Dodging another jab from Sasuke, Sakura was sure now that the sword wasn't real, but his fists certainly were. She knew that her bruised and broken ribs were real too.

Naruto's blood that had been on her neck was gone, and while his shredded body was still in the same spot, the image was flipped. If it was real, then she should be seeing the other side of his body. They had started fighting on Naruto's left and now they were on his right.

All those little things started to add up.

Finally, Sakura took a risk by internalizing her focus, amid battle, to analyze herself.

The sheer fact that she couldn't find anything only confirmed it to her. After nearly a half an hour of exertion, her chakra levels should have been depleting, but they appeared to be at peak levels. There was no doubt that she was under an extremely powerful jutsu.

The question was now was how to escape it.

Leaping a long distance apart from Sasuke as he tried to flip her and she countered, there was finally a few seconds for her to try to break it. Concentrating and forming the seal, Sakura tried to release the genjutsu.

But as she had feared, it was not so easy to break. If it had been, the pain of her ribs should have been enough to break through it anyway. That really only left her one option.

Sasuke made to charge forward, and Sakura braced herself. She wasn't going to make it another five minutes at the rate they were going. She had to end it.

Sasuke's sword was in an attack position, but it was not in the best position to strike a fatal blow. Sakura swallowed thickly staring at the blade. She was sure it was a fake, but it looked so real.

But following through with her decision, and just before Sasuke's fist could connect with its target, Sakura threw herself onto the katana.

The pain was so intense that Sakura was sure she had to be wrong about all of it. She was sure for just a moment that she was about to die. It was just like when Sasori stabbed her, only this time, there was no Chiyo to save her.

But then, slowly, the intense pain faded, and the cloudy day turned into a cloudless early dawn sky. Naruto's bloody corpse disappeared, and the katana in Sasuke's hand turned into one of his fists.

She was still hurt; her ribs were screaming inside of her chest, and now her breastbone was fractured from Sasuke's latest punch.

His eyes were dilated, indicating he was still caught in the illusion, but at least he wasn't moving, for the time being.

Sakura wobbled back, holding her chest gently, trying to get her chakra to cooperate and take away the worst of the damage. The enemy was no doubt still nearby, so she had to be ready.

Already, her eyes were scanning their surroundings, her ears strained for any clues.

Just as the green chakra began to align the broken ribs, one of the sharp fragments punctured her right lung.

Stunned by the suddenness and the new strain on her breathing, Sakura fell to her knees, one eye scrunched shut and biting her lower lip until it bled.

It was the perfect chance for the enemy to strike.

Sasuke spent a few moments following up his first blow. He had to capitalize on Sakura's wound, but she was skillfully managing to dodge him. Suddenly, he froze.

He was just about to land a blow to end her struggle when his head began pounding and his eyesight blurring. His vision went in and out, and he saw things he was sure couldn't be real.

For just a moment, he could have sworn he was tree hopping in the forest nearby. But…it wasn't him tree hopping. It was…

Sasuke tried to shake it off, knowing that Sakura would capitalize on his moment of weakness at any second. It seemed strange to him that his tiny slip of a teammate from their time as a genin had grown up to become the woman he was fighting. He would never have guessed it back then.

The pain in his head and his eyes stopped Sasuke once more, and he nearly fell to his knees.

Again, he saw the person tree hopping, getting closer to the outpost where he was fighting Sakura at. It lasted longer than the first time, and Sasuke could not shrug it off. He had to know who the person was; he knew somehow that he knew that person. It was…

Sasuke finally fell to his knees as his head exploded with pain. Two conflicting forces were tearing at his mind, and for the first time, Sasuke was able to see it.

The first thing he was sure of that was he was in some kind of genjutsu. He was able to see now that it countered his sharingan by making him believe that he could not use it. The illusion was aided by the fact that there was a poison in his system making it hard for him to use his chakra.

The second force was coming from his eyes. He was in fact seeing something from someone else's eyes through his own. The link was in their eyes. It felt like…

Sasuke broke free from the genjutsu after several long moments of concentrated effort, turning his Sharingan on to aid him.

He fell completely to the ground, panting for air.

He looked over to his left and saw Sakura also out of breath on the ground, gently cradling her chest as she tried to heal it.

Her eyes were tired but shone alert and bright with pain. She seemed as if she would be fine though, as her pained expression relaxed the longer she healed herself. He could already see a slight difference in the few moments he had been watching.

She also seemed to understand what had happened to them.

He knew in his head that what happened wasn't real, but he still felt the betrayal as if it were real. He both wanted to hurt her and run from her before she could hurt him in ways other beyond physical as he had been deceived into thinking she had. Sasuke had to stop looking at her.

He struggled to his feet, again seeing the treehopper, and knowing that their paths would not intersect if he did not get moving. His vision swam for a moment as he tried to force his chakra to work regularly.

Sakura followed his example when she saw him struggling and offered him a tiny syringe filled with a clear fluid after she stood. Sasuke forced himself to accept her antidote. It also raised his hackles to realize she did poison him, but he had to remind himself that he also attacked her when they were under the genjutsu.

After he administered the antidote, Sasuke forced himself to look at his former teammate once again. He wondered just how much of their fight was real and what was imagined. He knew some of the thoughts he had had were not his in origin, but they were extremely close to the truth. He also realized just how much their relationship had changed in a matter of days.

He strangely found that his gut twisted at the thought of losing that new relationship.

It was then he really felt responsible for her injuries.

He felt guilty, and all his lingering misgivings evaporated. His hand was the one that hurt her when she hadn't done him any harm.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but snapped his lips closed as another vision flashed through his eyesight. He had to go. Right away.

He didn't have time to apologize; he didn't have time to tell her to come with him in case whoever put them under genjutsu came for her. He had to hurry. He had to see…

Racing through the foliage and entering the forest without looking, Sasuke knew just where to go. The closer he got, the tighter his fists became. His teeth were already set on edge and his hair was standing on end. He knew who it was, but it just couldn't be. It was a million to one odds, as if he could that lucky.

The pain in his eyes was the same as it was on the battlefield mere days ago when he had last come across his brother.

Too soon, and yet not soon enough, Sasuke stood on the ground and looked up to see his big brother fly past him. It was Itachi. Not the mind-controlled variety, but his real big brother. He wasn't sure he how knew the difference.

Without thinking any more, Sasuke simply followed him.