The Shepherds's Uchiha Chapter 4, a Naruto + Fire Emblem Crossover fanfic

Well, as I have told a lie, I will go out and apologize to you all for this. My intention had been in a couple of weeks or so, before Spring classes but I could not for the life of me, handle that. Unfortunately, I experienced a fallout with a relative and was somewhat depressed, lost my motivation a while back. So here you go.

Reviews for last chapter:

Henry Townshend1: Thank you. Enjoy the next chapter.

ID10T-Error: Do not worry. I am well aware of the large power creep between the two. I have a plan, but what you think next... isn't going to go the way you think...

Darth Lelouch: You're welcome. Enjoy the following to come.

Enjoy

Sasuke stared at both the contents of the letter and Shisui's own journals, along with the scrolls placed with the journal.

Ylisse… Ylisse… He heard of it before.

Sasuke glanced at the letter again, attempting to recall.

Then it hit him.

"...Why are we here, Kabuto?"

"Now, now Sasuke. Lord Orochimaru requested that we be here for… foreign personal matters.He has his own obligations to attend to, and for us to go to this country to retrieve some… 'belongings' for him. Besides… Do you not like the dancers of the country? They're meant to cater to all audiences."

"I do not care. This is a waste of time." He abruptly stood up, departing from the crowd that was watching and performers on stage.

"Oh, where are you going? What are you doing?"

He only stopped for a second before answering. "Training."

A mission he and Kabuto took after Orochimaru requested them for them to go to some time when he was with the Sannin. He didn't care at the time, only that whatever mission did not conflict with his goals of obtaining strength.

"Trying to master that Jutsu… what is it you called… Kirin? Why not just take a break, Sasuke? There's no need to rush that technique."

Kabuto again, commenting on the final Jutsu he used on his brother before the avatar of orange his brother possessed saved him from being completely obliterated.

"Sasuke?"

He looked up in response to see the family staring at him. "What is it? A new mission from Konoha?"

Sasuke didn't attempt to take away or hide the contents. But it also didn't concern them and was none of their business.

"Can we look?"

Tsunami gave her son a look. "Inari! Those might only be for Sasuke to look at! It's personal!"

"But we aren't going to do anything. I just want to look at it. It's not gonna hurt anyone!"

"It's from Konoha! A top-secret mission or some information intended only for Sasuke!"

"If Sasuke isn't allowed to share the information, can he at least tell us at least some of it, if not all?"

Both mother and son turned to Tazuna and then back to the Uchiha.

"Sasuke? Can you?" There was a childish curiosity in Inari's eyes, one that desired to see the information within.

Sasuke looked back at the letter. If this was from his teacher and addressed to him, The family would likely not do anything with the information.

Even then, it would have not mattered if he made a decision. Inari snatched the letter up, despite Tsunami's scolding and looked to him. Tsunami herself looked at the Uchiha for confirmation. He relented, and the three began reading. If it was any other families, then Sasuke would not have shown it to them, regardless of their intention. But Tazuna's family was trustworthy, that he was certain of. He could not show them the journal, but at the very least, the letter was information he could share with them at least. If Konoha's matters in the sent items were urgent to keep a secret, then he would have not revealed any.

He flipped the journal open. Words, written in Kakashi's handwriting; he of course recognized his teacher's handwriting from the moment he skimmed the paragraph, greeted his eyes the moment he opened the cover. The first page was left entirely blank; A piece of paper written in Kakashi's handwriting was taped on that page.

Sasuke

Of course, if you received this journal, then you are obviously reading this.

Of course. Kakashi.

I'm going to be short and concise with you. Because of due to the urgency of this matter, besides the point that I am writing this and why I'm writing in here and why am I sending this to you, here it is:

This is Shisui Uchiha's journal.

There were other words below. More sentences, a mix, and match of intricate handwriting below and other choice words that spoke of the nature of the situation, but he wasn't seeing them. They were there, he noted in initial reading, but he was in a state of frozen shock, no longer seeing the words. Nothing but his eyes read the words of his clansmen.

Shisui Uchiha's journal.

Shisui Uchiha. His older brother's best friend, a clansman from his clan, and a man he looked up to as much as his older brother when he was just a child. Shisui Uchiha, who even after when he forsaken and departed from the village, often looked back to the man, at one point, wondering what would Shisui had done if his traitorous and murderous brother made the decision given by Konoha and Danzo; one that had no return out of deciding once he had driven and taken his kin's blood, sparing him. Would his brother and Shisui have fought on the day he returned to the Compound if he didn't die before the macabre and grisly sight of the massacre the former took? He assumed he would have. Shisui, despite the revelation of his brother's final genjutsu, revealing the first truth ever since he was fed lies again and again by his brother, bringing him into the location where Shisui committed suicide, falling into the depths of the Naka River. He and his best friend were against the coup of their clan and wholeheartedly loyal to Konoha. But after the Genjutsu passed, and only memories of the man flashing by, he believed that Shisui would have stood against Itachi, regardless of the same outlook on their clan and mutual beliefs.

The man became no longer than a memory of the boy himself who did not see the world as it was; still naive and foolish, and the occasional mention of his name brought indifference to Sasuke, because it was just a clansman long dead after the years of his departure and abandonment of the Hidden Leaf. There were more; Konoha nin, travelers, and even citizens, that spoke of the name of the famed ninja known for the Body Flicker technique, but those only led to the techniques and the renown of the Uchiha he looked fondly at.

A name of a dead man, whose secrets have been kept hidden. A gaze at the object he held and wondered, how long, how long had Konoha not received it, had found it from deep within the secrets of his clan well kept that not even the village themselves knew. The Kages knew of his clan's dojutsu stages of evolution that made his clan feared, but knew of the Uchiha's dark secrets kept hidden from others.

I had my ANBU just recently discovered the journal hidden and contained deep in the Uchiha Compound. I know you're probably thinking right now as to why I just found this. The journal was kept hidden, hidden extremely well by Shisui. I know that you knew he was ANBU along with Itachi, and well aware of the fact and what ANBU did. With Danzo's motives and association with Orochimaru, there's possibly many more. But what we found so far, is crucial.

This is just part of why I am sending this to you. Besides this and the letter you received alongside it, I am going to keep this short.

You are assigned by all the Five Nations, including Konoha, an S-ranked mission to the country of Ylisse, to come into contact with the village outside the Elemental Nations. Ylisse has suddenly stopped receiving contact with all Five Nations at some point before the war, and wasn't discovered sooner because of... certain circumstances.

Sasuke didn't even need to think for a second to understand that Kakashi was talking about him and Konoha's attempts to recover from Pain's invasion of the Leaf. By the time, Konoha themselves discovered Danzo's treachery, he was already dead... by his hands. The Root was defunct and abandoned with the leader's death, and Sai gave more information to Konoha after the Fourth War, free by the seal on the boy's tongue that bound him and prevented him from revealing secrets at the cost of his own life.

You will have to travel there. Unfortunately, this has come on short notice and you will have to depart immediately in a couple of days. All Five Nations are expecting you to complete this, and knowing you, I know that you would have an interest in it, especially when it involves your clan. Naruto also expects you to as well. He went to the country of Ylisse himself when training with Jiraiya the past two years, the letter as proof.

Sasuke. I'm going to be blunt with you, though I'm sure you already know. As it stands now, not one of the Five Nations trust or believes you. They are still wary and are recovering from the war. They see you as a threat. If you complete this, you would be seen more favorably with the other Kages and Daimyos. Naruto put his faith in you and his good word.

Please read the letter, or if you have not read it yet, please do so now. The letter was addressed to Naruto and had been in the hands of Jiraiya. There are mentions of a prince named "Chrom". Please do so at soon as possible. Set out for the mission when you're ready.

He barely had acknowledged the words of his teacher before his eyes fell to the next sentence, and it struck him.

Initially, the team was comprised of select Jonin from all Five Nations. But Orochimaru suggested that you complete this mission as a solo mission. No other ninjas will be accompanying you. You are going alone. I will be sending a team already to confirm with Tazuna that you have departed.

He didn't fear Orochimaru. No. The Sannin that he had once allied with and slaughtered once the man was weakened by the Reaper Death Seal of the Third Hokage cheated death. It was not until he saw the former during the war when he forcefully expelled himself from Anko Mitarashi's own Curse Seal. Before, the immortal Sannin had once attempted to take over his own body if it wasn't for the ironic intervention of Itachi.

Sasuke didn't know what to consider when the decision was made to leave Orochimaru, though under constant surveillance and heavy scrutiny whenever the man traveled through the village.

Now, Orochimaru had proposed that he go to Ylisse, without any assistance. What was he planning? What did the man hope to achieve by doing this?

Sasuke knew threats to his being. The Akatsuki member, Deidara was one. He was forced to fight in self-defense and the man had killed himself in his kamikaze to kill both of them in the battle. Did Orochimaru plan to simply eliminate him? Was that it?

In a moment to seize advantage, could he have hoped to eliminate Sasuke himself by sending him to the country and concoct a scheme?

No. Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Tsunade. Various others more... Orochimaru could not hope to attempt a plan much less if they were themselves still wary of the Sannin's hidden motives. Konoha was weakened by the war and the invasion, but they were still strong enough. And Orochimaru's own forces of Sound dwindled significantly after he and Taka destroyed and freed most of the prisoners, he made sure of that and killed the guards that attempted to stop them. The long-dead Sound Four was killed by Konoha prior and sent to the afterlife once more with Konoha ninjas after they were brought back with the Edo Tensei. The Sound's military might dwindled significantly with the Fouth War as with other nations.

Then what was behind this? He could not go and visit Orochimaru now and discover his true intentions; peeling and removing the shell underneath to visible prying eyes.

That was when Sasuke realized the memories earlier of his and Kabuto's mission. He had nearly discarded the small fact of the puzzle to his memories.

But that was only a small piece to the mystery of Orochimaru. What did he truly hope to accomplish by this?

Then he realized that the Five Nations agreed to send him on this sudden mission.

All the Kages agreed with Orochimaru to send him.

They didn't trust Orochimaru as much as Sasuke himself.

But they did. Because with no other options, they saw the Snake Sannin. They saw the Snake Sannin, with his years of experiments, torture, and disregard for life. They saw the slitted-eyed man, who betrayed his village, teacher, and comrades. It didn't matter how truly cruel or such a person could contain such cruelty when it came to Orochimaru.

They saw him as a lesser of two evils.

It was a fact. A pure undeniable fact. They would have never taken Orochimaru's own suggestion lest they knew what the Sannin intended or his plot. He was a master of deception; his own words twisting the minds and thoughts of others for their opinions or their beliefs to utterly crumble into a shell or an opinion that was far from what they originally had faith in, cementing itself as a notion of theirs. Even if Orochimaru's intentions led to no path, even if the result was a dead end, even if by a possibility Orochimaru intended to simply suggest a solution of some sort, it didn't matter. They trusted the Sannin more than him. They put their faith in one of the most heinous people and Konoha's notorious criminals.

Yet the good word of Naruto prompted them to give him a second chance? Where he desired a path of retribution and ruination did the blonde instead attempt to give him a path to salvation and redemption?

The words of Kakashi's short letter came into his head, as he read the letter once more.

You will be seen more favorably among the Kages and Daimyos.

Naruto. Kakashi. They wanted this for him. Sakura as well. He wondered if she knew of this predicament, but it didn't matter. She would have wanted the same thing. The promise he made to Naruto before he left to travel the world, attempting to understand himself before being lost in the same world he felt he had no meaning in.

"I need to travel the world. See it with my own eyes. Perhaps I will finally see the things I was blind to before."

He didn't get to ponder the letter before. The voices of Tsunami brought his attention back to the family, her eyes were fixated on the letter. Her hands trembled. Her mouth moved with no words with incomprehension, as her eyes scanned the letter over and over.

"I remember… A rumor… Kaiza… Possibly… Came from…"

Both male family members immediately held her. "Mom? Mom?! Is something wrong? What about Dad? Does it have to do with Naruto and the letter?!"

Tazuna held his daughter close. "Tsunami. What is it? Are you alright?!"

In a sudden movement, she abruptly stood up as both male members flinched backward at the movement. Her hands clenched the letter and its contents tightly in her grip before she looked up at all the male occupants currently in the home.

"Sasuke. Come with me." She turned to the other two. "Inari. Dad. You too."

She rummaged through the trove of many objects. Old books and boxes contained many tools.

The three males stood waiting to see what the sole female would pull, and the youngest of the three was less than patient. "Mom. What is it? You said something about Dad? The letter mentioned Naruto."

