Hello!

Well, anyways, without further ado, what say we get on with it?

Chapter 81: Tell me, do you Hate Me?

"Try and stop me."

All six combatants moved.

Kakashi drew a kunai into his right hand and forced a Raikiri along its blade. The electricity coursed across the metal evenly, and he charged forward, not at Konan, who the other three, Guy, Anko, and Tenzo were fighting, but at Tobi, who stood cockily a way's away.

He dashed in and swung upwards, trying to catch the lip of the man's mask with the electrified edge. Tobi didn't bother to dodge, instead almost casually allowing the attack to flow through his intangible body. Luckily, Kakashi had anticipated that, and hadn't over-exposed himself or anything, either. As Tobi fired out at his legs with a kick, one that he easily somersaulted over, it was clear neither was really trying their hardest as of yet.

Still, despite that, Tobi seemed to have something to say.

"You're surprisingly forward." The man laughed darkly as he circled Kakashi, and he himself mirrored the motion. "Are you so eager to kill me?"

His eyebrows drew down in aggravation. "I will do what is necessary to protect the Leaf Village. You have proven yourself a threat to it time and time again. I will show you, who would threaten the lives of the people I care about, no mercy. I will wipe you from this world."

Tobi seemed vaguely impressed, nodding his head up and down.

"I suppose I can't fault your resolve if that's really your reasoning, but…" He looked up, and this time, Kakashi could see a Mangekyou Sharingan through the hole in his mask, one whose design mirrored his own. "Are you sure that's it? Or are you simply so afraid to face the truth of what lies beneath this mask, that you'd rather kill me, and whomever I may be, than have to face it?"

He held his tongue and received a breath of mirth from Tobi, the masked man drawing a kunai from out of a pouch inside his coat.

"How pathetic."

His opponent charged in without delay.

His strikes came hard and fast, and that was understating it. In terms of raw experience, Kakashi had a feeling that he should've been the superior here, and yet he didn't feel like that was the case as they crossed blades. If anything, the darkness of the man before him, and the strength said darkness lent to him, was more than enough to have him on the backfoot.

After another flurry, Tobi knocked him backwards, and he found himself panting, standing just in front of him as he twirled the kunai on his pointer finger.

"You know, if you're trying to kill me, you're not doing a very good job."

He ground his teeth together, refusing to respond to the masked man's taunts. He charged back into the center to meet him again.

This time he met the man's burst of steel with one equally wild. Drawing a second kunai into his left hand and slicing. Tobi, likewise, stepped up his speed and ferocity, more than matching Kakashi's own, and managing to force him back once more. Kakashi shook his head with a nearly animalistic growl.

He refused to lose this exchange.

But even with a renewed vigor, his strikes would not stop phasing through Tobi's body. Every time he looked to land a hit; the man would become incorporeal. He'd either need to increase his speed to the level of someone like Minato…

Or he'd need to figure out the trick behind that intangibility.

And one was a bit more likely than the other given the timeframe he had to work with.

Given the fact that every time he'd phased through an attack in this fight, his Mangekyou Sharingan had been activated, Kakashi assumed rather easily that his Sharingan itself was what allowed him to do so. Judging, also, by the fact that their Mangekyou's shared names, it was possible, nay, probable, that he could perhaps do something about Tobi's intangibility via his own power.

He had an idea, though he was not yet sure if it was a good or bad one yet. If he was right… then this was going to be rather complicated.

And he was going to look like an idiot if he was wrong.

He channeled a second Raikiri into the kunai in his left hand and held it up in front of him. Tobi gave a confident hum, before dashing forward. In that moment, Kakashi threw the lightning infused blade into the air, and ran forward himself.

Before he could make it to the center, he looked up, and used his own Kamui on the now ascending kunai. It took a full second, but luckily the object was fairly small, and was absorbed without much difficulty, or strain from him.

Tobi seemed to have seen that, for, as he moved forward, he made sure to take a wide berth around the kunai Kakashi had thrown up, even despite his ability to go intangible.

