Hello everyone. I hope you've enjoyed the last chapter.

As I mentioned previously, I'll be introducing an OC that'll be making quite an impact. Just read and find out who it is.

"Sakura!" Sasuke ran through the forest, calling out Sakura's name and waiting for a response. He didn't feel comfortable leaving Naruto behind, but he trusted Naruto to hold his own. If Naruto said he could take care of it, his hot-headedness would help him pull through to the end. "Sakura, where are you?" He looked all around him with his Sharingan active to search for her chakra.

He finally sensed it not too far up ahead. It was faint, but it gave him a location to run to. When he reached her location, he found her lying on the floor with her eyes widened in a state of trance. "No." He was able to see that her chakra was acting irregularly, she was under a genjutsu. "Sakura, hang on. I'm coming." Sasuke placed a hand on her forehead and closed his eyes. "Mangekyou Sharingan!"

Sasuke opened his eyes and found himself in an empty space. There was absolutely nothing around him, no trees, no ground, no sky, nothing. It was just emptiness. Sasuke expected just as much, he's never used his Mangekyou to this extent. He's never willingly put himself into a genjutsu.

"Sasuke!"

"Huh?" Sasuke heard Sakura's voice, but it was very faint. He must be getting close, he just needs to focus more. He closed his eyes, doing his best to sense Sakura's presence nearby.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke opened his eyes and found Sakura standing right in front of him. "Sakura?"

"Sasuke!" Sakura ran to Sasuke and hugged him, relieved. "Sasuke! What's going on?"

"It's a genjutsu." Sasuke said. "Who did this to you?"

"It was Itachi."

"Itachi?"

"He found me. I think he knows what we're doing."

Damn him. "I'm getting you out of here. Hold on." Sasuke held onto Sakura's hand and closed his eyes. "Kai." He opened his eyes, but found that he hadn't moved. He closed his eyes again. "Kai." He was still in the same place. "No, what's going on?"

"Um...Sasuke?" Sakura was looking scared at where they were.

Sasuke turned around and saw what it was that was scaring her. "This...this can't be right." He recognized the place; he could never forget such place like this. The door that Sasuke standing before was the main gate to a complex. The symbols on the walls and doors had him knowing full well where he was. "I'm…I'm home."

The pirate attack came as a wave just like the ocean itself. While the villagers ran to their homes and locked themselves in, the Konoha ninjas defended the village from the pirates. Though the shinobi were greatly outnumbered, their skills made numbers a pointless matter.

"Konoha Tsumiju Senpuu(Leaf Coiling Whirlwind)!" Gai and Lee delivered a roundhouse kick directly at the same target. The pirate skidded along the ground until finally crashing into one of the rowboats on shore that they all came from.

Ino and Sai stayed close to each other, relying on simple taijutsu to deal with the pirates. But the pirates began to swarm all around them, making taijutsu a less reliable form of attack. Sai grabbed the small cord on his left gauntlet and pulled at it, pulling out a blank scroll. Grabbing a brush in his right hand, he began drawing lions on the scroll. "Choojuu Giga!" The lions came to life and jumped out of the scroll, growing to a much larger size. Sai pointed to the pirates and the ink lions attacked them.

"Kaiten!" Hinata spun around creating a dome of chakra that knocked back all the pirates in the range of the dome. When the pirates were cleared, the spinning stopped and Hinata stood before all the fallen pirates.

The pirates being beaten back. Any villager that was witnessing the battle from their homes were given hope when they saw the pirates being pushed back, being defeated by a small number of shinobi. Eventually, the entire village got word of the shinobi gaining the advantage and the pirates were getting scared. Hope was filling the village.

"Enough!"

The shinobi turned their attention to the one who shouted. One of the pirates approached them, his attire showed that he was higher stature; he wore a long navy blue jacket that was torn at the bottom and gold buttons that were tarnished. He carried a katana strapped to his left side and a shorter wakizashi strapped to his right. He wore a bandana kept his long hair back and his face had a large scar on his left cheek. "Shinobi? So the village finally decided to fight back. That's going to cost them when you're all dead."

Gai stepped forward to show that he was in charge of the shinobi present. "So, you're the captain of these pirates?"

"Why yes indeed. You can call me Mezoru." The captain gave a grand bow to Gai, putting a hand to his chest and extending his other arm to the side as he bent over.