She didn't answer. Instead, she continued to dig and rummage through the items. The son of Kaiza shot a glance at his grandfather; his response being a shrug, and then at the Team 7 member, only that of a look that told him to be patient and the explanation would come soon.

With a tug, she finally dislodged the object from its secure place underneath the many other objects of boxes and various other shapes. They came crashing down upon each other, the base that held them all was no longer there with a loud crash following, but Tsunami couldn't care less.

Turning around, she presented to the three occupants the object, but then looked at the Uchiha. "Sasuke."

He nodded.

"This was given to me by your sensei and one of the villagers in our village after Gato was killed. Most townspeople along with your teacher located Gato's base and apprehended the remaining forces of Gato." She turned to her family and sighed. It was long to fully explain the entire situation. "Kakashi told me he had found this with a few others and they said it was Kaiza's."

Sasuke did remember. Both Naruto and Sasuke suffered blood loss and chakra exhaustion. He was out of it, as whatever available medics in the impoverished village tended to the both of them. Naruto, however, was semi-conscious, though he didn't know back then, it was the Nine Tailed Fox chakra that recovered a majority of his wounds and the chakra receded back into him, leaving the blonde still fresh from his natural chakra pools nearly depleted. When he finally came to, Naruto was reassuring their pink-haired teammate, hugging her and telling her that he was tough. He would survive. They saw him breathe before, even when he was gutted by Haku's needles.

When he had asked the two where Kakashi was, they had told him that Kakashi, along with a force of townspeople equipped with makeshift weapons, would locate and remove the remaining forces of Gato from the Land of Waves permanently. The mission was nearly completed, but not quite over yet. He, having almost been killed by Haku, and Naruto were completely unable to continue fighting. Sakura was watching over them. Kakashi was nearly drained of his own chakra and exhausted, but even with his weakened state, he was still a Jonin, and Jonin ninjas were still a capable threat even when fatigued. He completed the rest of the mission.

This was what Kakashi must have been off to. Kakashi returned later in the evening to inform them and then all the orders for the team were to rest and recover. They had completed the mission.

Inari; the young promising fisherman, felt as if his body turned to liquid. "D-Dad's?"

When they turned to him, he explained. "M-mom. You said that Mister Kakashi and the other people at Wave were locating Gato's base. That…" He looked over at the chest. "That was Dad's?"

Inari knew as if he understood concepts of things. Though it took a while to explain to him, and he wasn't stupid. The Land of Waves didn't have the best education system like Konoha's Academy, as he later read up and discovered upon visiting the village for the first time. But the information he felt he applied decently. He learned from the small education system regardless of the state. His mother had said he was like his father.

Hearing of his father brought only shock to him. He believed that he knew everything about his father. A fisherman. One of the best and highly respected. Almost the entire Wave liked the man, singing praises, and treated the man as a celebrity, holding him high on a pedestal like the Land of Snow Princess Yukie Fujikaze he heard about from tourists and Naruto had told him about when they met once more. He was the Wave's hero.

More information only brought the boy into a frozen state, as he stared at the chest. Gato had this? "Why did he…?"

Tsunami's look turned to one of begging and pleading, the expression clear on her face. "Inari… Please don't hate me for this, but I never knew. I don't know everything about your father because of Gato stealing this! I wanted to tell you at some point when Kakashi returned this to me but I couldn't find the time to tell you and…"

Inari saw his mother tear up, unable to speak more. His mother had kept him from this?! But at the same time… No. He could never hate her. He wished she had just told him sooner. But he could never hate her. "Mom… I could never hate you."

She blinked. "You admired your father. I'm so sorry. I know how much you saw him as a hero…"

Both smelled alcohol, and the next thing they knew, Tazuna wrapped his arms around the two of them. "You kept the secret from us, Tsunami. But it's better to reveal information about something at some point than never to reveal it at all. And you had your reasons, even if you should have informed us. Just… no more secrets."

""No more secrets…" Tsunami embraced the two once more before she got back on track. "Now I think Sasuke needs to see this first. This may be related to the mission he is taking." She held the chest out to him.

Sasuke took the object and noticed there was a keyhole. He looked to Tsunami. She shook her head. "Lost."

No key then. That was fine. It was going to be revealed what was underneath anyway. He gripped the top and tore it open.

Despite how tightly compacted, locked, and tight it was, the chest could not hold forever, unable to hold against sheer force, and with a rip of wood, it snapped open.

Inside was a medallion, a small journal, and a folded piece of paper. Sasuke took each object out and inspected it carefully.

The medallion was shaped into a creature's head. An elongated neck that curved into the head and snout. A dragon. Nothing presented itself within his memories.

The journal was tiny, more small in size than Shisui's. He flipped the flimsy cover over to see names of locations; places. None of them he could recognize, except one, written in faint handwriting.

Ylisse.

The last was the piece of paper. Setting aside the chest and the contents, he picked up and unfolded the paper. As it began to unfold itself, until the last crease was no more, the paper became a map.

Sasuke barely heard Inari's shout of surprise as he stared over the piece of paper. A map of places unknown, he could not recognize a single location, but he did not see Ylisse on it.

As he gazed over the final contents of the small chest, he was left staring. Only the journal listed the name of the country. But he felt as if he was missing something… that there was information he had yet to discover, yet it was so close...

Unless...

He took out Shisui's journal. Both Inari and Tazuna began to look through Kaiza's personal belongings along with Tsunami. Sasuke let them.

The scrolls to Shisui's journal were sealed, along with the rest of the pages of the journal; the only indication to provide any more information was the scroll's own contents filled but hidden behind a seal. This was the secret. Kaiza, it seemed, had very little information presented. Shisui possibly had more.

And yet... there was something missing. He wouldn't intend for any individual, except for those he trusted, to open or discover the scroll. There must be a key, a hint that only none but the perceptible and studious of eyes can perceive the hidden message.

Then he remembered the small slip of paper that came with the contents.

From the dusk of dawn

From the depths of the abyss

Only the life of one's own, and the unveiling of the truth; secret within deception

Can reveal what cannot be seen

-Shisui Uchiha.

No other ninja might have seen the message behind this simple, morbid poem. Some might have assumed and simply brushed it off as the harsh regimen of an average ANBU ninja, risking their lives for the most dangerous missions that took the lives of their own person, all for the sake of the village they fought for. Some might have assumed Shisui, despite his kind demeanor, was still not an exception to this, for all Shisui was known and talented for, he was still an ANBU that took dangerous missions, no matter the risk, all for the village he loved. Others would have assumed this to be just a small poem written by the Uchiha.

But Sasuke was no average ninja. Having been a victim of lies and multiple deceptions he had never been aware of until his later years, it gave him a deeper perception that no other ninja would see. And at first, he saw no connection between the poem or the scrolls, he saw the connection now.

The wording of it, especially the unveiling of truth, served as a reminder of what Itachi told him. Of truths and lies, of views and manipulations.

Shisui's message was clear: The scroll and journals could only be opened by the blood of his own clan, descended from Indra Otsutsuki.

He took Kusanagi, unsheathed the weapon at the barest minimum to reveal the naked blade, and cut at himself. Just enough for the crimson liquid to flow down on the seal of both objects. The Tazuna family only flinched slightly at the sudden action.

As soon as the blood hit the paper, he intoned. "From the dusk of dawn... From the depths of the abyss... Only the life of one's own..."

"And the unveiling of the truth... The secret within every deception..."

"Can reveal what cannot be seen."

He went for the journal first. Danzo had this in his possession deep within the depths of Root, and he still felt a faint vestige of burning rage, the heat of a faint spark, towards him. Even if he forgiven the rest of Konoha, he could not for the man.

His hands would no longer sully the Uchiha name.

He flipped open the rest of the pages, and gazed in the journal. Drawings. Animals. Individuals. Text of secrets that were meant for Itachi. His eyes fell to the neatly ordered words, Codename: "Hawk" and the words before and after, gone, cutting them short; Most of the page was ripped out, the uneven edges jagged. Did Shisui rip them out and burn them in an effort to keep them away from the hands of Danzo or some other unknown foe, upon the realization that what remained on the fullest page gave away much information? It seemed to not matter. If Kakashi's ANBU could only discover these items from both the Uchiha and the abandoned base of ROOT and nothing else, then it was clear the rest of the pages were lost to time. No chance of recovering them. They were destroyed, by Shisui, for a reason.

The rest of the text that was not cut was unknown to him, places and many individuals, set in confusion that would later have to be remedied by studying more, but the time now was dedicated to putting the pieces of the first set of puzzles together.

Then, the next page, as he turned to it. Shisui's words lay upon both sides.

Itachi.

If you are reading this, then you have gained access to the rest of my journal and the scrolls within with the small poem quote we used often in our time as ANBU. In case of an emergency, I have written down important destinations, names, and individuals of the places I have visited.

You may remember my missions, as I have recounted to both you and Sasuke multiple times, and you may have heard from Lord Third that these places are from faraway lands not from the Elemental Nations. However, some of these places I encountered or discovered are purely accidental, and one of these is for the reason I have this journal.

What I wrote down next is of my discoveries, and one that contains vital information I intend for only our clan to discover, for it is interconnected so deeply that I only could realize that there is more:

Our world is much bigger than this. The entire Elemental Nations. Everything. Not just our clan and shinobi world.

This all connects down to the progenitor of ninja. the Sage of Six Paths. Yes. The one we have heard from legends and tales, the foretold, the first individual to use chakra. You already know as a child I always wondered if our world could be much bigger and even our time serving as ANBU I wished that one of us could just discover those places than the ones from our world.

For this, these scrolls, and a few others, are of my ancestor, Kagami Uchiha, written by him shortly before his death. This is what he and I share, the Sage of Six Paths, at some point in his life, visited these worlds, or found them. Worlds of multiple places, where there are many people and individuals, inventions of different sorts. I have never believed my ancestor, one of the many Uchiha, to believe in this.

Nor have my father or mother.

Itachi, what might be said next could be treason of the highest order to our clan. For this reason, I can only relay this to you, my closest friend. You are the brother I never had. And for this, forgive me. Even if you choose not to and despise me, these journals and scrolls cannot fall into the hands of any other individual besides those I trust. Keep them safe, if at least not for me, then for what the future may lie ahead.

Long ago, when my ancestor Kagami worked closely with Lord Hiruzen, Kagami had scrolls from his own father, which were passed down by his grandfather, and so on. These scrolls contained information, though most of them were destroyed or lost over the many bloodshed and conflict, of our world and beyond. What little you see before you that was collected are of Kagami's and other Uchiha, most notably: Madara Uchiha, the same founder of our clan and the one reviled and revered. As said, the rest are irrevocably lost to war and destroyed, deliberately by our clan to prevent the information of these to fall into the hands of enemies or by the harsh battles themselves. Only a few Uchiha are able to have knowledge of this information, and with our clan's coup taking place and boiling tensions, it is another many reasons why I am only relaying this to you. If this information is leaked, then I may fear not just the Leaf, not just the Shinobi World, but other worlds as well. No other world should suffer from our conflict.

As I said, my father's scrolls originated from Kagami's. But Kagami's scrolls? While only a few remain from the ancient past, my father told me, from all where the scrolls were passed down and where only a small handful remain, that the scrolls originated from a man named Indra.

It is unknown who or what Indra was, but from studying, he must have been extremely close and affiliated with the Uchiha, our clan. He only stated it was a rumor, but Indra, Madara Uchiha, and various other of our Uchiha ancestors have visited these worlds and seen people from these places. Kagami himself too did believe in this rumor, but he, unfortunately, was not one of these Uchiha who had this pleasure.

Eventually, many of the Uchiha who did believe in this fell awry; those that used to believe in them now discounted or discredited them as tales and stories. For what few that did believe in them, now fell to Kagami and his family; his children and their children, fell to my father and mother, and now: to me and you.

Itachi. As shinobi, we know that we will eventually die, and though I do not believe my time is coming, it is only a matter of such that it will come at some point in the future. I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful woman from one of these worlds who told me this, who said I would eventually die, who had the ability to foresee the distant future. I have considered and accepted this. This cryptic warning is what is to come. May that be the hands of an enemy or were I harbor some sickness with no cure, then I accept it. If it all were a trick, but that woman had no such deception in her bones, and I do not believe that she is deceiving me, then I will be the fool for believing it.

If you were to despise me for harboring this secret, then I once again apologize. Even if you do not forgive me.

For all these reasons, I hope that once you have memorized this information, and if the scrolls or this journal itself fall into the wrong hands, for you to deal with them by any means necessary.

Until then, I hope that I will spend the rest of my time with you, Sasuke, and the many shinobi I consider as my friends as much as possible, until that time arrives.

