Woohoo! Finally, the sequel to "A Jinchuriki's Husk" has begun. You can read this story and understand everything without reading husk, but I highly recommend reading through husk first so you'll completely understand everything. The summary for this one is kinda poor, but meh, oh well. The story will be an entertaining read, believe it! Thanks to everyone who read a Jinchuriki's Husk and favorited it and reviewed. I hope you enjoy the second part of this tale!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would've dropped his Sasuke henge and kissed Sakura's forehead all those days back! And Lee would have a green jumpsuit wearing, overly energetic and youthful girlfriend.

Alright, let's get this show started.

Please do enjoy, "A Jinchuriki's Strength"- Chapter 1: A Test

A blonde haired man with short spiky hair and sapphire blue eyes sprinted across a temple courtyard with a look of pure terror on his face. A furious woman was on his heels with emerald eyes and long pink hair tied back in a ponytail.

"NARUTO! STOP RUNNING RIGHT NOW!" The emerald-eyed girl bellowed.

Naruto looked over his shoulder and tried to calm his pursuer down. "Ne, sorry Sakura-chan! It was just guy talk. Remember, I'm the savior of the world, you can't kill me yet!"

"I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS ERO BAKA!" Sakura yelled. Her eyes were now just white.

Flashback

Naruto and Sakura were taking a break from their respective trainings and eating lunch together. The two lovers had been training at the temple in Lightning Country for nearly a year now, and both were much stronger.

Naruto had mastered the hirashin and had almost fully mastered sage mode. He could now draw in nature chakra while he's running. His focus still isn't good enough to gather it in the middle of a fight, but the jinchuriki is getting there much to the great frog sage Fukasaku's surprise.

Sakura had met a genjutsu specialist and had spent the year working on her genjutsus during the day. She was probably even better than Kurenai with genjutsus now. She had also been working on mastering the chakra scalpel technique during her free time.

The temple didn't have extravagant food, nor did it even have ramen (much to Naruto's dismay and Sakura's delight). The happy couple sat side by side eating a simple meal of rice, assorted vegetables and meat.

"Oi… Sakura-san." A young man who studied at the temple greeted as he appeared out of nowhere.

Naruto instantly began sweating nervously when the boy greeted Sakura, something that did not escape the kunoichi's notice. The jinchuriki shot the young man a death glare.

"What is it Mizuki-san?" The Godaime's apprentice greeted, deciding to ignore whatever the cause of her boyfriend's nervousness was… for now…

"I was wondering something… How do you tell a lover that you don't like it when she's in control all the time?" Mizuki innocently asked.

Naruto was now a human waterfall as sweat poured from his body, his skin paling in color.

Sakura eyed her pale boyfriend before looking back at the young temple student. "And why are you asking me this Mizuki-san…" she replied in a dangerous tone.

Naruto's eyes were now pleading with Mizuki to shut the hell up.

"Oh… well Naruto-san told us you liked to be in control during intimate moments. So I figured if I ask a woman who likes to be in control how to politely tell another woman who likes to be in control…"

"NARUTO WHAT?" Sakura screamed as a blush overtook her face.

"Damnit Mizuki… I'm not going to be able to save the world if you get me killed at such a young age."

"Na-ru-to… did you tell Mizuki and the others about our sex life…" Naruto's emerald-eyed angel growled as she began cracking her knuckles.

"Ne? Of… of course not Sakura-chan! I would never, that wouldn't be proper. A future hokage would never do such a thing, believe it!" Naruto struck a nice guy pose, hoping to quell his girlfriend's rage.

"YOU DID DIDN'T YOU. AND NOW YOU'RE LYING TO ME?" The pink-haired kunoichi was now shaking with rage. The Yondaime's legacy knew there was no escape now. He was going to suffer the wrath of Sakura Haruno. But that wouldn't stop the 17 year old from trying to escape his fate.

Before he could get his head bashed in, the jinchuriki took off sprinting across the courtyard. Sakura wasn't about to let her boyfriend escape, and was quickly right behind him.

FLASH IN

An old man and an old frog watched as one of the most powerful men in the world fled for his life from a small pink-haired woman.

"This never gets old. Seeing the cocky and extremely powerful Naruto I know from watching his training run for his life from Sakura. I really think she's the only thing that truly scares him." The old master of the temple chuckled.

"Well Sakura is Tsunade's apprentice. I wouldn't want to take a punch from her either." Fukasaku laughed.

"So tell me Lord Fukasaku, how close is Naruto to mastering sage mode? I fear those two are going to be needed soon."

