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Sasuke’s exhausted.

He can feel his chakra flutter weakly below the surface of his skin, just barely enough to keep him moving for this next attack, this next blow, this next desperate, desperate attempt to break his bond with Naruto for good.

He uses it. He calls Chidori to his fingertips, a natural extension of himself that leaves him quaking with the effort it takes to hold the crackling chakra there, condensed and deadly.

He sees Naruto raise his hand, Rasengan swirling, sees the pain and determination in those blue eyes –

And there’s something else there, too.

Something that reminds Sasuke of the way he feels when he remembers he was the one to strike Itachi down, something bitter and filled with grief, something like…regret.

He doesn’t let himself analyze it. He charges Naruto, arm outstretched, his last best hope: Chidori versus Rasengan, as it was always going to end.

He sees it: Rasengan flickers, weakens. Naruto has reached his limit, and Sasuke realizes – he’s going to win.

He hates it. This is going to destroy him – tear him fucking apart, but it has to happen – if it just didn’t – if Naruto had just never come into his cursed damn life in the first place –

Somehow, through the chakra cloud, their fingers brush.

Everything goes white.

When Sasuke wakes, he knows two things immediately: first, he is safe. There is no physical threat to him. His body is relaxed, composed, filled with the easy strength that comes from both hard training and a good night’s rest. Second, something is deeply, deeply wrong.

He sits straight up and looks around him, taking stock of everything. He’s awake, he’s sure of that. His faculties are completely intact. Just to test, he calls up his Sharingan, and the world filters normally. Safely.

He’s in a room, sitting upright now in a bed that is, ostensibly, his. Light is trying to force its way past the blackout curtains strung up on the single window. Everything here is orderly but stark, as if no one has ever lived here at all.

Sasuke immediately knows that this is his room and thinks reflexively how Naruto would turn it upside down in a whirlwind of color in a heartbeat. (He’ll never say, but this is part of how he got through his time in Oto, picturing how Naruto would have changed everything, bothered the snake man to distraction, and it had somehow made the whole experience easier to take.)

Naruto. He feels sick to his stomach, and now he knows why: he can’t sense Naruto’s chakra.

He can’t remember the last time he couldn’t sense Naruto. Has it ever happened before? Even when they are so far removed and separated for it to be actually possible, he knows – he knows – where Naruto is. He’s been able to close his eyes and simply reach, and it’s like something about him is a compass and Naruto is true north: he’s always known how to find him.

He closes his eyes and tries.

It hurts. It physically hurts, and Sasuke leaps off the bed, rushing to open the first door – no, a living room – the next one – yes, bathroom, good – and throws up in the toilet, violently, painfully.

What the fuck. Where is he? Where is Naruto?

He stands up shakily, trying to regain control of himself, and walks slowly to the window, yanking open the thick shades.

He’s in Konoha.

Not exactly – right. There’s something off, here, and he’s not sure he’s completely put his finger on it, and he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and pulls up his memories of the village as a child, as it was when he used Orochimaru to resurrect the previous Hokage, and –

There.

This is the Konoha from his childhood, before any devastating attack from Pain that Naruto had apparently ended – but not even that. He leaps out the window, springs to the roof, and looks.

This is the Konoha from a childhood he never had. The Uchiha compound is not relegated to the sides; instead, it surrounds Hokage Tower, a network of buildings in the nucleus of the village, strong and proud and most definitely integrated – and there are only four faces carved into the cliff. Sasuke studies them, knows them by name now – Hashirama, Tobirama, Sarutobi, and – Naruto’s father, Minato –

No Tsunade.

And he still can’t sense Naruto’s chakra.

It can’t be a genjutsu. Naruto’s never had any skill for genjutsu. He’s too direct a fighter, too confident in his own abilities (too confident in Sasuke, in this case) to bother using the technique, and Sasuke’s not even sure he has the manipulative skill necessary for it. It’s not that it’s impossible for Naruto to have caught Sasuke off guard – but he doesn’t think that’s what’s happening here. To cast something this elaborate – well, Naruto was already exhausted, and he doesn’t think this is the sort of thing he’d do.

And there’s no one Sasuke knows better, so – no, not Naruto.

But everyone else is still under the Infinite Tsukyomi.

Sasuke has no idea what’s happening or where Naruto is, and for the first time in years, he’s scared.

