Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the characters.

Chapter Nineteen: An Avenger's Love

"Rasengan!"

Sweat dripped from Shikamaru's face as he struggled to keep Kisame in check with his shadow bind.

Naruto finished making the Rasengan, and aimed for Kisame's chest. Kisame saw hell in the blond-haired boy's eyes. They were tinged with red, and his teeth had grown into fangs.

Shikamaru swore. He was almost out of chakra. He was barely managing to keep up with his jutsu. He was running on sheer will-power now.

The Rasengan exploded in Kisame's chest, and he let out a scream of pain before the blue light overtook him. As he felt the fiery pain in his body, the shadow jutsu was released, and he managed to swipe his blade Samehada down one last time.

Choji raced towards Ino, his heart pounding in his thick chest. His rational thoughts fled when he saw her crumple to the ground. If he had been thinking clearly, he would've recognized her jutsu, but he was too worried to think straight.

Choji let loose a kunai, but as soon as it hit the target Choji swore.

The same wound he inflicted upon Deidara had just been inflicted on Ino's body.

Deidara looked at him, as he fell to his knees.

"Oh no…"

Tobi was on the ground, coughing up blood. His mask was broken, lying in separate parts on the ground.

A kunai was clutched in his left hand, his right hand hanging limply on his side. He was staring at the blue sky, the sun shining high in the sky. He wondered how anything bad could be happening on such a beautiful day.

He allowed himself briefly to wonder if he was on the wrong side after all. He never did like killing, and he couldn't tolerate rudeness, but killing is all he'd ever known. That's why he jumped at the chance to join Akatsuki. Their reputation proceeded them far and wide, and Tobi had heard of the infamous Akatsuki since he was a young lad.

It was such an honor to join such a powerful gang. As he lay dying, Tobi's last thought was that he would've made a better good guy than bad guy.

He saw a huge boulder in the sky, blocking his view. It was suspended by an enormous hand, and before Tobi could try and move it was dropped on him, and Tobi knew no more.

Zetsu grinned. The white-eyed girl was down for the count, and the boy with the dog was too mad to do anything harmful to him. All that was left was the quiet one.

Zetsu couldn't see his face, considering most of it was covered up by a hood and mask, and what he could see of it had sunglasses on it.

He was a mystery to him. He didn't know what his jutsu was, if he had any at all. He decided to find out.

Just as soon as Zetsu was about to do something, he stopped when he felt something extraordinary. It was as if he'd been baking in the sun for too long, like the water was being drained out of him.

"What the hell?" Zetsu exclaimed. The insane side of him replied, "Let's kill them now!"

Zetsu took a step forward, but crumpled to the ground. He struggled to get back up, but to no avail.

"What the hell did you do to me!?" Zetsu screamed.

Shino took a step forward and pushed up his sunglasses. "I've been observing you fight. You're truly skilled, and I knew that I couldn't beat you using chakra-infused fighting. So I decided on a rather old-fashioned method."

"Which would be…"

"In order to destroy you I have to destroy your body. And how do you destroy a plant that can fuse itself with another? Make it wither. How do you make a plant wither and die? Drain it's water. Without water, plants cannot survive. You of all people should know that."

"How the hell have you been draining the water in my body without my noticing?" demanded Zetsu, although his voice wasn't so loud; it sounded very lethargic and sleepy.

In response Shino held up a hand, in which several bugs came crawling onto it.

Zetsu shivered. He hated bugs.

"I sent my bugs, which normally feed on people's chakra, to collect the water from your body instead. You were too busy fighting Kiba to notice."

Zetsu let out a serious of very explicit curses to which Hinata paled and Kiba glared. Shino remained emotionless, watching Zetsu die very slowly and painfully.

Choji raced to catch Deidara, finally recognizing that it was Ino's spirit in Deidara's body. Choji swore as blood gushed from the wound. He faintly heard Ino mutter, "Mind transfer, release!"

Choji threw Deidara aside, who gasped at the sudden pain, and gently picked Ino up.

Deidara coughed up blood, and weakly reached into his clay pouch only to discover that he had no more clay.

Choji bit his lip, and profusely apologized to Ino. A thin trickle of blood escaped from the corner of her mouth.

"It-it's all right Ch-Choji. Y-you didn't kn-know." A flicker of pain crossed her beautiful features.

Choji swore, and yelled for a medic.

