Sasuke's eyes widened, attempting to see through the hurricane wind that had trapped them. He didn't even have time to open his mouth to snap at the blond that he wasn't doing anything. The ground gave away beneath his feet and he felt more than saw Naruto hit him, both vanishing into the dark abyss. He didn't even have time to consider the situation before he felt the ground once more, hitting it with enough force that he felt the wind leave his chest. Having Naruto on top of him didn't help in the slightest. He pushed the blond off of him but remained sitting on the ground, his head spinning.
"What the hell did you do, idiot!" He demanded, glaring at him. His Sharingan looked around the area and he saw that it was the same park they were just in. Was that wind some sort of joke someone was playing? He knew it would take a powerful earth user to make the ground empty out like that. Had Konoha caught on to what he was trying to do? He should have known they would be keeping an eye on Naruto at all hours, regardless of if the blond was just sitting around by himself. But if he was caught, why were they back in the park? Why not a cell, an interrogation room or really anything else? "If this is your idea of a joke, Naruto, I swear I'll kill you," he snapped, not in the mood for any of the moron's practical jokes.
Naruto had become a girl in this moment, screaming all the way through the hole, up until the point his scream was caught in his chest when they landed. "Oof!" Sasuke wasn't very helpful in the poor blondes situation as the raven haired boy shoved him off. The blonde just ended up rolling away, rubbing his chest and trying to get his breath back in order. "W-What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!" He sat up, giving Sasuke a dirty look before standing. "Well… whatever it was, it doesn't seem to have done anything." He was still inwardly blaming Sasuke, as if any second something would look out of place and Naruto would know this was a new ability of the Uchiha's… but the other was putting on a good act, pretending he had nothing to do with the sudden attack. "I suppose we should start where we left off?" A friendly hand pushed out in Sasuke's direction, offering to help him up if need be. But the offering didn't last long when Naruto spotted new figures merging from the top of the stairs, over the hill. "Dammit!" Naruto did it again, this time out of preservation of his friends life. Despite what the Uchiha had said, Naruto was determined to make sure he kept safe. So the blonde flung himself down on Sasuke before the other could even get up. There was a struggle, but Naruto was trying to get the boys hood on to cover his identity.
"Hey you two!" Crap! They had been caught. "Would you quit messing around?" Naruto's spiky blonde head popped up over Sasuke's as he peered in the direction of the newcomers. Surprise, surprise, it was Kiba— NO! With that nose he would surely figure out it was Sasuke! "Nothing to see here!" Naruto called back.
"Bullshit! I know that's Sasuke you have there, now I don't know what you two are doing… and I don't really want to know, but you missed our plans tonight."
Sasuke debated about pushing the blond off of him once more until he realized Naruto was trying to keep him hidden. He let it happen, his Sharingan fading to pure onyx as he heard voices approaching. Wait…what? He replayed those words in his mind, unable to fully comprehend what he was hearing. That was it, he thought with full on shock. Konoha had officially gone mad. In the three years Sasuke was gone, only Team Seven had retained their sanity and now Naruto was chasing him because the rest had lost their minds. He looked at Naruto, catching sight of blue eyes and knew he was confused as the Uchiha was. Having interacted in enough…interesting situations while in the Sound, Sasuke rolled with the punches. "Nothing is happening," he snapped, pushing Naruto off of him once more, his hood completely off. "Naruto was just out and I bumped into him," he lied, sending a look to the blond, silently hoping he would catch on.
Whoa! Naruto fell back, landing on the pavement, another dirty look was sent in the Uchiha's direction but it was quickly dropped when Sasuke responded almost as if he understood the situation. Eye's widened and stared up at Sasuke before the dumbest thing fell out of his mouth; "What the hell are you talking about?!" The blonde scrambled to his feet, he was having a moment of panic because for SOME reason, Kiba and the others weren't brandishing their weapons and charging the enemy. Naruto glanced between the two, then Kiba crossed his arms.
"Okay, whatever guys, can we just get a move on? If we hurry we can still make it in time."
In time for what!? "Aren't you guys going to attack?" Now the others looked just as confused.
"Naruto, its nearly eight, you two were training all day– among other things." He replied in such a perverted smirk that Naruto felt his stomach turn. They were training? And doing things? What things!? Not that it mattered, Naruto felt faint.
