Author's Note:
This is a story that I've had rattling around in my brain for a little bit, but I make no promises about my ability to update in anything like a reasonable time frame (See for example: all of my other stories.) Also, I don't own any of the characters presented below.
He awoke to pain.
For a few seconds, it was an oppressive, overpowering sensation, drowning out any other possible thought. He let out an involuntary cry that rasped at the back of his throat. It came from vocal cords raw and abused by previous screams, and made little more sound than an awkward high-pitched squawk that degenerated into a coughing fit. Still, the sharp pain of his throat pierced the haze of discomfort he had been in, and the sound, fitful though it was, gave him something to focus on. He tried to open his eyes and found that he couldn't - it felt like he had been blindfolded. He tried to reach up and remove the blindfold, and couldn't - his arms were restrained.
Those two facts chilled him, and he fought down the instinctive urge to panic and thrash his way out of the restraints. Instead, he took a deep breath, and started making a mental checklist.
Status, physical: Blindfolded, restrained. Fine motor skills, all fingers and toes responding. Gross motor skills, impaired. Moderate muscular damage, probably from strain. Chakra system, sluggish and imbalanced. Intravenous drip hooked up to left arm.
Status, mental: Fuzzy-headed, possibly due to influence of mild barbituate. Probable short-term memory loss. Beginning to get angry. Also confused. Why does this feel familiar?
Status, surroundings: No signs of being closely observed. Scents - mostly antiseptic, with a faint whiff of mediocre curry and bad coffee. Sounds - rhythmic beeping: a heart monitor of some sort. And... birdsong?
This isn't a secure wing, he thought. Wait - is this a hospital? Short-term memory loss, loss of chakra control, and heavy muscle strain are all possible symptoms of long-term genjutsu exposure... Where am I? ... Only one way to find out.
"Hello?" His voice sounded unusual to his ears - hoarse, and high-pitched from strain.
"You heard it this time, right?" The first voice was female, unfamiliar.
"Huh?" A male voice, this one sounding bored, distracted. "You're imagining things again."
"Jerk! I'm telling you, that was definitely a voice." The sound of small wheels on tile, as of a chair being pushed back. "I'm going to go check."
"They're going to be the same unconscious bodies they were last time, you know. Whatever it was they got hit with, they're vegetables."
In a short while, there were the sound of approaching footsteps, a woman's heels on a hard floor. Then the door opened, and there was the sound of a light switch being flipped.
"Do you think I could get a drink of water?" he rasped out.
She shrieked, and what sounded like a clipboard clattered to the floor. "He's awake! Uchiha-kun is, Uchiha Sasuke is awake!"
During the ensuing flurry of commotion, the indignities of a physical examination, and much poking and prodding, Sasuke was growing steadily more confused. Everything that he could hear from the chatter of the medic-nin indicated that he was in Konoha. But... there was no rancor in any of their voices. Shouldn't they hate him? He had betrayed the village, joined forces with the most feared and hated missing-nin that the village had ever produced, and very nearly killed Naruto... though he had turned against Obito and Madara in the end, hadn't he? He winced in pain and nearly doubled over at the attempt to remember, causing the assorted medical professionals in the room to shout. He felt himself pushed back into the bed by strong hands, which, Sasuke noticed with consternation, nearly enveloped his shoulders completely, as though he were being pinned down by a giant. Nevertheless he thrashed against them involuntarily as he prodded at his memories, trying to figure out why the thought of turning against the elder Uchiha hurt so much.
"Put him under!"
- Obito, his ruined face twisting into a gloating, gleeful expression -
"You idiot, don't use genjutsu - his chakra system is fried! The last thing we need to do is aggravate his condition. Grab the poppy extract!"
- Naruto and Sakura, staring at him in horror, trying to fight their way to him across an apocalyptic battlefield -
"What the hell kind of dose do I give him? Too much and it'll stop his heart!"
- A flock of crows, showing him a pattern that twisted his vision when he looked at it -
"Give it here! If we don't give it to him, his heart might stop anyways!"
The drug hit Sasuke like a hammer, defying any attempts at rememberance, or even at rational thought. As he slid into darkness, Sasuke's last thought was a question.
Why weren't they taking off his blindfold?
When he next awoke, the room was much quieter. The shouting medic-nin were gone. An open window carried in a fresh breeze, along with the sounds of the village of Konoha. It was an old, familiar feeling, like coming home after a long journey, and it made Sasuke incredibly nervous. He flexed his arms - the restraints had been removed. The blindfold hadn't. Slowly, painfully, he worked his arm free of the blankets on him, intending to reach up and remove it, but as he did so he heard someone clear his throat.
