Chapter Ten: Cut From The Same Fan

This chapter is going to be a major let down to all you Itachi fans, and I feel really bad about it. But from the pole and the reviews that I've seen, majority of people wanted… well they didn't wanted Itachi. I love the guy, but he's not meant to play a role in this story so I apologize. I just realized that today was the fourth of July, and I didn't even do anything. How unpatriotic can you get? Oh and here is a question for the audience, who do you think is the fastest genin besides Lee?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does… But if I did own it, that would be really cool. I own all OC mentioned the story though! Enjoy ^_^

His hands practically shook as they reached up to grasp the mask that covered his pale, smooth face.

"Naruto."

Hearing a clatter of something hit the ground, Naruto lifted his arm off his face to look over at the raven haired boy across from him. His eyes automatically landed on the white porcelain mask that was discarded on the ground. He barely had any time to think before a pair of glazed over black eyes (making them look practically grey) searched in his direction. Naruto stared at the smooth pale face, his eyes wide in wonder. His mouth fell open and shut several times before he could really rap his mind around the fact that the mystery was finally over. Naruto's eyes roamed his face. Black hair, black eyes, pale complexion, and what looked like small frown lines around his mouth. He really would be a complete idiot if he didn't recognize where those features came from. A frown of his own started to work its way onto his face, and even though Naruto was about to speak, he choked on his own words. Naruto couldn't think of anything to say, and just stared until his eyes started to water from not blinking.

"No I'm not casting a Genjutsu over my face. You can check."

Naruto had never been good at dispelling or recognizing a Genjutsu, but that was usually only when he was in one. For example, Naruto would have never in the life of him figure out that the Room 201 sign was under an illusion. But because he wasn't trapped in an elaborate one, Naruto was able to dispel it… with some effort of course. Placing his fingers together and muttering under his breath, Naruto opened his eyes again to be met with the same sight. Laughing nervously, Naruto tried it three more times before he calmly placed his hands back in his lap. Sighing under his breath slowly, it only took a second for hysteria to kick in.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT! NO WAY!"

He scrambled to his feet, and shook his head to make sure he just wasn't imagining things from lack of ramen consumption or something equally as likely. (Right Naruto, Right… -.-) His face scrunched up before he bolted over, what Naruto had just discovered, the Uchiha. He practically tripped on the stairs as he took four at a time to get to his room. Slipping on the floor twice while turning a corner, Naruto swung the door open, leaped in and then made sure that the door was firmly closed and locked behind him. When Sasuke had mentioned he was the last Uchiha, he was surprised enough to have met Itachi Uchiha a few months ago, but now that there was another one right downstairs, that looked awfully like Sasuke he might add, a heart attack wasn't that much of a farfetched proclamation. Naruto didn't know what to do considering Uchiha were as strange a group of people you could get. One moment you thought you figured them out, and then suddenly they do something that just baffles you… it really was ridiculous sometimes. He sat in front of the door, tensing when he heard footsteps approach. When he finally saw the shadow under the door, he waited for the door to be kicked open, but was actually astonished to hear the newly discovered Uchiha start to sit on the other side.

"Naruto, open the door. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have a long time ago."

"So what are you? Sasuke's cousin or brother twice removed?"

Naruto bit his tongue at that comment, which sounded a little harsh when he actually voiced it. If he knew anything about Sasuke, it was that mentioning family relation in any shape or form was very dangerous.

"Well, I look like Sasuke, so it's obvious that I'm fairly close to the main line."

Naruto silently nodded his head in agreement. That sounded pretty reasonable, but then again what did it matter. He was still an Uchiha either way. Just as he was about to ask another question, Naruto thought the last statement over, and something suddenly struck him. The guy was blind, so how would he know anything about how Sasuke looked. In fact, there were a lot of things 'Atsushi' shouldn't have known.

"You're kind of short and girly looking to be a Hokage."

That was proof enough there! Once of the first things the guy had ever said to him! They had just met, and there was no fricking way that he could have known that he was short or girly looking... And he wasn't girly looking! He just had softer features that he probably got from one of his parents, and hopefully he'd grow out of that. But he digresses. Either the guy knew these things prior to their meeting or that he wasn't really blind! Opening the door, he pointed an accusing finger at the older boy sitting crossed legged on the floor.

"Son of a bitch! You're not really blind, are you?"

"Yes, I'm blind."

"Then you knew me before you were blind!"

"You can say that, yeah."

"Haha! I figured it out! You work for the Akatsuki!"

'Atsushi' sighed in exasperation. This was getting nowhere. He just assumed that Naruto would come to the most ridiculous conclusion possible, (which happened to be the right one in this case) and this would be a lot easier for him, but apparently not. One blind eye slightly twitching, he flicked a strand of hair out of his face.

"Naruto, I am Sasuke."

"That's a lie! There's no way! Prove it."

Sitting up a little straighter, 'Sasuke' thought about it for a moment before speaking again, since there were so many things he could say.

