The steam seemed to thicken, pressing against the boys' lungs as the shouting match reached a fever pitch. Sasuke's voice finally sliced through the noise, low and dangerously steady.
"SHUT UP. ALL OF YOU."
The pool went silent, the only sound being the soft hiss of the indoor spring. Sasuke's eyes were dark, shadowed by the rising mist.
"We aren't in the present. And we aren't in the future," Sasuke stated, his fingers finally dropping away from his neck.
"The mark isn't gone because it was healed or because Orochimaru died. It's gone because we are in the past. We are in a time where he hasn't even touched me yet."
"The past?!" Naruto blurted out, splashing the water in disbelief.
"Sasuke, you're acting like a total fool dattebayo! How can we be in the past? I'm right here! You're right here! We're too old to be in the past, dattebayo!"
Neji shook his head, his face tight with frustration.
"I expected better logic from you, Sasuke. To say we have traveled back in time is a massive leap. It is a foolish theory. Time, Space time Jutsu and Chakra don't just bend backward because you have a clean neck...."
"It's far more likely that we are in a distorted future."
"But think about it!" Lee cried out, his hands gripping the stone edge of the pool so hard his knuckles turned white.
"If we truly are in the past... then what is the point of going to Konoha? If we go there, and we haven't even been born yet, there is no use! We will be strangers! We won't have homes! We won't have a village to return to!"
The logic was spiraling out of control, the theories clashing against the stone walls like waves. The tension was so thick it felt like the air itself was about to snap.
Suddenly, a high, piercing sound tore through the steam.
"STOP IT!"
Everyone froze. Mini-Sasuke was standing up in the shallow end of the pool, his small chest heaving and his face twisted in a look of pure, terrified rage.
He had finally broken. He wasn't the 'Grown-up' Sasuke or the 'Guardian'—he was just a little boy who had heard enough about ghosts, deaths, and disappearing futures.
His scream echoed off the cedar ceiling, sharp and desperate. Every head turned.
Naruto, Neji, Lee, and the Sasuke all stared at the child, the silence that followed his outburst feeling heavier than the water itself.
The scream had barely faded when Mini-Sasuke's face crumpled. Big, hot tears began to spill down his reddened cheeks, mixing with the bathwater.
"You're wrong!" the boy sobbed, his voice trembling with a child's raw fear.
"We are not in the future... and we are not in a ghost time! We are in my timeline! This is my timeline.. It's my world, you all are just making everything scary!"
"What the hell are you saying!?" Naruto shouted, his confusion turning into frustration. "Kid, you don't understand! We're the ones who came from somewhere else! If this is your timeline, then we shouldn't even be here looking like this!"
Neji stepped forward, his face stern. "Listen to reason. If this were truly your 'timeline' in the way you think, the variables would be different. You are a child; you cannot understand the complexity of time-space travel. Stop shouting nonsense."
The shouting only made the boy sob harder, his small shoulders shaking as he wiped his eyes with wet hands.
Sasuke watched his younger self, and a sharp pang of guilt pierced through his cold exterior.
'What am I doing?' Sasuke thought, his jaw tightening.
'I am a shinobi, yet I am acting like a reckless amateur. To argue about timelines and the death of enemies in front of a child who hasn't even seen the world yet... how pathetic.'
Without a word, Sasuke stood up from the hot water. He walked over to the edge where the boy was trembling and reached out, lifting Mini-Sasuke out of the pool in one swift, firm motion.
The moment the boy was out of the water, he clung to the older Sasuke's bare arm, burying his face against him.
"Please..." the boy whispered through his tears. "Please just take me home. I want to go to Konoha. I want to see the clan gates. I'm sure it's my timeline... I can't take this anymore. I just want to go back."
Sasuke felt the boy's small, cold hands gripping him. It was like holding a mirror to his own past—the vulnerability he had tried so hard to kill.
"Enough," Sasuke said, his voice quiet but echoing with an authority that silenced Naruto and Neji instantly.
The Datsuijo was silent, the only sound the soft patter of water dripping from their hair onto the wooden floorboards.
