Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the characters.

Thanks for all of the reviews!

Note to kattylin: No, I'm not making Itachi a part of the SasuSaku-ness…mainly because Sakura would never fall for him. She hates him, as he is the reason that Sasuke left Konoha in the first place and broke her heart. So, sorry if anyone was wanting that. I just can't stand Itachi (in my opinion he's not even that good looking) But anyways.

Chapter Sixteen: And Your Opponent Is…

Sakura's hand unconsciously went to her kunai pouch, where Itachi's ring sat.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and immediately activated the Sharingan. He frowned. These

were the real members of Akatsuki, not body doubles.

He nodded to everyone else, signifying that they were real.

Everyone got into a defensive position. Things weren't looking too good for them. The ratio of good guys to bad guys was 1:1, under which under any normal circumstances they would look even, but these were merely Chuunins against the infamous Akatsuki.

Sakura looked at the five Akatsuki members standing in front of her. There was Deidara, the clay specialist. Next was a member that Sakura had never met before, but knew from Tsunade that this was Tobi, the newest member of Akatsuki. Next in line was another one that Sakura had only heard of, named Zetsu, and finally the next two made her blood run cold. Kisame and Itachi Uchiha.

Sasuke's hands were clenched, and Sakura could feel him building up chakra inside. You could almost see the anger emitting from Sasuke. Itachi didn't even acknowledge him.

"We're here for Kyuubi." All eyes turned towards Naruto. He frowned.

Hinata gasped. She grasped Naruto's tan hand in her own pale one. "What-what do you want with him?" she boldly asked.

Itachi spared her a glance. "Stay out of this, Hyuuga. I don't think the Hyuuga's want their heiress murdered, do they? Not to mention the secrets of the Byakugan to fall into the wrong hands…"

Naruto released her hand and stepped in front of Hinata. "You leave her out of this! I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Itachi sighed. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Before Naruto could reply, Sakura stepped in front of him. She cracked her knuckles loudly.

"Itachi Uchiha. I would kill you right now…but somebody else has already claimed that right. However, I will not hesitate to defend my friends. Naruto is going nowhere with you. Nor is Hinata. And neither is this little thing…"

Sakura took out Itachi's ring. It glinted in the sunlight as Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"Kunoichi…I hope you have a death wish, because that's the only wish that you're going to granted."

Itachi rushed forward, kunai in hand. Before Sakura could defend herself, a dark blue blur moved in front of her, arms raised. Sasuke!

"Don't touch her again, Itachi." Itachi stopped in front of Sasuke. His Sharingan eyes bore into Sasuke's own red ones. After a moment Itachi looked away.

"You haven't acquired the Sharingan yet. You are of no consequence, Sasuke. I came for Kyuubi, and my ring." Itachi's focus shifted to Sakura, who slipped the ring back into her kunai pouch.

In a blur Itachi was gone, only to reappear behind Sakura. Sakura anticipated this, gathered chakra into her fist, and aimed for Itachi's heart to stop him in one stroke. Itachi's Sharingan eyes saw this in time to avoid a fatal hit, but he was forced to jump back.

Sakura attacked Itachi again, and once again Itachi was pushed back. Sakura's fist slammed into a tree, which was then broken in half, splinters flying everywhere.

Itachi eyed the tree wearily. "So…you know ninjutsu as well, Sakura?"

Sakura smirked. "Among other things. You have no idea what I'm capable of, Itachi."

Sakura practically spat out his name.

Sasuke snapped out of his trance and yelled, "Sakura, you stay out of this! This is my fight."

Itachi didn't even look at him.

The others were looking on at the battle, until Deidara spoke.

"So, you want to see my art, yeah?" he asked, only one blue eye visible behind his bangs.

Sai stepped forward. "So you think you know what art is, huh?"

Deidara grinned. "Yeah."

Sai whipped out his pad of paper and writing utensil. "Why don't we see who's art is better?"

Deidara's hands went inside of his clay pouches. "I love a challenge, yeah."

Deidara and Sai began their battle of art. Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata were silently wondering which of the remaining Akatsuki members they would have to battle. With

Sakura and Sasuke fighting Itachi, the odds were against them, as it was three to two.

Hinata and Naruto observed the Akatsuki members. Neither of them had been informed of the Akatsuki members, save Itachi, Kisame, and Deidara. However, the one with orange swirly mask and the one with a Venus fly trap on his head were unknown to them.

Finally, the one with the mask gave a stiff bow. "If you don't mind, we'll let the lady choose her opponent."

Naruto growled. "Leave her out of this!"

Hinata frowned and tugged on Naruto's sleeve. "Naruto…I know you mean well, but I can handle myself. I haven't been sitting around these past two years…and I've been training with Neji a lot…so I think I'm ready. It's a shinobi's duty to protect my village and my comrades, is it not?"

Naruto frowned. How could he argue against such logic?

He tried anyways. "But-"

"Naruto…can you trust me to take care of myself, just as I trust you to take care of yourself?" Hinata's violet eyes bore into Naruto's ocean-blue ones.

Naruto attempted to stare her down, but lost after two seconds.

