158 -=Reencounter=-

In a forest, team 7 ran across the land of fire to their destination

"How sure you are about it?" Naruto asked Kaede for what felt like the 1000th time

"90%" She replied

"..." Sasuke who was walking ahead of the others, kept quiet, but not his normal quiet self... he seemed distressed

Naruto ran a bit faster to catch up with him and put a hand on his shoulder, making the Uchiha snap out of his thoughts and look at him

Giving Sasuke a reassuring nod, which the Uchiha replied in kind after hesitating for just a second

Luna observed their interaction with curiosity

while she couldn't understand what Sasuke was going through right now, she could at least sympathize with him

'Must be hard...

STUPID WEAKLING'

A tick mark appeared on her forehead as she remembered that at least for today she must be wary of when her other self speaks to not actually say something she shouldn't

"It's there, can you see it?" Kaede pointed at a mountain full of threes that were barely visible through the thick vegetation of the forest they were in

on top of the mountain, a big building could be seen

two towers on each side, connecting... something, either to the building or the mountain itself, but it wasn't clear from their point of view

this place was an abandoned Uchiha hideout

well, anywhere Uchiha related has been abandoned for the last 8 years... but that's beside the point

"...Itachi..." Sasuke said, his eyes that long since had activated their sharingan staring at the building

Kaede 'found' (read as stole) some reports in Konoha that pointed to Itachi being here

the information came from Jiraya's network, so it was pretty reliable

while team 7 was curious as to how Kaede found those reports, they didn't bother too much with that, since they had all the time in the world to ask her later

but this was, probably, the only chance Sasuke would have to find Itachi

only Kaede knew how true that was...

his disease must be nearing critical condition, so he decided to leak his location to have a final fight with Sasuke...

compared to cannon, that's a bit early, but that could easily be attributed to his leg injuries aggravating his condition

(For those who forgot, the mc broke Itachi's legs a long time ago)

Kaede looked at Sasuke with curiosity

How will things play out she wondered... Sasuke never talked about it, but she was sure he knew at least most of the reason for what Itachi did

'Will he be able to forgive Itachi?' She wondered

and that was the only question, since no matter what today, 3 people will die

it's far too late to save Itachi, but that doesn't mean Sasuke cannot forgive him

'But will he?'

<The most probable conclusion is that->

'NO SPOILERS!'

<But you already->

'No. Spoilers. Got it?'

<...Fine>

-=-

Soon enough, team 7 plus Kaede arrived at the entrance of the old uchiha hideout, and waiting for them was, as you should probably expect, a big man with blue skin and sharp fang-like teeth

"Hoshigake Kisame..." Naruto muttered

for a second Kaede glanced at Naruto, having forgotten he is smarter than his cannon self and has read the whole bingo book

'You have come so far in so little time... but I digress

the table is all set now...'

"heh, which of you is Itachi's brother?" Kisame asked, making everyone look at Sasuke

"Itachi is waiting for you"

He then looked at the others

"Only you"

Sasuke nodded, not that he even wished to have help in dealing with this

this is his fight

Kisame watched Sasuke as he went in, just to make sure

'Hehe, now I just need to kill these 3 brats and wait for Itachi to finish' Kisame thought as a bloodthirsty grin appeared on his face, he turned to the other, ready to attack when-

"OODAMA RASENGAN!"

A giant blue ball of chakra appeared right on his face!

'Fast-'

*BOOOOOM*

A cloud of dust raised from the ground after Naruto's attack

"Don't lower your guard" Naruto said to mostly Kaede since she has not done a mission in 2 years or so

"Kek"

The dust cloud slowly dissipated, revealing Kisame, mostly unharmed, holding Samehada in front of himself

"Yikes, he's tough" Kaede commented

"Right..." Luna replied

"That was a good one brat..." Kisame said to Naruto, who was looking at Samehada wearily

'My biggest advantage is chakra capacity, but that sword nullifies it...'

Kisame then raised his sword, ready to charge at his enemies

Naruto, Luna, and Kaede all took a fighting stance

-=-

*Step* *step* *step* *step*

Sasuke walked into a huge dark room, the only real difference of that specific room being a throne at the end of it

and sitting on top of that throne was none other than

"You thought it was Itachi, but it was me, DIO"

"Huh?"

Oh shit, wrong script

*technical difficulties*

"Hello... brother"

"Sasuke, I see you managed to find me" Itachi said in a low voice as if trying to act cool or something

"Let's skip the boring talks Itachi, I don't want to finish after my friends, and they may already be beating that fishman out there" Sasuke said confidently, but his eyes were unsure

Itachi mistook that for worry and said

"You seem confident in them..."

Taking one deep breath and steeling his resolve, Sasuke opened his eyes, now two blazing sharingans, and stared at Itachi

"I see you trained well Sasuke, but...

are you sure that is enough?" Itachi looked straight into Sasuke's sharingan and asked

Sasuke walked over to Itachi and...

walked right through him!

"I am" Sasuke said, looking at the real Itachi, seating on the throne behind where his genjutsu made him look to be at

"Good" Itachi grinned and got up, ready to fight