I won't be including much stuff from Boruto, if any at all. This will be a partial AU where the other Otsutsuki don't exist. Writer's prerogative and all that.
Nothing really against the series, I just don't watch it and have much interest in it.
Anyway, let's get into this.
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" 'Tachi," Sasuke screamed, clutching his arm from a kunai being flung at him from his brother, "Why?" the boy of 8 years had tears streaming down his face as he digested the nightmare that he couldn't wake up from.
"You lack hatred." Was the cold reply from his older brother.
This couldn't be happening. Itachi wasn't supposed to be like this. Sure, he was quiet and sad after Shisui died, but Itachi could never do this.
But the scent of copper and the bodies of his parents, with Itachi covered in their blood, was burning its way into his mind.
"Please," He begged, almost falling to his knees from how much he was shaking, "It's not true." He wept.
Sasuke looked into his brother's blood red eyes and he saw the three tomoe of their shared dojutsu shift into an unfamiliar pattern, a curved, black kind that looked absolutely haunting.
Tsukuyomi.
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Itachi staggered away and tried to drown out Sasuke's screams, wiping at his eyes furiously to get the blood and tears off his face, but he only succeeded in smearing it further.
He couldn't stand to look back, no matter how much his little brother screamed in anguish.
You deserve this. He said to himself, refusing to cover his ears as he sped away, burning the image of all the dead that littered the ground into his mind with his Sharingan.
Everything afterwards went by in a blur. Going to the Hokage. Realizing everything that happened. His flight from the village. And he couldn't even bring himself to sneak into the hospital room Sasuke was in, even if he could have managed it.
Uchiha Itachi would never learn that the casting of the Tsukuyomi on his little brother was supposed to send him on the path of vengeance. It was supposed to begin a chain of betrayal and pain for years. It was supposed to end with two lonely orphans fighting in a climactic battle following a war that killed thousands. Decades later, they'd be brought to the brink of death by a threat far greater than ever before seen.
But that world was not this one. Much like how a great multitude of leaves and branches sprout from a single tree, so too did many possibilities; many realities that were almost indistinguishable from one another.
Uchiha Sasuke would have, in another world, another reality, left Konoha to be strong enough to kill his brother. He would have married, had a daughter, and struggled to protect Konoha alongside his one time rival and later best friend from something otherworldly.
But that wasn't this reality.
This world had no idea what it was in for when the youngest living Uchiha would wake up from the coma his brother put him in.
After all, who expects the younger sibling to surpass the elder?
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My thoughts were constantly warring with one another as two separate collections of memories clashed together with bloodshed and slaughter as the backdrop.
I kept seeing my/someone else's family be cut down by someone that was both my brother, but also not.
My thoughts finally began to stabilize, letting me piece together what happened.
I'd been driving home, it was late, and someone shifted over the centerline and clipped my car, causing me to veer violently to the side and being launched off the road and into the woods beside the road. My car had rolled down the hill and evidently struck a tree, because everything stopped and faded to black.
I heard screaming and it got clearer as my thoughts started to mesh together.
My mind began to process what I was seeing, and then the realization that the screaming was coming from me.
My family, my clan, was being cut down by my brother in an endless loop that I couldn't escape.
This isn't real. I kept trying to tell myself, not knowing who I even was anymore.
I had two sets of memories. One was of me living in Konoha, with a stern but kind father, a loving mother, and a quiet and loving brother. I was Uchiha Sasuke.
But I also had memories of the person who died in a car accident. Was I Sasuke? Was I not? I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
The hellscape that was the Tsukuyomi eventually ended after a near eternity and everything faded into nothingness, my mind still burning.
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Sarutobi Hiruzen sat behind his desk, seemingly at his wit's end. A peaceful solution had not presented itself after Shisui's death and everything had come crashing down. Itachi had killed his clan, leaving only his brother alive.
Speaking of Sasuke, the boy had still yet to wake up from the coma he had been in for nearly a week. No Yamanaka dared to try and see what was going on, especially from the likely potent Genjutsu used on the boy.