"You pirates have caused enough trouble, either you leave now or we will punish you." Gai pointed a finger at Mezoru.

"Ha!" Mezoru laughed. "Punish us? We do the punishing here. Let's see just how much you can handle." Mezoru snapped his finger twice and a group of pirates stepped forward. "Show them what we're capable of."

Gai looked over to his protege. "Lee, take care of this. And make it clean."

"Hai." Lee gave a thumbs up to his teacher. Lee stepped foward and watched as the group of pirates surrounded him. Lee dug his right foot into the dirt, ready to counter whatever these pirates were going to give him. Right at the left of his peripheral vision, one of the pirates pulled out a sword and charged. Lee quickly spun around and delivered heel kick at him, knocking him down. The attack signaled the others to strike. Lee ducked under a roundhouse kick and tripped the pirate. As the pirate fell to the ground, Lee kicked him in the head to knock him out cold. Two pirates charged at Lee with swords, but Lee grabbed their wrists and broke their grip on their weapon. Lee then grabbed their heads and hit them together.

"Dammit." Mezoru cursed under his breath. "This isn't how it was supposed to be."

Lee jumped and delivered a consecutive strike of roundhouse kicks, hitting the same pirate a total of three times before he touched the ground. As another pirate came charging at him, Lee punched him in the gut, then hit him with an uppercut, and finally a strong backfist. As three more pirates came charging at Lee, he grabbed the pirate he hit previously and kicked him towards the three, knocking them back.

"That's it!" Mezoru shouted. "Tetsu!"

One of the pirates charged through the others, kicking some of them to move them aside. As he made it to the front, he stood next to the captain. "Hai!"

"Meet my greatest fighter, Noashi Tetsu." Mezoru said with a grin. He looked over to Tetsu. "Let's see what you can do against him."

Tetsu wore baggy black pants that had a tear at the right knee and bandage wrapping around the left ankle. He wore a dark gray long coat with the right sleeve completely torn off and a bracer on his left arm. He had no hair on his head, but the color of his eyebrows made it seem as though he would have had dark brown hair.

Tetsu stepped forward and so did Lee. "You fight good, but that's gonna change."

"I don't think so." Lee took his fighting stance, standing tall with one hand behind him and the other hand out in front.

Tetsu took his own stance, he hunched down a bit and brought his right leg slightly forward, putting it on the toes. Tetsu ran forward at Lee and when he was close enough, he threw his right leg up for a front kick. Lee leaned back to dodge the kick, but as Tetsu's leg continued to go up, Tetsu flipped back and before landing on his feet, he kicked forward again and hit Lee on the chest. Lee backed away and rubbed his chest. Lee charged forward with a straight punch, but Tetsu tilted his head back and dodged the blow. Lee punched again, but Tetsu dodged that as well. Lee then threw a hook at Tetsu, but he suddenly threw his leg up and kicked the fist away.

"Did you see that?" Ino asked. "He just blocked it with his leg."

"His kicks definitely appear powerful." Gai noted.

Lee threw a roundhouse kick with his right leg at Tetsu, but the kick was blocked when Tetsu threw his left leg up. He then jumped and threw his right leg for a roundhouse kick of his own, which hit Lee in the head. As Lee fell over to the side, he pressed his right hand down to the ground and flipped back on his feet. Tetsu quickly charged at Lee, jumping up to throw a flying side kick. The kick connected, but Lee blocked the kick with his crossed arms. Tetsu pushed against Lee, ascending upwards.

"Rekka no Ashi (Raging Fire Leg)!" Tetsu flipped forwards, picking up speed as he began to spin faster and faster. Chakra began to consume him until he was covered in a fiery chakra. Tetsu descended down to Lee, striking him with multiple kicks that pushed him down to the ground. Tetsu landed several feet away from Lee as the chakra faded.

"Lee-kun, be careful!" Hinata shouted.

"Stay close, Sakura." Sasuke went to the door and tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"Sasuke, what are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not gonna give up. We're getting out of here. Come on! Open up!" Sasuke continued to pull the door open, but with no luck. He looked back as to how he got in this situation; how Sakura was trapped here all because of his brother. "Dammit...ITACHI!"

