Paradox

01. Past Shenanigans

He found himself chained down in a hospital bed. How did he know it was a hospital? Well, there was an IV drip sticking out of him and the scent of disinfectant filled his nose. Also, the room was pure white and sterile. How did he know he was chained? Well, he tried to stretch and move, but no. He couldn't. Chakra stronger and potent than his own stopped him from moving.

Next to him, was the blond knuckleheaded ninja. Albeit, less chained up. Literally, in no cuffs of any description. He was snoring annoyingly loud with a bubble of snot dripping out his nose. Sasuke's nose scrunched up in disgust.

The boy closed his eyes and asked for his chakra to flood to the surface, but… nothing. Zilch. Nada. It wasn't working. This was weird. Even for him. Even in his life.

Opening his eyes again, he looked around once more. Nurses were coming in and out of view of the window on the door, before he saw a familiar blonde – Tsunade – walk in. The woman looked the same as always, young and her face full of make-up, even though she was much older than many would expect. At least, that was what he had heard. The older woman's hazel eyes flickered onto Sasuke in disgust, before she glance over at Naruto with a deep fondness.

"You're awake already," she stated, moving to Naruto to check on his vitals and such, "I'm not even surprised that Naruto is still asleep," she huffed.

Sasuke stayed silent.

After she tended to Naruto, her expression fell onto Sasuke once more. "I was surprised when you both came in," she said softly, playing with her hair in almost an anxious way, "When I had heard that you were both apparently here, I didn't expect this at all."

"Stop talking in riddles," Sasuke finally said rudely, "I have my goals, and you won't stop me from reaching them."

She almost looked sad as Sasuke said this, "Yes… your goals… I'm not even sure where to begin explaining what's going on, and even if I should considering how delicate this is. Kakashi doesn't even have an idea of what to do, and he's the one running the show."

'What did she mean by that?'

The two then heard the tell-tale signs of someone waking up, with a loud yawn and a groan. The blonde ninja sat up and looked around, rubbing his eyes before grinning at Tsunade.

"I knew you'd get things sorted, Tsunade-baa-sama!" he said cheerfully, his grin wide.

The older woman almost looked like she had seen a ghost when Naruto had begun speaking, and the boisterous kid didn't really realise what was going on. Not that either of them really understood why things were… different. The Uchiha looked down at his chakra bound hands. He couldn't put them together to make any hand signs, and he also couldn't move his feet.

Her smile was pained, "Of course, Naruto… I… have some things to tell you, but I think I'll wait until Sakura and Kakashi get here..."

Sasuke scoffed, "Why do they need to be here? You're the Hokage, aren't you?"

"Not anymore," she said, not looking in Sasuke's direction.

She didn't say much more than that.

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ANBU arriving in her office was not shocking, but what they said definitely shocked her, "Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke are here..."

'What? Why?'

Her green eyes flickered in hesitation as she looked away for a moment. Memories of the latter forming in her head like a drum. It hurt to remember that. She bit her lower lip and asked for more information, which the ANBU was not willing to provide.

("How did this happen!?" she cried out, clutching onto Naruto's cold arm, as Kakashi rested his hand against hers, "Why…?"

"He was too far gone, Sakura," referring to the man that Sakura had once loved.

"…")

Sighing heavily, she willed herself to meet with her once-teacher, and get to the bottom of this.

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The medic-nin found herself at the front of the hospital. She had just come in from home, having been working at home from the moment. It was just easier like that for the time-being. She ruffled her long, pink hair nervously, running her fingers through it and catching any knots. The woman took a heavy breath and made her way inside.

One of the nurses were fiddling with their phones, no doubt using the new social media widgets that had recently been created. It was a phenomenon, and it was so shocking to see how much had changed in fifteen years. It was so different to what she had grown up with. Radios had only just been created back then, and now you could watch interviews and such on the television now. The dark-haired nurse jumped and hastily put away her phone and put on a friendly smile.

"Haruno-sama! I didn't think you'd be in today," she said, quite shocked.

"Where is Tsunade-shishou? Sakura asked coolly, wanting to get down to the bottom of what the hell was going on.

She had last seen Naruto thirteen years ago… Sasuke thirteen and a half years ago… Why would they return now? She knew that the latter was causing many issues all around the world with his army, but… he had yet to touch the Leaf, but she was sure their time was coming. He was leaving them till last, probably to savour it, the sick bastard he is. She knew he was alive, but Naruto? She assumed that he had been killed by Sasuke… but… She didn't want to believe that…

But why wouldn't the blond, knuckle-headed ninja not return if he was alive? He had so much here that he would not have been willing to give up.

"Oh, um," the nurse started, "Room 206. In the restricted zone."

'Ah,' Sakura thought, 'It makes sense that they would be kept away from general populace.'