He takes a deep, steadying breath and flicks his Sharingan to life again, combing the village for the other chakra signatures he’ll recognize without fail: Sakura and Kakashi. Kakashi’s is distant, almost hidden, not quite perfectly concealed, near the memorial. Sakura’s is strong, almost flaring, at a training ground to the south.

He chooses her. Sakura showed promise for genjutsu, as a child, and even if she’s not at his level now, maybe she will be able to sense something he’s missing.

It takes him only minutes to find her. She’s sitting on the ground, eyes closed, deep in concentration. Behind her, Sai – a ninja he barely recognizes – runs around in confusion, fighting invisible enemies. At the edge of the grounds, Kurenai leans lazily against a tree.

He lands in front of her. “Sakura.”

She opens her eyes, waves her hand, and Sai stops, blinks. A strange smile spreads over his face, and he inclines his head towards both of them before sitting down and pulling out a notebook.

Sasuke ignores him, except to take note of the fact that it appears Sakura had him in a genjutsu, and that Sai seems to be taking notes on how it worked. Sakura is breathing just slightly heavier than usual, and he realizes he’s interrupted a training session.

He also notices the lack of any medical tools on her belt and the completely intact grounds that clearly have not experienced the monstrous strength he knows Sakura to have.

But then again, there’s no Tsunade. No Tsunade, no specialized medical or taijutsu traiing.

“Sasuke.” She smiles at him, and it’s almost indulgent, he thinks, as she rises to her feet. He notes the finality of his name, both the familiarity and polite distance in her tone. “What can I do for you today?”

He notices it, a slight shimmer, and easily dismisses the sneakily cast genjutsu she’s attempted on him. “Don’t,” he says, irritated. “Where’s Naruto?”

Her eyes widen in shock. “What – how did you do that?!”

He frowns at her. “You were obvious, and I’m not an idiot. Where’s Naruto?”

She takes half a step backwards, hands raising warily. “You’ve never been able to notice my genjutsu before.”

He hasn’t?

He huffs. “Sakura. Where’s Naruto?”

“I know we aren’t under a genjutsu now,” she muses, and then she turns. “Kurenai-sensei!”

Kurenai, whose presence Sasuke has been steadfastly ignoring, given her low threat level, steps forward. “Well done, Sasuke,” she says as she approaches. “That’s quite the improvement. Have you been training with another team? I know you’ve spent some more time with Shisui and Itachi lately.”

Sasuke’s stomach feels like it has just dropped out of his body. He ignores it, firmly, turning back to Sakura, and lets his chakra flare, lets them feel his anger and frustration and the threat he clearly represents – unable to see through Sakura’s genjutsu, for fuck’s sake – and snarls, “Where is Naruto?”

She shivers, but her face is openly confused as she asks, “Who?”

Sasuke feels his blood run cold. This is all, all wrong. “Don’t make jokes,” he snaps. “Naruto. Our teammate.”

She shakes her head, and Sai says in a voice that is almost sing-song, “I wonder if he’s injured, Kurenai-sensei. He seems to have suffered a blow to the head.”

Sasuke’s had enough, and he throws his head backwards in a careless gesture and sends Sai to sleep.

“Sasuke!” Kurenai kneels over him. “What did – how did you –”

“I am Itachi’s brother,” he reminds her, “and if you know him, you shouldn’t be surprised that I’m more adept at genjutsu than either of you. Where is Naruto?!”

“I don’t know anyone by that name!” Sakura insists. “What’s he look like? Maybe I can help if I –”

“He’s the fucking Fourth Hokage’s son and the Kyūbi jinchūriki,” Sasuke says sharply, trying to contain his frustration and panic.

Sakura’s eyes widen, and Kurenai moves to release Sai from the genjutsu – so Sasuke casts one on her, too. Enough is enough, already.

“Sasuke,” Sakura says, and there’s worry in her eyes instead of fear, as she steps forward, and he lets her place a hand on his arm. “Lord Fourth doesn’t have a son, and his wife is the Kyūbi jinchūriki.”

He steps back, away from her. “Where’s Kakashi?”

“Who?”

“Kakashi –” Sasuke feels his head spin. This is getting out of control. “Our sensei, when we were genin – you, me, and Naruto.”