Then he smiled a small smile. "Hinata…you don't stutter anymore."

Hinata smiled as well.

Naruto puffed out his chest. "It must be the effect I'm having on you."

Hinata didn't have the heart to tell him that it was because of him in the first place that she was so shy, and stuttered around him. She just smiled, and hugged him tightly. Hinata realized that she had grown up a lot from the shy girl who used to faint and blush around Naruto. Hinata felt bravery and confidence stirring in her, something she only felt whenever Naruto was around.

"Be careful, Hinata."

Hinata nodded. "You too, Naruto."

The orange-masked Akatsuki member cleared his throat. "Pardon me you lovebirds, but shouldn't we get on with the fight? After all, everyone else is engaged already."

After getting no response from anyone, he continued. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tobi. I'm the newest member of Akatsuki, replacing Sasori. I-"

"Let's just kill them and be done with it." The man with the Venus flytrap on his head spoke in a robot-like voice. Another voice, this one more emotional, said, "Will you just be quiet? Let the man finish his speech, and then we'll kill them."

The robot voice responded, "We should've never let Tobi replace Sasori."

"Hmmm…I think Tobi makes a better replacement than the other candidates we could've chosen. At least he's polite."

"Whatever. Let's just get this thing over with."

Naruto exchanged a confused look with Hinata. What the heck was this guy?

Just then the Venus flytrap partially opened, revealing a painted face. The entire right side was painted black, and the entire left side was white. Glowing yellow orbs functioned as the man's eyes, and he had dark green hair, almost blending in with the Venus flytrap.

Tobi sighed. "Very well, Zetsu. Impatient, as usual. I guess I'll be a gentleman and fight the lady. As the saying goes, 'ladies first.' Is that all right with you, Kisame?"

The shark man replied, "Yah. But I get to eat her when you're done. She looks mighty tasty." He grinned savagely, showing off his rows of razor-sharp jagged teeth.

Hinata spread her legs apart, and bent her knees, her arms up in her defensive position.

"Byakugan!" Veins protruded from her eyes as she scanned her opponent.

Tobi grinned, and bowed. "Shall we begin?"

Hinata didn't answer, but rather raced forward, attacking with her Gentle Fist.

Naruto didn't have time to watch over Hinata, as the man named Kisame had pulled out his gigantic sword. It crushed the ground beneath it, and unraveled to reveal sharp, rounded spikes that were designed for shaving, not slicing.

Kisame grinned. "Like Samehada? Ahh…she's a beauty, isn't she? She's even more beautiful when she's stained red!" Kisame lunged at Naruto, holding the huge sword above his head.

Naruto flipped backwards to avoid the sword, and he narrowly missed it. Kisame ran at Naruto again, but Naruto got distracted by Hinata's scream. Naruto made the mistake of trying to steal a glance in Hinata's direction, and paid for it dearly.

He felt the whoosh of the blade as it descended upon him, and Kisame grinned as he sliced it across Naruto's arm, spraying blood everywhere.

Naruto cried out and jumped back to avoid getting hurt again, and covered his wound with his other hand.

Naruto cursed. He stole a glance in Sakura's direction, knowing that he couldn't function properly with this wound.

Sakura was watching the battle between the remaining Uchihas. At first, it would seem as if Sasuke was Itachi's equal. But as the battle progressed, it became apparent that that was not the case.

Sasuke was breathing hard, and Itachi was merely staring at him. Finally, Itachi spoke.

"Sasuke, if you want any hope of killing me someday, than obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan. I've already told you this before. Don't interfere with my plans until you can face me, as an equal."

Sakura heard a high-pitched scream, and looked in the direction it had come from. She saw Naruto get hurt, and yelled his name. Sakura glanced from Sasuke to Naruto, and decided that Naruto needed her more.

Sakura ran up to him, and immediately began healing his wound. It wasn't as deep as the amount of blood would suggest, but it would take a significant amount of chakra to heal.

Kisame grinned again. "So, we meet again, kunoichi."

Sakura glared, but said nothing. She whispered to Naruto, "Be careful, Naruto. His blade absorbs chakra, so don't let it get too close to you. I don't want the Kyuubi to resurface again. I don't know if Sasuke can hold him back this time."

Naruto nodded.

Sakura finished healing him, and then returned to the fight between Sasuke and Itachi.

In a blink Itachi was gone, and this time Sakura hadn't expected it. She couldn't dodge the kunai that he threw, and it embedded itself into her thigh.

Sakura hissed in pain, but managed to land a blow to Itachi's shoulder, dislocating it.

Itachi jumped back, clutching his wounded shoulder. He glared at Sakura.

She stared defiantly at him, daring to look into his eyes. She knew then that Sasuke and her alone could not defeat Itachi without severely weakening him first. And Sakura knew just how to do that.

If she could manage to provoke him enough to get him to use Mangekyou Sharingan on her, than Itachi would be crippled and Sasuke could easily defeat him.

It would require a lot of sacrifice on her part, but Sakura was more than willing to do it if it meant bringing Itachi down.

