He could've doubled over in shock, but the semi-circle of enemies distracted him nicely from the impending doom he would've stumbled into due to the realisation: the realisation that maybe, just maybe, his time travelling was a direct result of the Third Shinobi War and Iwa getting a bit too daring.
"Think later, fight now!" Kushina whispered to him, sliding into some sort of taijutsu stance. She was right. He readied himself, and they both swung into action. It started off with just taijutsu. All ten men came at them, yelling something incoherent. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, roundhouse kicking one and elbowing another.
He glanced at Kushina through the corner of his eye. When she fought, something about her radiated anger. Her movements were co-ordinated and planned, but exuded raw, vicious fury. What was her nickname? The Red Hot Habanero, he recalled. It was fitting, but the name was too comic to encapsulate her wrath. Kushina didn't get angry often, and she wasn't now, but Sasuke guessed that when she did, it was not a pretty sight.
He dodged a strike before deciding to fuck it. In three swift movements, he performed Kirin, promptly electrocuting 3 enemies at once. Kushina, as if on cue, released several golden adamantine chains from her torso and strangled another 3. He figured that while these guys were on the higher end of A-rank, they were smarter than they were strong.
Sasuke glanced at Kushina, unanimously deciding to torture the information out of two. The remaining four stilled, weaving through a series of obscure signs in sync. He recognised it as some sort of self-destructive jutsu and immediately lunged, halting them midway. Kushina slit the throats of two, leaving the other two panicked, but alive.
They muttered incoherent curses, evidently crestfallen at the deaths of their comrades. One of them begged while the other sadly cursed. He tied them up, while Kushina coldly glared, waiting to extract whatever information. She knelt down to meet their eyes.
"Start talking, or else." Their expressions steeled. They shook their heads vehemently, almost in denial. Their will was absolute.
"It's a time seal," she began, Sasuke clinging to every word she spoke, "You tried to, or have already brought someone from...the future, is it?"
The two men didn't have to speak for Kushina to take that as confirmation. Clearly, she had some experience from Torture & Interrogation. Sasuke was learning and worrying more and more with everything she said. Maybe if he asked, she'd tell him everything. But then she'd ask why he'd want to know, and get suspicious and - oh, fuck it! He might as well tell, if it meant useful information in exchange.
Slowly, Kushina began to release a certain kind of chakra, and Sasuke's suspicions were confirmed. Jinchuuriki. This was the Kyuubi's chakra. The men's eyes widened, bulging almost out of their sockets and their mouths opened in an amalgamation of horror, shock and utter dread. Kushina didn't have to even threaten them to get them to extensively answer her every question.
"Yes. We brought a- a ninja from the future. In hopes that we could use him in the war." It wasn't much of a criteria, but it stuck perfectly. Clearly, it was him they were on about, unless there was some other poor schmuck they sucked back into the past.
"What made you think he'd coalesce with you? Is he even an Iwagakure ninja?" Sasuke's words were laced with much brevity. Kushina's now disinterested gaze flitted to his face. He averted his eyes from hers, focusing on the two in front of him.
"Tsuchikage-sama ordered us to do it anyway." That was classically impulsive and irrational of Onoki. Kushina rolled her eyes before asking the most important question.
"Whatever. How did you obtain this technique?" The ninja tensed again. Just as Kushina began releasing more Kyuubi chakra, two bloody tongues went flying, hitting the wall with a thwack.
Both of their heads were lop-sided identically. Blood pooled from their mouths where their tongues should've been. Well, their determination was to be admired.
"It's okay, I think I know how they've obtained the technique," He was sure they certainly didn't create it themselves. Sasuke squinted, going through the myriad of information acquired during their raid of the Tsuchikage's office.
"Do tell," Kushina muttered, amused, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, half her attention on him and the other half surveying the scene.
"I think someone gave it to them," he recalled a random note in the Tsuchikage's hidden drawer. The implications of what he said were startling.
Kushina heaved a sigh, brushing a crimson lock out of her eyes.
"We're screwed. Fucking time travel. But why Iwa?" She closed her eyes, seeming to metaphorically piece the puzzle together before pausing.
"Let's just burn the place down and get out of here. We'll make it seem like an accident. Sealing jutsu usually come with repercussions anyway." They silently communicated a sly message within their eyes. She knew he memorised the whole of the time seal. Had Sasuke not been worried about whatever forthcoming threat had given Iwa the jutsu, he would've smirked evilly.
