Chapter 1

Land of Waves. Team 7, S-rank mission.

Kakashi watched over the two sleeping bodies of his students with worry. The battle on the bridge had taken a deep toll on both of them, deeper than he had expected. Nobody could deny that the mission had been a success. Gatō was killed by his employee's own hands, and in the process so were Haku and Zabuza, though Kakashi was having a hard time trying to feel any sort of joy or relief on the account of their deaths.

However, Kakashi was a ninja. He knew that there was always a heavy price to pay for peace and he was intimately familiar with the sorrow of loss. The death of those two, as regrettable as it was, was still an acceptable payment for a greater goal. There were no more obstacles left to prevent Tazuna from building his bridge and The Land of Waves would soon walk into a new era of prosperity as a result.

And yet, despite of that, it was difficult to feel victorious at all. It seemed like Kakashi still was, despite his best efforts, a sentimental fool. And all this success would matter little to him unless his two most promising students woke up soon.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi turned his only visible eye to look at his third student. She was his responsibility too, this shinobi girl, who was not more than a child in all the ways her teammates were not: innocent and untouched by loss.

"They will wake up soon", he lied to her smoothly.

In truth, he had no idea if they would wake up. By all accounts, they should be awake already. "That's what you said yesterday. And the day before." Sakura's voice was weak and tired, barely a whisper. The girl was seconds away from crying.

Kakashi clenched his fists for a second and then forced himself to relax. This wasn't Sakura's fault. If anything, it was his fault. He was the one who decided to take the mission and brought his pupils along despite knowing the risk of going against a class A criminal, let alone two. Sakura was their teammate, and she was obviously very shaken and dead with worry about them.

"Chakra exhaustion is different for everybody. And this was Naruto and Sasuke's first real battle. Their bodies need time to rest and recuperate, that's all," he explained, trying to be reassuring. He tried not to think it was his sensei's son laying in that bed, cold and still. Tried not to think about Minato at all.

"Come on." He put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, guiding her towards the door. "It's late and we must rest. I'm sure they'll be awake by tomorrow."

Later that night...

His whole body felt like it was on fire. Someone had set him on fire and his whole body was burning because there was no other explanation for the pain. Nothing had ever hurt as much as this. Not even going full force against Kaguya. Not even losing his arm after colliding with Sasuke.

Sasuke…

Sasuke should be here…

The thought of Sasuke gave him strength. He tried to open his eyes, to look for his comrade. Tried to call his name. If Sasuke was here… There was something he and Sasuke needed to do. But the pain was too much. It was overpowering. He couldn't think clearly. The pain was consuming him.

Naruto wished for death. Death and peace, a place where the pain would be no more. He could join his parents there… His mom.

"Naruto, rest." The voice echoed in his mind.

It was… familiar.

"Ku- Kurama?"

"Rest. The pain will pass. I'll let you know when it's safe."

It wasn't a confirmation, but Naruto somehow knew he could trust the voice. And he needed the pain to stop. It was maddening. If the voice offered…

Slowly Naruto felt himself slip into unconsciousness.

He didn't know how long he'd been out, but when he woke up again the pain was gone; all there was left was a thin echo of it. He could still feel his muscles burning, his brain cells shaking so badly that he'd feared his head would explode. He could still feel it, but the real thing had passed.

"Naruto…?"

He blinked a couple times, giving his eyes time to adapt the light, scarce as it was. Then he turned to look at his teammate. His best friend.

"How long…?" Sasuke asked weakly.

Naruto thought about it. He blinked once more and allow himself time to study his surroundings. It was night-time, that much was obvious. The moon, visible through the window, provided them with the only source of light. The room was small and tidy, the furniture scarce, and the bed he was laying on was comfortable but unfamiliar. He turned his head to look at Sasuke.

The image was…

"You're young," he said, full of wonder but not really surprised.

Sasuke didn't look impressed.

"And you look like shit," he answered, honest as always.

"You don't look any better," Naruto replied quickly.

It was true. Sasuke's face was too pale, though perhaps it was merely reflecting the white halo of the moon. But his hair was untied, a very rare occurrence, his skin was sweaty and his under-eye circles were big enough to remind Naruto of his brother.

"I always look better than you, idiot."

Naruto smiled, "Bastard."

Sasuke smiled back at him. "How much do you remember?"

Naruto thought about it for a few seconds.

"Just pain."

