[A/N: One more update for you before I go to bed...I really need to stop staying up so late...]

4.

Naruto didn't sleep very well that night; the strange happenings of that evening kept swirling through his head, making him restless. He wasn't sure what he could do to help save the other Konoha, but the alternate Sasuke seemed convinced he would be able to.

When Naruto finally gave up on sleeping and got up at around seven the next morning, Sasuke was still there, curled up on the livingroom couch and hugging the pillow Naruto had given him.

Naruto paused in the kitchen door to watch him. It had been really strange last night, to have his teammate's double there as if nothing had ever happened between them. Still, it was clear on close inspection that Naruto's Sasuke and the Sasuke from the other Konoha were different people. Now that he was sleeping, it was even more obvious—Naruto had never seen that peaceful an expression on his teammate's face.

Okay, enough staring! Naruto told himself. What if he woke up? He'd think you were totally weird.

Sasuke woke up a short time later when the kettle of water for Naruto's morning ramen whistled as it began to boil. "Ramen for breakfast too, I see," he said, covering a yawn.

"Yup!" Naruto replied with a grin, setting two cups of instant ramen on the kitchen table. "After that we should get to work. What do you want to do first?"

"There weren't any books on seals or genjutsu in my world's library, so I want to try yours. I've already looked around a bit, but I think I need you along to explain things."

"Okay, sure," Naruto said as he poured the hot water over the dried noodles. "But I don't think we should be walking around the village with you looking like that."

Sasuke inspected the clothing he was wearing, looking confused. "What's wrong with this? There's no stains, and it's not indecent or anything..."

Naruto started to say something, then stopped—now might not be the best time to explain his and Sasuke's history. "It's just...well, Sasuke isn't around here right now, and it might attract a lot of attention if you turned up looking like him." Naruto was actually pretty surprised that no one had picked up on his visitor's presence in the two days he'd already been in Konoha, considering the fact that he basically had a sign on the back of his jacket saying 'Hello, I'm an Uchiha,' not to mention the necklace declaring the same. "You probably should take your jacket and necklace off," Naruto said. "I'll see if I've got a jacket or a hat or something for your hair."

"I'm not wearing anything orange," Sasuke said firmly, crossing his arms.

Naruto sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that..."

…...

Half an hour later, Naruto and his visitor were on their way to the Konoha Library. After a great deal of rummaging, Naruto had managed to find a red knitted hat that Iruka had given him for a birthday present last year—Iruka had said he could trade it in for an orange one once they were back in stock, but Naruto had never gotten around to it.

At first, Sasuke had complained about having to mess up his hair and refused to put the hat on, so Naruto had finally taken matters into his own hands, shoving the hat onto Sasuke's head and dragging him out into the street.

"You're so meeeean," Sasuke whined as they climbed the hill to the library, smoothing out the locks of hair that weren't covered by the hat.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Naruto snapped. "Haven't you got more important things to think about than your stupid hair?"

"I suppose," Sasuke said, although he was still pouting a bit. "I'm not really used to that sort of thing yet."

"Which?" Naruto asked, confused. "The hat thing, or the world-disappearing thing?"

"The important-things-to-think-about thing," Sasuke answered.

That didn't do anything to relieve Naruto's confusion at all. "Yeah...I think you're going to have to explain that," he said.

Sasuke sighed. "Everyone in my Konoha is...very shallow. They don't think about things very much, they just go along happily in their little world like they were programmed to do when Madara created it. In fact, they're so happy that they'll probably keep on like that until it all collapses around them. Anyway, I was like that too, until you turned up and everything started getting strange." He laughed nervously. "This is the most I've ever actually thought about anything, really. It's all very new."

Remembering his time in the alternate Konoha, Naruto realized that his friends' doubles had seemed quite carefree, even if they had bickered among themselves quite a bit. "So they haven't realized anything's wrong yet?"

"No, and I doubt any of them will before everything ends," Sasuke replied. "That's why we have to do something."