Plans for the Future - II

"Is it a good time to talk about it?" Sakura asked.

Naruto naturally knew what this conversation was about.

"where do I begin..." Naruto sat down with his arms crossed staring at Sasuke's sleeping face.

"You're the seventh Hokage huh, it's pretty amazing to know that." Sakura started.

"Could ya believe there was once a time Sasuke said he wanted to become the Hokage?" Naruto laughed.

"What?" Sakura was surprised.

"All our friends found it funny actually, I didn't mind it, after all, I was gonna be the Hokage from the start" Naruto continued to explaining holding back his laughter.

"when was that?" Sakura asked.

"Hmm... During the fourth ninja war" Naruto said.

"Fourth Ninja War??? When does that happen" Sakura asked in concern.

"Another 3 years from now if things go as they were supposed to...

infact..." Naruto trailed off as he stared blankly at the space in front of him.

"Naruto?" Sakuro tried to get a response from naruto.

"Damn that guy is sleeping" Naruto cursed after having conversed with Kurama only to find out Shu hadn't recovered yet.

"Who is sleeping?" Sakura asked.

"It's the guy who brought me here... He's usually supposed to help me in transmitting my memories..." Naruto sighed.

"..." Sakura stared in silence trying to make sense if this was a technique developed in future or something similar.

Naruto looked at Sakura.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, I'll wait till Sasuke wakes up, that way I can get help in explaining stuff and also tell the truth to him," 

Naruto apologized.

"Hmm..." Sakura turned towards Sasuke dejectedly.

About 20mins later they both hear a groan.

"Sasuke" Sakura was happy seeing Sasuke wake up.

"Thanks for looking after me," Sasuke said as he slowly sat upright.

"Happy to help," Sakura was all smiles serving as a lap pillow for him which she considered a reward.

"How are you feeling now?" Naruto asked.

"Much better, I think all my anger earlier might have been influenced by something..." Sasuke said as he scratched his head.

"Genjutsu..." Naruto and Sakura thought aloud.

"Could be..." Sasuke thought back to the time he fell into Itachi's jutsu.

"Sasuke, this might be repetitive, but I'll need to make sakura catchup and in between I'll tell you the truth," Naruto said.

"Naruto," Sasuke called out.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked.

"I'll stop seeking the truth from you," Sasuke said, stunning both Sakura and Naruto.

"Bruh, are you kidding me right now?" Naruto asked holding Sasuke by his collars, causing Sakura nearby to panic.

"I'll find it on my own," Sasuke said.

"Huh?" Naruto was really confused.

"..."

"Listen up Sasuke, I don't know what happened, but even if you don't want to hear the truth, there's gonna be some things that will have to happen for you to find the truth," Naruto said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"To put it simply, Itachi will not tell you the truth, because he will die before that ever happens." Naruto said.

"What?" Sasuke was shocked.

"He has chosen his fate, to be killed by you," Naruto said as he stared at the distant Horizon.

"He seems to have set things to go that way..." Sasuke said in a low voice thinking back to the genjutsu he broke from earlier.

"It's simple, He only wants to die by your hands, basically wants you to become the hero of the Uchiha clan by killing the one who killed them all" Naruto said.

"So he's the one who killed them all including my mom and dad?" Sasuke asked.

"From what I know, he had help from another person, I've already mentioned the name of this person to you in the forest remember?" Naruto said.

"Uchiha Obito?" Sasuke asked visibly shaken from what he had just learnt.

"There's one thing I've just realized while we spoke," Naruto said in a solemn voice.

"..." Sasuke listened silently.

"There's no saving Itachi in this timeline no matter how much I want to. He's slowly dying from a disease, he's prolonging his life only for the sake of fighting you so he could die in your hands. If we were to deny that, I'm not sure how Itachi would react, he would still die regardless, due to that incurable disease of his..." Naruto explained.

"My brother has a disease?" Sasuke asked slowly.

"I'm afraid I can't say much, as we only came to know about Itachi's truth after he passed away. even if we were to help him now, I'm not sure if he will be choosing to live of his own violation after all those deaths he caused..." Naruto felt a headache realizing he may not be able to save the one guy who actually deserved it in his opinion.

