[ Of course that's my question! Naruto wants to say because-- well, look at him. He looks like he's been asleep for a week, like he's slower somehow. Different. Naruto can't quite figure out why, or how, but he knows that even though in the last few years he and Sasuke have probably spent around an hour total together, there's something changed here. Which is why he refrains from shouting. Which is why he's more willing to actually listen to what Sasuke is saying.

The words don't make sense - world boundaries, earlier times? - but the point that at least makes sense in a literal sense is Sasuke being older. Nineteen. He's years older. No matter how you look at it the two of them have always been in a race; fighting to overcome the other, to be better, stronger, more powerful, to level the playing field, or a literal chase in Naruto's case. Now, though? Sasuke has years on him, and no amount of running can help Naruto catch up to that.

Sasuke's words aren't even that biting, and yet Naruto feels a crawling and tightening sensation at the back of his neck, a instantly familiar feeling harking back to every time something Sasuke said got under his skin.. whether that was the intention or not. ]

They wanted to kill you for kidnappin' the Raikage's brother. Ya nearly killed Sakura.. Kakashi-sensei tried to stop you, then we fought. I was on my way back from Iron when I got dragged here.

[ He puffs out a breath, studying Sasuke's face like he's expecting to find something unfamiliar, something to tell him this is a dream. He finds nothing, so he folds his arms. ]

So what happened?