That, on its own, was evidence enough for Kakashi's hypothesis. Now… he simply needed to see the results of his plan to confirm it.

To confirm everything.

Their blades ricocheted off one another's, and though Kakashi could tell he would, under normal circumstances, most certainly lose this fight, he wasn't intending to allow this to be a fair fight. As they backed away, Kakashi drew another kunai from out of his pouch, and, concentrating hard on his own perception of things, fired off two of them.

One, he aimed directly at Tobi's face. The second, he threw up into the air at an odd angle. He looked to that second kunai, and used his Mangekyou Sharingan upon it, sending it, too, into what he assumed was some other… dimension.

And… if he was right…

Tobi clued into what was happening just a moment too late to do anything about it. He jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the kunai in the real world, but that didn't matter, for Kakashi himself was charging right at him, a Raikiri poised to go right through his mask, and demolish whatever was underneath.

He had no choice but to shift to intangibility…

And it was in that moment that the electrified kunai he'd sent across earlier, which he'd redirected via the second kunai, slashed through the man's orange mask.

His heart skipped a beat. This was it… either Tobi would be… someone, anyone else, or…

Or, as he'd been dreading for three years…

The top half of Tobi's mask fell to the ground beneath them, as did the bottom half a moment later, once the single piece holding it to Tobi's face failed. He wanted to pretend like he'd take this well, like he knew what was about to happen, like it wouldn't affect him…

A sharp intake of breath from himself, as if he were shocked, as if he couldn't believe what was occurring, sold out the fact that he was not at all ready for this.

The small cut that'd formed on the face of the man standing across from him spilled the tiniest amount of blood down his jaw. Just a drop, but it curled onto the bottom of his chin, and dripped down onto the grass below.

It was only then that he keyed back into the flames surrounding them, the fact that soon, they would be engulfed by them. They didn't have long to defeat the two Akatsuki.

It didn't matter. None of that mattered at all to Kakashi…

Not with the dead man who was staring back at him only five or so feet away.

"Well, Kakashi," Obito Uchiha, for it was so obviously him, seemed almost apathetic, despite the fact that his tone was still dripping with that cocky 'Tobi' personality. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He swallowed hard on the nothing in his mouth, trying to get any moisture into his desert-like throat.

When nothing came, he did the only thing he could think to do…

He brought their blades together once more.

Obito smiled as their kunai ricocheted off one another, evidently rather amused by Kakashi's need to fight. They dueled for perhaps another minute, but it was clear neither of them was making any headway. When at last they came apart once more, it was with Kakashi panting horrendously, and with Obito shooting him a mocking look.

"You know, I find that, for a trained killer, one of the strongest of the generation, you're certainly going rather easy on me."

Kakashi ground his teeth together as he charged in, and locked knives against the man.

"Shut up! You betrayed the Leaf Village!" He panted, his eyes bugging out. "You betrayed your friends, your family, everyone! Why!? Why would you do that!? What could have possibly driven you to–"

"Family?" Obito cut him off with an angry chuckle, and evidently emotions were running high now for the both of them as he pushed Kakashi back with a Fireball Jutsu, forcing Kakashi to summon an earth wall to counter, as he'd done what felt like a millennia ago, when training with him, Minato, and Rin. "Friends? Funny, I don't seem to recall having much of either. Not like that mattered, though, not to you."

He grimaced, remembering how he'd once been. Obito had only ever known the changed version of him for perhaps 30 minutes of his life. But… even still, that didn't excuse the fact that the man in front of him had changed so drastically from the boy he'd known once upon a time.

"What happened to you!?" He shouted as he jumped back and away from his earth wall and felt the flames lick at his ankles as he got just a bit too close to the massive inferno surrounding them. "In all the Leaf Village, there was no one kinder than you. You, who helped old ladies get to where they needed to go, who helped out passersby, who rescued animals from precarious situations, even if it made you late every damned day for your training… What possibly could have happened to steer you away from that!? To turn you into… This!?"

"I told you already, didn't I? Because you let Rin die."

