Yikes this took longer to get out than I thought... Where did time go?! Well I wrote some other stuff in-between I guess... And visited my lovely ex-girlfriend and the equally lovely Jasu. I had a great time, I really miss living in Finland... So much Moomin...

I'm at the airport btw, so yay for airport internet! As for this chapter, we meet several "new" characters, and while I based them mainly on how they appear in the Road to Ninja movie, I may also have used some artistic freedom... *cough*. Please remember that this fanfic is 50% shits and giggles and 50% serious feels. They can be hard to separate, at times.

I don't know when the next chapter will be out, depends, I'm going on another ten day-vacation on Thursday, visiting friends in Athens and Amsterdam. But I'm bringing my computer so we'll see how antisocial they'll let me be...

Chapter 4: Birthday part I

xxx

Sasuke woke up to the smell of pancakes invading his nostrils, and with a frown he turned to the side, curling up underneath the fluffy covers. It must be one of those strange dreams again, like when he dreamt that he and Naruto were boxes of instant ramen about to be eaten, and had refused to visit Ichiraku's for an entire month. Clearly Naruto had a bad influence on his mental state.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Sasuke's eyes shot open in time to see Mikoto sticking her head inside the room.

"Breakfast is ready" she said, her sweet voice creating knots in his stomach.

That's right. He wasn't in his apartment, he wasn't dreaming, but he was however surprisingly hungry.

"But don't worry, you can sleep as long as you like. I'm going on an errand in a few minutes but I'll be back soon again."

He nodded, not sure he could trust his voice yet, and with a smile she stepped out and closed the door softly behind herself. Yesterday had passed by in a blur, chatting over tea with both mothers and Naruto, helping Mikoto make dinner, and then trying not to reveal exactly how things were like in his own world.

His head had been so filled with the thought that there was no way he could ever tell this version of his parents that they had staged a coup d'état and then died by Itachi's hands that not much else had registered yet. And how could he? Even Fugaku was nice and caring and asked him if he'd mind helping out in the police force while he was there visiting. With Itachi working for Akatsuki – now that had shocked Sasuke, finding out that the mercenary group was not the evil organization he was used to – and his alter ego off on a mission, they were apparently a little short on staff.

Of course, he'd agreed. It was his childhood dream, after all, growing up into a ninja his father relied on at work. He wouldn't let him down, even if, technically, this wasn't his actual father.

It honestly surprised him that he was able to feel relatively calm about it all. Perhaps it was the hug Mikoto had given him, her smell familiar even though it had been so long that he couldn't consciously recall it, perhaps it was the fact that they treated him like a person without a tragic past; either way it felt as if his bad memories had dissipated into thin air and the only thing remaining was a seven-year-old boy, eager to get out of bed and stuff himself full of pancakes.

A boy with no scars and no experience of pain.

And he wanted to be that boy, wanted to play the role of his alter ego whose only concern seemed to be which girl to date next. If only it didn't feel like he was betraying Itachi's sacrifice…

Inhaling deeply he shuffled out of bed, glancing at his clothes but opting to stay dressed in loose pajama pants and grey t-shirt with the Uchiha fan adorning his back that he borrowed from the other Sasuke's closet. He ventured down into the kitchen, using the bathroom on his way down, throwing one glance in the mirror before deciding that he wasn't going to think about who he was today.

Today, he was wearing casual clothes. Today, he was greeted by a brightly smiling Mikoto who kissed his temple and urged him to start eating. Today, he was going to ignore the painful lump in his throat that forced all difficult emotions to stay hidden inside his chest.

Today, he was going to live.

xxx

Naruto weighed back on his chair, an apathetic look on his face and half-eaten sandwich in one hand as he leaned back as far as he could before it threatened to fall and bring him down with it. He was staring up at the ceiling, thinking of Sasuke, when a strong hand gripped the top of his head and pushed downwards so that the chair landed on all fours again.

"Don't do that, even if it's your birthday" Kushina berated him, swishing past him, apron secured around her waist.

"Sorry, bad habit" he answered, rubbing his head and wondering if it was going to bruise.

"Really, what kind of sloppy person am I in your world if you have these kinds of habits?" she continued, waving a pack of sugar at him over her shoulder before turning around to focus on her baking again.

When Naruto didn't answer she turned around, frowning at the look on his face.

"Naruto?"

He sighed, forcing his body to relax, lips pursed as he stared at the potted plant in one window.

"You're dead" he said quietly, still not looking at her, because he didn't want to lie, and he didn't want to pretend that everything was just peachy between himself and Sasuke or that the only worry waiting for them at home would be angry parents and missed workdays.