Though eternity could never be truly accomplished, for that would be an infinite amount of time, and there was no true accurate designation of such a time, as eternity had no such concept, Sasuke felt he was stuck in an abyss, reading Shisui's imparted words to Itachi over and over, as if he was hit with the forbidden Genjutsu of the Izanami, forcing him into this action repeating from start to finish: Shisui's journal before he committed suicide in the name of his clan and village. Indra's name, Madara's, Shisui's, the Uchiha. The list went on. Sasuke only saw the distant faces in his memories. The information only made the Uchiha question how deep the history of the Uchiha he still had yet to discover. When the Hokages he questioned for answers revealed to him the secret and the morbid history of his clan, behind all their actions, he only had more questions and very few answers. Even as they answered it all, Sasuke still had a faint curiosity that stemmed from Itachi's love for the Leaf Village. Why he did what he did and how he did what he did. He wondered if the Leaf's belief in the Will of Fire, passed down from the very ninjas and even the civilians themselves, stood by the long-standing testament dating back to Ashura.

Now, Indra Otsutsuki. His travels to distant worlds and dimensions. It gave him another sense of curiosity. How much Uchiha did believe or travel to these worlds? Indra, if he truly did write these down for his children and later descendants, to make them travel across these distant worlds that he once visited long after his passing. How much text invariably was lost to time that only about just a percentage or a fraction of all that remained was left in these journals and scrolls? The secret of the Uchiha that one clan member was determined by his own ancestors, theirs, and descendants, to protect them from clansmen and enemies? How did Ylisse, the place he only ever traveled to once, connect to his clan and ultimately the Elemental Nations as a whole?

And Shisui… The face of the man appeared in his thoughts again, and he was filled with a curiosity deep within him that burned. Shisui took so many measures to protect his scrolls and journal, yet Danzo had a few of the items within his grasp? Did he not consider that with his affiliation with Danzo, Orochimaru, he and Danzo, might find other means to open the scrolls? Did he, in a moment of hastiness and desperation, intend for the blood of only Uchiha to open the texts that would have been removed by the two in other ways, with or without Uchiha blood? No. Shisui was a man of his own many flaws, but he was not stupid or foolish. Did he realize it at a moment too late and could not react accordingly in time, bequeathing the contents to Itachi in order to prevent Danzo from discovering the texts of Indra, Madara, Kagami, and others? There was something missing.

And he had a feeling Orochimaru knew something that neither he nor Danzo didn't.

He could accuse and demand Orochimaru information later if he hadn't already shared information with the Leaf. Right now, the scrolls.

He turned his attention to the scrolls. He opened one of them up. His eyes took in at the page, the painting, the intricate lines weaved into the paper, the words jotted down on the various landmarks. But he knew from the first mission he was assigned with Kabuto by Orochimaru; his sight adjusted to the right corner, the dot indicating importance and designation, and the words Ylisse, scrawled above it.

Then, traveling from the east, where drawn mountains and regions lie, past the vast scope of blue, was the landscape of the Elemental Nations. The Tazuna family leaned over to see for themselves and Sasuke studied it, burning it within his memories. He had always been the best student within the Academy of his era, being studious, reciting the landmarks of geographical regions around the Elemental Nations to Iruka and other Academy teachers. The studying of a map was no different. Only more regions and landmarks took just a bit extra time to ingrain and memorize.

"That's Ylisse, Sasuke!" Inari jabbed a finger at the right corner of the map.

He nodded idly, then he rolled up the scroll, gathering all of them up and placing them in his sack, and peeled his eyes up to meet Tazuna and his kind family. They knew instantly. No words needed to be spoken, because even as they were civilians and the common folk, they knew ninjas from basic information, and that was enough. "You're leaving tomorrow, aren't you?" Tsunami asked him.

He nodded. He was thankful for the food and the hospitality they provided him.

They recognized the importance of the mission. Of course, they did. "Big Bro Sasuke? Can you promise me this? Once you get to Ylisse or some other place?"

Sasuke looked down at Inari and nodded.

"If you meet anyone who knows of my dad, can… can you tell me what they know when you come back? If you can?"

It was a childish curiosity, one that was not simple as just a child that had no knowledge of the complex, but one that stemmed from Inari's own importance on his family that was rooted down in this deep history. It wasn't just a common family anymore. Now, with the new revelation, Inari and his family were deeply rooted in this mystery that Sasuke himself could only comprehend. And only he, the Tazuna's, the five villages, Naruto, and a few select others could only have knowledge of.

And Sasuke decided to promise the boy this. To discover how the Uchiha and Indra Otsusuki himself found these worlds by traveling. Kaiza, the Tazuna's patriarch, may perhaps be a common man that thousands or millions would not consider blinking an eye at because he was just a person like any other, but there have to be very few; the people that did know, lying in wait, people he had yet to meet.

"I will."

He didn't promise like Naruto, he could never. He was his own person who had his own values and didn't dare mimic others or try to be like others, because he grew up with a conviction of his own steel. Two words of the declaration were enough for him.

And it seemed to be enough for Inari as well, for his eyes glimmered, sparkling like the stars above, and he smiled, satisfied.

"Well,… best we head off to the night. We should get some rest. Sasuke's going to leave the following morning."

Tsunami nodded. "I'll cook up a hearty breakfast for tomorrow. Don't want you to leave on an empty stomach!"

The plan was set. They would rest for the night, for what was to come.

Tomorrow, it will be enacted.

Sasuke had been an early riser and never felt the need for extra time to rest. It had been that way since he was a child, where he would set his alarm for the Academy, before and after the Massacre that left him as the Last Uchiha and Itachi a traitor. Even long after he turned rogue and lived in relative comfort in Orochimaru's main hideout, he found the need to rest only a bare minimum schedule he followed and adapted. Rest, get dressed, have breakfast, and then train until lunch. Continue honing his capabilities until supper, and then continue training for when it was time to refresh for a new day. Most of his hours of that training were spent upon improving his Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and even Genjutsu; whatever edge and improvement in the areas that Itachi may even show vast superiority over were better than letting that area atrophy and not putting it to use. Even Naruto, he remembered, for his severe lack of skill in Genjutsu, forcibly broke his way through one in the aftermath of Kaguya's sealing when he cast a low-level B rank Genjutsu on his rival in their battle, with a burst of Chakra and a yell of "Kai!". He learned from his mistakes in battle. Sasuke didn't cast any Genjutsu on him after that with the knowledge that the blonde improved from falling into most Genjutsus in the past. The boy would brute force his way through with his supply of chakra, provided by the Nine Tails. Though it was basic knowledge that every ninja needed to improve, for those who would claim a decent level of experience over, they would never be the true master of said style. There would always be a time for each individual to improve, no matter what.

Now, Sasuke woke up at the crack of dawn, deciding to hone his Kenjutsu and Taijutsu. He needed to conserve chakra for the long journey ahead, thus not using Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, and he felt he needed to hone both other non-chakra essential areas.

It wasn't that far a deviation from Sasuke's now usual schedule of traveling and hunting down rogue ninjas. Konoha provided him a monthly report of rogue nins, and although most proved to be quite formidable; the few at best, he remembered, that he would compare to a Mid-level Jonin, none had the ability to match him. With the mission he accepted the moment he saw his clansmen's possessions and the secrets of the contents within, he, only just for a briefest of moments, wondered who would take his place in hunting down rogue ninjas, while he was preoccupied with Ylisse. He brushed the thought aside; it was only a troubling thought that had him considering only for the slightest of seconds. Konoha and the other villages would find a replacement. They would send ANBU or other high ranking Jonin within their roster.

His priority now was the mission.

"Sasuke!"

He turned to look back to the home. Tsunami was waiting out from the entrance, an apron she bore, and a large ladle she held. "Breakfast is ready! Come on in!"

He nodded, sheathing Kusanagi, and followed Tsunami back inside. He looked at the breakfast table and saw both Inari and Tazuna. Both greeted him with hellos and good morning; the latter's tone carried a trace of groan, not just from fatigue, but from a hangover from his drinks the night before.

"Sasuke?"

He looked up at the boy.

"From the large map, you're gonna go all the way to the west, past the Land of Earth and Wind, right?"

He nodded in response.

"Be careful, is what we're trying to say. Inari and I have heard more reports from merchants and other travelers that more rogue ninjas from other villages are around the Land of Earth and Wind." Tazuna took a drink, then glanced milky eyes at the Uchiha. "We're hoping that it's just a rumor, but the people that travel here come from these Lands, from their own homes and other places. So unfortunately-"

"I've heard. I've been there." Their concern was well-meaning but unfounded. He didn't mean to come off as rude, but the information was just another piece of information that Konoha had already provided him during his journey around the world. It was repeated information that was not new for him to think over.

He was thankful for their concern.

Tsunami set down a kettle of soup. "Okay! Dig in!"

Both Inari and Tazuna ate with vigor, and Sasuke ate at his own pace, thinking back to the prior day's events, planning out for the journey ahead. He was going out of the Land of Waves to the Land of Earth and Wind. Juxtaposed together on the map, save for a piece of land in between the two, he estimated how long the traveling would take. About three or four weeks, if he didn't stop for rest or rested a minimum amount to keep his stamina fresh. Continuing from that, he would continue his western approach, from where an endless and vast body of blue would greet him, the sea below being the point that separated both the Elemental Nations and the other world of Ylisse. Kakashi's other reminder of Ylisse being a separate world or nation did not escape his thoughts. He would plan what to go forward from there. He always would. If not now, then during his travels.

The morning chatter of the Tazuna family came as it did days and months before, Inari chatted to his father about a new ship he and a few other workers were building, and Tazuna laughed, ruffling the boy's hair and reminding him of the worksite they have to finish first. The talk was foreign, but also... welcoming. A strange change of pace from his usual expectancy, but didn't aggravate him, though he had yet to understand it. After breakfast was over, Inari and Tazuna were due to head to the construction worksite to begin anew another day of refurbishing, building, and fixing, and the family wanted to see the Uchiha off. Neither Inari nor Tazuna wanted to depart for work before they said their goodbyes to him.

"Goodbye Big Bro Sasuke." Inari looked up to his mother, then to his father, and then a smile curved his lips and split his face. "Kick some ass!"

Tsunami looked appalled, and Tazuna laughed. "Inari!"

Tazuna instantly sobered up after the small laughter, and he gazed into the Uchiha's own eyes. "Be careful out there. I know that you already know there are powerful ninjas in those Lands, but just a reminder and just in case."

Sasuke nodded his thanks.

"Oh, and one more thing, just to let you know..."

Sasuke tilted his head in acknowledgment. Tazuna cuffed a hand on his shoulder. His pitch coal eyes trailed to the hand, and he froze when he heard Tazuna's words, lowered to a point where not his daughter or grandson could hear.

"I know what you did…"

Even as Sasuke's face was set in one of indifference, to where not a single individual, except only for a ninja whose perception was deep they could analyze emotions even as the individual attempted to hide it behind a mask that held every key, it contained shock, an emotion that he thought he mastered to hide, for any bit was the difference between life and death, the revelation of information taking hold in an individual's brain left them wide open with no form of defense, it seemed to have not mattered.

Tazuna knew. He found out.

Had he not been the master over his emotions? Every scope a human being can accomplish did he not hide behind because of the shame and guilt and remorse? Did those crucial emotions pop out that were just an indicator of the overbearing crimes committed? No. Tazuna knew by the spreading word, by the chatter of people. Endless scenarios of where the bridge builder popped up, forming many where the bridge builder heard word of him, but none to pinpoint when and how Tazuna discovered his crimes, for only Tazuna knew how and when he discovered such things.

It was now the matriarch of the Tazuna's family. Tsunami wrapped her arms around his body in a hug, and Sasuke didn't resist; he barely registered the action. The faint scent of food and perfume flooded his nostrils. She whispered to him, filling his ears with a soft tone.

"Take care, Sasuke. You are welcome to our home whenever you feel the need to visit."

The only words Sasuke could hear were Tazuna's. He heard Tsunami's, but it felt far away like the words barely sounded out through the entire empty land and traveled into another's ears. He barely perceived her words, and though he processed it, he could only manage a simple nod behind the mask that Inari and Tsunami couldn't see through, but Tazuna could. He knew.

Sasuke couldn't attempt to hide it. He didn't try to. He thought that the Tazuna's were unaware of his actions and events. They did not know the events that took place after the Land of Waves. They knew of the Leaf Invasion, but that was because of word of mouth, by the villagers and ninjas, spread around like a growing fungus by them.

Word of mouth also spread his status, by Danzo and the other Kages, as a traitor and a rogue ninja.

It shouldn't, by all accounts, come as a surprise to the Uchiha that Tazuna, the current matriarch of his family, discover this information.

But it did.