Kakashi shook his head, unbelieving that that could be the only reason.

"She did it to save the Leaf Village! If she and I had gotten back, then the Village would've been destroyed! So… she–"

"Spare me, Kakashi." Obito sneered. "I know every detail about that mission, every little aspect. She did it herself, I've long since understood that. But it doesn't matter to me why, or how it happened. All that matters is what happened. Rin died. And a world that would allow that to happen, a world that would allow a young girl to run herself into the attack of one of her friends to save their village…"

Obito shook his head.

"Is an unjust world that must be replaced."

Kakashi almost couldn't believe it. He refused to accept that on its own. No… clearly there had to be something more. There must've been.

He briefly chose to pay attention to the battle between the other four combatants. Konan was holding her own, but very clearly losing against the three Leaf Ninja. In due time, she'd be forced to the ground.

Unfortunately, it was likely they wouldn't get that time, for the inferno that raged around them threatened to converge on them at any moment. If it did, they'd be forced to fall back, and, with his power to phase through anything not of his own dimension…

Obito could merely walk through it. Konan, likewise, probably had a method of escape as well.

But… To him, discovering the motivations of his old friend, diagnosing what plagued him, was far more important than–

No! He forced himself out of that mindset, and brought his kunai knife up to bear in front of him. He's a traitor to the Leaf Village! It doesn't matter why he's doing this, only that he has. For that… For what he's done…

He took a solitary step forward. "You truly think the world itself is unjust just because Rin died!? Is that really the only reason!?"

Obito's expression morphed somewhat, now almost angrily glaring at him.

"Do I need any other? I will bring into existence a world where none will be forced to suffer." Obito spoke to him past the flames raging around them, just as trees began to topple all around them, crashing down to the earth. "That is my goal. Why should I falter in that?"

Kakashi shook his head once more. "Do you see me raging against the entire world just because everyone close to me has died?"

Obito tilted his head, as if to ask, 'what's your point?'

"I have lost just as much as you, I've suffered just as much as you, and yet I do not lash out at the world around me! I do not kill my former allies, I do not attack the Leaf Village out of some vain attempt to 'fix' the world." He remembered back to something Naruto had told him what seemed like ages ago now. "And I would never try and kill my old mentor, my old village, by assaulting Konoha with the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Another tree hit the earth behind him, sending up a shower of sparks as the burning wood lit the grass itself ablaze. He could feel flames tickling his shins, his soles, but he did not falter in his position, nor his conviction. He stared at the man before him, eyes hard.

"Oh…? Figured that out, did you?" Obito didn't look pleased. Not even remotely. "How did you come across that information?"

He shook his head. "The Nine-Tails itself told Naruto back during your invasion of the Sound Village. He told him that you were the one who sicked him upon the town, that you had been responsible for the attack."

Obito nodded slowly, as if accepting that without much difficulty.

"And?" He looked up at him. "So what?"

He felt fury fill him for the first time as he took a step forward, even as the fire threatened to close in around the two of them. He heard his teammates shout out for him to get out, that it was too late, they needed to go, but he ignored them, stepping further into the ring of flame, continuing to yell at his old friend.

"So what…" He whispered, before rounding on the man in a haze of anger. "So what!? You killed Minato and Kushina! You orphaned Naruto! You were responsible for hundreds, maybe thousands of deaths in the Leaf Village, and all you can fucking say for yourself is so what!?"

"Would you have me say something else?" Obito shrugged casually, as if entirely unaffected. "Would you have me say that I regretted what I did? Would you have me say that my entire life's work was for nothing? Tell me, Kakashi, what magical answer are you looking for from me?"

He didn't know. He didn't think there was a single thing the man could say that would earn him Kakashi's forgiveness, and yet, despite that, he watched Obito's face morph into a mocking smile once more.

"How about this," He uttered callously. "If I said I was sorry, would that make it easier for you, Kakashi?"

He wasn't sure why those words affected him as much as they did, but he found his teeth grinding together once more as he pushed off of the ground with his left foot. He charged the man across from him in a rage, entirely uncaring of the flames that would consume them both in but a few seconds.