"It's hard to say really. Naruto-chan has already done what I deemed impossible. He could master it tomorrow, or it could be a year from now. Naruto is in uncharted territories in senjutsu now."

WHAM! A dust cloud rose from where Sakura had driven Naruto into the ground with a chakra enhanced fist.

"Sakura-chaaaaan…" The blonde whined.

"Serves you right Naruto." The pinkette huffed before picking him up from the ground and placing a glowing green hand on his head.

"Report Kakashi!" The Godaime Hokage ordered.

"It seems Kabuto has mastered the edo-tensei like Orochimaru before him. But we only ever saw Orochimaru use the technique to revive a few people at once. Kabuto has revived a small army, including the deceased members of the Akatsuki."

"Are you certain?" Tsunade questioned hoping that Kakashi was just joking. This is bad…

"Hai… I visually confirmed Itachi, Nagato, Kakuzu and Deidara, but there were many more. But I couldn't risk sticking around any longer or else I would've been caught." The copy nin confirmed.

"Shikamaru, what are your thoughts on the situation?" Tsunade asked the lazy genius, standing in the corner of her office.

"This is troublesome… We know that Kabuto allied himself with Madara so the undead army will probably be turned upon us. To make matters worse, a person revived with the edo-tensei can't be killed. Our only two options for fighting them are either to seal their souls or kill Kabuto himself."

"It won't be easy to get to Kabuto. He usually has a lot of revived shinobi around him. I'm not sure if we currently have anyone in the entire ninja alliance strong enough to get to him." Kakashi said gravely.

"Then we need to bring Naruto back." Tsunade stated. "He was powerful when he left, I can only imagine how powerful he got while doing nothing but training for nearly a year."

"I thought you wanted to wait until his training was complete to bring him back? Don't forget Tsunade-sama, Naruto is the only one who can stand against Madara. Bringing him back early may be good for the short term, but could prove disastrous in the long term." Shikamaru cautioned.

"If we don't get Naruto back soon, there isn't going to be any long term Shikamaru. There's only one reason Kabuto would raise such a massive undead army… War." Kakashi said calmly.

"Kakashi's right. Send a messenger falcon to the Lightning Temple right away. It's time for Naruto to return home." Tsunade ordered.

Naruto dodged a jab from his opponent. The temple monk quickly reacted by sending a kick towards the jinchuriki's face. The blonde leapt backwards, trying to draw nature chakra in, while focusing on his fight.

WHAP!

Fukasaku whapped Naruto on the head with his stick as soon as the jinchuriki showing signs of transforming into a toad statue. The Yondaime's legacy didn't have much time to think as he ducked his head to avoid shuriken.

"That's enough for now Naruto." Called the old master of the temple. "You seem to still be having a lot of difficult gathering nature chakra in the middle of a fight."

"Ya… I can't really devote much of my focus to gathering nature chakra, or else my opponent would easily have the upper hand. I was hoping that if I trained enough my body could just subconsciously absorb nature chakra without me having to focus on it…"

"Perhaps it's time to think of an alternative way to remain in stage mode indefinitely?" The master asked.

"I can't really think of any other way to do it in the middle of a fight. During my fight with Pain I kept three kage bunshins in Mount Myoboku, but that severely limited the number of kage bunshins I could create in battle. I don't think I can afford that disadvantage against Madara…"

"Well take a break from your training from now. We're running low on supplies and I would like for you to go into town and pick them up. They should have everything ready at the inn in town. There are a lot of supplies, so you might want to take some scrolls with you to seal everything into. While you're walking there, try to think of alternative ways to stay in sage mode."

"Hai." Naruto walked towards the temple's gate, completely lost in thought as he thought of alternative ways to stay in sage mode indefinitely.

"So you know where Naruto has been hiding Kabuto?" Madara Uchiha asked.

"He hasn't necessarily been hiding Madara-sama. My sources say he's spent the past year training at the temple in Lightning Country.

"Konoha risked sending him out of the village? He's been away from Konoha protection all this time?" Madara fumed.

"Yes, although he's not alone. The girl that killed Sasuke-kun went with him, Sakura Haruno. And the Lightning Temple is very well defended; the monks there should not be underestimated."

"Then send your army there at once. Naruto was too weak to be a threat to my plans when I fought him last year, but he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage. If he's given enough time, he will surely become strong enough to become a problem." The ancient Uchiha ordered.