"You've already said things this far..." Sasuke looked at Naruto

"You're right, I might as well tell everything that happened..." Naruto sighed.

Naruto then beckoned Sakura over and started explaining everything that happened in his timeline involving the trio, from Sasuke being cursed, how the chuunin exams turned out, the passing of the Third, Naruto coming back with the Fifth Hokage, Sasuke leaving the village, their training, Bijuu hunt, Chiyo, Gaara, meeting 2 years later, Sai, Yamato, Akatsuki's movements, Sasuke defeating Itachi then learning the truth from Obito, Sasuke joining Akatsuki. Sasuke and Sakura took notice of how Jugo and Karin joined in their timeline, so remembering how things were in the present somehow they were both grateful to Naruto. Sasuke however still felt stifled from his emotions on hearing how things turned out between him and his brother, Sasuke interrupted asking when the truth would be told, Naruto told him to be patient and then continued to explain how things progressed, the battle with pain, the aftermath, The fifth out of commission and Danzo taking over as a temporary Kage . Naruto particularly retold how the 5-kage summit proceeded, helping Sasuke understand how dark he turned out back then. It was now time for the truth and Naruto explained how Obito explained things to him, which he, Yamato and Kakashi later reconfirmed with Sasuke after the war. Hearing Danzo being the one to push his brother onto this path, Sasuke seethed with rage. Naruto understood his anger, however he could only try to calm Sasuke down before helping Sakura catch up with rest of the information after. Hearing Sasuke almost killed Sakura had both of them shaken. Sakura started to doubt their future together hearing how things had gone. Seeing Sakura's feelings in disarray Naruto sighed ("I'll try cheering them up after everything is explained...") Naruto thought to himself.

Sasuke felt bad for both Naruto and Sakura, hearing Naruto having to bow to the Raikage to beg for him and hearing what he almost did to Sakura had shook him hard. Naruto then continued to explain all the events in order till the war. Sasuke was already aware of most of the stuff. He turned to Sakura and also explained about the white Zetsus he had seen with Naruto. Sakura nodded even if everything felt unreal, she could only continue to trust the two in front of her.

When Naruto landed at the part where Sasuke showed up and claimed he wanted to be Hokage, Sakura was holding back from laughing. Naruto was also having a hard time not laughing. Sasuke visibly embarrassed asked Naruto to continue the story. Naruto nodded and went on to explain how the three teamed up like old times and started to draw comparisons to the current legendary sanins as they turned out to be disciples of the three by twist of fate, except in this timeline, Sasuke managed to avoid it by taking a different path. Naruto continued to explain what happened till the end of the war including Itachi's role, the Hokage's showing up, Madara, Obito, the ten tails, Neji's death, the HQ casualty, Gai's 8 gates, Naruto and Sasuke meeting Hagoromo, Otsutsuki Kaguya, showing up, black zetsus plot, the the whole team facing Kaguya. Sasuke turning rogue again at the end, which Naruto had skimmed over when meeting Sasuke and Shikamaru back in the forest. Hearing how Sakura was almost killed once again, she started to fear her future with Sasuke even more.

"Now that you know the truth Sasuke, what do you think?" Naruto asked.

"..." Sasuke stared blankly. Time travel was weird, knowing how things were going to turn out in the future and knowing that things in the present were difficult to change and events that already happened in the past is impossible to change had Sasuke develop mixed feelings. He was now even more confused than ever.

"Sasuke, you know the village is innocent. You will not turn on them right?" Naruto asked.

"Of course I know that!" Sasuke answered angrily.

"What do you plan to do with Itachi now?" Naruto asked.

"..." Sasuke stared silently.

"Danzo?" Naruto asked.

"Him I will Kill!" Sasuke's sharingan activated.

"Okay," Naruto raised both his hands up gesturing for Sasuke to chill down. Danzo was someone Naruto didn't really plan on saving anyways.

"Ya know...." Naruto paused gaining Sasuke's attention.

"We could probably meet Itachi pretty soon," Naruto closed his eyes as if trying to be mysterious.

"What?" Sasuke was astonished.