With a simple snap of Naruto's fingers (he said he didn't have to snap them, but was rambling about some infinity gauntlet thingy), they had arrived in Sasuke's original dimension. The first thing that happened was that a crazed, dead lunatic lunged for Sasuke, aiming at his neck. He immediately sprung into action, tying up the weird thing. It squirmed and yelled. They ignored it.
"What's that?" Yugito asked, reigning in her surprise. This thing looked human, but its sclera were black and its face cracked. It looked like a reanimated corpse.
"Edo Tensei," Naruto replied coolly. Sasuke squinted.
"Itachi and I released the Edo Tensei though," he said.
"Sometimes I teleport to a few hours before an event," Naruto shrugged, dismissing the matter nonchalantly. A few hours...that could make all the difference. Sasuke didn't know why, but this time, he'd like to help out more than he did previously. Maybe he could quickly win the war and get out of here.
"Right. Well, the Fourth Shinobi War is going on right now, so I think I'll kill a few Zetsu and we can get back," Sasuke said. He glanced at Naruto and Yugito, waiting to see what they'll do next.
"I have to check something," Yugito replied sheepishly, not as expected. He expected her to help. Naruto, on the other hand, just grinned and teleported away in his classically cryptic fashion.
"You need to seal the Edo Tensei if you want to get rid of them," he warned her, Shunshining away.
If Sasuke's theory was correct, then there should be another version of him skulking about somewhere - or rather, his past self. His past self that he was technically the same age as, but also nearly two years wiser than. Mentally, Sasuke was twenty, although biologically a teenager. He had to avoid his angsty teenage self at all costs.
Because it might cause some sort of paradox, if his old self saw him. Sasuke would pretend to be a Zetsu and get out. In a few hours, his old self may or may not be summoned to a dimension in the past. God, this was all so complicated.
Initially, Sasuke wanted to come back here for a bit just to reminisce in nostalgia, clinging onto a morsel of his past. Now, Sasuke failed to feel connected to this world - not when the one he'd grown to love was littered in bombs set to go off. All it did was serve as a reminder of how unhappy he was.
Before, Sasuke thought that this world where his whole family died and he was left all alone could make him happy. He thought he may have found a brother in Naruto. Now that Sasuke experienced a world with his family and his life intact, he didn't want to let it go just because this was his original place. That wasn't to say he didn't care about whether this world was destroyed or not. He didn't hate nor love it anymore, but didn't want to see it destroyed. So Sasuke would endeavour to contribute a fair bit.
He raided the sealing supplies. The sealing team would probably assume that the enemy stole it, but all would work out in a short while. Sasuke planned to seal as many reanimated ninja as possible. Maybe he'd start with some random Kage. He donned an ANBU mask and gelled his hair a little bit. He doubted that did much to stop him being recognisable.
Sasuke casually strolled into a battlefield. Two ninja were struggling with Hanzo. Silently, Sasuke extended Kusanagi, halting one of Hanzo's lethal strikes. He sped up, quickly slapping a seal on Hanzo's forehead. The element of surprise worked in his favour, because that went by quicker than expected.
The two ninja stared at the man who defeated Hanzo so quickly. They blinked in pure shock.
"Thanks," one of them whispered, suppressing their awe. Sasuke faced them, his body language exuding nonchalance. He flashed away, saying nothing.
He roamed the battlefield for upwards of two hours. Even though the Edo Tensei (bar Madara) would be sealed away in a very short time, Sasuke approximated that a few ten thousand casualties were prevented just thanks to him. It was funny to think that all this (now averted) destruction was technically because of Obito.
Yet, it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. Because right about now, Madara would be walking the Earth, resuscitated from the dead and terrorising as many people as possible.
Maybe it would be fun to fight his something-great grandpa. Although, a drink first would be preferable.
Yugito suppressed her ragged breathing, peeping at Naruto from behind a rock. So the island hadn't changed in twenty years. Except...well, who would've thought that Kumo would invite a Konoha Jinchuuriki? This whole Shinobi Alliance thing was great!
She cringed, staring at a shirtless, exhausted, nicer Naruto. Everything was different from the sinister Naruto she knew - from the hair, to the mannerisms, to the way Naruto would smirk creepily while this one just laughed goofily. The only similarity was their great physique, which she shouldn't have noticed.
Several times had she thought about revealing herself. It would've been downright hilarious to witness the shocked look on Bee's face. He was probably nearby. But then Yugito would essentially be breaking his heart because she'd have to leave after this anyway. Naruto was fighting his dark self, and man, was he charismatic. He wasn't even fighting it; he was talking to it! And it was listening. He hugged it, and it disappeared.
Cross-legged on the grass, she continued looking at Naruto. Until he looked back. Shit. He spotted her. Naruto squinted at her, shaking his head until he determined that no, this was not a hallucination. As he began walking towards her cautiously, Yugito was rooted to the spot. If she ran, he'd probably go after her and not confront the Kyuubi. If she stayed, she outed herself.
"Who are you?" He asked her, crossing his arms. Clearly, he was wary. Yugito's rationale told her to fabricate a slick lie and weasel out of the situation, so why was Matatabi urging her to stay?
"Nobody important," she compromised, averting eye contact. She could not let him know she was a Jinchuuriki.
Then she remembered that, as a Jinchuuriki that went through the same thing, maybe he could use the advice.
"Don't forget yourself," she quickly admonished, preparing to flee.
"Wait," Naruto loosely caught her collar, bringing his face close to hers observingly. He squinted at her, as if he recognised her. If he did, she was screwed.
"You look like Oiroke no Jutsu," he told her, releasing her collar. She barely had time to think 'what the fuck' before she fled.
This time, instead of sealing supplies, Sasuke had raided some poor Iwa sod's mini bar. He fixed himself a shit load of cheap tequila, downing them one after the other until he set his glass down with a thunk, deeming himself drunk enough to face Madara.
Before he left, he glanced at expensive-looking bottles of Pinot Noir, bourbon, scotch and merlot, weighing the pros and cons. Like how mixing drinks could fuck you up. Sasuke decided he didn't give a fuck, pocketed them all, and left to reunite with his ancestor.
Prowling the battlegrounds didn't take long. It should've taken longer. With his Sharingan, Sasuke could tell that in a 2 o'clock direction, in about a couple of kilometres, Madara was up against the five Kage. They barely started fighting. It would not end well...for the Kage.
This Madara made his teenage version seem like a cuddly koala. Sasuke would probably find it difficult to handle him. It was a good thing that Sasuke had calculated all the possible predicaments and liabilities beforehand. Sasuke, even throughout his dimension hopping, managed to keep to his intense training regime. He even formulated a rather wonderful, hopefully true, theory about dimension hopping.
He Shunshined right in front of the Kage at the perfect time. Sasuke shot up a bolt of lightning upward. The meteorite that Madara summoned was decimated. Dust littered the ground.
Letting the cork of his bottle of Pinot Noir pop, Sasuke held the bottle to his mouth, smirking before he took a sip, specifically at Tsunade.
"Hey," he greeted, downing the whole thing as if it was water. The Kage gazed at him as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, mesmerised. Sasuke faced an impatient Madara.