Days and days; weeks and weeks; months passed inside Shade's Realm.

It was strange, Anko found, how they managed to get used to this place, in the end.

There was even something… less stressful about it, compared to the outside world, right now. But it had more to do with the dreadful feeling of knowing than in a few days, the world as she knew it might well end.

The place really wasn't as terrible as she had expected it to be. Well, after the first weeks of figuring out how to live together. Naruto, Karin and Ino had a… peculiar relationship — she wouldn't say strange because it clearly worked for them — and Sakura was all too used to it already.

The daily routine was pretty simple. Wake up, train. Shower, eat, train. Shower, eat, read/theoretical work. Sleep. The ground rules were about as simple. No walking around naked. Keeping things tidy — although this was very easy with a few seals — in the living quarters.

Privacy wasn't really a problem, past the first days where they were simply too tired to bother expanding the house. Not that they were too big on it, at this point. Again, seals were very convenient.

It had surprised Anko, but it turned out they could get along well for close to a year... and still like each other.

Despite their occasional bouts of naivety about the world and their… more annoying moments of thinking with their genitals, they were nice to live with.

They were almost… endearing, really.

And they pushed each other to their limits and beyond every time they trained, which was something she could respect.

Though all this time spent in isolation was likely also making them rub off each other, not necessarily in the most optimal ways.

They took some of the other's best and worst traits. And it was likely worse for those who were bonded. It might allow for a better connection to the Rinnegan itself, sure, but there was no way Anko was willing to touch that. If it took a few more chakra rods and didn't work as well over long distances, well… so be it.

Right now, Naruto was training, and Anko, who was more experienced when it came to actual practical fighting, gave him a few tips, here and there. At this point, though, there was not that much she could tell him. He was much stronger than she was, and far less wasteful than he had been in the past.

Gravity control allowed him to move with an otherworldly grace. He could fight in more… acrobatic ways, thanks to it. Sometimes it was subtle, staying within the realm of plausibility until you realized that someone this heavy simply was not supposed to twist so easily in midair.

Sometimes it was more in your face, and he seemed to forget that most people didn't sit in midair.

Their plan to focus on a path each — with the exception of Karin and Ino, who were sharing some aspects with each other — had born fruit.

Anko would never be able to make use of Kusanagi, which was probably lost in space. But with the Asura path's weaponry, combined with her snakes… She really didn't see the need for it.

Naruto paused after a flurry of kicks, his legs still extended.

"Something up?" Anko asked.

"You could say that." He was still processing something. Undoubtedly some information a clone had relayed. Things got a bit strange because of relativity.

"Tell me."

Naruto sighed. "There are three Uchiha at the door."

Ino, nearby and in the middle of more — endless — speed training, blinked. "…What?"

He paused. "Well, metaphorical door. They are waiting in the Land of Fire. A clone is talking to them. I'll tell you when we're done talking. In a day or so, hard to estimate."

Land of Fire.

"So… what do you want, exactly?" Naruto's clone asked Sasuke, who still looked to be a bit tired from the battle.

Maybe if he hadn't been impulsive enough to go for an actual fight so close to the day of the battle against Nagato…

Uchiha Shisui was apparently willing to put their differences aside for the time being, but he definitely was tense. Still angry, too.

Uchiha Itachi looked the same as he always did. Unreadable.

"You have the Rinnegan—" Sasuke began.

"I noticed."

"And Indra's memories. Which means." Sasuke continued, with a glare. "That you can read the stone tablet in—"

"Yeah. It's been messed with, by the way. Don't know by whom, but I wouldn't trust anything that's written on it."

"…What?"

"Yeah. At some point between Indra's time and Madara's time. Which narrows it down to… a span of close to a thousand years."

Sasuke cursed.

"But I can tell you what it says anyway." Naruto shrugged.

"For real…?" Sasuke gaped.

"Of course. Aren't you the one who said no more secrets, or something to that effect…?"

"I never expected you to actually listen."

"That's fair." Naruto nodded. "Let me write it down for you—"

"No need." Sasuke retorted. "Bring us inside your room."

"…You know about it?"

Stupid question.

