Nothing much this time. Here's some plot. Nothing else to say really.

Wow, this is a first.


Onyx eyes surveyed the area. Time seemed to be frozen, with the debris from his and Naruto's previous attack being stuck in midair. Everywhere he looked seemed to be stuck in a single position, as if a person had taken a black and white picture of the area and they were stuck in it.

Sasuke turned to Naruto, who was now lounging against the guard rail near the side of the bridge. "What is this?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "That's right. You've just gotten here." Naruto swept an arm out, indicating the bridge that was now frozen in time. "Remember when I said that the gods would just reset everything? This is how they do it. They trap us in some kind of purgatory while they put the world back together around us. In a bit everything will slowly start to mend back to a certain point the gods believe was the least messed up by our meddling. Spots will be indicated for us to stand, and then bam! Action. Time is restarted."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as well. "That's an awful roundabout way of doing things."

"Maybe," Naruto mused. "But it works. Also it gives me a chance to talk to-"

Naruto was interrupted when a wreath of flames appeared above him. Fire crackling as it impossibly whirled in the air, the smell of brimstone became apparent as the orange flames contorted into a shape. Sasuke looked on impassively, Sharingan activated in case something dangerous appeared from within the miasma of flame and hate. Naruto looked as well.

Then he moved to the side.

"I'm not falling for this again," Naruto grumbled as he moved from directly underneath it.

The flames writhed and whistled, until a shape that could be described as vaguely Naruto was formed in it. It twisted and bent until more and more features could be seen, before stopping on a near perfect replica of the blonde Hokage, sans the orange jumpsuit. The apparition looked around, before noticing Naruto. Shifting slightly, it transfixed itself directly over the orange manchild and then dropped, the flames dying away to reveal a Kyuubi-like Naruto which was now on top of the real one.

Said perversion of nature laughed at Naruto's misfortune, before sparing a glance up. Red eyes meeting red eyes, Kurama simply laughed at the Uchiha's presence.

"I see you've been dragged in here too," Kurama stated, a cheeky smile on his face. "That makes a lot of sense. Everyone involved with the past seems to be able to exist in this… purgatory."

Sasuke tilted his head. "Why are you so small too? Can't you control your form?" Kyuubi shot a dark look at his container.

"I asked the same question."

"Why do you people assume I know the answer to these kinds of things?" Sasuke shook his head.

"Honestly, I don't know. You don't know the answer to simple math, let alone the theories of quantum and temporal physics in relation to chakra sustained entities." Naruto scowled.

"You threw in some unnecessary words in there on purpose."

"Maybe, but it still messed with you."

Naruto scowled, but didn't respond. Smirking, Sasuke acknowledged his victory for what it was. "So what were you saying before Kyuubi dropped in?"

"I was saying that being here gives me a chance to talk with him."

"Him?" Sasuke asked. "Do you mean Kyuubi? Don't you talk with him all the time?"

Kyuubi shook his head. Perched on top of Naruto's now prone body, the fox seemed rather comfortable using his host as a couch. He even started picking at his nails. "No. Not me. There's another person here with us. Usually he's here by now though."

"Another person? Who could that be?"

On cue a flash of light exploded from the air in the middle of the bridge. When the flash subsided, Neji emerged, confused and slightly disoriented. Dropping to the ground and landing on a knee, the Hyuuga looked around before settling on Naruto. He immediately formed realization.

"Oh, its just you again. What do you need this time Naru-" Neji started, but was momentarily distracted by the sight of another person in the time void. The pure white eyes of Neji's met the pure black ones of Sasuke and silence pervaded the landscape.

Sasuke was the first to break said silence. With a sneer, the man-turned-boy addressed the one in front of him. Three tomoe spun in each eye as he stared down the person across the bridge. "Hyuuga."