Sakura swallowed, before making her way to the elevator, "Thanks, Riko-san."

"No worries, Haruno-sama."

It was time to face whatever demons that she had held back in the past.

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"You fucking idiot, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto snarled, nearly ripping out of his sheets after Sasuke had uttered something rather insulting.

The two boys were glaring at each-other with venom and malice, particularly from Sasuke's end. Sasuke had had enough of being here. He would have been in Sound already, if it weren't for these bindings that these stupid shinobi had placed him into. No, he was still here - still weak. He should be getting stronger under Orochimaru's guide, and getting ready for the fight of his life time. He had goals, dammit.

Naruto had ruined that for him, for the moment.

"What makes you think I can't get out of this, and come over there and kill you, dobe?" Sasuke drawled, inky eyes flicking dangerously with the crimson of the sharingan. Rage. He felt that at the moment. He shouldn't be here.

"As if you could!" Naruto shouted back, his own rage storming beneath his bluey depth, "You're a damn idiot, Sasuke-teme! You know that Kakashi-sensei could train you better than that stupid snake."

No, he couldn't. Kakashi could make Sasuke strong, that was for sure. But not quickly enough. Kakashi was the copy-cat shinobi who also carried the fabled sharingan. But… Orochimaru and Kakashi were different in their training styles, no doubt. The young Uchiha wanted to kill Itachi as quickly as possible, then he would figure out what he needed to do after.

Tsunade was watching the two fight in astonishment, she had forgotten how ruthless the two were. The two boys were like chalk and cheese, completely different people, but they were definitely similar in the sense of their strengths now. That was for certain. Tsunade could feel the coolness of the chakra from Sasuke, while Naruto's was warm with a dark underlying presence. The kyuubi, no doubt.

"Naruto, Sasuke," the older woman sighed, "Shut up, and wait."

A gentle knock was heard at the door, and both boys tore their attention to the sound.

And then, the door opened.

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Sakura wasn't sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn't this. In front of her stood the two younger boys that she remembered fondly from the team seven days. Her eyes fell onto Naruto first - his hair was scraggier than it was when he got older, and blue and orange stood out the most for him. His eyes were the same gentle but confident blue that she remembered. He looked shocked to see her, his mouth agape. She was sure she had the same expression on her own face.

And then her eyes fell on… him.

Sasuke was wearing his blue hooded shirt, with the usual bandages around his arms. His hair was formed in spikes up the back, and he was smaller than what she had remembered. His dark eyes were as smouldering as always, and dangerous… definitely. This was the younger Sasuke who had yet to commit any of the atrocities that she had heard of. And had dealt upon her. This was the younger boy that was wrapped up in revenge, but still gave a damn about his teammates. Sakura had always wondered if he had originally left to protect them too… that she wouldn't be surprised of.

"What the hell?" Naruto barked, "Why do you look so old? But like hot?"

The two boys were looking at her as if she was an alien, and Sakura understood the feeling well. This was… weird. She knew they were not the same Sasuke and Naruto that she had last seen, no. These were the younger ones. They were weaker, and smaller and just - even their chakra felt different. Even if it was only slight on Naruto's end, but Sasuke's… it was dark and cold.

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her brow, "I don't even know where to begin…" her attention fell onto Sakura, "Kakashi is currently in a meeting, so he won't be here for a while…"

"They're not from this time, shishou?" Sakura asked, her eyes not leaving the two, "What…?"

Sasuke seemed to come to this realization too, but Naruto yelled out, "What? How!? All we were doing was fighting in the Valley of the End, and I don't know how-"

The two women looked at one another, "The clash of rasengan and chidori?" Tsunade said softly, looking at the boys for their agreement.

Naruto nodded, while the younger Uchiha watched on sourly.

"That's… weird," Sakura said softly.

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Sakura looked completely different. She was older, curvier and her hair was longer, kept back in a loose pony-tail. This woman was… beautiful, even Sasuke had to admit. Her lips painted with a light shade of red. Her eyes did not really meet his… however, and that made him uncomfortable. The boy did not understand what was going on, other than the time travel part. How far ahead were they? Was Itachi dead?

The latter question was ringing in his head. Where was his older self now? Was he powerful? If Itachi was dead, then yes… he was. But he didn't have the answer for that yet. He made the mental note to ask later on, but for now, he needed information on how to get back. He still had his goals in the past that still needed to be completed, and for that… he needed to go back.

The two women talked to each-other quietly, which annoyed Sasuke. They were doing this on purpose, and the two boys were still very far in the dark. What year was it? How old were they in this timeline?

Naruto had hopped out of bed at this point, "Hey, c'mon! This involves us too! What's going on?" he whined interrupting the two women.

