchia, Madara grinned. He hadn't been fooled by the technique that had been used to dispel chakra. He knew there were two people up in that cave, what bothered him was that one appeared unstable as it had more than one signature. He was secure in his abilities and wondered what kind of man carried such turbulence within himself. The other he read as an Uchia, their chakra had a specific tone to it due to the kekkei genkai. His smile broadened as he thought about the meeting that was getting ready to take place. Finally the last three surviving Uchias were going to meet up. He followed Itachi up closer to the cave.

Karin suddenly sat bolt upright, she didn't move away from where she was sitting propped on the wall next to Juugo, but she motioned to Sasuke that someone was coming.

He looked at her trying to understand. She was too on alert for it to just be Suigetsu coming back, however if it was someone else how had they gotten past him? Sasuke didn't move, but he activated his sharingan. When Karin froze and whispered one word he glared at her. She'd said she thought Itachi was around, and now she thought it was him coming up to the cave. Sasuke's face went from its usual impassivity to glaring. He'd just picked up on his brother's position for himself.

Was he that ready for a fight that he'd simply walk right in where he, Sasuke, sat waiting for him? Karin whispered, "The chakra concealment is working. He must not know we're here. But why is he coming up to the cave, and where is Suigetsu? I feel him close bye, but his signature is weak."

Sasuke knew then that Suigetsu had already been killed by his brother. This only served to enrage Sasuke even more. Itachi had always treated him like he was no match, that he was inferior, but to barge in on them with out a care? That was too much! Sasuke felt them drawing closer; he crouched in a ready stance and waited.

Itachi approached more cautiously than he otherwise might have. He was aware that that blue guy might have friends hidden around. He couldn't find any other signature than the slight one he knew was in the cave, and he still dismissed that as animal in nature by its weakness. He had gotten close enough now that he could discern two signatures. He stopped and scanned the cave slowly and methodically, trying to be certain it wasn't a trap he was leading them into. Despite how well Tobi had handled that guy, he would be held responsible if anything happened to him. Pein wasn't known for leniency, and Itachi knew there was some strange reason he showed Tobi favor.

He stepped forward, now a mere 10 meters from the cave opening, and watched as another squirrel entered carrying a scrap of cloth in its teeth. Itachi knew it was a piece of that blue guy's shirt. It made him relax a bit, because he was almost certain it was an obvious clue that there were squirrels nesting. He looked back at Tobi who was obediently following a few feet behind him. He motioned that he was going in, and for Tobi to wait.

Tobi nodded an affirmative, grinning behind his mask that he was in no way going to wait. When Itachi jumped the final five feet into the cave, Tobi/Madara was right behind him. He stayed behind the lip of the opening, but close enough to see and hear what was going on.

For a split second Itachi faltered, he had not been expecting his little brother to be waiting for him inside. Sasuke used that moment's hesitation to strike. He had perfected the chidori so that he could activate it instantly, and with his chakra sword version also. Before Itachi could jump completely out of the way Sasuke had impaled him through his shoulder. He looked his brother in the eyes and spat the words he'd been longing to say for so long, "I'm not the weakling anymore, you are."

Itachi felt drained as Sasuke's chidori nagashi continued to slice into him. If Madara hadn't stepped into the cave at that moment Sasuke would have killed his brother then and there.

Karin had known he was there and had used the distraction of the Uchia brother's to get Juugo ready to attack. He was already angered when the squirrel had brought him word of Suigetsu's death and proof in the slip of cloth. He was already slipping into curse seal form and lashed out at Madara. Madara easily caught the much larger man and tried to subdue him. He wasn't expecting the extra strength the seal gave him, but he could see how it was dumping chakra into his system. He turned to Sasuke and commanded him to order Juugo down.

Sasuke just smirked and countered that you don't just order Juugo down when he's in curse seal form. Juugo continued to squeeze the smaller man, and was thoroughly enjoying the feeling of the bones in his ribcage constricting and beginning to strain. Sasuke called out for him to wait. Juugo loosened his hold for a moment, but he resumed his grip even tighter with a feral cry that he didn't want to.

Itachi tried to take advantage of the distraction to hit Sasuke with a surprise attack; however Karin jumped in the way and received the intended death blow. Sasuke looked down at her indifferently, and complained to Itachi that he had cost him the best tracker he'd ever seen. Karin died with a smile on her face murmuring that he did love her after all. Itachi used a kawarimi to get himself free, and tried to place his Mangekyou sharingan on his little brother.

For someone who was hailed as a genius Itachi was sorely unprepared to see the Mangekyou mirrored in his brother's eyes. He had rushed into the cave blindly, had taken his brother's unexpected hit made worse by the unanticipated fact of Sasuke being there at all, and now he'd counted on being able to send Sasuke into a Tsukuyomi technique.

Instead it was he who was sucked into his brother's Tsukuyomi technique. Sasuke looked at his brother who stood before him, well hung is a better word, as he was hanging from a series of chains and butcher style hooks. Sasuke couldn't express nor contain how much hatred and anger were coursing through him at that moment.

He looked at Itachi; "you will stay here in my world forever. When your brain has melted and your senses are faded and you can no longer take it and you beg for mercy, I will keep you here. You will stay here as I pierce you over and over with my chidori blade. You will stay here as I send snakes to bite and choke you to the point of unconsciousness, only to release their hold at that last moment to allow you to gasp for breath. Then they will attack again.