She shakes her head, eyes still wide and worried. “Sasuke, I think you need to go to the hospital. Kurenai is our sensei, and Sai is our other teammate. They pulled him from ANBU, remember? Since the Fourth has been working to undo that part of the organization…”

“But I sense Kakashi,” he says helplessly, because it’s all he can think to say, because in a world where Naruto doesn’t exist, nothing makes sense.

Sakura hesitates. “I think I’ve heard that name before,” she says cautiously. “The Kid Killer. The one who has a Sharingan even though he isn’t Uchiha. Is he the one you mean?”

“Yes.” Sasuke feels relief wash over him, warm and hot, puts Kid Killer from his mind –

“I don’t know much about him.” She shrugs. “Look, Sasuke – I don’t think you’re under a genjutsu, and I don’t know what’s going on, but – I wouldn’t approach him. He’s ANBU. I only know a little, from what Sai has said, and from some rumors in the village. But if you’re looking for someone who’s supposed to be the Fourth’s son…maybe you should ask the Fourth.”

Sasuke starts. It’s a surprisingly good idea, and Kakashi is, anyways, a naturally suspicious ninja who likely won’t respond well to Sasuke insisting he is in fact his student – before he defected, that is – and what the fuck is happening in this damn world –

Or.

He could go to Itachi.

He shakes that idea from his skin before it can take hold because it hurts too fucking much. He waves his hand and puts Sakura to sleep too.

She lets him, based on the look of annoyance that crosses her face, and he feels an unexpected burst of fondness for her, enough that he catches her as she falls and lets her rest gently on the ground. She’s always too kind, too trusting, no matter what reality he finds.

He shifts through the different chakra signatures in Konoha until he finds the one that must, indisputably, be Naruto’s father. It’s different than it was in the War, living instead of simply reanimated, no reddish tinge of the Kyūbi, but still – it has that same radiance of Naruto’s, as if the sun itself has come to rest in him.

He heads for it, like a moth to flame.

Minato is outside, standing on his own carved head in a way that would be pompous and grandiose for anyone not so clearly hiding from his wife. Sasuke can hear the shouting from the woman who can only be Naruto’s mother – who should be Naruto’s mother, at any rate – from the streets below, and the Hokage sighs, his shoulders slumping, as he collapses in an undignified heap.

Sasuke approaches cautiously.

Blue eyes flicker open, and the man smiles sheepishly at him. “Ah, hello there!” he says cheerily, and there’s only a little embarrassment tinging his cheeks. “I may have, ah, caught the kitchen on fire, and Kushina’s not pleased.”

Sasuke snorts. So very like Naruto, even now.

“And you’re –” Minato’s eyes scan him quickly. “Yes! Itachi’s younger brother, Fugaku’s son! My apologies! What brings you here today?”

Sasuke quirks an eyebrow. He’s said this as if Sasuke has approached him in his office rather than on top of the cliff. “I’m looking for your son.”

Minato straightens. His brow furrows only for a moment before smoothing out, but his posture stays stiff, cautious. “I have no son.”

“Yes, that’s what everyone keeps telling me.” Sasuke steps forward again, and Minato genially pats the ground beside him. Sasuke reluctantly accepts the invitation. In no reality he has experienced has this man been a threat. “But in my world – the world I lived in until this morning – he was very much alive and well.”

“Is that so?” Minato’s voice is deceptively casual.

Sasuke remembers something – that Naruto was named by his father – and tries it. “His name is Naruto, and he…” He smiles despite himself, in slight pride. “He changed everything.”

Minato’s fingers tighten on his cloak. “Naruto, you say?”

Sasuke meets his blue eyes, so like his son’s. “Yes.”

“He would change the world, then.” There’s grief in that voice, thinly cloaked. “Sasuke – that’s your name, right?”

Sasuke gives him a short nod.

“I thought so – well, Sasuke, Kushina and I have not been blessed with a child. We’ve always wanted one, and you’re right – that’s what we would have named a son. But that’s not something – we weren’t lucky enough for that, and perhaps it’s best, given that Kushina is a jinchūriki.”

Sasuke cautiously accepts this information. Naruto was never born here, and Kushina has never stopped housing the Kyūbi. That means…

“When I was a baby,” he says, hesitatingly, “or – around that time – the Kyūbi never – got loose? Never attacked the village?”