Veins bulged around Neji's eyes as he responded in kind to the open hostility. "Uchiha. I didn't expect you of all people to be here. Did Naruto drag you back here too?" Sasuke's eyes momentarily darted to Naruto, who was rather enjoying the scene. Focusing with a deadly intent, Naruto decidedly stopped enjoying it as much. After a few seconds of a potent glare, the Uchiha turned his attention back to Neji, who just stared him down, his face perfectly impassive.

"I was told that the idiot had no idea how I ended up in this situation. You're saying you were brought here?"

"I was," Neji responded. A smirk appeared on his face. "You appear disgruntled Uchiha. Were you upset by this turn of development? I wasn't."

Sasuke, who was scowling slightly at the thought of Naruto's possible deception, fixed his face. It was once again a picture of complete disinterest. "I admit I was annoyed, but nothing to disrupt me in any way. As is well known, the Uchiha is the foremost clan in Konoha. Not that you would know that. You didn't survive to see its future."

Neji's brow furrowed slightly, but he otherwise didn't react. "That is true, Uchiha. It appears your clan has learned how not to lie. I did indeed die, but at least I died ensuring the future of said village." Around here Neji gestured towards Naruto. "More than you've done at the time. Last I recalled you were unmistakably absent during a large amount of Konoha's history."

Sasuke's jaw clenched. "I was going through some stuff to ease my soul. I was attempting to avenge my family. My closely knit and loving family. Know anything about that Hyuuga?"

"Why yes," Neji remarked. A sneer was evident in his eyes, but nowhere else on his face, which was like a stone slab. "I had a loving cousin and a doting uncle, beginnings notwithstanding. Frankly, I'm surprised you know what a loving family was like. Weren't your beginnings… ah… a little rough? A whole night of rough?"

Naruto and Kyuubi both winced at that. Sasuke almost did, but managed to keep his face featureless.

"Are they… are they having an Impassive-Off?"

"Seems like it. This is getting a bit much though. Was there any hatred between the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans? I don't remember any."

"I can imagine no other reason for such venom."

"Well, whatever the reason, this is getting good. No reason to stop."

"My clan may have been… reduced… to a fraction of its glory, but it is now on its way back to its old stature," Sasuke grunted. "How is yours doing? Last I checked your heiress mated with the class idiot."

"Except that," Naruto grunted, getting ready to stand up. He was held down by Kurama.

"Shush, boy. Its getting good!"

"Said class idiot is your Hokage now. At least I've never had to answer to him."

"At least I've never lost to him."

"You did that one time!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke shushed him.

"That was an honorable tie!" Neji smirked, his eyebrow raised.

"Getting heckled, Uchiha 'genius'?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. "Fine, Hyuuga. You win this round, but I don't suppose I'd expect anything less from a clan of statues."

"And I wouldn't expect anything more from a clan of emotional wrecks."

"That's it, wanna go ghost eyes?"

"Anytime, pinwheel eyes!"

Neji's comment struck extra hard when Sasuke matured his Sharingan to Mangekyo.

"Hey, Kurama? Let me get in on this. I have some grievances I need to air out as well." Kyuubi dutifully moved. Getting up and stretching, Naruto flared his chakra once or twice before advancing to where the other two boys were heading. On his way there, Nature Chakra manifested itself around Naruto's eyes, turning his pupils into a sideways bar. "Heck yeah, let's mess things up!"

The three boys made their way towards the center. A Rasengan – a twirling, twisting sphere of pure chakra – whirled in Naruto's hand as he approached a meeting point arbitrarily decided in a central point between all three. The sphere spun and twisted, whirring with an obvious, audible whirr. After a while, wind generated from chakra alone begun to spin around it as well, finishing one of Naruto's more dangerous techniques.

"Wind Style: Rasengan!"

Sasuke smirked. Seeing Naruto's technique flare to life, the Uchiha decided to respond in kind. Bearing his left hand to the side, Sasuke focused his chakra to it, before allowing it to permeate and coalesce. Eventually lightning erupted from his clawed hand, crackling and chirping as it remained barely restrained in the boy's clutch. Focusing, the Chidori technique eventually condensed and became more dense. The chakra condensed more and more until the electricity practically screamed to be released, and only then did Sasuke allow the armor of his Susanoo to cover his arm. Now clad in purple chakra, the skeletal hand transferred the power of the Chidori to the Susanoo, effectively allowing the chakra to be released and form an arrowhead.