He channeled a Chidori into his right hand, ignoring the way his mind 'helpfully' supplied his own words to Sasuke, that Chidori was something to be used to protect one's friends, not to harm them, as he swung it forward at Obito's body.

Naturally, he passed straight through him.

"Well… if that's the case… I wouldn't hold your breath."

When he turned back around, it was to find the rapidly shrinking eye of the inferno empty.

Obito was gone.

And he was about to be burned to a crisp.

Before that could happen, however, a wooden beam erupted out of the flames, and wrapped itself around his torso. It pulled him out quickly, just before the flames would've devoured what was left of that tiny safe zone.

He landed on the ground beside Tenzo, Anko, and Guy. When he looked to where they'd been fighting, he saw only flame, and fallen logs, rapidly burning to a crisp.

"You alright, Kakashi?" Guy asked him, stepping up with a small frown on his face. "That guy… he was…"

"Yeah…" He confirmed, nodding his head. "Obito Uchiha. My former teammate."

Anko and Tenzo exchanged a worried look, but otherwise said nothing as he pushed himself up.

"Where are you going, Kakashi?" Guy placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him in place. "You're burnt pretty bad. You need to at least patch yourself up, or–"

He shook his head, pushing the man's hand off his shoulder as he stepped forwards, forming signs, and then slammed his hands down.

Pakkun appeared just in front of him.

"Yo, boss, whatcha' need." The canine asked him.

He held out his arm and allowed the dog to sniff it. "Ah, that Tobi guy's smell, right?"

He nodded, ignoring the way the others looked at him.

"We're following them to their base of operations."

"Alone?" Anko asked him cautiously. "Wasn't our mission to stall them from getting the Jinchuuriki and Beasts back to their base? We never said anything about infiltration."

He couldn't meet their eyes. "That doesn't matter, we have a more important mission now, we need to track them down."

Before he could take another step, Tenzo and Guy together had stopped him this time.

"Kakashi, you need to slow down." Tenzo stressed. "The four of us can barely handle those two, let alone their entire force. It'd be suicide to charge in after them."

He tried to resist them, but his adrenaline was fading, replaced with a smoldering pain along his legs that wasn't dissipating, and an icy feeling buried within his heart. "Can't slow down. Not until… not until I kill him."

"And is that really what you want, Kakashi?" Guy asked, sounding concerned. "To kill him?"

He found he had no answer.

/-/

"Are we there yet?"

As their small party of six trekked through the wilderness on their way towards the Land of Iron, the meeting point of the Kage Summit, Tsunade shot Sasuke what could only be described as a death glare, and he watched as Naruto's legs wobbled, as if he could only take so much more of this before he'd keel over.

"No." Tsunade let out between clenched teeth. "For the umpteenth time, we are not there yet."

Moegi, Konohamaru, and Udon all pouted. "This sucks…" One of them muttered.

If they saw Naruto reach for a kunai, evidently considering just killing them and being done with it, then they didn't much react.

"How about we practice something?" Sasuke offered to the three, who seemed to think that that was a pretty boring idea, but that it might at least be better than nothing. "Alright, we'll stick with something that can be done on the go. We'll start with tree climbing."

Naruto looked to him a bit curiously, seemingly finding the connection to that being the first thing Kakashi had taught them, and nodded, as if pleased with the idea.

"Tree climbing?" Konohamaru asked. "Uh… I can already climb trees, Sasuke sensei."

He smiled a bit amusedly. "With your chakra?"

"Oh… no."

"Then that's what we'll be practicing today." He clapped his hands a single time, getting their attention as they continued to walk towards a rather snowy mountain in the distance. "Obviously, the three of us have walked by several trees on our way so far. Whenever you can, I want you to channel chakra into your feet, and then do this…"

Sasuke faced a nearby tree, and, almost effortlessly, ran up the side of it. When he reached the top, he backflipped off, landing in a crouch back down on the ground.