“No!” Minato looks horrified. “No, the Uzumakis are sealing experts, and Kushina is excellent at what she does. We would never allow that to happen.”

Sasuke can’t look at him. Instead, he stares down at Konoha. “And the Uchiha…near the center of the village…”

“Of course.” Minato frowns at him. “How else can they help police and do their job if they aren’t tied into the heart of the village? Hasn’t your father taught you this? Without the Uchiha, Konoha would not be nearly what it is today.”

He says it so earnestly, so casually, as if it’s obvious, that it tears Sasuke’s heart apart.

This world – where the Uchiha not only live but are respected and valued, where no tailed beasts have attacked –

Wait.

He says the name as a test, watching Minato carefully. “Gaara.”

Grief darkens the naturally bright features. “What is he in your reality?”

It occurs to Sasuke that Minato has accepted this idea – that he is from another reality – so readily, that he stalls. “Why do you believe me? Sakura – and probably Kurenai too – thought I was under a genjutsu, at least at first.”

He’s surprised again at how easily and honestly the answer comes. If this is the kind of Hokage Naruto will be – no. He won’t let himself go there. He forces those thoughts from his mind as Minato speaks. “Your chakra is not like it was when I saw you with Itachi only a few weeks ago,” the man says calmly. “In fact, I’d go so far as to say you don’t even feel like the same person. Perhaps you aren’t.”

No, Sasuke imagines in a world with no Naruto, he wouldn’t be the same.

“You asked about Gaara,” he says, letting his voice fall flat. “In my world, Naruto saves him from himself, while protecting Sakura – and me. He’s Kazekage now.”

He sees the emotions flash across Minato’s face – joy, wonder, grief, pain, sorrow, pride, all, he’s sure, connected to the son that was never born here. “In this world,” Minato admits, “he was killed by Kakashi Hatake when he nearly rampaged in the chūnin exams. He was a serious threat to our citizens and our students, and when genjutsu failed – he is an ANBU of great repute for a reason, and he made a difficult call, but it had to happen. Gaara was…irredeemable, at that point.”

“No,” Sasuke snaps, more harshly than he means to. “It was during the chūnin exams that Naruto – never mind.” No one but Naruto could have done what he did. In this world, Gaara never stood a chance.

And neither did he, if this version of him is still so inept at genjutsu that Sakura outstrips him.

“I am glad my son could do what I could not, in any world.” Minato’s voice is gentle and wistful for a moment, and then his back straightens and he looks at Sasuke with the sun in his eyes. “How can I help you, Sasuke from Another World?”

It’s a hell of a question, one he doesn’t know how to answer. It occurs to him he could stay here. Gaara may be dead – and he’s not sure where Tsunade is – and Sakura’s life is infinitely altered – he does hope Kakashi is okay, although he suspects not, given even the little information he’s gained – but Itachi is here, once Sasuke’s ready to face him. His father is here. His mother is here. He’s not a rogue ninja here. This could be home.

But part of him breaks inside at the thought, because the world without Naruto is indefinably empty, and at least there, if it happened, he could have his revolution – but here, existing in this broken system, without him –

“I have to go back,” he says.

“Then we need to figure out how you got here,” Minato concludes, perfectly reasonably. “Which means you’ll need to tell me exactly how everything happened.”

Sasuke winces. He won’t like it. “It might…be easier to show you, rather than tell.”

“Then.” Minato stands, brushes off his hands on his thighs, and offers one to Sasuke. “Let’s find your brother. Maybe he can help.”

And all Sasuke can do is nod.

He’s surprised, at first, when Minato leads him to the hospital – well, behind it, where there’s a garden Sasuke doesn’t remember existing – and he sees his brother sitting calmly on a bench. He’s in a jonin uniform, but Sasuke knows he hasn’t been on missions for months. He’s forgotten, how sick his brother was when he died. Naruto’s absence hasn’t altered that, and he feels a pang of anger. As if the loss of Naruto isn’t punishment enough, in any world.

Itachi turns to him with a gentle smile. “Little brother,” he says, “what’s happened to you? I’ve never known your chakra to feel this way.”

Sasuke’s lost for words because Itachi is here – sick, and dying, he can sense it – but here.

He doesn’t know how to explain how this hurts and why and why he has to leave.

