Shattered Chapter 23, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did Kakashi would be a stripper.

Spoilers:

Warnings:This chapter is not complete and will never be complete. I have discontinued the story. I decided to post what I had completed thus far. Author notes at the bottom.

Chapter 23:

"YAHOO!!" Lee's yell of joy was so loud he probably woke the dead.

"Lee be quiet." Sakura looked around and in embarrassment even though the only other person in the room was Sasuke. Sasuke got up and started to straighten the pictures on the wall.

"How did you convince her to change her mind?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke from the corner of her eye. She knew the tone he was using. "Well, we just talked. Nothing extraordinary." Sakura knew the answer was good enough for Lee. He didn't care how she managed to change Tsunades mind, only that she had. Sasuke on the other hand, Sakura would have to come up with something.

Sakura and Sasuke ate dinner in silence after Lee left to go on a short mission with Gai. The tension between them was thick. After eating, Sakura gathered the dishes and headed for the kitchen. She hoped that maybe if she avoided Sasuke the tension would go away. But when he entered the kitchen a few seconds later, Sakura felt the tension return.

"What did you really tell her?"

"That I didn't want to leave. The Sand's medical nins were ready. They don't need me anymore." Sakura turned and looked at Sasuke as she dried her hands with a towel.

"What else?"

"That was all."

Sasuke paused and looked at Sakura carefully. She was trying to remain emotionless but it wasn't working.

"You're lying."

"Sasuke –"

Sasuke rushed forwarded as Sakura raised her hand to brush his comment aside. He placed his hands on the counter behind her, trapping her.

"What did she make you promise not to say?"

Sakura knew she couldn't tell him. She had sworn not to tell him. "It was a top secret mission that required me to leave. But I'm done now. I don't have to go back."

"You cried when you left, and it wasn't because of some mission."

"No you see –"

"Stop lying to me!"

"I can't tell you!" Sakura screamed at Sasuke. She couldn't remember the last time she had screamed at him. She could feel the tears coming. Knowing how much crying upset Sasuke, Sakura looked down at their feet. "Believe me if I could, I would. But I can't."

"Sakura." Sasuke felt bad for yelling at Sakura and getting her upset, but he hated it when those close to him lied.

"I can't. You understand what it means when you're given an assignment and can't tell anyone. Don't put me in this position."

Sasuke took a step back. "I don't like it when you lie. If you had told me that from the beginning everything would have been fine." Sasuke turned and was about to leave the kitchen when Sakura grabbed his wrist.

"I'll tell you one thing." He turned to look at her, but she was still looking down. "Be careful. You and Naruto, please be careful."

Sasuke wanted to say something cocky to her to make her feel better. But when she looked up he swallowed his words. Her tears were about to spill over. "We'll be careful."

She smiled softly and turned back to the dishes. Sasuke watched her for a bit and left. Whatever was going on was serious. He didn't like it one bit, but at least he got Sakura to stop crying.

Naruto stood in the doorway of the house that Gaara had given him. He had been standing there for a while as Hinata thanked the man who was in charge of the carriage they had ridden in. He had to be seeing things. This had to be some kind of illusion.

"Hinata, look at this."

He heard her say good bye to the man and then felt her look past him. He had gotten used to the feeling of her Byakugan going through him. It always sent a shiver up his spine.

"This is amazing."

All of their things were moved in. As they walked through the house they saw some of their personal items. Pictures, chairs, tables, rugs, and weapons. Naruto even smiled when he spotted the small yellow frog Hinata had won for him on their first date sitting on top of the mantel.

"Naruto, this is like a dream." Naruto grabbed her and gave her a kiss on the lips. "Let me go tell my family that we're back."

"Okay, I'll meet you there. I just have to do one quick errand."

Naruto moved their luggage into the bedroom as Hinata left. When he left the house he made sure to lock the front door, although he doubted anyone would be stupid enough to steal something from his home. Within a few minutes he was knocking on Sasuke's door, which seemed so strange to him. But he didn't want to simply walk in since he no longer lived there.

But when no one answered the door, he decided to walk in. He found Sasuke in the kitchen. He was drying his hair with the towel he had around his neck.

"Welcome back."

"Thanks. I can't stay long I just came to give you this." Naruto pulled a key from his pocket and placed it on the kitchen table. He waved at Sasuke and walked out of the kitchen. He was almost to the front door when he heard Sasuke behind him.

