Author's Note: Sorry about this being so late. I was naively hoping I could extract the chapters I had done months ago from my dead computer, but it was for naught. And, of course, new apartment + new full-time job + fiancèe not much time to write. Oh, well, I've actually deigned to take time from my schedule to write you all a new chapter, so huzzahs all around.

Team 7 Deja Vu!

Chapter 5: Brother, My Brother

Sasuke gasped with horror as his flesh was being slowly eaten away by his older brother's shuriken, disguised by genjutsu behind a swarm of locusts. He was desperate to survive, and, with the locusts shrieks melding together into the all-pervasive laughter of his hated relative, he was desperate to kill his torturer. If only I could... he thought through his panic, See! His eyes strained to catch a glimpse of his brother through the blackness, and to see the swift moving blades flying through the swarm, but it seemed impossible. He was no genjutsu user...

But then, he caught a glint of metal, and his reflexes took over. He weaved around the shuriken, and his body led him into a somersault and then he jerked to the left, right, and ducked before he knew what he was doing. The concept of where the shuriken were was vague, but his instincts knew enough to go by such subtle hints. Then he saw the shadow of his brother in the swarm and he leaped toward it, forming familiar hand seals all the while. He put his fingers to his mouth and spat a fireball, juked to the left, spat another, and then jumped before firing a final one.

Itachi dodged the fireballs, but the young Sasuke came down upon him like a falcon. The older Uchiha drew his katana and halted his time-displaced brother in his tracks. He impaled him through the gut.

The young Uchiha gasped and the genjutsu faded, revealing the landscape still enveloped by Kisame's mists. His brother grunted as he twisted the katana in Sasuke's gut. "So you've developed the Sharingan... but only two in one eye and one in the other. Proof that you cannot truly be my brother. When last we met, he had a fully developed Sharingan... even two years ago he had two in each. There's no way you could ever catch up at this point." He drew a kunai in addition to his katana. "You have no reason to be kept alive." He thrust the knife toward the boy's throat.

"Temee!" a familiar yet savage voice interjected, and a red claw shot past Sasuke's head, raking Itachi's face. The Uchiha leapt backward, shocked at the Kyuubi container's interruption and gingerly touching his damaged visage. Naruto leaped in front of the impaled Uchiha, two chakra tails blazing behind him and a growing sphere of swirling energy throbbing in his hand. "If you try to kill Sasuke, you'll regret it!"

The Akatsuki frowned and performed a few hand seals. "Jinchuriki. On the contrary, I look forward to testing my abilities against your power."

Naruto lunged forward, thrusting his now volleyball sized attack at the Uchiha, shouting, "Oodama Rasengan!" as his foe simultaneously announced, "Amaterasu!" and launched a torrent of burning darkness at the demon host.

Kisame shuddered and jerked his head to the side as the great outpouring of chakra blew the mists away, revealing both battles to either party. The sharklike ninja had no time to gawk, however, as this little "Kayaku" kid was dishing out a berserker attack unlike any he had seen. His speed was close to matching that bastard, Gai's, though his power was a bit less. The kid's chakra swirled around his Samehada, the blade consuming it, allegedly draining the boy's power. But he wasn't letting up at all. Is he another jinchuriki or just freakishly strong? And what's happening over there with Itachi? He tried to hazard another glance, but the kid was all over him the moment his eyes twitched in another direction. Kid has more bloodlust than Zabuza...

Kakashi, on the other hand, could see just fine what was happening. Naruto was standing over a kneeling and injured, but still active, Itachi, with three chakra tails blazing. "Oh, no!" He felt in his pouch for the "insurance" Jiraiya had given him in case Naruto got dangerously close to the Four Tails form. However, another feral growl distracted him.

Kayaku was beginning to overpower Kisame, but his face seemed to be peeling off. Beneath his skin was revealed the characteristic markings of the Kyuubi jinchuriki, and his black hair faded to blond. On his backside, a single tail waved in the wind.