He didn't hope to hide his crimes, because he was a guilty man. A man who was let free, not because of his own volition or pleading guilty for that matter, but the man's friend, the friend he abandoned long ago and for the significant portion of that life, had no desire to reconcile or reciprocate the bond they once shared in their youths.

Sasuke Uchiha was not a coward. He did not make his crimes seem any less they appeared. He fully accepted and was going to accept life in prison as his punishment for his actions, prior to his fate was decided by his teacher and friend. He did not pin the blame on Orochimaru or any other outside factors, like Team Hebi, because they did not play a factor or role in his decisions. When the actions of his own decisions were brought up, as all five Nations wanted the full extent of his crimes and story, extended to his team in the trial to decide his fate, he denied for them to have any accountability in his decision. Their only free choice was to follow him, the leader of their team. He made the choice to join the Akatsuki, capture the Eight-Tails, and they followed him, giving him their loyalty by word and actions. Could they, by choice, refuse? Possibly. But it didn't extend to decision-making in plans. They owed their loyalty to him, as teammates.

He managed to get the words out, but they sound forced and slow as if he was a child learning to pronounce a new word they learned or a person inflicted with a disability, a speech impediment. "Goodbye."

As he departed, he looked back to see the family wave to him, as they became nothing more than dots in the distance, and flicked out from view, before he turned back around and continued his journey out of Wave.

It was late afternoon when he arrived somewhere in the Land of Rivers, where he set up camp.

I know what you did.

Tazuna's words still clung to him like a leech. It didn't bother him. He knew, and that was it.

I know what you did.

He propped up the stakes to hold the tent up. He had more pressing matters to attend to than to listen and reminisce to some words.

I know what you did.

It shouldn't bother him.

But it did.

He did not get any sleep that night.

Sasuke's eyes focused on his surroundings before his eyes turned down to the scroll that spread out on the earth, watching the image of the map. He could not be certain for sure if he was close to being near Ylisse or any ground or land for that matter. He knew it had been at least three weeks now, and he was undoubtedly sure he was not lost. He studied the entirety of the Elemental Nations and its own landmarks for that matter to ever consider himself lost, both as a child looking to be the best and later for his mission to kill his brother. He was no longer in Land of Wind or even close to any Elemental Nations anymore. It seemed he was in a perpetual state of endless land, of Kaguya Otsutsuki Six Dimensions. Where a person once stood was pulled into the dimensions and forced to stay in the new land for eternity. He knew that it was a new land, knew that he was in unexplored and unknown territory, but could not pinpoint an escape. The endless sound of waves rushing and slapping the shores was his only companion to noise. It was loud.

Yet he couldn't see any body of water. How did he hear waves then?

Unknown territory had always put him on edge. The landscape of the map indicated a certain area, but not one he was familiar with nor did the map indicate any such designation of a sort.

He pocketed the scroll away. Life in this area was seemingly gone, disappeared from the earth. No birds, crickets, or any animals made a sound announcing their impending arrival or a sign indicating there was still life.

A trick? Such a possibility wasn't even plausible remotely in the slightest bit. Shisui knew of the Sage of Six Paths, knew of Indra, even if only just from a small tale, and was in possession of the Uchiha scrolls that harbored the secrets of Madara, Indra, Kagami, and more unnamed and unknown Uchiha.

His hands went for the single scroll of the geography once more, but hesitated. Instead, he remembered the weeks prior he was with the Tazuna's, and the words in Shisui's journal:

Madara, Indra, Kagami.

He realized it even as he grabbed the scrolls in his sack, laying each out as if studying the provisions for his travels.

He was wrong. He incorrectly assumed that the scrolls were meant to be opened as only for a single puzzle to be solved by one at a time when encountering vast, new worlds. It couldn't have been farther from that thought, couldn't have been more simple than just that. Shisui intended for all the scrolls, or whoever came in contact or ownership, to be read as one single text that intertwined with the next, along with the journal

There was no indication of which scroll belonged to the original owners, and likely for the best. Sasuke would have to assume by words written down for the intended audience, who wrote which scroll down.

He unrolled a small brown one, one of the few in the many collections, and noted the thin silk paper, crumbled with age.

To whomever Uchiha that is reading this,

I am Kisho Uchiha, the successor leader of the Uchiha Clan, with pride, after Madara Uchiha, the founder of our clan, and the first. I have hoped that after my predecessor, I can continue to lead the Uchiha to prosperity as much as my predecessor has led the clan. Hashirama Senju may have stopped our leader, but he will live on in myself, my successors, and our children, the future of our clan. For these reasons, it is impertinent that not any of Senju or any of their allies may take hold of these scrolls. If they do, then the future of our clan may be irreversibly jeopardized.

With me are the scrolls of our fore founder, Madara. While our leader may have fallen to Hashirama Senju and his idealistic foolish beliefs of so-called peace, his words inspire us to continue pushing his ideals of peace, and thus we cannot abandon our leader's wishes. Any other is a traitor, wayward and irrevocably lost, and must be dealt with accordingly, with no exceptions or excuses. Our founder's scrolls must be preserved through any means necessary, secrets must be kept safe and secure, for our next generation to retrieve these words.

May we continue the best of luck in discovering the secrets within, and to continue the ideals of our leader.

-Kisho Uchiha

Kisho Uchiha had been the successor to Madara for the head of the Uchiha Clan following his predecessor's presumed death at the hands of his best friend. The name only struck the Uchiha as memory, from history of his clan, long lost texts and prescribed information, ancient figures of the past. He didn't know Kisho Uchiha much from Konoha's Academy and library for discovering information. From studies of the man, he only learned that the man shortly became the head clan leader following Madara's death and like many his Uchiha kin, awakened the Sharingan. It had ended there, for all that was available of Kisho Uchiha, he had simply led the Uchiha Clan until his death, where it came down to the next head. There was no information if he evolved or advanced his Sharingan to the next stage, the Mangekyo.

He moved to the next scroll. Kisho Uchiha seemed only as an introduction of what was next to come, and Sasuke found himself desiring more. The next was also written in kanji like the former.

I'm writing this near the end of my life. The Senju forces are due to arrive soon, led by a man by the name of Hibuko Senju. A powerful man, even one that is of my clan's rivals, and as much as our leader despise them, I cannot find myself to hate them for the slightest bit. I respect him and the rest of his clan, so to say. Our stronghold is about on its last legs, and we are very few. Thirteen, myself included.

I suppose that the Senju are sparing not a single one of us. Do they not understand that a few Uchiha did not agree or follow Madara's ideals? Or that of his brother, Izuna's? That a few of us only simply followed orders because? But it doesn't matter to them, or perhaps, this is the harsh reality of war. Every individual who is a byproduct of this terrible reality must suffer. War is caused by us, we as human beings, and we must face its consequences, as it rears its ugly head and strikes each of us down, or we, as cruel and terrible people we can be, strike each other down with animosity and hate. I cannot find myself blaming the Senju for this revelation either or even holding them accountable. I only wonder how much more war will take from us before we realize that we let our future generations suffer further in this act.

I should get to the point, as I am on borrowed time. I am Hiraku Uchiha. If my name is to be tarnished for whomever Uchiha is reading this, then so be it. I speak of only poisonous words our clan would find me, traitor, as, and it does not matter. My life will end soon, and if our clan condemns me, it does not matter. I'll be dead soon enough, long before they can execute their own for speaking out against their ideals, like myself.

To whomever Uchiha is reading this, I only ask you this: Do you truly believe in the ideals of our leader Madara Uchiha? He has led our clan to the greatest it can be but even if you choose to ignore my words, for you it may seem I speak nothing more than blasphemy, but is he perfect?

Even if to you it seems, do your own concerns and notions, down to the tiniest imaginable, not matter? How can our individual thoughts be treason? How can the free will of our choices be wrong in the eyes of others despite what we have thought, where our opinions are formed out of personal experiences?

If my words fail to make you reconsider, then please do think about this. We are all flawed beings. Not one is perfect. It's an undeniable fact. We are as flawed as our Senju enemies. If you choose to follow our leader, then please keep in mind that your own opinions and notions matter. Our leader may or may not think of them as treasonous, incorrect, but is it? Ask yourself this.

My final moments will arrive, and let these words of mine make you consider, even if only for a brief moment. Ask yourself this. To any Uchiha man, woman, or children reading this, take a moment.

Regardless, I wish you all the best in your future endeavors and what is to-the words were cut off as only the ink of what was meant to be words remained, faded, the black scrawling along the scroll to the edges. It seemed that he was cut off. Sasuke assumed that the guards had informed him and the rest of the waiting Uchiha members that the Senju forces were coming.

Sasuke flipped open Shisui's journal to one of the pages, where Shisui's handwriting laid in neat letters, coinciding with the scrolls.

Hiraku and Kisho Uchiha couldn't be more apart and contradicted each other, two opposite ends of the coin. From my knowledge of the battle and Hikaru's own words, Hiraku likely wrote the scroll during the time frame when both Uchiha and Senju waged wars, small battles of any victory that would give them an edge. Hiraku likely wrote in the scrolls before when a stronghold of his clan was found and fell in battle. Kisho wrote into the scrolls, presumably for his children and their children to continue pushing out Madara's vision, which fell into the hands of many more Uchiha, such as Kagami Uchiha, my ancestor.

Other than that, Hiraku's scroll seems to be more of a letter, but considering the location and whole context of the time, it, of course, was meant for his clan, family, or both. I wonder if he did have children and if the possibility did, did his family agree with him secretly or disown and follow Madara's ideals? I've searched and researched Konoha's entire library regarding the man but not one bit of information regarding Hiraku Uchiha remained. I've asked a few other friends and clansmen but they don't seem to have much either or otherwise confused, not knowing an Uchiha of that name. My hypothesis is that Hiraku's family tree ended, and ended prematurely by the death of his remaining descendants, or he sired no children, or even perhaps there is something more that is beyond my knowledge as of the moment, something amiss, but I cannot be certain in this guess.

These two are the first two of the dozens and not one of them is about other realms or worlds yet.

Sasuke only managed a blink of an eye at the last bit of note. It couldn't have been a pure coincidence that from reading these words, Shisui's own first time studying these, presumably, mirrored his experience right now as of the moment and thoughts.

His eyes turned to the remaining scrolls, all opened with his clan's blood. Waiting any longer would just delay his task at hand, and Sasuke could not wait any longer. His birthright to discover and not to wait any further.

And so he presented himself to them.

In the time that followed, Sasuke was bent over like a philosophical scholar studying his work, making time to be sure that it was accurate. In a similar case as such as the made up scenario, Sasuke was studying his clan's secrets, receiving insight, forming scenarios of each Uchiha clansmen and class women.

Now, he found himself hovering over the sacred texts of Madara Uchiha, the ancestor of all Uchiha's, and one of the many reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths own son, Indra.

I have seen a world. A world rotting and filled with disease. A world torn apart by war and discrimination. Individuals ending lives for such a sickness of lowest regard.

Hashirama is a fool. My old friend continues to foolishly believe idealistically that such problems can be rectified entirely by notions of love, that peace is obtainable. Before, I would have long argued, for he was once the man I considered my friend, the closest to me, to convince him otherwise, or even put some of my consideration in those same words. That other matters or measures must be taken because such a notion of his is unobtainable in this world I see. Now? Let him believe in these. For once has he realized that these are nothing but lies and misconceptions, only then, will it be too late. My father and brother told me once, an individual once has been touched by a belief of a notion formed by oneself or other opinions, of bias and what is not proven, will coerce others into the same belief, whether or not they realize it on own accord, whether or not volition, of desire. Others will follow, shaped by the decisions of the maker, of the originator, of the designer.

And so I will bring about this peace. Defeat will come about the Senju's and their allies, and once they realize this pure, undeniable statement, they will have no choice but to face this fact. This, I assure to my dying breath. That what I believe in isn't foolish. I have seen what they have failed to see in these worlds. Peace will only come about if a hand comes about and strikes towards any opposition.

I will fight for this. For the sake of my clan, and for the sake of my brothers and sisters.

-Uchiha Madara.

Sasuke compared them to Shisui's notes. It was a fact at this point that each of the scrolls was aligned with Shisui's own recordings, as he flipped to a fresh page of neat handwriting.

Our ancestor's scroll strikes me as I would imagine him to be. Full of pride and self-reassurance of his beliefs. Though I recognize this as a mix of flaws and better traits. I don't disagree with him necessarily, to my own reluctant admittance. Studying the old Wars of our past and he isn't wrong about… certain subjects, for a lack of a better term.