"But it's fine, it's fine, you were a real hero, and dad too. He was the fourth Hokage, actually." He smiled at her, because while it was true that she was dead, she didn't need to feel guilty over something that wasn't hers to feel guilty for.

She was obviously concerned, but nodded slowly at him.

"I see" she said, keeping whatever assumptions she made to herself. "But don't think I'll go easy on you while you're here!"

There it was again, that feeling of longing, mixed with happiness. He didn't know how to deal with it any better than the previous time he'd been here. But it wasn't her fault, and he'd treat her better this time around.

"Sorry I was acting out last time" he mumbled, stretching his hands out in front of him, his lost appetite not quite returned yet.

"It's okay." Her voice was gentle and understanding, face serious when Naruto glanced up at her. "You know, just call me Kushina if it's weird to call me mom."

She gave him a reassuring smile, and he gave her a weak one in return. Then she turned her back on him again, humming out of tune as she started mixing ingredients. It was only for a short while, however, because suddenly she faced him with an expression of intense curiosity.

"And your Sasuke… He was so much like Itachi! All quiet and cool and reliable… Please tell me he doesn't fool around with girls?"

Naruto almost snorted out loud, because the thought of Sasuke doing that was laughable in so many ways.

"He doesn't care about that stuff."

"And you two are best friends?" When Naruto nodded she sighed, slumping back against the counter. "If only our Sasuke could be like that. He is such a bad influence on my poor little Menma. I had high hopes that he would date Sakura, but it seems she turned him down. Which is why your mission will be to get him back on track again! You can see it as payment for food."

Naruto's mouth fell open, then he closed it again with a grimace.

"Now don't give me that attitude! Finish your breakfast and come help me instead."

Groaning inwardly, Naruto wondered what he'd gotten himself into. He didn't know much about Menma, but if they were anything alike, he doubted he would listen to advice. Especially when it came to a certain bastard. Turning the sandwich over in his hands he pouted silently.

He wished he could go see Sasuke.

xxx

"Sweetie?"

Sasuke paused, looking up at Mikoto while wiping a few beads of sweat from his forehead. It was unusually warm, but he didn't mind. He'd offered to help out in the large garden behind the house, at the moment busy digging a hole where Mikoto wanted to plant a new apple tree.

"Some of your friends are here to see you."

Ignoring the strange feeling those words inspired he nodded and stood up, taking off his gloves and running a hand through his damp hair. He figured it would be Naruto, and as he walked towards the hallway he wondered what he could want. Well, it was his birthday, sure, but it was still pretty early.

"Yo, Sasuke, what's up?"

He stared at Shikamaru's slouched form, one pinky scratching inside an ear. Obviously the opposite of him would be an idiot.

"We're throwing a surprise party for Menma, and you better help out!"

It seemed like Hinata still held some sort of grudge towards him, which he now supposed might be because of what he'd been told yesterday, that his alter ego was apparently taking up a lot of Menma's time. Which brought about the question of whether or not he should tell them that it wasn't Menma, but Naruto whom they were thinking of.

"I'm not particularly interested" he answered, because while he didn't mind interacting with his family, he wasn't here to make friends and play the role of some stupid guy who thought with his dick.

Three pairs of eyes stared at him in shock, Ino blushing behind her hand.

"But Sasuke-kun, Menma planned everything for your birthday, I think he would be happy if you helped out…"

On the inside, Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I'm not the Sasuke you're thinking of, and the guy you saw yesterday isn't Menma."

Hinata took a step closer, glaring at him.

"Then who the hell would you be if you're not Sasuke?!"

"I'm another Sasuke" he sighed, tired of the conversation already. "Go ask Tsunade if you don't believe me."

"Whoa, dude!" Shikamaru waved his hands in front of himself, eyes wide. "That's crazy!"

"Another Sasuke... from where?" Hinata's eyes narrowed into slits, and she stepped even closer to scrutinize his face. "But you sure seem different. And you don't smell like cheap perfume."

Sasuke was going to have a talk with his other self as soon as he arrived.

"Another Konoha, obviously."

"Oh man! I can't believe it! This is so cool!"

"Shut up!" Hinata smacked the over-excited Shikamaru on the arm, eyes still trained on Sasuke.

"Alright" she said, ignoring the fact that Ino had stepped behind her and now shyly peeked over her shoulder. "Is your name still Sasuke?"

"Yes."

"And the other Menma is still Menma?"

"Naruto" he corrected, and she nodded before straightening up, arms crossed.

"Then we'll just throw the party for Naruto. Which means you are not allowed to bail on us."