"Th-this is... another Naruto?" Kisame gasped. "But... even him I was able to stop with my sword."

Kakashi looked at Kayaku's tail and noted how it seemed to stretch uncharacteristically to the side. As if it were reaching for something. He then looked at Naruto's three tails as he chased Itachi about the forest. It seemed his tails were doing something similar; always pointing the same... "No!" They were pointing toward each other. "The Kyuubi... there are two separate foxes now, each with an infinite chakra... they must be... resonating somehow." He didn't know what would happen if that were the case, or if indeed anything would... but when it came to that demon, it was better safe than sorry.

The white haired jounin zipped across the water toward the younger Naruto. He was too worn out right now to go up against a three tailed Naruto, and he had a feeling if he suppressed one Kyuubi, the other wouldn't be drawn out any more. He interceded the clash between the demon container and the Akatsuki, blocking Kisame's Samehada and pressing Jiraiya's seal to Naruto's head. The demon chakra began to recede, but Kakashi noticed something strange. The tail was lengthening as the chakra field melted from his body.

"Oh, no!" Kakashi exclaimed as he saw the tips of his Naruto's three tails centimeters away from the past Naruto's single tail. He turned his Sharingan eye to Kisame. "Not that I care in particular what happens to you, but I'd suggest you run."

The shark-faced man looked puzzled at the tails, seeing them touch as young Naruto's aura finally diminished to the base of his spine. The single tail meshed with the other tails, leaving the now-unconscious Naruto and intertwining itself with its older brothers, slithering to the older Naruto as he and Itachi traded blows. "Wh-what...?"

Itachi threw a powerful right cross at his adversary's face, but found it halted by the boy's powerful aura. His eyebrows knitted in confusion upon feeling his flesh begin to burn where it contacted with the demon aura. The eldest Uchiha was thrust back then with a roar from Naruto, who now swayed four tails in the wind.

Naruto screamed in pain and fury as flesh began to peel off his body, and blood welled up out of his wounds. The skin still intact also became blood red as the capillaries within burst. His aura became so dark as to make Naruto's body a blood red silhouette in his fox-shaped aura. He roared again and the ground beneath him cracked.

"Impressive..." Itachi said, but he was unable to elaborate on his observation as the Four Tails Naruto was on him like a berserker. Itachi managed to dodge the first flurry of attacks, but then a second aura fox sprouted from the demon boy's side and took a shot at him in midair. He slashed the fox aura in twain, but when he brought his katana back, he found it was marred with singe marks and cracked. He tried to block another swift attack from the berserker Naruto, but the enraged ninja broke the katana's blade into pieces and swiped Itachi into a tree.

The Uchiha prodigy shook his head clear, holding his side. Damn, the Kyuubi's chakra is truly formidable. I was reckless to waste my chakra with two usages of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Now I don't have the power to fight him like this. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the Kyuubi-possessed boy gathering strange and evil chakra between his tails. "No... I'll have to risk it!" He performed some hand seals and black flames began to burn around him. He launched the flames with a shout of "Amaterasu!" and as Naruto swallowed his ball of dark chakra, he was enveloped in the sun-hot fire.

Then the Kyuubi's attack burst from the blackness. Itachi fell back, unprepared to dodge such an attack, when suddenly a large form descended in front of him. The ground shook and fierce light burned around the Uchiha, but he could see with his Sharingan. Itachi stood in front of him, his Samehada eating the demonic chakra.

Itachi's partner turned to his partner and smirked. "I knew I'd end up saving your butt one of these days. You owe me, now." He removed his blade from the ground where he'd planted it for leverage, and the red Kyuubi chakra swirled around it. "Okay, kid, I kicked that clone of yours' ass, so now I'm gonna take care of you."

Itachi looked toward Kakashi and the unconscious young Naruto. "Perhaps that won't be necessary."

