Disclaimer: Spoilers if you haven't read the newest manga chapters. Anything after 598... Also I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Takes place not long after the meeting of Tobi/Madara and Kakashi/Naruto and their group. Assume, somewhere along the lines Sakura is brought in and the allies were neutralized. As for the genjutsu... That may or may not have succeeded, I let you decide. Either way, the fight between Madara and Tobi* against Naruto and Kakashi, Madara and Tobi win. too long A/N sorry.. enjoy!

Suddenly I found myself in the midst of a rocky landscape laid out on the ground, staring up at a grey overcast sky. There was no before... no memories, all were gone, if I had any that is. I felt like a clean slate. Nothing existed but this instant. And this instant freely flowed to the next with only the rise and fall of my breaths to measure time by. I slowly raised myself up from the ground, running a hand through my hair as I did. I realized, upon sitting that I wasn't alone. But there was something else that intrigued me.

From what I could tell, I was in a battle-worn but otherwise deserted place. There were no bodies littering the ground, but I could see a three men tied up, possibly sealed across from me near a large boulder. They were screaming for someone named Sakura.

"Get up, Sakura!"

"... no-just no... I... sh- she can't..."

"Sakura-chan... You're gonna pay for this, old man!"

They struggled with their ties, but they were weak from fighting and couldn't do much more than protest.

I looked over to the point on the ground beside me where the three men were staring in horror and surprise. I could reach out and touch her, we were that close.

It was a girl who was spread out on the hard dusty ground. Pink hair surrounded her head like a halo. That was the first thing I noticed about her. The second was that she was a medic ninja. I knew this almost immediately upon my inspection. It was because I was one too. I knew to look for the scars on her fingers that would never heal from forcing yourself past your limits. Chakra burns.

I recognized her medic pack that she had strapped to her side as well. I tilted my head and was about to go into medic mode and check on the girl, when a voice stopped me.

"She's gone. You'd only be wasting your time," the cold voice said.

I turned to see two men behind me, studying me, one seemed more interested than the other. They looked familiar, but I was still so confused.

Shaking my head, I asked them, "Where am I?"

"Nowhere in particular," the menacing one with long hair said. The other man's eyes shifted to the first. This second man seemed much more friendly in comparison, though in shinobi terms it was obvious he shouldn't be trifled with.

"Well, that's not much of an answer," I said clenching a fist in annoyance at them both. I looked at my hand intrigued by the glow of chakra that had formed there. This wasn't healing chakra, so why was it there? What was this kind of chakra used for… And what's with these images…?

Memories assaulted my mind, and some I could remember, but others made no sense at all. I started to piece together what little information I had.

Was this amnesia? The last I recalled two of these men, one on either side of this gathering, I think I knew them... but they were much younger. Had I forgotten a large chunk of memory? Was I hit in the head?

I knew one thing though from these rememberings… my name.

"Do you know who you are?" the man with dark hair and a scar on one side of his face asked me gently, cautiously.

"Yes. I mean. I think so. I'm not sure," I spoke confused. I glanced at the three incapacitated men who had grown silent and were watching me as closely as the other two had been. I knew that, while these two groups were enemies, neither were my enemy.

If there was one I should be concerned with though, it was that one with the long hair. He worried me, but this one who was talking to me now… I knew I could trust him.

"I'm very confused, but I know I'm a medic from Konoha. Jounin rank. My name... it's Rin, right?"

The long-haired shinobi took this time to walk away from the man and myself over towards the pink-headed girl. I vaguely heard the others shouting by now, my attention was solely focused on the Uchiha, who was now walking towards me.

He came to stand before me, and I noticed immediately our difference in height. Then, as I looked into his eyes, a memory fell loose, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

...

He touched my face and I flinched back as if I had been hit.

"Impossible…" I said with one hand coming up to my mouth in shock. As I faultered and took a step back, I nearly tripped and fell from my unsteady legs. I could see the hurt in his eyes, as he watched my reaction. I knew this man very well, but I think... I think I thought he was dead.

I was shaking as I asked him… "I know you, don't I?"

"Hai. But it's been a while." he said.

"I thought you were dead…"

"Do you remember me?" he asked but I couldn't speak. "I wished I was. I would have protected you then from the other side."

My heart sped up, as my mind translated the the sound of his voice and determined the subtleties the years had taken to change it. Yes, he was older, but still the same boy I once knew. His voice brought up more memories of a loud child with excuses after excuses, with laughter, and then the memory of my own heartbreak.

