Sooo, originally the second chapter was going to be longer and they met themselves in it but... It was 17 pages in word and I don't know about any of you but I hate reading super-mega long chapters... It gives me a headache. So let's say I split them up for my own selfishness, so I'm able to read my own work.

Here you are! The latest installment!

Timeless

by ferriswheel95

"Well it's because you're so reckless" a young Sakura lectured the blonde boy that was beaten up and exhausted, his arm slung over the shoulders of his pinkette team mate and his other over the shoulders of a young and bored looking Sasuke.

"Geez… You're so much trouble" The raven chimed in, smirking. Naruto grunted, hearing the arrogance in Sasuke's tone. He pushed himself from his team, his temper flared and his fists balled.

"Sasuke!" He cried, the declaration of the beginnings of another fight. Just as he was about to pounce, an arm shot across his torso to block him from attacking. He followed the arm until he locked gazes with very heated emerald eyes.

"If you act up any more, I'll finish you" She didn't shout but she didn't need to, her voice was so low it rasped and her raised fist was more of a threat than any screeching could ever be.

"Mmm… Team work hasn't been good lately…" A defeated Kakashi mused from behind his students, solemn at the lack of progress. Ever since they had returned from the land of waves mission, Sasuke and Naruto were getting along worse than ever. Naruto constantly kicked and screamed about how much of an arrogant bastard Sasuke was and was always ready to pounce into a full blown fist fight, not that Sakura or Kakashi let it that far yet.

"That's right! That's right!" Naruto raised his fist to the retreating back of the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, you're to blame for the poor team work! You're always looking for attention!" He professed in addition, Kakashi rolled his eyes and as did Sasuke.

"That's you, you idiot" the raven grunted, his steps not faltering once as he did so, then he continued.

"If you don't want to owe me big time –" this time he stopped and looked back over his shoulder, his dark eyes smouldering with purpose.

"You just have to become stronger than me" for a second Naruto could only gape, his eyes wide before they were reduced to a livid scowl. A thick silence befell the entire team as Sasuke and Naruto's stares interlocked, Sakura could only stand by because who was she kidding, if these two really did break out into a fight she definitely wasn't going to be able to pull them apart.

It seems like they're getting along worse than before... She thought, nervous from the heavy tension that was rising from the other two. Finally Sasuke's expression shifted slightly, his glare intensifying as he enveloped himself deeper in thought.

Shit… This is so frustrating! His mind snarled as he imagine, no remembered, the mask of Haku and just how strong Haku himself had been. After all, Sasuke couldn't defeat him – Yet Naruto…

There are plenty of shinobi out there that are stronger than I am! Always making me go on these kinds of lame missions… His teeth grit together tightly, becoming uncomfortable but even the hawk that flew and squawked above all three of them wasn't enough to gain their attention. Their Sensei however…

"Well then, perhaps we should disperse – I do need to submit my report about the mission after all." He turned to his team, only acknowledged by Sakura.

"Okay, I'm going home then" Sasuke sighed, free from the headache that was a staring contest with Naruto. He turned again, his sandals clapping against the stone of the path. If he was quick enough then maybe, just maybe he could… –

"Oh! Hey!"

No such luck.

"Sasuke-kun! Wait for me!" Sakura chimed as she hurried after her 'beloved'. Naruto deflated as he watched the receding backs of the two, his stomach dropped when she caught up to Sasuke but as usual, the blonde could only watch.

"Hey, uhm, how about… Why don't you and I… Why don't we work on improving our teamwork together!" The girl fidgeted and she didn't bother to hide her blush, hopefully it gave away her ulterior motives, hopefully Sasuke understood that she didn't want to simply work on their team work, she wanted to work on them. Though she didn't count on Sasuke's bad mood.

"You're just like Naruto" he said, calm and effortless as always. He wasn't concerned about Sakura's feelings, in fact he wasn't concerned about anyones. All the young Sasuke was concerned about was getting stronger and lately, that didn't seem like it was going to happen if he kept fooling around with these two.

Sakura however, was obviously concerned with other things.

Just like Naruto! Her inner-self cried, holding up the words as if they were a boulder that was ready to crush the actual Sakura.

"If you have time to spend on me, why don't you use it to practice nin-jutsu! To tell you frankly, your abilities are less than Naruto's!"