Sakura had nearly recovered from her wound at this point due to her own medical ninjutsu, and she now looked upon Naruto's condition with a sense of dread. She could see the blood pooling around him and his howl sounded so... sad. Tears began to form in her eyes and she choked back a sob. She ran toward the howling demon, crying, "Please stop it, Naruto! You don't have to keep fighting! I can take it from here!"

"Sakura, no!" Kakashi shouted, dropping the young Naruto on the ground and dashing to intercept the kunoichi. The crazed demon container, not discriminating between friend and foe, shot his tails like a whip at the pink haired girl, but Kakashi pushed her out of the way, taking a tail across the chest while Sakura only got a slight grazing across the arm.

Temari rushed to the two ninja's aid, stepping between them and the approaching Naruto. "Get back, kid, I don't want to hurt you." And I really don't want to get a taste of those tails of yours... those burns look painful!

Sakura rose from the ground, wincing as the wound on her arm throbbed. She nonetheless stood beside Temari and stared into the glowing vacant eyes of her partner. "Naruto! Please, don't you recognize me? I'm your friend, Naruto. I don't want you to be in pain... so... just stop this!"

The Kyuubi-possessed boy showed no signs of stopping. He raised a paw and it came swiftly down on Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi gasped and squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the final blow. However, it never came. She opened her eyes to see Naruto's claws hovering over her face. Naruto? Did... did I finally get through to him...?

"Naruto!"

Sakura turned around to see her teacher glaring into Naruto's eyes. He had an intense look of concentration, and still looked quite strong in spite of the demonic wound. As she looked at his single Sharingan eye, she realized something. It looks... different.

- - -

Kakashi was inside a basement dungeon. The floor was covered in blood; in fact, it was up to his knees. In front of him was a jail cell with a hulking dark shape contained within. The shape was holding a ball of light which held a familiar form. "Naruto!" he shouted. "You have to wake up!"

"I must have it!" the creature holding Naruto growled. "Where is my other?! I must find it! I must consume it!"

The copy ninja realized this was the Kyuubi. "Monster, let my student go! If you continue your path of destruction he will never release you again!" He gestured at the room's exit. "You're about to kill his friends. Those precious to him. He would never forgive you if that were to happen."

The Kyuubi roared. "Shut up! I don't care! Where is it? I need it! It must be mine!"

"This fox has gone insane. Is it the other Kyuubi's presence that's doing this?" He shook his head. "Regardless, I can't let you have Naruto." He rushed the jail, passing easily through the bars. "I'll make you let him go if I have to! Naruto!"

"Away!" the fox spirit bellowed, a toxic wind washing over the jounin, pushing him back.

"Gaah!" Kakashi exclaimed. His mask and clothing began to peel away from the acidic chakra. The flesh around his Sharingan also began to flake away. Underneath was fresh, healthy skin, devoid of the scar that had cost him his old eye. It continued to peel away, and as the last of his mask ripped apart, his new face was revealed.

"Uchiha!" the Kyuubi snarled. "To think that another would have the gall to confront me. But your chakra is nothing like Madara's; you don't scare me."

Obito lowered his headband over his normal eye. "Who? Well, it doesn't matter, now. You may have banished Kakashi, but you won't get rid of me that easy, afraid or not." He frowned at the monstrosity. "I won't let you have my student." He rushed at the Kyuubi and dove into the ball of energy that contained Naruto. He grabbed the boy by the collar and slapped him in the face a few times. "Hey, Naruto, wake up!" He winced as the demon's chakra tried to eat at him, but he stood firm. He punched Naruto square in the nose. "Hey, dunce!"

"H-huh?" Naruto murmured as he opened his eyes slowly and looked into Obito's eye. "S-Sa... Sasuke?"

Obito paused for a moment and then smiled. His form morphed to that of the missing Uchiha and he said. "That's right, dunce, it's me."

"I... I've been looking for you," Naruto said. "With the power of the Kyuubi, I know I can bring you back."

"Listen, Naruto," Obito said. "I know you want to save me... but are you willing to do that at the cost of all your other friends? Would you sacrifice Sakura's life to save me?"