"What's this?"

Naruto stopped and turned his body slightly toward Sasuke. "Well I don't live here anymore so I thought –"

"You thought wrong."

The anger in Sasuke's voice almost caught Naruto by surprise. If he wasn't so used to hearing that particular tone he might had been scared. "Sasuke –" But before he could finish Sasuke had already rushed toward him, leaving his towel hanging in midair for a second.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's collar and pulled him forward. Their noses were almost touching. "You keep this key." Sasuke was so angry he couldn't stop his Sharingan from blazing. "Don't you ever try to give it back."

Naruto took the key that was being shoved into his chest and pried Sasuke's fingers off his collar. "What can't live without me?"

Sasuke let go and started walking toward the kitchen. He picked up his towel and shook it off. "I can, but you may need a place to stay if she kicks you out."

"Asshole."

A few weeks after returning from the Sand, Naruto and Sasuke had their first mission as two man team. They had to retrieve a scroll for a small group of missing ninja. Once they had the scroll they were to return to the village and to report the location of the ninjas to the hunter nins. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto had gone through the training on how to dispose of a body so that other ninjas wouldn't be able to get information from it. That kind of training was reserved only for hunter nins. For this reason they were to leave the ninjas alive, but if lethal force was unavoidable they were granted permission to kill.

After getting their mission from Tsunade, Naruto went straight home to pack. As he walked into the bedroom Hinata was sitting on the bed brushing her wet hair. She saw Naruto pull his uniform out of the dresser and knew he was to leave on a mission. Hinata knew better than to ask questions or distract Naruto when he was preparing for a mission. His thoughts were on the mission at hand, and not on her. She understood completely since she would do the same thing, just not as intensely as Naruto would.

Hinata put her brush down and moved to Naruto's side of the bed. From under the bed she pulled out his chest full of tools and put it on the bed. She began to fill his pouches with kunai and shuriken. When she was done, Naruto was completely dressed and was checking his katana. He grabbed the pouches Hinata had prepared and strapped them to his belt. After adjusting his katana on his back he grabbed his Anbu mask and headed for the door.

"I'll come back I promise."

"I know." She didn't need to hear anything else.

When Naruto walked outside Sasuke was already waiting for him.

With a quick nod they were both gone.

After hours of walking and searching Sakura had found it; the last plant on her list. Earlier in the day one of the nurses had informed Sakura that they were out of certain ingredients. For some stupid reason Sakura hadn't gotten around to teaching some of the other nurses how to locate and mix the plants. So here she was, miles from the village with a pack full of weeds, bark, and flowers.

It was a hot day, but Sakura kind of enjoyed being alone. It gave her time to reflect. As she placed the last plant in a bag she thought of Lee and how happy she was with him. She giggled at her first memory of him. Her thoughts then wandered to Naruto and Sasuke. It had been a few days since they had left for their mission. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back soaking in the sun. She hoped they were okay.

As she put her pack back on she sensed a presence behind her. Pretending not to notice Sakura began to walk toward a line of trees a few yards away. As she walked she slowly reached for a kunai. But before she could grab it she felt the presence rush toward her. Instead of running to the trees, she turned and aimed a punch.

"WHOA SAKURA! STOP IT'S US!"

Sakura realized she was aiming at Naruto, who was on the ground trying to crawl backwards away from her. She couldn't stop so instead she hit the floor next to him. Naruto rolled sideways away from the point of impact.

"I told you not to scare her." Sakura looked up and saw Sasuke walking toward them.

"Yeah I'll keep that in mind next time." Naruto got up and dusted himself off. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Getting some supplies. Are you guys on your way back to the village?" Naruto nodded. Sakura did a quick once over and was relieved to see they were both uninjured. "Well since I'm done, mind if I tag along?"

"No, come on." Naruto smiled at Sakura. He looked so young right then. As Sakrua was about to turn in the direction of the village she noticed that all of a sudden both Naruto and Sasuke became instantly serious. Naruto turned his head slightly toward Sasuke and gave him a small nod.

"Yeah I noticed." It wasn't until then that Sakura felt it too. Two different chakra's were approaching them. Sakura turned and saw the two figures emerge from the tree line on the other end of the field. She instantly recognized them from the files Tsuande had showed her.