"Woah…" Udon muttered quietly, and Sasuke couldn't deny that he felt some small sense of pride at that.

"I-I can do that too!" Konohamaru shot out almost instantly, unwilling to admit that Sasuke had done something kind of cool. "Watch this!"

As they all figured out rather quickly, Konohamaru could not, in fact, do that too. As his back hit the ground, and he let out a low groan of pain, Sasuke did his best to shut Naruto up before the boy could laugh at his student's expense.

It really didn't work that well; his best friend's chortling was fairly loud.

"S-SHUT UP!"

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto spoke unconvincingly. "Keep practicing, don't let me stop you."

"Keep practicing?" Sasuke turned to his best friend with a devilish smile. "And who should help them keep practicing?"

Naruto seemed to have a moment of realization before he turned towards Sasuke with a glare.

"I really don't like you much today."

"That's fair." Sasuke said, inclining his head towards his students. "Chop-chop. Get to it, they won't teach themselves."

Naruto shot a very unflattering gesture his way as he walked over to the three Genin. "Alright, so, when you're working on tree climbing-"

They traveled for perhaps another two hours like that, with Naruto training his students whilst he and Tsunade talked all things, ranging from their respective practices to tips with working on Medical Ninjutsu, which he'd been, admittedly, slacking on lately.

It was not until they saw three figures on the edge of their vision that Tsunade held a hand up, silencing him, and he turned to his students, silencing them in turn.

"Who is that, Lady Tsunade?" He asked cautiously, stepping forward. "Enemies?"

"No… not enemies." Tsunade sighed out. "Not particularly friends, either, but not enemies. Watch yourselves, and don't speak unless spoken to."

He nodded, unsure as to just who they'd be dealing with as Tsunade signaled them all forward, and they walked over towards the figures at a moderate pace. It took them perhaps 10 minutes to actually catch up with them, but when they did, said figures greeted them with welcoming smiles…

Or, well, Sasuke thought they should've been welcoming, in reality they were saccharine, just a bit too sweet and caring to be real.

"Ah, Tsunade. It's been an awfully long time since I saw you last." Said a tiny old man atop another, massive man, being carried along through the tundra. "Why… end of the Third Shinobi World War, during the signing ceremony, I recall you being present, I do believe."

It was rather clear from Tsunade's facial expressions alone that she had no real want to relive that experience at all, but she seemed to rid herself of that, taking on the same mask that the man now walking alongside them wore.

"Yes, though I admit I do not recall seeing either of these two at the time," Tsunade gestured to his two guards. "Who might they be, Ōnoki?"

The man's name sparked… something at the back of Sasuke's mind, as if he should probably know who this was. He couldn't manage to recall, however, and, judging from the fact that neither Naruto, nor his own team of Genin reacted, he assumed that they might be minor diplomatic figures.

"Ah, yes, where are my manners," The man spoke in a tone that seemed to suggest he was being incredibly gracious to be saying any of this at all, and it immediately rubbed Sasuke the wrong way. "The one carrying me is Akatsuchi, my personal guard. The one alongside us is Kurotsuchi, my granddaughter, heiress to the title of Tsuchikage."

Both gave modest nods, though he and Naruto were far more concerned with the last words the man had spoken.

"Tsuchikage?" Sasuke spoke up, before realizing Tsunade had expressly told him not to speak unless spoken to as the three newcomers all turned to him. "Ah, that is… my apologies, I–"

"And who would this be, Tsunade?"

Tsunade seemed only very slightly peeved that he'd spoken out of turn. "I'm sure they can introduce themselves, no?"

He took the less than subtle hint, stepping forward and bowing slightly. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, a Jonin of the Hidden Leaves." He gestured to the three students beside him. "This is my Genin team."

"Ah, I suppose it comes as no surprise the Last Uchiha of all people would ascend so fast." The man nodded, if not entirely, then mostly ignoring Konohamaru and his crew. "And you?" He pointed to his best friend.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Jonin of the Hidden Leaves."