"Wh-what?" Naruto asked, coming more fully awake. "Of course not! I wouldn't sacrifice any of you!"

"Then wake up and protect her," Obito said. "She's in danger, and only you can stop it."

Naruto frowned. "Wh-what? What about the Kyuu—?"

"The Kyuubi is the problem!" Obito shouted. "That's why she's in danger. Look!" His Mangekyou Sharingan bore into Naruto's eyes, revealing the view from Naruto's real eyes. And injured and frightened Sakura was looking up at him as his body thrashed around. "Do you see? How you've injured Sakura? Are you just going to let this continue?"

Naruto's face contorted into one of rage and he looked up at the Kyuubi, who was glaring down with his demonic eyes at them. "Kyuubi!" he growled. "That's enough, take back your power! You're done here!"

"Not so fast!" the demon spat. "I'm not done. I must have the other!"

"I have no idea what that means," Naruto said. "But I'm taking my body back. Out of my way, Sasuke!"

Obito was shoved out of the boy's way, and he smirked at Kyuubi, dropping his Sasuke illusion. "Well, there you have it," he said. "The bonds of friendship can conquer even your infinite power." He looked on approvingly as Naruto fought his way out of the globe and splashed down into the blood—actually a manifestation of the Kyuubi's chakra—and sloshed his way through the thick fluid.

"It won't be that easy!" Kyuubi growled, and he released the chakra ball, shooting a paw at Naruto.

"Oh, damn!" Obito cursed as he fell from the sphere. He shot down as fast as he could, overtaking the paw and landing just behind Naruto. He caught the giant paw in his hands, and his legs nearly buckled from the power behind it.

Naruto turned back. "Sasuke?"

"Just go, Naruto!" Obito called back. "I can take care of this just fine. What's important is that you get out of here and save your friends. Save Sakura!"

The blond genin looked somberly at the Uchiha for a moment before nodding and turning. "Right. I can do that... Sensei." He sloshed through the bars and made his way to the middle of the room."

"No!" the Kyuubi growled, shooting its other paw through the bars. It came close to grabbing the boy once again, but at the last moment, a burst of powerful human chakra flowed from the boy's body, causing the blood on the floor to part and retreat back into the prison cell.

- - -

Kakashi woke a bit groggy. "Ugh... that demon banished me from Naruto's psyche. Guess my Sharingan isn't quite stro—" he stopped as he realized the world looked a bit... duller than it should. He had both eyes open, which usually gave him a disorienting feeling, as if one eye were normal and the other was colorblind, but now everything was just... colorless. My Sharingan... it's reverted?

"Naruto!" Sakura screached, bringing Kakashi's attention to her. "Please... stop!"

The Kyuubi-possessed boy was driving his head into the ground in front of a queasy looking Sakura. His demonic aura was diminishing and his torn and reddened flesh was now easily visible. Finally, the demonic aura disappeared entirely and he collapsed onto the ground. "What?" Kakashi muttered to himself. "How did...?" Suddenly, he felt disoriented as his left eye snapped into sharper focus, reading the flow of chakra and interpreting movements all around him at high speeds. He groaned and reached up to pull his headband back over his eye. Guess it was too much to ask that I had somehow gained the ability to deactivate the Sharingan at will.

"Naruto," Sakura breathed, hovering over the boy, sending healing waves of chakra into his body. Her concentration was phenomenal as she frantically repaired his wounds and drew his stagnant blood out from under his skin. However, it was agonizingly slow. "Dammit!" she said. "The things I can do for him... they're just so stupid."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Hm. Well, I guess it's the thought that counts..." Her mouth curled up into a grin as she studied Sakura's flushed and passionate face. The kunoichi was doing her damnedest to heal the young man, in spite of her own wound, which looked like it was bothering her immensely. "I guess Shikamaru was right about you two..."

"Wh-what?" Sakura asked. "What do you mean?"

