I was gasping for air now. I noticed I was on my hands and knees, breathing heavily. I blinked four times before I finally looked up, to see my brother. I gasped when I saw Itachi holding his eye and he had a painful look on his face. He looked at me angrily, then looked above me. That's when I noticed hands on my back.
I looked above me and saw Sakura holding her hands on my back, she was breathing heavy too. I saw her look down at me and remove her hands. "Sa...Sakura?" I asked.
"Sasuke! Thank goodness your alright!" Sakura screamed in joy. She knelt down next to me and wrapped her arm around me.
"How did...how did I get out of the genjutsu?" I stuttered. I tried standing to my feet, but my legs shook and I fell back down.
"I gave you some of my chakra. It canceled out the jutsu." Sakura said tightening her grip on me. "You started screaming out of nowhere and you completely broke down. I figured he must have got you with his sharingan."
"You gave me chakra?"
"Yes. If you cant use release to cancel a jutsu, then you can always receive chakra from a comrade. I noticed you in trouble...I ran as fast as I could. Im sorry that I made you wait so long." Sakura apologized. She held onto me tightly as I stood on my feet.
"Sakura..." I muttered.
"I can't believe you managed to get out...and I had you right at the end of your rope." Itachi said in a cold, harsh tone. This was the first time I had ever really heard him lose his calm tone. I had to admit it frightened me a little and I could feel Sakura flinch beside me.
"I won't be taken down that easy..." I said squinting my right eye from the pain that flew through my body. The images were like they hurt me physically too. I couldn't afford to get caught in that again. Even with Sakura here to help me. I smirked when I saw Itachi try to collect himself again. "You've overused that eye, haven't you? That's why your holding it the way you are."
"Overused his eye? What do you mean, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.
"The sharingan takes chakra and it takes a lot of chakra to use a genjutsu like that. He used up a lot of chakra that way and when you came through, you busted through the genjutsu, leaving him with a whole wave of pain that ran through his body." I explained.
Itachi laughed. "Very clever. You're a smart kid." he said this with a bit of sarcasm, but his tone covered it.
"You won't be able to use your eye against me. Which means your finished here." I said pulling out a kunai. Sakura gasped beside me and grabbed my arm.
"No Sasuke! You have to be careful, your weak!" she exclaimed.
"I don't have to be strong to defeat him now." I said. "Go back to the hut, I've got this."
Itachi laughed a tad bit and uncovered his eye. "You are mistaken yet again, little brother. You see, the sharingan has taken a load of my chakra away, therefore giving me a disadvantage. However, this fight isn't over."
"What do you mean its not over? You cant fight without chakra!" Sakura screamed. "You're the fool!"
"Very feisty you are. Are you sure you would not like me to take her off your hands, Sasuke?" Itachi asked with a smart elick smile.
"No way are you touching Sakura." I warned. "I'll kill you."
"That is a very promising speech you have proposed, but this fight has rounded to an end." Itachi said smiling evilly at Sakura.
"Yes, your right brother, today is the day you die!" I screamed running towards Itachi at full speed. I ran up to him and stabbed him in the chest with the kunai I was holding. Naturally, it was a shadow clone. He used up a ton of chakra, but he still had some left.
I turned around to see Itachi standing above Sakura. Sakura's eyes were frightened at the kunai Itachi held to her neck. Itachi smirked and slid the kunai across Sakura's neck, forming a large gash. I gasped.
"Sakura!" I screamed. But I was surprised when I saw Sakura turn into a log. Substitution...I thought as I felt myself sigh a sigh of relief.
"Ah!" Sakura screamed from behind Itachi. She aimed a chakra fisted punch towards Itachi's head. But he dodged. She fell to the ground. Itachi kicked her, causing her to fly a couple of feet away.
"Sakura!" I screamed running to her. She crawled to her hands and knees, holding her left side with her left hand. She squinted her eye at the pain and I saw blood trickle down her lip. "Sakura, don't fight, you can really hurt the baby."