"That would be unwise. An assault from a massive force would result in massive casualties, and it would take too much time to get to Naruto-kun." Kabuto replied matter of factly.

"From the way you say that, I'm guessing you already have some sort of plan?"

"Of course. While an army couldn't get to Naruto quick, one elite ninja could infiltrate the temple and ambush him before any of the temple monks can react."

"So who did you send then?" Madara asked.

Kabuto smirked. "Naruto-kun is going to get to have a reunion with Itachi."

Naruto walked the path towards the village. If he wasn't so distracted by figuring out how to master sage mode, he would probably appreciate the beauty of the forest he was walking through. Tall, majestic trees stood proudly shading the forest floor from the hot sun.

But Naruto took no notice.

Maybe I can create a kage bunshin in the beginning of my fight to hide and gather nature chakra. Then whenever I have to dispel it to replenish my nature chakra, I can summon another one. It would still limit the number of kage bunshins in a fight, but I still would be able to use more than I can with three clones at Mount Myoboku, and I wouldn't have to worry about summoning the clones.

The jinchuriki continued pondering the idea, oblivious to the fact that he was being watched.

Itachi's lifeless eyes stared at the blonde jinchuriki as he walked through the forest. The undead Uchiha's eyes were no longer sharingans, Kabuto informed him that Sasuke had taken them.

Sasuke… Kabuto had also told Itachi of his brother's demise. If only I could've kept Madara away from you brother… Itachi still didn't know how Madara survived the amaterasu he placed in Sasuke's eyes...

He did not want to do what he was about to do, but he had no control over his body. He was simply Kabuto's puppet now. He formed handsigns, focusing on the genjutsu he was about to place on the boy. If what Kabuto told him was true, this would be very painful for Naruto.

FLASHBACK

"Ah Itachi-san, welcome back... so nice to see you again." Kabuto greeted with a sickenly sweet grin as Itachi stepped out of the coffin.

"I see you've learned the edo-tensei like your master before you." Itachi calmly replied.

"I've surpassed Orichimaru-sama. But we can talk about that later, I have a mission that I'm going to be sending you on. You're going to destroy Naruto Uzumaki."

A pang went through Itachi's heart. Naruto had been determined to save his little brother from the darkness and Itachi could not help but be grateful to the boy. And by now, Naruto was probably one of the most powerful shinobi in Konoha. Killing him would most likely be a severe blow to Konoha.

"But he's much stronger now than he was when you last met. You won't be able to beat him directly, you're going to need to take your little brother's approach." Kabuto explained.

"Sasuke's approach?" Itachi asked, his normally impassive face showing small signs of curiosity.

"Had it not been for the interference of the Yondaime, Naruto-kun would be dead right now. Of course, Sasuke's plan got him killed…"

"Sasuke's…dead?" Itachi gasped, not able to hide his shock.

"Yes. His former teammate, Sakura Haruno, killed him when she found out what he did to Naruto. But don't worry, she won't be able to kill you. No one can." Kabuto sneered.

"I wish she could." Itachi muttered softly.

"You're going to a cast a genjutsu on Naruto. Sasuke beat him by attacking him mentally. He made Naruto believe that Sakura, the woman he loves, hated him, and viewed him solely as the Kyubi. He broke Naruto with this; the boy was a husk of his former self. Your genjutsu will make Naruto believe that Sakura does actually hate him."

"That seems unnecessary. I can defeat Naruto-kun without that genjutsu." Itachi calmly responded.

"You can't. Naruto-kun has become very powerful. In battle he is nearly unrivaled and he is well on his way to surpassing his father. His love for Sakura Haruno is one of his few weaknesses. She is too powerful herself to easily capture or kill to get to him, which is why the genjutsu is necessary. Once you break Naruto, you can easily kill him." Kabuto said with a grin eerily similar to Orochimaru's grins. "Also, Sasuke-kun took your eyes. So I was unable to revive you with them."

"I don't think…"

"I'm not giving you an option Itachi." Kabuto's smile was even starting to creep Itachi out. "I am your master now. The only reason I'm allowing you to think and act on your own is because I want you to suffer. You will help destroy Konoha while you are completely aware of what you're doing. Now go to the temple in Lightning Country." Kabuto ordered.

Itachi wanted to roast Kabuto alive, but his body began moving without his mind's consent.

"Sorry Naruto-kun." Itachi softly muttered.

FLASH IN

Having weaved all the proper hand signs, Itachi paused, trying to stop his body from casting the genjutsu. But his body moved on its own.

