"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as he pounded on the door to Naruto and Hinata's room. "Naruto, what the hell was that noise? It sounded like the wall exploded!" Boy, did he have no idea just how close he was to guessing right.
"Just break down the door already!" Sakura shouted in his ear. "Never mind, I'll do it." She pushed Sasuke out of the way, and then she punched the door. The door splintered under her fist, and their way was clear.
"Sakura, I think that you've been training with Tsunade too much," Sasuke said as he rushed in through the doorway. He gasped when he saw the scene. Naruto sprawled out on the floor, pieces of stone and mortar lying around him like useless pieces of trash that had been tossed aside.
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, rushing to his side. She checked his pulse. "He's still alive!" she exclaimed to Sasuke. She took some smelling salts from her case, broke it and started waving it in front of Naruto's nose. Sasuke though, was staring at the hole in the wall.
"What the hell did this?" Sasuke wondered as he stared at the hole, and as Naruto started to stir. Then he noticed the note that Itachi had left on the floor. Picking it up. He read it over and thought, "Dammit. It's him."
"Dammit, Gaara is going to pay!" Naruto was up and he sounded pissed off. Before Sasuke could even get a word out, Naruto was out the door of the room. Meanwhile, at the front door of the inn, Gaara and Tokiko had just shown up. Temari and Kankuro greeted them as they ran through the door.
"Gaara, who's your friend?" Temari asked, but Gaara didn't answer. Instead, he started asking his own questions.
"Where's Naruto?" he asked, grabbing onto her shoulders. "I've got to find him now. It's important!"
Temari was about to say something when a fist shot past her face and hit Gaara in his. He flew back through the door, and was caught by the sand in his gourd before he could hit the ground. Naruto ran towards him, ready to hit him again, but he was caught by the sand first, and Gaara wrapped him up so tight that he wasn't able to move. "Why did you hit me?" Gaara asked calmly.
"I think we can explain that," Sasuke said. He had just come from Naruto's room, and he was still holding Itachi's note. Gaara read the note, and held it up for Naruto to read it, though Gaara kept him bound in sand until he finished.
"Heh heh," Naruto laughed a little when he finished. "Oops. Sorry Gaara. So, how long has Itachi been impersonating you?"
Gaara answered Naruto's question after he left him down, and went on to explain what had happened during that time. He even when as far as to introduce Tokiko to them at the time, and went on to say that she was his girlfriend.
"Oh, it's about time little bro," Kankuro said, giving Gaara the biggest noogie of his life. Gaara punched him of course, and sent him flying. Temari hugged her little brother, congratulating him. He looked a little annoyed, but he restrained himself.
"Dammit, we don't have time for this!" Naruto was still very pissed off. "He has Hinata, and I'm going after him."
"Hold on Naruto," Sasuke said. "The note may tell you where they're hiding, but don't you think that you might be running into a trap?"
"Of course I know that it's a trap!" Naruto shouted. "But I don't care! It doesn't matter what happens with me, just as long as Hinata is safe."
Sasuke just stared at him for a minute and thought, "He's as bad as me. I would do the same thing if it were Sakura." Stepping toward his friend, he said, "Fine, then I'm going with you."
"Sasuke, this is my fight, not yours," Naruto said as he stared at his friend.
"Hey, if I want to avenge my clan, then I have to go with you," Sasuke said. "Besides, we have a better chance of beating him together."
Naruto stared at him for a few seconds and then smiled. "Right," he said, and then he and Sasuke bumped fists. Just at that moment, Tokiko walked up to them.
"Do the two of you really intend to take on master Itachi?" She asked, looking from Naruto to Sasuke. The both of them nodded. "Then please hold out your arms. There is something that you are going to need."
The two bys looked puzzled for a second, but they held up their arms anyway. Faster than they could see, she stuck a small syringe full of red liquid into their arms and pressed down on the plungers, injecting them both.
"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked as he and Sasuke pulled their arms away.
"Did I forget to tell you guys that she has a Kekkai Genkai?" Gaara asked as he placed his arm around Tokiko's shoulder. "Because I'm pretty sure that was her blood in those needles."
"Her blood?" Sasuke asked with a puzzled expression. Then the realization hit him. "Then she just…"
"Yes," Tokiko said nodding. "You two will need all the help you can get if you want to defeat Itachi." She then showed them what her power was, and told them how it was controlled.
"Guys," Sakura said to both Naruto and Sasuke, who were both holding small balls of fire in their hands. Gaara and the rest of the group was standing behind her, looking ready to fight. "We're coming with you."
"What?! No way!" Sasuke said. "I don't want any of you in danger because of us."
"Somebody has to fight Kisame," Temari said, strapping her giant fan to her back.