"During the Chunin Exams, I was late because of Kakashi."

"The whole stadium knew that."

"The day we were assigned teams, you and I accidently kissed."

"Common knowledge… unfortunately."

"I saved you from dying on that mission in wave."

"Could had heard that from a lot of people."

"When our hands got stuck together on that retrieval mission for the golden statue, our fingers were touching under the tar, but neither of us mentioned it because it was too embarrassing."

Naruto's mouth fell open at that. He knew for a fact that Sasuke would never had said anything about that, and he made sure to try to actually forget it.

"But… but that's not possible. There can't be two Sasuke's… right?"

The silence that followed could only be described as deafening. The sheer amount of tension could have split the Hokage mountain right in half. Naruto sat in front of 'Sasuke', but still kept his distance. "Okay, so assuming that I actually believe this, did real Sasuke botch some kind of quack a doodle jutsu and you split off from him or something?"

"First off, I'm as real as you are. Second of all, even if that's a good theory, that's not it."

"Okay, okay, I got this. You're from the future!"

It was definitely meant as a joke as he raised his hands up and gave his voice a dramatic touch, but all he was given was a solemn nod. "You're from the future?" Naruto squeaked out. Another slow nod later, Naruto had fainted in shock.

"Well, he took it better than I thought."

'Sasuke' shook Naruto to see if he would wake up, but seeing that the boy really was knocked out cold, he lifted the boys in his arms, and set him on the bed inside the room. Thinking it would be wise to not be near the overzealous boy when he woke up, 'Sasuke' walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, rubbed his eyes in frustration and then stalked off. Hopefully Naruto wouldn't make too much of a ruckus when he woke up, but just to be safe, 'Sasuke' decided to buy ramen for negotiation.

Sasuke was having a hard time not giving into thoughts like knocking Sakura out. After getting back and turning in his mission scroll, he was ambushed by her the moment he walked into the market place to get back home. Whether it was her obsession with him, or concern that another one of her teammates would disappear, Sasuke could care less all the same. She would be such a more valuable team member if she concentrated a lot less on him. Quickly reassuring her that he had only gone out on a mission, he hurried back to his house to renew his supplies. He had considered telling someone about going off and finding Naruto, but he already knew the reactions he would get. The adults were want him to stay home, and his teammates would throw him some kind of pity party with a Sasuke-must-really-miss-Naruto theme. He knew it wasn't the smartest idea to go alone, but he wouldn't just sit around while his blonde dobe was sitting in some dark cell. He sat on his bed for a moment, deciding on whether or not he should leave a note. Sasuke had no idea how long it would take to find Naruto, so after making sure he had a fair amount of money in his bag, Sasuke wrote a quick note. Rereading it, he noticed it wasn't very reassuring, but it certainly got to the point. Placing it on the table closest to the front door, (they would be pretty stupid if they thought he was going to let anyone snoop around his house) he jogged through the Compound and into the forest behind it. The high wall that surrounded Konoha was pretty much the best built barrier in any village, but that never stopped Mother Nature. A family of gophers had dug a tunnel from one side of the wall to the other, and over the years, the rain and other animals had made it larger. Sasuke wasn't sure if he could still fit through it anymore, but he could dig part of it out if he couldn't. He promised himself years ago that he would fix it, but he kept it open for just this kind of emergency. Sasuke leaped over a bush, and approaching the high wall in front of him. Checking to see that the guards at the top were looking the other way or walking another direction, Sasuke crawled through a separate set of bushes growing near and against the wall. Freezing to check that no one had sensed him, Sasuke pushed away the rock he had placed over the hole, and slipped in.

"Definitely a tight fit." Sasuke took off his backpack to make more room, and while pushing himself deeper into the hole, he dragged his backpack along. Sweat dripped off his face as ten minutes passed by, and he got annoyed at the fact that he couldn't wipe it out of his eyes because than he'd get dirt in them. He crawled a few yards father before Sasuke could see a slight shine of light ahead where the other hole was. Ignoring the bugs that were attaching themselves in to his hair and clothes, Sasuke picked up the pace. He had to congratulate himself for not going absolutely insane. Being underground just wasn't his forte. Dusting himself off, Sasuke looked around and continued on his way.

Now, Sasuke had thought this through. He wasn't stupid enough to go on a rogue mission without having a plan. Seeing as the guy didn't want anything from the village or Naruto (He would have gotten it a long time ago if he did) the masked man was most likely still staying inside Fire Country borders. It was too bad Fire Country was pretty large, but Sasuke thanked Kami that, for some reason, people loved to talk in this region. It was a bitter memory, but by the time Sasuke had gotten out of the hospital after his family's massacre, the entire country had heard about it. The only good thing about that was that he had had lots of flowers and trinkets to take his anger and frustration out on.