He was pulled from his thoughts when an ANBU entered the room, looking rather rushed.
"Yes?" The aged Hokage asked, setting down his lit pipe.
"Uchiha Sasuke has woken up, Hokage-sama." The ANBU, wearing a rabbit mask, stated, "I was told he was quiet."
After what happened, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't speak for some time. He thought to himself sadly. The boy had witnessed something that would have broken those far older and more accustomed to loss than an eight year old child.
"I will speak with him." The Sandaime Hokage said with an emotionless tone, slowly rising from his chair.
He would do what he could to help the boy. He owed his old friend Kagami, because of what had occurred, as well as Itachi for taking a heavy burden involving the death of the Uchiha.
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I don't know how long I was out of it, but I felt like I was dreaming for an extended period of time, feeling like I was floating in a sea of memories that were constantly churning.
Whether I was Sasuke, or if I was... I couldn't even remember the name. I had the memories and emotions tied to them, but I couldn't remember the name.
I was either Uchiha Sasuke, the youngest son of Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto, with memories of another life violently slammed into my head, or I was someone who supplanted Sasuke from his body and had his memories hanging around in my head, with all the emotional connection to them.
Tousan. Kaasan. They were dead. Everyone was dead. Itachi killed of Itachi was enough to restart the endless loop of panicking and falling apart.
Why, Itachi?! I screamed in my mind, trying to wake up from the blackness that I was dragged into after I saw my brother kill my family.
Itachi chose the village! The same village that was cruel and vicious to a blonde orphan through no fault of his own. He chose strangers over me! He tortured me! He did it again years from now and made me exactly into the thing he pretended to be!
A traitor!
My head started aching as my anger and rage made my thoughts focus, causing me to see a light in front of me.
The light grew brighter and my eyes flew open as I regained consciousness, the white ceiling being the only thing I could see.
I blinked repeatedly and tried to get my eyes to adjust to the lighting, but it took some time.
Slowly tilting my head, I winced when I felt my neck creak, the muscles hurting as I used them. I looked around and saw that I was in a hospital room, an IV stuck in my left arm.
I tried to move my body, but my limbs felt stiff and were barely moving like they hadn't been used for awhile.
As I tried to get some more feeling into my limbs, I heard someone enter the room. Despite trying to not, I flinched when I saw the lady that I assumed was some kind of nurse. Her eyes widened and she slowly walked towards me, before speaking.
"Sasuke?" She asked quietly, looking straight at me with hazel eyes.
I looked away and didn't say anything, not wanting to talk.
"I will be back in a moment," She promised, "I need to let them know you're awake." She then made a hasty retreat from the room.
I was stuck in my own thoughts, trying to make sense of everything still when she returned, a soft expression on her face.
"Sasuke," She said kindly, obviously trying to console me, "Are you suffering from any headaches or any sensitivity to light? You may have suffered some damage after, well," She trailed off after that.
I didn't respond at all, simply gazing at the wall.
"Sasuke." She said my name, but I didn't want to play twenty questions.
"I don't want to talk." I said coldly, my voice much higher pitched than before, but that wasn't right. It was my voice, another was familiar, but deeper, and in a different language at that. The rasp from lack of use had me flinching from how pathetic it made me sound. I had to have been in here for days for that to happen.
Guessing by the silence afterwards, she decided to not press.
After an inordinate amount of time, the door opened once more, depositing someone I was in absolutely no mood of humouring.
I may have never actually seen the man, but my memories of what Yamanaka Ino looked like weren't damaged, and the man who came in had the same hair colour and eye colour.
"Sasuke," Yamanaka Inoichi said with a touch of kindness, pity in his eyes, "I'm sure you're curious on why you're here."
I felt my hands clench against the sheets and I started shaking, shutting my eyes as I got a flash of memory.
Tsukuyomi.
"Is everyone dead?" I asked with the same weak and raspy tone as before, glancing around for a glass of water.
The Yamanaka clan head seemed to dampen at the way I asked, but he didn't answer.