Less than Naruto's… Less than Naruto's… Sasuke's voice rang in her head, the stone getting heavier and heavier each time with the humiliation of Sasuke's words. As if nothing was spoken between the two, Sasuke turned again and headed off.

That's right… It's always that way for me during every mission, I'll never be able to really do anything at all!

"Sakura-chan! Forget Sasuke and let's practice together!" Naruto sounded from behind her. Sakura could only shake and grit her teeth, still mortified by Sasuke's words, it only made her want to hit Naruto. Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, no longer seeing a reason to stay.

"Huh?" Naruto turned, alarmed by his teacher's sudden dissapearence. He blinked a bit before he grinned.

Sensei disappeared… Was he being thoughtful? Naruto wondered, his mind still ever present with his suggestion of alone time with Sakura. Endless oppurtunities bounced in his head and a broke into a small smile of excitement before he was torn from his thoughts by a suspicious rustling behind him. He looked over his shoulder again and glared at the offensive 'camouflaged rock' that shuffled behind him. There were two dark holes in the front , clearly for eyes and the structure was square and bulky and by the sounds, it was made from cardboard.

"Pretending to be… A rock?" he muttered, thoroughly confused.

"Don't you dare pass out on me Naruto!" Sasuke jeered, feeling like he was practically dragging the blonde by the arm that was draped over his shoulder.

"I'm not going to pass out asshole! I'm trying to talk to Kurama!" Naruto snapped back, opening his in which he had closed for concentration.

"Kurama? You mean the Kyuubi?" Sasuke frowned, wondering when Naruto had given his pet a name. The blonde just nodded.

"His name is Kurama –" he corrected "and so far we've discussed the problems that could unveil themselves because of this little… Whatever you want to call this" he sighed.

"Problems, such as?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows as he saw the gates come into view.

"We can't give away that you left, we have to keep the future completely hidden…" Naruto frowned, as if his own words stung. Sure, he wanted to change a few things, like – Oh I don't know, his best friend leaving him. However, things had to remain the same, nothing would pan out right if it didn't.

"Can't we just erase their memories afterwards..?" Sasuke muttered which earnt him a neck snap from Naruto, blue eyes stared at him widely and stunned.

"You can do that?" but just as Sasuke opened his mouth to tell him that, no, he actually couldn't, he was distracted by a distant voice.

"Who goes there?" one of the Chunin guards on duty called calmly as the two finally approached the gates.

"This is going to be a long explanation…" Naruto muttered to his temporary partner under his breath.

"Wait… You're Konoha shinobi? I wasn't informed of any returning missions" the man spoke again, a hand on his hip while the other scratched his head in thought. Sasuke could only roll his eyes, it was no wonder the village was infiltrated and attacked so easily during the Chunin exams all those years ago. Sasuke had determined that this man was grossly incompetent, Naruto and himself were obviously foreign of some aspect and here the guard was standing dumbfounded and scratching his head.

"We are Konoha shinobi… But we're not returning from a mission and I'm not sure how to explain this to a total stranger without seeming either like an enemy or insane… You see –" Naruto's ramblings began. Sasuke glanced down to Naruto's side, wondering how the blonde was so calm as he practically bled out onto his hand when help was just beyond those close walls.

Onyx eyes ran along the patterns of the open gates, Sasuke watched a trio of young looking ninja approach the greeting stand that stood just inside the walls that were not too far away. They seemed to be going through some papers and showing their identification cards, Sasuke could tell they weren't ninja of Konoha. Which meant only one thing to him.

The Chunin exams were taking place.

"Iruka!" A screech broke Sasuke from his inspections and his head snapped up to the guard that was wide eyed and running towards the man behind the stand, Naruto looked distgustingly nervous and Sasuke could idly notice that his skin paled. Iruka, who proved to be the man sitting in the stand, shot up from his seat and hurried to his partner.

"What's going on!" Their old sensei frowned, standing beside his companion.

"They're claiming they're from the future! Something about a time travel jutsu! This one –" he pointed to Naruto, "says that this is Sasuke Uchiha and he is –"

"Naruto..?" Iruka interjected, looking dumbfounded. Naruto gave his old sensei a weak grin.

"Y-Yeah Iruka-sensei, it's me…" And suddenly Naruto was a lot heavier and Sasuke had to snake two arms around him for support.

