Itachi ducked under a kick and tsked, before lashing out with his own kick. His Sharingan swirled madly in his eyes as Madara disappeared from his view. Acting on instinct, Itachi jumped up, forming hand seals as he went. He made the final seal as Madara reappeared right where he was last, and took a deep breath.

"Fire-style! Fireball Jutsu!"

Madara dropped down into the river as the fireball passed over him harmlessly. His Mangekyou spun lazily as he waited for the fire above him to stop. He began making seals as the fire started lessening. He leaped out of the water the second the fire stopped, and brought his final seal to his mouth.

"Fire-style! Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A large dragon made of fire burst from his mouth, and launched at the still-airborne Itachi. Itachi's eyes widened briefly, as he made a single seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Itachi used the clone that appeared as a spring-board, and kicked off towards the river. The fire dragon engulfed the clone.

Itachi tsked again as he landed on the water, a few metres away from Madara. He gave Kisame, who was fighting rather evenly against Gai, a glance, before returning his attention to his ancestor. His brow furrowed slightly as he looked the other Uchiha over. 'If this is Uchiha Madara,' He thought. 'then who is Tobi?' He had seen the masked man just a few days ago, no where near Konoha. And if what he heard throughout the village was true, then Madara had been in Konoha long before Tobi returned from Kirigakure. 'Just why is Tobi using Madara's name as an alias? They act nothing alike.'

"What are you thinking about, Itachi-kun?" Madara asked, a barely-there tone of sarcasm in his voice. Itachi felt his mouth turn down into a frown. 'On second thought, Tobi is spot on when he's serious.' Itachi looked out to the village, before turning to Kisame, who was in the midst of slashing downwards with Samehada.

"Kisame." Itachi called, making the shark man pause and look over at him.

"Yeah?"

"We're going. Our target is no longer in Konoha, and this battle with end badly for both of us." Kisame sighed and sheathed his sword. He leaped towards Itachi, sending a weary glance at Madara, who was smirking. Itachi closed his eyes and began molding his chakra. Kisame looked down at him and frowned.

"Isn't using that a bit overkill?" Itachi gave him a non-commital hum, before his eyes snapped open, revealing his Mangekyou.

"AMATERASU!"

A/N: I know, it's really late. But I've been swamped with some stuff happening IRL, and my laptop spazzed out on me and now won't turn on. So I've been borrowing my brother's laptop whenever I can to write some chapters.

Although, TBH, this chapter's been done since like a month ago xD. I've actually forgotten about it. Sorry.