Karin could feel his chakra fluctuate, could see how his movements would slow, saw Sasuke breath harder, and still he would continue. She assumed this had to do with him still being exhausted, however that was before she noticed a pattern to his weakness. "We need to stop." Sasuke glared at her, but older Sasuke's glare was soft in comparison to the one she had grown accustomed to, she was unfazed by his.

"We will do no such thing."

"Haven't you noticed? You can be such an idiot, as soon as your brother is involved you just focus on that."

"I don't remember you being so-" he paused looking for a word, "so petulant, towards me. We don't have time to waste."

"STUPID PAY ATTENTION! Every time we get too close to the other Sasuke, you become weaker, your chakra starts going crazy, and you slow down! That's why we haven't caught up to them, and the way things are, we can't."

"So, what then? You expect me to wait and let him get there?" His rage was barely contained, and it triggered something in Karin's mind, a conversation she once overheard.

She had to ask, she had to know, she didn't know why, but she needed to know, even if a part of her knew the answer, "It's not your brother you are concerned about, you don't care about him at all do you? It's for Sakura right? That's her name, the partner that's in this time, is she your girlfriend or something?"

"She is my wife." He tried to remember bringing Sakura up in conversation with her in the past, but outside of delivering Sarada, he never mentioned Sakura to Karin. Curiosity triggered his question, "how do you know about her?"

Ignoring that she could still feel her heart shattering she answered, "Orochimaru and Kabuto mentioned once that you became reckless, and didn't think things through when it involved her in any form. They said something like "Itachi is an obsession, a way to distract him, but the girl is a weapon we can use," they kept a close eye on her from what I could tell. It's what you are doing now, both of you, now that I think about it. It's like you want to be killed."

He felt his anger rise at the idea of Orochimaru keeping tabs on Sakura, but how else could Orochimaru have given him the information on what Sakura was up too? It was foolish of him to only realize this now, it was pointless to get angry it was in the past, both his present and the one in which he belonged. Putting his anger away as best as he could, he focused on the problem at hand,"I didn't know there was a pattern, I thought it was just because I am still low on chakra. I can't detect myself nearby." Karin's words echoed in his mindhe couldn't get close to this timeline's Sasuke, "what happened when he was standing feet away from me?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

"That's helpful." Sarcasm was practically dripping from his stance, not wanting to let him get the last word on the subject she quickly defended herself.

"I was a little in shock at there being two of you to be focused on anything else. Besides you had such low reserves I could barely sense it." Nothing to say to that, he stood quietly trying to figure out how to go about this now, he needed a plan, a way to keep himself away from himself, stay a safe distance. He had to admit that seemed impossible since both their goals was to get to Sakura. Suddenly Karin spoke beside him, "how did your wife end up here?"

He considered lying to Karin save his pride a little, but she was helping him it was only fair to be honest, "I sent her here on accident."

"You could at least sound ashamed." Unaffected by the glare he sent her way, Karin was struck with a sudden realization, "wait, you are telling me that you sent the fifth Hokage's apprentice, to the past on accident? Why are you in such a hurry to find her? She is going to kill you, you deserve it. Forget about being an idiot, you are and imbecile."

He had no comeback, Karin was right and she didn't even know about Sarada. He needed to keep certain things to himself, they were in dangerous times, and he wasn't at his best, if he wasn't careful, even the younger Sakura could be in danger. The silenced stretch for a few minutes, both deep in their thoughts, Karin looking for a way to mend her broken heart, and Sasuke thinking of a way to go about things now. "I can't get too close, but you can. You can probably still catch up to him, with the way I am feeling he can't be too far off, tell him-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, have you met yourself?" She sounded so exasperated, and just so done with him, that it was hard not to feel offended. He could not remember a time with Karin speaking to him so freely, with no censors, no care as to how her words came. "Did you not hear me say you get reckless and don't think things through! You are doing it right now. Do you have any idea how dangerous the situation truly is? She is with your brother! The man that killed your family. Sure, your wife may be tough, but that's not who he is expecting there. He isn't expecting your wife there, he is expecting his-"she stopped there not knowing what to call her, she considered lover, girlfriend, crush. What was she to him now? Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she added, "besides you don't look very good, I can't leave you like this."

"You are different from what I remember." She wanted to ask if that was good or bad, but knew by the look in his eyes that it wasn't the time. Sasuke was trying to think of a plan, he could not get too close, and sure the Sasuke of this time would not listen, but if it was unavoidable that he would get to her first he needed a way to get to her second. Sakura and Sarada's safety came first, above keeping the timeline as it was, above anything and everything. He needed Karin, being near his younger self weakened him too much.

"What I am going to say, you cannot tell anyone, and if the information ever comes to light you will act as if you knew nothing." No matter what angle he looked at it, he came to only one conclusion: she needed to know the truth about the massacre. He didn't know what he would encounter once he finally met up with Sakura and Sarada, but just in case, he needed someone to know the truth about Itachi. Someone else needed to know that Itachi was no danger to his wife.

A/N: sorry for the late update! I figured Sasuke had it too easy so something had to happen to him, I needed to limit his somehow or else the story would be too dull. There is a reason Karin is treating him so differently, she loves the Sasuke her age, she doesn't know the older Sasuke, to her he is just another person, I figured once her initial shock wore off she would just be mainly sass towards him