Taking out a map of Fire Country, he looked at the marks he had made. He had circled a set of cities and towns around the village. If he was efficient enough with his time, he would be able to visit a city and than a town every two days, which was a good enough plan for now. He would stop at nothing to find Naruto, and he swore to himself that he wouldn't sleep peacefully once Naruto was back home with him.

"Have you seen Sasuke?" Tsunade asked a group of ninja in the Jounin lounge. After they all muttered and shook their heads, Tsunade grunted in annoyance and strutted off. Earlier that morning, she had received a stack of mission completion files to sign off when she saw Sasuke's name on one of the tabs. Out of sheer boredom, she picked the file from the stack, and shifted through it. It wasn't that exciting; just a simple escort mission. About to place the file back onto the large stack, Tsunade noticed that the raven haired boy had not signed at the bottom of the mission evaluation. That was pretty much unheard of since Sasuke was as thorough with his mission reports as Kakashi was at reading his Icha Icha books.

Seeing as she wasn't going to find the last Uchiha any time soon, she decided to put the file on her desk for him to sign when he reappeared. It wasn't uncommon for Sasuke to disappear for long hours, which she guessed was used for training. Seeing as that sounded like a generally reasonable deal, she dragged herself back to her office for another bottle of alcohol. "Geez, imagine having two Sasukes. Haha! I don't think I could handle that." Somewhere in the country, two Sasukes gave a heavy sneeze before shaking it off with annoyance.

Naruto woke up feeling more or less confused. Rolling off the bed, he ignored the fact his hair looked like it hadn't been combed in a week, and creaked the door open. Keeping himself to the sides of the walls, Naruto slid his way to the end of the hallway, and peaked down the stairs. The first thing he noticed was the porcelain mask, which was laying innocently on top of the wooden table a few feet from the stairway. Trying to look from a different angle, Naruto tried to see if anyone was in the kitchen and wasn't disappointed when he say him sitting at the kitchen table shifting through a box of random items. "Naruto, I know your there. Come down."

Jumping the full flight of stairs, Naruto rushed into the kitchen ready to start a fight when 'Sasuke' pointed to a pot on the stove. Further inspection relieved it to contain ramen, which he gladly served himself. While he ate, Naruto glanced a few times at him.

"So you really are Sasuke?"

Pausing in his search for an extra set of trip wire, 'Sasuke' looked up from the box. "It's about time you figured it out, dobe."

"Hey! Just because I finally know who you are doesn't mean that you can call me an idiot now."

Chuckling under his breath, Sasuke gave a small smirk. "Alright then… Naruto."

Nodding his head in triumph, Naruto polished off his bowl of ramen. He'd have to say that this brand wasn't as good as the one at Ichiraku, but better than the ramen at the festival. The festival… wait a moment… Spinning only his heels, Naruto quickly backed up so that he was flush against the wall in the kitchen farthest from 'Sasuke'.

"You kissed me! And I told you all that stuff about Sasuke… you! Ahh!"

His face was beat red in embarrassment at the thought of all the times he had talked about Sasuke in front of… older Sasuke. He was absolutely mortified at the fact he had confessed not but a few hours ago!

"I'm actually quite flattered. To think, my charms were enough to woe my greatest rival."

Naruto sputtered in protest even though he knew he was in too deep to deny it. Covering his face with his hands, he tried to avoid the laughter ringing in the room. He attempted to make himself disappear as he heard 'Sasuke' walk towards him.

Taking Naruto's wrists in his hands, 'Sasuke' pried Naruto's hands away from his face, and set them at his sides.

"You know Naruto, I am technically the same Sasuke."

Naruto stared at him in confusion, before he turned even brighter. "Okay, so you are kind of the same Sasuke, but still you…"

Naruto was quickly silenced when a pair of lips crashed into his own. The first time, he had felt a bit of betrayal at the fact he liked Sasuke, but was kissing 'Atsushi', but with the new found knowledge that 'Atsushi' was really 'Sasuke'… well there was only one thought that crossed his mind as he leaned in to the kiss. Damn he's gotten better since the classroom incident…

With a small smacking sound, 'Sasuke' ended the kiss. Naruto was slightly dizzy with all the feelings swirling inside of him, and had to physically steady himself so he wouldn't fall over.

"You're not very good at this, you know." 'Sasuke' said plainly. He had a completely serious expression on his face as he said it, which made Naruto all the more angry.

"Yeah, well the you of now isn't that good either so… ha."

Naruto lifted his nose in the air and crossed his arms, but the victory was short lived as 'Sasuke' started to walk out of the kitchen area.

"I'm so glad you kept my kissing skills in mind."

"TEME!"

I'm getting a whole bunch of ideas in my mind, now. I've got several ways I want this story to go, but in the end, I still want Naruto to end up with younger/ his Sasuke. And somehow I need to figure out what why Sasuke needs to get back to his time. I'm actually disappointed that this story didn't end up longer since so much happened. Well the next chapter I'll try to actually hit a little higher. It'll probably be in by Thursday or Friday. Thank you for reading! Review!

Chapter Eleven: Towns