Within seconds but, Sakura had engulfed the blond in a tight hug which made Naruto squeak. He did hug her back however, but he didn't understand why she was hugging him so tightly.

Sasuke pursed his lips, watching in irritation, he was sure he was also about to get the same attention. However, when Sakura dropped the hug and kissed Naruto on the cheek, she look his way sadly. But didn't come close. This… was weird. Sakura was weird in this timeline, Sasuke decided. He was used to being the centre of attention when it came to her, and this was just… weird. He didn't really know what else to say about it.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Are you okay?"

She had covered her face with her palm at this point, and the light shake let Sasuke know that the woman was crying. Why was she upset? What could be upsetting her at this time? It was odd.

Tsunade patted her student on the back before her attention fell onto both boys, "Well… we should probably begin explaining some things to you both. First, the Sasuke of this time haven't been seen in over a decade in this village. Naruto was… killed in the Valley of the End twelve years ago…" Tsunade's expression became dull and sad, reminiscing on the boy that was killed by the dark avenger.

"What!?" Naruto shouted, obviously surprised by all of this, "You killed me!?"

Sasuke would have covered his ears if he could, instead he just gave the hyperactive boy a feral look. He… wasn't sure himself, really. Even with the fight with Naruto just now, he wouldn't have brought himself to end Naruto's life. Why did his elder self do it? Was it for the power of the mangekyou sharingan? He stayed silent, not wanting to give his feelings away on the matter, just eyeing Naruto wearily.

The roseate hummed softly, "After that… well, one by one the villages have all slowly went down under Sasuke's rule - and their groups', by extension. From what our scouts have gathered, their group - Taka - have been pillaging them, and taking all their resources. They're a powerful group of war criminals… we're in war at this moment. Uchiha Obito is also apart of that group."

'Another Uchiha - what? And war?' Sasuke was perplexed. This was wrong. All of this. While he normally wouldn't care what would happen to others, this was bad. The world was being destroyed by his future self at this moment, and his rag-tag group of criminals. The Uchiha avenger swallowed, looking at his hands now, unable to meet anyone's gaze.

Tsunade spoke now, "There's many more things that are going on, but for the moment," she clicked her fingers, and the bounding around Sasuke evaporated, "We should find somewhere else to speak for now," her attention was on her previous student, "Would your house be okay? She's not home, right?"

The roseate nodded her head, "Yeah… she should be at the academy, I'm sure it'll be fine for now. Just for an hour, however."

The raven-haired boy's head tilted at this.

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Sakura's home was beautiful. That was the best way to put it. It was decorated in pastel colours, and while it was a bit bright for his liking, it was definitely Sakura. She had prepared everyone a cup of tea, and was finishing up in the kitchen now. Sasuke's dark eyes focused on his hands, flexing his fingers before stretching his arms. He was happy to be out of his bindings, but he was surprised that they had let him out rather easily… maybe it was because between both Sakura and Tsunade, they would easily be able to stop him. While Sakura had not shown anything, it was clear that she was a lot stronger now.

Like her former teacher, she had a small diamond in the centre of her forehead that, from what Sasuke had been told, assisted in both strength and healing. She was a medical shinobi now, and was surviving. Very well, it seemed. Her house was maybe three bedrooms, with one definite bathroom. It was quite large and just a little outside of the main centre of town. It was actually bordering on the Uchiha district… which did make Sasuke frown when they were headed that way.

He couldn't find himself to continue to be offended, however.

Taking a sip of the warm, black tea made him feel a little bit better.

Sakura re-entered the room and sat down next to Naruto. Tsunade had left moments ago, saying that she was going to inform Kakashi of what was going on, and that he needed to be here. Kakashi, from what Sakura had explained, was now the Hokage. That had shocked both himself and Naruto.

("Before you died, Naruto, we were going to announce to you that you would be the next Hokage in a few years. Kakashi would begin training you immediately.")

Sasuke took a heavy breath. It… was sad.

"I think… what will be going down, is that we will need to figure out what exactly caused your leap in time," Sakura said, humming as she sipped her green tea, "I don't know too much about that sort of thing, and I don't think it's really been documented… except for that one time that Naruto got sent back in time, but that was different again."

Naruto blinked, "I - what?"

Sakura laughed dryly, "Yeah, it was funny actually."

Her expression changed for a moment, before turning into a heavy scowl. She stood up abruptly, and wandered out into the hallway, towards the entrance of the house.

"Sarada! I know you're in here," she said harshly.

'Sarada?'

In seconds, a girl with dark hair and red glasses appeared in front of the table. Her brows forming into a scowl. "Who are these people, mama?"

Sasuke blinked a few times before the girl seemed to realise something, and her eyes bled to… red?

Word: 3200 approx.

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Next chapter - 24th August 2020 (Aussie time)