Sasuke wanted to either smack himself in the forehead or, more preferably, hit Naruto. The blond had zero sense to speak of, not that he was expecting a high level of intelligence. He did a mental check of all the things he was aware of, so far. Kiba and the others, his eyes lingered on Sakura for a moment, weren't attacking him. It seemed they had no idea he was a missing nin but they still knew who he was. Strange…it was like someone erased their memories of everything Orochimaru had done in the past. They were still friends…? Clearly they thought Naruto and he were friends or something more as Kiba had insinuated. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he meant.
"Actually," he started, relaxing his body as much as he could, given the situation. "We both really should change since we've been training all day," he said, making things up as he went along. Kiba was, hopefully, talking about spending time with everyone and that usually involved going out somewhere. "We'll catch up, alright?" He looked at Naruto once more, this time more with a glare that was sharp enough to make the blond not speak. Not that he was very confident it was going to work…
What the hell was going on!? The dumbstruck expression hadn't changed on Naruto while he stared at the others, now including Sasuke.
"Sure! We will meet you at the restaurant… just don't take too long, Chojio hasn't eaten in nearly three hours." With a laugh he turned and the others smiled before following. Once they had left and Naruto was sure they were out of hear shot, he turned on the Uchiha quickly.
Taking in a deep breath to give him exactly what was on his mind. But one look from the other caused him to choke and favor his words. "You have no idea what is going on either… do you?" He asked before walking around in a circle, taking in the surroundings. Nothing had changed… just the people, and last time he checked his phone– wait, HIS PHONE! Naruto's hand drove into his pocket and he groped around inside. "Wait…" He tried the other one. "I thought it was…" He patted his back pockets, his hidden breast pockets, hell, even the ground around him but his phone was no where to be seen. "My cell phone is gone!" He finally exclaimed as if THAT was the most important thing going on at the moment.
Sasuke looked right at him, face blank. "Because that's high on my priorities right now," he said, sarcasm lacing his tone. He watched the group go, still attempting to understand what was going on. They needed to find out and he wasn't doing that dressed like this. "We're going to your house, dobe," he said, grabbing Naruto's forearm in a strong grip. "I don't know what's going on but we need to find out." His voice was harsh but he didn't care. He hated being out of control and this situation was so far out of that state, that he could feel a small part of himself start to panic. He tried not to think about the fact that he was in Konoha, his face showing and no one was trying to attack him. He also ignored or rather pushed it down with an extreme amount of force the fact that he and Naruto were going to have to work together to figure out what was happening.
"It was a gift from Sakura!" He whined as Sasuke pulled him along. The Uchiha was right though, they needed to get somewhere safe, and as of now, his apartment was the best bet.
Traveling down the main streets of Konoha with Sasuke would have been a nightmare on any normal day. By now the elderly woman selling cakes would have screamed and run away, people would panic because hoards of ninja guards would come flying down from the roof tops. But this wasn't any normal day it seemed because as they were storming by, no one gave them a second glance. One girl even smiled at the two as they passed by, this was now giving Naruto another moment to ask; what the hell was going on!?
"Sasuke wait!" He finally pulled his arm free once they stopped at the stairs to his apartment building, secretly Naruto was impressed Sasuke still remembered where it was located, but they had no time to relive the past. "If we are going to work together, you can't drag me around like this, it's going to draw attention!" He exclaimed, then took a deep breath. "Lets just get inside." Naruto jumped up, not bothering to take the stairs as usual. When he landed outside the apartment he froze. There was a light on inside… was someone in there? The blonde glanced towards the Uchiha who wasn't far behind. "Stay there, I bet whoever it is will be expecting me, not you." He waved his hand in Sasuke's direction before stepping towards the door. A couple knocks sounded and a faint shuffle was heard inside, yet no one answered. Naruto braced himself, expecting… slightly hoping, to find a sexy girlfriend inside waiting for him. He turned the knob and pushed open the door. Light streamed in from the hall and Naruto disappeared into the entrance way.
"Hello?" His voice could be heard from outside, then it went quiet, so still that the background noise from the city below was muffing the sounds from within the apartment. Just when it looked like everything was perfectly calm, a scream erupted from within and Naruto flew out the door, flailing his arms as objects were thrown at him by a half naked, large figured woman.
"AHHHH! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!" Naruto abandoned Sasuke and the woman screamed at the Uchiha as well, chucking a metal pot at him. Meanwhile Naruto had landed below in the alley, breathing hard. "That was NOT my apartment!"