And so, they burned the shack to the ground, after having weaned every possible bit of information. They stared at the fumes, knowing that they've probably been caught by now, even if sealing jutsu came with risks. Kushina had even wore sunglasses, to 'live the spy movie experience', as she phrased it.
"Oi," she tapped him on the shoulder.
"What?" She smirked. He could tell that she had a very, very stupid idea.
"Do you wanna blow shit up?" He shrugged.
By the time they visited every, or most, secret base and documented every tiring bit of intelligence, and blown up like a quarter of Iwa (yep, plutonium, the heart of the bomb), it was nearing 3am and neither had gotten a wink of sleep. Tomorrow morning, aka in a few hours or so, they'd set off for Konoha again.
"Oi, Sasuke," Kushina whisper-shouted at him, half tired and half curious.
"We'll tell each other everything tomorrow, yeah? I can't be arsed. Goodnight." With that, she rolled out her sleeping bag, tucked herself in and immediately started snoring away, closely followed by him. Yeah, he was fine with spilling his current secret to Kushina, given that she probably already figured it out.
When he woke up again, the sun starting to rise, it barely felt like ten minutes had passed when in reality it was hours. Kushina prodded him awake lazily, holding out a bland ration bar. He accepted it gratefully.
"Morning, sweetheart," she beamed sarcastically, her crimson hair catching several sun rays and blinding him.
Sasuke shuffled out of his sleeping bag, brushed his teeth and they set off for Konoha; a day's worth of travel. To conserve their energy, they unanimously agreed on walking.
"So. Are you going to spill your secret first, or shall I?" Kushina spoke first, probably thinking to better get it over with.
"Janken," he held out his fist opposite Kushina's. He won. She sighed, gazing at the sky and preparing for a long talk.
"I'm the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. You figured that out." She began briefly going through her life story, from the destruction of Uzushiogakure to the Kyuubi to her and Minato. Sasuke found himself being able to relate to Kushina more than he wanted to. They both experienced the loss of their entire clan at young ages. Unlike Naruto, Kushina actually understood the pain.
"I suppose it's my turn," Sasuke went over his trauma, outlining his future, even Danzo's crimes, and overall spilling more than he should've. Therapy Time With Kushina wasn't horrible, he'd admit. Obviously, she figured out that he was the time traveller Iwa plucked up anyway.
She inhaled a large gulp of air before speaking.
"It won't happen. Those disasters, I mean. We'll make sure of it. Prevent that future at all costs." She was surprisingly calm given that he had told her several things like her death, Naruto's birth, the Fourth Shinobi War and Edo Tensei, all in a few years. Sasuke was like a leaky faucet around her.
Her violet-grey eyes glimmered in the sunlight with pure conviction. Kushina shook her fist.
"Our self-assigned mission is to prevent the end of the f*cking world." Sasuke had to stifle a laugh. If you took away the impending doom, life was almost good. Kushina was like a smarter Naruto, spreading joy, only less naive and more wisened. He wondered if a twenty-something year-old Naruto would be like her.
"Oh, we're here." Konoha's gates loomed over them, looking almost welcoming. Almost immediately upon entering, Obito marched up to Sasuke, greeting him with a wide smile.
"Ohayo, Sasuke! I missed you!" Obito approached, wrapping his arms around Sasuke's torso. There was no way he could kill such a stupidly innocent kid.
Instead, he ruffled the boy's hair, almost reluctantly. It was hard to be on edge when the future megalomaniac was just a 12 year-old. Minato emerged from somewhere, embracing Kushina in a gentle hug, kissing her softly. Sasuke tried to restrain his surprise when Minato moved onto him. It was one of those man hugs.
"I'll manage without the kiss," Sasuke mumbled offhandedly. Obito, Kushina, Minato and somehow, Rin and Kakashi, stared at him, bewildered.
"Did I say something weird?" He rubbed the back of his neck, mentally preparing for an apology when they (except Kakashi, the little shit just continued staring) burst out into laughter. It wasn't that funny, was it?
"You just told a joke. Oh my god, I didn't even know you had a sense of humour," Obito giggled immaturely before Minato tsked him for manners.
"Oh yeah, how did the mission go?" Minato smiled at him and Kushina, probably asking just to be polite.
"It was the bomb," Kushina's unwavering Cheshire-cat grin widened to an impossible degree, she clearly felt proud of her pun. She wrapped a single arm around his neck, patting Sasuke on the head.
"Now, we've got a mission report to make. We better get paid in gold bars."
Note: Thank y'all so much for the lovely reviews! I read every single one btw. seriously. thank u sm