OKAY.. MAAAJOR SPOILERS for chapter 480, or thereabouts. Okay, maybe not so major, but...

CHAPTER THREE

In which we get a bit melodramatic in the mind of Sasuke

It was weird, being stuck in the dark and surrounded by people and yet feeling so alone. Sasuke leaned back and closed his eyes; there was no difference if he was to open them, anyway.

He was used to being alone in a crowd; he'd grown up that way, distancing himself from everyone else. But ever since he'd started to really appreciate being on a team with Sakura and Naruto…and then there was Suigetsu and Karin and Juugo…

Huh. Speaking of which…where were they? Last he'd seen Karin, he'd put a lightning bolt through her chest. And Juugo and Suigetsu were…well, he hadn't a clue.

So much for teamwork, but Sasuke was a lone wolf. He always seemed to end up that way.

And now he was stuck in Madara's void, all because of a space-time rift that some punk had caused two years ago.

Jeez, why did he have to be such an emo? Curse you, Itachi.

Shikamaru's voice came suddenly out of the gloom. "Sasuke, you have any idea where Madara is now?"

"No," Sasuke muttered, still grouchy about his gloomy personality. "Why?"

"Because I'd like to punch him into next week!" Naruto exclaimed, smacking his fist into his palm.

Shikamaru stamped on Naruto's foot. "Because he should explain what the hell this is all about."

"I might as well lessen the suspense, then."

"WHO'S THAT?"

"Shut up, Kiba. That was right in my ear."

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Shikamaru. But…WHO IS THAT?"

Sasuke sighed. "Madara likes to make sudden appearances. Try not to be too disturbed, Kiba."

Madara chuckled off to Sasuke's right. "How astute of you."

Naruto could be heard jumping to his feet. "HEY! I'm gonna KILL you, you JERK!"

"Jeez, you guys. Why is it I'm always stuck between the two loudest shinobi in the world?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Now you know how I felt back in Team Seven."

"Should I go?" Madara's voice sounded, to Sasuke, quite amused.

"No! Wait. I wanna know why the hell we're in here. And why are there dead people?"

"I'm NOT dead!"

"Be quiet, Tsuchi! Jeez, if I can't have a civil conversation with this guy I will personally seal all of your mouths shut FOR EVER."

"I think I'll go for a walk," Tsuchi muttered snidely, her clothes rustling as she got to her feet.

Sasuke could hear Madara taking a seat in the blackness. "Your name is Shikamaru?"

"That's not the point. Why are we here?"

"Well, when two people love each other very much…"

"That's NOT what I meant!"

Madara's laugh sounded like metal on a cheese grater. For such an old, insane geezer, sometimes he had the mind of a six-year-old. Sasuke grimaced. Bipolar jerk.

"Okay, okay. Fine. Why are we here? Well, you've gotten the gist of it. That kid opened a rift in space-time and sucked out all of the life in one point in the future to contain that mine."

"That's…bad?" Kiba sounded uncharacteristically subdued.

"Yeah, it's bad. It means that suddenly our world vanished because of the Gelel, and somehow a bunch of people were brought back to life from the force of the explosion. That made performing my jutsu especially hard, but I did it in the end. Of course."

Sasuke was now intrigued. "Why did you suck us into this dimension, then?"

Madara laughed. "Sasuke, Sasuke. I'm not evil. I'm here to promote world peace. I can't do that if there's no world to promote peace in, now can I?"

"So you…saved us?" Shino's voice, though usually rather monotone, was skeptical. Sasuke couldn't blame him if he tried.

"No, you all are just here to become Orochimaru's experiments."

"AAAAAH! RUN AWAY!"

"Nauto! Sit down, you're stepping on my hand!"

"I DON'T WANNA END UP LIKE SASUKEEEEEE!"

Sasuke buried his face in his hands. "This is why I left."

Madara cackled. "I'm joking. I'm joking. Look, just because I'm the so-called evil guy doesn't mean I can't have good intentions."

"Madara, why exactly are you trying to explain this to a bunch of kids?"

This time, even Sasuke jumped. The voice was strikingly familiar…

"…And more importantly, would you mind turning on the lights?"

"...WHAT! Kabuto! You traitor BASTARD!"

Sasuke gave a start. For once, Naruto seemed to be right. Kabuto. Huh. Long time no see.

Heyyy. More bad guys make an appearance!

So right now it seems like all this fic is going to be is people sitting in the dark and talking. That's NOT what it is. This is just a very, very VERY long prologue.

It should be ending around the next chapter, I promise! DATTEBAYO!

~ins

BTW, all you guys who picked up on the Monty Python reference...TWO COOKIES FOR YOU! XD