And by this statement, I have actually come across this world he visited. I believe I did. It matches his statements, though, of course, this is the only remnant of the past from Madara, so I could be wrong. Either way, this world… isn't what I judge by fair. Cruelty lies in every corner and at every angle, but yet people there fight. But for what? Justice? I do not believe so. Everybody is fighting for their own "justice" and their own reasons that perhaps no other could understand. Every person has their own beliefs about what is "fair" and "right", but if we're all fighting for our own "justice", who is right? How can we judge fairness and correctness in a world where not every individual shares that same view of such a statement and where it aligns? I've met so many people who believe in this, who believe in their own "justice", that such a statement isn't false.

I just wish whatever more of our clan survived to the present day, just to study more of Madara's and each individual Uchiha's thoughts, but it seems this seems to be what has left of Madara; a relic from ancient times. My father kept this and others in great condition for a scroll surprisingly that should have crumbled with age from Kagami's possession. I am thankful for that.

Scanning through his memories, Sasuke attempted to recollect if Shisui had ever told him or Itachi about his father. Nothing presented itself. He knew that Shisui's father had long since passed along with his mother in the time before Shisui took his own life to prevent and foil Danzo's plans.

The information was irrelevant. He brushed it off. Shisui spoke most often about his missions and assignments as ANBU and he only spoke about his parents very rarely.

The statement that he read that struck him, however, was how Shisui viewed Madara and the ideologies. It brought more light to the puzzles. Shisui believed in the Will of Fire but did not disregard Madara's ideology as just as a foolish traitorous thought that many Konoha shinobi had grown to believe. Shisui considered and regarded the man's beliefs like any other curious Uchiha desiring the information of their past but still believed in the ideology that was Hashirama's and Konoha's.

"My friend… Shisui. You knew him, Sasuke. He was a true Konoha shinobi. More so than I was."

Itachi's words of his friend snapped him to the moment of that time after they defeated Kabuto and before Itachi revealed the truth of every single desire that Sasuke desperately wanted from the very first moment Itachi made the choice to stand against their clan.

Shisui was gone, nothing could change that, and Sasuke found himself wanting to know more of his thoughts with this revelation, though he knew for a fact that it was impossible now. The words of Kakashi, tangled with Shisui's work and the discovery of secretly kept contents brought him back to the moment. It was him to discover, though was it because of circumstances involving the entire Nations or his own choice? Both were simple answers. Both. It was a combination of the two, regardless of whether it fell close to one way or the other.

The final scroll.

Sasuke wrapped every other scroll up, placing them back into the pouch. He stared at the scroll, found himself hesitating, not because of fear, but because of who it traced all the way down back to. The final piece was about to be put into place. The key to opening new worlds to discover and explore, to open up a path that perhaps had been explored before, but never once did one individual explore it fully. The reveal of what had been hidden from its own clan members that it could not simply share with others.

The son of the Sage of Six Paths. His own flesh and blood. The creator of the Ninjutsu gave humanity to cast Jutsus. The progenitor that all Uchiha that was descended from, even those Uchiha who didn't awaken their Sharingan, their blood could be traced from all the way back to this man. The man whose spirit remained alive in Madara, his descendants, all the way down to himself. His secrets laid in this scroll, only those directly descended, it seems, to be able to touch these scrolls.

Indra Otsutsuki's scroll.

He felt a sense of strangeness to this situation as if he had been in this situation before. A touch of familiarity that he tried to recognize and understand but could not. His body felt as if it was on a higher plane or verge of disconnecting from it. His lips turned down. Perhaps due to being the latest of Indra's, his soul in the inner depths of himself, Madara, and many other Uchiha. It was a light feeling.

His hands touched the roll before it moved from one side to the other.

Nothing.

Nothing greeted Sasuke as soon as he opened the paper.

It couldn't be.

Such a thought only passed through, simplistic yet a fact.

From top to bottom, from the edges.

Nothing.

Had he been fooled?

He brought Shisui's work out once more, intent on the knowledge that he had not missed any bit of information that was presented. It couldn't be that all the efforts of the small sect of his clan that hid them that it was all for naught. Shisui himself discovered all the rest of the Uchiha's coveted secrets, from Madara to Hiraku, recording his own formulated thoughts of each Uchiha and their beliefs. He checked, flipping past Kinsho, Hiraku, and Madara. Drawings and intricate handwriting greeted him, but none with the knowledge of Indra. That was it. An empty page greeted him.

Had Shisui simply heard Indra by name, a small portion of what he accomplished, and that was the extent of his knowledge?

Most elder Kages, such as Onoki of Both Scales, knew predecessors of their past, by recordings and other historical works. Itachi knew Madara, and Sasuke, even before the tangled webs of lies and deception Itachi and Konoha fed him, he knew Madara by name. It had been taught to the Academy. The belief surrounded his death. His deeds, both good and bad, though it leaned towards the latter, as he later took note of, Konoha's propaganda to snuff any individuals looking as the man as an idol. Even most Uchiha he talked to that was alive before the ordered massacre of his clan that most Uchiha simply regarded Madara with some disdain.

Shisui was a smart man. Sasuke knew this and knew for the fact that Shisui was a studious, intelligent, and capable man. But none of his recordings on the scroll was found anywhere.

Empty scroll, empty words. Shisui knew this. Sasuke knew both were connected. The facts were relayed to him again. He repeated the knowledge ingrained into him:

Shisui. ANBU. Was in possession of his ancestor's and many other Uchiha's secrets. He committed suicide in the Naka River. Danzo made his move of attempting to steal Shisui's Mangekyo…

Yes!

An idea, a basic hypothesis was formed. He had planted and its roots began to grow, the seedling of thought forming, developing, built upon the facts. He was still missing much however…

Not quite there yet.

It had something to do with Mangekyo. The more powerful ocular dojutsu of his clan granted its members extraordinary abilities, far exceeding that of the basic Sharingan. He gathered his thoughts once more.

The poem by Shisui. Another fact from a time earlier that he read from Tazuna's abode from Wave.

That was the meaning behind Shisui's message.

It wasn't just one message intended for one singular action for the sole purpose of fulfilling that task. It was intended for two.

And like with the seals of his clan's past, Sasuke understood the meaning behind the scroll and Shisui's absence of words. No ordinary ninja could attempt to discern such meaning, and those that did by all accounts failed to grasp that requirement.

Sasuke, again, was no ordinary ninja.

He parted his hair sideways, the comma and ring markings of his Rinne-Sharingan in a permanent activation state, and he felt his right eye come alive with the burst of small chakra that he physically felt the transformation into the ordinary Sharingan, and then the morphing again, with another push of just a bit of chakra that was enough to activate the dojutsu… into the Mangekyo Sharingan. He felt the power pulsating from his eye once more.

It had been some time since he last used Mangekyo, and the feeling felt like a visit from an old friend. A familiar one if any, and a welcomed one. He had only used the basic level of Sharingan to track movements from rogue ninja in combat against him. The Mangekyo was unnecessary.

The Naka Shrine's Stone Tablet required the doujutsus of either Rinnegan or the Sharingan to decipher and read the words imparted, yet only the former could fully decipher texts that were secret to the bloodline and invisible. No other eye, without the doujutsus of the two, would read nothing but words that could not be comprehended as a foreign language or tongue. Unlike a foreign language however, which could be practiced and taught to others that they could slowly comprehend, the texts of the Stone Tablet could not be comprehended or understood, without the requirement of the eyes of the Otsutsuki's, leaving many those without it only able to guess its true meaning.

It was almost the exact same as the text of the scrolls.

And with it, Sasuke could fully see what the scroll had to offer.

As I see these vast and distant worlds

My answer becomes more clear than before

Power to grasp and power to control

Over many and all into one

Will be the true answer to a world desiring peace.

A large circle of ink, from his activated eyes, were visible. He could see the lines trailing down, the length of them into a large circle that formed into it. Top, bottom, left, and right. From the above texts, it didn't provide any sort of meaning for him to discover other than to speculate what and how exactly to get to Ylisse. His mind came to guessing once more. Blood offering? Sacrificial limb or offering? The latter was provided to him with memories, recounting Orochimaru and his infinite and vast thirst for knowledge and uncovering truths. Yet even with the blood providing seal, he had a doubt that it did not require any blood.

The answer was close, and yet it remained the same.

Everything connected and was drawn to Hagoromo Otsutsuki.

Sasuke thought of the Sage of Six Paths, where he and Naruto received the powers of sun and moon in order to seal Kaguya Otsutsuki away permanently, the opposite arms of light and dark intertwine. Naruto's right arm, holding love, truth, peace, and kindness held the power of rejuvenation, giving life and breathing into them. The Sun of the Six Paths Yang of all those powers came into being in his right arm.

On the opposite end, Sasuke's left arm held the power of the moon and darkness, where night fell upon the world to devour, where the sun began to set and the eclipse of the moon came to rise, his arm held the power of the shadows, where it held pain, suffering, contempt, and hatred. The Moon of the Six Paths Yin was his to control.

The limb was gone, lost in the final battle of the world, to determine and settle centuries of conflict between Ashura and Indra. In the final clash to decide the fate of bonds and the world, both he and Naruto lost the hands that determined Kayuga's fate and the power given to them by the man who many considered to be a deity and god of the world.

Even with the loss, it did not matter. No. The loss of limbs did not translate to the inability to utilize chakra. With the loss of limb, Sasuke had to relearn a few Jutsus and cast them with a single hand, along with relearning other tasks.

The same applied to the meaning here.

Sasuke's chakra came to life in his sole hand, the flames of blue and black flickering about. He channeled the power in his hand, then placed it on the scroll, his palm lying flat on the surface and in the circle.

He felt it as soon as his hand touched the scroll. The hand began to feed off the chakra provided by his hands as if the inanimate object suddenly grew and obtained sentience.

He attempted to remove his hand from the scroll, but the scroll would not part from his hand. Immediately, he felt the danger bells trigger in his head in warning, and he retracted his hand once more, attempting to free himself, but failing. The scroll came alive, feeding on his chakra like a leech.

In no less than mere seconds, Sasuke felt his chakra levels beginning to dwindle. His mind still raced with warning, though even as his face gave no sign of warning, for he never gave any bit of weakness or caved into it.

Sasuke nearly immediately retaliated the moment he felt his chakra levels deplete at the near slightest, holding back at the last second that his racing mind of intensive combat training and being a veteran of battle brought forth a thought that prevented him from nearly destroying the ancient scroll:

The process required him to drain his chakra.

Kusanagi detached itself from his hip and Sasuke barely registered it, concentrating on keeping his conscious mind up. He felt the beginnings of his mind going off to an unconscious haze that would disconnect him from reality, and Sasuke fought it off. Sweat began to form, and Sasuke felt perspiration running down his face, a drop that nearly splashed itself onto the scroll itself that was barely registered in his peripherals.

He would not give in.

He knew what depleted chakra levels felt like. He had been a victim of it more than three times in his lifetime. First at the Land of Waves to break through Haku's Ice Mirrors, second battling Deidara in summoning Manda, and third and most importantly, fighting his older brother that left him depleted of his entire pool, using Kirin, amongst many others.

Sweat formed, and Sasuke felt his face slacken slightly with fatigue, even as he attempted to keep it neutral, as his energies were consumed, the scrolls continuing to suck his pool of chakra, until it left him with only half.

Sasuke felt the scroll free itself from his hand, and he stumbled back in an attempt to keep his composure. Half his chakra was gone now, and the scroll bounced, hitting the ground, remaining open. And in the middle of the circle, where nothing lay, he saw a word, ink upon the scroll, "Moon (月)" . The word began to morph into an image. Sasuke's hazy sight attempted to see what the process remained. And in place of it, the kanji word morphed as only the ink doujutsu of his clan's eye, the Sharingan, stared back at him.

Then it glowed. The image came to life and shot out of the object of the scroll. He watched as the image of the Sharingan came to life in front of him by the scroll.

The object then began to animate. As the eyes of his own stared back at him and into the void of land, the tomoe of the left bottom corner moved to the right, morphing into it so that he was staring at only the second stage of the basic Sharingan, devolved into only two tomoes. The second moved into the first, and the first disappeared into the void in the middle. Sasuke watched as it opened up, and then he saw it.

The portal, as he saw it and what it could be titled, contained nothing but a black and empty void. He felt it emanate pure chakra, that it would not even take a sensor to feel nothing but pure chakra of energy coming from it.

It was clear that this was not one of Kaguya's dimensions. Even as his senses alerted him to the danger within and he felt emotions of pain, suffering, hatred, it was not one of her dimensions. With the fact that this scroll formulated by Indra and Shisui only took note by knowledge of his and the clan's past, it could not be of Kaguya's creation. He still felt caution and the need to approach this with caution, having drained him half his chakra.

