Chapter 20

"No!" Sakura protested. "You can't use him as bait!"

The shock Naruto had gone into at the entrance of Itachi had faded, and the reality of the situation finally caught up with him as his eyes widened in confusion. "Wait!" Naruto cried out making a time out symbol with his hands.

Itachi and Sakura turned to Naruto expectantly while Sasuke sighed and crossed his arms.

Naruto looked from Sakura to Itachi pleadingly. "Sakura..." he said sadly. "What happened to you? Why are you with the Akatsuki? How is Itachi alive? Why isn't Sasuke trying to kill me?"

"Don't tempt me, Dobe," Sasuke droned.

A long silence filled the room before Sakura broke it. "It's a long story, Naruto."

"Believe me, Sakura, I have nothing but time," Naruto growled.

Sakura let out a sigh and explained everything to Naruto and Kakashi. They had a right to know, and, in all honestly, Sakura had wanted to tell them for years. When she finished her story about following Itachi, saving Itachi's life, trying to get Sasuke to change, and leaving Akatsuki, Naruto and Kakashi just stared at her wonder, trying to decide if they believed her or not.

"Now it's your turn to explain yourself, Itachi," Sakura said crossing her arms and turning back to Itachi. "Why would you use Naruto as bait? You know that letting Naruto into Tobi's hands is extremely stupid. Why did you bring them here?"

Itachi let out a long sigh. "Naruto will simply lead Tobi to us. He will be in just as much trouble as the rest of us, and Kakashi's sharingan is necessary for this plan."

Sakura processed the information. She was curious as to why Kakashi's Sharingan was necessary, but she knew Itachi would tell her when he was ready. She let the matter go and turned back to Naruto and Kakashi. She allowed herself a deep breath before asking them the question that had frightened her to no end.

"Do you forgive me?" Sakura asked shakily.

A grin broke across Naruto's face almost immediately. "You're alive and not really evil. That's all that matters to me!"

Kakashi stared at Sakura for a while. His gaze was heavy and Sakura couldn't breathe. "As far as I'm concerned, you protected your family and never really betrayed the village. Yes, I forgive you."

Sakura released a long breath. She had needed to hear that. She needed to know that more than anything. Despite her resisting, tears leaked from her eyes, and she gathered Naruto and Kakashi into an awkward hug.

"Thank you," she whispered over and over without ever truly feeling she had said it enough.

Sakura turned suddenly to Sasuke. Sasuke gave her a questioning look before Sakura grabbed him by the wrist and began pulling him away.

"Sakura, what the heck?" Sasuke protested, trying to pull his wrist from her grip. Sakura ignored him and pulled him into a separate area of the cave.

"I haven't been as honest with you as I should have," Sakura said suddenly stopping in place. She turned to Sasuke and gave him an apologetic look. "You wanted to know what my Kekkei Genkei is, and I think it's finally safe enough for me to tell you."

Sasuke stiffened and prepared himself for what Sakura was about to tell him. She bit her lip and seemed to war with herself for a while before letting out a long breath.

"We were called the Copy Cat Ninjas because our Kekkei Genkei literally made us copy cats," Sakura began. "We could watch someone perform a jutsu one time and copy it perfectly right after, but you could only copy it the one time. You had to watch someone do it again before you could perform it again. It's different from the Sharingan, because, unlike the Sharingan, we could even copy other people's Kekkei Genkeis. Not only could we copy them, but we could copy one jutsu and keep it for our own for the rest of our lives if we wanted. Itachi willingly let me permanently copy his Sharingan. That is why Madara wanted to have our Kekkei Genkei eradicated. We could copy his own jutsu to stop him."

Sasuke let the new information sink in before asking. "Why didn't he kill you?"

"Madara wasn't positive I had the Kekkei Genkei. I was too useful to him as a medic-nin for him to kill me without knowing if I had the ability or not."

Sasuke nodded. He was glad that she had finally told him, but he wasn't going to let her know he was. He turned on his heel and walked back to Naruto, Kakashi, and Itachi.

Sakura watched Sasuke walk away, wondering if he had been okay with what she said. He was acting strange. Then again, if she had found out her brother was actually alive after all of these years, she would be acting the strange, too.

Sakura shrugged and followed him back to Kakashi, Naruto, and Itachi.

"Ah, good, you're back," Itachi said motioning them to come forward.

"So, what's your plan, Itachi?" Kakashi asked fixing his gaze on Itachi.

"Naruto is going to be the bait to get Tobi here," Itachi began. "But he won't actually be in any trouble. We're going to start news spreading around town that one of the tailed beasts is in this cave. When it comes to tailed beasts, talk travels fast. Tobi will hear the news and believe it because he knows Naruto and Kakashi were looking for Sakura. He'll come here and we'll be ready for him."

"Great, so we have a way to get him here, but what's our plan after he comes?" Kakashi asked.

"We'll need your Sharingan, and Sakura, I'll need you to copy his Sharingan as well," Itachi said as an aside to Sakura. Sakura nodded and Naruto looked confused.

"How is she going to do that?" Naruto wondered.

"My Kekkei Genkei," Sakura said simply and turning back to Itachi to get him to continue.

"Kakashi's Sharingan is vital," Itachi repeated making sure they understood. "That, I believe, is our only way to touch Tobi."

"Why?" Kakashi asked. "Why not your Sharingan?"

"Because I believe your Sharingan and Tobi's are one-and-the-same," Itachi explained.

"That's not possible..." Kakashi whispered to himself.

"Kakashi," Itachi turned to Kakashi, "you're going to have to accept the possibility that Tobi is Obito Uchiha."

Well, that was a sucky chapter if I may say so myself. I'm debating whether or not I want this next chapter to be the last and then an epilogue, or if I want to have three more chapters... I'm terrible at writing fight scenes, so be prepared for a long wait.

Everyone loved the bit of comedy I added to the end of the last chapter with all of the names. Believe it or not, I am quite the goofy person. For some reason that just doesn't transfer to my writing a lot of the time... Go figure.

Thank you to: StarTrail, YourWorstNightmare16, Sasusakuloverxoxo, mdtiger, LadyMartel4000, FakeMirage, LilithiaRW, CJ122, The Apprentice of Pisces, Guest, Jasmine-.-Momo-chan, Naniofthewolves, FairyTailForTheWin, LilyVampire, and summergrey!

You guys are awesome.

The Fuzz