"What do you think…?" Sasuke shot back with a glare. "Itachi told me… and I saw… more of your memories than you intended." Sasuke paused, looking away with cheeks that were slightly red. "…Way too much, by the way."

Naruto shrugged. "Sorry, we're still working on isolating memories, even now."

"We only have two days left." Sasuke said tightly, unwilling to waste any more time. "To prepare for Nagato not to crush us — We want in. Inside your realm… pocket space… whatever.."

Naruto lifted an eyebrow. He thought about it for a little while.

"I'm fine with it, but… Are you sure it is a good idea, considering… everything?"

"Of course not." Shisui said frostily. That was a different sort of anger about him, now. Not as raw, not as full of hatred. "But none of us is strong enough. We simply don't have a much better option. Besides, if we're going to be working together…"

"We'll keep away from you." Itachi simply said. This sort of neutrality had to be cultivated, Naruto knew as much, now.

"Yeah. I've already seen enough of…" Sasuke shivered. "Yeah. For a lifetime."

Naruto's lips twitched.

"Will you keep your word?" Shisui asked, looking at Naruto with a pointed glare.

"Will you keep yours?" Naruto shot back.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Shisui gritted out. Ino had made sure his covenant would be binding.

"You accepted." Naruto shrugged. He nodded, more seriously. "And yes. I will. It's a promise."

"Care to make it a binding one with your Yamanaka's help?" Shisui asked.

"If you want me to, I will do so." Naruto nodded.

Shisui went utterly still for a moment.

Sasuke was looking at both of them, trying to figure if it was going to erupt into a fight.

The silence was heavy and thick with tension.

"…Alright." Shisui finally nodded. It wasn't trust, far from it, but a willingness to work with them.

Good enough.

"I'll do so once we arrive." Naruto nodded. It changed nothing, to him.

"That's it…?"

"Yes. I planned on doing so anyway. Besides, if we're going to have to train together too, better if we can get along. I'm not asking for anything else."

Shisui slowly nodded.

"Itachi? Shisui?" Sasuke asked. They nodded.

"…Yeah."

"Let's go."

Shade's Realm.

Heavy silence.

Tense silence.

The Uchiha were sitting in front of the Umi ninja.

Clearing his throat, Sasuke broke it.

"…This place is quite different from what I saw in your memories." He said, looking around.

"Well, it has been more than a hundred days in here since your brother went in, I think." Naruto shrugged. If Sasuke was willing to make conversation, he would talk with him.

"Why is everything so…?" Sasuke fumbled for words.

"Cloudy and orange?" Karin smiled.

"Yes."

"It sets a nice mood for evening tea." Naruto said.

"You mean you did this?"

"Sure, it's pretty easy to change." Naruto nodded.

"The room!"

"Ah. I mean, once you get your hands on godly power and other people's memories... Add up a few months of very focused training in how to use it…" Naruto amended himself, shrugging.

"…"

Silence resumed.

"…Why are we wasting time?" Shisui gritted between his teeth.

"We have plenty of it here." Ino said. "Besides, it is evening. There's only so much training we can take."

"You'll see when you get outside." Anko continued. "It can be a bit… rough."

"Especially now. We increased the gravity a bit."

"…Why?"

"It helps with the time dilatation." Not much, though, and maybe this would work better by recreating another realm from scratch. Worth checking out. "Mostly for training, though. It's not that bad, but it gets worse the further away you get from the entry point."

"Alright."

"I have a question." Naruto began. "If you're here… Who's defending Konoha, exactly…? Aren't you three together basically a third of the village's strength…?"

"It's only going to be one to two days and most of the allied shinobi troops are already in the village." Itachi said dryly. "Besides we'd be split up and against Nagato, I don't think there is that much we could do alone, right now."

"I didn't take you for the betting type." Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "Do you really trust a madman's word, though…? What if he attacks earlier…?"

Shisui said something rude about madmen. Naruto ignored him.

"Then I guess the world is doomed, either way." Itachi's eyes tightened a bit.

"What does the village think of it…?"

"They can't exactly stop us." Sasuke said evenly.

"Nice time for you to finally realize that."

