Everyone, this is the seventh chapter, betaed by Reppad98 and ready for you all :D I hope you'll like it, as much as I'm excited to share it with you :)

Thanks again for all support! The reviews to chapter 6 all made my day, and I'm so happy my writing could create that warm feeling of friendship and family :)

In this chapter and forward, I might refer to 'Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie'.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 7 - Confrontation

Sasuke

He had to contemplate this absurd twist of roles, a scenario in which he approached her, when he finally found her. She didn't take any notice of him, too mesmerized by the gleaming memorial stone, or perhaps she deemed him unworthy of recognition. He was sure she could see carved names where specs of light refracted in the stone; an unbroken surface. He sat down beside her regardless.

"So..." His voice sounded awkward and hollow, and the next words had a hard time leaving him. It sounded silly even in his mind, and to say it out loud was embarrassing on a whole new level. Still it had to be done, and so the words were forced past his lips. "You're from the future."

She turned towards him agonizingly slowly, with a small, indulgent smile playing across her lips and reflected in knowing eyes. "From my perspective, I would say I'm from the present, and stuck in my past."

"I didn't come to play some silly word game. It's all the same." He narrowed his eyes at her, annoyed by her patronizing and condescending tone. He was trying, really hard, to keep this absurd conversation at a rational and serious level. Not that he'd ever had a normal discussion with her, but as two people understanding each other - at least he thought so - his expectations this time had been a bit higher.

"Yeah, it is. But the thing is, I strongly believe I'm not from your future. I believe this is another parallel world." Her smile was all too bright, and he got the feeling it was somewhat fake. Considering the subject and earlier experiences with the girl, that was probably correct.

"What makes you think that, and also, another? Explain."

"My, my, so demanding, Sasuke. That's just like you, though." He closed his eyes to her mocking face, and breathed deeply, trying to expel the annoyance with the air. He was somewhat successful. She continued to talk in a merry tone, as if nothing had happened. Everything screamed false, and he wondered how she would look if her actual feelings were allowed to shine through.

"I don't know how it happened, or if there even was a reason behind it. Might have been completely random. One moment, I was on the battlefield as the Jūbi was awakened and the Infinite Tsukuyomi was about to activate. Then I was here, in this body, introducing myself. There were several possible scenarios, but I think the parallel world-theory is the only plausible left. This happened to me once before, actually. But that time I had Naruto with me, so we had each other. That world was at the same point in time as our own, but all the people were like polar opposites of what we were used to. Naruto's parents were still alive, because my parents were the long dead village heroes in their place. There was never a massacre, and so Sasuke was still in the village, although he was a flirt in every true sense of the word-" she sniffed indignantly "- and Itachi, together with the rest of Akatsuki, actually helped us through a crisis. After we helped those people, Naruto and I returned to our world. Now we are pretty sure the jutsu that sent us there was some kind of test run on the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Since I might have been exposed in some way to the real deal, that's the most likely explanation, I believe, for why I'm here."

"There is truly a world where the massacre never happened?" Of all the confusing and jumbled stuff she told, that single fact struck like lightning. He had to know. Sakura's eyes, which had grown distant, snapped back to reality. She seemed startled, as if reliving her tale had made her forget who she told it to.

"It's true." This time, her smile was warm and sincere.

"But in your world..."

"It happened. From what I've seen, everything here is pretty much the same. Except the timeframe, obviously. You're all still cute, innocent genin." It was strange, getting a glimpse of how she viewed them, as children playing the game of adults, apparently.

"How old does that make you?"

"Seventeen, before I arrived here." Possibly five years worth of knowledge. The implications were mind blowing. He needed her to tell him. Sure she had already told him plenty, but the fact that he couldn't recall her words from back then were killing him. Memories from that incident were all hazy, a mess of angry green eyes and pain as wounds were closing. It was more a feeling of her message, than actual words.