"Obito…"

His mouth snapped shut and his eyes were piercing mine with a desperate hope and underneath that, happiness. His mismatched eyes then traveled down the length of my body. I let out a shaky breath, as he took a steady step closer. I was immobile then, frozen to the ground.

"Rin."

Another memory recalled. It was after his death… I had stopped trying to track down Kakashi for consolation. I realized, nothing would make me feel any better, no one. I had never known this kind of pain. It was the kind no surgery could heal. It was the kind only healed with time.

I started to grieve in my own way. Kakashi avoided the reality that we were hurt, shared this hurt. He avoided me, his feelings of guilt, and the memorial. I went there everyday. In my grief, I regretted never giving Obito a chance. If he had said anything, I would have turned him down, and I was so mad at myself for being so deluded. I promised him at the grave stone… I promised him, that I would see him again. I told him I loved him… I told him I would love him… I didn't care about life, then but I lived because he would have wanted me to.

He was in front of me now, and even though there were others there, those other shinobi tied and sealed, they didn't mean anything to me. Who were they really, compared to this man I had fallen in love with.

Obito.

"Obito-kun…" I said quietly taking in all the changes in his appearance and body language. He was much more serious now. 'What had life done to change him so?' I wondered.

"You've never called me that before…" he said with a frown.

I tilted my head in question. "What, of course I have…"

He shook his head slowly like I was a dumb child. "Not like that. I would have remembered, Rin."

I blushed at his gentle but piercing gaze. He licked his lips and took one of my hands in his gloved one, before bringing it up to press against his lips. I watched mesmerized letting go of a breath and smiling.

"Rin, I've missed you."

I knew he did. As I had missed him. I could only recall a small portion of my life, but I knew the pain I felt when he was gone. Saying he missed me sounded like to weak a notion, an understatement.

Looking at him, I wondered how he could still hold it all in? All that emotion... I could barely keep myself from throwing my arms around him, but I kept myself together. I still didn't know who this new 'Obito' was. I could see he had scars on his face, and I assumed there would be more on the whole right side of his body. I wanted to trace them, and kiss them, tell him he was still so handsome, but words were useless to me and I couldn't bring them to my lips anyway.

Instead, I let him cup my face in his hand, eyes fluttering closed as his touch as he descended to my height. I felt his warm lips press against my own in a sweet, seductive kiss.

Just a simple kiss… at first, but I had missed him so much and I knew he was holding back on me, so I pulled him to me wrapping my arms around him finally as I had wanted to do since I realized his name. Then, there were more memories and visions that battled to take control of my mind, but I fought them away. I didn't want to remember it now, but I could. I remembered that I was dead. I knew suddenly too, that I had looked for him in the afterlife, but he wasn't there.

I couldn't find him.

I started to cry and he pulled away from the kiss, though I still stayed in his arms, laying my head against his neck. He straightened to see what was wrong. Obito's gloved hands disappeared from my body, only to return sans gloves, wiping the tears I shed from staining my tattooed cheeks. He kissed away a tear here and one there that fell from my eyes. He swiped the others from existence before they could fall from my face. I grabbed at his cloak and buried myself into his chest, sobbing.

"I… I couldn't find you, Obito. I w-waited for so long. They said I had to go, but I never… got to say… Where were you? I loved you, Obito! Damn it! I wanted to tell you, I still lov-"

He cut off my rant with another kiss.

"Shhh," he spoke against my lips, looking in my eyes. Then, he took me in his arms. "Rin. I'm here now." I heard him exhale shakily, as he repeated that last sentence like a mantra, but for who I wasn't sure. He was exhausted. I could tell. He was exhausted on every level. What did he go through to bring me back here?

"You're hurt," I said knowingly.

"No, I'm fine. You're here, so I'm fine. I'm fine. Really."

"You're not fine, baka. You have injuries, now let me see them," I told him finally over my emotional outburst and back into medic mode.

I guided him to a rock to sit on, and luckily he obeyed my instructions and pulled off his black cloak. I treated his wounds with what little chakra I had. I took this chance to look around at the world as well. I was trying to adjust to this world again. What should I expect? I remembered those other men and glanced in their direction. One of them was certainly a surprise to see.

"Why is Kakashi-kun tied up?" I tried to say without being too concerned. Everything was so different. I knew Kakashi wasn't my enemy, but maybe in this time, he was Obito's. The thought made me sad. This place was so confusing, and as much as I wanted to just be happy to be with Obito again, my responsible side wouldn't allow it.