The row of woven baskets sat empty along the wall, save for the neatly folded piles of their old shinobi gear, each one hiding the crests of clans that shouldn't exist in this era according to Sasuke.
Sasuke led the boy to the dry stone bench. He grabbed a thick, white towel and began to dry the boy's hair and shivering body.
He worked with a strange, careful gentleness, making sure the cloth didn't rub too hard against the boy's skin.
He pulled a small, dark blue yukata from the pile and helped the boy slide his arms into the sleeves. Sasuke didn't look at the others; he focused entirely on tying the sash around the boy's waist.
The younger version of himself looked small and fragile in the oversized fabric, his eyes still red-rimmed from crying.
'He's just a child, 'Sasuke's thoughts raced as he smoothed out the fabric.
'While we argue about the 'how' and 'why,' he is the one actually living through the nightmare.'
The room was silent now, save for the boy's small, hitching breaths. Sasuke stood up, his hand resting firmly on the boy's shoulder to ground him.
Naruto pulled his own orange-tinted yukata over his shoulders, his voice hushed but filled with that familiar, stubborn hope.
"Don't worry, Sasuke," he whispered, looking toward Mini-Sasuke.
"When we finally get back to Konoha, everything's gonna be fine. I'm sure Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin will know exactly what to do. And Sandaime-no-jiji... he's got all those crazy forbidden scrolls, right? They've seen everything. They'll find a way to get you back to exactly where you belong."
The air in the changing room suddenly turned cold. Sasuke's head snapped toward Naruto, his eyes burning with a sharp, warning intensity.
He didn't say a word, but the glare he leveled at Naruto was enough to make the air feel heavy.
'You idiot!...'Sasuke's thoughts hissed.
'You're making promises to a child based on no surety also. You talk of Sandaime and Kakashi as if they are standing right there, forgetting that we are in the past, their help comes with a price—or they might not even know who we are yet. And in worst case we don't know in which timeline only we are. '
Lee, noticing the way Mini-Sasuke flinched at the mention of the scrolls and the complicated future, stepped forward and placed a hand on Naruto's arm.
"Naruto-kun, stop," Lee said softly, his voice unusually somber.
"Please. Look at him. He is not in a state to hear about forbidden jutsu or the theories of the Sages. His spirit is tired."
Lee looked at the boy, then back at the group. "Let us just focus on reaching the gates first. We cannot build a bridge before we even find the river."
Sasuke turned away, picking up the basket containing their old clothes. He kept one hand firmly on Mini-Sasuke's shoulder, a silent anchor in the dark, as they prepared to leave the warmth of the bathhouse behind.
The heavy wooden door of the Grand Pavilion creaked open. The girls, who had been sitting in a tense circle, immediately stood up. The air in the room changed the moment the boys stepped in.
They didn't look like a group that had just enjoyed a relaxing bath.
Sasuke walked in first, his face a mask of cold fury, his hand still resting on the shoulder of Mini-Sasuke.
The Mini Sasuke's eyes were puffy and red, his small face tucked down into the collar of his blue yukata.
Behind them, Neji looked ready to strike someone, his jaw tight, while Naruto and Lee looked exhausted and frustrated.
"What happened?" Sakura asked, her voice trembling as she looked at the crying child and Sasuke's dark expression.
"Did someone see you? Were there Samurai at the baths?" Tenten said.
Hinata noticed the way the boys were standing—not together, but in small, angry groups.
"You... you look like you've been in a fight," she whispered, clutching a blanket to her chest.
Sasuke didn't even look at her. He led the small boy to a corner and sat him down. "We weren't seen," Sasuke said, his voice dropping coldness.
"But we found something. Or rather... Neji found something that shouldn't be possible."
---
📊 BATTLE REPORT: 52-IRON 📊
LOSER: Mini Sasuke 📉 👦🏻
SNEAK PEAK LINES💬
"He's usually so loud, but he looks...
defeated. "
'They are so busy fighting over 'when' we are, they don't even realize that the land we are in is a death trap of they hear us.'
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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