Then the warning signs flared in his head once more.

With the gaping mouth of black and nothing else, it roared. It was not an animal, as it was inanimate and nothing else, but it remained close to the same, and formed a sound of its own if any.

Sasuke immediately leaped back, grabbing his belongings and the scroll that opened up the portal, attempting to resist and flee. He cursed as fatigue from his drained chakra system began to settle in.

The portal of chakra was not to be dissuaded, however. It was hungry as it was inanimate as it gave no signs of life, wanting live sustenance. A predator beast of black. It saw Sasuke as its target and prey and with its open mouth, it began to suck and howl, wanting the Uchiha in its jaws.

Even as the danger presented itself, Sasuke still formed thoughts and calculations, his clothes flapping through the roar of wind and emptiness. His teeth gritted as he attempted to plant himself on earth to prevent his fall into the void, unsheathing Kusanagi and pushing the blade through the earth, and held onto the blade so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Shisui had traveled to Ylisse once. So did himself, Naruto, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, by his own accounts and word, Kabuto, Tsunade, and possibly many others.

Did this Jutsu require that he channel and sacrifice an amount of chakra to open and travel dimensions?

It perhaps did. And he wondered the past and his kin entering into these unknown regions. What worlds did they travel and enter that were filled with a sense of danger that even common people could feel?

The answers were within. Sasuke knew that the more he delayed his departure from this world and onto this new one, the more he delayed answers he desired to know. And also delaying his mission to assist Ylisse.

He thought of Naruto, Sakura, Konoha, Itachi, and the people of the Hidden Leaf. It was a memory of fondness, and he looked back into the empty field, the side of the land that separated him from the other side; the void becoming the bridge that was the gap in between.

It was time to go.

He began to pull Kusanagi out of the earth.

"I'm handing this back to you."

Sasuke stared at the headband that he forsook long ago.

Naruto rolled his eyes and smirked. "Aren'cha gonna take it?"

"I'll hold on to it."

"Until our next rematch."

"I'll be waiting til then, Sasuke."

Before he could fully free his blade, his hand felt around the pouch, grabbing until he felt the headband's location in his pouch and the indented symbol of Konoha on the metal plating.

Naruto trusted the headband back to him.

His hand wrapped around it, outlining the object, and turned his gaze back to the beast. Freeing Kusanagi, he made no further attempts to resist the pull.

With the beast's open mouth, he leaped into the black void, leaving behind a world to a new one.

Sasuke looked around. He was stuck in the beast's abyss of a stomach. He could remember as even as he prepared himself he did not know where this would lead him to. Making sense of it was difficult. He noticed that his feet touched the ground of the abyss.

But that was not right. The emptiness of the black beast did not outline a floor or anything he could to maintain equilibrium. Yet he heard his footsteps hitting the floor.

His hand reached down… and grasped nothing. Sasuke looked down, his face remaining passive, despite the racing thoughts that began to form in his head.

Kusanagi. The scrolls. Shisui's journal. Everything was here.

He attempted to concentrate chakra into his right eye and found he could not. His Rinne-Sharingan remained active on his left, but he could not see anything beyond the void. He was walking in an endless abyss. A prison of black. Yet it was not a Genjutsu.

This experience…

No. He had been in this experience before...

Sasuke scanned his surroundings, looking around the blackness that seemed to be his only companion.

"Hello, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke knew from the moment that even before he materialized, he knew who he was speaking to before the words even left his mouth.

"Sage of Six Paths."

The man, revered by many as a God, revered by many for giving chakra to humanity. The ancestor for shinobi, and the founder of the Ninshu. Praised and worshipped, he was the thing of tales, of legends, myths, and with the knowledge and wisdom that were passed down to his sons and their sons and descendants.

The ancient Otsutsuki smiled. "Sasuke Uchiha."

Even as it was perhaps unnecessary, Sasuke gave a partial bow in familiar respect at seeing the man only once who provided him and Naruto the power needed to seal Kaguya. The man was revered by many as a God, and though Sasuke was non-religious and did not believe in such a thing, he still felt the need to give the ancestor of humanity the respect he deserved.

"It has been a while."

It has. The ancient figure of shinobi looked the same as he did when he first appeared to him and Naruto in their deep subconscious.

Hagoromo nodded. "I assume you have quite a few questions you need to be answered, and I know that you want me to get straight to the point."

"To simply put it, we're at the crossing point that separates your world and the continent of Ylisse and beyond." Hagoromo smiled. "It has been a while since my son or any Uchiha who were aware of such other worlds beyond our own, and attempted travel. Indra desired a vision of peace based on his own experiences and what he saw. Ashura did the same. Both did not just solely look into our own."

That answered where he was exactly. However, it didn't answer another question. "What is this then?"

It didn't quite add up. Was he knocked out due to exhausting his own chakra? He didn't use up his entire pool. Sasuke knew death did not claim him. It was far too early and he had quite nearly been a victim of it before in his final clash with Naruto, to know the near taste and experience of death.

As if the Sage was reading into his thoughts, he answered. "No chakra pools are the same as the others. My son, Indra. Madara Uchiha, the ancestor of your clan. Shisui Uchiha, your older brother's best friend. Many of them visited these worlds that separated from our world.

He paused. "Do you remember what I told both you and Naruto Uzumaki of what our clan was?"

He didn't need to confirm it. He already knew, and so did the Sage. "When I was just a child, my mother told Hamura and myself of these worlds."

"And when I and Hamura grew up, we wanted to visit these worlds. It was our curiosity, so to speak. We researched, studied, and even our mother had taught us the basics. In only a few years in our youth of testing Space-Time Ninjutsu, I and Hamura were able to successfully develop a Jutsu that could allow us to travel to these other worlds.

"The Jutsu requires a specific amount of chakra, you know that. But in our overeager curiosity and foolishness, these worlds were irrevocably connected to our own. Our chakra was derived from our mothers; her's was not only powerful but vast. That was not what had connected our world to others, however."

Sasuke knew if Naruto was here, he would say that would not have sounded that terrible. It meant he could travel freely and see new people. The blonde was optimistic of course. He gave a partial nod for the Sage to continue and acknowledge his words.

"Then both Ashura and Indra were born, and both of my sons desired to see peace in our world's heavy conflict. Through this, I had taught both Indra and Ashura the Jutsu both Hamura and myself had created during their study of Ninshu and while both sought peace out. Looking at conflict through the world in just one's eye is narrow-minded thinking and I wanted both of them to look at every available opportunity through every angle and view given."

"I do not blame my sons for either of this." He gave a slight chuckle. "Apologies if it sounds as if I do. If anything, it was my responsibility to bear that I gave both Ashura and Indra the tools and they just did what I wanted them to do."

"What I mean was that both them and the descendants, your clan, Young Naruto's clan, the Senjus, constantly traveled to these other worlds that had formed rifts and distortions in the fabric of reality in between two worlds and others, upon centuries of war and fighting. Dimensions that inexplicably popped up as a result of this constant traveling between worlds, as "leftovers" of sorts that were a result of these cross dimensions. You, Naruto-kun, and a few others have accidentally visited upon these worlds in your training and travels. I'm sure you remember an experience you have seen."

Sasuke searched upon memories of his childhood, beyond the Academy and his parents, beyond Itachi and training…

He remembered a forest. Dense, tightly packed with Mother Nature's life-bearing of wildlife, trees, and many others.

Hagaromo smiled, "It seems you remember your experience in that world."

Sasuke knew it. But he didn't consider it in the past. Perhaps none of them did.

"It wasn't Ylisse."

The statement came off sounding like a question, or perhaps it was a mix of both that it was just him confirming what one experience of memory was. He had his doubt it was not Ylisse. It could not have been that country. It didn't matter. He didn't question Hagoromo's knowledge. The Sage had knowledge that far surpassed the greatest minds of humanity combined all together, and more.

"You already know the answer, Sasuke."

Sasuke contemplates this for a moment. Shisui's notes did solidify that the Elemental Nations weren't just one world. His own belief was that their world was vastly larger than it actually was, where multiple societies of personal different values were formed out of those individuals who created them.

A sudden lurch and Sasuke felt sick. He nearly fell over. The sudden feeling of warning, honed from Shinobi training rose rapidly, but he settled on one knee.

"Are you alright, Sasuke?" The Sage looked concerned

Sasuke looked up, an expression in his mismatched pools that demanded an explanation.

"Ah. I forgot to explain. Apologies. This is the Jutsu I and Hamura created known as Cross Dimension: Moon, a space-time Ninjutsu."

"The Jutsu has been used by your clan since Indra's first transmigrant, Madara, and has been used long since then by any Uchiha clan member who has awakened the highest stage, the Mangekyo. This allows any Uchiha to travel to different worlds that have radically different timezones and climates."

"This here is known as the Time Dimension, as others of your clan have named it. I presume you remember our mother's dimensions, yes?"

He nodded. He remembered each and every one of them.

"Lets just say that this is a path of sorts. A road between two different towns. You cannot touch anything, feel anything. This is a dimension of in-betweens."

"There are negative effects." A Space Time Ninjutsu such as this could not have possibly gone without a few negative side effects that would prove dangerous. He had heard of the Flying Raijin of the Fourth Hokage, Kamui of both Obito and Kakashi. Both were advanced Space-Time Ninjutsu.

Cross Dimension: Moon was far beyond that scope of caliber.

"Unfortunately, yes there are negative side effects for those who utilize the Jutsu. Those who utilize this for the first few times will experience varied side effects, including the sickness you have just experienced. Your body will have to adapt to this as you continue to cross into the Time Dimension." The Sage sighed. "Many Uchiha who have utilized such have been torn apart to pieces if they are unable to control it or directly interfere with the process at any point. Hamura and I were unable to perfect the Jutsu, not with our mother being aware of us."

"The Jutsu also holds as long as how much chakra one has put into the dimension. As being the transmigrant of my son, the Time Dimension will hold up longer, up to half an hour at most. But stay here too long, and you will be stuck here for an eternity, never to return to your own world or come to the other. To travel, the Jutsu will respond to your thoughts accordingly. But when you arrive at the world, the only difference is that even if its bright and morning at the Nations, it will always be the opposite in whichever world you land upon. Thus, it is the time when the Moon rises. To travel to another world, activate your Mangekyo once more. With the hand, you have placed your chakra to open the Time Dimension, raise it up at the same time. As soon as this world forms in your thoughts, it will open. I am warning you. You must have your Mangekyo and the hand up at all times, even when you are about to enter this world. Your entire concentration must be focused on your Mangekyo, the hand that opened the Time Dimension, and to keep the barrier to the new world at all times. Again, since you are the transmigrant of my son and using the hand of the Moon Seal, the Time Dimension will hold out longer, but if you drop your hand, the portal to Ylisse will vanish and you will lose your chance. If you drop your Mangekyo..."

"I will be stuck here for eternity."And Sasuke understood far better now how and why. A Jutsu's whose origin dated back as far as the Sage of Six Path's personal Jutsu, one that was passed down to Indra and then his clan. It far surpassed the Fourth Hokage's and Kakashi and Obito's use of such a technique."What happened to Ylisse?"

Sasuke knew what the Sage also had knowledge of. Hagoromo was considered a deity among shinobi that his knowledge was extensive and vast, his presence alone speaking volumes of his love and hope for peace in humanity. He could be domineering, and then passive like a grandfather the next. He felt the darkness in the inanimate beast that would take him to another dimension, its gaping jaws looking to devour any in its vicinity. He himself plunged into that path, without any concern or hesitation, letting it consume his soul as he crossed the roads of vengeance and shed blood. He saw it in Madara, Obito, and Kaguya, whose darkness he felt that rivaled and surpassed even his at a prior point of his youth.

The Sage knew.

Instead of answering, the Sage returned with a question of his own, even as the subject was not light, he still smiled. "Tell me, Sasuke. Do you truly believe in Naruto's vision of peace?"

The sudden question threw the focus of the subject off balance, where Sasuke only simply blinked and only considered a second before answering a simple "Yes."

"Well… Let me rephrase this question then, along with the same one: How long do you believe that peace will last in your world? How long will it be, do you believe, before disputes and war will break out again?"

The rephrased question came to Sasuke with a sort of confusion and weariness, as if the Sage desired to know the true meaning or deeper meaning within his acceptance. In the months of his self-imposed exile, he traveled across and around the world. He found himself in places he had been before. The Land of Snow, where he and his former Team had been assigned to protect the actress, later discovered to be princess, Yukie Fujikaze in the one mission prior to departing. He found himself in the ruins of one of Akatsuki's abandoned hideouts, looking inside the caverns and playing events in his head like a recounted tale of Itachi and the other Akatsuki members like Deidara. The town he and Team Taka settled in for a short time and even the inn at that town.