"Uzumaki… ey? That's a name I haven't heard in quite the while." Ōnoki stroked his beard. "Ever since the Whirlpool went under… ah, well, no use in old stories is there?" He shook his head, despite Naruto looking very intrigued about what the man had just casually uttered. "Still, to not know the leader of one of the other major Ninja Villages immediately," He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Tsunade, what are you teaching them nowadays?"

Sasuke found himself rather surprised that the man in front of him was the Tsuchikage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Stone, and turned to Tsunade to see how she would retort. If anything, she looked even more annoyed than before, but masked that as best as she could by biting down on the inside of her cheek.

He felt reassured; at least sure that she would try for a diplomatic approach, despite this man's constant poking and prodding.

"Well, knowing your old age, it's likely you could be replaced any day now; no need to make the youngsters remember the face of a man on his way out."

Or… Sasuke thought as his eyes practically popped out of his skull. She won't even remotely do that.

The Tsuchikage's aides seemed equally as shocked, though, from the small smirk on the granddaughter's face, Sasuke gathered that she was rather amused about that particular quip.

"Why, you!" Ōnoki dismounted his guardian, and stood up to his full height upon the ground before them… Which equated to about six extra inches. "I'll have you know I've no intention to be–"

A second later, there was a loud cracking noise that seemed to originate from the old man's back. Nearly every single one of them winced, and Moegi was even kind enough to approach him and offer help.

"Ugh." Kurotsuchi shook her head exasperatedly. "C'mon old man, is this seriously going to happen every time you strain yourself at all?"

Akatsuchi kneeled down and picked the man up, who, despite his whining's, could do barely anything at all to stop the impromptu piggyback ride. "Sorry for him, he can get a bit crotchety when his back is hurting."

"W-Why you–" Ōnoki looked to rise again, but as he did, his back cracked once more, and he evidently gave up.

"Well, we'll be heading towards the complex a bit faster I think, given the old man's back, he'll need a bed to rest on tonight." Kurotsuchi explained as Akatsuchi ran ahead of her, quite literally booking it down the path towards the snowy mountains in the distance. "Once again, sorry about his behavior and all that. Hopefully, we can all come to an understanding at the summit." She winked at them one final time. "Alright, see you there!"

She dashed off, following behind her ally, and Sasuke couldn't at all blame Naruto for letting out a quiet, "Well that was weird."

/-/

"MOVE!"

She did so, ducking underneath the explody-pain's rockets, which lit up the wall just behind her, quite literally shaking the base around them. She winced, once more thinking hard on the fact that if the hallway around them collapsed…

Well, that was probably it.

Just beyond her, as they snaked through the base as fast as they possibly could, Kabuto squared off against Black Zetsu. Though their initial exchanges had been fairly close, Kabuto had slowly started to edge out a victory over his opponent. He finished their little fight off with a flurry of blows from his chakra scalpels, cutting several key tendons and sending Black Zetsu toppling to the floor.

They ran straight past him, not even worrying about trying to finish anyone off, or truly defeat them. That didn't matter. What mattered today was survival, getting out of here with their lives. Anything else came second.

Just behind her, Itachi broke away from Pain, lighting the corridor up with a 'Fireball' Jutsu to cover their retreat. He pointed down one of the many hallways they could take, and the three of them rushed inwards, and (hopefully) out of the combat zone.

"Those guys are tough as nails," Sakura panted out, exhausted even after only having fought them for a good two minutes. "I can remember fighting one of Pain's forms back when I was a Genin, in the Sound Village… and, well, he certainly hasn't gotten weaker, that's for sure."

Kabuto and Itachi both nodded.

"His ability to manipulate multiple bodies at a time, what we think is a hallmark of the Rinnegan's abilities, makes him a formidable opponent, even for I." Itachi spoke as he motioned for them to take a stairway upwards just ahead. "Quite frankly, I've seen him resurrect those forms numerous times. Even with him having no real defense against Genjutsu, my primary method of attack, I'd have difficulty in fighting against him for long, let alone killing him."