"The doctors want you to leave that on for now."
The voice was vaguely familiar. Sasuke let his hand fall to the bed, unhappy with how much effort raising it had taken. "Where am I?"
"You're in Konoha Hospital. You're safe."
"What... what happened to me?"
"How much do you remember?" asked the familiar voice. Sasuke did his best not to tense. Not letting the person you were interrogating know how much you knew was standard procedure.
"Bits and pieces. My head hurts when I try." When in doubt, keep it vague. Let the person asking questions fill in information for you. Long stretches of silence are another tool used by interrogators. Resist the urge to fill them. If you have to keep talking, try and turn the interrogation around. "... Why do they want me to leave it on?" He let a touch of worry creep into his voice.
"You've been under a strong genjutsu for a long time. They don't want you straining anything." The voice coming from the end of the bed said.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his momentum.
"My name is Yamanaka Inoichi. I'm the father of one of your classmates. You know Ino, right?" With difficulty, Sasuke put a face to the name - a scarred blonde man, with the same eyes as Ino... wasn't he supposed to be dead?
"Hn." Thinking about it hurt, but Sasuke could have sworn that Karin had intercepted some transmission or another by a Konoha shinobi during the fight against... was it the Juubi? That felt right. Yes, the Juubi, and some ninja named Yamanaka had given a final transmission. Had he exaggerated? Ino might have been the type to dosas something like that if she thought anyone she liked was interesting, but it didn't seem likely that an established Jonin would do the same. Maybe Tsunade had gotten there in time?
"Do you remember your brother?" The voice - Inoichi, supposedly - asked.
"Itachi." Sasuke paused. "He killed my family."
Inoichi sighed. "So you do remember."
"Hn." Sasuke waited. Surreptitiously, he bit his tongue, trying not to give away any traces of the motion. He felt pain, and the world around him didn't dispel - this was either a very, very good illusion, or something very strange was going on. Why was he being asked about Itachi?
"That was five days ago." Itachi said. "The medics expected you to be comatose for much longer - they were shocked when you woke up yesterday, so far ahead of schedule. The guards on duty at the time still haven't woken up. I'm sorry to ask this of you so soon, but I need you to tell me what you saw that night."
Sasuke froze. "Five days?" Sasuke started trying to fight his way upright, out of the sheets and blankets on the bed. "That's impossible." Even as he said it, Sasuke heard the echo of his own voice in his ears - it wasn't just raw; it was also high-pitched. His arms and legs weren't just weak - they were short. The biggest selling point was Inoichi's hand, touching his shoulder gently but firmly and pushing him back to the bed with overpowering force. Like the unseen hands of the doctor yesterday, it was significantly large in proportion to his torso. Left with little choice, Sasuke subsided.
"Sorry, kid. The doctors are already mad enough at me for interviewing you while you're still recovering. If I let you strain yourself, it'd be even worse." Inoichi sighed. "The doctors warned me that you might have experienced some time dilation. It's common, with genjutsu overexposure. Trust me, it's only been five days - but that's still quite a lot, when it comes to lead time. Whatever you can tell me could help us catch him." There was a long pause. "I know it may be difficult to talk about, and I'd spare you it if I could, but the medics... well, never you mind about that. Let's just say Konoha needs your help."
Sasuke took a deep breath, fighting down a rising hilarity. "Could I have a drink of water?" He asked, stalling for a few moments to think. "My throat hurts."
"Sure, kid." Inoichi said, his voice rough with emotion.
Instantly, Sasuke had his plan A. He sniffed, once. "My parents are dead, right? That wasn't just the illusion?" He let his voice tremble a bit.
"Yeah." Again, a rough voice. It had been a long time since Sasuke had been weak enough to need to play the victim card, but it seemed that even ANBU torturers weren't immune.
Then again, maybe that was what Inoichi wanted him to think. Belatedly, as cold water was brought to his lips, Sasuke channeled chakra to his tongue, trying to determine if it contained a drug. The answer appeared to be no, but the thought was a reminder to Sasuke that things could still very easily go poorly for him. Even if this was, somehow, in some strange turn of events, the past (and even thinking it made Sasuke's head spin with the implications) then all it would take would be one mind reader and Sasuke's status as the traitor apprentice to Orochimaru would damn him utterly. Luckily, if there was one event in Sasuke's life that he remembered every detail of, it was being trapped in the world of Tsukuyomi, watching and rewatching the murder of his family. If it would keep Inoichi from asking more detailed questions, Sasuke would tell him every bit of it.