"What was that?!" Shisui almost jumped to his feet.

"Eh." Naruto shrugged. "Just saying."

Ino glared at him, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Yes, yes… We will be warned if anything happens, hopefully in time. We can warp with you there, then." Naruto finished.

No answer came.

Well, that killed what little conversation was going on pretty nicely.

"Do you want help with setting up a livable place?" Naruto asked.

"No thanks." Shisui sneered. He stood up to leave.

Itachi did the same and after giving them a slow nod, Sasuke followed, too.

"…Are you sure this is not going to bite us back in the ass?" Anko asked dubiously.

"Mostly sure." Naruto said, staring after them. Pretty annoying bunch, but he couldn't exactly blame them.

They could use them on their side, though.

The next day.

"Good morning." Naruto greeted Sasuke with an even face. "Come with me."

Sasuke grunted in answer. "I think you're a bit too used to people listening to you."

"Maybe." Naruto admitted. "Are you coming or not?" He left.

Sasuke growled but followed him.

"What did you want?" Sasuke asked, once they were close to the lake.

"Well, to share information." Naruto said. "There are plenty of things that we know and you don't, and if you're going to fight on our side, that just won't do."

"Indeed." Sasuke said dryly.

"First… How are your eyes?" Naruto asked pointedly.

"My eyes?"

"Are you half-blind by now, or does Shukaku — or your cells — heal you?"

Sasuke paused. "How do you even know about this…?"

"Doesn't really matter. Indra, Madara, pick your poison."

"Shukaku's chakra heals my eyes." He admitted. "Well, I think it's Shukaku. I don't know, really, I obtained my Mangekyō at the same time we sealed it away, so…"

"What about your brother?"

"You might have noticed he doesn't have a Beast inside him." Sasuke said dryly.

"Yeah, burning anger is more Shisui's type anyway."

"…What?"

"Nothing. I know he has the Mangekyō already." Naruto brushed off. "Toru told me."

"…"

"Swap eyes with your brother."

"What…?"

"The Mangekyō evolves that way."

"Why the fuck would you even know about something like this?"

"Which part of I was Indra and Madara don't you get, exactly?"

Sasuke growled.

"Don't you get anything useful from… Asura, Hashirama and whoever…?"

"No." Sasuke gritted out. "Nothing at all."

"Huh." Naruto nodded slowly. "No wonder you didn't lose your mind, then. Consider it a blessing."

"…"

"Doesn't matter much. Swap your eyes." Naruto repeated. "Karin will help, and it might take a few days to recover and adjust. We'll see if there's anything we can do about Shisui, too."

He wouldn't help him if he wasn't certain he could simply not put anybody from Umi — that didn't explicitly move to attack him — under a genjutsu. If he tried… well he would die, simply.

Toru's eye, which had not become a Mangekyō Sharingan, had remained that way, even after Shisui got it. The eyes were peculiar that way.

"What do you gain from it…?" Sasuke asked dubiously.

"Well, we get to study the eyes, first of all." Naruto shrugged. "There are plenty of questions we don't have answers to. Not fully, at least. Like what happens if you take your eyes out and Karin heals you, using the King of Hell? Do two pairs of the same Sharingan now exist, or can only one pair stay? We know the eyes regrow from Shisui, but aside from that…"

"…I'm not very comfortable with the topic." Sasuke growled.

"Fair enough." Naruto shrugged. That was the same reason he didn't bother asking Sasuke why nobody had taken their dead father's eyes. Too… blunt. "But considering it seems to be the Uchiha brain — a strange term — that activates the eye, it should be possible for Shisui to regain his Mangekyō. Which… we will need for what we have planned."

"Yeah. I get that." Sasuke nodded tightly. "That's probably the only reason Shisui accepted to come."

"I know that much."

"You're still going to have to learn to use the other Paths on a basic level, you know that…?" Sakura asked Naruto.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I do know that much, at least."

"Good."

"But you learning their intricacies will make all of this much easier anyway."

Some things went as planned…

Naruto let Karin take care of the whole transplant thing, since he knew his presence might be… unwanted.

