TW: Death and gore.
"Oi," Naruto aggressively shook Yugito's body, "Wake the fuck up." She opened her eyes groggily, staring at him in irritation. Sasuke was still sleeping peacefully. Or so they thought. He was secretly listening in.
"Why are you like this?" All she wanted was a good sleep. Instead, Naruto had woken her up at 4am like a fucking lunatic.
"I lied," he admitted again.
"That's a surprise," Yugito sarcastically said. Naruto hadn't a trace of guilt in his expression.
"There isn't actually a cool down time," he said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Sasuke was going to strangle him.
"You're an asshole," Sasuke insulted, revealing that he was awake to nobody's surprise. "Can we go then? We've all got enough sleep." Naruto's dumb dimension hopping ability was too good. If only Sasuke had an ability like that. It was unfortunately wasted on such a nuisance.
"Why'd you lie?" Yugito asked, almost sounding hurt. Naruto shrugged.
"Not telling you," he remarked, almost defensively. As if wanting to evade the topic, Naruto, without warning, teleported them elsewhere.
Flat, barren plains stretched on endlessly. The only discernible sounds were crickets, or owls, or other eerie animals. If the ground wasn't so dehydrated, hard and cracked, Sasuke would've thought that this place almost resembled the desert, with its complete lack of colour.
"Where is civilisation?" He asked, though he had an inkling that this dismality was all there was. "Everyone's dead," Naruto coolly shoved his hands into his pockets and spoke dispassionately.
Yugito didn't speak. Instead, she reluctantly walked, though not without purpose, as if following an invisible trail. Against his better judgment, he followed her.
"Where are you going?"
"People," she murmured, before speeding up. He had no idea how she could sense that there were people around, but knew better than to ask. She probably didn't know either.
"I thought you said everyone was dead," Sasuke turned to Naruto, who shrugged.
"They are. They should be. I don't know why there are people here, but last time I was here, everyone was dead." Sasuke paid little attention to Naruto's words. Naruto, who was not like the Naruto he knew, already proved himself untrustworthy.
Yugito paused. Her foot halted inches away from some ivory-coloured, tough object. She crouched down and realised with increasing terror that it was a human skull. From then onwards, bones and cadavers littered the ground in a horrific display. This was sick.
She tiptoed around the bones, not willing to step on a single one, following Matatabi's directions. There were people here, somewhere. Behind her, Sasuke and Naruto followed with much trepidation.
"How much farther?" Naruto whined, after twenty minutes had passed. They were in the remains of a destroyed village. Buildings had crumbled, and vegetation crawled over the rubble and corpses. Thousands of corpses were probably in the vicinity.
She paused, examining a corpse. Maggots had settled in the poor chap's brain, having devoured his left eyeball. Discoloured, blotchy skin clung to decaying bones, halfway through being eaten by various insects. Flies buzzed around the body, and dammit, the stench was god-awful. This was the peak of destruction.
Yugito forced herself to move on, sensing a minute chakra signature, sprinting towards it. Among rubble, a different person, half-dead, half-alive, lay. She pressed her index and middle finger to their neck, determining a slow, ragged pulse. They were still alive. But their body was littered in wounds, and honestly, they had one minute to live, max.
Even if she had been quicker, even if one of them was a medical ninja, this person would still die.
"Seriously," Naruto approached behind her, "If they're gonna die anyway, why'd you walk us that long?" Clearly, he didn't give a shit about the sanctity of life. Well, neither did she, but still.
Sasuke hmmed, just as the person's heartbeat completely silenced. They were dead. He knelt next to the body, unfazed. Their fist was clenched. Reluctantly, he grabbed the fist and unclenched it. There was a note.
"There's a note," he spoke, unfolding it.
This is what happens when you get in my way.
Naruto peeked over his shoulder, rolling his eyes.
"God. Such a drama queen. Acting like a Marvel villain." Sasuke had to agree. This was terribly dramatic (whatever Marvel was). Not that he knew what the fuck was going on.
"What's this?" Yugito asked, peering at the note.
"Oh, this is a common occurence. Other dimension hoppers begin to get some sick, twisted power fantasy that they want to make real, and so they go on to destroy a whole dimension or whatever," Naruto said, huffing.
"They're not usually a big threat. Not to me anyway. As long as these wackos don't disturb me, then I stay out of their business." Sasuke blinked. Naruto was starting to seem an awful lot like a wacko. The fact that he referred to 'wackos', as in plural, was unnerving.
"Have you ever destroyed a dimension?" Yugito asked, frowning. Naruto just chuckled. She rolled her eyes.
