Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in it

AN: Sorry if this chap is a bit off beat from the last one. I started writing it a couple weeks after the last chapter. Start: 8:35pm 12/Aug/08

Thick, black columns of smoke rose from the crackling flames engulfing the trees. Sasuke and Naruto lay face first on the floor, both with lightning coursing through their body. They lay motionless, still as the dead.

"Naruto!"

Sakura burst into the clearing and saw the two motionless Nin. Tears pricked at the edges of her eyes.

"Naruto?" she whispered. Fear consumed her, for he did not answer.

"No…."

She shook her head and ran towards him while the others jumped into the clearing as well.

Her tears run off her face but she doesn't falter. She lowers her body, skidding on her bare skin to Naruto's body, ignoring the burning sensation it caused on her bare legs. She puts her hand on him to turn him over but snaps it back when electricity courses through her body upon touching him. She winces.

After getting over her initial shock she looks down at the blond and she then realized how she got shocked.

Naruto's clothes are severely charred and singed. This coupled with the current, must have meant that Sasuke used a strong lightning jutsu which affected them both.

Her hands hovered above Naruto for a while because she knew if she touched him she would be shocked again. But when she had no other way, she steeled herself. She then gritted her teeth and grabbed onto his side.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

She let out a painful scream as she tugged Naruto and rolled him onto his back.

She fell back from the force of the pull but she quickly rolled forward and was beside Naruto's body again. She looked at his chest… and immediately the few tears turned into a full onslaught.

'He's not breathing!'

She quickly put her hand on Naruto's neck.

"Arffffhhhh."

She stifled the scream and shut her eyes tightly as lightning once again coursed through her body. She tried to forget about the searing pain and tried to concentrate. Tried to see if there was a pulse besides the residual lightning.

She searched…and searched….and her fingers were starting to lose skin and blacken…..when her eyes shot open and she finally let go.

'He's alive!'

She spun her head around and saw Ino and most of the Suna hunter Nin squads, led by Temari, staying at the end of the clearing while Kakashi, Neji and Shikamaru ran to Sasuke's body with one of the squads.

"Ino!"

The blond Kunoichi's head snapped from looking at Shikamaru's back to her best friend.

"I need your help! Quickly!"

Ino wasted no time in sprinting towards the pink haired medic.

Ino was afraid of what was happening. She had never heard Sakura sound so broken and hopeless…

As she knelt on the other side of Naruto's body she locked onto Sakura's face waiting for orders. But the panicked and tear riddled face of Sakura shocked her and she dazed out a bit.

"Ino!"

She shook herself out of her thoughts quickly. She steeled her eyes. Naruto was obviously in trouble.

"What do you need me to do?"

Meanwhile, very close to them, on the other side of the clearing, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Neji and a squad of Suna Nin ran towards the body of Uchiha Sasuke.

This was the perfect time to capture the Uchiha and maybe he would have information they could use.

When they were a few feet away however, they skidded to a halt.

Team Hawk burst out of the opposite end of the clearing and landed next to their fallen leader.

"Sasuke!"

Karin quickly knelt to his level as Juugo and Suigetsu moved to the front to block the Kakashi led platoon.

The Konoha and Suna nin stayed still and sized up their opponents. It shouldn't be too hard to defeat and Capture team Hawk. They were severely outnumbered.

As Kakashi was going to give the order to engage them in battle, he stopped due to his eye catching something very weird.

His sharingan, which he had exposed upon entering the clearing , read the lips of the Kunoichi as she raised the Uchiha's head.

"Bite me Sasuke…Quickly!"

Kakashi's brow furrowed.

'Bite her?...What's going on?'

Although he was merely curious when this was said and even when Sasuke, barely, bit her, he was soon shocked as Sasuke stood up not ten seconds later.

'Her chakra replenishes the energy of others when literally sucked out of her.'

He quit his thoughts as he stared at Sasuke, whose head was still bowed.

Kakashi frowned. He rose his hand with his index and middle fingers together. As he was about to point it to team Hawk and give the order to engage them…..he heard a raspy voice.

"It's…been a long time…..pant…Kakashi…"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "So you still have enough strength to speak huh?"

Sasuke's chest heaved up and down and you could tell breathing was insanely hard for him.

"I wish…..…this co-…"

A coughing fit interrupted him and he shot a hand to his mouth. When he lowered his arm, his palm was covered by dripping thick crimson.

"…..be longer…….but we need to go…"

Kakashi looked at him and pointed a finger. "You think we're just going to let you go? I see you inherited some of the insanity from that snake you once called a master."

Kakashi moved to rush team Hawk but he realized Sasuke was staring at something. He was staring at his closed fist.

The copy ninja lowered his gaze and was confused when he saw string hanging out of the fist.