"That's right," Kankuro said, also strapping his puppets to his back. "And if not us, then who else."
Naruto and Sasuke looked like they wanted to argue some more, but they just said, "All right. Fine." Then the group took off towards the woods, heading for the location that was given on the map. They traveled for over an hour and still kept going.
"We should be getting close to the place now," Tokiko said. She was leading them to the location, mainly because she knew the entire layout of the land, giving the group an edge that they hadn't had before.
"Good. When we finally get there, I can… Aw hell, look out!" Naruto jumped out of the way, and the rest of the group followed, barely being missed by a large amount of kunai knives and shuriken. They didn't have to look for long to find the source. Kisame jumped out onto the nearest branch, swinging his giant sword, Sharkskin.
"Well, well, well," Kisame said, setting the giant sword on his shoulder. "Looks like I'm running interception." Kisame took Sharkskin from his shoulder and said, "Good! More blood and Chakra for Sharkskin to feast on!" Kisame came at them, a crazed look in his eyes. He swung for the first person in range, which just happened to be Tokiko. She screamed as the sword came down on her. The sword never connected though. Gaara's sand blocked the sword as he swung down.
'Get going you guys," Gaara said to Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.
"Yeah," Kankuro said. "We can handle this guy."
Sakura and Sasuke took off immediately, but Naruto stayed behind for a second. He gave a warning to Gaara and the rest. "You guys had better not die."
"Wouldn't think of it," Gaara said, cracking a smile. Naruto took off after the other two, catching up to them almost instantly. Before long, they arrived at the place indicated in the letter. Itachi stood in the middle of a clearing, and Hinata was tied to the trunk of the nearest tree, still unconscious.
"I knew you would come," Itachi said. "You can take the girl back, but Naruto stays here."
"Sakura, cut Hinata down," Sasuke said. Sakura took Hinata from the tree, bringing her back to the boys. She was about to set her down, when Sasuke said, "Now I want you to leave. It's too dangerous for you guys here."
Sakura looked livid. "No, I'm staying with…" Sasuke appeared in front of her almost instantly and cut her off.
"Sakura, please don't argue," he said as he pressed a finger over her lips. "You know very well that I'm right." Going even closer to her, he put a hand on her stomach and said, "Besides, you and Hinata both carry a precious gift in you. I don't want anything to happen to you or that gift, and I'm sure that Naruto feels the same for Hinata. So please, just go."
Sakura looked up at him and said, "Okay." She was about to leave, and then she said, "Sasuke, be careful. Both of you."
"Don't worry Sakura," Naruto said to her. "We'll come find you guys when we finish. That's a promise. And remember, I never go back on my promises." Sakura just stared at him for a second, then smiled and took off the way they came from.
Sasuke walked over to stand next to Naruto, who asked, "So, how long has Sakura been pregnant?"
"About a week," Sasuke said taking a few kunai knives from his belt. "What about Hinata?"
"I would have to say that it's been about the same," Naruto said. 'Hey, our kids might just share a birthday."
"Then let's survive this, so that we can see them born," Sasuke said.
"Have you two come to terms with death?" Itachi said.
"Sorry, but we don't plan on dying today," Naruto said. Then to Sasuke he whispered, "When you killed Orochimaru, did that curse mark happen to stick around?"
"Oh yeah," Sasuke said. "It stuck around and it changed. It's no curse mark anymore though. It's become a sacred mark."
"Hmm, that'll be something to see, now let's get ready," Naruto said. Taking a stance, he started to summon up the fox's chakra. As he did, his face changed, taking on the familiar red eyes, pointed teeth, and stripes on his cheeks. But then something else happened. Naruto's hair started to change, turning from blonde to red in about ten seconds. Claws grew on his hands and feet, and finally, nine bushy, red furred tails sprouted from his lower back, each of them swishing the air like a fan being waved slowly. Looking over at Sasuke, he asked, "Ready?"
"Yeah," Sasuke said. He had summoned up the mark, but it was not like it had been all those years ago when they fought. Instead of black, Sasuke's hair and skin had turned almost pure white, like the first snow of winter. His Sharingan eyes weren't red any more, but had become the purest shade of sky blue. Finally, from his shoulder blades sprouted a pair of wings, each of them as white as his hair. Altogether, he looked like angel sent from heaven.
"Nice look for you," Naruto said facing Itachi, who was looking thunderstruck.
"Same to you," Sasuke said, also facing forward. "Now, let's kill this bastard!' The two of them rushed Itachi, moving almost too fast for even him to see. The struck at him, but he dodged them by less than a millimeter. Jumping out of the way, Itachi rushed away, matching their speed.