"Sakura." Naruto's voice was low and deep. She had never heard him speak that way before. It scared her even more. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, not wanting to look away from the two figures in front of her. Naruto's eyes were slit. A quick glance at Sasuke revealed his Sharingan. "Sakura leave."

"I can't just—"

"I said LEAVE!"

Sakura was stunned. Naruto had never spoken to her that way.

"No let her stay. It'll be more interesting that way."

The voice made Sakura feel dirty. She knew, even without looking, that the voice didn't belong to Itachi. She could feel Naruto and Sasuke's power. It was almost suffocating. But she also knew they couldn't handle this alone. They needed help, but could she get to the village fast enough. Then she felt it. Itachi and Kisame rushed forward. Naruto blocked Sakura from Kisame. Sakura scrambled back from them. Itachi and Sasuke were having it out in a battle of Sharingans, that in any other situation she might have enjoyed watching. She turned her attention back to Naruto, who was busy fighting Kisame. Quickly she dropped her pack and put on her gloves. She charged at Kisame. Long ago she had promised herself never to be a damsel in distress. Kisame was caught completely off guard when Sakura attacked him.

"You wanted me to stay. Did you change your mind already?"

As Sakura helped Naruto she could feel the familiar tingle in the air from genjutsus. She knew better than to turn around and look. Slightly distracted from the fight behind her, Sakura had just enough time to flip backwards as Kisame swung his sword at her. As soon as she landed she heard Saskue scream her name. She turned to see a kunai flying right at her.

Sasuke felt the ground shake when Sakura attacked Kisame. He hoped she could handle it, and if not, he hoped Naruto would make her leave. Sasuke focused his attention back at Itachi when he saw him shift his weight. Within seconds Itachi was going through seals and Sasuke copied every single one. For every illusion Itachi put Sasuke in, Sasuke put him in the exact same one. After the fifth illusion Itachi suddenly charged at Sasuke. Sasuke was caught off guard, but was able to pull out a kunai and block Itachi.

It was then he felt a pair of hands grab his arms and pull him to the ground. Before he could get away Itachi was standing on his elbows. He looked up at and mentally screamed at himself. At some point Itachi had made a clone of himself and snuck behind Sasuke. The clone had a kunai to Sasuke's throat.

"You know what your greatest weakness is?" Sasuke groaned as Itachi pressed down on his elbows as he spoke.

"What?"

"Your friends."

If it weren't for the Sharingan Sasuke would not have been able to see Itachi throw the kunai. Sasuke turned to see where the kunai was heading. He didn't even realize he was screaming at Sakura, but it was too late. She didn't have enough time to dodge it. Just as the kunai was about to hit its mark Sasuke lost sight of Sakura.

Sakura stared wide eyed at Naruto. She knew the kunai must be lodged somewhere in his back. The field was eerily silent.

"Naruto?" Sakura leaned forward a bit to try to look at Naruto in the eye. But he had his head tilted down and had his eyes closed. Sakura was about to take a step forward when she felt heat radiating off of him. "Naruto?" This time she whispered.

"Sakura, run. Now!"

Sakura was stunned at the tone in Naruto's voice. After some hesitation she turned and ran toward the village. Itachi made a quick clone and sent it after Sakura, but Naruto quickly destroyed it with some chakra. Naruto turned and Sasuke saw a look on his face he hadn't seen in years.

"You'll regret that."

"You always fight at full force Naruto-kun, even when you don't have the resources."

Surprised, Sasuke looked at Itachi to try and figure out what the heck he was talking about. But when he heard Naruto grunt he turned his attention back to Naruto. Naruto was on his knees and Kisame was standing behind him. His sword was sucking up all of Naruto's chakra including some of the demon chakra. Kisame was in obvious pain, but wouldn't let up. Right before passing out Naruto looked at Sasuke with a look of total regret. Once Naruto was out cold, Kisame picked him up and threw him over his shoulder.

Itachi looked down at Sasuke and said, "You'll come with us or he dies."

Sasuke didn't say a word. He hated to admit defeat and much less to Itachi.

Run. Run. Run. RUN!

Sakura's lungs burned. She had to get to the village and she had to get there fast. Her body was screaming at her, as well as her mind. She wished she could run faster. As she leaped over a fallen tree she felt Naruto's presence disappear. She stopped running. Was the fight over? Was Naruto okay? She closed her eyes and tried to focus on Sasuke. When she found him she realized he was moving away from the village. She turned to run back to the field and froze. Should she go to the village and lose track of Naruto and Sasuke, or should she go after them and hope someone notices their absence?

