It's All So Familiar

"Wait, this is your home?" Toph asked Sasuke, as the man struggled to keep his tears from falling. "The first place the Tally thing sends us is your home?"

"No." Sasuke replied, though his voice cracked a bit. "Not… not my home. I can tell you with certainty that this is an alternate dimension. Very similar, but different in the end."

Church materialized next to his shoulder. He'd been inside several heads of people with baggage, so this was nothing new to him. But crying like this? If Sasuke had a home just like this back where he came from, why was he brought to tears when returned to it? "Need a minute?"

"I'll be fine."

"You sure, man? You can take a bit of time to yourself while I tell them what's going on. It'll be easy to catch you up."

"I'm fine. We all need to be on the same page if we're to complete our mission. I was simply… unprepared."

Church sighed. "It's your choice, dude." He disappeared before reemerging in front of the others. "Okay, so here's the 4-1-1."

"To make things easier on all of us, I'll call each multiverse by a nickname, and extra parts of that nickname will factor in as its timeline deviations. We'll just call this one "the Ninja Multiverse". Specifically, we actually made it to the core universe, so we'll refer to it as Ninja Prime. Now, in Multiverse Ninja, there are of course, ninja. They're practically the infantry of the entire world, though mostly for the "Five Great Nations"." A map of said nations came into view. "They wield some sort of spirit energy called Chakra to create weird illusions, powerful elemental attacks, or even just to make their punches and kicks stronger. This Multiverse seems to almost always revolve around this village right here- Konohagakure, village hidden in the leaves- but most specifically, it seems to revolve around this guy: Naruto Uzumaki." An image popped up of a young man with blonde hair and… whisker marks? "Now, all you need to know concerning our mission today is that this guy is the village hero, hell, a war hero. It's vital that we find him and keep him in sight. Cause that's our mission- "Make sure Naruto Uzumaki doesn't die today"."

"If he's a ninja… why is he wearing orange?" Ashi asked incredulously, noticing the man's orange pants.

"How the hell should I know? The Tallus tells me details about universes, not why people have shit taste in clothing." The image dissipates. "Listen, we've got our mission. Protect the colorblind war hero from an assassination attempt happening today."

"An assassination attempt? From who?" Kuina asked.

"Uh… I don't know."

Toph gave him a flat look. "What? How can you know what's happening today but not know who's behind it?"

"That's a good question." He flashed red instead of blue for a moment. "Uh… here's a better one. Sasuke, if you recognized this place… is there a chance they recognized you?"

Sasuke seemed to know well what Church was referring to, as he turned to see several ninja leap down around the group. "There's a possibility."

Malware's arm turned into a cannon. "Hmph. Seems things are already off to a great start." The others got into fighting stances as well.

"No." Sasuke waved them off. "Don't fight. They won't hurt us if we don't give them a reason to."

"You sure about that? Every moment we waste is a moment that could cost us our mission." Kuina whispered to Sasuke.

"If anything, they'll help us learn more about the situation. Just do as they say." Kuina nodded to him, and gave a quick look to the others, urging them to relax. Malware took a moment but relaxed his arm. One ninja stepped forward.

"Sasuke Uchiha?" Said Uchiha nodded at the ninja in response. "Uh huh… we'd like to ask you to come with us."

"Of course."

Church couldn't help but be nervous. "Uh, hey. Just in case this shit goes sideways, I'll be formulating like, ten thousand plans."

"Hnn." Was Sasuke's only reply. Church's hologram dissipated.

"Alright, boys. I need a list of influential people and current events, for this dimension specifically. We need every opportunity we can to make sure we don't piss these people off." His facets, or technically, himselves, got to work searching through the database of this world. "Well, I hate to say it, but Malware's right. This first mission's getting off to a pretty crappy start."

"This is exactly why I do not understand my creator's methods. Sending mortals on such vital quests is far too inefficient to save vital resources." The Tallus said, her A.I. emerging.

"Vital?! Weren't you the one who was talking about how non-vital these universes were?"