Sakura smirked, putting her plan into action. "I don't know why you think Sasuke needs the Mangekyou Sharingan. It seems to me that it only weakens you."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

"After all, if a kunoichi, a mere Chuunin at that, can beat it, than what's the point?"

Sasuke was getting beyond annoyed that he was being ignored. He couldn't remember a time that he had ever been jealous of Sakura, but he was pretty darn close right now. All of older brother's attentions were focused on Sakura…but maybe that could work to his advantage. If his brother were distracted enough, it could provide Sasuke with enough time to severely cripple Itachi. Sasuke began formulating a plan in his mind.

Meanwhile, Sakura was still rambling about how stupid the Mangekyou Sharingan was.

Finally, Itachi interrupted her. "I don't know what you'll think you'll gain by provoking me, but if you want pain, than I'll give you pain such as you have never known."

Sakura smirked. "Bring it on, Itachi."

Before Sasuke could put his plan into motion, he felt a chill in the air. He looked back and forth from Sakura to Itachi.

Finally he decided enough was enough. Sasuke would not tolerate the cold shoulder, especially not from his older brother.

But just then Sakura fell to her knees, shaking and quivering.

Sasuke frowned. He didn't think the wound in her leg was that extensive. Suddenly he realized what was going on, when neither of them were moving. Sasuke swore. Sakura!

Sai wiped the blood from his mouth. Deidara's clay bomb had come too close that time. It had caught from behind. His paper tiger had shielded him from the brunt of the impact, but it had still got to him.

Deidara wasn't without his wounds, however. But he still had three-quarters of his supply of clay that he had brought, so he didn't mind the minor wounds, more like scratches to him, so much.

Sai wasn't looking too good, though. He was almost out of paper, and his chakra was running low.

For once, emotion was showing on his face. Fear…anger…desperation.

He knew that he had to protect the newly forged bonds between him and his new friends.

And if that meant giving up his life, than so be it. Naruto and Sakura had taught him all about being friends, and how life just wasn't complete if you're all alone in the world.

You need companionship, and Sai finally understood that.

Hinata screamed. Zetsu had moved so fast that she couldn't block her arm from getting stuck inside the flytrap. The sharp edges dug cruelly into her skin, drawing blood. She yanked to get it out, but it was firmly held.

And then it began closing even tighter, until her arm was penetrated to the bone. She ignored the searing pain as she kept tugging on her arm, trying to get it out.

And then to her horror, she felt something touching her arm…something slipper and rough. She didn't know what it was but she didn't like it.

Hinata then forced herself to calm down. She took a couple of deep breaths, and then summoned chakra into her fist, and emitted it as she would if she were striking an opponent. She heard a grunt of pain, and her arm was released.

Hinata instantly retreated back, but then Tobi was there behind her.

"I see you are wounded. I must apologize, but the boss says that you must die. I'm very sorry, but I have to follow orders."

Suddenly Tobi grabbed Hinata around the neck, and raised her until her feet were dangling in midair.

Hinata struggled in his grasp, but couldn't get him off. Her Byakugan faded, and the edges of her vision grew blurry. Fiery hot pain seared across her lungs as she couldn't breathe.

She faintly heard someone calling her name, but she wasn't sure who it was.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled. He was in a deadlock with Kisame. Neither was willing to give the other an inch, and Naruto couldn't spare any time to help Hinata.

He was about to yell at Sakura to get her butt over there, but Kisame charged at him again. Kisame was pumped from all of the chakra that he had stolen from Naruto, and so was even faster. Before Naruto knew it, Kisame was in front of him, the blade raised.

Naruto braced himself for the impact, but it never came. Kisame stopped, midair. Naruto frowned and scratched his head.

"Eh?"

Kisame swore. "What the hell is this?"

Naruto looked down at the ground, and he noticed Kisame's shadow looked peculiar. It traveled all the way to the base of the trees.

Naruto looked up and stared in disbelief.

"Shikamaru?!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Yah. Team Neji, here to save your ass, Naruto."

"Team Neji?" Naruto asked, not seeing anyone else.

Shikamaru whistled shrilly, and suddenly there were seven more shinobi. Neji, TenTen, Shino, Kiba, Lee, Choji, and Ino all appeared beside Shikamaru.

Naruto sighed in relief, and then grinned. "It's about time!"

Neji scanned the area. He swore when he saw Hinata, but kept his cool. "TenTen, come with me. The rest of you, our comrades need help. See to it."

"Hai!" chorused seven people.

Naruto's shoulders slumped in relief. Help had arrived. They were saved…for the moment.

Whew…well, this chapter was actually done on time, but fan fiction wouldn't accept if for some reason…plus, it wasn't on my computer so that could've been it too. So sorry for being late! And I'm sorry if the battles weren't all that well written…they're most definitely not my strong point. I probably will not go in depth with them, just kind of catch the endings of them all since there will be so many. So bare with me please!

Well, we saw the reentrance of the Konoha Twelve, and Akatsuki…so this next chapter should be interesting…

As always, please review!

Oh…and on my profile I listed some stories that I'm thinking of writing. I would appreciate your comments on whether I should write them or not. Thanks!

belle2990