Temari chuckled weakly. "Well, you know how he likes to play games of analysis, right? Well, he has a whole file of personality profiles he's created, and he likes predicting how these personalities would interact in different situations..."

"I... didn't really know that, no," Sakura said distractedly.

"Ugh... I remember when he first brought it up, too..." she said, her mind drifting back to that day, not too long ago.

- - -

Temari stared blankly at her chuunin guide. "I what?"

Shikamaru showed her his file and gestured to a few items. "As you can see, I've categorized your personality into 29 unique dimensions and matched them up with several different profiles." He looked at her with that infuriatingly dispassionate face of his and chalked it up. "There's no escaping it. You obviously have a crush on me."

The sand princess' cheeks tinged pink. "Oh..."

- - -

"Yeah, totally pegged you two," she said.

"Meaning...?" Sakura asked, curiosity now piqued.

"It's pretty obvious, Sakura, that you really..."

"Ugh... what hit me?"

"N-Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed. "You're okay."

"Yeah," Naruto said as he sat up. "I'm just... uh... where are those Akatsuki jerks?"

The two kunoichi looked around and saw no sign of the two black cloaked ninja. "Wh-what? Damn, they must have gotten away." She saw her younger self, Ume, lying on the ground, knocked out. "Huh." Looking about further, she realized that she didn't see Kayaku anywhere. "..."

"They've taken that... that kid," Temari exclaimed, having also noticed the young Naruto's absence. She turned to Sakura. "Who was that, anyway? He was wearing a disguise, and underneath he looked like..."

Kakashi pitched in. "He looked like Naruto."

"Huh?" Naruto asked. "You mean... Mini-me is gone? The Akatsuki took him?" He gnashed his teeth. "No! They figured out that he has a monster inside him, too. They took him like they took Gaara!"

Kakashi sighed. "Sakura, you take care of Saizo, now. I'll fill Temari in on what's happening."

- - -

Young Naruto dreamed fitfully of his past. His even younger self—shunned and hated by the people of his village. He also saw a young boy with ruddy brown hair and dark eyes sobbing in a similar predicament. Naruto was distracted briefly when Iruka put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. He now had someone who cared for him. But the other boy didn't. He was wailing even more uncontrollably now. But now Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura joined him. And the other boy collapsed to the ground. Even more of the villagers began joining Naruto, but the other boy was all alone, just like he had been.

He couldn't stand it. He went over to the boy and held out his hand. "Don't cry. You're not alone anymore."

The boy looked up with confusion, and then a cautious half-smile made its way across his face. He sniffled and wiped his nose as he took Naruto's hand. "I... I'm Gaara..."

- - -

Naruto jolted awake. It was bright and his vision was distorted, but he sensed a great multitude of people around. As his vision cleared he looked over and the boy from his dream lying behind him, but older. His eyes were beginning to flutter open and he muttered "Na... ru... to... kun..."

"Wha...?" Naruto rasped. Suddenly, a shadow came over him and Kakashi hauled him to his feet, spiriting him from the gathered sand villagers' sights. "Hey, sensei, what's going on? Where am I?"

Kakashi put his index finger to his mask in a shushing gesture and whispered. "You were captured, same as Gaara. They were trying to extract your Kyuubi when we interrupted them, and Gaara had already been killed by the procedure. Thankfully, an old kunoichi gave her life in exchange for his." He looked at the collapsed corpse beside Gaara. "Your older self chipped in a bit of life energy as well."

"Wow," the young Naruto gasped as he saw his older self and the Kazekage meet each other. He could see the understanding and compassion for each other in their eyes, even though the sand ninja's were ringed with black and cold to most observers. He glanced sideways at his disguised teammates. Saizo seemed scruffed standing beside the guy with the bowl cut and fuzzy eyebrows while Ume gazed in amazement at his older self, a hard blush on her cheeks.

Kayaku's eyes glazed over. So he had been rescued once again. He had once more failed to live up to the standard he had set himself. But, he considered, surely he one day would. After all, he could see his future standing right there in front of him.