Sasuke nodded once, his eyes lost in the distance. "Yeah…"

It had been the same for both of them, then. But Sasuke didn't have Kurama to shield him from the pain… which meant he had been awake through all of it. Suffering. Naruto wanted to throw up at the thought. "Sasuke-"

"Don't. What is done is done. We are here now." Naruto didn't necessarily agree, but he recognized that look in his best friend's eyes. It was pure stubbornness. So he let it go. Sasuke sighed and turned to look at him. "It was worth it, anyway. And we are here now."

They really were here. Naruto still couldn't believe that this mad plan of his had worked. And if he started to think of all the people they had left behind, forever lost to them now… Naruto closed his eyes and a tear escaped, trickling down his cheek. He wiped it away, angry at himself. It wasn't the time to think about it.

"Do you regret it?" Sasuke sounded sad, almost guilty. Even though it had been Naruto's idea to leave everything behind to come here, they both knew Sasuke had the power to dissuade him. Naruto would've listened to him. Instead, he had chosen to be selfish once more, caring more about his own needs than those of his friend.

It had been Naruto's idea, but Sasuke's choice to go along with it.

"No." Naruto was sure of that, at least. He might be a fool, yearning for something that would never happen in this reality. He might even be a self-sacrificing fool, giving up everything he knew and loved for an uncertain future, but he was sure of his choice.

The pain of the loss was painful, and it was a kind of pain that would never go away. The memory of his precious people, now forever lost to him, was something that Naruto would always keep alive in his heart. It was the least he owed them, after leaving them behind with little consideration. But given the chance, he would do it all over again. That knowledge made him feel slightly guilty, but perhaps not as much as it should.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said to him.

Naruto didn't answer. He needed a few moments to regain his composure.

It was pointless to reminiscent about what they had left behind, he reminded himself, when they should be looking forward to this new future instead. There was a whole new world waiting for them, full of posibilities. He waited until his tears had dried and he was sure that his voice wouldn't break before speaking again. "Do you still have the Rinnegan?" He asked Sasuke.

"Yes." Sasuke brushed away his hair from his forehead, and Naruto spied a shadow of purple in his left eye through the shadows of the room. "But I can't use it. With this body's current levels of chakra… it'd be dangerous."

Naruto nodded. Just as they had thought.

"What about you?" Sasuke questioned him.

Naruto closed his eyes, blocking the outside world to his senses while opening the inner world of his mind. "Hagoromo's seal is active, like yours," he determined after a few seconds. "He embedded it in our souls. But this body is… fragile. I don't know if I'm capable of using the sixth path sage mode, or what using it would do to me. And I'll need Kurama's chakra to do it, my current levels are not much higher than yours." Again, it was nothing they hadn't accounted for.

"We will need to train, then," Sasuke didn't sound worried about it. "And Kurama? Is he at full chakra?"

"Yes," Naruto smiled. "We talked for a little while before I woke up. We arrived just in time when the seal was starting to leak, and his future half merged with his present half, as we planned."

"Good," Sasuke nodded, apparently satisfied. "We should sleep. Regain our strength. I'm going to need a genjutsu to hide my eye from Kakashi tomorrow, and he's not easy to trick."

"Are we staying in Konoha, then?" Naruto asked, his voice filled with poorly concealed hope.

"At least for a little while. We don't know where Itachi is at the moment, and it'll be good for you to see everybody again. I know you want to."

Naruto couldn't deny it, just as he couldn't deny the warmth that filled his heart at Sasuke's words. They were proof that Sasuke cared.

Of course, this was no news for Naruto.  Sasuke himself had told him so in a few ocassions. And even more important, he had proved it by standing by Naruto's for almost two years after the war. The blond also remembered his brief experience in one of the parallel universes - the universes that Kurama and he had visited while they were searching for the right one to make the journey back in time.

Naruto recalled the intensity of that universe's Sasuke's gaze as he looked at Naruto, the tickling sensation on his hand as Sasuke held it, the urgency of Sasuke's kisses as he devoured Naruto's mouth and the low whisper in his ear… "I love you". But those had been the actions of a Sasuke whose heart hadn't been broken and then eviscerated at the tender age of eight; a Sasuke who had grown up surrounded by the love and care of his parents and dear older brother.

That Sasuke had loved Naruto in a fearless, passionate, beautiful way. His Sasuke, however… His Sasuke cared for him too, even if his way of caring was different: more cautious. It was still as much as Sasuke could offer to anyone. And for Naruto, that someone so broken, someone so lost, someone who still woke up screaming most nighs and could barely hold it together most days, still chose to care for him... for Naruto, that was priceless. It meant the world.

Naruto wouldn't let himself wish for more.

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