"In your time - world - did I get my revenge? Did I kill him?" She would surely tell him. He needed to know. He had to know what it would take, what he should do, it was the single most important fact he could get from her.

"Sasuke killed his brother." Relief wrapped itself like a blanket around his heart. Her face was stony and her voice emotionless. He felt a smirk lift his lips. He would surpass his brother. It had been done. He would become strong enough, and revenge for his family was thus no longer a faraway fantasy. It was his true ambition, and it was reality.

Pain shot through his head, and exploded inside him. Sakura stood towering over him, panting, hand shaking with rediscovered restrain and eyes blazing. "That's all there is for you, isn't it? Revenge is everything. You're so stuck in the past, you're denying yourself life in the present. You are blind, Uchiha Sasuke, because you can't see what is truly important. Do you really believe your parents would have liked seeing you like this? I think they would have cried, seeing what Sasuke of my world became. Your anger and hatred leads you on this path, but do you truly believe everything will be all right after you get your revenge? You'll destroy your future, trying to avenge the past."

He looked to the distance, the horizon where his future lay. Revenge, and a world void of his brother. It was necessary, of utmost importance, but also inevitable like the sun rising and falling in the sky. But he needed her, and what she could tell him. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"The hell I don't!" A tree met an unfortunate end, and he was grateful she didn't aim at him this time. She seemed too livid to hold back, and once again he got a glimpse of how strong this girl was. Even though she said these things, she would surely help him. She might just be his biggest asset.

"I will only have a future if that man dies." Surely she could see that. She also cared, he was pretty sure of that, so maybe she still desired that future with him. She would agree with him – Itachi had to die, and after that the possibilities were endless. "How did that other me do it?" Sakura seemed to calm down somewhat. Maybe he could-

"You were afraid. You could have become strong here. You left because of us." She was gone, all of a sudden, lost in memories as her eyes grew distant. "You were afraid of attachment. It makes sense. Before you – he – left, we were all gravely injured or endangered at some point, and could have easily died if anything had gone wrong. It's easier to not have bonds and connections than losing a loved one again, huh? So you left, severing all ties, deciding not to care again. Naruto is the exact opposite. He also lost his parents, and was alone. That's why every precious person is so important to him, to the point that he would gladly risk his life to save them. He clings to his precious people with his entire being. You avoid caring with the same ferocity."

"I'm not like that." He really didn't fit her description.

She looked, really looked at him again. "My Sasuke was exactly like that. Rather, that's what he became." He thought about her words, of bonds and people precious to him. Those had been taken away long ago. He looked at the girl standing in front of him, deceivingly frail-looking, a mystery and an enigma. Blonde hair and a boisterous voice fit right into the picture, along with a lazy eye gazing over the cover of an orange book. His team, mismatched and strange.

They'd been put to the test, in Wave. Her words, we could have easily died, rang through his head, chiming like a chant. Her words brought horrid illusions of their battered and bloody forms, if they were never to move again, laugh, banter and be there; alive – unexpectedly heavy pain clamped around his chest. She was right, after all. These people already meant a great deal to him. They could chase away the cursed loneliness, give life another meaning, and fill that void that was family. But...

"I still need to know how to kill Itachi."

She sighed, a dejected look on her face. "I will tell you everything I know. From the beginning. I promise you that everything I say will be the truth, as it happened in my world. I can't be sure it's the same here – there are certain things the Sandaime didn't tell me – but still I want you to listen... and accept my help afterwards. Justice, not revenge."

He nodded his consent - those were two sides of the same coin, after all – signaling that he was listening. He would finally hear her story. She drew a deep breath, and visibly steeled herself. She began her tale.

Kakashi

He felt pain, new and old, claw through his chest. Hidden in the leaves, he watched the pair below him, and he glanced away as a tear escaped his eye. He had no right to intrude on this.

Kakashi left unnoticed.

Deep, raw sounds of grief from the boy, clinging to the girl embracing him, resounded in the early night.