He looked at the Sage for clarification. The question settled into him, giving him pause and hesitation. He looked into the Sage's unwavering eyes that held wisdom, power, and the knowledge of every shinobi arts and tools.

Then he laughed, his voice echoing into the abyss of the Dimensional Void. "Apologies if it sounds off. What I mean is do you believe in Naruto's vision of peace? I know you have long since accepted your closest friend's words and ideology, but do you believe it will last?"

Sasuke took the time to think, as the Sage was giving him it to mull over. He did, did he not? Sasuke accepted him as the victor of the battle and acknowledged him. He truly believed that his friend would become Hokage, and he didn't doubt that now since.

But did he doubt the peace? The peace that Naruto told him that would last? All Five Nations coexisting and supporting each other to prevent the conflict that would arise? He thought of powerful rogue and missing nins, grievances, and petty conflicts that rose when he frequented familiar places. He saw an arguing couple, two Chunin ninjas fighting each other due to a petty argument that would have gone further had it not been broken apart by their companions. And he earlier knew the fact that hatred didn't just dwell in Uchiha, as the Second Hokage would have many to believe, but even other ninjas and regular civilians as well. The missions he took, the conflicts he saw. These were all proof of that statement. Peace would not last forever. Naruto hasn't seen it, and such he would never believe that that time would come. Either by petty small scale that went under the eye of all Nations. And once that conflict grew and grew as Madara pit each nation against each other until in a bid that time had finally arrived in the form of the Fourth War.

He knew it. And with this revelation, he knew he doubted Naruto's words. His vision and his belief. The world he desired would never last long, for there would be conflict anew.

"I can see you are having concerns about it."

Sasuke stared into the eyes of the Sage, simply only waiting.

"Come. Walk with me." He chuckled. "I know that there's nothing around us, but please. It is simply just to talk. I will be quick. Time is of the essence. Would not want you to be stuck in Void for eternity after all. "

And Sasuke did, even though they had no path or destination. While the abyss gave and provided no destination, and Sasuke was fine conversing with others remaining stationary and standing, the Sage desired to talk while moving. He obliged the request.

Hagoromo knew the entire Shinobi world. He knew every clan that came and died out, withering like a leaf on a tree. He knew strategies that came from shinobi's mind that were both to be revered and feared, and the many assassination attempts from enemies surrounding borders. It had been more centuries of suffering he knew and feared that would happen, yet he could not prevent it all the same.

He saw the First War break out violently. Both Hashirama and Madara, the few of the many reincarnations of his two sons, battle in fierce opposition to each other. He saw the Second World War that plunged many young children into orphans and was captured, killed, or enslaved.

Hamura had no children of his own, and Hagoromo knew that he would not live long. Despite his heritage, he was no immortal figure as many tales would ascribe him or legends would claim him to be. He would not live to see the dawn of peace. Even as he could no longer lead, with the birth of his two sons, he hoped that one of them would lead the road, no matter how difficult, painful, and dark the world had become, there would be the light ahead that shone the path to peace. His sons had desired the same, seeing battles and wars as a corrupting disease that spread throughout. While teaching the two, he gave them the knowledge of his and Hamura's created Jutsu to help in their decision in choosing and molding the road ahead. Both had done so, traveling to many distant and vast worlds, even those he and Hamura had never heard of in their lives before or were unable to, and returned, enlightened by new knowledge in decision making.

That had all been before he gave both their tasks of helping to restore land that had been torn apart by his mother. The task which the two would return, and Hagoromo announced his decision who would lead the Ninshu.

In the end, he chose Ashura and hoped that Indra would support his brother's role in the path of peace. That had been his belief: Ashura would lead, and Indra would follow, guiding him whenever necessary, and be his right hand and second in command.

That had not been the case, to his greatest regret.

Even as he was dying, even when death hands came for him, and Indra spat his hatred for him, Ashura, and the Ninshu, he never found it in himself to channel blame or responsibility on his eldest son. And perhaps there was none because Indra believed what he believed in, throwing his own teachings back into his face about traveling to other worlds. He could still remember it. It had been his own fault. He failed Indra.

Even though he could not bear to see the son he cared deeply for turn into the manifestation of darkness and what became of him, he could not hate his son, as both he and Ashura were the greatest gifts that were his flesh and blood.

He watched as Ashura and Indra continued their clash after death, from where their souls and his Jutsu, altercations made by both to fulfill their needs, and their descendants continue. Hagoromo watched as the result of his and Hamura's creation was passed down, lost, scavenged, and the process was inevitable, like a factory that built tools. Both Ashura and Indra's original scrolls, their own small altercations to his own creation, that contained the vast worlds they visited were lost to war that became wide scope across Nations and territory, destroyed by the result of war.

The chakra from his own became his sons, and theirs became their sons, daughters, descendants, and so on.

In the place of the originals were the same Jutsus but altered significantly that it was a far cry from his original Jutsu, and deviated just as much as both Ashura and Indra's altered Jutsu. Those individuals that did know of Ashura and Indra attempted to alter the Jutsu the same as both the two did, their own desires to see the worlds of both his own sons, to varying degrees of success.

As both Hashirama and Madara traveled to these worlds and then back to their own, both carried the scrolls that were used to travel, the two were the relics of his son's descendants, children of sons and daughters, and family. In simple terms, those scrolls were the abridged versions of the originals. A copy that allowed travel, used by the two clan leaders that were of their predecessors.

"As stated, the scroll you carry with you, Sasuke. The one you received from the very depths by Kakashi, is the only scroll that survived to the present day, that allows dimensional travel between worlds. It had been used by my son's sons and daughters, Madara, your brother's friend, Shisui, and others."

He watched as Sasuke instinctively reached out for the scroll again, remembering what he said, then his hands went lax to his sides.

"What happened to Ylisse?" He remained looking into the face of the Sage. "What happened after when Naruto and I left?"

The Sage, in his infinite wisdom and experience and for all that he saw Four Wars of death, bloodshed, destroyed homes and lives, gave only a somber look that already told volumes of what had been the result of a country that neither he nor Naruto or any individual that had a connection with the country to have had a terrible predicament.

"Sasuke. You have seen and read that letter. It was written by Prince Chrom of Ylisse directed to Naruto himself." The Sage took in a deep breath, then released it, shaking with sorrowful emotions. "The letter was not assistance in the war."

"It was a cry for help against an ancient evil."

He knew. Both of them knew. Hagoromo left the answer hanging in the air between their conversation. Sasuke himself had fought in the Fourth War prior to knowing the Sage's response. He studied the past Three Shinobi War for the harsh truth and answer that would have struck any other being or individual cold. Sasuke read reports, taking in details that most other shinobi would have left out or not noticed despite their honed senses sharpened to an edge. This statement, would have not given Naruto enough to gain more on, or it would have, but it was enough for him:

Chrom was dead. Undoubtedly so.

Sasuke didn't know what to feel. He had no personal connection to Chrom, no emotional bond linking or chaining the two together, no knowledge of the man's personality and appearance, and for Sasuke to even care. To him, he was a stranger, one that Naruto had forged a connection and bond with, but he did not. But Chrom had been Naruto's friend; Chrom claimed to be Naruto's friend, that had been clear, and something had to be set right for the Prince. He fought alongside him.

Naruto would have broken down at the revelation, had it been him at this moment to travel between the separate worlds. Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick were dead. His friends from the world where he never once met again, only the time in his training, never considering what they felt or were doing, were gone. If the Prince was gone, then it wouldn't have taken any more consideration into what had happened to his sister and liege. Naruto would have demanded more answers to questions he likely already knew but would have not accepted.

But Naruto would have picked himself up again, determined to travel to this world. Sasuke knew that Naruto would have accepted their deaths, even if it hurt, and continued on his path. That was the Naruto, he and those who knew him the best, who never gave up or let his own grief and sorrow control him.

But Naruto was also foolish for thinking that it was his fault, when in actuality it wasn't. His friend was foolish for trying to take the blame that was not his. Sakura would have reprimanded him and same with Kakashi, for the blond beating himself up.

Answers were needed. "What was this ancient evil you are referring to?"

The Sage gave a slight shake of his head, though not because he didn't want to answer. It would mean that he would deny Sasuke information of relevant factors and importance that Sasuke needed to understand the predicament.

To understand a situation, one must gain a basic understanding of how and what had happened.

"I believe you have heard this tale before, Sasuke. The tale of the Fell Dragon? I believe that Shisui informed you of that tale in your childhood, and you have been to the country yourself once."

He did. He only completed the mission due to the fact that Orochimaru himself could not leave his laboratories and hideouts unattended, along with the sealing of his arms by the Third Hokage's Reaper Death Seal. The mission could have been sent to a composed team of Sound ninja, but he chose his second in command, Kabuto, and Sasuke himself, to complete the mission.

And Shisui... Sasuke could remember many missions of Shisui that left him in awe and the elated past of him begged the man to tell him more. What other missions, Jutsus, and techniques of his.

"Okay. Watch carefully, Sasuke. This is my Body Flicker Technique."

Sasuke nodded, his eyes concentrated on the man in front of him, taking in his full frame.

Shisui stood, looking back, a smile on his face. A blur of motion… and he was gone!

Sasuke's eyes scanned the area around him. His eyes whipped violently around to catch where the man had gone. Up, down, left, right. In his peripheral, it blurred past the green of the trees and grass, unable to settle until it caught the man it once held in its gaze before.

"Behind you, Sasuke."

Sasuke whipped his head back to see Shisui standing up on the hill. His eyes widened in surprise and shock, unable to comprehend how the man had gotten behind him. "Shisui?!"

"Yep!" He grinned

He stared in disbelief, blinking as if still attempting to make sense of what had just happened. "How did you get behind me? You were in front of me! It looked like you were moving in place!"

"Well, maybe if you awaken your Sharingan you would be able to catch me!"

Sasuke glared, anger replacing shock, and Shisui laughed, waving a hand apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But that was my Body Flicker."

The boy stared in shock and amazement. That had been Shisui's Body Flicker?! But he didn't see the man move from his original position in front of him to behind him!

A moment of his childhood, a tale of his past, and yet another.

"Oh Sasuke."

"What Kabuto?"

"I thought you might want to hear a story, or a tale of some sort regarding Ylisse and the rival country Plegia."

Sasuke only gave a side glance but it was enough for Orochimaru's pupil to keep talking.

"The entity known as Naga will shine bright and ease the suffering of humanity, leading them to a path of light ahead."

"And the wings of despair, in the breath of ruin and destruction, the entity known as Grima will rise and plunge the world into darkness."

"And this is worth my time how exactly?" Childhood stories and fairy tales may have been one thing that might have turned his foolish child self's and every other child's head back then, eager to know more, but to him now, it was a waste of time. Stories to him were nothing but to add to the mystique and mystery of a country.

Kabuto shrugged, adjusting his glasses slightly on his nose. "You wanted to know about the country, so I thought a tale regarding it might do." The clopping sounds of the horses paused, halting the travel carriage, and Kabuto looked up. "Looks like we're here."

In that time, his sight was narrow in his still foolish past self, only focusing and setting sights on training and obtaining strength whenever possible and using that collected strength and training against Itachi.

This Grima had been real. And he destroyed the country of Ylisse, Plegia. A few unnamed more sites of importance that Sasuke have heard in the past he had traveled to.

Stories and tales were the conceptions of people and individuals. A person could spin the tale to how he or she desired the tale to be, bending it to their wish. Even if the story turned out to be filled with facts and firsthand true accounts, such as the Fourth Hokage given the Yellow Flash status for his deadly nature, a person could over exaggerate or under exaggerate a tale whenever and however, and many people could take the tale to what they thought it was.

The Sage of Six Paths had been a legend amongst the entire Elemental Nations, concocted stories of wildest imaginations wrung up by individuals. Some thought he was a God. Others thought he didn't exist.

But he had. Both he and Naruto met the man and the man had shown himself in flesh to the few who had ever seen the figure that had shaped Shinobi as a whole. The look of awe and shock that came over the Hokage's faces was a sight he could never forget.

Grima was said to bring ruin…

And he did.

Grima was said to wrought despair, drying out hope.

Ylisse, Plegia, and the other countries were gone.

Grima was said to plunge the entire world into darkness.

The world was an abyss of darkness, and he felt it.

The Stone Tablet had kept secrets of the Uchiha, of the Mangekyo, Tailed Beasts, and of Kaguya Otsutsuki. Stories that only Madara and a few other select Uchiha would ever discover the secrets of. Though the original author was the Sage himself, the mass of being that was Black Zetsu, created by Kaguya, wrote texts of his own, guiding the Uchiha to unwittingly and unbeknownst to them, revive Kaguya and destroy the Shinobi world as a whole.

