"How did Iwa even get this? They're not supposed to be smart enough for this shit!" Minato paced the room frantically. He clutched his pounding head, worried.
Sasuke inhaled a deep breath, successfully calming himself down.
"Minato," he called commandingly, "What is this thing? Explain, with specific detail."
Normally, Minato wouldn't have appreciated his commanding tone, but he was too stunned to argue with Sasuke. He tried to calm down, and began recalling facts about seals.
"A space-time seal," he repeated, scanning the seal on the floor, "I think it cuts through reality, or dimensions. I don't know how it works. I...need to study it," Minato looked at the seal, looking wounded, as if it physically hurt him.
"Fucking hell," Sasuke facepalmed. That was another one of his questions answered: how he was here. He still needed some specifics, but at least he figured that out, albeit accidentally. He glanced at Minato, starting to pity him.
"I don't think Iwa did this," Sasuke commented, making a small effort to console Minato. He knew why Minato seemed so worried. "They would have figured out your Hiraishin. But they clearly haven't. Otherwise," he nodded upwards, "they wouldn't all be dead."
It seemed to work. Minato relaxed his shoulders, sighing. He regained some composure, allowing him to think clearly. He squinted in confusion. Then, his eyes widened in realisation.
"Hey, wait a minute! You know something about this, don't you?" Minato levelled an accusatory glare at Sasuke, who rolled his eyes.
"What give it away?" Sasuke asked in a monotone. There was no point denying it. But he definitely wouldn't give Minato any more than that.
His Sharingan activated, spinning. His eyes roved over the seal, memorising it. Minato's jaw nearly hung open. Sasuke ignored him, continuing to perfectly memorise every intricacy of the seal. There was no doubt that he'd need it later.
"We're going to burn it," Sasuke stated, catching Minato's attention. Minato quickly pulled out a small camera, snapping a quick picture, before nodding. He still seemed lost in his own little reverie.
Sasuke struck a match, dropping it on the seal. He watched the parchment begin to sizzle, as the flames consumed it entirely. It didn't matter if a remnant persisted - they'd never be able to reconstruct it anyhow.
Minato grabbed his shoulder, teleporting them outside. Minato was silent, not speaking to him. Sasuke shrugged, deciding to let the man be miserable for a while.
They both scoured through the other five bases, finding a plethora of information. The first part of their mission was an overall success, although Minato's melancholy mood suggested otherwise.
Finally, Minato teleported them to an inn on the outskirts of the Land of Earth. Tomorrow morning, they began the second part of the mission: Kirigakure.
As they walked, Minato's silence persisted. Sasuke didn't care; he was even slightly glad for the lack of conversation. Until Minato broke his silence.
"I got it!" he suddenly exclaimed, his previous misery vanishing completely. He wagged his index finger at Sasuke accusingly. "I know what you are."
Sasuke's pace quickened. He wasn't sure if he should be panicked or not. Minato was bright, but surely, he couldn't be that bright, could he? He was starting to worry.
"You're not from here, are you?" Minato narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Sasuke huffed. Never mind. He was that bright. After Sasuke had been so careful and meticulous not to reveal anything about himself, Minato goes and figures out arguably his biggest secret. What a pain in the ass.
Sasuke didn't reply, walking even faster, as if he hoped to lose Minato.
"It makes so much sense! I should've known. It was like you really did just appear out of nowhere - and you did! My god. This is astronomical!" Minato's tone suggested that he was half excited and half terrified.
Minato went on a mini-rant about all the things that made Sasuke suspicious - from his Sharingan, to his looks, to everything. Everything about him had apparently reeked of suspicion. Minato seemed relaxed after finally figuring it out. He walked with a happy skip in his step, as if he couldn't have been happier.
Sasuke paused to think. Minato probably knew a lot about space-time seals, didn't he? Sasuke had many, many questions. Minato could probably answer at least a few of them. But first, he had one imperative question.
"Are you going to tell Hiruzen? Are you going to tell anybody?" His expression was emotionless and blank. His Sharingan whirred threateningly, unnerving Minato.
"Well, I am legally obligated to-"
Sasuke's blank expression transformed into a vicious, malevolent, spine-chilling glare. The Mangekyou manifested, boring into Minato's blue eyes. He probably didn't know what it was.
"But I won't!" Minato quickly added, out of self-preservation. Sasuke visibly calmed, his tense shoulders relaxing. He deactivated the Mangekyou.