Itachi stood behind a tree, watching Sasuke using his Mangekyou to enter Sakura's mind. "Go ahead, you won't be able to get her out." Suddenly, something clicked in Itachi's head, A familiar voice... Itachi turned around, but when he did, he was no longer in the forest. He was staring at Sasuke and Sakura. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned around from the door and found that Itachi was in the memory now, standing several feet away. Itachi's Mangekyou was active, as was Sasuke's.

"Sasuke...did you just bring me here?" Itachi was indeed surprised by this.

"I...I guess I did." Sasuke answered. He wasn't sure as to how Itachi ended up here, but that wasn't the main focus right now. "I guess I really did bring you here."

"Well, looks like your Sharingan is truly getting stronger." Itachi smiled in amusement. He then looked around the place. "Our old home...you remember this place?"

"How could I forget?" Sasuke asked. He then looked more at the setting of the place than the place itself. "After dark, full moon in the sky, the blood, I remember this. This is the night you killed the clan."

"Sasuke, I had my reasons for this."

"Of course you did! You told me when I came home! You told me this was to test your ability!" Sasuke yelled. "You killed all of them just to prove your strength!"

The two brothers and Sakura looked at the complex when they heard strange noises coming from within. Suddenly, ghostly figures of people began to appear. All of them were recognizable to the two Uchiha.

"Otou-san, Okaa-san!" Sasuke was shocked when he saw the ghost figures of his parents. He then looked at Itachi and saw that he was more than shocked, he was terrified. So that's it... "Itachi, we are going back to Konoha and you are going to prison for your crimes."

Itachi shook the fear out of him, and just like that, the ghosts disappeared. "Me? Go to prison? Don't make me laugh, little brother. With my Mangekyou, there's no prison in the world that can hold me down."

"I think there is, Itachi." Sasuke said. "If you're not going to answer for your crimes, I'll lock you up myself. And I think I have the power to keep you locked up. Right here, for eternity."

"Really? What makes you think that will work?" Itachi asked, curiously. "What makes you think you have such a power?"

"Look around you." Sasuke answered. "Look at this place. This isn't my memory, this isn't my nightmare, this isn't my worst fear. This is all yours!" He backed away to the door. "I'm leaving you here."

"You can't." Itachi said.

"Watch me."

"You still don't have the power that equals to me." Itachi boldly stated. "You will never have the power because you're still that scared, weak little boy I left to cry alone when I killed everyone."

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. "NO! I'm not weak! I'm not scared of you anymore!" Itachi was stunned by Sasuke's outburst.

This whole time, Sakura stood behind Sasuke while the two brothers had their talk. "I'm not the same brother you left alone. I'm a good man, a good shinobi!" He looked back at Sakura and held her hand. "But you don't know any of that, you never have and you never will." He backed away even more, pressing his back to the door of the gate. "You did all this, you brought this upon yourself, and all you have left are the nightmares of your crimes." Suddenly, the doors opened, surprising everyone.

Itachi looked at Sasuke shocked, but then, his Mangekyou faded. His eyes went back to being their original shade of black. "S..sasuke..."

"Come on Sakura, let's get out of here." Sasuke put Sakura out the door first before going out.

"Wait, don't leave me." Itachi's attitude suddenly changed as Sasuke was going out the door, "Sasuke, don't leave me in here alone!" He tried to run to the door, but it closed on him. He tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn't move. "NO!"

Lee sent a side kick at Tetsu's chest, but Tetsu jumped up with a spin to block it with his right leg, and then kick Lee with a heel kick from his right. Lee fell to the ground from the blow to the head, but refused to give up. As Tetsu approached him, Lee threw his right leg up to kick at him from the ground. Tetsu countered by blocking the kick with his knee, he then brought his leg around Lee's, tightly 'wrapping' around it. Tetsu then straightened his leg in a quick second which was followed by the sound of bones cracking.

"AAHH!" Lee screamed in a loud agonizing pain.

"Lee-kun!" Hinata screamed.

Tetsu backed away from Lee and pulled his coat aside to give his legs freedom of movement.

"Tetsu, finish this." Mezoru ordered. "No mercy."

"Hai." Tetsu nodded, he then looked back at Lee, who was struggling to get on his feet. "Ju-Byou Zetsubou(Ten Second Despair)!" Tetsu ran at Lee at such a blinding speed that appeared like nothing more than a blur.

Ichi(One).