"I hope you enjoy this; Indra Arrow!"

Naruto smirked. "I see you're becoming serious. Don't you think that's too powerful for a little punch out?"

"For you?" Sasuke asked, his smirk widening. "No."

"Well said," Naruto responded, before looking at his own technique. "Well, I guess I have to respond. Sand Style!"

Sand, from seemingly no where, coalesced from the air and combined with the Wind Natured Rasengan easily due to their shared nature. Halfway to formation however, the sand collapsed and fell away from the Rasengan, returning the ability to its pure Wind form.

"Wh-what?" Naruto asked.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked. Naruto was unable to answer.

"I dunno. Let me try again."

Trying again, Naruto attempted to draw on a different Tailed Beast's elemental chakra. Deciding on Son Goku's, Naruto allowed Lava to feed into his Rasengan. The lava flowed easily at first, but then crumbled away once more, leaving only the wind styled attack.

"Brat, I can't sense much of the others in you anymore." Kurama commented from the sidelines. Sasuke heard such.

"What? But I thought you retained your Tailed Beast Chakra?"

"I did!" Naruto yelled, looking at his Rasengan. It spun true and fast; even in this form it was a notable source of destruction. Regardless, Naruto stared at it as if it held the answers for his question. "I even used some for that kunai I threw!"

XxX

Speaking of such a kunai, the blade pierced through air shining in a multitude of colors. Arcing through the air in a beautiful path of destruction, the blade – on its way around the world – noticed that everything around it was seemingly stuck in place. Not liking this one bit, the blade changed direction, impossibly again, and set out to find the source of such a blight on its existence.

XxX

"That might be the problem, brat," Kyuubi stated while watching from the sideline. "Think about it. You shouldn't have the connection to them that you did in the past… Er, future. Whatever. The connection isn't there anymore. What you had then is gone now. What you put into that kunai was the last of what you had left over in you. Your bijuu chakra is gone now." At this, Naruto's brow furrowed. Peering into his wind covered Rasengan, the blonde then raised his hand into the air, and the wind chakra forming a shuriken around the construct widened until its hum turned almost deafening.

"If that's the case, then give me a couple hands Kurama!"

"I'm only doing this because I'd rather see the Uchiha suffer."

"You know you love me."

Orange chakra then sprout from the blonde's arm, forming three clawed hands that swiftly went to work on the technique. Two more shuriken started spinning around the Rasengan, joining the horizontal one there before. Spinning diagonally from the original and perpendicular to each other, the humming increased twofold.

"Sage Bijuu Style: Omni-Rasenshuriken!" Naruto yelled with a grin on his face. Seeing the monster technique for what it was, Sasuke couldn't help but grin as well.

"You've been busy, dead last. Can it survive my Arrow though?"

"Survive? This baby can cut through everything!" Naruto yelled. "Not to mention it has a type advantage!"

"Well my arrow can pierce through anything! Are you ready to see which one would win?" Naruto nodded ecstatically.

"This shuriken has been known to cut through atoms. Good luck, bastard."

Then both boys turned to the third in the group. Hyuuga Neji stood there, gaping at the sheer power emanating from both boys' techniques. To be fair, Neji supposed that the man who would go on to become Hokage would be suitably powerful. Even back during the war, Naruto wielded the Kyuubi's power to an unimaginable degree, proving himself to be one of the strongest shinobi of the time even back then.

And, to cite another point, the man who purportedly fought such a character to a standstill would also be suitably strong.

This however… this was insane.