'What is this now?' he wondered.

But he was even more confused when Sasuke's hand opened and a grin appeared on his face as he stared at the object on his palm.

'Naruto's necklace?...But…..what could he possibly want with that?'

Sasuke who was still looking at said necklace seemed to know what everyone was wondering.

"Our goal is not to capture Naruto."

The Konoha Nin were floored by that statement. Even the genius Shikamaru was confused.

"Nani? What do you mean by that?" the shadow Nin shouted.

Sasuke merely closed his eyes, as though they were heavy with sleep.

"The leader of Akatsuki…..no longer requires Naruto….since Naruto's chakra and the demon's is now the same, there is no Kyuubi to extract anymore."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed fiercely upon hearing about the Akatsuki leader. He raised his kunai in front his face.

"Explain."

The only response Sasuke made to imply that he heard Kakashi's demand was a grunt.

But Kakashi was no rookie.

"If you do…I might consider putting in a good word so the rest of your team won't be executed in Konoha."

The silver haired Jounin sure made it look like it was the only option to accept. So it was a surprise to everyone a when throaty chuckle was heard.

It started small… then grew into a laugh… then into full hysterics!

"The Uchiha's lost his mind," stated Neji.

Some of the Suna Nin seemed to agree with this as the Uchiha continued to laugh despite coughing out blood.

As the laughter subsided and he was just chuckling, he looked up to Kakashi with a malicious grin.

The Suna Nin started to sweat at the killer intent leaking out of the Uchiha as well as the evil grin on his face with a line of blood from his mouth to his chin.

"Ok then Kakashi-SENSEI," Sasuke sneered.

Kakashi just looked on in disgust at his former student.

"I'll tell you ALLLLL about it…" then again with the evil grin while tilting his head to the side.

The Suna hunter Nin who was still behind the three Konoha shinobi were sweating bullets now as they stared at team hawk.

Sasuke threw his head back while he put his arms on Juugo and Suigetsu's shoulders to support himself.

He looked up into the sky as only a maniac in his glee could do.

He looked back down to the group with a grin so wide that his mouth was hurting.

"We don't need the JINCHUURIKI," he spat while looking in Naruto's direction.

Sakura who was healing him spun her head up and glared so fierce that Suigetsu actually stumbled back a bit.

Sasuke however, was unfazed and continued grinning.

"Oh don't be like that Saaaakura chan!" he beamed.

Sakura on the other hand, was livid. Her eyes were lit with fire and her body tensed up as though she was about to sprint from her side of the clearing to Sasuke's.

"Awwwwwwww…don't stare at me like that my sweet Sakura, you should be healing your boyfriend."

Sakura didn't even blush. She was so mad at Sasuke making fun of Naruto by using his pet name for her that she was too pissed to think about the implication.

"I swear Uchiha…" she spat with such venom that Ino pulled away from Naruto's torso in fear that it was someone else across from her.

Sakura turned back to Naruto and her hands turned green again. "If Naruto doesn't make it….I will come to Anbu holding cells and kill you myself."

She then looked up sharply at Ino and the blond Kunoichi was so scared she quickly placed her hands on Naruto again in fear of being yelled at by her best friend.

"Haha….she fell for the dobe! Haha….that's fucking Hilarious!"

Although Sakura was pissing mad, her cheeks had a slight tint to it as Sasuke had basically told everyone else her feelings for Naruto. Sasuke saw this as she was facing Naruto, thus her cheeks were visible to him, and he immediately went into a crazed laughing fit again.

Kakashi's brow furrowed although his guard was kept up. "Looks like Neji's right….you've finally lost your mind Sasuke….you're more like Orochimaru than ever now."

Sasuke seemed to calm down upon hearing this but it still took a while for the chuckles to disappear.

"As I was saying…..we don't need him anymore… I'm sure by now you all know Uchiha Madara is alive yes?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Well then you should also remember what an Uchiha with the sharingan can do…..we can control Bijuu."

This was all common knowledge to everyone present. It had been a couple years back since they found out Madara was alive but this did nothing to explain why they wanted the necklace.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kakashi asked.

"Shodaime…."

Kakashi looked over his shoulder. The answer didn't come from Sasuke but from Shikamaru.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Yes….it's the shodaime's necklace…..what does that have to do with it?"

Shikamaru stared at the crazed Sasuke while Kakashi had his questioning gaze on the pineapple shaped haired man.

"It has something to do with the Shodaime being the only other one in history who could control Bijuu doesn't it? Especially since he could control all nine Bijuu with much more ease than an Uchiha…."

Kakashi registered this information and looked back to Sasuke. It was common information, yes. But what could Akatsuki DO with it?

"You're right."

Kakashi snapped out of the daze and stared at Sasuke.

