Okay, now it's time for Chapter 2!

I've been pretty laid back this summer, getting lazy about everything...especially my summer homework… :(

But I didn't get lazy about this story! I basically have the whole story planned out in my head! :)

So yes, let's move on to Chapter 2!

Chapter 2- The Revenge and The Reunited

At Konoha…

The alarm clock rang at exactly 5:30 a.m. to wake up a sleeping, pink-haired beauty to get ready for work.

"Ughh…it's 5:30 already? I gotta get ready for work," said Sakura groggily as she got up from her bed, stretched her arms and shoulders, and trudged over to the bathroom for a shower.

After the shower, she came out and dressed up in her regular attire: a pink skirt with short black pants underneath with a black sleeveless shirt and a red vest on top. She put her red forehead protector on top of her head just like a headband. She grabbed an apple, put on her shoes, and left her apartment onto the still-dark, crispy morning of Konoha. As she walked to the Konoha Hospital, she passed the Hokage Tower with lights all on indicating that there was action going on inside. Then she thought of the conversation with Tsunade that she had yesterday and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

"Tsunade-sama told me to take a break for 2 days…man I'm so stupid! I could've slept more! Ugh! Stupid Sakura!" said Sakura as she slapped her forehead twice.

"Well…since I'm up anyway, I'll just take a walk around town," she said as she resumed her walk from a fast, hasty one to a more calm and slow one.

As she walked around the sleeping town, she was able to think more freely about the new information that Tsunade had leaked to her yesterday in their conversation.

"Hmm…so the Rookie 9 shinobis are on a retrieval mission of someone important and special… but who could be THAT important? Hmm…unless this person is an S-ranked criminal! But if it's a retrieval mission, then this person is from Konoha? But I don't remember any S-ranked shinobi from Konoha…" thought Sakura as she randomly sat down on a bench near the Konoha gates.

As she tried to think more about it, the back of her head started to throb.

"W-what is this feeling? This feeling like something's missing, like this one thing is the answer to all the questions in my mind…what is it?" thought Sakura as she slowly got up and ran to her apartment.

She couldn't take it anymore…because she suddenly felt very empty…

Later at Noon with the Rookie 9 …

"Naruto, you baka! Hurry and wake up!" yelled Shikamaru as he literally kicked Naruto off of his sleeping bag and onto the hard, cold dirt floor.

"Hinata-chan….w-wha?" said Naruto, finally sitting up and rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands.

"Hurry and get ready Naruto! Neji has some vital information for us!" said Shikamaru.

"Neji?" said Naruto as he looked over at Neji, who was sitting on a log looking towards Naruto with disgust on his face due to the fact that Naruto just called out his cousin's name in his sleep.

After Naruto got properly dressed, cleaned, and ready, he sat with the others on the logs surrounding the campfire, where they were already having breakfast. Naruto grabbed a plate and dug in hungrily. Once he was done, he looked up at the others who were finishing up as well and cleared his sleep-thickened voice to speak.

"Okay, so Shikamaru told me that Neji has some important information for us. So Neji, tell us what's up," said Naruto.

"Okay. I think all of you, especially you, Naruto, will be very interested in this new information, because it's about Uchiha Sasuke," said Neji, looking straight into Naruto's eyes as realization hit them.

"Neji, spill it," said Naruto, with all seriousness now.

"When I was taking a walk around camp early this morning, I was just checking the surroundings with my Byakugan to make sure everything was okay. Well, everything was fine until I detected some high levels of chakra around 10 miles away. I became very aware of this individual because of this person's chakra. It was overwhelming and nothing like I've ever seen before, except in Naruto. I was about to track this person down just in case he might decide to attack us, but someone else appeared before this person and began to fight. This new person had some high leveled chakra too, but not as much as the first one. When I finally was able to fully focus on the two fighting individuals, I could see that the first man was Uchiha Sasuke, and the second was Uchiha Itachi. I knew that the battle would last quite a while and came back to camp trying to wake you guys up so we could investigate," said Neji.

"Sasuke…so close…let's get him now!" said Naruto, standing up abruptly.

"Not quite, Naruto," said Neji.

"Why not?!" said Naruto, angrily.

"First, as Sasuke's "best friend," you should already know what his goal in life is. He wants to kill Itachi, so let him have this chance. I'd rather face him after he killed Itachi rather than facing him after he lost his chance. After their battle, Sasuke's probably going to be worn down, so we'll be able to take him easily," said Neji.

"What if he doesn't win? What if he loses?" said Naruto.

"For being his one and only friend, you really don't know much about him. Naruto, this is Sasuke we're talking about. Do you really think Sasuke's gonna lose to Itachi? Neji has already proven to us that Sasuke's chakra is greater and stronger than Itachi's, so it's obvious that Sasuke's gonna be the one to make it out of the battle alive. Sheesh, you're so troublesome," said Shikamaru, leaning lazily on the log.

"Okay then. For now, we're gonna try to get closer to the battle and see what's up and how things are going between Sasuke and Itachi," said Naruto as he got up and started walking over to his tent to pack up and head out.