He was still going to refuse when Mikoto appeared behind him, asking what they wanted. And just like that, Sasuke's afternoon looked very unpromising.

xxx

Naruto strolled through Konoha, dragging his feet and kicking the occasional pebble. He'd been kicked out of the house after a mysterious conversation Kushina had had by the door, after which she'd told him that space was needed in order to prepare his birthday dinner. Of course the first place he'd gone to was Sasuke's house, where he'd been told that he was out with some friends.

There were so many things wrong with that sentence, and Naruto felt very confused. Sasuke. Out. With friends. Had something happened during the night and he'd woken up with the other Sasuke's personality and memories? He sure hoped not. Things were bad enough without Sasuke forgetting everything that had happened.

He shoved his hands deeper down his pockets, happy he'd left his jacket back in the house but sweating all the same. For once the weather was exceptionally nice on his birthday, it was just his luck to spend it in a fake world. Or maybe not so fake, but he wasn't sure which thought was more unnerving, that this place wasn't real or that there actually did exist a world in which he lived happily with his parents.

"Naruto!"

He raised his head at hearing Sakura's usual calling of his name, spinning around on his heels to see her jogging up to him.

"It's so much easier to find you when you're wearing orange" she chuckled, her clothes the same he was used to with the exception of a cherry blossom pendant hanging from her neck. "I'm here to keep you company."

Now Naruto's confusion increased, but on the other hand it was possible that the old hag had told her what was going on.

"Like a date, huh?" He forced out a chuckle, rubbing his nose as he stared at her.

"Ew, gross" she said, making a disgusted face. "Does the other Sakura like boys? I bet she likes Sasuke, he was giving me all these worried glances."

Naruto blinked a few times in surprise, not sure what to comment on first.

"You met Sasuke? Where is he?"

"I'm not allowed to tell." Snickering she tilted her head a little sideways, hands clasped behind her back.

This Sakura was acting kind of cute.

"Anyway, I'm starving and you look terrible. I mean really, orange?" She tsk'ed at him, eyeing his pants and black shirt with a green stylized Konoha leaf in the middle. "Menma has way more sex appeal."

He couldn't stop the heavy blush covering his face, spluttering a few words of nonsense before finding his voice again.

"What?!" he yelled, balling his fists inside his pockets. "There's nothing wrong with orange! And you said you don't even like boys!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, grabbing his arm and starting to drag him forwards along the road.

"I'm not blind, stupid. Let's go eat first and we'll see what we can do about it later."

xxx

Sasuke could almost feel a vein popping in his temple. One year in the constant company of a certain ramen-loving dobe had done wonders for his patience around other humans, but right now his biggest wish was to grab the closest balloon, poke the air out and then use the remains to choke someone. It wouldn't be hard, the only problem was the whole murder-is-wrong thing that he sadly agreed with. To his left, Hinata was muttering dark curses while assisting Ino, arranging small bouquets of flowers to be set up around the house. Ino kept giggling at Kiba, who cut different silhouettes of cats from colored paper, using silly voices to play out scenes between them.

Where was he, a fucking nursery?

It didn't help that Shikamaru was snoring loudly on the couch, utterly useless. Apparently these four were the only ones with spare time on their hands, though more would arrive in time for the party. Oh, he couldn't wait. Kushina had left the house in order to buy more food, now that there was going to be an actual party, and he almost caught himself wishing she would hurry back and distract him from these maniacs.

And then there was Sakura, the cause for Hinata's bad mood. In Sasuke's opinion, she had seemed surprisingly normal, the way she looked at him neither filled with adoration nor with the sad and tentative feelings of friendship that he'd grown accustomed to lately.

"So Naruto is dating me in your world, right?"

Sasuke glanced to his left, still finding it difficult to get used to Hinata using threats rather than questions when talking.

"He's not dating" he sighed, listless eyes returning focus to the pile of non-inflated balloons in front of him.

Yesterday morning had started out so well, but now he was spending his first day as a free man by preparing a toddler party for Naruto. Though he'd probably love it.

"Why not?!"

Flicking his hair out of his eyes in an irritated gesture, Sasuke thinned his lips into a line and ignored her.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" She'd grabbed his shoulder, and Sasuke's sharingan flashed for a second, which didn't deter her in the least.

"But I'm not talking to you" he gritted out, finally having had enough.

He stood up, chair scraping against the floor, everyone's eyes glued to his face.

"Ah, don't be mad, Sasuke! Here, have a kitty."