He’s grateful when Minato picks up the story. He sits down beside his brother and just relishes his presence, basks in an Itachi who has not slaughtered his family and left for the Akatsuki, a brother he hasn’t killed, whose eyes he hasn’t taken. (Except he has, he knows he carried his jutsu from the other world, but they don’t need to talk about that.)

“So how can I help?” Itachi asks, as the blond man finishes the explanation.

Minato scratches the back of his head, and it’s a gesture so like Naruto that Sasuke hurts in a whole new way. He didn’t know it would be like this. He didn’t know that without his best friend, he would be infinitely less.

He hadn’t felt that way, after Itachi. He’d left lost, hollow.

Now, he feels like a piece of himself has been cut off, and he can’t breathe without it.

He realizes, without meaning to, that if he goes back – when he goes back – he can’t kill Naruto. Revolution won’t happen without him.

Without him, Sasuke will simply fade away until he’s nothing at all.

“I think,” the Fourth Hokage says, and it’s comical, the way he folds down on the ground in front of them, so childlike and undignified, but so, so bright, “that you and Sasuke together may be able to help show us what happened. And then maybe we can figure out how to get him back.”

Itachi pauses thoughtfully. “Assuming you’re right about interdimensional travel, there are two problems. First, yes, we’ll need to see how so that we can reverse it. Secondly, though, we will need a beacon. We’ll need to send Sasuke back to the right dimension. The one with Naruto – is that his name?”

Sasuke nods and tells himself it doesn’t hurt.

“Naruto can be the beacon, then, but since I think this will take all of us, we’ll need a much better sense of who he is.”

Sasuke immediately knows what his brother wants, and he stiffens. “You want to see my memories. Not just the one where it happened.”

“I think it’s necessary,” Itachi says, and Sasuke realizes that even in this world, his brother’s face is impossible to read if he wants it to be.

“Neither of you are going to like it,” he tells them finally. “I have made different choices. Naruto is the one who chooses Konoha. I choose…differently than he does.”

“You are my brother.” Itachi meets his eyes steadily. “Nothing else matters.”

Minato hesitates. “If we send you back, what happens to my son?”

Sasuke stiffens. He doesn’t have an answer for that yet, not exactly. He won’t kill Naruto – if he has a choice, because this emptiness is hell – but he doesn’t know how much of a choice he’ll have.

“That’s not our decision.” Itachi’s voice is sharp. “It’s not our reality.”

Minato’s jaw tenses, but he nods slowly. “Show us, then.”

Sasuke closes his eyes, dredges up his memories, and casts it, feeling his brother’s chakra mingle and uplift his own. He starts, he decides, at the beginning. It’s the only way to tell this story, the story of him and Naruto.

It starts, then, with his first glimpses of Naruto, mocked by the villagers, and the tales he was told about the monster fox child. Itachi says nothing. Minato’s eyes fill with pain. They both watch in silence.

Sasuke takes them, next to the massacre – the complete version. This is blurry, memory blended together with the information he gained later, but Itachi smooths it out, helps meld it all, even as his eyes grow damp with tears. When he leaves Sasuke as a seven-year-old, Itachi pauses the memory and looks at him.

“I’m sorry,” is all Sasuke can offer him. “I don’t know how to explain without this part.”

His brother taps his forehead in a way that is a caress more than anything else. “I’m so sorry, Sasuke,” he whispers.

Sasuke pulls away, reminding himself this isn’t Itachi. Not his Itachi, anyways. He forces through his brother’s chakra and pushes to the next memory: the formation of Team Seven.

These memories are good. Minato laughs, Itachi smiles, and even Sasuke feels in his heart – he can’t go through with this. Seeing Naruto, seeing him fight and scrap and force his way to the top – seeing him strive to keep up with Sasuke and get stronger –

He can’t lose this. And he knows he may have lost it already and fuck if he can just get back there he’ll never do it again, he’ll let Naruto be Hokage, he’ll trust him, he’ll –

He’ll do anything.

He lingers on the battle against Haku, skims through the chūnin exams. He lets them focus on the moments where Naruto shines brightest.

He skips through his time in Oto and his battle against Itachi almost entirely, picks up when he meets Team Seven again.

Minato beams with pride when Naruto confronts Sasuke with both love and confidence. Itachi smiles fondly, and Sasuke knows – they know who he is, now. They understand.