"Y-You're hurt…" Iruka whispered, obviously still trying to wrap his head around it. Sasuke guessed that Naruto looked enough like an older version of himself to the man that he had to at least consider the possibility that they were indeed from the future.

"Quick, get him to the hospital!" Iruka's voice suddenly boomed and the other guard only gawked at Iruka.

"Y-You believe him!" he yelped, shocked. Iruka only nodded, his face stern and determined and his mind obviously made up.

"I had heard of time travelling jutsus… Just right now, they're incomplete. Also, if they were enemies then they would try a much more subtle approach of infiltration, especially at the time of the Chunin exams…"

I knew it. Sasuke smirked, mentally patting himself on the back for his remarkable analytical skills.

"Besides, I have a feeling I'd know Naruto anywhere" Iruka smiled and Naruto couldn't help but grin broadly. Finally the man nodded and stepped under Naruto's other arm so they were either side of the blonde and slowly they began walking to and past the gates.

Walking the streets of Konoha was weird for Sasuke, mostly because it hadn't changed a single bit. Of course under the circumstances it wouldn't have, it was the same old Konohagakure that he remembered, literally. Naruto's eyes seemed to light up, he was weak but he still managed to have that bright sparkle of adoration in his eyes as he surveyed the old streets of Konoha. Sasuke could only guess that nostalgic look on Naruto's face was because the streets of Konoha had aged and changed over the years, but then the raven remembered… The streets were destroyed during the other's fight with Pein.

"So guessing from the wound on your side, you didn't have an easy trip here" Iruka pried and Naruto only shook his head. I could tell he was already going to be a big mouth.

"No, I was fighting this guy… This really, really powerful guy and I guess he was made because he was beating me, so he summoned the time jutsu and I'm pretty sure he's targeting the young me, the me he can beat…" Iruka only nodded as if this was perfectly normal, as if a casual visit from his older student from the future was a fortnightly occurrence.

"Naruto…" Sasuke finally warned, worrying about the blonde divulging too much information about the future.

"Ma, I'm sure it's fine Sasuke, what exactly is going to change by Iruka-sensei knowing this?" He grinned again before continuing.

"I charged him with a Rasengan –"

"Rasengan..?" Iruka blinked and Naruto could only gape at his former teacher.

"Just how far back are we!" Naruto whined as he turned to Sasuke who only shrugged, looking bored.

"Whose Hokage!" Naruto suddenly stumbled and Sasuke could only recognise that spark of excitement.

"The Third, Naruto…" Iruka frowned and Sasuke held onto the blonde's arm to keep him contained.

"Naruto, we can't just waltz around here claiming we're from the future, not everyone is going to be as understanding as Iruka, like take… Him, for example" Sasuke gestured to the other man holding onto Naruto, who simply huffed and turned his nose up. Iruka could only nod in agreement.

"We'll get you fixed up and then we'll take you to see Hokage-sama…" this made Naruto frown.

"I have to protect my friends as soon as possible" Naruto argued and all four of them continued to walk again.

"Friends? Naruto, I thought it was only you who needed guarding" Sasuke growled, knowing that this was going to turn out to be a much bigger job then what was originally let on. He scoffed mentally at his ignorance.

Of course it was going to be a big job, I'm dealing with Naruto here!

"Yeah, I know. But then talking about how the future could be changed so easily and stuff… It just made me think, like… If I lost you or Sakura-chan really early on or something then that alters everything too! Maybe he won't just go after me!" The blonde puffed his cheeks and his eye brows knitted together when he gave the raven a small glare, as if daring him to argue his logic.

Sasuke didn't care to argue nor did he have the time, besides the idiot actually made sense for once. He was doing that a lot more often lately… It was unnerving him. A silence befell them as they walked, Naruto could sense that Iruka was itching to ask more questions but kept his lips sealed with the fear of rejection. The silence however was ruined by the squawk of a hawk that circled above. Iruka and the other man stopped, which in turn made Naruto and Sasuke do so as well.

"That's…" Naruto began and Iruka only nodded.

"A meeting, it'll be about the nominations for the Chunin exams" He explained and both Naruto and Sasuke nodded in return.

"Let's get you too that hospital quick, so I can explain the situation to them" and again a duo of agreeing nods. They walked again for the last time until they reached the hospital.

So I'm sorry that it ended off in an... Odd spot. But like I said, split the chapter. R&R!