Later, after Inoichi had left, Sasuke realized that this was the first time he had told anyone the whole story. Before this, only Naruto had gotten even a piece of it. The telling had left him drained, and emotionally wrung out; at one point he had even felt like he was about to cry. At first he had held back, but after a second's thought, Sasuke had realized that he needed to show Inoichi what was expected. So for the first time in years, Sasuke shed tears for his dead family. This time, not just for their deaths, but for the stupid pride that had caused it, and for the pointlessness of Madara's vendetta, and for his renegade, vilified brother. The tears were hot, and painful, and they soaked into the blindfold around his eyes. It had felt somehow shameful, but the act had done its job - after a few more questions, Inoichi had departed, leaving Sasuke alone to think.
As bizarre as the world around him seemed, nothing about it seemed illusory. It would help, of course, if he had his Sharingan available to make sure, but even thinking about activating them sent stabs of pain through his blindfolded eyes. Despite this, Sasuke was pretty sure that his surroundings were as he heard and smelled them. It had gone on for too long, too consistently, and not wavered in the least when he used one of Orochimaru's favorite tricks and ripped off the nail of his left middle toe with a wad of compressed chakra.
"Ah! Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't do that!" Sasuke froze guiltily. "Honestly, you ninja. Even the baby ones are determined to cause trouble!" The scolding voice was definitely female, and sounded somewhat young. "Every time we put one of you in a bed and tell you to rest, one of the first things you do is start trying to mold chakra so you can 'keep training' or 'heal faster'. Bed rest means bed rest, especially with genjutsu exposure!" Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but the woman talking to him steamrollered right over him. "I'm sorry, you probably don't know, do you? This is probably your first time... well anyways, now you know - no chakra! Look, you've gone and bled through your bandages! Now I'll have to change them. Lean forward!"
Bemused by her incessant babble, Sasuke did so, and as a reward felt deft hands reaching behind his head. His heart raced in excitement. Finally, he could get a look around him! He was a bit tempted to use the Sharingan to charm her into shutting up, but sadly concluded that it would cause too much of a stir. The blindfold came off.
Sasuke opened his eyes.
Nothing happened.
He tried again - he didn't even feel the eyelids moving. He tried to roll his eyes inside of their sockets - nothing. A moist towel passed across his face, and with growing consternation Sasuke noticed that his eyelids felt somehow wrong, as though they were no more sensitive than the skin of his cheek. After the washcloth left, with one hand he reached up to his face and felt them.
Two hard, ropy knots of scar tissue.
Sasuke Uchiha, last scion of the Uchiha clan, heir to the most powerful dojutsu in the elemental nations, was completely and irrevocably blind.
It was then that Sasuke finally remembered. He, Sakura, and Naruto, all standing against the Juubi, Obito, and Madara. The intersection of perfected control, power, and technique, standing against the madmen and monsters that would end the world. Until Obito had made a handsign, and black flames erupted from Sasuke's eyes. He remembered seeing Sakura's flesh boil and steam away as darkness vomited out of his eye sockets, corroding everything it touched. He remembered Naruto, filling the area with clones that died one after another, trying to buy the original time. He remembered the tentacles of the Juubi caressing him like a lover, then impaling his heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, gall bladder, filling him with a chakra denser and darker than any he had ever before felt.
And finally Naruto, using the Kyuubi and sage chakra to move his body even as the flesh cooked off his bones, trying hopelessly to stop him.
Landing just one hit on his forehead.
Giving Sasuke enough of the Kyuubi's chakra to let him break the grasp of the Juubi for just one second.
Sasuke remembered having, for one split second, power like that of a god firmly in his grasp. He remembered wanting to do nothing more with it than to turn back time, to make it so that none of it had ever happened.
And he remembered his brother showing him the death of Danzo, the true murderer of their clan, and the technique that he had used to undo the past.
Apparently, with the power of the Juubi combined with the power of Izanagi, Sasuke had achieved more than just a split second's solace. Sasuke had obtained the time and the foreknowledge to be able to stop all of it. He could prevent the greatest of ninja wars, prevent Madara from coming to power, and save the two people he truly cared about from dying.
If, that was, if he could do it blindfolded.