"So why do you need us anyway?" Yugito asked another question. Sasuke was pretty sure she was very close to pissing Naruto off, despite the sincerity to her questions. This guy just didn't tell them anything, which was pretty audacious considering they were apparently useful to him.
"Well, I don't need you," Naruto clarified, though it seemed more defensive and tsundere-ish than truthful. "And I'm still not telling you why or what for." Sasuke veiled his suspicion perfectly. If somebody told you you were useful to them, but didn't say why, that instantly would set off multiple metaphorical alarm bells. Naruto wreaked of suspicion.
"I see," Yugito acquiesced, "Then, can you drop us off?" She stared at him blankly. Then, after deciding it wouldn't hurt, she added a polite 'please'.
"Actually," Sasuke spoke up, "I'd like to stop by elsewhere. In two places, to be precise. Yugito's original present, first of all."
It was part curiosity that drove him to want to revisit the two places: the present he went to, and the present he came from. Naruto and Yugito blinked curiously, but said nothing.
"Fine. I think I know where it is." Naruto said, confusing Sasuke.
"Oh, there's this theory that states galaxies are shaped like Mobius strips, so dimensions have locations," Yugito explained.
"Alright, know-it-all," Naruto rolled his eyes at her. He regarded Sasuke with judgment. "This dumb bitch knows more about astrophysics than you do. Maybe you should read a book or something."
"Did you just imply I'm stupid? You?" Sasuke grimaced, because there was no fucking way he'd take an insult about his intelligence from Naruto, of all people. It took every bit of his willpower to not break his neck, since Naruto was apparently doing him a favour.
"We're all stupid here. I'm just less stupid," Naruto huffed, seeming to at least be aware that he too was an idiot. "Anyway, let's go."
"Oh, it's this place. Kinda ugly," Naruto commented, looking around. He seemed to have good control over where they appeared, because they always appeared in a deserted, suitable place. The one thing Sasuke needed to know was how Naruto got his grubby hands on an ability like this.
He glanced at his watch before realising it would've been useless. It's not like he could've changed it every time they travelled to another dimension, so Sasuke resolved to throw it away and get an electronic one that adapted to timezones. Instead, the sky told him it was morning.
"I'm going to Konoha. I imagine we're going to split up. I'd like to stay for a couple of days," he said, turning to Naruto. Sasuke would've liked to be able to say a proper goodbye to the Uchiha and Minato and Obito and all that, and visit Kushina again.
As Sasuke walked away, Naruto clapped a hand on Yugito's shoulder.
"Unfortunately for you, I don't know my way around," he said, now practically beaming at her. "You gotta show me around, yeah?" he teased, as if sounding pleased at the prospect of getting to annoy her even more.
"You are so weird," she said, then snatched his collar and dragged him towards the Land of Hot Water. If she was lucky, maybe Naruto would drown in a jacuzzi.
Sasuke couldn't even begin to describe the awkwardness of knocking on your buddy's door after what felt like months to him, but was actually just a fortnight in this dimension. It was something about light years that made it so that some dimensions experienced time differently.
Kushina answered the door, having readied a bright smile. Nothing could've prepared her for Uchiha fucking Sasuke returning from the past. Her smile faded into an awkward expression.
"Bruh," she forced out, having nothing else to say. Sasuke blinked back politely, muttering an inaudible 'hi'.
She motioned for him to come inside. As he stepped inside, Obito tackled him in a bear hug. So did Rin.
"Oh my god, we missed you so much!" Obito said, burying his head into Sasuke's shoulder. He ruffled his hair awkwardly.
"I missed you too. All of you," he began, waiting for the best moment to break the news that he was going to be gone sort of forever. Apparently, the wistfulness in his voice was enough of an implication. Minato frowned, seeming to have caught on. Kushina already knew, of course. He'd have to use the excuse of a long-term mission.
"I have to go again though. In a couple of days. Maybe forever," Sasuke blurted, watching Obito and Rin's happy expression crumble. They tried to keep themselves from crying. Kakashi looked on at the scene with suspicion. None of them said anything.
"We still have two days though, right? We can totally do something in two days," Obito muttered optimistically. Not that Sasuke expected him to start bawling his eyes out. By the looks of it, Obito had become a lot more resilient.
"Tell you what, let's start with dinner," Kushina chimed in, rolling up her sleeves. Sasuke instinctively followed her to the kitchen.
"Sasuke, I bet I can make a better apple pie than you," she said, slamming the door shut for privacy under the guise of baking.
"Okay, what the fuck?" Kushina whisper-shouted, "How are you here?" Sasuke smirked at that. It was a long story, so he too rolled up his sleeves and gathered the ingredients.
"Let's discuss it over apple pie, yeah?"