What of the entity known as Grima, that perhaps only a select few were aware of, that plunged Ylisse, Plegia, and other countries into ruin? What of the few, regardless of the time known, attempted to fight the entity and failed, because their combined strength was unable to stand against the might of a deity figure or being?

It was the opposite of the Shinobi World and entire Elemental Nations, where Kaguya failed to put all into her Infinite Tsukuyomi and those who fought her, the remaining little who still fought to seal her away and put her away for good this time.

It was a nightmare come true. The monster of stories and legends brought to life. A terrible and horrific scenario none wanted pictured, yet it would appear in full view.

They failed.

Whether it had been Grima being too much to bear, those, whoever they were, had fought Grima, and failed.

And Sasuke knew, in his thoughts that compared the two, the opposite ends of the spectrum of light and dark, the possibility of multiple factors that would determine the future: The entire Shinobi World would have ended up like Ylisse.

Kaguya, could, and would have killed him or Naruto in more than a dozen ways. Truth Seeker Orbs to consume them whole. Ash Killing Bones to disintegrate and erase them from existence. With either he and Naruto permanently removed from the equation and none to stop Kaguya.

Sakura and Kakashi, after, would have fought as best as they could and it wouldn't have mattered because Kaguya would have killed both of them as well, regarding them as small flies beneath her, and with everyone else trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, she would have drained the entire Elemental Nations dry of chakra.

It only struck the Uchiha in cold revelations of possibilities that his mind factored in. He had imagined scenarios of possibilities and what-ifs in his early years and never stopped.

This was a new one, and one that Sasuke could not have brushed off.

Grima had successfully destroyed this world in complete stark contrast.

If there was any person left, and he doubted there was any if comparing the two entities of Kaguya and Grima, then not a soul was left alive in Ylisse or any country.

It only gave another thought to Sasuke, one that was dark and one that had a sense of undesirable bitterness, yet it was one that stemmed deep within his consciousness that only bespoke of speaking truths and no lies:

What was the point of traveling then? Had it all been for naught? This world, as far as he was informed, was gone. How could he help a world if there was not a single survivor alive in the depths of failure, where he or she knew where it all had gone wrong?

Had it been the mistakes of a few or many, whoever they were, failed. Those that could have stopped or ended Grima were gone. They were the first of the many victims of Grima. Then, Grima took to wiping out the rest of the world, having no resistance left to stop him or meeting none.

"There is still hope left, Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke knew that. Naruto had told him before they traded blows on their fight for the Nations that even if he fell, the entire Nations will still be there to oppose him. But if there was no being to oppose, what then?

"Out there in the fallen world of darkness, there lies a small force. A group of young people still looking to fight, clinging on to whatever thin strand of light of their future remains. But..."

The Sage took in a breath to collect his thoughts. "But those in that force are losing hope. A few have already given up. They do not look to a bright future."

"Sasuke. I have seen our world and our wars. I have seen destruction and suffering far too long in our world. I saw it so much that I cannot bear to see it in other worlds suffering similar fates. And I can only ask you this:

Help these young uns. Provide them hope. Give them a future to look forward to that they can fight for. You are the only one who can give them this."

Sasuke felt this was a task by the Sage himself.

No. It wasn't just that. It was the entire Elemental Nations, the small surviving group in Ylisse, Naruto, and by his own desire.

"Why are you asking me this?"

The question wasn't so simple after the Sage had seen his life. Sasuke didn't believe in hope or a future ahead. He swam in the abyss of darkness for so long that the light was a foreign thing to touch and feel, even though the Tazunas he came to visit and attempted to understand he still yet to understand the capacity of it. Even after the Sage had watched over him his entire life, where he embraced darkness and desired to purge his home village, before learning of hidden truths and deciding not to purge his home, and instead, bring all five Nations together against him in a future under his rule, and if not his rule, then the greatest threat along with his ancestor and the sole fixation of every country.

The Sage knew this. He knew he had walked the path, as had his great ancestor of the Uchiha and multiple others before him, all back to his eldest son who made the decision first that would burden and seal the fate of his descendants.

Why would he trust him with providing hope when he never had believed in such a concept in a long time?

The Sage smiled. "Sasuke. I have given you the Moon Seal. You have experienced darkness, tasted it, and swam in its currents. You have experienced suffering beyond comprehension and grew from it. I have given Naruto the Sun Seal and he inherited Hashirama and Ashura's beliefs. Both you and Madara inherited Indra's."

"Sasuke. You have accepted your friend's will, but still hold doubts. You have your own reservations and beliefs, seeing statements of lies and truths. Both you and Naruto have suffered, but only one truly swam in darkness and came out accepting light. I still sense the darkness within you."

"Far too long I have seen war and suffering, far too long since my sons have clashed, far too long I've seen other worlds suffer similar fates."

"I am not asking this of you Sasuke, of just a simple cry of help. I am also asking you to provide hope and a light that you have accepted from your friend. Pass that light down to them, and they will see it. Use that darkness to show others not to follow that path, that path that made my son, Madara, and yourself suffer. If they will not step away, at least warn them for what is to come."

"And in the end, you will see that the peace you accepted from Naruto, is obtainable after as long as those are willing to fight for it."

A speech was meant to invigorate oneself, to give them adrenaline and a feeling of hope and commitment. To coerce others into their cause and join together.

A blonde boy sat by on a swing, looking sadly into the congregation of passing ninjas. Children his age flashing their headbands to their parents as proof of graduation from the Academy.

The boy, same but older, watched from the other side of the statue of the founders of the Leaf, where Uchiha, both descendant and ancestor, the former his teammate, stood from the opposite ends.

Naruto's own determination led the Allied Shinobi Forces to fight a future that was worth believing in and against those who would threaten it. Every shinobi on the field saw his past, his emotions, and who he was truly inside. Sasuke, in his own self-suffering and narrow-minded foolish beliefs, failed to see the blonde for what he was, not when in the crossroads of death and memories of past come colliding in his final clash with him, did he truly see the blonde.

"In the world of shinobi, yes. Rules are important and meant to be followed. But you know what? That doesn't matter completing a mission! Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades, their allies, their friends, are even lower than that!"

Kakashi's speech in the field of green, where he and his team were taught the importance for allies and friends to never abandon each other, having seen his father, teacher, and teammates die. Yet even in all the suffering and despite the anguish that would have awakened Mangekyo ten times over, Kakashi still believed in his team and friends.

He was though. Sasuke abandoned and deliberately made the choice. He chose to abandon them and they should have followed the same. There was no other excuse or way around it. Regardless of what Naruto said and made pitiful excuses and fruitless attempts to defend him, it was a truth he did not want to face: He was lower than trash. They should have left him to Orochimaru, then fought and be captured by the village, executed, and the name Sasuke Uchiha would have gone down as one of Konoha's grievous traitors in history books and taught Academy classes, alongside his brother and the Sannin he chose to follow in his path of vengeance.

Yet they didn't. Why?

It was the same answer that was in the speech.

And Sasuke realized this; what he failed to realize earlier: Because they were better than the many other shinobi prior and those before them, who only cared just enough to be placed alongside other shinobi who only followed the rules by books and mission completions, consideration of their village, yes, but only their village. Never those who had fought with them and gave their lives for them.

They were better than him.

Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, his former team and comrades of 7, even when the latter two made the decision to eliminate him and prevent international war amongst the five nations, still loved him, still cared for him. And Naruto, with the knowledge of his enemies, understood, and resolved for both to die, preventing war and importantly, to protect Konoha, to prevent it from suffering his wrath and, putting the extent of his cold fury onto him instead.

They were and had been true friends. Even when he had not.

Naruto had been loud and clear in his beliefs that people were connected by an unshakable and unbreakable chain of those bonds, no matter how far apart those individuals were. He had been the preacher and the teacher of those beliefs. People would have seen him as foolish and naive, and perhaps he was, but those beliefs served Naruto well and gave him the will to keep fighting.

He remembered his enthusiasm, an elated feeling at traveling these worlds. Not just for Ylisse and the Elemental Nations but also his own choices and path. Would these worlds serve to give him a cause that he would be worth following?

For a time ever since his childhood, once his older brother slaughtered his kin, he grew in darkness and his entire life was molded by despair and hate. As the manipulations, lies, and deceit were pushed aside, he attempted to plunge the entire world into darkness, because the world was the definition of such, of selfishness, conflict, and fighting, and with Madara uniting the entire Nations against him, he believed that it was the only option to keep them united. After many missions, he completed with his team, the enemies they fought, and after his departure, he saw much more of the same corrupt infection of the world. The ideologies of the Will of Fire were a concept he did not understand before the revelations of Itachi and the Hokages. With a revolution, he desired to change the meaning that each Leaf ninja followed and swore to their village, mixed in with his own perceptions of how to rule each village.

Now? As he accepted the hand of Naruto to salvation and light, he wondered what the world exactly held and the question that lay within: what next? What would become of the Elemental Nations and the entire Shinobi world after? Peace was obtainable after four wars of fighting and bloodshed and conflict among nations, but what became of his path ahead? He still was unsure of his place in a world of united peace, where he once harbored his own perceptions of peace to be enacted, and would not last forever. His own prospects were just as uncertain.

The Sage desired for him, not just because he cared for him, but also to assist him in his role ahead. But he would not force him to a decision. He knew. They both knew. Indecision plagued one's mind as a result of two choices that clashed and that person must make that single decision alone. Others may assist in guiding, but only the sole person who was indecisive, who came to a point where he or she was unable to decide, could make their choice. That rule was universal. And Sasuke was no different.

He made one.

The Sage, seeming to have read his thoughts once again, spoke. "Have you made a choice, Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke returned a look of determination, set in his choice. "I have."

"Then let me remind you one last time. You must find the group. The world of Ylisse is large and vast. Not as vast as our Elemental Nations, but still large to match neighboring nations and villages. Find them. Find them before Grima does. Find them before Grima eliminates them and with it, the hope of the world."

Sasuke knew. He didn't need any more assistance. If Grima was anything close to Kaguya or had a fraction of her power, then he had to proceed cautiously. The fact that Grima wiped out humanity was proof of the fact that he could not jump in headfirst and had to proceed cautiously. It wasn't any different how he approached missions and tasks. From the first mission he was assigned with Team 7 to embarking to gather the information and whereabouts of the Akatsuki, he took time to gather basic information and repeat knowledge to ensure that it was correct, it was his mindset, from start to finish, before enacting and going out with it.

"Sasuke. I will warn you. This is possibly the last time I will be able to communicate with you. My life essence is soon to fade and this may be the last time I will appear in the Dimension. From then on, I will not appear to either you or Naruto or any other individual again from these other worlds or on our own. As I disappear, you will not in your own world anymore, but in Ylisse."

Sasuke nodded. The Sage had done so many for their world, so much for humanity and humanity had repaid it with nothing of that kindness in turn. The man, whose flesh and blood returned the Sage's own gifts to them by fighting and in turn condemning humankind to the same fate, was forced for an eternity of sorts to see the worst of humanity.

The Sage had deserved better. Better than the world he helped shape.

Naruto had fulfilled his ideology, even as it took centuries.

Sasuke, at the very least, could honor him by fulfilling his request.

Sasuke didn't need to look back to see that the Sage was already gone, leaving him the only one left in the abyss of inner thoughts. And he knew that as soon as the name of the world entered his head, he would no longer be in the Elemental Nations.

It was time.

Sasuke's personal Jutsu Kirin has never had an established origin, nor did we ever see the creation of the Jutsu during the time Sasuke was working with Orochimaru. So I decided to put the development of the Jutsu during Ylisse at a point during Sasuke's time there.

This also may or may not be the last chapter of Naruto and other characters that make an actual appearance. For now, the focus is primarily Sasuke and the Shepherds.

The main problem I had with this chapter is writing up a reason for how Sasuke could get into Ylisse. I wanted to create a Jutsu that Sasuke could use but also had to be tied to the clan, as per mentioning of Shisui's visit to Ylisse, and was dated back to Indra and the Sage of Six Paths. Sounds simple enough on paper right? Nope. Had to fix over plotholes and how the Jutsu worked. Had to write up a place called the Time Dimension that allowed travel between different worlds, why, and how. It got much more complicated after that.

The second was why. That's another reason why I didn't want to write Naruto or Sasuke clashing with their Jutsus and breaking the dimension with their Jutsus just to get to another world because it was already done by possibly a hundred other stories that either feature Naruto or Sasuke as the main character with the crossover.

Expect the next chapter well soon. I'm finally excited to get to the Shepherds.