"Hypothetically," Minato began bravely, "What would you do if I did?"
"Simple," Sasuke kept his tone easy and nonchalant, "I'd kill you, and the person you told, even if it's Hiruzen. I'd find a way to break the seals. Then, I'd escape Konoha. I'd either ensure that it loses the war. Or I might just destroy it outright. Whatever I feel like."
Minato gaped. He realised that he shouldn't have asked. Of course, Sasuke was partially bluffing. He wasn't sure if he could actually beat Minato's speed, but neither was Minato, who didn't know a damn thing about Sasuke, and so, Minato had no choice but to believe that Sasuke really could overpower him. Besides, Sasuke was now determined to overcome Minato's speed.
"But you're an Uchiha," Minato tried to reason, "So you belong to Konoha. Why would you want to destroy Konoha? Aren't you a loyal ninja?"
"Please," Sasuke laughed humourlessly, "Don't act like you're different. You wouldn't give a shit about Konoha if it weren't for your team and Kushina."
Minato quietened, indicating that Sasuke was exactly right. He had hit the nail on the head.
"But what about your clan?" Minato's blue eyes met Sasuke's, trying to search for any hint of emotion besides anger or irritation.
"That's enough questions from you," Sasuke grunted out, feeling even more irritated.
Minato huffed in frustration.
"Things aren't good where you're from, are they?" Minato pondered, looking at Sasuke to see if he elicited a reaction. Sasuke merely continued walking, giving away nothing. It was almost like talking to a wall.
"I think I know how you got here," Minato stated. Now Sasuke looked very slightly tempted. "You're from some sort of future, aren't you?"
Sasuke tensed almost imperceptibly. Damn Minato and his godforsaken intelligence. Thank god that Naruto didn't inherit that.
"Let's make a deal, Sasuke," Minato started. Sasuke thought he was a bit too brave. "I'll help you figure this stuff out, you know, because sealing and space-time, etcetera. And you can help me avert a disastrous future." He looked at Sasuke, gauging his reaction.
"And I won't demand that you tell me anything you don't want to. You just have to help," Minato ended. His tone was quite convincing.
Sasuke thought about it. It wasn't a bad deal at all - it was already part of his plan to prevent the Uchiha massacre. He didn't really care about the rest of the world, but he supposed saving the world wouldn't take too much extra effort.
"Fine," he agreed. Besides, Minato was surprisingly steadfast and clever. He might actually be useful.
They walked in silence for a few more minutes. With that settled, there was just one thing still on Sasuke's mind.
"I have a question," he stated. "Why do you trust me enough to help you? You didn't even try to demand information." It's suspicious, he thought.
"Well, I sort of trust you," Minato sighed, "Contrary to whatever you think, I can read you. Kind of. If you genuinely had malicious intentions, you probably could've escaped and destroyed Konoha by now. You're too cooperative, so I doubt you're actually evil."
"That's stupid of you," Sasuke deadpanned, "You're using empirical arguments. Don't you know that anecdotal evidence is never reliable?"
"Shut up, smartass," Minato rolled his eyes, irritated, "It's more logical than you think."
Sasuke grunted, deciding to accept his answer. "I have another question actually," Sasuke said.
"Fine," Minato sighed in annoyance. Both of them seemed to be asking the other an endless amount of questions, consequently pissing the other off.
"How did you know I was from a futuristic world? I didn't give anything away." Sasuke asked, genuinely curious. Because Minato figured out more than he should've.
Minato pulled out the camera from his back pocket, finding the picture of the seal that he took. Sasuke had committed it to memory, but it was pointless, since he didn't understand it. It was literally like trying to read an unfamiliar language.
"I know you don't know how seals work, but it's like a different language," he circled the outer sections of the picture with his index finger, "Looking at a seal this complex, there are elements - or rather, characters - that tell you things about the seal. That's how I knew that it was a space-time seal. In a way, I just read the seal and figured some stuff out."
Sasuke sighed in frustration. He understood what Minato was saying, but it bothered him that he couldn't 'read' the seal like Minato.
"How about I teach you some sealing jutsu? Then, maybe you could at least understand it," Minato offered, noticing the frustration in Sasuke's expression.
Sasuke immediately nodded, almost eagerly. He wanted to begin right away - but unfortunately, it had to wait until the second part of their mission was over.
Both of them halted at the exact same time. They had arrived at Kirigakure.
Note: is the dialogue boring to read? Or is there too much of it?