Chapter twenty-one:

'Thoughts'

'Flashback'

'Inner Sakura' / 'Other Inner Personality/and or Inner voice' (May as well be called conscience...)

Now or Never

The rain continued to fall. It made it harder to see for Sakura, her eyes already filled with tears.

Don't cry, stay strong! Her inner reprimanded her softly, but she was anxiously trying to catch a glimpse of the fighters as well, but there were only grey shadows dancing around each other.

Maybe it's better if we don't see – an agonized scream resounded over the meadow. In an instant Sakura was on her feet, racing out from under the safety of the trees. Almost immediately she slipped on the wet, muddy ground, catching herself on her hands and knees.

"Damn." She cursed, standing up again.

And stopping, shocked. Another scream sounded through the haze, but it couldn't bring her to snap out of her daze.

Sakura sunk to her knees, clamping a hand over her mouth.

"N-no. Where...h-how..." She was at a loss. How many time had passed since the fight begun? It couldn't be more than ten minutes.

The clearing was... gone.

The surrounding trees were shattered, the grass despite the heavy rain burnt, the ground cracked open.

She shook her head unbelieving. There was no trace of the fighters.

A chuckle sounded from behind, voice rough.

Sakura winced, but before she could turn around, hands clamped over her mouth and eyes and she blacked out.

Whatever happens to me...please let him be all right.

The rain was beating down on them.

Itachi circled Tobi. No. Not Tobi. He corrected himself.

"Who are you?" He growled. 'Tobi' chuckled.

"My, you still didn't figure it out?" His eyes flashed crimson. Itachi snarled, throwing a handful shuriken at him. Tobi dodged them and back stepped Itachi, who had jumped right at him, then sent him to the ground with a chakra enchanted punch. Itachi slid over the muddy ground, water splashing everywhere.

Immediately he was back on his feet, wiping away a trail of blood, that was tickling down his mouth.

"My, my. Don't rush thing like that." Tobi smiled. "When you are throwing shuriken... like this-" He grinned manically throwing a salve of shuriken at Itachi, pleased hearing a grunt of pain, "and if you continue with a strike like that -" He used the exact same trick the Uchiha had tried to play on him, but he had sped it up enough to make himself appear as a blur, kicking him directly in the chest, sending him flying back, "Then the combination would be flawless." Itachi collided with a tree, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"You forgot the prestige." He muttered darkly, hitting Tobi square in the face. His mask cracked.

Tobi straightened up, his visible Sharingan spinning madly.

Itachi drew a kunai, switching into the defense.

"Who are you?" He asked again.

Tobi reached a hand up to his mask. "You dare to...hit me." He said almost surprised.

In a flash he was gone, re-appearing a few feet away, forming hand-signs in an almost unreadable pace, even for Sharingan. Itachi sped away, searching for a cover to hide, but the fire-jutsu caught up with him, flames licking at his cloak mercilessly. He got rid of it quickly, forming the seals for a water-jutsu to counter his opponent's, but Tobi had once again disappeared.

Damn it. He cursed. Where is this little... Where is he? Where can he hide that I can't even sense him?! Who the hell is he? He shook his head, taking a deep breath. Calm. I need to calm down. Now or never. I can't fight him much longer, Sakura's healing made me exhausted...now or never.

Scanning his surrounding carefully, he found nothing.

Suddenly Tobi was there again, right in front of him. Itachi took one step back, his eyes widening in something similar to fear. He lifted his arms up to shield his chest and face. Another wave of fire hit him directly, burning his arms. He sunk to his knees screaming in agony.

Tobi laughed quietly. "Now, stand up like a man!" He ordered, dragging Itachi to his feet.

The rain was cooling his burns, but the pain still made his vision blur for a moment. When his eyes re-focused on his opponent he had two kunai in his hands.

"Let's end this here Itachi-Kun." Tobi smiled, charging forwards. Itachi straightened up.

Now or never.

Oh my god...

I'm really really sorry I didn't update in...years.

I probably suffered the worst kind of writer's black ever, but I really didn't know how to do the scene. And I know it's kinda short for an excuse as well, but bear with it, please.

Anyway, I now set my mind on finishing this story and I will bring it to an end, so bear with me and my irregularity a bit longer.

As always, hope you enjoyed it!

~Sayuu

P.S: Re-read the former chapters...anyone beta??