The base was evidently on high alert, for a few lower-rung guards got in their way. Well, only a few of those who saw them actually tried to fight, and Sakura had a feeling that was due to the presence that Itachi Uchiha commanded. Just by looking in his eyes alone, one felt fear, and hell, if he'd already gotten them that far, they were likely under a Genjutsu already. To then have to face him in combat, to have to stand in his way when he was charging right at them, through them…

She was glad she only had to imagine that terror.

They took out the few obstacles that arose and flew from the base as fast as they could. Along the way they ran into Kisame, but Itachi put him under a fairly powerful Genjutsu, one which made him think they'd run the opposite direction.

"That's…" Sakura panted as her lungs burned. "A neat trick."

Itachi actually smirked ever so slightly, and it was good for Sakura to know that even he, as bereft of emotions as she'd ever seen a human being, could feel pride.

It was another few minutes before they eventually burst out into the open air, and into the forests and other natural formations that disguised the main Akatsuki hideout. Almost immediately, Itachi turned to two of them while still running.

"Rather obviously, they're going to pursue us." He explained, and Sakura nodded her head, having already assumed that would be the case. "Right now, our sole goal is to get as far away as we can. The Jinchuuriki are an unfortunate loss, but we have no means of retrieving them as is."

They all nodded, and Sakura, personally, felt horrible about the possibility that Fu might be among them. She'd been taken before their battle against Tobi could finish, but… well, they'd not been winning.

Honestly, she'd worry more for Naruto and Sasuke if she could afford to do anything other than think of herself.

And as they charged into the trees, with the distant alarm gradually blaring quieter and quieter, Sakura found that she didn't feel any modicum of relief.

/-/

It was a good day later, and the three of them were still dashing through the leaves of the surrounding forests on their way towards… something. They'd never really informed Sakura as to where they were actually planning on going. She'd have liked the location to be somewhere as familiar as the Leaf Village, though she'd have taken somewhere like the Waterfall, or the Wave.

It was as she was thinking about this and that that Itachi chose to speak.

"How are you holding up, Sakura?"

She thought on that for a moment, before giving a '50/50' gesture with one hand. "Alright, I suppose? Things could certainly be a lot better."

He nodded with a small smile. "That doesn't sound as bad as it could be, though."

She gave a hum of approval at that, agreeing with him. From his words, however, she gathered that Itachi Uchiha was, rather surprisingly, a glass half-full kind of person.

"So, how has Sasuke been doing?"

Ah, Sakura thought to herself. Here come the awkward questions.

"Oh, you know, he's been… Fine?"

"Would you mind defining 'fine' for me?"

She grimaced.

"Well, he's…" She sighed, deciding to just admit it. "He's been focusing almost all of his effort into trying to become strong enough to one day kill you."

Itachi nodded, seeming entirely unaffected by that fact.

"That sounds about right."

Sakura looked his way as they hopped through a few branches.

"And… That doesn't bother you?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said that. But… it's expected, is it not?" His gaze seems to falter in that moment. "With what I'm guilty of… It's undeniable that he'd feel that way."

She couldn't deny that, but…

"What really happened that day?"

Itachi's eyes widened somewhat, and he turned to her with a confused look in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is… The person who killed all of those people, who massacred his own Clan for 'practice'… and the 'you' who's running alongside me now… They sound like entirely different people. So… What I'm asking is what really happened that day to make you, the person beside me, do that?"

He looked down at the branches beneath him, with a guilty expression set upon his features. After a moment spent deliberating, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Well…"

And then a kunai buried itself in his right eye.

Sakura's own eyes widened, even as Itachi let out an agonized gasp of pain. Kabuto immediately got in front of him, shielding him from any further attacks, as he surveyed their surroundings, looking to see where the knife had been fired out from, but he couldn't seem to find a thing.

It was then that a figure launched themselves at the three of them, and Itachi, even down an eye, was able to get in front of Kabuto, and block the person's kick, throwing them to the forest floor below.

The three of them fell to join the man, and Sakura felt a kernel of fear grow in her chest as she saw someone she didn't recognize, and yet… did.

