"Fuck," Sasuke says it softly, but with feeling. Deep, deep feeling.
Jiraiya of the Sannin sits upon the ledge of their window, a scroll out and what looks suspiciously like a vial of blood.
That'd explain the pain in his shoulder. The additional pain that is. It hadn't been one of his many, many injuries when he had fallen asleep… some time ago.
How much time has passed? He doesn't know. Enough time for Naruto to heal, that much is obvious. He wiggles his feet until they're pressing against her deliciously warm shins. Perfect. She doesn't wake, just makes a wordless whine of complaint but, otherwise, allows his feet to remain in place. Do all Jinchūrikis run this warm? Not that he cares; this is the one he wants.
God, Itachi's always right, even when he's dead. Damn it.
"Fuck is about right," Jiraiya muses, surprisingly serious. Then again, Sasuke had only met him when he was twelve and it'd been in passing. More of a 'this idiot is Naruto's mentor? Figures' kind of way. It hadn't been until he'd spent time with Orochimaru that he'd come to realise just how well the idiot had lucked out by getting the Sannin on board. Though, given that she's the daughter of the Fourth, it makes a hell of a lot more sense with foreknowledge.
They're gonna be avoiding Edo Tensei this time around. Sasuke is perfectly content with his future father-in-law being dead. Which leaves this one as the only male relative, genetically or not, to deal with.
He can handle the Toad Sage. Maybe.
Once the room stops spinning.
"So, time travel, eh?" Jiraiya muses, acting as if this isn't the strangest thing in the world, as if his god-daughter weren't sprawled all over Sasuke's half-dead form. "Are you sure?"
"You still thirsting after Tsunade?" God, even his voice is wrecked. War zones suck. War zones with no breaks suck. War zones with no breaks and then immediate time travel after is the ultimate suck. And there goes his ability to form coherent sentences. God, it's like the more time he spends in Naruto's presence, the more brain cells he loses.
"You're a cocky little shit, aren't ya?"
.
Naruto wakes up. Not quick enough, not alert enough. But she wakes up. Sasuke happily leaves her to deal with the situation so he can further bury himself in the pillows and pretend the outside world doesn't exist for a little while longer.
Forever is too big an ask.
"So, we've got a plan."
Sasuke listens as Naruto explains, unbelievable full of energy despite the fact they've bene through the same time-travel experience and Sasuke is utterly shattered. They're going to pose as their own older siblings (and given they're actually six years into the past, he'll be Itachi's older brother by a year too and fuck if that isn't a mind-bender) who were sent away from the village for different reasons and entrusted to Jiraiya's care. Thanks to the fuckery of the Fourth War, Naruto has the other half of the Kyūbi sealed in her instead of the original one she'd had (Yes, Jiraiya had goggled at that one; Sasuke's very determinedly compartmentalizing how close Naruto came to death so he can deal with it during his next mental breakdown), so that gives her a reason to be out of the village as a brat. After all, who knew how two halves of the Kyūbi, freshly sealed, would react to each other in close proximity?
As for Sasuke himself-
"Let's have a look then!"
The cheerful chirp is the only warning he gets before his left eye is being forcibly pried open.
Generations of inborn instincts scorch through Sasuke's veins; it's only Naruto's quick reflexes that save Jiraiya from being violently skewered.
"Right, right, right." The absolute idiot (no wonder Naruto didn't improve in anything but fighting during those two years if this was her example in all his amentia) who thought touching a Uchiha's eyes without fair warning, permission, and at least a decade of goodwill under their belt was a good idea sits himself up. "Uchiha," he says it like explains everything.
Fair point. It probably does.
"Don't. Touch. My. Eyes."
"Don't need to now that you're awake, Sleeping Beauty. And would you look at that, one Rinnegan. The perfect excuse to be out of the village with me, given I trained another with those eyes!"
"We know," Sasuke deadpans, peeling himself from the bed to stand because it's clear as fuck he's not gonna be getting anymore sleep now, not when planning is in session. Though he's not too sure why they need to be planning. Why does it matter if people believe they're Sasuke and Naruto from the future? They're already gonna be fucking with the timeline just by being here, so why shouldn't they go the whole hog? He wants Danzo nervous, wants his enemies to tremble in fear over what secrets he may know. He wants Itachi to know he's coming for him, even if the other won't be aware it's to save him, will probably think he's still bent on revenge.
Naruto drapes herself across his side. If he could actually support her weight it full, he gladly would. As things stand, he's weak as a newborn foal and needs to lean on the bedside cabinet for support.
He still wraps an arm around Naruto's waist because why the fuck not? If she wants to be close, Sasuke's gonna take all the contact he can get. From the look on the Toad Sage's face, he knows it too. Sasuke flashes him a smirk and clings that little bit closer.
"We wanna surprise Zetsu, get the drop on him. Once that fucker's outta the way, it'll be plain sailing for everything else!" Sasuke's not too sure about that, but as long as Madara isn't resurrected, then the only one they'll have any real issues with is Tobi. Obito. His deranged as fuck cousin.
Though, if he lost Naruto, Sasuke can kinda understand (that'd break him. Then, it'd break the world through him).
"Our younger selves?" He supposes it will be a bit difficult to kill them off. Well, not him; he's pretty certain he can manage killing his younger self, fuck whatever paradox that'll create. But younger Naruto? He'd sooner burn the entire village down. And Naruto has no hope in hell of killing a child, even if that child is herself.