"Yes, or no." I kept avoiding looking at him, not wanting to make eye contact.
The man sighed and slowly nodded his head.
"Yes."
That one word was enough to send me over the edge, my entire body shaking as the gravity of what happened hit me once more.
"Please leave." I said shakily, tears forming in my eyes.
"Sasuk-" He began to say, but I interrupted.
"I'm not letting you in my head!" I shouted, my eyes feeling like they were burning as I glared at him.
Inoichi sighed and turned to leave, along with the nurse.
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After they left, I reached out for the mirror on the table next to me, grabbing it and holding it at face level.
"Thanks, nii-san." I muttered coldly, noticing my eyes were blood red and had one tomoe in each eye.
The Sharingan looked strange, especially the fact that the eyes were mine. Blood red, and acting as a testament to horrific things that have marked my soul.
My vision was extremely sharp, giving me a clarity I'd never thought possible. Obviously my anger at everything and everyone currently made me subconsciously activate them, and my loving older brother awakened them for me.
I looked closer at my reflection and felt both a sense of familiarity and confusion. Black hair that spiked at the back, eyes just as black, if not for my activated dojutsu, with a complexion paler than I was used to but also used to at the same time.
Looking closer, I was disturbed by how awful I looked. I wasn't supposed to be this pale. My face shouldn't be this gaunt. Did the Tsukuyomi take a greater toll than I realized? Was it physically damaging as much as it was mental?
Perhaps so, but I hoped not. I hated being weak and a bedridden invalid. To hell with that.
I stared at my reflection and tried to deactivate my eyes, but they weren't shutting off.
I forced my breathing to slow and I shut my eyes, trying to steady my emotions. Slowly, I opened my eyes, staring at my now onyx black eyes that were looking back at me.
Sighing, I set down the mirror and simply sat still, waiting for some other bastard to disturb my silence. Sure enough, the one person I did not want to see entered. Old. Wearing white and red robes. Arguably the most dangerous person in history that didn't have a kekkai genkai.
Sarutobi Hiruzen.
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Hiruzen looked at Itachi's younger brother and hid the pain he felt at how empty the boy's eyes were. To think a boy that was otherwise cheerful, although reserved around his classmates, had been subjected to something this horrific was made all the worse now that he could see the boy in front of him.
Unsurprisingly, the young Uchiha was avoiding eye contact, simply gazing at the wall.
"I want to be alone." The boy of eight years said quietly, flicking his eyes to his for a fraction of a second, before looking away, "I don't want to talk."
Hiruzen wasn't surprised by the lack of awe in his voice or demeanor. Most children either gawked at him for being 'super strong' or they were nervous around him. Sasuke was apathetic to him.
"You went through a traumatic event that left you in a coma for a week." Hiruzen replied softly, noticing Sasuke flinching at the information of how long he was out.
Realizing that Sasuke wasn't going to out and talk, Hiruzen began to explain what had happened over the last week.
The bodies had been collected and according to the old tradition of the Uchiha clan, had their remains burned so as to not have their eyes stolen.
"Was Ita-," Sasuke tried to say, his breath hitching, "Was he captured?"
Hiruzen shook his head.
"He was not."
Sasuke then went back to staying silent.
"I'm told you were rather adversarial with Inoichi. I'm aware that his daughter is in your year at the academy."
Sasuke, for the first time, made direct eye contact with him, and his look was a hate filled one.
"What do you want?" He asked harshly, his entire body shaking, "Do you want me to say sorry for not wanting him in my head! Itachi made me see everything!" The boy's voice was so loud it was echoing off the walls.
As soon as the anger appeared, it vanished, leaving behind a sobbing mess of a child.
"He made me watch as he killed them," Sasuke had his face buried in his hands as he started crying once more, "W-why?"
Hiruzen almost felt like he was being asked this, as if Sasuke knew everything that happened.
I'm so sorry. Hiruzen thought, not being able to respond.
There was no other option. If only they had been able to prevent Fugaku from going through with the plans for a coup, then this tragedy could have been stopped.