Apparently both boys had grown in power exponentially since Neji's last real encounter with them, as they now toted weapons and abilities that eclipsed even the last ones he remembered. The crackling of Sasuke's technique – "Indra's Arrow" he called it – and the humming of Naruto's Omni-Rasenshuriken together was simply deafening, and just being in the vicinity of the two put an enormous pressure of chakra on the young teen. Even now, before the two gargantuan techniques even met each other, could the residual aura of pure power be seen battling for dominance. Black electricity, for it seemed to be the Uchiha's theme color, sparked and struck at the ground and air in various directions, only to be cut by the erroneous blades of wind that leaked off of Naruto's technique. The very action of cutting said bolt of lightning however was enough to dispel the wind, leaving the two techniques at an impasse.

Frankly, Neji wasn't sure he wanted to butt heads with either boy anymore.

Sasuke glared at the Uchiha, before sneering. "What's the matter Hyuuga? Are you getting cold feet?"

"Of course not, Uchiha," Neji countered, though his voice was unsure. "I'm just thinking of a way to counteract this… technique of yours. The Hyuuga have many abilities in our arsenal. I'm just thinking of which one to use."

"Is that so?" Sasuke responded. His voice had a condescending, knowing tone to it, as if he knew exactly that Neji couldn't respond in kind. His sneer widening, he chose to rub salt in the wound. "Naruto and I have been using techniques like these for years. In our last serious clash, we destroyed the Valley of the End and completely restructured the landscape. Do you have anything that can match that?"

Neji swallowed hard. Restructured the landscape? That was First Hokage levels of power! This was the state of the two boys when they were weakened? What were they like at full power?

"Perhaps," Neji lied through his teeth.

"Really? That's so cool, Neji! It took Sasuke and I several years to come up with this kind of power and control. You really were a genius, Neji!" Naruto looked at Neji with sparkling eyes.

Put off by Naruto's enthusiasm, Neji felt a pit of anxiety in his stomach.

"Why yes, truly the Hyuuga are a clan of geniuses," Sasuke said, dragging out the last word. Sarcasm dripped off his every word. Naruto turned to glare at him.

"Not this again, Sasuke! We just ended the… whatever it was… that you two were doing! Where is this all even coming from? You were never like this towards Hinata, or Bolt or Himawari! They're part Hyuuga too. Himawari even has the Byakugan!"

Neji's eyes darted back to Naruto. His glare towards Sasuke was turned into a look of incredulity at the young Hokage. Naruto and Hinata's – daughter, was it? – had inherited the Byakugan? Neji wasn't a bloodline freak like the likes of maybe Danzo or Orochimaru, but even he was intrigued at the potential behind the potent chakra of an Uzumaki combined with the bloodline limit of a Hyuuga.

"They don't count, Idiot," Sasuke responded, oblivious to Neji's shocked expression. "The children also have half of you in them. My animosity towards the Hyuuga would be far outclassed by my indifference towards you. Besides, its impossible to hate Hinata of all people. She's just too much of a..."

"Perfect, beautiful angel?" Naruto responded for him.

"… In not quite so many words, yes. Quite"

"Even so," Naruto continued without missing a beat, "Whatever transgression you two have against each other can be put on hold. I won't have it tainting the purity of what we have before us."

"We're about to punch each other with definite, lethal techniques with the ability to kill everything bar the strongest of bijuus."

"That's me." Kyuubi piped up from the sideline.

"Quite," Sasuke responded. "Speaking of which, where is your bijuu busting technique, Hyuuga?"

Neji, who had been absorbed in the dialogue switch, immediately started sweating upon his repositioning in the spotlight. Engaged in the conversation, Neji completely forgot about the deadly fisticuffs he was being commissioned to join.

"Give me a second," Neji mumbled. Going over his techniques in his head, Neji realized that while his Gentle Fist technique was unrivaled, bar none, it was more of a… normal shinobi's fighting style. Not the kind of thing that would be suitable to the all-out warhead capabilities of the two before him.

It was like bringing a gun to an atomic bomb fight.

