A/N: I'd like to apologize fist. Life has been kind of stressful. (Finding a job after college, renting my own apartment, dealing with my boyfriend etc.) Even if there are ideas around my head, I seldom manage to muster enough time to clarify them into words. Now that I've finally found some time to write and polish everything, I hope the chapter is up to your satisfaction.

Please enjoy!

The ground was shifting, people were screeching, exploding and... vanishing. She was in Konoha's Central Shopping District, in the very midst of the commotion, running along with the others, running away from -

A large nebulous screen appeared in front of her. And then she realized it wasn't really a screen, but a folded version of the same place unfolding before her very eyes. People were running, rushing out of there too and as more came, more on her side began disappearing.

She felt her heart race, beating until her chest hurt and causing her to perspire furiously until her shirt was soaked.

As Sekai no Hashi collapses, the bridge between worlds collapses.

"What are you talking about?" She croaked, her voice hoarse. It was a while ago since she had her last drink.

But there's more. If two realities end up colliding, all you know - and all they know too - will end up canceling each other out.

"What do you mean?" She was confused

"ASAMI!"

"What?" Asami jolted awake.

She felt a dig by the elbow on part of Kagami. "Been having weird visions again?"

"Yeah..." Asami murmured

"Need some water?" Kagami offered her a glass.

"Thanks," said Asami gratefully.

"Do you want to talk to me about it? I mean, I probably don't know much about anything, but if it makes you feel any better..."

"I saw this world ending, Kagami. It's difficult to explain, but there's this voice telling me that... that our reality with colliding with another and the two are canceling each other out. It's freaky, I don't even know whether to believe in any of that."

"Wow."

"Is that... all you have to say?"

"Hey, I'm not an expert! For real though, I hope we end up good on this. Let's talk to Sumire-sensei about this. She might be able to relay this to your parents and then maybe we can figure out what's going on."

He held out his hand and she took it. Asami suddenly felt a little bit awkward.

"I guess."

"Yeah, uh, you want to go now?"

"Sure."

~X~

Sumire Kakei and Teuchi accompanied the client at a bar still languid in the early evening.

The daughter of the minor aristocrat, some distant-relation of the Grass Country's daimyo, was a bit spoilt at times, but, nevertheless, she was mostly an amicable person who relished in chatting with people. All kinds of people. And since they were on a mission to escort her to the Land of Snow, they met a lot of people. Ergo, she had essentially been talking nonstop, which Teuchi found mildly overbearing, even as Sumire-sensei urged patience on his part. They were here to do a professional job after all, not to enjoy themselves.

Heck, it wasn't his fault for feeling disgruntled. He was the only one on his team who had to endure this, given that his two other teammates were too busily wooing each other's hearts. Okay, maybe not. He felt bad for making light of Asami's faintings. She did appear pretty shaken yesterday.

At present, the client seemed to be conversing with two young men and Sumire-sensei sat with them.

Then, Asami and Kagami entered the place. From his place, it appeared that they were making some sparse talk. Kagami said something and Asami gave a small chuckle, shaking her head. It was so obvious that something was going on between them; Teuchi was no idiot. He was a guy, a guy who was romantically and sexually attracted to girls, a guy who had had many previous crushes, a guy who was also good friends with Kagami and he knew that Kagami felt something for Asami. He had fancied her ever since she beat him to a bloody pulp and told him to never mess with her again - scratch that: he had liked her the day they saw each other, meaning that he was making fun of her all the time to get her attention. What a moron.

"Teuchi, Sumire-sensei, Asami has been... having strange experiences," Kagami said.

"Is this related to our conversation yesterday?" Sumire stated seriously, obviously concerned. Teuchi got the impression that he was being blind-sided from something very, very important.

"Yes," Kagami answered.

"Right." Sumire's brows furrowed. "It would be best if no one heard us talk about it. We're in a public location. That being said, we still have a client to watch. We-"

"Don't worry, I'll look after her," offered Teuchi.

"That won't be needed," Sumire decided as she waved a few hand signs and an invisible barrier was erected around the bar table, "No one can hear us now."