All the aged Hokage could do was assure the child that he would not be forced to experience it all over again.
Hiruzen reached out and soothed the boy, pulling him close. Sasuke tried to push him away, but he was too weak to do anything of note.
"I know it hurts," Hiruzen said quietly, "I know it feels like the world is ending. But you are not alone, Sasuke."
Hiruzen sat beside Sasuke for an unknown amount of time, but the boy eventually calmed his sobbing and was able to ask a few questions after Hiruzen sat back down into the chair he had been previously sitting in.
"Where," Sasuke coughed, wiping at his eyes, "Where am I going to stay?"
"I have an apartment already set up if you wish to move out of your clan compound." Hiruzen said, gauging Sasuke's reaction to it.
Sasuke was quiet, seeming to think about it.
"I'll think about it." Sasuke eventually answered, coughing some more.
"Would you like a glass of water?" Hiruzen asked kindly, realizing that Sasuke probably hadn't drunk anything for the last week.
"Yes, please." He nodded.
Hiruzen stood up and turned, making a cross sign to make a Kage bunshin. A soft puff appeared around a perfect copy of himself, which he gave an order to get a glass of water for Sasuke. Hiruzen normally didn't so nonchalantly use Kage bunshin, but he didn't want Sasuke to be alone, and Itachi had been wearing his ANBU outfit during the massacre and Hiruzen didn't want the designated person in the room being Inu, who was just outside the door, hanging from the ceiling by his feet.
Hiruzen turned back around and saw Sasuke's eyes gazing at the bunshin as it left, before looking at Hiruzen.
"That is a Kage bunshin." Hiruzen explained, preparing to inform Sasuke about some general knowledge about it.
"My tousan told me," Sasuke replied quietly, his eyes still fixed on the exit where the clone left, "He told me not to try it until I was older or I'd kill myself trying it."
A rather stern man, but Uchiha Fugaku was an intelligent man that knew his sons' limits, or at least his youngest.
Hiruzen hummed his acknowledgement and waited until the bunshin got back with some water, which he then handed to Sasuke.
Sasuke took it with a muttered thank you and began drinking it, looking better than before.
The clone popped at Hiruzen's command and left the two in the room, the older of the two letting the other have his silence for a little bit.
After Sasuke finished with the glass, Hiruzen began speaking.
"If you wish to withdraw from the acade-" He began to say, but was cut off by a sharp jerk of Sasuke's head.
"No," Sasuke said stiffly, setting the glass next to a hand mirror on his right, "I'm not withdrawing."
The sharpness in the boy's tone was surprising, yet also not.
"You may wish to ease into things, Sasuke-kun." Hiruzen said soothingly, but Sasuke didn't seem pleased with the suffix.
"The moment I can stand on my own," Sasuke straightened up, swinging his legs to the side of the bed as he flung the sheets away, "I'm going to make sure Itachi," He snarled the last word out like it were something profane, "Doesn't do this again."
Sasuke set his feet against the floor, but didn't stand up, simply letting a small amount of weight settle on his feet.
"I want to go home." Sasuke said, his voice completely empty of emotion.
Hiruzen was becoming progressively concerned about Sasuke's emotional state. He was expecting either anguish, anger, or a state of silent shock. He wouldn't have expected all of them to be present, seeming to switch every other sentence.
What on Earth were you thinking, Itachi? Did you have to torture him?
"You may once you have been cleared by the doctors here," Hiruzen told the boy firmly, "And not a moment sooner."
Sasuke went back to his cold persona that he seemed more comfortable with, nodding silently.
There was no other conversation to be had, and Hiruzen eventually left once the doctors had arrived to give a detailed report on Sasuke, who was distinctly uncomfortable when a diagnostic jutsu was done on him.
Right as he left, he heard Sasuke ask the doctors to not look him in the eye when they were checking his fluid level and blood pressure with some medical Ninjutsu.