"This will not be as easy as I thought," Itachi thought. "I had heard the rumors, but this is beyond what I was expecting. They are really demons." He was reaching for a kunai in his coat when Naruto appeared in front of him. "What!?" he thought, eyes opening in surprise. Naruto swiped at him with a clawed hand, but he dodged again, and barely dodged Sasuke, who had come up behind him. Now he had the two of them in his sights.
Forming several hand signs, he said, "Dragon Flame jutsu." He unleashed the fire at them, and instantly turning many of the surrounding trees to ashes.
"Nothing could survive that," he thought. In the direction that he had unleashed the attack though, he heard a chirping noise. "That's not possible," he thought looking back in the direction of his previous attack. Out of nowhere, Sasuke appeared, Chidori blazing on his arm. Itachi dodged again, and Sasuke flew past, Chidori taking out twelve or thirteen trees as he flew past.
"Wait a minute," Itachi thought as he looked around. "Where's Naruto?"
"Looking for me?" a voice asked from above him. Looking up, Itachi saw Naruto coming down on him, Rasengan spinning in the palm of his right hand. Itachi dodge him again, but not entirely. As he dodged, the blazing ball of chakra clipped his leg.
"Dammit, this will make things difficult," Itachi thought. And it did. The fight went on for a long time, and the injury to his leg made Itachi falter. He got in a few good hits on the both of them, but it did not matter. The wounds healed almost instantly on each of them, and Itachi was growing more tired by the second. Finally, they all stopped. Itachi face the two of them, out of breath and holding onto his side where Sasuke had hit him earlier. However, Naruto and Sasuke looked the same as they had when the fight started.
"Sasuke, I think that it's time we finish this," Naruto said as he formed some hand signs and a black ghost dragon appeared around him.
"I think you're right," Sasuke said. He was making the same hand signs as Naruto, but a white dragon swirled around him instead of a black one.
"That jutsu!" Itachi recognized it, for he had seen the fourth Hokage use the same thing many years ago.
A black twister formed around Naruto, and a white one formed around Sasuke. Itachi stood his ground though, barely moving from the spot.
"They mean to defeat me with this? Ha. They won't succeed," Itachi thought. But then he something, inside both of the twisters, the boys jumped up, allowing themselves to be sucked into the swirling winds. "What?!" Itachi thought.
Inside the twister, both Naruto and Sasuke were thinking the same thing. "Let's put our new power to some use." The both performed a small fire jutsu, but it was enough. Using the fire that was produced, they enhanced it with the power that Tokiko gave them. The fire changed color for each of them, Naruto's turning black, and Sasuke's turned white. They then kept the fire going, mixing it with the twisters, while each of them summoned their attacks Rasengan and Chidori. They continued to manipulate the fire as they both made their way to the top of their twisters, where the head of a dragon appeared on the end of both, each of them made from fire. Itachi watched the whole thing from the ground with a feeling of fear and terror that he hadn't experienced in a long time.
Naruto reached the mouth of his dragon, and shouted, "Black Fire Rasengan Dragon!" while Sasuke reached his and shouted, "White Fire Chidori Dragon!"
It was truly a sight to behold. Two dragons, both of the extending hundred of feet in the air, one made of black fire, the other of white, able to be seen from several miles away, Naruto and Sasuke in the mouth of one of them.
"My God…" Temari said as she wiped the sweat and blood from her forehead. "Do you guys see that?"
Gaara sat on a branch above the broken and bloody body of Kisame. Tokiko was in his arms, also looking at the spectacle before their eyes.
"Yeah, we see it," Kankuro said. "Hard to miss them."
"Those two," Tokiko said as she stared at the dragons. "Such great control after so little time. And so powerful."
"I used to think that I could beat them in a fight," Gaara said with gleaming eyes. "Now I say different. If I fought either of then now, I would die." He continued to watch the amazing sight, thinking of the enormous power that Naruto and Sasuke must have possessed.
Back at the fight, Naruto looked over to Sasuke and shouted, "Lets do it!" Sasuke nodded, and the two of them swung their arms. The dragons descended on Itachi, taking Naruto's Rasengan and Sasuke's Chidori attacks with them. Itachi didn't even try to dodge. He knew that he couldn't. The dragons hit him head on.
"So this is it," Itachi thought as his body was propelled into the air. "Funny, it doesn't even hurt." The fire of each dragon burned so hot that none of his nerves survived. They burned away instantly. As he burned away, he thought, " Naruto, Sasuke, thank you. I have felt such guilt for all these years over what I did. I wished that this moment could have come sooner. So again I say, Thank You." This was the last thought that he ever had. Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate, and his body burned away to ash, and Itachi disappeared forever into the wind.