"Sorry Naruto…"

Sakura was panting heavily as she took a break from her training. Catching a glance of Fukasaku, the pink-haired kunoichi walked over to the frog sage with a curious look on her face.

"Lord Fukasaku? Shouldn't you be monitoring Naruto while he trains his sage mode?" Sakura asked in a worried tone. She really didn't want her boyfriend to accidentally transform into a stone toad statue…

"Hello Sakura. Naruto-chan is taking a break from training to go pick up supplies from town." Fukasaku answered with a smile.

"What?" Sakura all but yelled. "Naruto shouldn't be out by himself, what if Madara targets him!"

"Relax Sakura, Naruto-chan is very powerful and he's much wiser than he used to be. Naruto knows he's not strong enough to defeat Madara yet, so even if Madara himself were to confront Naruto, he knows to hirashin here instantly." Fukasaku said, hoping to calm down the worried medinin.

"I don't care! Protecting Naruto is still my mission." Sakura retorted. "I'm going after him. Please tell Ayuri-san that I will be taking a break from genjutsu training as well."

All feelings of exhaustion left Sakura's body as she pushed chakra into her legs and ran towards the temple gate.

Naruto was walking along the forest path, still pondering how to fully master sage mode. If the jinchuriki wasn't so distracted, he might wonder why he's still in the forest. The blonde haired boy had been walking for a while, and should actually be at the town's gates by now.

"Naruto!" The one voice that could always bring Naruto out of his thoughts called. He stopped and turned around with a smile as he spotted the face of his emerald-eyed angel.

"Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?"

"I came here because I have something I need to tell you baka!" Sakura said, with a smile that matched his present on her face.

"Oh? And this couldn't wait for me to return to the temple?" Naruto asked.

"Nope. I've been putting off telling you this for too long." Sakura replied, still smiling.

"Hehe. And what could you have putting off telling me that you just so happen to be telling me now, the day before our year anniversary?" Naruto said with a smirk.

"Well Naruto… I've been lying to you for a long time now." Sakura's sweet smile still had yet to leave her angelic face.

"What? What are you talking about Sakura-chan?" Naruto's grin fell from his face.

"Do you remember when I begged you to bring Sasuke back to me?"

"Of course Sakura-chan. That's a memory I will never forget." Naruto replied, a frown taking over his face as he thought about Sasuke and his failure to save his former best friend.

"Well Naruto, I asked you to bring Sasuke back to me because I knew how devoted you were to me, and because I had just recently realized just how powerful you truly were." Sakura explained.

Naruto was now regarding Sakura with a curious look. He had no idea where she was going with this, but he was starting to get a bad feeling in the bottom of his gut.

"After you came back, all beat up, that's when the lying started. I told you we would bring Sasuke back together, and I began to truly befriend you. Well, I made you believe I befriended you."

Naruto's legs began to get shaky. She's going somewhere with this. Sakura loves me… she told me. She wouldn't lie to me…

"You see, I realized how useful it would be to have a demon as powerful as yourself wrapped around my finger. I could use you to get Sasuke back." Sakura's smile transformed into a smirk.

Naruto stared at Sakura in shock. This doesn't make sense… He blinked back tears that were threatening to form in his eyes.

"But then Madara revealed himself, and I knew there was no one in the world that could beat him, except for you. You're a persistent little demon, and have the unique ability to win battles that you have no business even being in. I realized that for my own survival, I needed to keep you alive… and happy."

Naruto lost the war to his tears, and his eyes began watering up.

"And then Sasuke decided he wanted to kill you. While I wanted to be with Sasuke, if he killed you I would die. So I killed him instead." Sakura went on as her face tugged downwards into a frown. "But then I watched you fight Madara, and he defeated you while just toying with you. I was tempted to give up then... and tell you the truth."

Tears were now freely falling from Naruto's eyes as he dropped to his knees.

"Sa…Sakura-chan… I…"

"But I gave you another chance." Sakura continued, ignoring Naruto's attempt at speaking. "Your unique training method allows you to become more powerful in a short amount of time. So I've spent the last year, pretending to love you, hoping you would show that you can beat Madara. But now I realize… you'll never be able to beat Madara. You're too weak. You are going to fail this world and Madara is going to kill us all."

"I will defeat…"

"You will not Naruto." Sakura again interrupted him. "And since my life is going to be ending soon, I'm going to spend the remainder of my time being as happy as I can. So here's the truth Naruto, I've never liked you, I've never considered you a friend, and I've certainly never loved you. You're a demon. Have fun dying by Madara's hand."