What have you done, Itachi? Hiruzen thought once again. Sasuke had been extremely uncomfortable and had tried to not look him in the eye throughout his time there. From what he gathered, Itachi used an extremely potent Genjutsu cast from his eyes on Sasuke. Such a thing could be traumatic to an extreme degree.
Those thoughts plagued Hiruzen as he made his way to a certain hyperactive blonde's apartment in preparation for the weekly trip to Ichiraku's ramen.
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I finally got discharged after two more days of 'observation' or whatever the hell excuse the doctors thought of to squeeze out more damned money from the village to 'treat the Last Uchiha'. Not like I gave two shits about the village. Itachi chose to torture me and ran away instead of telling me what happened. He could have lied through his damn teeth when he used the Tsukuyomi on me and said that our father was going to cause a war and that he had no choice. He could have made our father out to be the villain, or even the grizzled old farts that were around during Madara's era and still disliked the death grip the Senju had on the Hokage seat. Itachi may have thought I was too stupid or didn't trust him enough to believe him.
My own brother doubted me!
A Jonin that I didn't recognize was my chaperone as we went back to the Uchiha compound, which had been cordoned off, even though it probably wasn't necessary. Danzo and Obito already had their bloody harvest of eyes.
To think that Itachi could have had our father's eyes. I'm just hoping he had the forethought to destroy them if he didn't take them. I didn't want Obito or Danzo having my father's eyes.
The rather dark thoughts going through my head were not helped by the looks of pity I was getting from almost every single civilian and Shinobi I could see. Those sad looks kept reminding me of what I lost. They lived and had their families because mine was murdered.
If Itachi wanted to die more than anything else, I'll make sure he doesn't. I want him to hurt for years. I want his illness cured and for him to languish in self hatred for decades. Only then will I completely forgive him.
A rather cruel smirk came across my face when I thought of the last part, hiding it as a sniffle once we reached my clan's compound.
Unknown to Hiruzen, I activated my Sharingan for a split second when he turned his back and made a Kage bunshin to get me water. I had done something that the vaunted saviour of the Ninja world couldn't do.
I learned one of Tobirama's Kinjutsu in 2 seconds. I decided to ignore that I used a broken dojutsu to do it.
I hope you're watching. I thought to myself. I'm the same reincarnated line of Madara, and I'm going to be a greater nightmare to those who want to kill me than he ever was.
I truly hope the Nidaime was watching. I could imagine him practically foaming at the mouth that a little pissant like me managed to fight through my unstable emotions and copied the Kami no Shinobi.
But then again, I didn't have a vendetta against the Senju. I only wanted a few people dead.
Eventually, the Jonin stepped forward towards the entrance of my compound, given I was the only 'loyal' Uchiha left.
The caution tape around the entrance was unceremoniously cut with a kunai by the escort, letting us through.
The silence was the most disturbing part. None of the hustle and bustle, just the eerily silent compound broken by footsteps and the flow of blood in my ears.
I let my thoughts go back to the other thing I copied with my Sharingan, deciding the plan I thought of on the fly in the hospital was probably a better one than I initially thought.
Medical Ninjutsu was extremely valuable, and the things I could do in combat was mouthwatering. A true angel of death.
I was not going to tolerate Sakura's pining. I was not getting my arm blown off by the blonde dipshit that had the power of God and anime on his side. Granted, I'm a damn Isekai, but anime Jesus is broken as hell; even more so than me with forewarning.
But, if the blonde imbecile is anime Jesus, what does that make me?
I snorted when I drew up memories of stories told by men in strange clothes, with strange collars, and prayed in a strange language.
"Is this your home?" The Jonin asked, pulling me from my musings as the man stopped near my house.
"Not this one," I replied, already walking to where it actually was, "It's this one." I pointed for emphasis. I then walked towards my home and opened the door, relieved that the blood had been cleaned when my brain was trying to unmelt itself after the tender and loving care my nii-san gave me.
As I gazed around, I made a decision on what I was going to do. The two days of getting prodded by the quacks at the hospital cemented my choice.