"For extensions of core universes, yes. But Prime universes like this one are irreplaceable, ones that keep the entirety of the omniverse from falling to pieces."

"Yeah, yeah, "all are equal, but some are more equal than others". I get it, George Orwell. Or wait… I guess you'd be the Stalin pig in this case." As his facets combed through the files, he remembered what Toph had asked him earlier. "Hey, Tal-bitch. Care to tell me why we don't know who's trying to assassinate ninja-boy?"

"It is strange. Usually, I would be able to pinpoint the cause of the temporal disturbance and describe to you the mission in more detail. But something is disrupting my analytics. Someone has clearly tried to shield their interference with this world so that it may go off without being interfered with itself."

"Huh… Paradox did say that someone was messing with these timelines in the first place… guess we found their handiwork already. Can you track the interference?"

"No. However, should you actually manage to save this timeline, the energies from the reparation would dispel the interference, allowing me to do so."

"All necessary data acquired." Delta informed Church.

"Well, Tallus, you shouldn't have to worry about anything in that regard. Things shouldn't get any worse from here on out. We'll keep this Naruto kid safe. For now though, I'll just wait for my queue."

Sasuke stared down the man sitting in the chair in front of him. He'd hoped it would be someone less familiar to him, but unfortunately, it was the exact opposite. Sitting in the chair of the Hokage, the essential leader to Konoha, was his old mentor Kakashi. The man's silver hair spiked above his head. He wore a face mask that always covered his mouth. His half-lidded eyes (one having a slash mark straight over it) betrayed an analytical mind.

He hadn't said a word since Sasuke and his partners had walked in. Even Sasuke was never sure what was going through the man's mind. But if he had existed at any point in this world, it was probably going to be questions about him.

"So… Sasuke Uchiha, hmm?"

"Indeed."

"Right. I suppose you know we already have a problem with that story, especially since you came quietly."

"I imagine there is."

"Mostly because, as far as I know, Sasuke left the village earlier this morning with Sakura Haruno. Yet here he apparently is, no Sakura in sight and four strangers with him instead." He gestured to the others.

"You would be correct in remembering that."

He raised an eyebrow. "If you're an assassin of some kind, I have to say… this is an interesting approach."

"Actually, that's exactly what we're here to stop." Ashi stepped forward. "It's hard to explain, but we have received word that a great hero of yours is in danger. There is going to be an assassination attempt on his life."

"You don't say… well, color me suspicious, but I have a hard time believing he's in any danger." He gestured outside, towards the streets. The group followed his hand, noticing what looked to be celebration off in the distance. "Even if he wasn't the most powerful ninja on the planet, I doubt any assassin could move past leagues of shinobi from several different nations."

"Is there some kind of party going on?" Ashi whispered to Toph.

"I don't know, let's ask the blind girl." Toph replied with biting sarcasm.

"Uh… sorry."

"That, would be the 5th year anniversary of the Shinobi Union." Church noted as he appeared. "They're celebrating the beginning of what could be classified as the first real peace on this planet. Villages from all over have sent ninja and citizen alike to take part in the festivities. People are gonna be shitfaced for days. Cause you know, hooray peace. I feel sorry for the janitors."

Kakashi blinked. "…Yes. That is a crude way of putting it. You are…?"

"You can call me Church. I might as well be the de facto leader of this little group."

"Seriously?"

"No way, ghost boy."

"We agreed on no such thing."

"I'd cut off my own arm first."

"Anyways. Look, Lord Hokage… can I call you Kakashi? Somewhere out there, in the middle of all those partiers, is a killer. A killer who made a friend in a really high place, who gave that killer the tools he needed to end your student's life. And when I say high place, I mean above time and space itself. You've seen time and space ninjutsu right? This is on a completely different level. You think he was scared away by the grouping of ninja? Nah, that's what we wants. Both so he can blend in… and also so he can hurt more people when he strikes."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "All the things you say… how do I know it's not you who's here to cause harm? What you speak of could technically be you. You might just be trying to deflect suspicion. How can we trust you?"

