Somehow, a creature of this magnitude wriggled its way into the cave. Its deep purple scales gleamed in the light of the runic characters, adding onto its sinister appearance. Two beady yellow eyes protruded from the front, gazing forward.
The snake rested its head on the floor, laying down with a guttural sigh. It was some sort of rattlesnake, making those disturbing rattling cacophonies. Its eyes blinked closed, as it rested its tail, but its breathing intensified.
Naruto and Yugito unanimously agreed to get out of there. They tiptoed out of the cave, trying to be as soundless as possible. Even the sound of their own breathing made them cringe, as if the monster would wake up to the slightest tremble.
Finally, they made their way outside and ensured they were at least two hundred metres away before deeming it safe to talk.
"It can't hear that well though. We were talking pretty loudly before we heard it come in," Yugito said. Fear could be illogical.
"I thought you said there were people up there. Not a fucking snake," Naruto seethed.
"There were," she replied, "But there aren't. It's weird. Matatabi could sense them, but we didn't see anyone."
"Do you know what this means?" Naruto rolled his eyes, staring upward, "That snake seems pretty unintelligent. It's probably being controlled by someone, and it probably has something to do with the nuke."
"When will it go off?" She asked arguably the most important question. He shrugged.
"Don't worry. There're like, twenty or so years till it's set to go off."
Yugito squinted at that. Didn't Sasuke say he was from twenty-ish years in the future? That may or may not be a coincidence. Nevertheless, if she wanted to ascertain any sort of connection between him, the future and the bomb, the first step would be to simply ask him. She guessed that the second place he wanted to go to was his original present.
"Guess we're going to Konoha," she dug her hands in her pockets exasperatedly. What were the odds of her being a wanted criminal? Very high, considering she ditched Kumo, whether wittingly or not.
"Jeez, you pay Sasuke a lot of attention," Naruto commented off-handedly. What was that supposed to mean? Yugito ignored him. Besides, given this frightening discovery, it was imperative that Sasuke know about this.
Naruto grabbed her wrist with his right hand, forming a one-handed sign with his left, and they teleported again.
═══*.·:·. ✧ ✦ ✧ .·:·.*═══
They found themselves in a bathtub in some random house.
"Whose bathtub is this?" Yugito asked, stepping out. She didn't know that he could teleport within dimensions.
"Sasuke's downstairs," Naruto replied. Yugito opened the bathroom door, located the stairs, but stopped midway down the stairs. There was chatter, the smell of food wafting through the air, and overall a lively atmosphere - this was a party.
"I think we came at a bad time," she muttered, stating the obvious. Naruto, meanwhile, shrugged. He, from the top of the stairwell, somersaulted to the bottom. Clearly, he was trying to make a grand entrance.
Yugito watched on as everyone's gazes were fixated on Naruto. Sasuke eyed him with distaste. Four people in particular - excluding Sasuke - looked at Naruto with recognition. Great. So he'd been here before. One of the people, a young Uchiha, went slack jawed.
"You're the Kamogawa guy," he whispered accusingly.
Naruto flashed him a thumbs up sign and walked past him, marching up to Sasuke. He didn't protest, so people let Naruto walk up to Sasuke without attacking him. Sasuke mildly glared at Naruto, sipping from a glass of vodka. He chugged it all down, as if it was water, before setting it aside and intensifying his glare.
"Must you ruin everything?" Naruto's smile widened as he stared creepily at Sasuke. Without blinking, he reached for a bottle of port. Sasuke plucked it out of his hands.
"If you're gonna drink some of my alcohol, go for something cheaper."
Sasuke tried for a friendly smile.
"It's fine, guys. I know him. Sort of," he said, assuaging any worries. He gestured towards Yugito, whom most had ignored because of Naruto. "I know her too. She's a friend."
Reluctantly, all of his guests tried to continue with their business, albeit most of them were eyeing Yugito with more than a hint of trepidation. Luckily, Kushina approached her and began chatting away, so that was that. Rin, Obito and Kakashi (somehow, he got Kakashi to come), mustered up enough courage to strike up a conversation with Naruto. He was surprisingly good with kids.
And then Minato walked up to him, with clear suspicion. He folded his arms, staring at Sasuke impassively.
"You're friends with a Kumo nuke-nin," he stated, implicitly demanding an explanation.
"To be fair, I'm the reason she went rogue," he semi-lied. "Don't worry, she's cool. And it's not like I invited her. Naruto just brought her, I guess," Sasuke explained.
Minato visibly seemed to calm down. They eased into conversation, some relaxing small talk.
Sasuke, however, still had things on his mind. Like why these two were even here. Obviously, they didn't just want to steal his alcohol. But they couldn't tell him why they were here while there were still people around. He had to find a way to converse with them - or just Yugito - in private. Because Naruto probably wouldn't be honest anyway.