"Wow, real subtle," Kagami commented. "I don't mean it in a sarcastic way. Man, this is pretty cool. Can you teach this to us?"

"In time, I will," Sumire mused. "Now, Asami... why don't you tell us about your latest vision?"

"There were screams everywhere, people running and running and running incessantly. I was in the Konoha Shopping District. Then this weird mirror image of the place popped up and people started vanishing. This strange voice - the same one as last time - told me that two realities could end up colliding and that this might be related to this place called Sekai no Hashi being potentially destroyed. I'm just so, so confused. I've got to be hallucinating, right sensei?" Asami finally finished talking. Her breath was getting short and her face was red from the panic.

Sumire sensei pulled her into a gentle hug and told her to not worry herself too much for the time being.

"But, surely, we must be doing something, right? If I'm not imagining all of this, then all these visions are coming onto me for a reason," Asami speculated.

Sumire took a deep breath, unsure of whether to reveal what she knew. Teuchi wondered what else he was missing out.

"Asami," Sumire said, "I... I am almost a 100% sure that your visions aren't simple hallucinations. I've already messaged your parents regarding this matter."

All three of them listened attentively to what their sensei had to say.

"I should have told you this earlier," Sumire explained, "This morning, I received a message from your parents and - and your brother Keisuke has vanished."

"What?" Asami's hands clasped around her mouth. Kagami noticed her shock and looked even more concerned. Teuchi shared his sentiments.

"There's more, according to your parents, he went through a vortex to another dimension," Sumire continued, " Your mother confirmed it through her special dojutsu technique. I, we all I mean, think that your brother's disappearance might be a part of that dimension 'poaching its heroes from else where,' as per what that voice told you. They're doing the best to find your brother. But if that voice and your visions are right on everything, then I'm afraid that your job is precisely what is said: a seer and a messenger. I... this is all very strange and unexpected, I can imagine for all three of you, even for me, but as shinobi, we need to deal with the unanticipated challenges that appear. Asami, I'm afraid that this might not be your last vision. However, they do not seem to be life-threatening. From now on, you will relay to me every single one you receive so that I can communicate them to your parents. We can only do our best."

"I understand." That was all Asami said.

Sporadically, Teuchi declared: "Group hug!" Heck, someone had to lighten the mood and bring everyone's emotions out of the doldrums. Maybe he was being counterintuitive but Kagami and Asami all joined in. Sumire smiled politely as she declined.

And then the seal was lifted and they were once more, greeted by the sound of the young aristocrat laughing about their recent incident at the hot springs, when she mistakenly identified a bunch of monkeys as creepers. That was quite an experience, Teuchi recalled.

It was amazing how calm and composed the rest of his teammates were - at least on the outside.

~X~

Boruto couldn't resist heaving a sigh of relief as Eriko and Itachi came into the common room of their house, on edge and eager to find out just what went wrong. Two of their kids were safe and sound and he was grateful for that much. Sarada rushed towards them, embracing them tightly, protectively, beckoning them towards the sofa in the middle.

As everyone sat down, Boruto began explaining just what happened, or at least what they could piece together after consultations with Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and other space-time experts, as well as news of Asami's visions from Sumire. Itachi did his best to maintain his composure, yet Boruto could see cracks appearing in his expressions. Their son - in some ways, like both of them - always pretended to be emotionally tougher than he actually was. Eriko looked to be on the verge of tears; it was difficult for her, it was difficult for all of them.

"So... is Keisuke ever going to be back?" Eriko choked. Boruto felt his heart wince.

"Yes," Boruto found himself saying (lying?) to his daughter.

"And will Asami be fine?" Eriko asked even further.

"Yes," Boruto reassured her. "Sumire explained that asides from periodic visions, nothing too bad was happening to your sister. She appears to be receiving important messages that are somewhat related to what's happening to Keisuke."

"Are we going to do anything about them?" Itachi spoke up. "I mean, we've got to do something, right? We can figure out a way to reach and help retrieve Keisuke. We-"

"You and Eriko are staying put," Sarada asserted. It was her authoritative Hokage-tone, which Eriko almost always listened to. Itachi did not complain either. "We're trying to test out ways for your father to reach them. We have a few ideas. In the meantime, though, Itachi, Eriko, please stay safe. Please..."

