Disclaimer: I'd try to think of something clever to say, but I'm too depressed over not owning Naruto to think of anything.

Author's Note: Here's chapter three! I got a few reviews and the general consensus is that I am doing too little too often and I should slow down. That's why I've decided to make this chapter much longer. I'll update again in a few days to give you time to read it. I've heard people say that the story is good, and the groundwork is there, so that's a good thing. Without further ado, I give you, Chapter Three!

Chapter Three:
In the morning, Kakashi sent Sakura and I to find the woman that housed Kisame, while he and Sasuke went to the farm. We had gone back to her house, but she was gone.

While in her house, I noticed something I didn't notice the day before. There were pictures on her fireplace of her and Kisame. They looked really in love. I looked around and saw the homey environment, and I couldn't help but think that Kisame wasn't all bad. He was good enough for her to love.

We left her house realizing that she wouldn't be coming back so soon. She was probably trying to meet up with Kisame to tell him that we were looking for him. We decided to find a place to have some lunch while we waited for Kakashi sensei and Sasuke to be done at the farm.

After a nice helping of ramen, we left the restaurant and headed back towards the heart of the village where we were staying. As we were walking down the cobblestone road, Sakura tugged my arm and pointed to a woman.

It was Kisame's lover!

"Hey!" I yelled, running to catch up to her. She looked at me as if I was a threat. She started running towards us, but she passed us. We watched her run from where we had come.

"Hey! Wait up!" I yelled. "Why are you running?" I screamed at her. She continued to run towards the edge of the village. Even when she reached the edge of the village, she continued until she reached the woods. Sakura and I were following her, but by the time we reached the woods, it was obvious that we had lost her. That's when we saw him – Kisame Hoshigaki.

He was very tall and looked like a shark. His skin had a blueish hue that made him seem less…human, somehow. He had small, white eyes with what appeared to be gills under them. His hair even looked like a shark fin!

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, shaking. Kisame had another three shinobi with him, along with his girlfriend. But the shinobi didn't look like members of the Akatsuki, they looked like henchmen. He looked at one and nodded. The man took Kisame's lover's hand and disappeared with her, leaving only two left.

"Leaf village shinobi," the henchman on his left said to Kisame. "They probably came here looking for you."

"Wonderful," Kisame said. He took his sword off of his back. I couldn't tell what it was, as it was wrapped up. "Some practice for the real deal."

"Hey!" I yelled. "We are chunin! Don't think you can beat us easily."

"I'm an S ranked criminal," he said, laughing. "I've killed ONBU and Jonin. Two weak chunin don't mean anything to me."

"Sakura," I said. "Get Kakashi and Sasuke."

"But I can't leave you alone," she said. "I'm staying."

"I can hold them off," I said. "But we'll both die unless Kakashi and Sasuke are here."

"Look at that, Kisame," the henchman on the right of Kisame said. "They're already scared."

I refocused on the shinobi in front of me. "Sakura, GO!" I yelled. I formed a hand sign, and did my most familiar jutsu.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" And just like that, there were twenty other Naruto ready to pounce on the enemy.

"This should be easy, Kisame," the left sided henchman said. He charged at my clones, throwing kunai at three at once. Two were hit, but the third dodged and attacked. But the shadow clone couldn't hit him, because he was a clone himself. The real henchman ran out from my right and pulled out what must have been fifty shuriken.

"Shurikan rain jutsu!" he yelled. All the shuriken began to rain down on my clones and I. I used a substitution jutsu before I could get hurt. I appeared behind Kisame and his other goon. I threw a kunai at Kisame, but he dodged it. The goon who was fighting me refocused his attention. I prepared for my newest, most powerful jutsu by doing another shadow clone. This time, I only made two others. We all prepared to do the aforementioned powerful jutsu.

I'll go into detail about that. As I was being brought to the hospital after my fight with Gaara, I saw Jiraya use a jutsu on a remaining sound ninja. I eventually got him to teach it to me, but it took over a month to learn. It's called...

"Rasengan!" The ball of air began to spin in my hand. All three of our hands, actually. We charged at the three of them. My clones hit the goons, who spun into two trees, which collapsed on top of them. But Kisame dodged my third one.

I made my clones disappear, and focused myself on Kisame. I saw out of the corner of my eye something that I should not have seen. I guess Kisame followed my gaze, because he then noticed the shurikan traveling towards the back of his head.

"Hn," he said. "Clever ruse. You ordered your friend to get help, but you had her secretly waiting to attack me when my guard was down." Except that wasn't the plan. A shadow clone of Kisame came out of the forest, holding Sakura by her hair.

"Sakura!" I yelled. Kisame - the one in front of me - unwrapped his sword, which was when I saw it. His sword was made of shark skin, which absorbed chakra.

"Now you die," he said. He swung the blade at me, so ran from it. I ran up a tree and hid. I needed to come up with an idea to save Sakura. I couldn't attack him head on, or I would be beaten. I had to use strategy. I then silently cursed the gods for not having put Shikamaru on my team. I thought what would Shikamaru do? Then it struck me!