One of Obito's eyes blinked open. It was the strangely colored one, purple and glowing. One side of his mouth came down as if he were unsure what to tell me.

Finally deciding to speak, he said, "Would you hate me if I said he was my prisoner?"

I frowned and looked away from him and towards the other men concerned. They were all from Konoha. I could tell immediately. There was Kakashi, an Uchiha, and… Minato-sensei?

No, not Sensei. Maybe his son though…

That other Uchiha. He looked so defeated. I pitied him and could see how lost he was. A part of me, grew sick at the thought of him so unhappy.

I noticed his blank eyed stare. His eyes, black from exhaustion as well, watched me, and at the back of my mind there was a tickle of recollection, but it was slippery and I couldn't grasp it.

"Who are they?" I asked.

Obito arched an eyebrow and then asked me, "You don't know?"

I sighed once and looked back at the boys, this time at Sensei's clone. "I feel like I should."

Those two…

Suddenly, my hands rose in a shock of pain to my head. I fell back with a cry as more memories came to me. A boy with blonde hair… 'Naruto,' he said. The Uchiha, the last Uchiha… 'I'm an avenger…' Sasuke… I loved him. I did. 'Annoying.' My heart broke again. I never had any luck with Uchihas, I thought randomly. Another boy that smiled strangely, and for some reason made me want to punch him appeared and then… Kakashi-sensei?

Yes. Sensei...

They called me Sakura.

"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed shrilly. It was like I was being pulled in two directions. Before I could fall to the hard ground, warm arms caught me and Obito called to me frantically as other voices cascaded over his into my consciousness. My body continued to convulse and no matter my desire to stay with Obito, I felt my head turn towards those boys, and my eyes focused on the black haired boy. The other Uchiha.

'Sasuke!' a voice in my head fought to be free. There was then a frantic scraping at the walls of my equilibrium.

"Sasuke-kun…" said a voice, my voice, but it wasn't me, not my voice… or was it?

I awoke groggily, but I felt lighter somehow. It was like there were years of missed sleep given back to me. I felt replenished, but I was still sooooo tired. I felt invigorated with life though. There was an emotional freeness to the day. I felt like I had been in a bad dream full of rogue ninja and enemies out for my head, only to wake and realize that the dream was just the musings of a wild imagination. I was a prisoner in my head before, but not anymore. I can't remember much, but I remember seeing Sasuke's face and being jolted from the dream.

I know it's silly that it would be Sasuke to be the cause of my 'rescue.' I mean, he doesn't love me, but for some reason, I just can't give up on him. I just can't.

"Hello," a woman in a medic uniform said.

I looked up from the cot I was laying on to see her standing with clipboard in hand. She handed me a bottle of water and a pill to refresh my chakra. I took them and downed the pill with a sip of water as the woman addressed me.

"Sakura-san," she spoke. "We were so worried for you, that you were… Oh, nevermind. It was ridiculous to worry, you're always so strong. We're all just glad to see you awake. You were asleep for two days, and that's only counting since you're body was retrieved. Your teammates and the Uchiha have been recovered as well. They said before you were found, you had been in and out of consciousness for nine hours."

I nodded at the nin as I rubbed my head and applied a glowing hand to ease the pain.

"No one really knows what happened to you…"

I smiled at the woman and after looking around at the make shift hospital, I said, "Well, now that I'm awake… What can I do to help?"

Kakashi's POV

I let them go. It was against the rules, but I had to do it.

I watched my old teammates walk away. It was wrong, as a shinobi of the leaf to do, but as a friend…

I couldn't take them in to custody. I knew why he was a part of the war, and if I was in love with her like he was, maybe I would have done the same thing. Ultimately though, Obito was a better man than me when it came to Rin. I blamed myself for her death, but he took action. The wrong action, but nonetheless…

I had to let them go. Seeing Rin alive and happy, it was the only choice I could make, especially after watching her have to deal with him dead before that tragic day that took her. Nothing about our shared past had been fair or even remotely pretty. I couldn't bring myself to tell Obito he had to let Rin go again and neither could I say the same to Rin.

I'll admit, I was surprised to see that all this time, Rin's soul had been a shared component of what made up my female student, Sakura Haruno. It was hard to imagine, and harder to witness the actual extraction when Obito used the rinnegan to revive Rin's body.