Sakura looked one way and another before deciding to go after Naruto and Sasuke. She pulled out a kunai and marked the tree. Her boys needed her and she wasn't going to let them down.

When Sasuke opened his eyes the first thing he saw was a bloody Naruto. "Fuck." Sasuke looked around angry, he had no idea how he got in this cold, damp room. This was bad, really bad. Even if he managed to escape he had no idea where they were. Sasuke looked at Naruto. Both he and Naruto had their hands chained to the wall so that they were not able to put their hands together. That meant no seals. Sasuke tried to activate his Sharingan but almost passed out. He stopped and that's when he spotted Kisame's sword hanging on the wall above Naruto. That explained it.

"Naruto." Sasuke kicked Naruto with his foot. "Naruto, wake up." Slowly Naruto started to groan and open his eyes. "What happened?"

Naruto sat up a little straighter and groaned. "I woke up as they were bringing us in here. Let's just say things got a violent."

Sasuke opened his mouth to ask more questions but stopped when he heard someone at the door. Kisame walked in first followed by Itachi.

"Nartuo-kun, so glad you're awake."

"How's the lip?" Naruto gave Itachi a cocky smile.

"We must talk."

"I've got nothing to say to you."

"Of course not. It's not always what you know that interests me, but what you do."

Kisame grabbed Sasuke by the hair and held a kunai to his throat. Instinctively, Naruto tried to rush forward but the chains stopped him. Itachi moved over to Naruto and untied the shark skin sword from the wall. He then placed it outside the room. When he returned he crouched down by Naruto.

"Now Naruto, tell me about your wife."

"Go to hell!"

Sasuke hissed when Kisame pressed the blade hard against his throat. He felt the wetness as a small stream of blood ran down his throat. But he wasn't worried. He knew from his training that they needed him alive. Killing him would not help with Naruto's interrogation. They would have to break Sasuke down slowly to get Naruto to break. But already he could see that Naruto needed some encouragement.

"Don't say a word. Don't you dare." The impact it had on Naruto was instant. Sasuke could see the look in his eyes change. Sasuke then looked over at Itachi. Itachi looked at him for a moment and then nodded to Kisame. Kisame rammed the blade into Sasuke's thigh. It burned more then he ever remembered. Maybe it was because he wasn't in the heat of battle where such wounds could easily be ignored. No here, in this situation, there was little to distract you from the pain. But Sasuke knew he could not scream out, so instead he bit his lip. Hard.

"Tell me about Sakura."

"No."

Sasuke noticed that Naruto's voice was more controlled. Then he was almost blinded by pain. Kisame was twisting the blade still in Sasuke's thigh. Sasuke was caught off and couldn't stop the scream as it came out. When Kisame stopped, Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"Don't you break."

Sasuke could tell that Itachi was getting irritated. It was in the subtle movements he made.

"You can break a body but not break the mind. Now if you break a mind the body breaks too. Naruto-kun I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice."

Sasuke watched as Itachi kneeled in front of Naruto. He heard Naruto gasp and then start screaming. Instantly Sasuke knew what Itachi was doing. Sasuke pulled back is good leg and tried to kick Itachi with it, but Kisame stepped on his foot.

"I wouldn't do that. He'll get mad." Sasuke struggled to get his foot loose when Naruto slumped over. Slowly Itachi stood up and walked out with Kisame close behind. As Kisame shut the door he smiled at Sasuke. "We'll be back."

Sasuke snarled at him. Once the door was shut he focused his attention on Naruto, who was passed out again. God knows what Itachi made him see, or how long Naruto would be knocked out for. But this was his chance. Itachi was weak, Sasuke could tell by the way he walked. And to top it off they hadn't brought the sword back in. Sasuke needed to get out of the chains and check on Naruto. As he looked down to examine the locks he heard what sounded like fighting going on outside the room. When the door was thrown open Sasuke was shocked to see who walked in.

Sakura followed them all night. It had taken all of her training and intelligence to keep track of them. By the time she reached the small shack she had no idea how long they had been inside. The shack looked small, probably one room and a bathroom. But she could tell by the way the light inside moved that there was a lower level. Naruto and Sasuke were probably in the lower level. Sakura pulled out a kunai and marked the tree next to her. She had been marking trees all along the way. She hoped by now someone had noticed she was missing.