Despite standing a few feet back, that woman had good aim. Sasuke dodged out of the way, escaping behind Naruto until they were both hiding in the alley. "Last time I checked, it was," he said, looking back up to see the woman shout about annoying teenagers before going back inside. He looked out at the street to see a couple people staring at them but they just shook their heads before they kept walking. This was extremely strange… His eyes scanned the village, taking it in now that they had a moment and something caught his eye. Something that was very, very off. His eyes landed on the faces of the Hokage and he did a double take, his eyes focusing on the last two. He was used to seeing the Fourth, Naruto's father, a constant, even before he left the village. What he was not used to was the face that was beside it. It could have been a complete copy of the Fourth apart from the telling six marks on his cheeks. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.
Naruto's face was carved into the Hokage Mountain. He looked at the blond, mouth open only slightly as though he was going to say something. Too many thoughts were running through his head right now as he tried to understand this strange world they had landed themselves in. 'How can I become Hokage if I can't save one friend?' I didn't leave, Sasuke thought to himself, shock going through his system. Because he didn't leave, Naruto didn't have another reason to train apart from realizing his dream, a dream that had come true in this world. Why didn't I leave? There was only one reason Sasuke could come up with or rather one reason why he would leave: seeking power to get revenge. He didn't need to seek out that power because there was no revenge to get. Without vengeance, he didn't have any purpose to become stronger apart from becoming a good shinobi.
This was also a revelation that hit him like a bolt of lightning. Itachi…his brother was alive. He had to be. His entire clan, his mother and father, everyone. They were all alive because the Sasuke of this world wasn't obsessed with revenge. Either that or he had been explained the Uchiha coup and things had changed somehow. Maybe his entire family was still dead but he prayed to whatever gods might be listening that his brother was still in the village, still respected, still loved. He shook his head slightly, banishing the thoughts to the back of his mind for now. Reaching out a hand, he grabbed Naruto's, not caring about the position they were in. "You need to see this," he said in a quiet voice, still making sure the blond could hear him. He pulled him out to the street, keeping to the edge of it since he knew, of all things, this would shock him the most. "You did it, Naruto. In this world, you're the Hokage," he explained, unsure if the other's brain had stopped working at the sight. In his subconscious, he realized that his voice was a bit softer but pushed that thought to where the thoughts of Itachi hid in the dark.
Naruto melted against the wall, rubbing the creases across his forehead where one head protector piece would usually lay. Sasuke had gone quiet, of course he would, this was confusing as hell. Naruto's head tilted back, looking up towards the ledge both he and his companion had made the escape off of. If that wasn't his house then what? What could have possibly happened in a matter of one night to have a woman move into his apartment? He paid the rent! He was a good kid! Likely, as usual, the land lord must have found someone who was willing to pay more. But where was his stuff?
Blue eyes drifted towards his friend– well… to Sasuke, who hadn't said a word for the last three minutes, he usually wore a stern expression, one that never revealed what he was thinking, but now… now he looked startled. Naruto stood up properly, "I'm sure we will get to the bottom of this." Was really all he could say at this point, he would probably talk to the old hag, demand answers, then find a new home. It wasn't like he hadn't been screwed over before, right? But Sasuke didn't say a word back, he hadn't even given Naruto a look, before Naruto took a step closer and Sasuke's hand grabbed his. Naruto looked down in shock, feeling the warm temperature of the other against his bare skin. Sasuke took his hand? The thought was dismissed as the Uchiha pulled him out from the alley, Naruto made a small attempt to escape and demand to stop being pulled around. Yet the way Sasuke stopped him, the way he turned the blonde to face the mountain, and finally how Naruto looked up at the faces, expecting to believe the other had gone mad. It caused his chest to hurt, his lungs to crave air, as the wind was knocked out of him in that brief moment of staring up at the familiar face of the current Hokage.
Slowly, Naruto sank to his knees, there on the street, no word was uttered from his lips, but tears, tears began to well up in his eyes. The shock coursed through his body, he tried to blink, but it only caused those tears to slide down his cheeks. Suddenly the ninja sprang to life, jumping up from his place on the ground and making a beeline towards the mountain. He didn't care if Sasuke was left behind, he didn't care who shouted at him for running along the roof tops. Higher and higher, Naruto raced until he was on the tallest peak of the buildings. There he could not deny it, the face, HIS face, was on the mountain, gleaming in the rock, just like his dreams had shown.
What was this? Naruto finally snapped out of the dream like state. This world… this title… was he dead? If so then did that mean Sasuke was as well?