The process was done pretty smoothly, once Sasuke got over his squeamishness.

Convincing Shisui to let Karin fumble around with his brother's eye had been a bit harder.

"-it's not that complicated if it is what I think it is." Karin insisted.

Shisui only seemed to back away from her. It was no wonder, considering how pushy she could get when she was convinced she was right. And usually, she was.

"As a matter of fact." She tried to push her glasses up, before remembering it had been years since she last wore them. "I'm pretty sure that's what it is."

Shisui looked at Itachi, who looked away. Your move, he seemed to say.

Sasuke shrugged and Shisui let out a long-suffering sigh.

"…What would you do exactly…?" He asked with the expression of a man about to get his head chopped off.

"Not much, really." She waved off. Then she called for Ino to come by. "The sharingan is activated through intense emotion, right?"

"…Yes?" Shisui nodded slowly. Toru had told them, and he knew this.

"Well, the Mangekyō is similar in that." Ino said.

"Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm not sure I want your hands anywhere near me." Shisui muttered.

"Tough luck." Ino shot back.

"So… Ino here is going to trigger some specific hormone receptors in your brain and…" Karin trailed off.

"Maybe we're going to need Sakura, too." Ino finished.

"Yeah."

They called for her to come.

"Okay. What the hell are you doing…?" Shisui muttered. "And if you're communicating telepathically, I can't hear—"

"It's not much, really." Karin cut him off. "Alright, don't move."

Ino almost slapped her hand on his forehead.

"Sorry." She apologized. "I just came from a higher-gravity area."

Shisui just grumbled. Karin held back a sad chuckle — he really looked like his younger brother. Sakura put her hand close to Ino's.

"Now… This might be a bit unpleasant." Ino said.

"More than this whole — Oh gods." Shisui sounded shaken.

"Now guide his chakra through the optical nerve, Sakura." Karin muttered. "No — It's a bit higher — Ino, relay what I feel to Sakura, it's going to be a bit more precise."

A bit of blood was running down Shisui's cheek. The whole process didn't last too long.

The two women released Shisui, who stumbled. "That was fucking unpleasant." He growled.

Ino shrugged. "We warned you."

"Try it, now." Karin said.

Shisui's eyes went from pure black to a three-comma Sharingan.

Then they morphed a step higher, and the chakra became denser. Mangekyō Sharingan, in both eyes.

His left eye twisted into something else, a complex Eternal Mangekyō.

"Huh." Karin breathed. "That worked…?"

"You mean you weren't even sure of it?" Shisui asked hotly.

"Mostly."

"That's not exactly how I pictured a team reunion." Sasuke muttered to Sakura.

"No?" She lifted an eyebrow, a bit sarcastically.

Sakura had always used sarcasm as a defense mechanism, and he realized how guarded she had become over the years. Not with her friends, though. There, Sasuke knew it was all in good fun.

The scars that Sakura bears, the ones that used to make her self-conscious, she now carries with pride.

Sasuke knew that Karin could heal both the scars and her arm, too. It didn't feel like Sakura wanted to, though.

Sakura had become strong, just like Kurenai-sensei had said she would, if given the chance. Probably not in the way their late teacher had expected, but strong nonetheless. And Sasuke felt fierce pride for her, even though he didn't agree with a lot of the things she had done.

They felt a bit unbalanced, when it was just the two of them. Like a picture that was too heavy on one side.

Two people were missing.

...Some things didn't.

"-who the hell do you think you are?!" Shisui roared.

"Me?!" Anko boomed in return. "Who gives a shit about that old rusty tanto? I did you a favor! It was not even a gift or anything special, so who cares!"

"A favor?! You call this a favor?! I have half a mind to—"

"Half a mind is all you have, you… messy-haired fuck!" Anko roared.

They stopped to stare at each other.

Both started to smile a bit.

"Oh, hell no." Naruto grunted, palming his face. Why him…?

From what he knew of both of them, it might as well have been love at first sight.

"…Is this how Anko felt when we were dancing around each other?" Ino asked Naruto quietly.

"…Most likely. It's a bit… uh." Naruto shook his head.

