"Is that all you needed?"

"Yeah, thanks for the help Sasuke" said Naruto, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry I had to contact you so soon, no one could make head nor tails of this thing" he said, gesturing towards the massive black tangle of ink on the floor. "I figured that your weird eyes could help us out".

I had been surprised to be called back so early after leaving, I had only been on my 'journey of atonement' for a year, but after what Naruto and Kakashi had done for me, who was I to refuse?

"I've never seen anything like it" the blond muttered. "Time manipulation, huh? This is alarming stuff. I wonder who would be brave enough, let alone skilled enough, to stick their noses into this. Seals are dangerous business - I should know."

I looked up at him from where I was crouching, next to the seal. "You sure we can just leave it here? Who do we have that would even be able to decipher something like this?" I mean, I had been able to at least figure out what the seal was meant for, thought I had no idea how or why it was constructed.

"Ever since we lost Pervy-Sage, the Leaf's seal knowledge has been a bit light" he said, putting his newly gained Hashirama hand to his forehead. "I can ask Kakashi to send a request out to the other villages, see if they can't lend us a hand with some fuinjutsu specialists, but for now I'm simply stumped."

"Well" I said, standing up and brushing the dirt off my knees, "I should probably get going."

Suddenly Naruto's eyes lit up. "Your weird eye, the Rinnegan one, it helped you identify this thing, right?"

I tilted my head to the side as I looked back at him, not quite sure where this was headed.

"Why don't you look over it for the time being? Maybe take some notes, record all the info you can in the meantime".

I groaned at the suggestion. Lookout duty? Seriously?

"Now now, this is dangerous stuff, and we wouldn't want anyone with poor intentions to get their hands on something like this, would we?" he said

His point was valid, if not annoying. If there existed something that worried Naruto, the strongest ninja in history, it would make sense that it should be dealt with using extreme caution.

"Fine," I said, half annoyed, half joking "but you owe me. Big time."

"Eh, you'll do fine. Thanks! I'll relay the message to Kakashi, let him know to get the word out. Until then, I'll make sure to drop by and switch with you, so you don't get too lonely." He joked, before turning and leaving the chamber.

Well, it wouldn't be too bad, at least. I was right under the village after all, so I wouldn't be bored on my breaks. Maybe I could go catch up with some of my peers, some of them would probably appreciate that. I smiled at the thought, turning back to the massive seal on the ground.

I began channeling chakra into my left eye, adjusting to the shift in perspective it brought. While its more "mundane" enhancements, things like heightened perception, pattern recognition, and minor sensory abilities were always active, if it was given just a bit more it allowed me to "see" chakra. Not on the level of the Byakugan, of course, but for something like a seal it was more than enough.

I didn't need to use the Rinnegan to tell that this seal – and chamber – was old. At least as old as the village. This was concerning. I was never too big on fuinjutsu, but I knew that for truly complex seals, the creator was about the only person that could work with them. Even my own cursed seal had to be removed by a legendary incorporeal sword, and unless I managed to conjure my brother's Susanoo, I was out of luck on that front.

I began taking notes. Approximate age, the makeup of the chamber, the shape and construction of the seal (not like I really knew, but whatever), and other such basic surface level information. After I completed that, I set the paper and pen down and got to work. I began tracing the seal from its leftmost side, where a single black circle, completely filled, in contrast to the empty circle on the other side, was the nexus of a branching network of lines. On their own, each side of the seal was easily as complex as any one seal I'd seen.

After tracing all the possible pathways that the chakra could travel during channeling, I sat back on my haunches and began to think.

Then it began to dawn on me. It was obvious really; I honestly have no idea how I had failed to see it before. The two halves, with the obvious contrast in negative space.

Physical and Spiritual.

Yin and Yang.

And they were combining.

Now this was truly alarming. The effective combination of yin and yang chakra was not something to be taken lightly. And I should know. Izanagi, Truth-Seeking Balls, the seal used to bind Kaguya, and even the famed Creation of All Things technique, used by the Sage of Six Paths to create the 9 tailed beasts.

This was something that needed to be dealt with using extreme caution.

As soon as I came to this conclusion, I noticed something even more alarming. The seal was active, reacting to the chakra of my left eye. I quickly shut it off, but it was too late. The seal began glowing, a bright, bright white, and the floor beneath me began shaking. I stood up and dashed for the exit, the stairway. I had to get back to the surface, had to warn everyone, but it was too late. Even as I attempted to use my Amenotejikara to escape, targeting the backpack I had left right outside of the chamber, I felt time slow to a grinding halt. The chakra, still rushing towards my eye, became noticeably slow as my movement was frozen.

And then, when I could no longer feel my chakra reacting to my will, my vision cut to black.

When I woke up, if you could even call it that, I was falling.

This fall continued. Although I could not feel myself nor the energy within me, I could tell I was falling.

After what felt like an eternity of plummeting through a senseless, foreign void, I lost consciousness once more.

I awoke in a room that felt all too familiar for how little I initially recognized it.

Oh no.

It was late at night. Easily past midnight, although the ambient light from the city outside provided just enough visibility for me to make out my surroundings. I was in a room with mossy green walls and red-orange flooring. A familiar clan insignia was directly above the headboard of the bed I was currently occupying.

Oh no.

I leapt, or tried to leap, from the bed I was in, crashing into the ground as I flung myself head over heels.

Oh no. Oh no.

Standing up was difficult. It wasn't because of the relative weakness of the body I found myself in, but how unfamiliar it felt. I braced my left arm against the bed to stand-

Left. That wasn't there 3 minutes ago.

After what took way too long, I finally found myself on my feet, left hand on the bedframe to keep my balance.

I looked dead ahead of myself, into the mirror that I somehow knew would be there.

What the fuck. How.

I stared at myself for a solid minute. My clearly shorter, weaker, and younger self stared back. The first thing I noticed wasn't the bruise forming on his, no, my head from where I had just bashed it. It was how he stared back with a set of eyes he definitely should not have had.

My brain, not wanting to spend any more time thinking about this, promptly decided it was time to sleep.