"You can't." Church flashed over to Sasuke. "But maybe you can trust him."

Kakashi stared at Sasuke, who simply stepped forward. "Kakashi-sensei… I am Sasuke Uchiha. I'm simply not your Sasuke Uchiha. I know that doesn't spawn much confidence, but we aren't here to cause trouble. You can mind-search me, place a bomb in my neck, whatever you need. As long it assures you that I'm only here to prevent harm to the village."

Kakashi stared him down for what seemed like hours. He looked into his eyes, scrutinizing for even a hint of a lie. He closed them at some point, satisfied with whatever results he found. "…Alright then. Konoha ninja will be keeping an eye on you, but you'll have free reign to stop this "assassin"."

His aide, Shizune, gasped. "L-lord Hokage! You can't be serious! Giving so much free reign to incredibly suspicious strangers? There's no telling what they might do!"

"Perhaps. But I know they won't hurt anyone."

"How can you be so sure?!"

"Call it… a hunch."

If there were a flatter look in the omniverse, Shizune would be giving it to Kakashi. "Him and his damn hunches… this is exactly how he handled the moon incident."

Church turned towards his fellow dimension hoppers. "Okay! We're in business, people. Time to formulate a plan. Obviously, Sasuke can't be seen by anybody here. As Kakashi was kind enough to note, this world's Sasuke fucked off with his maybe-lady to god knows where. Point being, he's not in the village. And there's a good chance our assassin knows that too. So, our Sasuke's going to have to keep an eye on things from a distance, both to hide from the enemy, and his parallel universe friends."

Kuina nods. "Makes sense. Whoever the enemy is will know something's up when Sasuke suddenly appears without this other girl. Where does that leave the rest of us?"

"Well… you, Ashi and Toph look like pretty normal people in the context of this world. Meaning you'll be able to keep your eye on a certain someone while he's hanging out with his friends."

Ashi smiled. "Or possibly even integrate ourselves with their group."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "I could notify a close friend of Naruto's so he could help you do so. He's very good at bluffing."

"That works even better. Now, Malware, you look way too freaky to blend in, so we'll have you watching from a bird's eye view as well. If you're even a fraction of a machine as you look, I imagine you could scan the surroundings."

Malware shrugged. "Works for me. Can't stand being in a crowd like that anyway. It'd piss me off."

"Dear God, if he keeps doing the edgelord thing I'm liable to just head straight back to my death now." Church groaned internally. "Yeah… anyway, you've got your missions… kind of. Let's get out there and stop an assassination."

"So, this is what we call a plan, huh?" Toph criticized as she and the other girls walked down the streets.

"In all fairness, we've all been thrust into this new duty suddenly. I don't think Church knows what our full capabilities are." Ashi replied, hiding any trace of her shapeshifting.

Toph snorted. "Well, still. By now, my guys would be establishing a perimeter, setting up a decoy… that kind of thing. More than just watching the known target from a distance, you know?"

Kuina shrugged. "Yeah, but that could just alert the assassin. If he knows something's up, we'll miss our chance to catch him. Then we'll be here for god knows how much longer."

"Whatever. I guess we don't need too many more people anyways. If anyone makes a move on the kid, I'll be able to see it in an instant."

"Um…" Ashi looked at her in confusion.

Toph sighed. "Look, I may not be able to see through my eyes, but I can still see just fine. I sense the vibrations in the earth down to the tiniest movement. I can see that street performer juggling… that knife throwing competition to our right… even that guy trying to steal a woman's purse in the alley. Hold that thought-" She dug her heel into the ground, sending a small mound of dirt to swipe the would-be thief's feet out from under him, allowing the woman to get away to tell a policeman. "So yeah, I can manage without eyes just fine."

"Amazing. I know that Ja- and old friend of mine told me that when one sense is cut off, the others will become enhanced to make up for it. But your… 'seismic sense' seems on a completely different level."

"Well, my hearing and sense of smell are pretty good too. Course, that second thing can kinda be a double-edged sword… what about you? I keep feeling something weird shifting on your body. Got a parasite or something?"