Eriko nodded obediently and hugged her mother. Itachi hesitated for a moment before joining them.

~X~

After the time of a millennia (or a period of around half an hour), they finally arrived at a small, unassuming hut, which Keisuke presumed was Sasuke's hiding place in this strange planet. "Gramps, why are we here?" He still asked in order to gain some reassurance.

Sasuke took a deep breath and said, "You'll see, kid. You'll see."

"Master Sasuke! You're back!"

A voice Keisuke couldn't recognise.

It was most definitely not a human being. Purple-skinned, red-haired, ice blue eyes. Nope, Keisuke concluded. Not a human.

"Who are you?" Keisuke blurted out.

The boy looked taken aback by his question. Shocked even. Keisuke felt a little bad about it. "Sorry, my name is Keisuke. Keisuke Uchiha-Uzumaki." He held out his hand as a gesture of friendliness.

There was a slight tensing of the shoulders from Sasuke that did not go unnoticed by Keisuke. The boy was mostly (bar his disastrous incident in the orchard) on the perceptive side of things.

"Kakko," the boy said.

"Well, it's good to meet you Kakko," Keisuke responded with an amiable nod.

"Kakko, why don't you go and practice some of the shuriken techniques I just taught you? I need to speak to Keisuke," Sasuke suggested and Kakko obediently left them on their own.

"The boy's a little shaken," Sasuke explained. "He lost his family a day ago and I have decided that he will accompany me for the time being."

"That's awful." Keisuke gasped. Now he most definitely felt like a bad person for his initial callousness.

"It is, it is. Sadly, our world is in no short supply of tragedies..." Sasuke shook his head.

"But gramps, what are you doing all the way here?" Keisuke finally got to ask what's plaguing his curiosity. It made no sense. He always knew, heard stories from both of his parents and maternal grandmother, about how grandpa Sasuke traveled a lot in order to search for Konoha's external threats. Dad had really admired the man, even aspired to be like him, the faithful shadow that protects the village in the darkness. In some way, Boruto did end up emulating Sasuke when he became a distinguished member of the ANBU. It was only when Keisuke was born that Boruto had quit his work and dedicated himself to looking after the children.

"Keisuke," Sasuke said, unsure how to progress, "The thing is, I'm not really your grandpa."

"What?"

"To put things short, not only are you on a different planet, you are also in an alternate dimension."

"What does that even mean?!"

"It means," Sasuke explained as his eyes pierced Keisuke's. Black met black. Grandma Sakura had said that he looked very similar to grandpa Sasuke as a child. The resemblance, according to her, was uncanny. "It means, that going home for you will be a little more difficult."

"Oh." Keisuke felt his stomach sink. Was he stuck here forever?

"But ways of traveling between dimensions are not impossible," Sasuke continued, offering Keisuke a sliver of hope, "Your father did it once using a forbidden scroll and he did it again through a very... curious transferral of consciousness. The boy Kakko - there's a connection between him and your father in the sense that your father once woke up in a dream as him. Nonetheless, perhaps we should also raise the possibility that there is a reason as to why you were brought here and that you cannot return unless you accomplish what you were meant to do."

"And what would that be?" Keisuke was, at once, feeling irritated, apprehensive, terrified, incredulous and home-sick. Yes, home-sick. It had been more than a day - he had spent the night in that very suspicious orchard - since he came here, Sekai no Hashi, and he wondered how his family had been. Mum and dad must be worried sick. So would Itachi and Eriko. Asami was still on her mission, but he thought that she would be in for an unpleasant surprise once she returned.

"I cannot fully say." Sasuke shook his head.

Whelp.

"Oh." Keisuke could barely hide his disappointment in his monosyllabic response.

"I'm very sorry Keisuke, that you have to go through all of this..."

"It's - it's fine. It's not your fault so you don't have to apologise about anything."

"And... forgive me for being curious, but would you be happy with telling me a little more about your life? Things turned out differently in this dimension..."