Still, the Hyuuga boy had to come up with a technique that would seem even remotely on the same level as the dense, destructive weapons before him. Looking over his known abilities, Neji was forced to admit he had no such technique. His Kaiten, while strong, was a stationary move. If he were as unfathomablely powerful as the two before him, he might have supposed it would stand a chance. He wasn't, however, and he doubted he could defend against an arrow that could pierce anything and a shuriken that sliced atoms.

So that left his Eight Trigrams, Sixty Four Palms. Somehow, he doubted that he would survive long after attempting to poke either of those monstrosities, especially after they clashed. Seeing no other option in sight, Neji began to panic, when a thought came to mind.

Positioning his arms to his side, bending at the elbow in a perfect ninety degree angle, Neji braced himself before channeling chakra to his hands. The chakra pooled and churned, roiling around inside before exploding outward. Focusing on molding the errant power, Neji focused as hard as he could to direct the chakra into behaving how he wanted it to. It took some getting used to, but eventually Neji managed to cause the chakra to form two intricate tiger heads around his hands.

"Hey, isn't that..."

"That's Hinata's technique!" Naruto screamed, realization dawning in his eyes. "So you stole the Lion Step from her?"

"S-stole?" Neji stammered. "No! If anything, this is my technique as much as it is hers! True, she came up with the idea, but I walked her through its execution and theory. Its only natural that I would know it after helping her with it after so long!" Neji then looked down at his own hands, positioned perfectly and rigidly at his side. Though his form was perfect, and Neji was confident in his control as a Hyuuga, Hinata was simply better than him at certain things. Those certain things included chakra control, and as such his Tigers fluctuated every time Neji lost a bit of focus. "I always focused on power over finesse, though. So while Hinata perfected the technique and made a perfect replica out of it, I drew something else."

And it was here that Neji's stance brought him closer to the ground in his stance. Preparing himself, Neji brought out a low, soft yell as he funneled more and more chakra into the Twin Lions. Their features blurred, expanding outwards with more and more energy until the visage of their original form was more of a suggestion than anything. This being the case, the Lions' manes now covered most of Neji's arms, and the heads themselves were now bulbous, swirling behemoths twice the size of what they were before.

"I have to thank you, Naruto. This technique was based partly on your technique. After seeing it, I wanted to have a powerful ability just like it, in case I ever needed a trump card. It can't demolish things like normal Rasengan, but used on anything chakra based will completely decimate whatever it hits." Neji then smiled at Sasuke. "Quite like your attacks."

"Hold up, aren't you underestimating the gravity of the situation? True, your attack is impressive, but aren't you forgetting something? That little trick will only work if what you're canceling isn't so massively stronger than what its fighting. Your attack isn't even near what Naruto and I have."

"You seem scared," Neji stated simply.

"Yeah. Scared, Sasuke?" Naruto parroted. Sasuke gained an enlarged vein on his forehead.

"You know what? I don't care anymore. Time to see if we can die here." And like that, Sasuke took off. Seeing that things were starting, Naruto quickly followed suit. Neji stood there, looking at his unsure technique as it flickered between being recognizable and not. Steeling himself, the Hyuuga took off after the two, his attack paling in comparison to the much larger things before him. After only a few seconds he found himself staring down the two abilities that, even now, clashed with titanic pressure. Realizing his mistake for what it was, Neji could feel his mortality dawning on him. Not one to back down from a decision, no matter how terrible, Neji simply closed his eyes and pushed his modified Twin Lion Step technique forward.

Only to be immediately blown back.

"Ugh, ow!" Neji yelled as he tumbled across the time frozen bridge. Eventually his momentum died and he was able to sit upright. Looking around, the boy was able to make his bearings. Apparently he wasn't the only one to be catapulted, as Naruto and Sasuke – techniques canceled and dissipated – lay in similar heaps in directions equally far away from the impact site. Floating midair at said site, the Sage of Six Paths resided. Grimacing at Naruto especially, the venerated man spoke.

"It seems I can't even leave you alone in the past and hope that you won't get in trouble."

