vi. crazy

"You shouldn't have used your Sharingan too much."

Soothing coolness washed over his head as he felt her press her hands gently against his closed eyelids.

"Whatever will I do with you? You never listen."

He wanted to protest, to tell her that he'll do whatever she wanted him to do, but his mouth wouldn't cooperate.

"I'll have you know that it's my job to look after you…the both of you, so please, don't make it harder for me."

Bile rose in his throat as she continued her lecture.

"And…it makes me sad to see you like this."

He resented himself for making her feel that way, for being a source of her distress.

He willed his arm into motion.
"R-Rin." He whispered.

The kunoichi jolted when he enclosed her hand in his.

"Rin." He stated stronger this time.

She noticed the tears that had begun flowing down his cheeks.

He still hasn't opened his eyes.

Something pulled at his subconscious, forcing him back into the darkness he was in before her voice had reached him. His grip on her hand slowly relaxed, but he wasn't completely asleep yet when she abruptly pulled away as if electrocuted.

The sound of her footsteps became his lullaby.

The prisoner never heard Sakura slam the iron door close behind her.

"How did it go?" Naruto's somber question greeted her.

"He called me Rin."

"Huh?"

"He called me Rin."

"Does that mean he's awake now?"

"No, Naruto—"

"So that means you failed—"

"YES, SASUKE! I obviously failed in waking him up if he thinks that I'm his teammate who died years ago!" Sakura screamed shrilly, her hair wildly flying around her as she turned to face the two young men.

"Now, if you can find a way to do better than I did and actually succeed in this brilliant little idea YOUR future self had come up with, just send me a message! I need to go destroy something!"

A mutter of 'preferably your face' was heard before the pink-haired shinobi disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"What's gotten into her?" a new voice mused out loud.

Naruto and Sasuke turned out to see Sai walking towards them.

"And what were you three doing here?"

"It's none of your business." Sasuke replied the same time Naruto answered "I could ask you the same thing."

Sai looked on blankly.

Naruto sighed. "Nevermind. Sasuke jerk-face here"— he pointedly glared at said jerk-face—"said something that insulted Sakura-chan so she left."

"But why didn't Ugly hurt him like she did when she got mad at me?"

"W-well…"

"Does that mean she still loves—"

"We were just making rounds." Sasuke snapped. "We've answered your questions. Now, get lost."

"But I've memorized these dungeons al—"

"YOU KNOW WHAT, SAI? I'm hungry. Let's leave the bastard alone here to think about what he did. Hopefully, he can come up with an a-p-o-l-o-g-y because I'm not going to talk to Sakura-chan for him."

"Tch. As if I need you to." the Uchiha murmured and began walking away in the opposite direction.

"Dickless, why do you call your best friend a 'bastard'? Is he an illegitimate child?"

"Oh, he's legitimate alright." Naruto remarked as they exited the prison. Thinking back to the 'mission' his best friend's future self had given them, he added, "Legitimately crazy like the rest of them."

"Uchiha Obito needs to wake up."

After the awkward scene the younger shinobi had walked in on, older Sakura had insisted that they stay for dinner. The three of them had half a mind to turn down the invitation, but a look at older Sasuke's face had them staying.

True enough, after the even more awkward dinner, the older Uchiha finally told them what needs to be done.

And Naruto promptly went ballistic.

"WHAT?! NO WAY! WAKE HIM UP AND LET HIM DO WHAT YOU CRAZY UCHIHA DO BEST?!"

Two pairs of dark eyes glared at the young Naruto for his statement.

"There is an explanation—"

"Damn right, there better be! We've all worked hard to put that asshole in the state he's in! Don't tell me we'd have to undo everything!"

"Naruto, let's hear it out first—"

"Sakura-chan, he killed my Mom and Dad!"

"Hey—"

"And you!" Naruto pointed a finger at his older self. "You're me! You should have known how I'd react to this!"

"I know. Hell, I would have reacted far worse. But now I'm asking you to be rational—"

"Rational? RATIONAL?! I'll show you rational when I see that asshole's face again!"

"Are you finished yet?" older Sasuke's cold voice cut in.

"No, I am NOT finished." the younger shinobi challenged, getting to his feet.

"Naruto." Sakura stood up too, and placed a hand on her teammate's shoulder. "This is crucial information. Let him explain."

"Well, I'll be damned." older Naruto chuckled. "That must be you rubbing off on me, eh, Sasuke-bastard? I never realized I could be so driven by revenge."

Older Sakura gave him a look. "You aren't that kind of person, Naruto."

"What kind of person, Sakura?" her husband questioned.

"OH YEAH? Well, people change." The older ones looked back at the raging blond. "What if I'm already sick of playing hero—?"

"Tch. As if you'd ever—"

"Shut up, asshole." Naruto snapped. It was the harshest tone he had ever used in addressing his dark-haired teammate. It left their other companions shocked. Naruto turned to them.

"What? He's allowed to go psycho and I'm not?"

"H-hey, sit down." His older self had risen to his feet too.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Come on, just listen to me. I'm you, remember? Just sit down."

"I. Don't. Want. To."

"Your eyes are red, Naruto. Please. Sit down." Sakura's voice prompted.

The blond shinobi looked around him. His older self and the two females stared back at him anxiously. Sasuke appeared ready to put him down by force, while his older counterpart just regarded him coolly.

Naruto slowly inhaled and closed his eyes. When he opened them, their color was back to normal. Still, he refused to sit down.

The older Sasuke met him eye-to-eye.

"If, after everything, Obito is still alive… then you can kill him with your own hands."

"OI SASUKE!"

"SASUKE-KUN?!"

"ENOUGH!" the older Uchiha roared. "In our timeline, we were almost annihilated. We went back here to make sure that doesn't happen, ever, remember?"

His eyes gave off a cold, merciless glint.

"As long as we stay alive, I don't care what happens to everybody else."

Author's Notes: Heya! So sorry for the late update. I got lost on the road of life. /shot
Well, not really haha; but I just graduated and I badly need to go and look for a job. /rolls
More to come in the next chapters!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.