"Well, I'm Keisuke Uchiha-Uzumaki. I'm from Konoha and am currently a student at the Academy. I'm 10 years old and I have 3 siblings - yeah mum and dad were pretty prolific. Oh and my mum's Hokage. I guess I really like cooking? I mean, it's quite nice to be able to make whatever food you want to eat and it'll come in handy when I move out. I'm also my class's reigning champion on Jump! It's this game. I... to be honest, I can't think of anything else to say..." He trailed off rather anti-climactically, but Sasuke didn't look annoyed at all. There was a trace of sadness and ... regret?

Just what had gone differently in this world?

"Ah, I see." A rare smile from a man whose wrinkles looked etched into a permanent frown. "It's nice to know."

"Yeah, I mean... uh... do I get to be with you until we can figure out how I can get back? I'm not sure how safe it is for me to go around wondering on my own. I mean, you saw, I am kind of familiar with some ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu, but still..."

"Why, did you think I was going to leave you on your own?" A chuckle.

So it's settled then, thought Keisuke.

~X~

- One day later -

"Good. You're making some progress," Keisuke commented as Kakko's shuriken went 2 inches away from the target. It was impressive if you considered the fact that the boy had no prior knowledge of shurikenjutsu. "Your form needs some improvement. Here, watch me."

Though a complete novice to the concept of chakra and ninjutsu, Keisuke had to admit that the boy was an attentive and fast learner. Maybe one day, they could even spar together.

Kakko was, reportedly, three years younger than him and, once the initial awkwardness was overcome, Keisuke found him to be rather enjoyable company. It was also weird not being the youngest person in the room anymore and having another boy look up to him for advice. (Being the youngest sibling, he had gotten so accustomed to infantilely trailing behind Itachi or Eriko as he begged them to show him "cool stuff.") It installed a sense of responsibility within Keisuke as he showed Kakko some basic tricks on shuriken accuracy, while Sasuke was temporarily away doing something Keisuke did not know.

"Nearly there!" Keisuke encouraged Kakko. "Make it curve just a little more... here, I'll show you!"

It felt really nice, imparting his own (meager) knowledge to others and feeling useful.

"You almost got it!"

The shuriken was less than an inch away from the target. Coming to think of it, it was kind of scary how fast Kakko was improving, as only two days ago, the boy still had no idea what chakra even was.

The shuriken struck the center and Kakko leaped in joy. Keisuke rushed towards him to give him a high five.

"That was awesome!" Keisuke said.

"It was... probably nothing compared to you and Master Sasuke." Kakko tried to not boast, but Keisuke knew he could barely hide his delight.

"Well... it took me two weeks to hit the centre for the first time. And, bear in mind, my family, well, my mother's family specifically specialized in shurikenjutsu so I kind of got the best tuition and it was also in the blood," Keisuke explained. It was true. He practiced day and night, hoping to beat Itachi's record and accomplished it, though by just a day. When Sarada praised him and Boruto gave him a thumbs up, he couldn't feel more proud.

Of course, there were many things Itachi managed that Keisuke couldn't. Firstly, in the blatant unfairness of the genetic lottery, Itachi had 3 chakra natures and became an expert in lightning, fire and wind ninjutsu by the time he made jonin. So far, Keisuke only knew a paltry of fire and water jutsus that did not require much chakra or expertise. Secondly, Itachi could do all sorts of cool tricks with his kunais and shurikens that Keisuke struggled with. Partially, Sarada reassured him, this came with the fact that Itachi had already awakened his Sharingan and it made the special kind of manoeuvring much easier. Furthermore, he was only 10 years old. Still, Keisuke decided that he wanted to demonstrate his skills in front of Kakko. "Watch me," Keisuke said with a wink as he got out six kunais.

Jumping into the air with a backflip, Keisuke threw them out, directing three to one target and the other three to the other one. All of them struck perfectly, layering on top of the other. Smirking, Keisuke turned around to see Kakko's awed face.

"That's so cool," Kakko gasped.

"Someone likes showing off," Sasuke said as he walked in on both of them. "How about this, Keisuke, we'll show Kakko how to block off shuriken attacks. He could learn much from you."