Naruto chuckled while still prone on the ground. Sasuke didn't have as good a nature.

"Hey, Gramps."

"Why does no one show the literal progenitor of chakra and ninja society any respect?" Neji asked. He was collectively ignored.

"Do you have any idea why I'm in the past? Naruto told me it had something to do with you and some other gods or whatever. I think its HIS fault. Which one of us is right?"

The sage, after sparing Naruto a second, final glare, turned to his other descendent with a sigh.

"In a way, both of you are."

"Pardon?" Kyuubi asked, his piqued curiosity dragging him out of his languidness. "How is that so?"

The Sage of Six Paths rubbed his temple. This would be a long conversation and, considering its participants, likely aggravating.

"Do you remember when you first met your teacher the second time around?" the Sage asked. Naruto nodded his head.

"Of course, gramps. It went well."

"If you could call that 'well'," Kyuubi muttered. The Sage caught on to it.

"I'll have to agree with Kurama's sarcasm on this. Whatever happened during the greeting period of Team Seven the second time around was anything but 'well'. Because of some… circumstance… that the gods are refusing to admit, Sasuke was irreparably scarred. He started changing, going down a path that he wasn't meant to, at least this early." The Sage then turned to Sasuke, who felt suddenly uncomfortable under the gaze. "Of course, this is no problem. Like every other thing you've tried to change, the gods would simply change things back and restart the timeline."

"I fail to see the connection. How did I end up back here?"

"Ah, yes," the Sage muttered. "Unfortunately, because of that… occurrence… every time we tried to reverse the timeline to fix Sasuke, he would inevitably be "snagged" on it, anchoring himself to where he was and remaining unchangeable. Because of this, the Sasuke of the past became glitched, and we were forced to make him catatonic to stop any forced changes. We already had one troublemaker going around making things difficult. We didn't need another."

At these last words every available pair of eyes turned to Naruto. He chuckled nervously.

Sasuke continued the conversation. "Somehow, I can't shake the feeling that you were the one who messed up the past me. You're lucky you didn't change me forever."

"What do you mean?" Neji asked.

"Naruto did something to change me, or at least the past me, Hyuuga. I still feel fine, so whatever it is that he did during the first meeting didn't change me too much before I was brought back, so I can overlook it. If it had however, I'd be furious."

"What the hell are you talking ab-" Naruto started, before realization dawned. "That's right. We never told you either. This is an alternate dimension. What we do here doesn't affect our timeline." Sasuke quirked an eyebrow.

"It doesn't?"

"No. It doesn't," Naruto responded.

"So Sakura and Sarada are..."

"They're frozen in time in our original world, just like you were before you were brought back, for whatever reason."

"Wait, you named your daughter Salad?"

"Oh? What did you name your daughter, Hyuuga?"

There was silence.

"I apologize," Sasuke mumbled. Neji, albeit in a slightly raspy voice, responded.

"Its fine."

"Indeed," Hagoromo responded from his place floating. He had not moved, and instead was patiently waiting for the sidetracked conversation to return to its place. He was starting to run out of patience. "Are you guys done?"

The Sage was met with nods. Sighing, he continued.

"I'm already starting to doubt the gods' decision in this whole matter. I know they act completely on a whim, but you lot tend to get distracted far too easily for this plan to go anywhere near to how its supposed to.

"Anyway, our solution to the Sasuke plan was only temporary. It was better than letting his altered, irreversible alternative run around, but a catatonic Sasuke itself was a change to the timeline. Things were being altered because of the boy's change in demeanor, and there was no way to fix it without referring back to its problem, which in itself couldn't be fixed. After a while, the changes were spiraling out of control, and the decision to bring the original back became a much more viable option." Hagoromo turned to Sasuke. "Having you in the past to act it out, no matter how reluctantly, was deemed more satisfactory than not."

Sasuke didn't like the sound of that. This being the case, he accepted it in stride. A burning question came to the front of his mind, however.

"Wait, then in all of that, what exactly did Naruto contribute to make me come back?"

