Chapter 551: Dispersal
"...So in your world, did Itachi end up dying of illness?"
Young Sasuke's voice was careful, probing, his gaze fixed on Satsuki's face as though he might be able to read the answer from her expression before she gave it.
"No."
Her answer was clean and immediate.
"She was lucky. On the night of the massacre, Naruto subdued her directly using the Nine-Tails' power. She's been imprisoned ever since."
A pause.
"But she and I have no relationship whatsoever. If she ever dares appear in front of me again, I'll kill her on the spot."
Young Sasuke nodded slowly, turning the information over in his mind.
So in that world, Itachi's ending wasn't death. It was a cage.
He still didn't have the answers he needed. The pain was still lodged in his chest, the questions still had nowhere to go, the feelings he didn't know what to do with still hadn't found a place to settle. But maybe -- if he could go further. See that world with his own eyes.
Maybe then.
"Can I meet her?" He raised his head. "Your world's Itachi."
Satsuki blinked. A flash of surprise moved through her eyes -- she clearly hadn't expected that. But it lasted only a moment before the coldness replaced it entirely.
"That's something you need to ask Naruto." Her voice was flat. "Ask him whether he's willing to take you there. Don't come to me about wanting to see Itachi. I have no relationship with her. Whatever happens to her, whatever anyone does to her -- none of it concerns me in the slightest."
There was no softening in those words. No opening, no retreat, not even a hairline crack. She would meet Itachi and kill her. That was all.
That was Satsuki's position toward Itachi, without qualification.
Because in her memory, that person had genuinely tried to destroy every single thing that mattered to her. Her father. Her mother. And Naruto. Every person she cared about, that woman had hurt or tried to kill. That, Satsuki could not forgive. Not under any circumstances.
Young Sasuke was quiet for a moment, then turned slowly toward adult Naruto with a look of silent, wordless appeal.
Adult Naruto shifted slightly under that look.
That expression -- there was really no other way to describe it. It was the look of a small dog caught out in the rain.
"...Don't look at me like that," he said, and sighed.
"Fine. I'll take you." He couldn't hide it, that warm, helpless indulgence in his voice. He paused, then added: "But understand this going in -- whatever you see over there, try not to react too strongly."
He knew exactly what the situation was with his world's version of Itachi. In fact, "Itachi" wasn't even the right name anymore. His sister had been renamed, and now went by Yuu. Female. Not an older brother -- an older sister.
And Yuu was already well into pregnancy with Shisui's child. By the timeline, the baby had probably already arrived by now.
The woman who had once orchestrated a massacre was now holding a newborn, spending her days in the unremarkable, consuming work of nursing an infant.
Adult Naruto created a Shadow Clone -- he wasn't about to leave Satsuki to wander the valley alone while he escorted young Sasuke across dimensions. Besides, he glanced sideways at young Naruto, who was still sneaking glances at Satsuki when he thought no one was looking.
It struck adult Naruto as faintly ridiculous that he could apparently be jealous of himself. But here he was. The kid's eyes had a quality that reminded him uncomfortably of Hinata from the old stories.
The Shadow Clone moved without ceremony and opened Yomotsu Hirasaka. A black portal tore into existence in the air before them, its edges faintly luminous with a dim, cold light. Adult Naruto shifted his focus briefly -- a small adjustment through creation mode -- and the door was ready. Cross-world capable.
Young Sasuke stood at the threshold and stared into the darkness.
This thing really could travel between worlds?
He watched the Shadow Clone step through. The silhouette vanished into the black without even leaving an echo of footsteps. Young Sasuke set his jaw, turned once to look back.
Young Naruto was standing a short distance away. His face was full of something open and unguarded. He wasn't even blinking.
Young Sasuke said nothing. He turned back, and stepped through.
The portal folded closed behind him.
"He'll come back," adult Naruto said. A simple reassurance.
Young Naruto nodded. He knew he wasn't really afraid of Sasuke going far away. What he was afraid of was Sasuke not coming back -- disappearing the way he almost had today, turning his back and walking away without looking behind him. As long as Sasuke wasn't going to Orochimaru, that was what mattered. That was enough.
Quiet settled over the valley again. Everyone who needed to leave had left. The accumulated chaos of the afternoon had, for the moment, come to a close.
Young Naruto scratched his head. Something crossed his face.
"...Oh."
He clapped a hand over his forehead.
"I almost forgot completely!"
He spun toward adult Naruto, his voice suddenly urgent.
"Sorry, I have to go -- my teammates are still out there fighting Orochimaru's men! I have no idea how the battle turned out! I need to go check on them, or back them up!"
He was already moving before he finished speaking, breaking into a run, and a few strides later he had plunged into the tree line and was gone.
Adult Naruto watched him go.
...The kid had only just now remembered Choji, Kiba, Neji, and Shikamaru?
Right, then.
The waterfall roared steadily in the background. A breeze moved through.
Adult Naruto stood where he was and looked around. Sunlight fell across the valley floor, stretching both their shadows long.
"...Just the two of us now?"
Satsuki's voice came from beside him.
"For now." He nodded. "I've got a Shadow Clone standing watch -- this world's parents still need a little more time to wake up. But it's handled." A beat. "Is there anywhere Satsuki wants to go?"
Satsuki was quiet for a moment.
"...Can I go see this world's Itachi?"
Adult Naruto stopped.
"Huh?"
Satsuki's request -- the same as young Sasuke's?
"In this world, he killed Mom and Dad." Satsuki's voice was entirely level. Eerily level for the thing she was describing. "I know. His fate belongs to this world's Sasuke to decide."
"But --" Something shifted in her expression.
"Giving him a little lesson myself wouldn't be a problem. Would it."
It was barely a question.