It was particularly hard for my two students to idly stand by and watch but we were immobilized and weak. Our chakra had been sealed off completely. It became a battle of will and a test of endurance. Obito was more prepared. Luckily, she didn't cry, and in the end, somehow she was still able to pull enough of herself back to reanimate her own body. Those two women never ceased to amaze me. I could only hope this girl was still the same Sakura, but only time would tell.

Naruto's POV

Sakura was okay. That's all I cared about. I knew she was okay, because I felt her come back to life. She had been dead. There was no doubt in my mind about that. Her life force energy, I had become in tune with it, and when I felt it return to her body... I couldn't keep in the tears. Madara had taken her body and dropped it off near the allies hospital before disappearing. That woman, Kakashi-sensei's female teammate, she was something too. I knew now why this Obito guy would go to such lengths to bring her back. I mean, if she was anything like Sakura...

Sasuke's POV

I felt helpless. I have never felt so helpless before either. Not even when I was a child on that horrid day. At least then I could run, I could scream, I could pass out. But I couldn't so that now. I was forced to watch this girl, who was obviously not Sakura, but also so similar, I was in shock. She kissed him. She was in love with him. Was this why Sakura claimed she loved me, because a part of her was this woman who never got the chance to be with a another Uchiha, with similar eyes and hair? It was hard for my pride to even consider.

...

I had never imagined that Sakura could die. Her dying was of course a possibility, but if I ever decided to go back to Konoha, it would have been to repopulate the clan. It would have been to marry her and love her and have little Uchiha babies... with her. She was always alive if I went back. In every scenario!

I knew it was a risk, one that every ninja took, but... not her… Please, don't let her die. Anyone but her…

Why did it have to be her?!

For the first time, I could relate to Obito, Tobi as I knew him, but that didn't make me hate him any less, afterall he was willing to sacrifice the girl I loved to bring back the one he loved. That's how I saw it anyway. At least until, I heard the girl with brown hair say my name and then collapse in a fit of screams and convulsions. That was torture for both of us.

But it was then that I knew Sakura was still there somehow. She hadn't given up and she was somewhere, fighting, so I couldn't give up on her yet either.

Obito's POV

"Where do you want to go now, Rin?" I asked her feeling more and more like the reckless boy I used to be. The farther we got from the battlefields, the more I left the Tobi persona behind. I didn't need that mask anymore. It was all for one purpose, and here she was.

Rin smiled and replied, "Anywhere you go. That's where I want to go, Obito. It's sad we can't go back to Konoha, but that's alright. I'm happy to be here with you."

Staring down at her, I smiled out the side of my mouth weakly. This girl… I love her so much. My life until now was nothing without her, just a wasteland.

I squeezed her hand and had to try to conceal my tears that threatened to fall. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand to compensate for my embarrassment and laughed at how little I really had changed in the long run.

We stopped walking and she pulled my hand away from my eyes with a knowing smile, and caring eyes.

"It's just some dust in my eye, I swear," I said to her. She smiled widely remembering my old ways. She laughed and I couldn't help but join her.

"Come here," she said pulling me to her and I enclosed her in my arms. She hugged me tightly, robbing me of my breath. I patted her head and soaked in the sight of her, sighing at the perfection of this moment.

This was it. This was all I needed. I knew I had to savor it, because this was life. Nothing was definite here, but right now, we had this… we had each other right now, this instant.

Rin hugged my right arm as we pasted and began to walk across the land again. We were headed for a far away corner of the world, nothing special, just somewhere no one would bother us. There were no more plans of world domination.

It was just us, a boy and a girl walking side by side, looking in the same direction, holding the other's hand.

"Can we stay like this?" I asked her.

"No. It doesn't work like that, Obito," she said. "But we can go forward together."

I smiled at the thought.

The allies' would consider us dead. Kakashi and the other members of Team 7 had promised me that when I untied them and deactivated their seals. I was glad to hear that Sakura was alive. I doubt they would have let me live if she wasn't.

This whole war was never my idea. Everything was Madara and I went along with it, because he had a Rinnegan. And with that, I could bring her back to life. That was MY sole purpose, to bringing back Rin.

With Kakashi's pleading we were allowed to walk free. He had argued with the other boys, "What if Sakura died… try to imagine for a second, that it was Sakura… Don't tell me if Sasuke was the one to start a war to bring her back… Would you be so quick to kill him, Naruto? That's why I can't do it. Just let them go. They won't hurt anyone now. It was only about her, Naruto. It's always been about her..."

A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review! I hoped you enjoyed it.