"There's a bowling alley in the basement," Sasuke announced. Excited whispers broke out. No one here didn't like to bowl, except maybe Sayu, who for some reason, he actually invited. She came in hopes to pick up girls, and was sorely disappointed to find all the women were already married. People seemed to overlook the fact that she was technically a criminal.
Essentially everyone, including Naruto and Sayu, rushed to the basement. He tugged on Yugito's wrist before she too hurried away.
"An explanation would be nice," he whispered. She cringed, as if just remembering.
"Um, it's a long story," she cleared her throat, "To summarise, there're giant bombs - nukes - all over this dimension. They're set to go off in about twenty years. I was wondering if you'd know anything."
Sasuke clenched his teeth, irritation rising. Could he never catch a break? He did know something, however: that in twenty-ish years, the world may or may not end. Not to be egoistic, but without him, there was a chance the world ended in his original present. But while there was a chance it was still going, Sasuke needed to revisit his original present.
"I know where we're going next," he muttered, "But for now, let's just enjoy this, yeah?" Because he desperately, hopelessly, needed an actual break.
Yugito stepped inside, letting the randomiser put her in a pair for bowling. She loved bowling, and was looking forward to enjoying it this time. Or not. Because the randomiser paired her with Minato, who was probably not the only person in the room that wanted to kill her. He tried his best to hide a glare.
They wordlessly bowled against another pair, Fugaku and Naruto. Naruto missed almost every bowling pin, and yet continued to act like he invented bowling.
"I'm paired with the most useless person in history," Fugaku muttered, rubbing his temples.
"Oi, that's not true. I've met history's most useless person, and she's not here," Naruto beamed, hands on his hips. As good as Fugaku was, he couldn't beat both Yugito and Minato by himself. Until Naruto started using chakra to amplify his reflexes and cheating.
"You're cheating," Yugito accused. Naruto shrugged. Minato crossed his arms, a sign of his irritation. He cleared his throat.
"We're not letting them win," he said to her, attempting to be amiable. It worked. She smiled at him reluctantly.
As Yugito prepared the next bowl, her arm caught blue fire as she hurtled the ball, eliminating any pins. Fugaku decided to screw it, activating his Sharingan. The game turned into a cheating competition. Minato might've won though, when he teleported the ball to knock over every pin.
"Oh, we're teleporting now," Naruto grinned, rubbing his hands together manically. Yugito forgot he could do that too. Since he missed every pin, he teleported the pins to knock each other over.
"The Hiraishin is a really cool jutsu," Yugito complimented Minato, trying to keep her voice free of curiosity. If the Hiraishin was like dimension hopping, then maybe Minato could do it too. She decided to ignore the implication and focus on the game.
"Naruto can teleport objects as well as people. It's very similar, but a modified Hiraishin. How?" He asked her, assuming she had a clue. She assumed it was modified to dimension hop.
Naruto glanced at Minato, beaming again.
"Like father like son," he winked. Yugito supposed it wasn't too shocking. Minato would never figure it out, but to her, it made perfect sense. Although the tips of Naruto's hair was dyed red, the roots were the same shade of blonde as Minato. He had Minato's eyes and hair, while retaining Kushina's facial features. And Kushina had said to her that she thought Naruto was a very nice name.
"Huh?" Minato was understandably confused. He didn't bother overthinking, instead focusing on the game rather than on Naruto's cryptic messages. The game was less intense, albeit still enjoyable.
Yugito's eyes flitted towards Sasuke, who was coddling Itachi in his own way. He was teaching Obito and Itachi how to throw a bowling ball perfectly, although the latter lacked the physical strength. She smiled.
As the game ended, Yugito thought it was appropriate to thank Minato for being her partner. Maybe that would lessen the tension between them.
"Thank you, Minato-san. It was fun," she politely said. Naruto allowed Fugaku to ditch him to talk to Sasuke, butting in between them.
"I can't believe this is a world where Sasuke is actually social," he muttered. Minato forced a polite laugh, thinking Naruto made a dumb joke. Something about this guy was so annoyingly familiar, making Minato both despise and revere him.
"We're all gonna be gone by tomorrow, you know," Naruto said to Minato blankly. There was a hint of bitterness in his voice that went unnoticed by Minato. Naruto seemed largely indifferent to Minato, even considering that he was his father. But, considering her own tense relationship with her (dead) parents, it really wasn't any of her business.
It was getting late, and so many people decided to leave. The numbers dwindled until almost everyone was gone. The many people close to Sasuke offered to help clean up, but he declined. Besides, he had a jutsu for that and it wasn't going to be his house tomorrow anymore.
Sasuke steeled his nerves, allowing all his previous stress to seep into his mind again. He felt weighted. Even if he stayed, there was very little he could do to prevent the horrible events that would annihilate this dimension. There were people whom he loved and who loved him, and yet, he couldn't stay.
"I suppose you two can stay here for the rest of the night," he said to Naruto and Yugito, "Tomorrow, we depart for my original present."