"Er, no. That's… well… they're my father's powers." Toph could hear the grimace in her voice. "I don't like to use them because... he was an awful being. I only bring them out if there's no other option. I tend to rely more on my fists and any weapons I can find."

"Sounds like the way I do it. Wado Ichimonji is the only tool I need to fight." She placed a hand on her hilted sword.

Toph gave a quick chuckle. "That sounds like something Sok-" She stopped herself.

"Hmm? Like who?"

"Nothing. It's not important."

Kuina raised an eyebrow. She wondered if she should ask further… but figured she didn't know the girl well enough to pry. "So, where exactly did that Kakashi guy tell us to wait?"

"We should be coming up on the spot they mentioned." Ashi said, looking at the signs that marked the streets. "But I don't see anyone here to meet us…"

"So, you're the troublesome girls Kakashi told me about." The three looked behind them to find a young man looking lounging on a bench, a ponytail atop his head. "Here I was, hoping to spend a relaxing day off with Temari. Instead, I get a message from the Hokage saying I need to assist some secret team or whatever. What a drag."

"I'm guessing you're the one Kakashi said would be helping us?" Kuina asked.

"Yeah, that's me. The name's Shikamaru. I'll be assisting you in stopping whatever terrorist attack is supposedly happening."

"Not supposedly. Definitely." Toph insisted.

"Right. You were the ones meant to keep an eye on Naruto from ground level, correct? Keep close and try not to make yourselves too obvious. I'm on my way to meet up with him and the rest of our friends." He said, getting up and walking down the street. "With any luck, this whole thing will blow over without issue."

"You'd do well to take this more seriously." Ashi stated.

He turned to them. "I am taking this seriously. Six strangers show up and tell us someone out there wants to kill one of my best friends? In the middle of one of the biggest celebrations amongst all the villages? And one of those strangers is some kind of clone of Sasuke Uchiha? It's all incredibly suspicious. The only reason I'm going along with this without any resistance is because Kakashi had a hunch you were telling the truth. And as absurd as it is, his hunches are usually on the mark."

Toph raised her hands defensively. "Yeesh. Forget we said anything."

"We're coming up on my friends. I'll introduce you… just follow my lead if you can."

"Oi, Shikamaru!" As luck would have it, that voice came from none other than the assassination target: Naruto Uzumaki. "Where have you been? Temari said Kakashi wanted to meet you about something. He's not making you work today, is he?"

"Yes and no. Look, I'm still a liaison to other villages. If they need me to escort important figures, I've gotta do it. These gals here are from the Hidden Stone Village. They're Jonin who want to see how the upcoming Chunin Exams are being planned."

"Oh, really? Nice to meet you, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. If you're gonna be stuck with Shikamaru, you might as well make sure he comes with us. You'll have a lot more fun."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling too keen on doing any business right now. Why not have a little fun while we're in town?" Toph said, already settling into her role.

Ashi did her best to follow. "We should finish business before we engage in pleasure. If we let this get away from us…"

Kuina waved her off. "The Exam plans will still be here after tonight. If you feel like boring yourself tonight, go right ahead. I'm going to have some fun."

Toph and Kuina walked past the others while Ashi sighed. Shikamaru looked on with widened eyes. "They took to it surprisingly fast…"

Naruto ran past the girls. "Come on, our group's figuring out where we are gonna eat for lunch."

It was a short walk to the rest of Naruto and Shikamaru's friends. Temari was first, who Shikamaru was quick to relay the real situation to. Once there, they had a lot of introductions to get through. Ino, who owned the flower shop and loved gossip. Choji, who you never should call fat. Kamui, hothead who had recently moved to the village. Lee, who had a thing for "youthful spirit" and exercising. Tenten, a weapons enthusiast and sane woman to Lee's antics. Sai, a somewhat socially awkward artist. Kiba, a braggart and his dog Akamaru. Shino, a reserved man in a hood. And the gentle and kind Hinata.