So he skips again. He blows past everything but Danzo, where he shows Minato very clearly who the man is, and then he moves to the War. (Minato just taps his shoulder and says, “I know,” in a voice that is so gentle, Sasuke thinks of Naruto again, and if this is kind of Hokage Naruto will be – well. He doesn’t push the thought away, this time. He lets it settle, deep, as Itachi moves them forward.)

During the War, he shows them what matters most: his teamwork with Naruto, the way they work together flawlessly, the final defeat of Kaguya.

And he lets them see everything that happens after. Minato cries during his son’s tearful goodbye to the reanimated version of him, and Itachi turns away, gripping a kunai hard, when Sasuke challenges Naruto.

He walks them through their battle and the moments before it happens as slowly as possible, lingering on every detail. When their fingers just barely touch – a thing that should be impossible through his Chidori – Itachi freezes the whole scene.

“Do you see that?” he asks, looking at Minato. He walks through the carefully cast illusion, points at Naruto’s eyes, and Sasuke’s eyes. “Time was already disrupted, with the Sage of Six Paths. Do you think, if the last of their chakra combined at such a time, in such a way –”

“Perhaps.” Minato frowns. “They would have to have been united in purpose…”

Sasuke, remembers then, what he had been thinking: that the pain of losing Naruto would be too great, and he had wished that Naruto had never come into his life at all, and his heart breaks.

Does that mean, then, that Naruto wished himself away, for Sasuke’s sake?

He hates this.

He stares at Naruto’s blue eyes and feels sick. “Can it be undone?”

Minato and Itachi start to discuss the intricacies of the jutsu, and Sasuke finds he doesn’t care. He tunes them out, just stands as close to the unreal Naruto as he can and fights the bile in his throat. When too much time has passed, he snaps again, “Can it be undone?”

The two older ninjas glance at each other. “Yes,” the Fourth says eventually. “We think so. But we’ll need to provide enough chakra to compensate for Naruto. You’ll need to be able to provide your half.”

Sasuke looks at Naruto for one more heartbeat and dismisses the illusion, pushing aside Itachi’s desire to linger in it another moment. “We were both at the verge of collapse,” he reminds them. “It shouldn’t be difficult.” He takes a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”

Itachi shakes his head. “This has taken all my energy, little brother, and your own chakra is too unfocused now. Tomorrow at sunrise.”

Sasuke wants to argue, but he sees the waver in his brother’s step and angrily pushes him down on the bench. “Fine. Where?”

“Where you found me this morning will be fine,” Minato tells him. “Sasuke – would you like to see your parents? Or perhaps meet Kushina?”

Yes, please. No, I can’t. Sasuke can’t breathe.

“Father will be working late tonight,” Itachi offers. “It is your choice if you’d like to speak with them, Sasuke, but I can tell you where they live. In the meantime, I hear Kushina makes excellent ramen.”

Sasuke doesn’t particularly like ramen, but this time, the offer is too tempting to pass up. “Alright,” he says softly, and Minato beams when he leads him home.

Kushina is as bright and loud as Naruto, as uncontrolled and wild and beautiful and Sasuke wonders if all these things are meant for jinchūriki before he remembers Gaara and realizes no, these are the best of family traits.

She fawns over Sasuke and it makes him weep inside, this mothering that he hasn’t received for far too long and that he still can’t reach out to his own mother. He just can’t.

Kushina asks questions about Naruto, and every answer warms Sasuke’s heart and makes her look like she’s bursting with pride and love for the son she never had here.

When he finally rises to leave, he asks Minato quietly, “Perhaps an hour after sunrise?”

The man’s smile is gentle; Kushina’s is blinding. Of course, he agrees.

Sasuke spends the evening watching his family. He watches his mother bustle around the kitchen, watches his father come home late and put his arms around her, settling her nervous energy. He knows they’re worried about Itachi; he can catch that from the tiny bits of conversation he can hear.

He doesn’t want to speak to his father; he’s sure he’s a disappointment in this reality, given his apparent lack of skill. He didn’t know, before, that Naruto changed so much for him.

It’s after they go to bed that he leaps to the rooftops, tries to find somewhere quiet so he can think. He’s only there a short time before Sakura joins him, and he lets her.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

He thinks that’s a stupid question and doesn’t answer.