Keisuke nodded enthusiastically.

That enthusiasm, however, was short-lived. Soon, Sasuke's stream of shurikens, coming after Keisuke incessantly like a merciless barrage of evil metal mosquitos, was making him sweat like a dog. Keisuke had always suspected that whenever they trained together, Itachi was deliberately going easy on him. This was something else. Sasuke did not hold back, at all - or maybe tiring a 10-year-old was simply second-nature to him.

Panting Keisuke deflected another shuriken and ducked from another just in time.

He felt his eyes burn. It hurt a lot. But all of a sudden, everything seemed clearer. He was able to operate faster, anticipate more complex attacks and scrape by just a little easier.

Sasuke stopped.

"Your eyes!" Kakko said. "They're just like Master Sasuke's!"

Confused, Keisuke frowned.

Sasuke took out a small mirror out of his pocket. "Keisuke, I'll let you see this for yourself."

They were blood red, with one black tomae in each.

The Sharingan. He had just awoken his Sharingan.

"It must have happened as you were running away from some mooks hired by the Intouchables. They were going to organised a bunch of skirmishes near the Middlings to stir up unrest and insecurity," Sasuke explained. There was a small, wry smirk that shone through his dour face.

"I feel a little faint," Keisuke complained. That was the only thing on his mind.

"Deactivate them now. It must be consuming a lot of your chakra," Sasuke advised. "More than that, though, there's a lot we need to talk about. Better come in with me."

~X~

It was late at night when the next visions emerged. This time, Asami was fully prepared. Sumire-sensei, Kagami, and Teuchi were all beside her, which made her feel a lot safer.

The sky bled red and orange with explosions. Once again, she was immersed in chaos. The few people that surrounded her were huddled together in panic, including Asami herself.

Slowly, she stood up. There were sounds of kunais clashing. She could feel beams of chakra reverberating through the area. She could sense heat wave after heat wave produced by searing fire ninjutsus. Then she could touch small vapours of water created from the clash of fire and water. Blasts of wind circulated around her before finally lifting her up, all the way up in the air, endowing her with a bird's eye view of the entire situation.

Then her eyes fell on something familiar. Dad. Keisuke. And... grandpa Sasuke. They were all off in the distance, fighting against masked men with strange tattoos on their arms. Dad shielded Keisuke from a severe attack before plunging into the fray again. Sasuke appeared to be barking instructions at one of them and, immediately after, Keisuke rushed off, leaving the two adults to finish the fight.

Something was off. Asami wasn't sure if she could fully confirm this, but it appeared as if Sasuke's figure was a little faded. Then again, maybe this perception came from the lighting.

"Kagami! Your hands!"

She was wrenched back to the present by Teuchi's worried exclamations.

"I... this is freaky. Freaky." Kagami commented, perplexed.

"What's wrong?" Asami turned around to face both of them, along with Sumire-sensei, who was still deep in thought.

"My hands," Kagami said, frowning and showing them to her, "They look faded." They had, since Asami's vision, acquired a translucent quality and she could almost make out the body behind them. "This is weird because I can still use them, no problem."

Asami looked at her own palms, still flesh, without a trace of transparency. She felt her heart sink.

"Looks like it has began," Sumire noted gravely.

"Sumire-sensei... One more thing: I saw dad."

~X~

They were submerged in a red and crimson world. Their surroundings were immaterial, swirling around them and manifesting as sporadic pieces of their collective memories. Keisuke thought he saw grandpa Sasuke as Hokage and Kakko cry while contemplating on whether to jump out of a window. Heavy stuff. His was about him gleefully serving dad a bowl of ramen, which looked very out of place.

"Both of you are in my Infinite Tsukyomi, where time and space are of little consequence," Sasuke explained. "I can mold my surroundings according to my own will. We have a lot to discuss."

"The Intouchables?" Both Keisuke and Kakko asked concurrently.

"Jinx you owe me a dingo!" Keisuke joked before unleashing an awkward air of misunderstanding. Kakko probably had no idea what dangoes are.

