The Way Into Mist Village (Naruto)

47: Sasuke's Third Choice

[OP: "The Truth is a Cave"]

Sasuke didn't see very well at all.

"How did you get here?" he sputtered.

"The Lord opens a door to a new world the first time we go." Shine pointed upward. "After that we can do it ourselves, in a way, through His power. I have the gift of portalling to help me in-world. You've seen yourself that we have conflicts with the world we're in. Yours happens to have a lot of dark powers in it. The Hero World is where the other 5 come from. That's the last one we were in, and we're still working with them actually. This is kind of a detour for training. It's a lot to think about, but so far I'm enjoying it. That's why their powers are different, too. Wally and I are also not from the same word, but we're partnered up. His power makes it easier for him to adapt, and we're pretty synced up by now--3rd joint mission and all."

Wally nodded. "Shine's taught me how to do it the right way, but I did already have some experience beforehand, just not the safe way, so I could have gotten killed. But thankfully I didn't, and now it's much easier to handle it. DJ-ing is a two person job, I think."

Sasuke didn't care about that part. "And you were sent here...4 years ago?"

"Yes, we were sent to Sand to change the world here," Shine explained. "So yes, they know already."

Sasuke would have sat down if it wouldn't have been so undignified to do it.

"All that time, then...and they knew and I didn't?"

"Who would have told you?" Wally said.

Sasuke shook his head. "So you know what will happen...how?"

"So we're not from the same timeline as you either." Shine held up her hands. "Or each other, for that matter. We're only decades apart though. They are more than 100 years ahead of our time, we think. So sometimes, yes, we have ideas about what will happen because of that...sometimes it's our gift...but we don't actually know the future. It's just clues. Honestly, they don't always work out that way. And usually it only goes so far. I can't tell what will happen here a year from now, for example. No idea."

"Me either," Wally said.

Sasuke rubbed his head in confusion. "Is that how you predicted what would happen to me?"

"Some of it was," Shine admitted. "But I knew very little about you when we first met. Most of it was that I've met so many people from other worlds that it's easier to predict what certain choices lead to now. Evil is no different, and neither are goodness or human nature. Funny thing about this, we're young people, as you can see, but world walking makes us like a couple of old people in young people's minds and bodies. We have so many realities and cultures in our heads to make us feel as if we're older than you all by a lot."

"If you used that gift openly, you'd be like gods here," Sasuke said.

"Some people think so." Wally rolled his eyes. "But we're not. We're as human as you. We just have some advantages, that's all."

"You'd have the same if you did what we did," Shine said. "But you're not likely to ever do it. But that's how it works. The job changes us. It makes us odd, as you can tell, but it gives us instincts too. You stop caring about social norms as much after you've been through a few realities."

Sasuke didn't have any response for that, so he didn't make one.

"You know, this whole time I was anticipating something outlandish?" he said. "It's more than I expected...and less, too. Because no one would be able to trace you... That explains plenty. I always thought it was strange that Orochimaru never mentioned you again. Obviously he couldn't find you..."