Plus, there's the whole Kyūbi thing with her; probably best not to go down that avenue. And he can't imagine Itachi'd be happy about it either, even if it is literally him doing the killing.
Tricky.
"That, my sore-headed friend, is where the Great Jiraiya-sama comes in!"
.
It's a seal. A seal that'll make him refer to her as Asura and himself as Indra. And one for her, vice versa. It sucks because he can't even manage to think the right name mentally now. He looks over and it's Asura he thinks of when he reaches for a name. Internally, he cannot even get his own right.
It would seem that, for better or worse, he's now Uchiha Indra.
New name for new mistakes. How poetic.
.
Indra kicks Jiraiya out. Takes great pleasure in it. Seal done, a semblance of a backstory (that he could have done without but apparently this'll keep the Leaf off the whole 'hunt down and breed the Uchiha' business) and even a promise to check in with them later; all sorted. And now?
Now, Indra's gonna sleep for a week.
.
Over the years, Indra has come to realise that if you say things with enough confidence, people'll believe you, no matter how ridiculous it seems. So, when the mercenaries that they've taken down ask if they'll be spared in exchange for information, he's not even surprised they accept his nonsense 'yes' as the truth.
Unfortunately, so does Asura.
"What?! That's not right! They were kidnapping and selling children!"
She's so righteous and bright. How on earth she's lived this long as a ninja, Indra cannot even begin to guess.
Oh, wait, yes he can. Sheer, dumb luck.
Indra wishes, dearly wishes, he could roll his eyes at her naïveté. Even now, after half a decade as a ninja, she still believes the simplest of lies. Then, he does roll is eyes because there's nothing stopping him and he's past pretending his world doesn't revolve around her. Nothing can stop him now and that's kind of liberating.
He gets his information, they get a genjutsu-induced death, and Asura gets money for ramen. Everyone that walks away does so happy.
"So," Asura chimes, bouncing along the path beside him, hands clasped before her and a smile on her face. She looks so beautiful. "What's the first task? We're taking down Zetsu first, right?"
Yes, that will have to be the first one they take down, given he's (it's?) the one pulling the strings from the back. No one else realises they're dancing to another's script. One in which an act saw the slaughter of his clan.
Zetsu. Tobi. Danzō. Orochimaru. All those involved in the murder of his clan, those who desecrated their bodies, used them for parts of sick experiments.
Indra will have all their heads. One after the other.
However, it's one thing to say something, another thing altogether to track the fuckers down and make them pay... this was a lot easier when people pointed him at a target and said 'kill', even if they were using him for their own means.
"We need to find them first," Indra reminds her, resigning himself to close proximity with his own personal sunshine when Asura latches onto his arm. Her own brushes against his sides and he forces back the sharp inhale, ribs wrapped tight but still tender to the touch.
"Hey, I shaved my legs yesterday!" Asura announces this as if it is a personal triumph, hopping along beside him to better shove one of said legs in his general direction. Utterly forgetting she's wearing long trousers.
Indra stops, for its obvious they won't be continuing until they get past this derailing in the conversation.
"And?"
"And, I haven't been able to do that in at least a fortnight because of the whole war thing and now, now I'm silky smooth!" She whips up the hem of one trousers leg, exposing a stretch of smooth skin before the excess material goes taunt on her muscled calf.
Indra takes a hold of her ankle, other hand running the tips of his fingers across the tanned flesh. Then, he lifts her foot high, throwing Asura off balance and sending her sprawling onto the dirt path with a satisfying 'oomph'.
"Indra, you bastard!"
"Tch, idiot." He's not going to comment on how silken her leg had felt beneath his touch because... because why should he? And, then again, why shouldn't he?
"You've got nice legs but you don't need to throw them under the nose of every man you see, idiot."
"I- hell yeah I've got nice legs!" She's back on her feet now, threading her fingers through his to better pull him along. His ribs ache but Indra continues on without voicing it. They'll heal. Eventually. "But yours is the only nose I'm gonna be shoving them under!" She tweaks said nose, wearing that stupid grin that crinkles her eyes, cheeks round and pink with the strain of her happiness.
God, she's got no idea, does she? She wouldn't be saying shit like that if she knew just how far gone he is on her.
The old Indra would order her to focus on the task at hand. The old Indra would distract and detract, anything to get out of showing emotions, showing bonds. Anything to prevent Asura from realising just how deep he's fallen for her, lost in a hole with no way out.
He's not the old Indra any more than; he's even got a new name, can't even think about using the old one.
"Good." He doesn't say anything to her about waiting for the appropriate time, doesn't say anything about losing himself in her once this whole 'save the world shit' is over and done with.
He's done denying anything and everything. Done denying her and himself.
If Asura wants to climb into the bed of the next hotel they stop at, then Indra won't be the one to stop her, just welcome her with open arms and curl up around her to pretend the world doesn't exist…
But he knows her too well. Asura won't stop until she's completed her self appointed task. He's not too sure why it has to be them; as long as they take out the Akatsuki, then everything else will sort itself out… right?
"Bastard, don't go saying weird things like that," Asura grumbles, pulling a little harder on his arm so that they're walking side by side. "Zetsu should be first, but we shouldn't pass up the opportunity to take out others if we get the chance!"
Indra stares. Because what whack dimension is she living in to think chances to complete her goal will just walk out of the undergrowth, stop before her and gawk freely so she can use them as a freshly painted kunai target?
A moment after the thought has passed, Hidan walks out of the undergrowth, stops before them and then proceeds to gawk freely, imitating a freshly painted kunai target.
Unbelievable.