She sighs. “Talk to me, Sasuke. I know you had a meeting with Lord Fourth and your brother today. They’re really good at solving problems, but they suck at listening. I’m good at that part. And if you’re really going back to some different reality, I bet you probably need someone to listen.”

Sasuke considers this. It’s not really in his nature to confide in others, not in the way that gives them input, but then again – tomorrow, this Sakura will be gone from his life forever.

And he thinks it’s kind of nice to talk to a version of her that isn’t so obsessed with him. That part of this world, he’d like to keep. So he speaks. He tells her the short version, that the system is corrupt and he wants to tear it down and rebuild, that to do that, he has to sever all bonds – and only Naruto remains. She doesn’t speak, just waits, and so he admits very quietly, that if Naruto dies, the best parts of Sasuke die too, and he’s sure he’ll simply…cease to exist.

He doesn’t know what to do.

They sit in silence for a long time. She scoots a little closer, presses their shoulders together, and only then does Sasuke realize he’s crying.

She speaks only when Sasuke’s eyes are dry, and even then, she says very little. “It sounds like your friend is right,” she tells him. “Naruto knows something you don’t about the way to make change. Do you trust him?”

The answer is immediate. “With my life.”

“Then there’s your answer.” She nudges his shoulder with her head. “It sounds like you’ve been hurt pretty badly, but you just have to trust him to make things right. Do you think he will?”

He takes longer, this time. “I think he will give everything of himself to try.”

“Then do you think he’ll fail?”

“No.” He shakes his head, half laughs. “It’s strange. For the village fool, failure pretty much isn’t an option for Naruto anymore.”

“Then that’s it.” She shrugs, and the movement shakes Sasuke too. “You should probably get some sleep.”

He looks at her. “Thank you, Sakura.” He wishes he could offer her more than that, but – but all he can see is blue eyes and blond hair and an infuriating amount of willpower. Still. “You know, in my reality, you’re pretty obsessed with me.”

“Ick! Really?!” She makes a face. “No. I kind of had a crush on Sai, but I think he’s pretty into Ino.” She rolls her eyes. “Lee’s kinda cute, if you can get past the…” She wiggles her eyebrows.

Sasuke smirks. “Good luck."

“You too. I’m going to bed. You should, too.” She drops a kiss on his shoulder and flashes away.

Sasuke sleeps for a few hours. It’s restless, filled with Naruto, where he vanishes before Sasuke can find him. He wakes up sweating, angry, panting. He hadn’t know – after all this time, how had he not known –

Doesn’t matter.

It’s still dark, but Sasuke can see the fringes of gray at the edge of the horizon, and it motivates him out of bed. He splashes water on his face – and he goes to see his mother.

He doesn’t speak to her. He doesn’t trust himself not to crumble. But he smiles at her, and she hugs him and asks him to help her with breakfast, and he does. He hears Fugaku stirring in the other room, and the sun is up – it’s time for him to go.

He hugs her carefully, deeply, and feels her love pressed into the skin of his neck, and he leaves before he can cry.

He meets Minato and Itachi on top of the monument. Both are sitting cross legged on the ground, looking completely at peace. He catches a quick shot of conversation. “We’ll have to send one of the Uchiha, as a scout,” Minato says.

Itachi shakes his head. “You need more sensory ninja. We don’t have the distance, not in the standard Sharingan.”

Sasuke asks, before he can help himself, “What about the Hyūga?”

Both of them freeze. Minato’s eyes gloss over with grief. It’s Itachi who answers. “Sasuke, in your reality, the Uchiha were killed due to a manipulation of a powerful man. Here, that never happened; no attack from the Kyūbi means no resentment and distrust, and Lord Fourth consistently trusts and elevates our clan. But we have our own pain.”

Sasuke waits, skin prickling.

“You know, I’m sure, of the division between the Main Family and the Branch Families for the Hyūga. It was a cruel and barbaric practice, one that should have been ended long ago. A young ninja who showed incredible skill and talent in the one of the Branch families – a child by the name of Neji – one day, he snapped.” Itachi sighs. “He slaughtered the main family while they slept. Then, when the Branch Families did not celebrate with him, he turned on them as well. By that time, we knew something was happening, and he had begun to attack civilians in the main village. He was stopped by Kakashi Hatake, who was forced to kill him. The Hyūga are no more.”

