"You're making enough noise to wake the dead," Sasuke said, his voice a low, dangerous rasp that cut through the air.
"If the Samurai don't kill us, your stupidity might."
"Finally!" Naruto shouted, though his voice wavered slightly under Sasuke's glare.
"Then tell them, Sasuke! Tell Neji he's a jerk for saying we're in the future! It's the present, right? You just finally 'healed'!"
" 'Healed'?" Sasuke let out a short, mocking breath.
"Don't be a fool, Naruto. I know my own body. That mark wasn't a wound; it was permanent. It doesn't 'heal' because you want it to."
"Exactly!" Neji interjected, his voice cold and analytical.
"Which is why it's the future. The mark only vanishes if the source is destroyed. We are in a time where Orochimaru is dead. It is the only logical conclusion for such a high-stakes change."
"Logic?" Sasuke turned his savage gaze to Neji.
"Your logic is flawed, Neji. If we were in the future, your precious Byakugan would have noticed the change in the atmosphere. The security here is primitive. The air smells like a brewing slaughter."
"He's right!" Ino chimed in, catching Sasuke's line. "When Sakura lied about the war, those guards didn't even ask questions. They believed it because they're living in the past—an era where a village burning down is just another day!"
"That's garbage!" Karin snapped, pointing a finger at Ino.
"If we're in the past, why aren't we babies? Why are we still this size? Since we're still twelve, we must have moved forward into a future that already existed. We didn't 'grow' into it, we arrived!"
"And if we 'arrived' in the future, we'd be strangers!" Lee yelled, jumping in to back the present theory.
"But we are here! Our youth is the same! Our power is the same! That means it is the present!"
"Stop shouting about 'Youth', Lee-San!" Sakura cut him off, her face tight with frustration.
"Karin is right about the size, but Neji is wrong about Orochimaru. We can't assume he's dead—that's a death sentence if we're wrong..."
"We are in the present, or close to it. Maybe a few days before the Forest of Death. Sasuke's body just hasn't been bitten yet in this timeline!"
Sasuke slammed his hand against the wooden pillar beside him, the sound echoing like rock falling on the ground.
"Enough of this pathetic guessing game! Sakura, you're dreaming if you think my body just 'rejected' that power. And Karin, size means nothing when the world itself has reverted to a darker age."
He stepped into the center of the circle, looking like a demon in the dim lantern light.
"Ino is the only one among you who isn't blind. The Samurai are jumpy because the world is at war. My mark is gone because I haven't met that snake yet. We are in the past."
"But Sasuke!" Naruto protested, his face red. "If it's the past, then—"
"Then we are abnormals," Sasuke hissed, leaning into Naruto's space.
"While you're busy voting on what year it is, I'm looking at the fact that we're in a city that doesn't recognize our faces."
"If you want to keep arguing like children, stay here and rot. I'm going to find a way to make this timeline work for us."
Behind the wall, Hinata sat in silence, her hand still resting on the sleeping child, listening as the boy she respected tore through their hopes with the cold, hard truth.
The lanterns swayed under the high roof, their flickering amber light casting long, jagged shadows as Sasuke stood in the center of the room, his presence cold and suffocating.
"If we are in the future, we are corpses walking," Sasuke hissed, his
eyes darting to Neji with savage intensity.
"And if we are in the present, then explain why the air in this city tastes like a century-long grudge."
Neji tightened his jaw, his pale eyes narrowing as he prepared his last logical strike.
"It is a matter of perspective, Sasuke! To say we are in the past ignores the fact that we still exist in these forms!"
"If we had truly moved backward, the timeline would have corrected our biological ages or erased us entirely to prevent a timeline crash that's how Space Time Jutsu works!"
"Neji san, stop!" Sakura interjected, her voice sharp and final. She stepped between them, her face set in a look of grim realization.
"Sasuke and Ino are right. We are in the past."
The room went silent. Neji looked at her as if she had betrayed the very concept of logic.