"Good to see the three of you out and about." Tobi… at least, she assumed the unmasked man before them was Tobi, as, aside from the lack of the orange, spiraling porcelain mask he normally wore, the two looked identical, smiled at them confidently. "My apologies about your eye, Itachi, but your Amaterasu wasn't something I felt like dealing with, and as it's oh so very rare of you to drop your guard like you just did, I simply had to take that opportunity, I hope you understand." He gave a mocking laugh. "Still, to think your brother of all things would cost you your eye… well, I suppose we all have our vices, and it is just a tad bit ironic, is it not?"

"So… you finally decided to reveal your face," Itachi ground his teeth together, bulldozing through the topic at hand, and Sakura noted this was perhaps the first time she'd ever seen the normally stoic and unfeeling man so clearly bothered. In his defense, he'd just lost an eye. "Or did something else happen, Obito?"

Her heart fluttered at the confirmation of Sasuke's and Kakashi's theory, but otherwise, she stayed silent. Kabuto looked to be having a very similar experience.

"Ah, y'know, ran into an old friend, caught up a bit, we tried to kill each other," Obito shrugged casually. "Normal day, honestly."

Itachi panted heavily as he ripped the knife out of his eye socket, and sopped blood onto the ground below him. Almost immediately, Sakura activated some of her wood style, letting vines and roots flow upon her to use as fuel, and tried to move in to heal him, but he waved her away.

"No time for that." He muttered through rasping breaths. "We can't beat him in a straight up fight, especially now that my Amaterasu is gone. I have a plan, but it's a risk."

"This entire exchange is a risk." Sakura spat out, more than a little on edge as she let her curse mark flow across her skin like flame, turning her skin a dark, purplish gray as her hair extended. "Just tell us what we're doing."

Itachi nodded, even as they began backing away from Obito, who approached them at a leisurely pace.

"We need to split up."

She didn't very much like the sound of that idea, mostly because she didn't think she'd be getting away from any Akatsuki on her own, but a second later, Itachi assuaged those fears by turning to the third member of their little rung of traitors.

"Kabuto, you're a lower rung target for them at best. They're after me because I'm one of the most powerful members of the Akatsuki, and Sakura because they plan on experimenting on her. In contrast, they barely have any reason to track you down at all. No offense meant."

Kabuto bristled slightly as he shook his head, evidently kind of miffed, but realizing this probably wasn't the time.

"None taken."

"They'll want Sakura and I, and that means your chances of escape are much higher running opposite to us."

Kabuto seemed to find problem with that, but before he could retort, Obito gave his own response.

"He's right, I honestly couldn't care less about you. Leave, if you want, it'll only secure my victory."

Kabuto ground his teeth together, and stepped forward, but Itachi placed his arm in front of him, blocking his path.

"Go. Break off from here and run Northwest. We'll go southwest. If all goes well, we'll meet up in a day or two."

"And if it doesn't?"

Itachi said nothing, but, a moment later, he seemed to break slightly, coughing continuously for a few seconds and spitting up blood onto the floor below him.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're totally got this." Kabuto spoke sarcastically, then sighing, before looking back up at the two of them with a hard expression. "That settles it. If you think there's a damned chance I leave the two of you here alone to die, then think again!"

Kabuto walked right up beside them and took a battle stance. Some of that must've amused Obito, for he let out a quiet laugh.

"I'm honestly surprised that a snake such as you would stay here." Obito said. "You must realize that even with your help, they stand no chance at all."

"I won't abandon them, no matter what the odds are." Kabuto spoke. "That's final. Even if I am a 'snake'."

"That's fine, I suppose it's your choice, after all." Obito nodded his way, before cracking his neck. "Just… Don't hate me for this… or…"

He smiled unsettlingly.

"Do, if you'd like. It makes no difference to me."

End Chapter 81

Alright, that's all for this week!

Next week (Yep, finally back to the weekly schedule, took me long enough lol) We'll see the results of our little battle here, and then move into the climax of the story!

So, uh, stay tuned I suppose!