They didn't really keep track of it all. If things went quickly, they wouldn't even know the group past the afternoon anyway. Shikamaru would keep any questions off of them and the Stone Village ninja were already being made aware of their disguise. All that was left was to sit in the restaurant and wait. It would have been boring, but the group they were stuck with were rather interesting individuals.

"Whoa… aren't these Juliet Rose seeds, Hinata? Even Ino doesn't have them in stock." Naruto asked, looking over his wife's bounty.

Ino sputtered her drink. "Juliet Roses? I've been looking all over for those things! They're always so expensive…"

"Well, they would've been for me too. But this visiting florist from the Hidden Mist Village gave me a pack for free. He was very nice to me for some reason…" Hinata said obliviously, unaware of her husband turning red in anger.

Tenten sighed. "Oh Hinata, he was trying to woo you. I know you're as in love with Naruto as it gets, but you really need to see the signs from other people so you can turn them down properly."

"I still can't believe how into gardening you are. All these years of being a loudmouth? I'd figure plants would wilt from the volume." Kiba teased.

"Hey! It's not like you're much quieter, dog boy! Besides, I have a life outside of being a ninja, ya know."

"Kiba, you can't knock a man for his hobbies. Honestly, you're probably just teasing him because you've been having trouble on the dating scene." Choji commented as he ate the last of the meat.

"I'm not having trouble! I can find a gal anytime I wa- Choji! You ate the piece of meat I called dibs on! I called it the moment the plate got here!" Kiba interrupted himself angrily.

Naruto slammed his hands on the table. "Like hell you did! That was the biggest piece! I called the biggest when we ordered! Or have your dog ears gone deaf?"

Kiba got up in his face. "I ignored you because you can't call a piece when it hasn't even gotten here!"

"You both are so childish. Calling dibs has no place on the barbecue table. If you aren't prepared to lose some food here, you'll never make it."

"YEAH, RIGHT!"

"YOU'RE JUST MAKING EXCUSES CAUSE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO STOLE IT!"

As the three of them started arguing, Ino groaned. "And I already wish Sakura hadn't left this morning. With just a few well placed hits, this conversation would be over."

A table away, the three dimension-hopping ladies watched the events before them unfold. "Are… are we sure they're friends?" Ashi asked in slight concern.

Toph shrugged. "Eh. It's just a bit of squabbling between pals. Happens all the time."

Kuina chuckled. "I can attest to that. My crew are even worse."

"Really? Worse than that?" Ashi was amused by the idea.

"Oh yeah. I mean, our quartermaster Gin will give you a scary look if you bother him. He and our navigator Bellamy get into fights all the time because he'll just start laughing at Gin's face instead of running away."

"You make it sound like your crew doesn't get along."

"Ah, it's just what makes our crew interesting. Those two may make it clear to the heavens that they can't stand each other, but they still have each other's backs when it counts. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way."

Ashi smirked. "I know some people like that myself. But I never stay with them. I'm mostly a wanderer. I haven't really traveled with anyone since… since Jack."

Toph tilted her head. "Who was that? Your best pal or something?"

"… Something like that. He… he helped me get out from a bad place in my life. He's… he's gone now." The two other girls gave an understanding look. "…What about you, Toph?"

Toph looked off to the side. "Same boat. I used to travel with people. Now I don't. It's as simple as that."

"They meant something to you though, right?"

Toph raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ashi waved her hands quickly. "No, no. I didn't mean to insinuate anything. It's just… we all have or had people we care about, right? As well as the worlds or homes we wish to return to. We agreed to do this because we could be brought back home by doing this work. But looking at this Naruto, and all his friends… it's not just about us. If the assassin is allowed to kill Naruto, they won't just be losing him, but their entire universe. If we succeed today, we'll be saving countless lives."

Toph and Kuina took this into consideration. They hadn't thought about it when Paradox had given the task to them. But with this information in mind, things had suddenly grown a lot bigger than them. "That's… heavy." Toph replied. "But it's all the more reason not to fail."

"Right." Ashi agreed. Kuina simply nodded.

