An Inch of Gold

23

 "You think," Future Sasuke repeats, tone deceptively soft. Kakashi imagines many a poor soul has mistaken that softness for calm. Instead, he finds the hairs on the back of his neck raising, the same way they might in proximity of a dangerous predator.

It's not a bad reaction to have, given what he just saw the man do. And, considering he's pretty sure he knows what Future Sasuke's closed eye now hides.

That was a Rinnegan. Those are supposed to be extinct, if they were anything beyond myth. So how the hell did Sasuke end up with one?

"It's a long story," he says instead. "The short version is we separated from Konohamaru and his team a while back. The most prudent thing to do was to get out of the time-bubble and minimize the paradox. We tried to get Sarada to come with us, but...well." Kakashi shrugs here. "She's your daughter. Do you really think she was going to let us drag her out of here when her teammates are busy trying to save the world?"

"No," Future Sasuke says, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

Kakashi can't help his mouth twitching slightly at this. "I take it it's not a surprise th—"

"Bastard!" someone shouts from above them, and Kakashi and his students immediately tense up, expecting another attack. Instead, they see three figures skidding down the walls toward them.

Three surprisingly familiar figures.

The three genin gasp, and Kakashi knows if he wasn't more in control of himself, he'd do the same.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, just disappearing like that?" the shouter continues. He stalks forward, blue eyes narrowed in annoyance and whiskers bristling with every step. "One minute you're dragging us in here, and the next you're opening up a portal and leaving us behind! What the hell kind of stupid—?!" The diatribe trails off as a clearly adult Naruto seems to notice exactly which group of people are standing beside his friend, because he goes quiet. "Oh."

Oh is as good a descriptor as any. It's not as if a situation like this one happens every day.

In a slow, utterly unconscious movement, Kakashi watches as his students, past and future, move directly in front of one another as if they are approaching a particularly powerful funhouse mirror. No one appears to completely comprehend what faces them.

Future Naruto, still resplendent in bright orange but whose chakra dwarfs all of them like a burning pyre, smiles down at his younger self with something like nostalgia. Young Naruto gapes outright, jaw hanging and one finger pointing in disbelief. Yet again, he remains stunned beyond speech.

The two Sasukes regard each other warily. The spectacle resembles two rival wolves sizing each other up, which makes no sense considering they are essentially the same person. Kakashi's student appears to still be taking in every aspect of his older self—the missing arm, the black eye which once showed the Mangekyō Sharingan, and the other which holds the Rinnegan—and clearly doesn't know what to make of the man who is obviously a formidable warrior. The Sasuke who saved them from the battlefield, however, gazes down at his younger self with an expression that is too hard to read. It's as if he is looking at something long forgotten and which causes him great discomfort.

Sakura, the one who is mother to Sarada, holds herself entirely differently than Kakashi is used to seeing. And that rhombus shape on her forehead, if he's not mistaken, is Tsunade's Byakugo. Suddenly Sarada's capabilities make so much more sense, and Kakashi experiences a wave of pride for his lone female student.

The woman bites her lips as she studies her younger self. It appears she's holding back a smile that she isn't sure is appropriate, but her eyes shine like she's rediscovered an old photo or treasured keepsake. Young Sakura, on the other hand, clutches her hands to her chest, cheeks slightly pink as she considers the woman in front of her uncertainly. Even though they are clearly the same person—the pink hair kind of makes that obvious—she can't believe the woman in front of her is her.