"Think about it," Sakura continued, her medical mind weaving the facts together. "We aren't small because we haven't traveled back decades. We are likely in the past by only a few days—maybe a week prior to the second round of the Chunin Exams."
"That is why the mark is gone; the encounter in the Forest of Death hasn't happened yet. And the reason we haven't disappeared? It's because we do exist in this time."
"We are just... extra versions of ourselves. If we were in a time before we were born, the universe would have snuffed us out the moment we stepped off that path. The same goes for a distant future."
Neji stared at her, his breath hitching. He looked at Karin, who remained silent, and then at Naruto, who looked completely lost.
The weight of the collective agreement pressed down on him.
"Fine," Neji spat, the word dripping with venomous frustration. "Believe in your ghost stories and broken timelines. If we die because we ignored the biological impossibility of this, it's on your heads especially you Sakura."
Without another word, Neji turned his back on the group. He walked aggressively toward his designated sleeping area, his footsteps heavy against the tatami. He reached his futon, located near the top left of the room by the large storage chest, and sat down with a rigid, angry posture.
He didn't look back at them; he pulled his blanket up as if he didn't care if the world ended before dawn.
The rest of the group began to disperse, the fight drained out of them by Sakura's grim deduction.
Ino, Tenten, and Sakura moved toward their futons lined up near the center-right of the room. Karin claimed the spot below them, while Lee retreated to his space near the balcony door.
In the lower section of the room, separated by the thick interior walls, Naruto slumped onto his futon next to Sasuke's empty spot.
Across from them, behind the right-hand wall, Hinata remained exactly where she was, her hand still resting near Mini-Sasuke as he slept fitfully.
Sasuke stood alone in the entrance of the middle ground for a moment, his eyes drifting toward the corner where Hinata sat. The silence of the pavilion was now more terrifying than the shouting had been.
They were few days away from their actual present. They were in a world that was about to break, and they were the only ones who knew the cracks were coming.
The shadows stretched long and thin across the tatami as Sasuke stood at the edge of the interior wall, his gaze lingering on the quiet sanctuary he had just left.
The group's heavy silence followed his savage outburst, but his mind was already drifting back behind the partition where Hinata sat in the dim amber glow.
Sasuke stepped back into the secluded corner, his movements silent. He looked down at Hinata, who was still kneeling beside the sleeping Mini-Sasuke, her presence a stark contrast to the jagged energy of the others.
"The argument is over," Sasuke said, his voice a low, private murmur. "The others are settling in. You don't have to stay here in the dark. You can rather be with the girls."
Hinata looked up, her pale eyes reflecting the faint light from the roof lanterns. She didn't move to stand. Instead, she adjusted the edge of the child's blanket with a gentle, steady hand.
"I'm staying, Sasuke-kun," she replied softly, her voice filled with a quiet resolve.
"He shouldn't wake up alone in a dark corner like this. And... neither should you."
Sasuke stiffened for a heartbeat, the weight of her words settling over him.
He wasn't a man who offered thanks—gratitude felt like a vulnerability he couldn't afford—but as he looked at her, his expression softened just enough to be noticed.
"Suit yourself," he muttered, his tone lacking its usual bite. He paused, his gaze dropping to where her hand rested near the mat.
"The night is colder than it looks. It's... less troublesome having someone who actually knows how to keep a watch."
It was a classic Sasuke deflection—an indirect acknowledgment that her presence was the only thing keeping him grounded in a world that had gone mad.
Hinata caught the hidden meaning, a small, knowing smile touching her lips.
"Goodnight, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke didn't reply with words. He gave a sharp, single nod and turned to walk toward his own futon next to Naruto, leaving the entrance of the deeper room area behind as the pavilion finally fell into a restless, uneasy slumber.
---
📊 BATTLE REPORT: 54-IRON 📊
WINNER: Haruno Sakura 🌸🥇
SNEK PEAK LINES 💬
"It's just... it's different when it's her, isn't it?"
"Well, we aren't going to get any answers sitting here crying."
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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