Sakura spun around and began walking back towards the temple without casting another glance at the jinchuriki.

Naruto was on the ground trying to stop his tears as he watched the woman he loves walk away. He put his hands in his hair and began pulling on it while screaming out in agony.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME BREAKING YOU. I WILL NEVER HURT YOU!"

Sakura's words ran through Naruto's head. Was Sakura-chan just lying back then?

"I told you before, and I will keep on telling you until it finally gets through your thick skull. I love you baka, and I will never again hurt you." Sakura's words from the night that the two officially became a couple rang through his mind.

Sakura had seemed so genuine that night. She was so determined to start a relationship with him. She wouldn't take no for an answer... no matter how much Naruto resisted.

"You're my Naruto. You can do anything. And you have me, I won't let you fail. Believe it!" Naruto remembered Sakura's words before they entered the Lightning temple for the first time.

His tears came to a complete stop as he stood with a determined look on his face.

"Sakura-chan promised me she would never hurt me... she believes in me. She would never think I can't beat Madara." Naruto called out to the seemingly empty forest.

"Just as Sakura believes in me, I believe in her! She would never say that to me, Sakura loves me!"

Naruto flared his chakra, and put his hands into the cross seal.

"KAI!" Naruto bellowed at the top of his lungs, he was going to make whoever cast this genjutsu on him pay.

"KAI!" Sakura instantly recognized Naruto's voice, it sounded like it came from pretty far away. Someone is attacking him! No no no, this isn't good.

Sakura pushed her chakra into the chakra seal over her heart that Naruto had put on her.

Come on Naruto, just flash to me. Then we can fight whoever is after you together…

Naruto looked around and saw that Sakura was no longer in sight. I think I'm out of that genjutsu… Now to find the bastard who cast that on me… Naruto's sapphire eyes transformed into toad-like yellow ones as he entered sage mode.

"Impressive. That genjutsu wasn't as powerful as the ones I used to be able to cast with my sharingan, but it was still powerful enough to make it extremely difficult to break out of. You've improved greatly Naruto-kun." Itachi called as he stepped out from behind a tree.

The jinchuriki's eyes widened.

"Itachi? How the hell are you here? Sasuke killed you!" He gasped.

"Kabuto revived with me with the edo-tensei. I'm here to kill you Naruto. I'm sorry, but I don't have control over my own body."

Naruto's body tensed as he prepared to battle one of the most powerful shinobi Konoha had ever produced. Before either combatant could make a move, Naruto felt a warm tug which told him that Sakura was calling him.

Sakura-chan!

"Sorry Itachi, but it looks like our fight is going to be delayed. I'm needed elsewhere." Naruto apologized as he tossed a three-pronged kunai to the ground.

"I see you've learned your father's hirashin." The undead Uchiha observed.

Naruto nodded. "Stay here, I'll be back for you as soon as I can." The Yondaime's legacy disappeared in a flash.

Sakura breathed in relief as she felt her entire body fill with a warm feeling as her seal activated. Her knucklehead suddenly flashed directly in front of her.

"Sakura-chan! Are you ok?" He asked worriedly as his toad-like eyes searched her body for even the slightest injury.

"I should be asking you that baka! Here I find that you went out by yourself, then when I'm trying to catch up to you I hear you screaming kai. So that means someone must've placed you in a genjutsu. Are you ok?" She replied. Her emerald eyes were filled with just as much concern as her boyfriend's as she carefully watched him, looking for any sign of mental distress that may have resulted from the genjutsu.

Naruto sighed, he wasn't sure he wanted to tell Sakura the truth. He dropped his sage mode causing his eyes to return to their normal sapphire blue.

"I'm fine. It was just a bandit who thought he was hot stuff because he could use genjutsus." The blonde lied with a grin.

Sakura wasn't fooled. Her medically trained eyes easily spotted the exhaustion in his sapphire eyes, and the red puffiness surrounding them.

"So a bandit who was able to use weak genjutsus was able to put you in a genjutsu that made you cry? I'm not buying it for a second baka." Sakura cupped Naruto's face with her hands. "Tell me the truth now." She ordered.

"Well… don't freak out… But Itachi placed the genjutsu on me." Naruto confessed as he stared into the beautiful eyes of his girlfriend.

"WHAT? Itachi's dead Naruto." Sakura channeled chakra into her hands and into Naruto's body, he was obviously still under some sort of genjutsu.

"He said that Kabuto revived him with the edo-tensei… And that he was ordered to kill me."