Tetsu finally got close enough to Lee to strike, he spun around to kick Lee in the head with a heel kick from his right foot.

Nii(Two).

Tetsu kicked him right at the chest with a side kick, then swung his right foot to deliver a mixture of roundhouse kicks and heel kicks.

San(Three).

Tetsu then added some more side kicks into the combo, landing each strike precisely.

Yon(Four).

Go(Five).

Roku(Six).

As the kicks continued, Tetsu's kicks began to leave behind a trail of bright blue chakra across Lee's chest in a '+' appearance.

Nana(Seven).

Hachi(Eight).

Kyu(Nine).

Tetsu landed the final roundhouse kick and spun around to look away from Lee.

Ju(Ten).

The chakra trail continued to appear before Lee even when Tetsu was finished with his attack, glowing brightly in a blue flame appearance. "Despair awaits you..." Tetsu looked over his shoulder to see Lee in his defeated state. "...in your future." As the chakra trail faded, Lee fell to his knees. The pirates all cheered for Tetsu's victory when he threw his right fist up into the air. Tetsu then threw his leg back and kicked Lee in the chest, to knock him back. "There's a reason I'm known as the Iron Leg."

Lee tried to get up, but grabbed his broken leg and winced at the pain while the others rushed to his side. "Lee-kun." Hinata helped Lee up. Sai and Ino held Lee's arms over their shoulders.

"I think that's enough fun for today." Mezoru said. "We'll be back again, and let's hope you don't get in our way. Otherwise, you'll all end up like your green friend." Mezoru motioned to his crew to head back to the boats. "Move out, we'll still have plenty to pillage another day. Take what we already have."

Sasuke's Mangekyou faded as he was now back in the real world. He was right where he left himself, kneeling right by Sakura's body. Only this time, Sakura came back with him. "Sakura?"

Sakura opened her eyes and found herself back where she was. "Sasuke." She got up and hugged him. "You did it. I knew you could."

Sasuke hugged her back. "I won't let anything like this happen to you ever again. I love you Sakura."

"Sasuke…" She finally heard it, she finally heard Sasuke tell her that he loved her. "I love you too."

A sudden crash engulfed them. Sasuke covered Sakura from the flying debris while Sakura closed her eyes. When it all cleared, Sasuke looked to where it came from; someone was standing in the crater where the crash originated from. Sasuke looked in shock of what was standing before him; the clone of Naruto had the Cursed Seal that looked exactly like his. The skin, the wings, everything about this clone was like him as well.

"Naruto?" Sakura was shocked by his appearance. She recognized that appearance as Sasuke's Cursed Seal form, but couldn't understand how Naruto had it.

"That's not Naruto." Sasuke said. "It's the demon."

"One down, two to go." The demon said, cracking his neck.

"One down?" Sasuke asked. "What did you do to Naruto?"

"You know soon enough, when I take you to where I sent him."

Before anything else could be done, a loud scream was heard. The group looked in the direction and saw that it was where Itachi's body was. The body came back to life and stood on his legs.

"What? But...how?" Sasuke asked.

"You still have much to learn little brother." Itachi smiled. His attention then turned to the demon. "Ah, it's been a while hasn't it Jinzoku. Looks like you found a way to keep a body for yourself now."

"How do you me?" Jinzoku asked, with a confused look on his face. "How do you know my name?"

"Jinzoku?" Sasuke asked. Is that the demon's name? How does Itachi know him?

"Well, that's pretty easy to answer. After all..." Itachi changed his glance to Sasuke and back. Suddenly, from inside him something began to stir. Itachi threw his head back and screamed as a large murder of crows few out of his mouth. The crows hovered closely together as if it was all one entity. "...big brother knows best." The crows spoke in one unison, and in different voices. "Recognize me now?"

"...Brother?" Jinzoku looked at the figure in shock. "Brother, you're still alive?"

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you all to meet the OC, Tetsu. If any of you haven't noticed, his name is a nice play on his fighting title. Tetsu(iron) Noashi (no ashi[leg]), 'iron leg' or 'leg of iron', get it?

I actually had this character planned ever since I started the first Shinobi of the Hidden Village story, but I never found a way to input him into the story. But when I got the ideas for the sequel, I found the perfect way to put him in.

He'll be showing up for quite a lot of chapters after this.