"Hey. Hey! Psst!" The three found Church whispering to them as a small avatar behind one of their cups. "Don't say anything. Y'all are doing good keeping tabs. Malware and Sasuke are keeping an eye in the sky for us. I'll update you on anything we find. In the meantime, just work with Shikamaru and make sure no one suspicious gets near Naruto." He relayed. The girls nodded before he vanished, leaving them to the rest of their meal.

Malware looked over the village. He didn't necessarily know who he was looking for, and that frustrated him. He was just about to conduct his greatest plan yet, but instead of being able to enact it, he was now stuck with a group of misfits doing chores for time hoppers.

"Yo, Malware."

Malware would have groaned at the voice of Church, but he resisted the urge. He had to play nice with the others if he didn't want them interfering with his methods. Unfortunately, his reply still came with plenty of bite. "What?"

"Okay, asshole. No need to get snippy. Look, the others are in position. While the girls keep an eye on Naruto up close, you and Sasuke need to be on the lookout for any suspicious characters from above."

"And what exactly constitutes a suspicious character? I can point out ten people on the streets in five seconds who look like strange people. We've talked all this time about protecting this young man, but no one on this team even knows what to look for."

"I'm working on it, jackass. Look, the Tallus can't detect anything right now, but once I get integrated with its systems, I can assist in focusing its scanners. We should be able to detect disturbances in a timeline after that." Church explained. "Besides, we're not looking for funny looking people, just suspicious behavior. Just keep a close eye on anyone acting funny, alright? We should be fine."

"I hope you're right, for all of our sake." When Church left however, his tune was different. "Hmph. As if I'd actually lay my life in the hands of you buffoons." He had better plans. While Church fumbled with the Tallus, Malware had access to a much more efficient means of detection. The data of Chronosapien DNA, an alien race with temporal powers, was absorbed into his being. With it, he'd be able to finish this far sooner and far more effectively.

Church returned to Sasuke, having made his rounds. "Alright, everybody seems to be in position. Only problem is, I'm still working out the Tallus' systems, and the A.I. herself isn't any help. We're gonna be in the dark till then."

"Not quite." He lifted the bangs that blocked one of his eyes. Church laid his holographic vision on one of the strangest eyes he'd ever seen. Purple down to the sclera, with several rings consecutively outside of the pupil. And six… what looked like commas? Yeah… six commas, two circular rows with three each, circled around the pupil. His other eye changed too, becoming red (only down to the iris this time) while sporting another circle of three commas. Needless to say, they looked pretty fucking weird. "I've got these to help."

"Uh… do you need me to get you eye drops or something?"

Sasuke actually gave a light chuckle. "I'll keep it simple. The image in my right eye is called the Sharingan. The one in my left is the Rinnegan. With the Sharingan I can analyze the movements of opponents, see their chakra patterns, copy jutsu, and other abilities. Too many to list. The basic gist is that I can 'read' opponents. But the Rinnegan is our real ace here. It has a slew of abilities itself, but there's one that stands out for us. With it, I can see distortions in space and time."

"Well, holy fuck! That's some powerful pink eye you got there! Hold on, let me analyze how it works. If I study how your Rinnegan works, I might be able to replicate it easier in the Tallus." He started scanning Sasuke's eye, thoroughly looking at its anatomy. "Ah, I see… yeah, these are some pretty good blueprints. It's not just helpful, it's a buff. You'll have a much easier time seeing anybody who's out of place, someone who's timeline was changed, blah blah etcetera. Kinda wish you told me about this sooner."

"Truthfully, we should've taken note of the skills our new allies. The moment we know the ins and outs of each other is the moment we start working better as a team."

"Yeah, I can see where your going with that. I mean, the old group I used to be with in my universe were a bunch of misfit dumbasses who did things by the seat of their pants and somehow managed to always win… but we still kinda knew who could do some things better."

"Even the worst teams can accomplish something with teamwork. Perhaps a lesson for children, but it holds true in adulthood. We may not have much in common, but as long as we're in this, we're in it together."

"Sounds like you've had this rehearsed."