"Kabuto can use the edo-tensei? We need to let Tsunade-shishou know about this right away. Sakura dropped her hands from Naruto's cheeks and took his hand into hers.

"Come on, we're going back to the temple. There's no way I'm going to let you go to the town if Itachi is out here trying to kill you. If he's been revived with the edo-tensei then there is no way we can kill him." Sakura began walking back towards the temple, but was stopped by Naruto.

"No Sakura-chan…" He said softly. "I heard it in his voice, Itachi doesn't want to kill me, Kabuto has control of his body. I'm much stronger than he is now, and he doesn't seem to have the sharingan anymore. I can beat him… I can free him from his cursed fate. And besides… if I don't stop him, he'll kill innocent people to get to me."

"No." Sakura replied. Her voice left no room for argument as she used her chakra enhanced strength to literally drag her boyfriend back to the temple. Naruto sighed. Sakura's going to kill me for this later…

"I'm sorry Sakura… but I have to do this." The hand Sakura was holding was suddenly replaced by a log. The Godaime's apprentice looked at her boyfriend with a look of both fury and worry.

"NA-RU-TO!" She yelled as she shot pink chakra chains toward the jinchuriki. Before the chains could land, Naruto disappeared in a flash, reappearing right behind her.

"Please forgive me for this Sakura-chan. Don't worry, I won't die... I promise." The jinchuriki embraced Sakura from behind and kissed her neck.

"I'll be back soon."

The Yondaime's legacy disappeared in a flash.

Panic set in as Sakura looked around for her boyfriend. He… he went back to fight Itachi…

"NARUTO!" She yelled as loud as she could in a panicked tone. She channeled chakra into her seal, trying to call her knucklehead back to her.

Tears were streaming down her face as she took off in the direction she had heard his voice earlier.

I'm not going to let Itachi kill you… I have no idea how I'm going to stop the edo tensei, but to protect you I will find a way…

Sakura began moving so fast that to the untrained eye, she would appear to be nothing more than a pink blur.

Itachi was surprised to say the least. Kabuto had not been kidding when he said Naruto had grown much stronger since the last time the two met.

He broke through one of my more powerful genjutsus. And not just that, but a genjutsu that was designed to break him. If possible, Naruto has become even more confident since our last meeting.

Itachi wasn't exactly sure how he would be able to beat Naruto now that the boy could use the hirashin, especially without the sharingan. Instead of being worried, that thought actually relieved the undead Uchiha.

Naruto had been gone for a couple of minutes, and Itachi was beginning to wonder where the blonde had gone off to. Before he could give it further thought, the boy he was supposed to kill flashed in front of him.

"Welcome back, I trust you've taken care of whatever it was that came up?"

Naruto chuckled. "Well… even after I beat you, I think you'll still end up getting me killed. Sakura is going to be pretty mad at me…"

Itachi actually smiled at the jinchuriki. "You're going to beat me? So you've figured out a way to beat the edo-tensei? I doubt you're going to use the death god, because you still need to defeat Madara."

Naruto grinned back at his opponent. "Hehe, I have no idea how to beat the edo-tensei. But that doesn't matter. I'll figure out a way to beat you. I'm stronger now than you were when you were alive. You especially won't stand a chance against me now that you don't have your sharingan eyes and I have the hirashin."

Itachi sighed, but the smile was still present on his face. "I'll keep on attacking you, and eventually even you will start to tire out."

"It takes a lot to wear me out, you won't last long enough." The blonde retorted with a smirk.

"We shall see." Itachi replied. "My body is going to start attacking you now Naruto-kun. Prepare yourself."

Naruto responded by throwing a smoke bomb. In the cover of the smoke, the jinchuriki entered sage mode and summoned a kage bunshin. The bunshin burrowed itself into the ground, and began drawing in nature chakra.

The smoke dissipated and Naruto stared down Itachi with his toad-like eyes, with a three-pronged kunai in his hand.

The jinchuriki threw the kunai toward his undead opponent and disappeared in a flash.

Wooo! First chapter down! I'm not sure if the edo-tensei revived Itachi with his sharingan eyes in the manga, but logically I don't think it would. If the edo-tensei can revive sharingan eyes after they've been taken from the corpse, then Kabuto could give all of his undead army sharingans by continually taking Itachi's eyes, then reviving him again. So even if the manga proves me wrong, I'll stick to this. Logic ftw.

Let me know what you thought of the first chapter by leaving a review! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned next week for chapter 2!