Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the characters.

Wow…to be honest, I never thought that this story would reach over 500 reviews. That makes me feel so…inspired to write more! Big shout out to everyone who reviewed…you guys make my day.

Oh my gosh! I am so freaking excited! For once I'm actually happy with the way the manga is going…

Chapter Twenty: 'Til Death Do Us Part

Sasuke growled low in his throat. Itachi was near. He could feel it. That meant that Itachi knew that Sasuke was near as well.

Suddenly Itachi stopped moving. Sasuke did as well, anticipating Itachi's motives.

Then Itachi's chakra disappeared. Sasuke frowned, but concentrated on finding Itachi's chakra presence.

After a few moments, he felt it again…directly behind him. Sasuke spun around and narrowly missed the hand aimed for his throat.

Sasuke jumped back a few yards, analyzing the situation. Itachi's exterior seemed unharmed, but Sasuke could detect that his normal chakra flow was irregular. Itachi was weak right now. The double exposure to the Mangekyou Sharingan had severely weakened him.

Now was Sasuke's chance!

Sakura immediately got to work on Ino. She quickly pulled her back with a hair tie, and pulled off her black gloves.

She nodded to TenTen, who nodded back and then let Sakura take over. TenTen sighed, and wiped the sweat off her brow. She was about to go and rest when Neji spoke to her.

"TenTen, we must go and gather the rest of us."

TenTen nodded wearily, and took off after Neji to round up the rest of the Konoha Twelve plus Sai.

Sakura asked Choji how Ino had received the wound, and Choji told her in a clear, yet unsteady voice. She could tell that he was worried about his teammate, so she smiled briefly at him.

"Don't worry, Choji. Ino's strong, she'll pull through. Plus, you've got the Hokage's apprentice here, and I'll fix her right up." Sakura wasn't saying that to brag; she was merely trying to soothe Choji's fears. "I need you to be strong, and do exactly as I tell you."

Choji nodded, determination in his gaze. "What do you I need to do?"

Sakura gave him a grateful smile. "I need you to start a fire and boil some water for me."

Choji nodded, and leaped off to do her bidding.

Sakura was all alone with Ino now. The first thing that she did was gather enough chakra into her palms. Then she began by repairing the tissue damage by rapidly making new cells. Then she stopped the bleeding, and finally managed to stitch up the wound.

Ino winced as she woke up. She had been unconscious for awhile now, and she was dizzy from the blood loss. She blinked a few times to clear away the blurriness.

She saw a head full of pink… "Sakura?"

Sakura's emerald gaze rested on Ino. "Oh, Ino-pig, you're awake!" Sakura smiled gently at her.

Ino frowned. "What-"

"Just lie down. You need to rest. I don't want you overdoing anything so soon after being that badly wounded."

"Wounded?" Suddenly the memories came back to her, and a cold glint came into her ice-blue eyes. "I remember now. Akatsuki."

Sakura nodded grimly.

"How is…everyone?" Ino asked, sitting up slowly.

Sakura gently helped her up and replied, "I don't know…Neji went to gather the rest of them. I assume there are more wounded. Ino…who all came?"

Ino explained everything to her. How Shikamaru and Temari had come back to Konoha and told them of what had transpired. Then Tsunade had sent a rescue team and backup, someone who would work well together: the Konoha Twelve, minus Team 7. Sakura nodded, indicating that she was listening. All the while she was cleaning up, and wiping the blood off of Ino.

Ino's voice quavered. "I sure hope everyone's okay."

Sakura detected the worry in her friend's voice. "Choji is just fine, if that's what you meant."

"What? No no….I just meant…everyone…in general." Ino's pale cheeks were tinged pink.

Sakura bit back a smile. So her friend had finally gotten over Sasuke…and apparently her obsession with looks.

"Ino…I'm glad for you."

Ino was about to play dumb, but at her pink-haired friend's look, she smiled. "Thank you."

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments before Ino broke it.

"So forehead-girl…what's been going on with you and Sasuke?"

This time it was Sakura who blushed. "To tell you the truth…I'm not sure. But I'm worried about him. He took off after Itachi…"

Ino laid a cold hand on her friend's arm. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Sakura nodded appreciatively before sighing.

Ino, ever the nosy one, was about to ask another question of Sakura when Neji returned. In his arms was his cousin and the heiress to the Hyuuga clan.

"Oh no…Hinata!" Sakura ran forward and immediately took Hinata. Sakura hissed through her teeth at the damage.

"How bad is it, Sakura?" Neji asked quietly. His voice bore no emotion, but Sakura saw the worried frown on his brow.

"I'm not sure, Neji." After cutting off Hinata's jacket, Sakura swore.

Without looking up from her work she asked Neji, "How many more are there?"

"No more critical injuries. Everyone has at least one minor injury, but they'll survive."

Sakura gave a brief nod of her head. "Bring them here quickly."

Neji took off at once to round up everyone else who was injured.

Sakura immediately began repairing the damage done to Hinata's arm. Hinata hissed when Sakura touched her wound.

Sakura mentally apologized to Hinata, but it was necessary to see where the bleeding was stemming from in order to stop it. Sakura probed around with chakra, and as soon as she found it, she healed it immediately.

Ino frowned. "Is she going to be all right, Billboard Brow?"

Sakura nodded. "Yah. I've just finished healing her up. Although, she'll have a scar there for the rest of her life. I can't afford to spend my chakra healing it all." Sakura's brow furrowed. "I hope she'll forgive me," Sakura whispered.