"Yes. The Intouchables." Sasuke continued, ignoring Keisuke's ill-timed joke. "They are behind the recent troubles. They were the ones who hired the Ravagers two years ago."

"You mean, the mooks that chased me and me being here?" Keisuke suggested.

"Partly," Sasuke answered, "At least, this is where my speculations heretofore have taken me." He took another breath. "They're planning something big. They could, if their plans work out, threaten our very fabric of existence. Kakko, are you aware of the importance of Sekai no Hashi?"

"Well... my mother" - and the boy winced at the mention of her - "my mother would always say that were are a connection point between many worlds and planets. That we bring everyone together and underpin interdimensional coherence or something."

"Very good," Sasuke complimented Kakko, which made him smile, "Might I also mention, that the forbidden scroll that once took your father here, Keisuke, was partly forged in Sekai no Hashi. Oh, he hasn't told you about any of this? Well, we can leave it to him to explain for us later. Anyways, in a day, tomorrow actually, the Great Convergence will occur."

"What's that?" Keisuke questioned.

"It's a rare event, a rare event during which the fabric of various dimensions temporarily align and when interdimensional interaction becomes a very real possibility. It typically lasts for another day, at least this is what documents from the ancient Ainur civilization tell me. If Sekai no Hashi is destroyed on that date then... then I fear that our dimensions, Keisuke, will collide," Sasuke explained gravely. The air around them turned cold.

And his - technically speaking - grandfather from an alternate dimension was at the centre of it all, emanating a grim and bleak darkness that dug itself into the vicinity. It was the first time that it occurred to Keisuke just how dangerous Sasuke was. Sure, there was Sasuke Uchiha the myth, alongside Naruto Uzumaki, the two twin giants that blazed through history and shaped its contours. Sasuke Uchiha, the once rogue criminal that made experienced jonins tremble in fear. Yet the fact never resonated in his mind for the main reason that Sasuke and Naruto primarily, in his experience, were affable grandfathers who were a little bit indulgent at times, always at ease and done with meddling in the vicissitudes of the world, handing the mantle over to the next generation.

"What would happen then?"

"No one knows," Sasuke whispered. "It can't be something good."

"Why on earth would the Intouchables do such a thing?" Keisuke frowned. These people sounded like class-S dumbasses. "And how does one destroy Sekai no Hashi anyway? Are they going to blow it all up?"

"They might. Or they might create a weapon that reduces the proximity of our dimensions to nil. To answer your first question: energy," Sasuke mused, thinking hard, "Such a collision would create massive energy... and sources of chakra. It would, if harnessed, contain the potential to - possibly - remake worlds."

"Well, then what are we doing? Let's stop them!"

"Keisuke, patience. The Intouchables are a vast organisation with many eyes and ears across our universe. They even had support amongst members of the Ootsusuki clan. They won't be easy to take down. More than that, there is evidence that they have been planning this for ages," Sasuke stated.

"Keisuke, Master Sasuke..." Kakko tried to speak up. "I think I know something... I've had a dream of this girl yesterday. I mean, I was her, which was weird, but people around me were screaming and disappearing. I... I have to admit, it's not the first time that I've had strange experiences. This one time, when I was trying to help an old man counter the Ravagers, I fainted. But apparently, I had already accomplished my mission." Kakko was speaking so rapidly that Sasuke asked him to calm down and slow down. "I... Keisuke, when we were practicing together and I figured out how to throw shrikens and use chakra... I got the feeling that I've already done it before. Like some ghost reflexes."

Sasuke had a positively enigmatic look about him. Silence reigned amongst all of them. Keisuke had no idea what to say or what to make of any of this.

"Kakko, I should have told you this earlier..." Sasuke finally began. "You... you possess a special ability."

"Special?"

"I don't know the full mechanics behind it. But it seems that you can serve as a sort of portal between dimensions. Boruto, Keisuke's father, accidentally weaved his way into you through a connection I cannot explain and had a conversation with me. It was two years ago. It was also when we first met. There was another time too. You looked like you were in a trance when I saw you and you adopted the expressions of a terrified princess. She kept screaming and screaming that someone was coming after her, the Intouchables, to be precise. I know this a lot to take in."