I would do a shadow clone jutsu again. My clone would travel tree to tree towards Sakura, making Kisame think that I was doing it. He would focus on following me, and then I could attack him from behind.

I did my shadow clone jutsu again, and the shadow clone jumped trees. My plan looked like it was working on the ground. I attacked Kisame from behind, but he turned into a stump. Substitution jutsu I realized. Then, I felt shark skin grazing my neck.

"It ends here and now for you," he said. He was behind me, with his sword at my throat. I was done. Until...

I felt the pressure of the sword on my neck relieved. I turned around and saw that Sasuke had kicked Kisame away from me. But where did he come from?

I didn't have time to worry about that. I focused again on the clone holding Sakura. He had his sword to her neck. I couldn't do anything. Unless.

My clone who was left alone in the tree came out and kicked the clone of Kisame just like Sasuke did to the real one. I picked Sakura up and took her into a tree. I laid her down between two close branches, as she was unconscious. This was as safe as she'd get. I had to get back to Sasuke and Kisame!

When I got back, Sasuke had his chidori ready, so I restarted my rasengan. We came at Kisame from different sides, so he couldn't protect himself fully. But then...

He disappeared! He was really fast. Fast enough that neither Sasuke or I could stop ourselves, and our rasengan and chidori collided, throwing us both back. The collision was so massive that the trees we smashed into had been chopped down by the impact. We were hurt, and Kisame was unscathed. He first came at me, but Sasuke was at me first. He protected me.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" He spat fire at Kisame, who had to halt his attack to dodge. Then, I saw a kunai coming from the tree where I left Sakura. She must have woken up!

It stuck in Kisame's back, paralyzing him momentarily. Sasuke seized the moment. "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" A flaming orb escaped from Sasuke's mouth, engulfing Kisame. Sakura came out of hiding, and joined us. I prepared to attack once the fireball jutsu ended. I summoned my last bit of chakra for a third rasengan.

The fireball jutsu ended, and Kisame dropped to the ground. I ran at him with my rasengan. He was finished. But then, a mysterious figure got in the way. He wore the same robes as Kisame. He grabbed me by the arm and flung me into a tree. But not before I could see his headband. It had a leaf insignia with a slash made through it.

"Hello, brother," the robed man said. "How nice to see you after all this time."

"Itachi."

OoOoOoOoO

Itachi looked just like Sasuke. It was uncanny, actually. If Sasuke was just a few years older, he would be the spitting image of Itachi.

"Itachi," Sasuke said, amazed. "I've been waiting so long for this." He charged up his chakra, and began what would be his third chidori of the battle. He would be spent after this. He ran at Itachi with his chidori, but Itachi just dodged it. He appeared to vanish and reappear right behind Sasuke. He was about to deal a blow when he heard Sakura.

"Hey, Itachi," she said. "Eat this." She threw three shuriken at him, but he dodged it just as easily. By this time, I had recovered a bit from the blow from the chidori/rasengan collision and I went at him. He had dodged me, and it became clear he was faster than all of us. He turned to Sasuke, who screamed out.

"Ah!" he yelled. It was his curse mark. It took over his body again, and he fell to the ground, shaking and yelling.

"I see Orochimaru has marked you, Sasuke," Itachi said. "That will make my job easier."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"I need to kill you for the most advanced form of the sharingan to make itself available to me. I need to kill the last Uchiha."

"Hey, loser!" I yelled, grabbing Itachi and Sasuke's attention. "If you want to kill Sasuke, you'll have to kill me first. Believe it!"

"I don't have time for you," Itachi said. He turned to Sasuke, this time to kill, but I was there first.

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" I yelled. There must have been a thousand of me, filling up the circular clearing that we were fighting in.

"You're not the only one who can do a shadow clone jutsu," Itachi said. Two more of him appeared. One went to Sakura, and grabbed her by the throat.

"Let go of her!" we yelled. We sprung into action attacking the three Uchiha clones. We defeated the one holding Sakura easily, but she had passed out again already. His second clone succumbed easily. His strength was amazing, but there were still hundreds of my clones, and they were overpowering him.

"Uzumaki barrage!" I yelled. I kicked him up in the air, but before I could kick down, he turned to mud – a substitution jutsu. Then I noticed something else. Kisame was awake again, and he used his sword to cut down my clones. I wasn't going to win this one, so I made my clones vanish to regain their chakra before Kisame's sword ate it up.

"Now I will kill Sasuke," Itachi said.

"No!" I yelled. I jumped in front of the kunai that Itachi sent towards Sasuke, and I took in in my gut.

I fell to the ground. I knew I was bleeding badly, and Itachi had won. All three of us were incapacitated. I had given up hope.

Then, something made Itachi, Kisame, Sasuke and I all turn our heads. The familiar sound of chidori echoed the clearing, as Kakashi sensei used his Lightning Blade on Itachi. Itachi fell back. I would have seen more, but that's when I blacked out.