In the Woods…

"Sasuke…you are no match for your older brother…" said Itachi, breathing heavily with the lack of energy on one side of the clearing.

On the other side, Sasuke was also tired from the long and intense battle that they just had. However, he was in better condition than Itachi.

"Itachi…you are NOT my brother! My brother wasn't a monster!" yelled Sasuke, his red Sharingan eyes swirling in madness.

"You're too immature and young. You'll never understand me," said Itachi bitingly.

"I don't need to understand a monster like you! A monster that has no heart and that has enough hate to kill his own family!" yelled Sasuke.

"Hmm…kinda like how you are right now?" said Itachi questioningly.

Sasuke suddenly froze. Itachi was right. He was now a monster. A monster just like his brother became. He threw away all the happiness he had just to avenge his clan. Just to go after his brother.

"Konoha…Team 7…Naruto…Kakashi-sensei…" thought Sasuke.

Every little memory of the village and his beloved team ran straight through his mind. But there was something he was missing, something very important to him.

"Sakura…" thought Sasuke.

She was the one girl that didn't love him for his looks…but rather for who he truly was. Although he never admitted it, he knew that Sakura's love was genuine, yet he rejected it like any other fangirl crush. A part of him told him then that he hated her because she was annoying. Another told him then that she would be in danger if she got any close to him and that he had to protect her from that danger. But he never denied that Sakura's love for him was the truth.

As Sasuke reminisced about the past, Itachi teleported behind Sasuke with a kunai to his throat.

"See Sasuke? You are still filled with emotions and feelings for your pesky friends. You will never become as strong as I am if you aren't filled with hate," whispered Itachi.

Sasuke smirked and quickly teleported out of Itachi's grasp. Itachi was puzzled. How did Sasuke escape so fast?

"You say that I can only get stronger with hate. But, you are very wrong, Itachi. After 4 years of not being with my friends, I realize that now. You can only get stronger with love," said Sasuke, a new form of energy building inside of him.

Itachi could feel that now too, this new form of energy building up within Sasuke. It was like he just all of a sudden got all the energy he needed and rejuvenated himself. For once, Itachi had nothing to say to Sasuke.

"Now, with the power of my friends, I will kill you and avenge the Uchiha clan," said Sasuke, grasping his katana tightly in his right hand and leaning forward to strike at Itachi.

"Hn...let's see how much your friends can help you now," said Itachi as he ran to Sasuke with a kunai in hand.

"Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, don't fail me now," thought Sasuke as he charged towards Itachi with his Chidori-infused katana.

With the Rookie 9…

As Naruto and the others ran, jumped, and dodged through the thick forest in search of Sasuke, Naruto felt something deep in his heart…

…like a precious bond had been connected again…

"Sasuke-teme…what's going on?" thought Naruto.

"Naruto! Look!" yelled Kiba, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts.

"What is it?" said Naruto, looking at the direction that Kiba pointed at.

Deep in the forest, Naruto can see there was a clearing…with two men fighting each other.

"SASUKE!" yelled Naruto, running towards the clearing.

"Naruto! Wait!" yelled Shikamaru as all the others started to run to stop Naruto.

"SASUKE-TEME!" yelled Naruto.

"Dobe?" said Sasuke as he looked over into the thick forest. He could make out a person running towards the clearing.

After a few seconds, he could see Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, and others behind him.

"SASUKE-TEME!" yelled Naruto.

Before Naruto and the others could get closer, Sasuke emitted a bright lightning from his hands that grew and covered the whole clearing. Once Naruto reached and touched it, it zapped his hands. Sasuke created a full-blown Chidori shield to keep them out, while keeping Itachi in.

"Teme! Let me in!" yelled Naruto, but Sasuke chose to ignore him.

"Hmm...so they have come to take you back home," said Itachi, looking over at an enraged Naruto punching the Chidori shield over and over again.

"Yes, they have. And I will go with them as soon as I'm done with you," growled Sasuke as he lunged for Itachi with his katana.

"Teme! Let me in!" yelled Naruto.

"Naruto! Stop!" yelled Neji.

"Naruto! Stop and listen to me! Listen to me you baka!" yelled Shikamaru, using his Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Bind) to stop Naruto and to have him look at his team.

"I-I'm sorry guys. It's just that I want to help Sasuke defeat that bastard…" said Naruto, finally calming down.

"Naruto, listen. Like Neji said before, this is Sasuke's goal, not yours. Sasuke wants to go after Itachi by himself, and that's why he created this shield around them: to keep us out and keep Itachi in. If you're Sasuke's best friend, you should support him with whatever decision he makes. Also, Itachi's not an easy shinobi to be against. He's tough and merciless. So when the battle ends, Sasuke's probably gonna be the winner, but he'll be pretty worn down. So that's our chance to go after him and bring him back home. Don't forget about our mission, Naruto," said Shikamaru.

"Okay, I understand. And Shikamaru, that's the longest you've ever talked in your whole life," said Naruto, smirking at the genius.

"Yes, I know. It was getting very troublesome. But nonetheless, you needed that speech," said Shikamaru, finally releasing Naruto from his Kage Mane.

