Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: Beware! I do not have a beta. There are probably lots of mistakes. _ I know it's been a long time. I can't promise I will update soon. I've been working on this chapter for months and I realized I don't have a lot of creative left in me. I'm going to blame this on the massive amount of papers I had to write in university. As a promise to myself, I am going to finish this before I have to go back to school. I do love writing and I do love this story. I just hope I can piece together what exactly I was going to do with ending. Thank you all for being so patient with me.

Chapter 17 - Something Real

The last stretch off their journey was done in silence. Naruto continued to run through their plan over and over in his mind. The idea was ridiculous but so much so that it could actually work. He was certain that Itachi had never devised a plan with such flawed strategies before and he had some minuscule doubt his lover was even confident with it. Itachi was so meticulous about everything. Maybe except for me.

If the Akatsuki saw through it, this thing they had, everything would be over but the Akatsuki was only part of the problem. There was also the Konoha factor they had to deal with.

And to top all that off, he was still unsure about what to do with the information Itachi had shared with him. That deep, dark secret only meant to be forgotten. The life of two brothers changed forever and for what? The betterment of Konoha or was it the betterment of the Elders?The blond frowned.

He had been alone nearly all his life but he had no control over it. Itachi, on the other hand, chose it. He had been ordered to choose it. The perfect ninja bred and born within the most prestigious clan in Konoha, the Uchiha clan, had been used against them.

Naruto sighed. He could not even imagine having to go through that.

"You are overanalyzing," Itachi's deep voice broke through Naruto's thoughts, "That is unnecessary at present."

"Yeah, well you try to be me and deal with all this," Naruto gestured between them.

"Us?"

Despite his troubled thoughts, Naruto could not help but smile. Us. He liked the sound of that. But what he liked most is how easily Itachi had said it.

"Now you are smiling." It was a statement.

Naruto laughed. He could not resist. When he calmed down enough to open his eyes, the, what he determined was a puzzled, look on Itachi's face had him laughing even harder.

"I do not understand what is so amusing," Itachi spoke and Naruto could tell he was holding back a frown.

When he finally calmed down enough to speak, Naruto smiled when he said, "You know? As much of a genius as you are, Old Man, you've got quite a lot to learn about emotions."

"Emotions make you weak," the black haired man's voice hardened as he spoke.

Naruto looked at his lover seriously, "Yes. Maybe they do but they also make you stronger. Especially here," he said softly as he placed his hand over Itachi's heart.

In that instant, as Itachi looked at the warm hand over his chest and the bright blue and honest eyes that gazed up into his own, he knew. The feeling was foreign and it was unlike anything Itachi had ever permitted himself to experience. It was warm but he was unsure if it was just coming from Naruto's hand or from within himself. But what he did know was that Naruto was the cause of it and he could feel it slowly spread throughout his body reaching every possible darkened corner of his soul and filling it with something Itachi knew he would never get enough of.

Itachi felt his lips curve up into what he deduced as the faintest of smiles. A part of him nearly succeeded in subduing the action. That was the Uchiha in him. Habits-traits-ingrained in him since birth. That which denied ever feeling more than an Uchiha should. He had no idea how but the younger man standing before him had managed to break through all those barriers the Uchiha clan had built within him in such a short period of time.

A warm hand on his cheek roused him from his thoughts.

"I'm not gonna lie," Naruto spoke, "you look pretty damn good with a smile on your face, Uchiha."

Before he could respond, slightly chapped lips pressed against his own. It was a soft and short kiss but it spoke volumes.

"I..." Itachi began.

"Need to smile more? I know," Naruto chuckled.

"That is not what I was going to say."

Naruto looked at Itachi calmly, "I know what you were going to say but I'd rather hear it after all of this is done. Then I will have something to look forward to."

'Something real to fight for' was left unsaid.

"It is unlikely we will survive this." Itachi was serious.

"Yes," Naruto agreed as he looked up, passed Itachi's shoulder. He was smiling when he turned and his eyes met Itachi's, "but are you not willing to take that chance?"

A moment of silence passed between them before Itachi responded.

"I am."

That was all Naruto needed to hear.

"Well, let's do this and get it over with then."

IIIIIIII

Gaara was waiting. Too patiently, he thought but patience is something he had mastered throughout his years with Shukaku. If he could handle the two tailed beast, then he could handle this. Sai was sitting across their small fire staring at him and he had been for the last twenty or so minutes. Gaara had already grown accustomed to Sai's behaviour. He was very strange to say the least but he doubted that the black haired nin could out wait him. However, considering the pressing matter at hand, he preferred to humour Sai then wait until he spoke.

"Is something on your mind, Sai-san?" Gaara asked.

Sai grinned, "I was wondering when you were going to ask, Gaara-sama. You took longer than expected."

"Were you testing me?"

"Of course not. Well, maybe just a little. I have read Konoha's file on you and you are a very formidable adversary before and even after Shukaku's extraction. A quiet and patient demeanour despite the rage you contain."

"Is there a purpose for this?" Gaara was not surprised Sai had researched his history.

"No. It was more of a conversation starter," Sai responded, "I read that it is good to begin a conversation about the person you are talking to before getting into what I really want to talk about."

Gaara nodded, "Then what would you like to talk about?"

"I was thinking about Naruto-kun," Sai's smile disappeared as he looked into the fire, "What do you suppose is going to happen after this is over?"