Sasuke feels like he can’t breathe. He’s never known Neji well, but he’s heard the story of Naruto’s triumph over him in the chūnin exams more times than he can count. He knows Naruto speaks of changing the Hyūga, of how Neji was so foolish to believe in destiny and how Naruto proved him wrong, but he had no idea the change ran that deep.

How utterly short-sighted of him.

And Kakashi the Kid Killer – he has to ask, before he leaves.

Minato’s answer is sad. “It’s an unfortunate nickname he has yet to shake, although it’s truly unearned. He lost both his genin teammates when they were very young and under his guidance. I should have been there to prevent both deaths. And then with Gaara, and Neji, both in the same year…” He shakes his head. “Kakashi has carried more than his fair share of sorrow and cruelty.”

Sasuke agrees. And it’s time to go.

He unleashes his careful hold on his chakra, lets it fly free and wild, and he searches. He looks for Naruto, calls for his soul, demands an answer. Minato’s and Itachi’s chakra rise up to meet his, and he picks out those bits of sunshine yellow in Minato, remembers the crisp red of the Kyūbi’s (no wonder Naruto is damn orange all the time), uses them to guide him.

He reaches and searches, harder than he ever has in his life, and everything else falls away.

There.

Just barely on the edge of his awareness. There. Naruto. He’s there. Sasuke steps forward towards it, turns and smiles at Itachi one more time and says the same words his brother said to him: “I will love you always.”

Then he runs.

Everything goes white.

Sasuke opens his eyes and he’s charging towards Naruto, Chidori crackling, and Rasengan flickers again, and he sees the look in Naruto’s eyes –

He releases Chidori, dodges Naruto’s Rasengan-turned-punch, and tackles him to the ground.

“Oof!” the air releases from Naruto’s lungs in a huff, and Sasuke doesn’t care, doesn’t think, because he’s here, Naruto’s here, and he’s alive and well and this is the first damn breath he’s taken in twenty-four hours, fuck –

He has his arms wrapped around Naruto’s back, has him pressed down on the ground, and he’s shaking so violently he can’t even –

“Sasuke?! What the –”

Naruto tries to sit up. Sasuke plants a hand on his chest and slams him back down, holds him there and glares. “What the fuck was that?!” he growls. “Don’t you ever fucking think – sending me to a world without you – you damn loser – like that would ever solve anything –”

His face clears slightly before turning red. “Hey – I just – that’s not – you were trying to kill me!”

“Don’t remind me,” Sasuke mutters, and he doesn’t fight this time when Naruto sits up. He grabs his friend close, holds him as tightly as he can because he’s real and he’s here and how the fuck did Sasuke live without this –

“Sasuke,” Naruto whispers, and he’s holding him together, and it’s only then Sasuke realizes he’s falling apart. There’s been too much of this, lately, he thinks, but he lets Naruto hold him and he breathes and this is enough, this is all he’s ever needed.

“Are we done, then, asshole?” Naruto asks, rubbing his back in a way that’s shockingly tender.

Sasuke pulls his face from Naruto’s neck, looks in his eyes, and desperately nods. “You better fucking do it,” he says. “You say you’ll make things different. Better. You have to do it.”

“I will,” Naruto tells him fiercely. “I promise.”

And it’s too early for all of this, too early for Sasuke to kiss him and tell him thank you, this is what he needs, this is what he’s always needed – it’s too early for Sasuke to say what happens next, if he stays in Konoha or forces Naruto to travel with him for a time – but there are things he knows, too.

He knows a life without Naruto near isn’t one he wants to live.

He knows that the world without him is a place missing the thing that makes it turn. (Maybe that’s only true for Sasuke, but it feels real all the same.)

He knows he won’t be alone in trying to create change.

And all of those things – all of those things make it –

Enough.

So he hides his face in Naruto’s neck and whispers that he loves him.

Naruto laughs and sloppily presses a kiss to his temple and says, “I love you too, you stupid asshole. Can we undo this stupid jutsu now? I need to sleep forever.”

“Fucking try it,” Sasuke challenges him, but he holds out his hand and the genjutsu comes undone.

Naruto can sleep for a day, maybe –

And only if Sasuke can be there to make sure he wakes up again.