There was a sober recognition in Kakko's expressions. Keisuke went next to the boy and held his purple hand. All these revelations, all these changes in the past few days can't have been easy. "Everything will be alright," Keisuke whispered in an attempt to comfort Kakko.

"And, I'm sorry to burden you, but can you please show us the girl that you were?" Sasuke requested, his eyes fixed on Kakko's.

"How would I do that?" Kakko asked, returning Sasuke's gaze.

"Just think of her, remember her looks, her expressions - and she will manifest herself," Sasuke explained. "That's how things work in this particular genjutsu; I will teach you about genjutsus later on."

Kakko nodded and shut his eyes.

Suddenly, a girl with medium height, long cascading blond hair and bright blue eyes materialized in front of them. Her mannerisms were a little off, too stiff in Keisuke's opinion, and her eyes had a dead look about them - but there was no mistaking -

Keisuke gasped and shuddered at the same time. "That's my sister!"

~X~

"Where would you be going, Master Sasuke?" Kakko followed Sasuke to the door even when Keisuke obediently stayed behind. "Are you going to stop them, the Intouchables?" A strange anger erupted from the depths of his psyche. The Intouchables. Whether they admitted it or not, they were responsible for his mother's death. They were the ones who hired the Ravagers the first place to unleash the bioweapon. They were behind it all. His mother and his brother's death. He wanted to make them pay.

"Stay," Sasuke commanded as he turned around, his red eyes blazing.

"I can help," Kakko asserted.

"And... how would you do that?" Sasuke gave the boy a small sigh.

"I'll - I can help carry your bags, I can collect scrolls for you, I can record things down for you, I speak a lot of languages, I-"

"There will be no need, Kakko. Be patient, for one day, your time will come," Sasuke said. "In the meantime, you will stay here with Keisuke. Keisuke!" He called. His voice reverberated through the cave. Footsteps rushed forward.

"Kakko, Sasuke!" Keisuke looked surprised to see Kakko there. "What's the matter?"

"Take care of this kid while I'm out," Sasuke instructed. "Also, both of you, remember, some important scrolls are stored here. They concern the details of the Great Convergence and I have yet to decipher them properly. No else knows about this location, but just in case something goes wrong, use this scroll to reach me." He handed Keisuke a small scroll. "Don't worry, it's not very complicated. All you have to do is say my name."

Keisuke nodded, feeling endowed with a sense of responsibility, all while Kakko scowled unhappily.

The Wanderer, Sasuke Uchiha, the former Hokage of the Elemental Republics, had, for reasons Kakko couldn't quite fathom, agreed to take the boy under his wing. He had promised - after the first conversation that Kakko could consciously recall - to teach the boy how to defend himself and to take the boy alongside him in his future endeavors. It was a promise. But right now, the man was callously brushing Kakko aside. It hurt. Perhaps there was always a shroud of coldness surrounding Sasuke and the glimmer of empathy and sympathy he showed as Kakko awoke to the death of his family, perhaps it was just a fleeting phenomenon, almost like a dream.

Sinking into himself as Sasuke left, Kakko growled and refused to get up from the ground, driving Keisuke nuts. "Look Kakko, I wanted to leave with gramps- Sasuke, I mean - I wanted to go too. But let's look at this from his perspective: we'll most likely be objects of burden. He'll likely spend as much time protecting us as he would be spending on the task itself. He's keeping us here to protect us!"

Rationality and reason are terrible things to behold, but also easily brushed aside. "I don't care," muttered Kakko. "I don't care..."

"How about this, Kakko? How about me teaching you some more shinobi tricks? I've got a few chakra-testing papers from Sasuke's desk - I forgot the name - that can determine what's your chakra nater. Look," Keisuke uttered as he shoved a piece of paper in front of Kakko's face, "Why don't we go to the training grounds and see?"

Begrudgingly, Kakko conceded. He was a little curious after all.

A/N: Please leave any thoughts and comments in the reviews!

I have about 1 to 2 more chapters to go! And Boruto WILL meet up with Sasuke soon - one way or another :P