"This necklace is needed because it was made by the Shodaime from a special crystal. And with this…not only will Konoha burn to the ground…but so will the rest of the world!"

Sasuke grinned from ear to ear. Like a kid getting his favorite toy for Christmas.

Kakashi raised a bored eyebrow at this. "Well….that's a nice plan and all…but do you think we're just going to let you get away from this clearing and not try to stop you?"

Sasuke closed his eyes, grin in place.

"You have no choice."

At that, Neji who had his Byakugan activated stiffened.

"Watch out!"

As everyone heard his warning they held their swords and kunai in time as thirty ninja jumped into the clearing after them.

Kakashi turned to dodge three Nin with katanas.

One on the left, one to the right and one behind.

The one behind thrust towards Kakashi's back, but the silver haired man sidestepped and grabbed his hand.

The one on the right brought his sword in a downward slash but Kakashi raised the ninja's hand he was holding with the sword up to block the blow. The last one brought his sword up, then to his right and brought it across horizontally.

There was no where Kakashi could go now…..or so the ninja thought.

Still holding parrying the Nin to the left's sword, he jumped up so the horizontal slash went straight through the Nin behind him. He then flipped over the one on the left and slit his neck with a kunai. As the katana was dropping from the now dead ninja's hands Kakashi caught it, ducked and rolled to the right to avoid the diagonal slash from the ninja on the right, and used his feet as leverage to push himself back upright while the sword came up as well.

…The ninja's shoulders and head went one way…and the rest of the body went another.

Quickly, Kakashi looked back to the spot where team hawk was…..but they were long gone by now.

"Kuso!"

He quickly looked back to where Naruto was and was filled with SOME relief.

The Suna hunter Nin, led by Temari had formed a perimeter around Sakura and Ino while they healed the future Hokage.

Kakashi then started to sprint to Neji to help with the rest of the enemies. He skidded to a halt however, when he realized that the fighting had stopped.

Everyone was confused at this. The enemy ninja had just stopped moving and fighting. But all was made clear when Shikamaru yawned.

"So troublesome."

When everyone diverted their attention to him, they realized his shadow had spread out into at least twenty five different directions and caught every last enemy.

"Can you guys tie them up so I can stop using this technique? It's a real drag…"

…..If the mood wasn't so serious…..people would have face faulted onto the floor.

The shock wore off and everyone got to the task. It took quite a while, but after all the enemies were subdued, Shikamaru released the technique.

He rubbed the back of his neck to knead out the kinks. "Mendoukse…."

He looked around the clearing and saw everyone securing the prisoners.

All except one.

"Oi! Troublesome woman!"

Temari's eye twitched.

"Don't talk to me like that!" she screamed while turning around and pointing a finger at him.

In typical Shikamaru style he waved a hand dismissively.

"Yeah yeah….where's Neji?"

Temari shook with rage so much that the hunter Nin shrunk back so they would not feel the brunt of the woman's anger.

As she opened her mouth to scream some choice words at her 'lover'…if you could call him that… she was cut off.

"I'm right here….."

As everyone in the clearing looked to the line of the trees, Neji casually walked out, and on his back, was Hinata.

"Hinata!" Ino screamed.

Hinata managed a small wave from Neji's back before she noticed Naruto on the ground. Her eyes grew wide and she could not help her outburst.

"Is he ok?" she screamed, forgetting that her mouth was next to Neji's ear.

Sakura, who was still working on him, sat upright and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her face was neutral, though everyone could tell her inner turmoil due to the dried tears on her face.

She looked up into the heiress' eyes.

"He's as stable as we can make him here. We need to get him back to Suna as quickly as possible. He doesn't have the kind of healing he used to as a genin because he doesn't have the Kyuubi anymore."

Hinata tilted her head with a sad look in her eyes. She knew if Sakura was crying, Naruto was seriously hurt. And she was worried.

"But first," Sakura started, while ignoring the caring look Hinata was giving Naruto since it would not help him by being jealous.

"Do you need any attention?" she asked Hinata.

Hinata merely shook her head. "No…Sasuke didn't injure me, he just disabled my legs so I wouldn't kick him while tied up. I'll be fine in an hour. Let's get Naruto to a hospital as quickly as possible!"

Everyone looked to Kakashi for confirmation upon hearing her request.

He nodded.

"Shikamaru and I will stay with Temari-chan and the Suna forces. Neji, you lead them back. Squad wolf (A hunter Nin squad with them) will accompany you back. Go!"

And with that. They vanished.

AN: I know it wasn't the chapter you were looking for…but it is actually very KEY to the rest of this series. PLEASE! READ AND REVIEW! Otherwise I'll make Hinata REAL friendly like to Naruto in the next chapter. Muahrahrahar!