Gaara remained silent as he thought about the question. He had been wondering the same thing but no one knew what would happen so one should not make any assumptions. However, Gaara hoped Naruto would still be alive at the end of it. Naruto meant a lot to him after all but not only to him. There were countless others who had also been touched by the blond's charismatic and voracious personality. Yet, Gaara knew deep down that despite the number of people in his life, Naruto held onto much of the pain he endured throughout his life. A pain and a loneliness that Gaara understood all too well.

A memory of Naruto responding to Itachi's attention back in the Mist Village suddenly crossed Gaara's mind before he answered Sai's question.

"Naruto," Gaara paused, "will do what is right." 'For Naruto' was left unsaid but Gaara knew that Sai could probably fill in the blanks. He could not say for certain Naruto would return with them after everything was over but the redhead could not get that memory out of his mind. Naruto seemed so...content and free. At peace.

Sai nodded and finally looked away from Gaara. His face softened and he looked up at the starlit sky, "Perhaps Dickless isn't so dickless after all."

Gaara ignored the vulgar statement, "Perhaps."

The next morning, the two nin cleaned up their small camp to continue their pursuit of Naruto and Itachi. Sai's tag had not yet been discovered and the signal was still holding strong.

IIIIIIII

Jiraiya, Sasuke, and Sakura had been following the other half of their search party for days yet it felt like they were getting nowhere nearer to Gaara and Sai. And Naruto. Sasuke's patience was wearing so thin it was damn near nonexistent at this point. It was only sheer will keeping him from losing control of himself. He could feel the curse mark on his arm pulsing whenever his concentration waned. His only comfort remained in the fact that Naruto had been seen alive. Damn Dobe can't ever keep himself out of trouble.

The dark haired nin sensed Sakura move up alongside him as they darted through the trees.

"Sasuke?" She began, "what do you make of all this? I mean, there's so many holes in Jiraiya-san's explanation I've been finding it difficult to put everything together."

Sasuke nodded, "You're right. I've been thinking about that as well. Even with the new information, I get the feeling we are being left out of some important details. I just don't know what."

Sakura glanced over at Jiraiya before she spoke again, "I'm not going to lie but this really pisses me off. I feel like they don't trust us and it's frustrating because I can't do a damn thing about it."

"Hn," Sasuke felt no need to answer.

And then he seen it. It was barely noticeable but a flash of white caught his eye. Sasuke jumped to the ground at the base of a large oak tree. A paper tag that had been carefully placed in view from the canopy glowed a bright white as Sasuke studied it carefully. One kanji had been skillfully written at the very centre of the paper. It read, 'protection' but that, Sasuke realized as he pulled the paper from the tree, was not important. The tag dimmed until it took the colour of regular paper and the black inked symbol shifted from kanji to what appeared to be an arrow and to Sasuke's annoyance, chibi versions of Sai's idiotic face and Gaara's.

"As strange as that kid can be," Jiraiya commented as he looked over Sasuke's shoulder, "he's got some brains at least."

Sakura landed beside Jiraiya, "How so?"

The sannin observed the tag more closely, "It appears it's linked to our chakra. That is why it caught Sasuke's attention. As we've seen, it flashed when we drew closer to it and now that one of us touched it, the message is revealed. I believe Sai has marked a path for us to follow. Not too bad, kid."

"I've never seen him use this technique before," Sakura sounded surprised.

"I'm sure Sai has many techniques we have not seen," Jiraiya chuckled before changing his tone to a more serious one, "We had better keep moving."

Sakura and Sasuke nodded as the group ascended back into the trees and followed the direction Sai had given them.

IIIIIIII

Naruto took a deep breath. He had spent the last few hours focusing his chakra on the jutsu Itachi had taught him to use. It was definitely draining his energy but it was not draining as fast as they'd like it to. Neither of them understood the extent of Naruto's abilities but they did not have the time to even begin to comprehend it. He felt relatively weaker, that was for sure but Naruto was certain it was not to the point of absolute exhaustion, as Itachi had put it. In order for their plan to even begin to work, Naruto had to have no chakra signature.

"Are you sure there isn't a faster way to do this?" Naruto huffed.

"This requires patience, Naruto," Itachi replied without looking up from the scroll he was reading, "Your chakra was nearly limitless when the Fox resided within you. Now that you have merged, it could even greater than before."

"Are you saying I'm great?" Naruto grinned at his lover.

Itachi flashed Naruto a look that he was pretty damn sure only he could decipher. A slight blush adorned his cheeks as some of the more erotic memories of their time together when that exact look had crossed the dark haired nin's handsome features.

Naruto's concentration faltered slightly. When he regained his proper chakra flow he ground out, "When this is over, Old Man, you had better prepare for what I'm going to do to you and you better be able to handle it."

Itachi nodded, much to Naruto's chagrin, nonchalantly, "Hn."

Oh, the bastard doesn't even know what he was in for. Naruto mused to himself.

"Naruto." Itachi's voice broke through his thoughts, "That is enough."

Naruto looked up at the black haired nin and nodded. It was time. He was slightly surprised Itachi was ready for the next step. Naruto was not as exhausted as he thought he needed to be. The blond ceased his chakra flow and immediately performed the hand signs for the next jutsu.

They were going to finish this today. And maybe, they will survive.