Instead of a medic, Neji and TenTen showed up.

Neji frowned a the scene, and TenTen gasped. She quickly rushed to Ino's side.

"Stand back!" TenTen ordered Choji. Knowing the basics of medical procedures, TenTen applied pressure to her wound to clot the blood and stop the bleeding. TenTen looked up at Neji. "I don't know what else to do! We need Sakura!"

"Well where the hell is she?" asked the worried Choji.

"She's fighting the Uchiha," Neji replied calmly.

"Sasuke?" Choji asked, confused.

Neji shook his head. "Itachi."

"Well we need her over here, damnit! Can't you just take her place?"

"I would if I could. I'm pretty sure she's down for the count right now. I'll go check on her and bring her back as soon as possible."

Neji walked up to Choji and smacked the chubby boy's face. "Calm down. Panicking will not help anyone. I will not allow one of my teammates to die. That's a promise."

Neji was already gone by the time Choji was brought back to his senses and nodded farewell to Neji.

Neji landed besides the prone form of Sakura. He turned her over and frowned. Instead of her eyes being wide open and afraid, they were closed, as if in a deep slumber.

He gently tried to shake her awake, but she didn't stir. He saw a movement to his right and quickly jumped up and formed his defensive stance, Byakugan activated.

Neji relaxed. It was just Sasuke. He scanned the surrounding foliage. Itachi was no where in sight.

Sasuke walked very slowly over to Sakura and knelt beside her. He felt for a pulse, but found none.

"Is she…dead?" he asked Neji in a quiet voice. The question surprised Neji, as he hadn't even considered the possibility that the only medic-nin could die. He used his Byakugan to check her vital signs.

Her heart was still beating, but only just. With every passing second it got slower and slower.

Neji cursed. "She's alive, but just barely. What the hell happened to her?" he asked frantically. Sakura couldn't die. She was vital to the survival of the rest of her team, a team that Neji planned on returning home complete.

"She died in the Mangekyou Sharingan. I don't know what'll happen to her now." The Uchiha's voice was devoid of any emotion whatsoever. His hands fell limply at his side, and he made no move to touch her. He just stared at her.

After a few moments, Sasuke stood up.

"Where are you going?" Neji asked as Sasuke turned away.

"To fulfill my lifelong goal," Sasuke replied, glancing back at the glaring Hyuuga.

"Wait-" Too late. Sasuke Uchiha left without a backwards glance.

Sakura was engulfed in darkness. She didn't know where she was, whether she was still in the Mangekyou Sharingan or not. A horrible thought struck her.

Am I…dead? I can't be dead! Okay, calm down…if I'm thinking I don't think that I'm dead. So am I just…asleep? Yes…maybe that's it. If so then…when am I going to wake up?

Neji calmed his breathing to a steady rhythm. He placed his hands over Sakura's heart and yelled, "Byakugan!"

Her heart was just barely beating now. Neji began pumping minimal amounts of chakra into Sakura's heart to keep it beating. He furrowed his brow in concentration as he fought to keep her alive.

Sasuke had been ripped out of the Mangekyou Sharingan. He awoke to find himself on the ground, his heartbeat irregular. As the memories of what took place resurfaced, Sasuke quickly jumped to his feet and activated his Sharingan.

His red eyes scanned the area for Itachi. He didn't see the black and red Akatsuki cloak anywhere, and swore.

That's when the Hyuuga had come and seen to Sakura. His heart hard, Sasuke mentally steeled himself for the thought that the pink-haired kunoichi had passed on to the other life.

He slowly and very deliberately walked towards her unmoving body, all the while caging his emotions. When he heard the Hyuuga say that she was alive his heart nearly burst with relief. And then came the "-only just" that nearly stopped his heart again.

Sasuke knew that Sakura was trapped in her own mind again…he wasn't exactly sure what would happen to someone if they died in their own mind. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Sasuke decided that he couldn't do anything to help Sakura in the state he was in, and a feeling of helplessness washed over him. Soon after, the desire for revenge settled in his heart once again. Itachi…this time, it's you or me. No more games. No more fooling around. This time it's a fight to the death.

Sasuke kept his emotions in check, and then he left Sakura. You'd better take care of her…Hyuuga.

Sasuke hoped that Neji had gotten the mental message. For some reason, he trusted that Neji would keep Sakura alive…if only because she was the group's only medic.