"Like seeing your older sister flirt with a guy?" Karin asked, watching the show with a wince.

"Maybe for you." Naruto nodded. It was hard to see Anko as a big sister when he had lived so much longer. It was not just a sibling thing, though. Watching Izuna fumble had been endearing. "Maybe it's because it's… Anko."

Sakura frowned.

"Do you think Orochimaru—"

"Stop." Karin raised her hand. "Whatever it is you're going to ask… Don't."

Sakura glared at her.

"Men or women…?" She asked. "For Orochimaru, I mean."

"Stop." Ino shook her head too. "Please."

"Why not both?" Hanabi asked with a slight grin. Naruto hid his own. They shared a quick look.

"Stop." Karin was starting to look pretty green.

"At the same time, you mean?" Naruto piled on, with a carefully blank face.

"I swear, I'm going to puke. There's something seriously wrong with you guys."

Naruto and Shisui never felt too comfortable around each other.

Naruto knew the reason for it, of course. Anybody would. He had killed several people the man likely cared about.

And Shisui blamed both himself and Naruto for Toru's death. Naruto understood the feeling very well, because he used to feel the exact same way before.

He got along decently with the others, though. Pretty well, even.

That was fine by Naruto. Their shared purpose would be enough.

He made for a great sparring partner, though.

Shisui's taijutsu was better than his own, and while he was slightly slower than him when he used the first level of his cloak, — the lightning one — that wasn't saying much. Naruto was faster than the Raikage had been, which likely made him the fastest man in the world.

It didn't mean he could afford to stop practicing outside of his Cloak — both Lightning and Storm.

Shisui came at him again, even faster, with a horizontal kick. Naruto blocked it with his forearm. He slipped inside the Uchiha's guard, thrusting with his palm.

Shisui bent backwards, using his hands to push himself into a handspring.

They resumed their dance.

Shisui landed a punch to his skull.

Naruto kicked him away.

A blocked kick.

An elbow strike.

Again and again.

Neither was willing to concede anything to the other. Which was a good thing, in here.

"…Not too bad." Shisui admitted.

"Right?" Naruto shot back. "Imagine what I could do if I didn't restrict myself."

Shisui glared at him. "We're both fighting restricted. If I used my Susanoo—"

"One of your eyes would inevitably go blind, yes." Naruto nodded. "Sounds pretty impressive."

Sakura, watching the whole thing, sighed in frustration.

"You're the one who saved me, aren't you, Hanabi?" Sasuke asked her. "Back when Obito came for me."

She blinked. "What makes you think that…?"

Sasuke snorted. "The fact that your shot actually hit your intended target…?"

She laughed too. "Naruto's good at it though, even though he doesn't have the… Byakugan advantage. I'm sure he would have hit Obito as well, even from this distance."

"…Only because he would have hit everything in there." Sasuke deadpanned.

"Sure, but it still counts."

"So are you going to bond with me at some point?" Hanabi asked Naruto.

"…What?" Naruto blinked.

"All my friends are getting bonded and here I am."

Naruto squinted his eyes. Was she… joking or being serious? It was hard to tell with her, sometimes.

"Anko and I didn't bother. And we're not going to, either."

"That's different." Hanabi waved off. He didn't bother asking how it was different in any way.

"…Why do you even want it…?"

"It's convenient." She shrugged.

He had thought that as a former branch house Hyuga, she would be less interested in the idea of binding herself to someone, even if it went both ways.

And frankly, after the whole Toru debacle, he had no particular desire to bond anyone anymore. It just seemed to leave a permanent hole where the link used to be.

"It's…" Naruto began. "It's not as simple as you think it might be."

"Do you need more time to think about it, or is it a no?" She asked with soft eyes.

"I… I will think about it, okay?"

"That's all I ask for." Hanabi nodded, kissing his cheek lightly as she departed.

He was pretty impressed. Back in his time as Uchiha Madara, bachelor supreme, many women had come after him — some to seduce him; some to convince him to marry them; some to kill him. None of them could make a persuasion attempt look so effortlessly natural.

Strange comparison, he knew.

...Or maybe Hanabi was being honest, who knew?