Hagoromo gained a creepy smile on his face.

"For that, you should ask Naruto. Either way, congratulations. Welcome to your new hell."

And like that, the Sage was gone.

Put off by the Sage's parting words, Sasuke turned to his best friend and rival with a confused expression on his face. Seeing as Sasuke, even in the past, barely emoted beyond annoyance, this was a difficult thing to perceive. Having known the man for so long, however, Naruto was easily able to make out the expression.

"Hmm?" Naruto gestured. Sasuke shook his head.

"You should already know the question I want to ask. You've hung around Shikamaru enough. At least some of his brains should have rubbed off on you."

Neji, who was now forgotten on the sidelines, momentarily pondered on what happened to Shikamaru. He would have to ask about him later.

"Hmm," Naruto pondered. He was sitting on the ground, legs crossed, as he held a hand to his chin and thought. "You probably want to know what happened during the first Team Seven meeting that may have affected you to know what part I had in bringing you back?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the elaborate explanation. "That would be correct, dead last."

"Well, the answer to that question would be that I don't know."

"What do you mean, 'you don't know?'" Sasuke asked. He was incredulous.

"I mean that I have no idea! As far as I know, everything went the same as it did last time! Sakura talked about how much she was in love with you..."

Sasuke shuddered at the thought of his wife's stalking habits. Her old stalking habits…

.

.

.

Dear gods he hoped it was her old stalking habits. Thinking over their relationship however, Sasuke remembered the fact that his wife had elected to go on a top secret, definitely lethal mission just in order to spend some time with him. Nothing out of the ordinary, especially considering the high class and level of ninja that both spouses turned out to be.

No, what was out of the ordinary was that the woman was pretty obviously terminally pregnant with his daughter at the time. So much so that Sarada was then born on that very same mission.

Taking a second, Sasuke shuddered once more at the thought of what exactly the kind of woman he decided to marry.

Of course, Naruto caught none of this and continued his explanation, "Then you started complaining and going yadda blah blah blah about being a big wuss."

"I'll have you know that I was preoccupied with the extremely important task of avenging my clan. All of that 'complaining' was necessary when I had to kill someone as competent as..." Sasuke petered off. Realizing something, the dusk eyed boy fell to the ground, his legs giving way under the gravity of his revelation.

"Naruto, Itachi is..."

"Yeah, he's alive. Whatever. Its my part of the story now so listen up," Naruto interrupted, completely uncaring of his best friend's emotional state.

"I will kill you one day," Sasuke muttered while standing up.

"Yes yes, I love you too. So anyway, after you were done bitching about killing your brother or whatever, I went. I introduced myself..."

"Which you now have ninja introduction cards for," Kyuubi snickered.

"Oh, you made them back in the past too? I just used them to explain Naruto whenever I couldn't be bothered. Glad to see they're being put to use now as well."

"… and gave a little speech. You went all 'log' on us afterwards, and now here we are. Honestly you probably showed more emotion as a vegetable than you did normally."

"Also, he did a dumbed down version of the Talk no Jutsu."

"Oh, yeah. And that too!"

Sasuke froze.

"You… did… what?" Sasuke asked slowly, fear creeping into his voice. "Why the hell would you use Talk no Jutsu in our first meeting? Didn't Kakashi ban that?"

"He didn't ban it in this timeline!" Naruto screamed in protest.

"It doesn't matter! You know how dangerous it is! No wonder the gods couldn't reverse the damage! You can't reverse that forbidden abomination!"

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know that my technique could alter reality affecting abilities of gods?"

"You weren't..." Sasuke admitted, "But that hardly matters. You shouldn't be using it regardless! There is no reason or excuse you could possibly make that could justify using that!"

"You know that I don't do it on purpose! It just kinda-"

"Yeah, I'm signing off from this conversation."

And just like that Hyuuga Neji disappeared in a flash of light.

Naruto and Sasuke had broken into a fist fight. A brawl more than anything, the two fought well until the time stop ended.