I'm going to learn Iryo-ninjutsu. The strength technique Tsunade used was extremely dangerous, her Strength of a Hundred seal would be useful if I could convince her to teach me. Not only would it be useful to have an immense reservoir of chakra reserves for a rainy day, but Itachi wouldn't be able to resist getting healed of whatever kind of illness he had if I was the one doing it.
I get stronger, I get vengeance on Itachi without killing him, and I won't be reliant on others nearly as much.
All in all, a good plan.
"The Hokage informed me that you plan on going to the academy." The Jonin tried to be helpful by setting the bag of clothes that Hiruzen likely had someone buy for me on the kitchen table, given that my old clothes had been covered in blood.
"I remember what I said," I replied, taking the bag and walking into my room, "Please leave." The 'please' was not the word stressed.
The Jonin got the message, albeit with an annoyed look at my disrespectful tone, and left, leaving me all alone in my home.
Ignoring the invisible blood stain that was where my parents were killed, I tossed the bag of clothes on my bed and immediately turned to go to Itachi's room, pushing the door open without a single care.
I walked towards his bed, stepped up onto it, dropped my pants, and pissed all over his bed.
"That's for mind fucking me, asshole." I said to no one in particular, pulling up my pants and leaving the room without another word said.
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The next 2 days involved me testing out whether I retained any skills that I/Sasuke had. Thankfully, it seemed that I did. I was fast, knew how to throw a kunai properly, and could mold chakra. I wasn't stupid enough to try and make a Kage bunshin though. I'm an Uchiha, not an idiot.
What I did get started on, after digging around for notes about training techniques in a chest my father had, was chakra control exercises that would begin to increase my control and reserves.
My dad may have been stern and oftentimes distant, but he did his best and wasn't an S-rank for nothing. Those notes were his when he was a genin, and by God were they detailed.
"Don't try learning anything without adult supervision, Sasuke," I muttered to myself in a tone roughly like my father's, balancing several leaves on my fingertips, one falling off, "Many prodigious Shinobi have gotten killed when they didn't consult their elders."
Fugaku put the fear of kami in me when he caught me rummaging through his chest at one point months ago. I learned the true meaning behind my dad's moniker of 'Wicked Eye' when he leveled his glare at me.
That scolding was bad enough, but my mom and Itachi didn't step in to curb the scolding from my dad. They joined in.
I was to wait until I had been deemed ready to learn certain techniques before I was allowed to learn ahead of the Academy curriculum. And I was to not read any of the scrolls in the clan library that our clan had accumulated over the course of decades of conflict until I became a Chunin. Some of the jutsu there could be more dangerous to the user than the target.
I still had the impulse to listen to my elders, to not look ahead on potentially dangerous stuff without guidance, but I was able to fight it down because of the added memories taking the edge off a little.
But given that all the elders and my parents were dead, nobody could tan my ass for not listening.
If I was able to pull it off, I was going to be mentioned in conversations the same way Shisui and Itachi were. Even if the allowance for early graduation wasn't permitted anymore. I was going to be better than the canon Sasuke was. I wasn't going to let an old man, a pedophilic snake, or anyone stop me from my goals.
I just hoped I didn't get killed.
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End Chapter:
Not that long of a chapter, but it is the intro to the story, to be fair. Sasuke is going to be rather cold to Hiruzen because of his family dying, and the villagers won't exactly be liked by him.
Overall, Sasuke has the context of what happened laid bare in front of him, as well as an influx of life experience that helps him process what it really entails, and it's left him pissed.
The first few chapters will be him being extremely angry with Itachi for what he did, and Hiruzen by merit of being the one calling the shots.
The allusions to what he plans to bolster his ability is more than obvious. The Naruto series, not including the abilities exclusive to Hagoromo and Hamura's line, had several ways to reach Kage level. Orochimaru's experiments on his body, Tsunade and her strength, and the Eight Gates. It'll be fun to write how Sasuke learns medical Ninjutsu for purely selfish reasons, with no one the wiser about his less than altruistic motives.
You can guess why I named the story what I named it, but I won't give an answer. ; )