"Shikamaru, you should go into counseling! You would be the key to reviving the youthfulness in our Konoha teenagers!" said Lee.

"BANG!"

"You're welcome," said Sai as he walked back to the place where his equipment was laid out.

"Sai, you didn't have to go that far. You could have just told him to shut up and think about Sakura, because that always works," said Neji.

"Eh, well it was the first thing that popped into my mind," said Sai as he looked over at the unconscious Lee with a big bump on his head from Sai's scroll.

"Now all we can do is wait for Sasuke-teme…" said Naruto as he looked over at the clearing, where the two last Uchihas were fighting head-to-head.

"Sasuke, no matter how hard you try, you cannot win against me," said Itachi, peering at Sasuke 10 feet away.

"Hn. We'll see who's to judge that," said Sasuke as he maneuvered around Itachi, trying to find a weak spot.

Sasuke then lunged at Itachi from the side and stabbed the katana into his stomach. At the same time, Itachi stabbed Sasuke with his kunai. Sasuke hit one of Itachi's vital organs, and Itachi was falling to the ground, breathing heavily and bleeding from the stomach. Although Sasuke was also stabbed in the stomach, Itachi missed a vital organ by an inch, so Sasuke was a little bit better. Sasuke then also fell to the ground breathing heavily, next to Itachi.

"Sasuke…I want you to listen to me this one last time…" whispered Itachi, his life already being drained away.

Sasuke could sense the truthfulness in Itachi's words and listened.

"Sasuke…I know I destroyed your life and our family, but at that time, that was all I could do. I had people threaten to kill the one precious thing in my life if I didn't kill the whole Uchiha clan," whispered Itachi.

"And who was this person?" said Sasuke, angry at this person for being the reason of his parents' death.

"That person was…you," whispred Itachi, coughing up blood.

Sasuke froze, "me?"

"People threatened to kill you unless I killed the rest of the Uchiha clan. From the very beginning, ever since you been taught the Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball), I knew you were different than all the Uchihas, even me. I knew there was something deep inside of you that made you different from all the cold-hearted Uchihas. And that was your friends. You may seem no different that the other Uchihas now, but you ARE different. I knew I needed to save you more than anyone else and made that decision. I'm unhappy that you devoted your life to coming after me, but I'm truly happy to die by your hands," whispered Itachi.

"Itachi…I'm sorry," whispered Sasuke, slowly getting up and looking at his brother.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong. But promise me one thing, little brother," whispered Itachi.

"Yes?" said Sasuke.

"I want you to forget about the past. Your past is ruining your present, and ultimately your future. I want you to live a great life with your friends and repair all the damages done by me. I want you to revive the Uchiha clan and make it better than it ever was," whispered Itachi, tears slowly rolling down his eyes.

"Itachi…" said Sasuke.

"And Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"You'll always be my precious little brother, and I'll watch over you. I love you, Sasuke," said Itachi, as he begun to close his eyes.

"Itachi! No! I'm sorry! Please! Don't leave me!" yelled Sasuke as he collapsed on top of Itachi, tears pouring like waterfalls from his eyes.

…But…Itachi was already on his way to heaven, where he would watch over his little brother for all eternity…

"No! Itachi!" yelled Sasuke as he sobbed and cried. Subconsciously, he let go of his Chidori shield and the retrieval team came rushing into the clearing.

The team froze 20 feet away from Sasuke and Itachi's body because they were so surprised of Sasuke like that, crying and sobbing, and didn't know how to react.

"Naruto… since you know him the best, I think you should go to him," whispered Shikmaru.

Naruto nodded and slowly walked the 20 feet and kneeled next to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry. But everything's gonna be fine now. We're here to take you and Itachi's body home. Cmon teme… everything's fine. It's okay," whispered Naruto as he slowly patted his friend's shoulder.

"Naruto… I want to do it the traditional way," said Sasuke as he slowly got up.

He used his Katon Jutsu and burned Itachi's body. Once Itachi's body was in ashes, he took the jar that Naruto gave him and put the ashes into it. As he finished and slowly got up, Sasuke started to waver.

"Sasuke," said Naruto as he caught Sasuke before he fell to the ground.

Sasuke gave the jar to Naruto, who gave it to Shikamaru for safe keeping. Then Sasuke, breathing heavily from exhaustion as a result from the battle, dropped to the floor.

"Sasuke!" yelled Naruto as he quickly tried to bandage the wound getting deeper in Sasuke's stomach from Itachi's kunai.

"Naruto…" whispered Sasuke.

"Yeah?"

"…Where's…Sakura…" whispered Sasuke before he fell unconscious.

Naruto could only look grimly at Sasuke's face, and then at the faces of his teammates, who were thinking about the same thing.

"Yeah Sasuke…where's Sakura…" they all thought.

Woot woot!

End of Chapter 2!

And wow, thanks everyone for already putting up reviews for the first chapter!

I was sooo overjoyed to see that many people were enjoying this FanFic as much as I am!

I have a lot planned for this story, so keep in touch!

Cilla :)