Then he went in search of his older brother, soon to be deceased older brother.

TenTen was furiously trying to stop the bleeding. She tried everything she could think of, but nothing worked. And heaven knew she was no medic.

"Neji! We need Sakura right now! Neji!" TenTen screamed for Neji at the top of her lungs.

Choji was sweating he was so worried. He didn't even feel hungry at all. In fact, it was the opposite. He felt like he was going to be sick.

"Ino…please be okay. I don't want to lose you…please, I'll do anything. I-I'll even give up eating chips and start eating healthier for you…"

Despite it being a whisper, TenTen's sharp ears picked up the urgency in the chubby boy's voice. She heard the desperate plea of someone in love.

For someone being in love herself, she wished with all of her heart that Ino would be okay. Despite being somewhat of a tomboy, TenTen was a romantic at heart.

Neji…she thought. Please hurry. We all need Sakura.

Sakura had plenty of time to think. After what seemed like hours to her, she finally understood what had transpired while in Itachi's Tsukuyomi.

Sakura herself wasn't killed…but rather, it was her inner Sakura. Once again it had come to her defense when she wasn't capable of protecting herself.

But she had changed over the last two and half years. She no longer needed inner Sakura to be her real personality, for the real Sakura had become just like inner Sakura.

Sakura knew that it was time that she woke up.

Neji couldn't afford to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

"Damnit Haruno! Wake up! Your friends need you!"

As if by a miracle, her heart sped up, and started beating of its own accord. Neji hesitantly stopped pumping chakra into her, making sure that she wouldn't go into cardiac arrest.

He sighed in relief when her eyes fluttered open, and her breathing became regular again.

Sakura shakily sat up and blinked. When she saw Neji she frowned in confusion.

"Neji? When did you-"

Neji stood up. "There's no time for explanations. Your medical expertise is required as of right now. Your friend Yamanaka Ino is wounded and she needs your help."

"What!? Where is she?" Sakura immediately jumped to her feet, and then had take a couple of deep breaths to quell the dizziness and nausea that came with standing up too fast after being unconscious for a long period of time.

Neji turned and said, "Hurry."

Sakura nodded. She quickly hopped after him. She noted the absence of Sasuke, and was worried about him. Itachi was missing too, which could only mean one thing. And that did not bode well.

Sakura looked back for a moment, knowing that Sasuke wasn't there, but hoping just the same. When her emerald eyes didn't spot him, her heart sank for a moment. But then she faced ahead, where she knew that her friends needed her.

Sakura made a choice then. Her twelve-year-old self would've chased after Sasuke without even hesitating. But Sakura had matured, and she knew that her friends needed her more. After all, it was Sasuke's choice to become an avenger. And while Sakura bore him no grudge, she couldn't find it in her heart to abandon her friends to help him.

Sakura sent up a prayer to any higher power to keep him safe.

Sasuke was following Itachi. He was close now. He could feel it.

Sasuke felt a pang of guilt for just leaving Sakura, but knew that she was in capable hands. She had all of her friends there, and Naruto wouldn't let anything happen to her. Plus, she was strong. She would survive.

Sasuke couldn't bare the thought of having to say goodbye to her. The last time he'd had to that things did not go too well, and she ended up unconscious and crying.

He didn't stay with her in order to spare her feelings. Or at least, that's what he told himself. The truth was that he was scared. He couldn't see another precious person die again…

Sasuke would go crazy. After all, an avenger's love was the strongest of them all.

Hello…dodges flying objects thrown by angry fans…Yes, I know that I have shirked on my updating…and I'm sorry. But I have a job now…so I might be a little late. It's a proven fact that the more reviews I get the faster I update…so be kind, and leave me a review.

Just to rest all of your fears, I wouldn't kill off Sakura. Unless it was essential to the storyline. But it's not. In fact, if you look on my profile and look at the bottom of the page where I posted all of the stories I am considering, you'll see that the sequel to this story has her in it…so that would be kind of hard to kill her here and then bring her back in the sequel…I like miracles, but not implausible things.

So be grateful that I didn't kill her off…because I have the power to! Okay, I'll stop being tyrannical now. : )

I'm not sure when I'll update, but I'll try to real soon!

belle2990

PS. Sorry if the skipping back and forth was a little confusing. I'm just trying to kill off the bad guys without a lengthy and dramatically long death scene…