"I'm sorry...I just had to try." Sakura muttered. She tried to crawl to her feet, but she flinched at the pain. I caught her in mid air and set her softly on the ground.
"How sweet." Itachi said as he began approaching us. I stood firmly in front of Sakura as he came closer. "Trying to be there for each other...maybe you do have a heart after all, Sasuke." Itachi muttered.
"Don't you dare hurt Sasuke." Sakura threatened.
"Sakura, stop. You don't need to be in this fight." I said in the calmest voice I could. This fight needs to end before it gets really ugly...
"On the contrary..." Itachi said forming the familiar hand signs for the fireball jutsu."Neither of you should be." Itachi held two fingers to his mouth and formed a large fireball. I grabbed Sakura and jumped out of the way. Itachi followed us with the abnormally large fireball, until the only escape was to go through the woods.
I carried Sakura into the woods and up in a tree. I sat her down gently on the tree and watched until I couldn't see the fireball or hear it no longer. Sakura took a deep sigh.
"How does he still have the energy to do that?" Sakura asked appalled. "He should be totally wiped out!"
"Itachi is not your average shinobi." I said. "You aren't forgetting that he killed the Uchiha clan in one night. We were the strongest clan in the hidden leaf village. Itachi is no one to mess with."
"Well, what do we do?"
"We have to stall."
"What?"
"We have to make him use up whatever chakra he's got left. Then we attack him."I said as if the plan was guaranteed.
"How long will that take?" Sakura asked placing a hand on my shoulder.
"He should be near the end. Itachi is not like a lot of other Ninjas. He reminds me of Shikamaru. Shikamaru knows when to stop using his chakra and rest. So does Itachi. He wont physically push himself to the pointwhere hes desperate. He'll stop fighting when he knows he needs to." I explained.
"But if he wont use all of his chakra, how do we attack him?"
"Don't worry about that. For now, we just need to get him to his breaking point."
"Sasuke"-
"Trust me, Sakura." I said turning to her. Her emerald green eyes bore into mine with both fear and hopelessness. I sighed as I jumped down from the tree. Sakura followed me and jumped.
Sakura was right behind me as we both walked out of the woods and saw Itachi standing calm in the middle of the field. The area around him had no grass and was just plain earth. The fireball had burned it all.
"Hm." Itachi said calmly. "That was clever, jumping into the woods like that. However, this fight has run its course. I am out of chakra, and I can honestly speak for you when I say you are as well."
I growled. He was right. I had used a lot of my chakra, but I still had some left. I had to use it for the finishing blow. Itachi sighed and looked at me and Sakura with a calm expression.
"This is quite more troublesome than I had planned. It seems I have no tricks up my sleeve without the sharingan. And I would be a fool to use every bit of chakra I had, knowing you would kill me the moment I was down."
"Hm, your smart, brother." I said smirking. "It would be perfect since I live to get revenge for our clan anyway."
"Oh Sasuke you are so naive. Next time, I am sure I will have to wipe that smirk right off of your face. Next time, I wont play around." Itachi said calmly.
"You were playing? Well we must have given you a handful for you to use all of your chakra!" Sakura screamed from behind me.
"This is true, but it seems I have a the most a month before my child is born. I suppose I will have to raise my stamina in the time being for our next match."
I gasped. "Next match?"
"Until we meet again." Itachi said as he formed a hand sign.
"No!" I screamed as I ran full speed at Itachi. I formed the hand signs for chidori and listened as the chirping birds sounds filled the air. I aimed my chidori at Itachi, only to have him disappear in a puff of smoke before my eyes.
Not having control, I ran into a tree. My chidori caused the tree to fall over on top of another one. My hand was stuck in the tree trunk as I pulled it out with a strong pull. I clenched my teeth as I looked behind me.
He wasn't there. All who was in the field, was Sakura and my niece.