A Red Head Namikaze (Itachi Uchiha fiction)

36. You are my friend

Both Inora and Naruto were outside the land of Iron and running towards the direction in which Kakashi went. Inora felt 3 familiar chakras. It was Kiba, Lee and Sai. She saw them all passed out. "What happened to them?" Naruto asked and tried waking them up. "Its a powerful sleeping drug. It must have been Sakura. I guess they are near." Inora said checking on them and closed her eyes doing a wide area scan.

She felt Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke's chakra along with another unfamiliar chakra a bit far away from them. A chill ran down her spine after sensing Sasuke's cold chakra. "I found them. Hold my hand." She said to her brother and weaved hand signs to teleport to Kakashi.

Naruto and Inora were teleported under a bridge and she saw Sasuke going to attack Sakura. Naruto jumped in saving Sakura before Sasuke could get a hit. Kakashi rushed and the sensei and student were fighting seriously. Inora really couldnt get past the fact that Sasuke was about to kill Sakura just now. She composed herself soon "Thats enough stop!" Inora said rushing to Kakashi and teleporting him a few meters away from Sasuke.

All of them stood on water under the bridge. "Come on Sasuke. Sakura is a comrade on team 7 remember?" Naruto said. "You mean former comrade. I am off your team now." Sasuke replied with a look of menace on his face. Inora was shocked to see such a cold look on his eyes. "Do you understand now? Naruto, Sakura and Inora. He is no longer the same Sasuke you once knew." Kakashi said.

Naruto walked a few steps forward "Listen Sasuke, I know the truth about Itachi. That guy Tobi told me everything. What you've been doing, I get it Sasuke." Naruto said surprising Sakura and Kakashi. Sasuke clenched his fists in anger. "Naruto, you never had a family or siblings in the first place. You couldnt possibly get it. So you outsiders can shut up." He said with venom laced in his voice.

"Who told you he never had a sibling? Naruto is my brother. My very own brother." Inora said and saw Sasuke's eyes widening a little. "If there is someone who understands you completely that would be me Sasuke. I lost my parents right before my eyes when I was even younger than you were. I was alone and was compelled to stay away from the only family I had. But I had Itachi. He was always there for me. But you took him away from me." Inora said and Sasuke noticed the rage hiding in her eyes. "You know nothing about Itachi, dont spat nonsense." Sasuke said.

"I know everything. I told him not to go and fight you. But he didnt listen to me. He was deadset on going after you because he hated himself for turning you into a vengeance seeking monster. He thought that giving his life would suffice your hatred and he hoped you would return back to Konoha. I was there, both of you were laying in a pool of blood. Trust me when I say this Sasuke, You were defenceless and I wanted nothing more than to slit your throat then and there for doing that to my Itachi. But unlike you, I love him so much to go against his will." Inora said with so many emotions in her voice hurt, anger, regret, guilt.

Sasuke stood there stunned with his eyes wide taking in her words. Then he started to laugh like a maniac "What did you just say? Your Itachi? If you loved him so much where were you when Itachi killed my parents because of the Leaf elders' orders? Where were you when he was forced to kill his entire clan?" He shouted looking straight at her eyes. Inora stood silent not having an answer. "Vengeance will only lead to more bloodshed Sasuke. I will save you from Revenge." Naruto said.

Sasuke chuckled "I dont want you to do that. The stage has already been set for my vengeance. Not long ago I finally got my revenge on the one behind Itachi's betrayal, Danzo." He said making everybody's eyes widen in shock. "I havent felt like this before. I can feel the tainted Uchiha blood being cleansed and finally being freed from the rotten shinobi world. You couldnt even begin to understand it. Killing all of you and destroying the hidden leaf will be the ultimate purification and that shall lead to the Uchiha's true restoration." He said with a dangerous smirk dancing in his lips.

Naruto immediately made a few shadow clones only to be stopped by Kakashi. "This is my responsibility. Inora, take Naruto and Sakura and get out of here." Kakashi said. Within seconds both Sasuke and Kakashi's hands were blazing with Chidori. "Kakashi sensei, are you going to kill Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "Inora, take them and go NOW." Kakashi said sternly. Suddenly one of Naruto's clones caught Kakashi from moving and the real one charged towards Sasuke with a Rasengan. "Now is my chance and I am not going to hold back" Sasuke said running towards Naruto with his chidori.

Inora had enough of this shit. Just when they were about to hit each other, she teleported in front of them holding their hands and throwing them at opposite directions with so much force. Both Naruto and Sasuke were surprised by her strength. None of them had actually seen her in action other than a few training sessions except Kakashi. They knew she was fast but was really surprised by her strength.

"Thats enough! Sasuke, Itachi is al..." she was about to tell him the truth. She can worry about his reaction later. But before she could complete her sentence, she stopped herself when she saw Zetsu catching Sasuke from falling. Sasuke was panting heavily and the masked guy suddenly appeared. "It seems like whenever you two meet, you cant control the urge to fight. Dont worry I will arrange the proper time and place for both of you to fight and capture the nine tails. But for now we retreat." Madara said.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called. "Do you remember what you told me at the Valley of the End? Just now when we were about to trade blows I was able to tell what you were thinking. It means both you and I are high level shinobis. What about you Sasuke? Can you tell what I am thinking right now? Can you read my mind? Can you understand that if we fight each other, we both will die?" Naruto asked. "If you choose to attack the hidden leaf, I will fight you dont doubt that. Until that day save your hatred, then you can throw it all at me. I am the only one who can handle all that hatred, do you understand? I will bear the burden of your hatred and die with you." He said making Sasuke grit his teeth in anger.

"What the hell do you want from me? Why are you so fixated on me?" Sasuke yelled in frustration while Naruto smiled and replied "Because you are my friend."

"I havent given up on you, not yet. I will take you back to the hidden leaf. I will never change my mind." Naruto said smiling widely. "I am not going to change. I dont want to understand you. I wont die, you are the one who is going to die." Sasuke said looking at Naruto. "Then we will die together Sasuke." The jinchuriki replied. "Lets go Sasuke." Madara said and vanished along with Sasuke and Zetsu.

~

"Is it really true? The thing about the leaf elders ordering Itachi to kill his clan?" Sakura asked quietly while they were on their way to get Kiba, Lee and Sai. Kakashi sighed heavily and explained her everything and asked her not to utter a word to anyone about this for now.

Soon all of them made their way back to the Hidden Leaf along with Karin.