OoOoOoOoO

I woke up, and didn't know what time it was, or what was even going on. Actually, I wasn't even completely awake. I could hear things, and I felt the presence of people, but I couldn't open my eyes or move my body, or even talk.

It was clear that the battle was over. I only felt three other presences around me: Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi. But Sakura and Kakashi were a little ways away. It was Sasuke who was right next to me, and he was holding my hand.

"Come on, Naruto," he said, "wake up. I can't lose you." I felt a wetness on my face. He was crying! "You can't die on me. Not here, not now. I could never forgive myself."

So the mighty Sasuke Uchiha was crying – over me! This was strange, but I guess I understood. Back in the Land of Waves when I thought Sasuke had died, I had the same reaction.

"You're my best friend, Naruto," he continued. "I can't let you die protecting me. I can't live knowing that my life meant your death."

I think that was the most shocking thing that ever happened in my life. First he was crying, and then he told me I was his best friend. That couldn't be. Although, he never was a very social being. Always dark and mysterious in the academy, I guess the only people he's ever opened up to are Sakura, Kakashi and I. In a way, it made sense. And in a way, he was my best friend, too.

"You have to wake up Naruto," he said. "You cannot die. I won't let you." His voice wasn't as shaky anymore. He was more focused. "Just open your eyes!"

When I say that in that second, opening my eyes was the hardest thing I have ever experienced, I'm not kidding. I've mastered the shadow clone jutsu, I've defeated Neji Hyuga and Gaara of the Sand. I've learned rasengan, and I can summon Gammabunta. I have the chakra of the nine tailed fox sealed inside me. And yet, all of that was a piece of cake compared to this.

My eyes began to flutter, and he let go of my hand. He had a slight blush, I guess from holding my hand while I woke up. He turned to the others.

"Kakashi, Sakura!" he yelled. "He's awake."

They rushed over to make sure I was alright. Apparently, I had been out for three days. When Kakashi arrived, he was able to send Itachi running, and had managed to kill Kisame. Our mission was over, and we'd return home as soon as I was well enough to travel.

"You almost died, Naruto," she said.

"I know, Sakura," I replied. "I'm just glad that you and Sasuke are all right."

"We're fine. Thanks to you. If it wasn't for you, Itachi would have strangled me to death, and done god knows what to Sasuke." I looked at my raven haired teammate, my best friend, and saw his fists clenched.

"We were all worried about you," the kunoichi said. She glanced at Sasuke for a brief second.

Then, Sasuke left. Ran, was the better way to describe it. He couldn't get out of here faster. I tried to get up to follow him, but I wasn't able to. My wound was too severe.

"I'll get him," Kakashi said. He left, leaving me all alone with Sakura.

"Sakura," I said. "Were you really worried?"

"Of course, Naruto," she said. "You were dying." She began to tear up.

"I know, but what about Sasuke? Wasn't he in bad shape?"

"Believe me, Naruto," she said. "You were in much worse shape."

"I know," I said. "It's just –." I stopped. I realized what I was going to say before I said it.

"That I always pay so much more attention to Sasuke?" she completed my though for me. "You're right, I do." This was not a conversation I wanted to have, with Sakura of all people. "Sasuke has the looks and the charm. Let's face it, he's the Leaf Village heartthrob." I really didn't like where this is going.

"But I realized something, as we were watching you die," she said. Now I was curious!

"What did you realize?"

"As charming and hot and sexy as Sasuke is," she began, "there's no substance behind it. He can be deep when he wants to, but he doesn't have a personality that's very attractive. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," I conceded, "but what does that have to do with watching me die?"

"I realized, Naruto," she said. "That you do have the substance behind it. You're powerful, your sweet, and you can use your head when you need to. I know you've liked me for a while, but I was too absorbed in Sasuke to see it. Sasuke would never like me back. I realize that now."

"I know how you feel," I said. "Liking somebody who I know doesn't like me back." I knew I shouldn't, but I was seeing her for the first time with her attention solely on me, not on Sasuke. "Believe it."

"I do," she said. "Because you feel that way about me. That no matter how much you like me, the feelings are one-sided. But I realized that –." She stopped talking.

"What did you realize?" I asked.

"I realized that they aren't one sided."

"What do you mean?" I really needed her to spell it out for me. She couldn't be saying what I think she was saying. There was no way.

"I realized that I like you too, Naruto." She bent down and captured my lips in a kiss that was so long overdue, that I lost myself in it.

"Sakura," I said. "Does this mean we're –" I began. She cut me off.

"Naruto," she said with a big smile. "Will you go out with me?"

Author's Note: Hehe…now we have some Sakura thrown into the mix…and just after we've had the first hint of Sasuke/Naruto love. I warn you, though, it'll take a long time to build their relationship. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed. Remember to R&R. Tell me if you like this better than the stuff before. And no, there won't be much NaruSaku, this is just a small piece of the angst and drama of the story. So calm down. You'll get your SasuNaru.