"I've… I've had a lot of opportunities to see how bad teamwork topples a mission. People tended to hate working with me in my world."

"What? Why? You're practically the biggest team player in this group. Hell, I joked about being leader, but you're probably a better fit."

"It's more because of what I did. My past… isn't a happy one. I've made dire mistakes."

"Couldn't have been that bad." He went silent when Sasuke closed his eyes in regret. "Hey, man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up memories. You don't have to talk about it or anything if you're not comfortable."

"It's fine." He opened his eyes and watched as Naruto and his group exited the restaurant. "Naruto… the man we're trying to protect… I killed him."

Church stared at him in silence. "…Okay… I won't lie to you… that sounds like a pretty bad fuck up."

Sasuke gave a weaker chuckle this time. "My clan… was massacred by own brother. I wanted to avenge them and kill him. I wasn't satisfied with my progress, so when a rogue ninja offered me a way to greater power, I took it an abandoned my village. Naruto… my friend… tried to bring me back. So we fought. I just barely won, but in that moment I figured that I needed to cut my bonds completely to get stronger. So, in that moment, while he was beaten and down… I ended it. But when I killed him… seeing the friend who only wanted to help me, cut down by my own hand… only then did I realize my mistake." Church noticed him trying to hide tears. "I came back of my own free will. Tried to make up for what I had done. But even my closest friends turned their back on me for my sin. Even Hinata, the gentle one down there… she became cold and violent."

Church had nothing to say. What could he say to that? After a bit, he found some words. He wasn't sure if they were the right ones. "I'm guessing this is like a second chance for you. Save the guy you… er, didn't before."

Sasuke shook his head. "No. Saving him here won't change what I've done. It's more to save this world from a fate that mine suffered."

Church sighed. The guy was essentially pouring his heart out. The A.I. knew it had to do with his breakdown earlier. Nothing much else could explain it. Being in a world where your friend was alive and your world hadn't been apparently fucked over was bound to bring out some emotions. Perhaps this was just something he needed. "No judging here, man. If you're saying this to get it off your chest, go ahead."

Sasuke nodded. "I imagine this Naruto fought some or all of the enemies I did. I managed to keep the village safe for a while. But then there was a war. And at the end of it, some godlike being returned from the dead to enslave the people of the world. I was gifted power, essentially on half of the yin-yang. But Naruto was supposed to get the other half of that power. Without him, I still defeated that god… but I most of the world's population. There's a handful of people left, trying to rebuild and start anew." He jumped to another rooftop. "I won't let this world fall to an even worse fate."

Church knew he was still trying to make up for his mistakes. That last line just proved it. He could understand the regret of being a killer. He'd been in the mind of a few regretful mercenaries after all. One was even like a sister to him. "Ah… listen, I can't tell you how to not feel like you do. I can't act like I know exactly what you've been through. But being with this group, stopping dimensions from falling apart… it might help. Trust me, some fuck ups I know have been able to heal by being surrounded by a bunch of other fuck ups. And these other weirdos? I have an inkling they've got their own regrets to deal with. I know I do. I also have the feeling we're gonna be doing a lot of good."

Sasuke smiled. "It sounds like a start."

Church was going to start bantering with him, until his holographic form glinted. Church turned his head behind the two of them, before turning fully. "Uh, hey, Sasuke? You know how you can see space-time distortions?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "Is uh… is there a chance this world's version of you could as well?"

Sasuke cringed, especially as he felt the presence of a sword by his neck. He could probably safely bet on what Church was talking about at this point. Slowly standing and turning his head, he found a mirror. His alternate universe self, missing an arm and wearing a black cloak… but staring at him with the same eyes. Not only that, a young pink haired woman standing beside him, with the same black cloak. He sighed. "There's a possibility."

"You're going to tell me who you really are… and why you're spying on my friends." He shifted the sword to Sasuke's throat. "And I'll decide whether your answer means I cut you down or leave you alive a bit longer."

The only thing Church could offer was honestly appropriate in Sasuke's eyes. "Son of a bitch…"