Chereads / Flames of Justice (Completed) / Chapter 43 - The truth of the future???

Chapter 43 - The truth of the future???

Ryu overlooked Konoha with his hands behind his back, saying "So I died, eh?" Sasuke bit his lips and didn't speak. Ryu suddenly asked very softly "Was it against Madara?"

Sasuke froze from his feet to his skull, staring at Ryu with uncontrollable shock, shouting "What!? How do you-?!"

Ryu tilted his head and smiled happily, he opened his mouth and laughed happily. Sasuke was startled and clenched his fists at the pure joy and happiness in Ryu's laughter.

He finally couldn't control himself anymore and shouted angrily "Why!? Why are you so happy! You're always like this! Even when you split your flames with me you smiled happily! Even when I hated you for lying to me you were happy! At the end…"

He clenched his fists and punched Ryu in the face, sending him flying into a rock!

Ryu coughed and wiped the corner of his lips, smiling "You even learned my Burning Hell… Good." Sasuke teared up and kicked Ryu, shouting angrily "Why! Tell me why! Why did you say what you said!?"

Ryu coughed and smiled at Sasuke, reminding "I don't know what I said yet…"

Sasuke grabbed his collar and roared while crying "Why did you… Why did you fight him!? Knowing that you would die! You even died with a happy smile! You even told me… You told me 'This is my dream, Sasuke. Ev-'"

Ryu suddenly smiled serenely, finishing his words, "Even if you save me I'll rush back in head first. If I can die by his hands, I'll be able to laugh even in the Pure Land. Did I say that?"

Sasuke froze and shook as he smashed Ryu into the stone angrily "Do you know what you left behind?! Me, Naruto, Anko, your daughter, everything! Do you know!? I never even got to say goodbye! You selfish bastard!" as he punched Ryu in the mouth, shouting "Why! Why are you so happy?!"

Ryu coughed and smiled at Sasuke, asking "How are you… in the future?" Sasuke froze and fell to his knees, crying above Ryu's face as he said slowly, "I have a little girl and the Uchiha clan has mixed into the village very well. Everyone is happy. The Ninja school brought a lot of talent to the village."

Ryu smiled happily and said "So you met your Father…" he chuckled and asked "Did he hate me?" Sasuke shook his head and Ryu looked at him, saying softly "Did you hate me?"

Sasuke trembled and squeezed tightly, nodding silently.

Ryu revealed a bright smile and Sasuke sobbed "Why… I just want to know why. You know, I've been wondering about that all these years. Everytime I ask your daughter it's always the same answer. 'Because Dad was just a kind person.' That's all anyone has to say! Even Anko…"

He stopped speaking and Ryu sighed distantly "Is she also gone?" Sasuke replied softly "After the Fourth Ninja War, you were buried as one of the Heroes of the Village for buying time as the other ninja evacuated, you fought Madara for 5 hours alone while everyone else lasted only seconds. In the end, Madara swallowed the Ten Tails and you fought again… but… But…"

Ryu suddenly sighed sadly "But I was dragged down by someone else, right?" Sasuke nodded and revealed "Madara pierced through you and obliterated your organs before realizing what happened and killed the thing that dragged you down."

Ryu curled his lips and asked with a smile "Did he say it?" Sasuke clenched his fists, "That damn sentence… You gave up after that, refusing to even accept treatment, apologizing for your selfishness, saying that you were going to see Minato-Sensei."

Ryu laughed and smiled "Seems like the future is fun!"

Sasuke's tears dripped onto Ryu's face as he said gently "Please… Don't die… Dad. The future without you isn't very warm…"

Ryu stroked his face and wiped his tears, smiling "The ashes of the damned nourish the sun-kissed leaves… You should understand this sentence, Sasuke." Sasuke grit his teeth and said angrily "But you're not damned! I never understood this… No matter how many times you told me!"

Ryu smiled gently, retorting "But you do… I've done many bad things in my life. Many things I regret. Many actions that I wish I could change. In this regard me and Itachi walk the same damned path. We will forever carry our sins on our backs and when the shinigami come to take my soul, the sins will follow me to the Pure Land."

He slowly sat up and looked over Konoha, smiling brightly, "You should get a haircut, little bastard." Sasuke froze and closed his eyes, smiling gently "I will."

Ryu smiled and looked out into the distance, sitting in silence with Sasuke.

A while later

Ryu curled his lips and said "Will you erase my memory too?" Sasuke froze and looked at Ryu, who was still watching the sun set on Konoha from the Hokage Rock, "My memory is different from yours. You won't be able to."