Taking a deep breath Sakura tried to calm her nerves and try to figure out some way of getting Naruto and Sasuke out of there.

"Sakura?"

"What happened to Naruto?" Sakura moved past Naruto and started working on the locks around Sasuke's wrists.

"Itachi."

As soon she freed one of Sasuke's hands, Sakura got up and moved over to Naruto. Sasuke could finish the job. Sakura pulled out a solider pill, her last one, and gave it to Naruto. Sakura started to pick his locks and remove the chains.

"You shouldn't have come here."

Sakura helped Sasuke pick up Naruto. "You can get mad at me later."

Sasuke followed Sakura out the door and down a long hallway. As they ran down the hallway toward some distant exit he could hear fighting going on down one of the adjacent hallways. Sakura led Sasuke to a trap door in the ceiling. Sasuke climbed up first as Sakura helped him with Naruto. The fighting was getting closer.

"He won't be fooled by clones."

"I know that's why he's not fighting one."

Sasuke froze. Was he really that weak? He turned to Sakura and started to put Naruto down when the clone shut the trap door and locked it.

"Fuck."

Sasuke re-adjusted Naruto on his back and ran outside. He had to hide Naruto somewhere in the nearby woods before he could go back inside and help Sakura. He spotted a large tree with a hiding space large enough for Naruto. He was almost there when the shack exploded. Sasuke had to dodge flying rocks and bits of house with Naruto still on his back. Sasuke put Naruto down right where he was and ran back to where the shack used to be.

Through the dust he spotted Sakura running in his direction.

"I had to get out."

Sasuke grabbed her and almost dragged her to where Naruto was. They had to leave, and they had to leave now. He was injured, she was weak and Naruto was passed out. Both Sakura and Sasuke helped carry the weight of Naruto by throwing one his arms over their necks and hoisting him up by the waist. It took only a few moments to pick him up and they were off.

"They're behind us."

Sasuke heard Sakura grunt a reply. He had to make sure Sakura and Naruto survived. As they leapt from one branch to another he heard Sakura cry out and then Naruto's weight shifted toward her. Sasuke realized Sakura was falling and he couldn't stop Naruto from following her. Thinking fast Sasuke shifted Naruto around so when they hit the ground Sasuke took the blunt of the force.

"Where are you going? I wasn't done with you kunichi."

Sasuke pushed Naruto off. He looked over at Sakura and watched her pull a kunai out of the back of her thigh. She was limping badly as she walked past him and toward Itachi and Kisame. Sasuke stood up and limped his way over to her as well. If they were going to die, they would die fighting.

Leaning close to her ear Sasuke whispered, "Give them hell."

"You too."

Sasuke took in a deep breath. As he exhaled he reached for the pouch on his waist for some shuriken. As his fingers reached the pouch kunai rained on Kisame and Itachi from behind Sasuke. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. It couldn't have been him since he was still passed out. As soon as the thought was processed he spotted Kakashi and Gai. They ran past Sasuke and toward Itachi and Kisame. Following behind Kakashi and Gai were Neji, Lee and Shikamaru. Neji was picking up Naruto and Lee was helping Sakura walk. Sasuke was about to say something when Shikamaru stopped him.

"We have it under control. Look."

Sasuke turned back around to find Kisame motionless on the ground and Gai in hot pursuit of Kakashi, who was trying to locate Itachi. Itachi was gone. He had taken off as soon as everyone else arrived. He was probably never standing next to Kisame to begin with.

Itachi was gone and no one had killed him. For a small moment Sasuke was glad no one had killed Itachi.

Author Notes:

So you might be asking yourself why I stopped. After reading the manga I see now that my story is too far off track, and too unlikely to happen. I cannot continue with it. I had great plans for it. This story has been my baby. Granted I have not been updating as often as I liked near the end, but this story has always, and will always, be in the back of my mind. Yes I can make this an AU story, but there has been so much character development in the manga that my version of them seems fake and way off target. I do them no justice by continuing.

(For the record this story was discontinued after the release of manga chapter 486: Fists)

I do have many ideas for the characters and I plan on writing other stories with the ideas I had planned on using in this story.

I do want to say thank you to everyone who has followed this and stuck by me.

Thank you and goodnight.