"I already do, Sakura," came a quiet voice.

Sakura and Ino started, not realizing that Hinata was awake.

"Hinata-"

"I'm all right, Sakura." Hinata's ivory eyes opened slowly. "I don't care if I'm scarred. Save your chakra for people who need it…I'll be fine."

Sakura's heart lurched painfully at the Hyuuga girl's unselfishness. If everyone was like Hinata, the world would be at peace.

Hinata's revolved around a certain loud-mouthed ninja. I hope Naruto is okay…and that he'll accept me if I'm scarred…Don't even say something like that! Of course he will…I think…I hope…No, he definitely will! Believe it! Hinata mentally smiled. He's even got me thinking like him now…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the return of Choji.

"Sakura! Sakura! I've got hot water! I've got bandages and I've got sterilized kunai and I've even got a bag of potato chips if you're feeling woozy! They've always helped me…Hey, where'd she go?"

Choji stopped from his ramblings to look around. He saw Ino and Hinata lying on the ground, unmoving.

He dropped everything in his arms, including his bag of potato chips. He was about to rush over when Ino sat up and groaned, holding her stomach.

Choji swallowed the lump in his throat. Then he calmly picked up the items he'd dropped and slowly walked up to Ino.

"So…uh…how are you doing? I can see that Sakura fixed you up…umm…"

Ino looked at him wearily. "Yah, Billboard Brow 'fixed me up' as you say. I'm hungry as hell though…" The blond eyed the potato chips ravenously.

Choji held them out to her. "Here, eat these."

"I can't…I'm on a diet," Ino replied quietly.

Choji snorted. "Oh come on. No one's going to care if you gain a pound or two for eating a bag of chips."

Ino shook her head. "No…I can't. Why are you even offering me them? Aren't they too precious to you to share?"

"That hurts…I'd share anything with you, Ino," Choji said, his eyes downcast.

Ino looked at him incredulously for a moment, and then turned away, her pale cheeks tinged with pink.

"Oh, Choji, you're back." Sakura began gathering up the rest of the supplies that she had. She had gone to wash the blood off of her hands. She sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Sasuke's heart was beating at a fast pace. This was his chance to finally kill Itachi and be rid of him. He was like an incurable disease, one that just wouldn't go away.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Do you hate me enough, little brother?"

"I don't hate you. I despise you. You took away everything of mine…my home…my family…my sanity…my dignity…my ability to love and be loved. You took everything." The air crackled and the pressure rose as the sound of a thousand chirping birds could be heard.

Sasuke unsheathed his Kusanagi and the chidori blazed through it. Sasuke pointed it at Itachi.

"And now your life ends!"

Sasuke ran athis older brother with his arm raised, prepared to deliver the killing blow. Just as he was about to pierce his brother's heart, Itachi grabbed his hand and reversed their positions, his other hand at Sasuke's throat.

Itachi leaned forward and whispered softly into Sasuke's ear. "And do you know why I did that, little brother?"

"Why?" Sasuke ground out between clenched teeth. He could've easily broken away, but he wanted to know why Itachi had murdered their entire clan.

"I did it to make you what you've become, Sasuke. Look at you. Look at how strong and powerful you are, all because of your hatred of me. You have so much potential, Sasuke, and the clan was holding you back. They were holding us back. They were weak. The name Uchiha didn't strike fear into the hearts of our enemies like it should have. With the weak links gone, we can start a new clan, and people will soon learn to fear the name Uchiha."

Sasuke growled and threw Itachi off. "You've already spouted that nonsense at me before. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now. As far as I'm concerned, I am the sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre. My brother died that same day, along with everyone I cared about. I'm just here to kill the hollow shell you've become and let my family rest in peace."

Sasuke raised his Kusanagi, but Itachi swatted it away. Sasuke glanced at it for a moment, and Itachi took that mere second to knock Sasuke down.

"Foolish little brother. You can't kill me."

"Haven't you always heard that the creation kills the creator?" Sasuke wiped the blood from his mouth.

Itachi said nothing, but his red eyes flashed, and soon an enormous amount of heat surrounded Sasuke. He looked around and swore. It was Itachi's Amaterasu, which created black flames that were hotter than the surface of the sun. You couldn't put them out by any ordinary means.

Itachi smirked. "You're finished, little brother."

"That's what you think!" Sasuke turned in the direction the voice had come from.

"Naruto?!"

Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow. She had just finished healing everyone of their wounds, from major to minor. She hailed Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru!"

The Konoha genius looked up. "Eh? Yah, Sakura?"

"Have you seen Naruto?" Sakura had been keeping an eye out for him, but she couldn't find him. She was getting worried now.

"Naruto?" Shikamaru scratched his head and thought.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. You know, for a genius, you're not very smart.

"Oh, he said that he was going after Sasuke."

"What!?"

Shikamaru winced. He hated when females yelled.

"He-"

"Never mind," Sakura interrupted. "Stupid idiot! Now I have to go after them both!"

Shikamaru shook his head as the medic-nin took a step and nearly faltered. She rested her hands on her knees, panting.

"You know, it would be wise of you to rest. You're almost completely out of chakra right now," Neji observed.

Sakura glared at him. "I don't care. The two people I care most about in the world lives are in danger right now. I've got to help them, or I'd never be able to forgive myself."

Neji nodded. "We'll go with you."

Sakura shook her head. "No. This is between the three of us." Sakura stood up at and, without looking back at them, said, "If I'm not back in an hour, then you can come looking for us."

Neji nodded, even though Sakura didn't see because she was long gone by then.