Ignoring Kiba as well he left them on their own, leaving the building as fast as possible. He jumped up on the roof, surveying his surroundings before starting to move. He figured he'd seek out Naruto, preferring his mindless chatter over overgrown children. He just hoped he wouldn't run into any of his fangirls along the way.

xxx

At first he'd been happy for the company, and it was nice that Sakura was trying to make him feel welcomed, but a list of every cute girl in the entire village and their location wasn't exactly information he needed. He listened silently, chin leaning in his palm and eyes glassy. Normally, Sakura would have caught on and hit him for not paying attention to her, but this version seemed happy to just have him listening. Maybe Menma did the same thing and she was used to it.

When she stopped talking it took him a while to notice, lost in thoughts of how to get home. She gave him a friendly smile and fluttered her eyelashes cutely at him, mimicking his posture but leaning on both palms instead.

"You and Menma are kind of similar" she mused. "I mean, your Sasuke is very different from ours, and your body language is more crude than Menma's but at least you both don't care about girls."

"I care about girls," Naruto objected, "I just have a lot of things on my mind right now."

"Oh?" She tilted her head, her smile turning a little mischievous for a second, as if she knew something he didn't. "But that's true, you need to find a way to go home" she added, straightening up again.

"Yeah, exactly!"

"Which is why, while you're here, we should make the best of it!"

She beamed at him, and Naruto couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. There was just something about that last sentence that sounded a bit off. When he found himself outside a hairdresser ten minutes later, it seemed as if the feeling in his gut had been correct.

"My hair is fine the way it is!" he told her, digging his heels into the ground.

"Oh come on, you look ridiculous. It's sticking out everywhere."

Naruto was honestly a little hurt. He thought he looked plenty cool. After all, all cool people had longer hair, like his dad and Sasuke. So sue him if he'd tried to grow it a little bit, it was his hair and he could do what he wanted with it. A sudden "Kyaaa!" interrupted his thoughts, and turning he found none other than Sasuke stalking towards them, pretending he couldn't see the two girls waving at him to get his attention.

The relief Naruto felt upon seeing him was almost pathetic, but he'd gotten used to the feeling. A small voice in his head happily whispered to him that Sasuke didn't look pleased at all.

"Hi again, Sasuke! I'm trying to convince Naruto he needs a haircut, what do you think?"

Sasuke paused as he reached them, glancing at Sakura, then fixating his gaze on Naruto's head. There was an uncomfortable prickling feeling running down Naruto's spine, and he glared back as if to dare Sasuke to agree with her.

"It's just hair" Sasuke shrugged, face as impassive as ever. "The only problem is if it gets in your eyes when you fight."

Naruto glared harder. That answer was just typical for the bastard, having perfect hair that flowed all pretty in the wind and not even caring one bit.

"Aah, you two are no fun" Sakura complained, stretching with one hand straight above her head, the other bent. "I'm only acting on Kushina-san's orders, you know."

"Well, you can do it some other time" Sasuke said, glancing back at the small group of girls watching them nearby. "Come on, Naruto, let's go spar. I need to hit something."

"No way, I'm under orders to keep watch over Naruto until six o'clock" Sakura intervened, just as Naruto had started to nod eagerly.

"If you're talking about the party, I couldn't care less" Sasuke dismissed her with, "But I'm sure this dobe here will show up on time if you ask him to. Now, we're leaving."

Naruto looked between them, completely lost. Party? Were they throwing him a birthday party? But why, if everyone already knew he wasn't Menma... He followed Sasuke automatically, ignoring Sakura's insulted shouting as they left her in the middle of the street. He'd rather have a party back home.

It took him some time to realize, but Sasuke was on his way towards their usual training ground.

"Is there really a party tonight?" he asked when they arrived, Sasuke immediately starting a warm-up stretch.

"If you can call it that" his best friend muttered, which made Naruto extremely curious. "Just be back at your parents' house before six."

"Alright."

Rolling a shoulder, Naruto worried his lip between his teeth, trying to ignore how their surroundings reminded him of where they were. There were so many things he wanted to ask Sasuke, and the party was just one of those. How had his night been, what was he thinking, why did he look like his only pair of chopsticks had broken just before digging in on some tasty ramen... Sometimes he really wished Sasuke wasn't such a block of ice.

"Ready?" Sasuke asked a few minutes later, and Naruto nodded once, moving into position.

He might feel like sighing deeply now, but sparring with Sasuke always got him in a better mood no matter what. There was something so intensely satisfying about punching him in the face, and Naruto couldn't help but grin, Sasuke sending him an answering smirk in return.

If he won, he was definitely dragging Sasuke to that party.

Looks like reverse Konoha is all about dating huh? I didn't delve into Naruto's and Sasuke's feelings too deeply, because we'll get enough of that later on. Right now they're just trying to get over the initial shock and figure out what's going on.

Well, you'll see later;) And I can hardly wait for Itachi to show up... I hope you enjoyed the chapter:3