You will hang from those hooks until your flesh is peeling off and you are bathed in your own blood. You will stay here as the faces of those you have killed appear before you and tear at your flesh, as they stab you with kunai and throw shuriken at you. You will heal just enough to recover your sense of touch and taste and smell. You will taste the metallic tang of your own blood. You will smell the stench of your own vomit and shit. You will feel the pain over and over and over again. I will stand here and watch, and I will revel in your pain.

I will enjoy seeing our mother spit in your face. I will enjoy seeing our father tell you that you are no son of his and you are a disappointment. I will enjoy seeing your entire clan torture, maim, and punish you. I will not release my hold on you until your outer body gives way. I will not let go until you are broken and your body has stiffened in the agony of death.

I have hated you with everything that I have. I have hated you beyond any other course

my life might have taken. I have deserted everything I once held dear in my chase for power to use against you. I have postponed living in the desire to seek my revenge. I have become the perfect avenger, and now I will extract my sweetest justice on you.

You are weak. Do you know why you are weak, Itachi? You are weak because you have nothing you hold dear! You are weak because you have nothing that drives you. You are weak because you are alone, and in that loneliness you have no strength. I am strong because I have my revenge. I am stronger because I have drive. I am strong because although I have left them in my past, I have someone else who will keep me going.

Now brother, it is time for you to receive what I owe you."

As he spoke each thing he said happened as he brought it into being by thinking and saying it. Now finished speaking Sasuke began to reach his chidori blade toward his brother again. Just as he was about to strike he heard Itachi trying to speak. He barely formed the words, because he had lost so much blood and was in so much pain. "I have succeeded."

This sent Sasuke into an even deeper rage. "What do you mean you succeeded?"

Itachi raised his face, "You have grown stronger. You don't have our father standing over you never telling you you're good enough. You don't have to live under his shadow of perfection, and know that nothing you do is ever good enough. That no matter what you'll never be perfect. You don't have to live up to what everyone else expects of you. You are free to choose your own path. If I hadn't done what I did the Uchias would have remained self centered and arrogant. You would have grown up trying to live up to me, and I would have always fallen short of your expectations. Father would have succeeded in molding you into the perfect Uchia, an unfeeling machine that only strove to be like everyone else in the clan. The only ambition perfection that is unattainable. I broke into the secret vault and read the scroll so I could find a way out. I made my road, but I couldn't leave you behind to be forced into doing whatever they wanted, and becoming who they wanted you to be.

You've become a man now. You're better than me. You're better than any of them. I succeeded, I freed you."

"You killed our entire clan and you think you freed me?? You don't know what you caused me. You don't know what you cost me. You don't deserve to live. No more talking, your eternity begins now!" Sasuke stabbed the blade of lightening into Itachi's stomach. Blood gushed out of his mouth and coursed out of the wound. Sasuke set to work carrying out every promise he'd made to his brother again. It aggravated and enraged him that Itachi took everything Sasuke could think of with a smile on his face. Eventually the torture became too much, and as Itachi felt his mind slip, and knew he was dying, he raised his head one last time.

"Goodbye, little brother." He went limp and sagged against the chains as his breath slowly slipped through his lips.

In the cave Juugo didn't notice as Sasuke withdrew the blade he'd kept pressed into his brother's shoulder as the body went slack, and which had carved a path down into his chest, and let the body slump to the floor. A single tear slid down his cheek for himself, for his clan, or maybe for his brother, Juugo never saw it as he gave a final mighty squeeze and Madara's head nearly dislocated from his shoulders. There was a wet series of crunches as the ribs that had been under such strain shattered sending shards of bone into Madara's lungs and heart. He didn't notice as his heart had burst the moment Juugo had increased his pressure.

A sick grin spread over Juugo's face as he watched the thick red blood that flowed out of Madara's flaccid mouth. He dropped the body onto the floor of the cave next to Itachi's and grinned at Sasuke. Sasuke almost didn't think fast enough to make Juugo back down from his killing intent. He activated his own seal on the left side of his body where Juugo was trying to get a good grip to tear his arm off. He shoved the larger man off of him, and looked at him with his sharingan activated.

"Juugo, enough," he said simply.

He then proceeded to walk down to the stream to wash his brother's and Karin's blood off. Juugo calmed down, and followed docilely. They both removed most of their bloodstained clothing and washed it out in the water. Sasuke didn't even flinch when a voice commanded him not to move, he'd known they were coming. He looked at Juugo and told him not to move, they had not come to fight these men.

"Juugo, do you really want that seal deactivated?" Sasuke asked his only remaining companion.

He had Juugo's full attention. "Yes," the big man said a look of incredulity on his face.

"Don't fight. Let them take us. They should be able to help you."

Juugo looked at Sasuke. He realized he looked tired. "What about you?" He asked real concern in his voice.

"Don't worry about me." He said with a grin. It was perhaps the first real grin Juugo had ever seen on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke looked at the masked ANBU who had found him. "We'll go peacefully. Please will you tell the Hokage that Uchia, Sasuke has been captured?" With that said he held his hands out, palm up, and sat down on the bank of the stream. He watched his white shirt and purple belt go floating down the current. He didn't need them anymore.

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Madara doesn't know there are three people because Karin is sitting behind Juugo whose chakra is in essence divided because of the curse seal. Also since Sasuke has the curse seal his chakra would kind of blend with Juugo's as he's the originator of the curse seal. Just felt I needed to explain that…it felt unclear.

Wow, that was a long chapter. I'll post it now and edit it later..Muhahaha!

I'm sure I've made a lot of mistakes, and my proofreader hasn't checked over this yet, obviously. Three chapters in one day Marathon…but now I've been up almost 48 hours…off to bed to sleep all day! YAY!!

-Kneise