He paused before chuckling "I'm not too sure on the specifics but… Most likely your future has either already changed or not at all." Sasuke was confused and asked "What do you mean?"

Ryu patted next to him and smiled, "Let me teach you again, Sasuke." Sasuke sat next to him and Ryu explained "Time is a difficult thing to mess with. There's no telling what time will do. There's a common saying about Time… 'If you tend to mess with Time, it tends to mess back.'"

He slowly smiled and raised a finger, continuing "There are multiple explanations and paradoxes in Time Travel. The grandfather paradox which means that if you travel back in time and kill your grandfather, you would never be born to travel back in time therefore your grandfather would never be killed."

Ryu raised another finger, "The Butterfly effect which means that just you going back to the Past will uncontrollably change the future into a completely new direction. Regardless of whether you did anything or not. You're not from this time, your existence here will mess up the time stream and cause some things to happen that shouldn't have happened at this moment."

He paused for a moment before going on, "For example, in your time, I never met you now. Therefore I died. But now I talked to you and you revealed my future which will change the future completely. Even if I purposely die again, there will be minor things that will inevitably change. Maybe Anko turns evil and slaughters the village in rage, or she suddenly has a heart attack and dies, or perhaps a tree will be born where it wasn't supposed to be."

He turned to Sasuke, smiling, "Do you understand?" Sasuke nodded and asked "But-" Ryu raised his hand and continued gently "But that's my future. Not yours. If Time is linear in this world then you always traveled back in time and I always met you which means I always died. However, that's not the only form of time travel."

Ryu said slowly "Pay attention. This is complicated." Sasuke nodded seriously, this concerned his own future after all! As well as Ryu's future!

Ryu cleared his throat and said "Perhaps this is the past for you. But your previous future became your past when you came here. Therefore your past cannot change because of your actions in this 'future'. Meaning that you are traveling on a linear timeline, where you actually didn't travel to the past at all."

Sasuke frowned and Ryu chuckled "What it means is, no matter what you do here. You won't affect YOUR time. You've essentially traveled to a parallel universe. My future will change, but yours will not. Understand?"

Sasuke nodded and said "Basically, if you're right, then no matter what I do, nothing will change?" Ryu nodded, smiling "Almost. If you killed someone from the future here then they naturally wouldn't be in the future anymore. However, this isn't the only explanation. If I'm wrong, then when you go back, everything should change…"

Then he scratched his head, saying "Although, if that were true then your memories would have changed as well. But Time is very dangerous and weird, sometimes it doesn't play by the rules. It's not something you can bend at will." as he turned to Sasuke, smiling gently.

Sasuke smiled and turned to the sunset, saying softly "I hope my future changes…" Ryu's eyes shook and his lips quivered as he closed them, forcing a smile "Me too."

Sasuke looked at him and finally said "There's so much I want to say…" Ryu sat there and turned away, saying softly "Then talk, I'll listen."

Sasuke teared up and smiled, as he started to tell Ryu about his experiences after the war.

Ryu listened quietly, smiling happily as he listened, the sky darkening as Sasuke spoke endlessly, talking about all sorts of things.

Uchiha, his family, Naruto's family, Konoha, the other people, Kakashi, Guy, etc.

He just went on and on, but no matter how long he spoke for, Ryu always listened quietly, smiling and snorting in amusement.

Sasuke talked about how his daughter didn't think Sakura was her mom and Ryu burst out laughing, making Sasuke embarrassed. He smiled and explained that she went to find a woman named Karin, questioning her about being her mom, finally after being told the truth, the little girl nearly collapsed in shock.

Ryu laughed and looked at Sasuke with a strange face, "So you really did choose Sakura… What a pity…" Sasuke turned green and looked at Ryu blankly. Ryu sighed and shook his head, complaining "I wanted to set you up with Hanabi…"

Before sighing again.

Sasuke choked and looked at Ryu speechlessly as Ryu curled his lips and chuckled.

Ryu stood up and dusted himself off, patting his stomach as he smiled "Hungry?" Sasuke's face changed and he coughed "Barbeque Ramen?"

Ryu smiled happily and said "You remembered!?" Sasuke licked his lips and smiled happily.

Ryu laughed and disappeared from the spot.

Sasuke appeared next to him in the air, making a face at Ryu, saying "I'm better than you now, Old man." Ryu sped up, grinning "I think… you're older than me, right?" before disappearing like a ghost.

Sasuke froze and shouted "Old bastard!" as he flashed after Ryu quickly.