Corpses covered the ground all around the once strong village, everywhere the raven haired teen looked there were lifeless bodies lying on the ground; bodies of fellow shinobi and kunoichi, citizens, loved ones, and friends. Walking over to a body on the side, the teen kneeled down and rolled the body over on its side. It was Ebisu, from what he could tell it looked like his legs were both broken, and his head had a large gash in the back, he mostly died of blood loss. Looking to his left he saw the bodies of Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu, limp on the ground, unmoving, dead. With a heavy sigh the teen stood back up, sparing one last glance at fallen, and walked away.
Looking over the remains of Konoha, the boy saw many bodies littering the ground and destroyed buildings. He saw a few of the surviving people, most of them ANBU, helping move bodies of the dead from the streets. He passed families crying over the loss of a loved one, and fellow shinobi even letting down guarded faces and break into tears at the reality of all that had happened. The great village of Konoha had fallen. It was not long until he found himself back at the ruins that were once the Uchiha Compound.
Ignoring the aching in his heart, Sasuke Uchiha walked through the ruins. As he walked, Sasuke recognized some of the destroyed buildings of the past; the old scroll and weapons shop, the bakery, the old passage into a hidden clearing he would train in with his brother, Itachi. For all the recognitions he had, Sasuke would remember a memory about that place. With every memory came a new smile, but also a heavier heart. Sasuke longed for the days back when things seemed to be perfect for him. He longed for his mother, his father, and most of all, his older brother.
When the truth of the massacre reached his ears, Sasuke had fallen into a rage against Konoha and promised himself to get vengeance on Konoha for what the village had done to his brother. Though, after hearing the words of the past Hokages, Sasuke realized how taking revenge on Konoha was something that he was actually incapable of doing. Konoha was once his home, no it was always his home; he never truly abandoned Konoha as his home no matter how hard he tried to forget about the village when he was with the Snake Sannin. Konoha was always his home and it was his home to stay, but now, his home was gone, destroyed, ruined- dead. Just like everyone he once held close to his heart, no matter how long he tried to deny the emotion he held for his teammates, they were truly close to him and he truly cared for them, but now they were all gone.
When Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts, he found himself standing in front of the front door to his old house- surprising not as destroyed as the rest of the Compound. Visions of the horrors that he witnessed in that house over took his mind, the blood in the floor, his parents' motionless bodies; the cold look in his brother's eyes. Immediately Sasuke shook those thoughts out of his head. That was all in the past, his brother was not a cold blooded murder. He was a loyal Shinobi to Konoha, he was only doing what he was ordered to, he was protecting the entire village from the rest of the Uchiha clan, and he was being nothing but a regular Shinobi. With a deep sigh, Sasuke pressed forwards and entered the house.
As he walked through the house, the floorboards creaked under his weight, not used to having pressure on them after nearly a decade of being left alone to wither away in silence. Sasuke shuffled down the hall, passing the kitchen, family room, and the bathroom. When he reached the end of the hall Sasuke was faced with a fork in his path. To his right were his and his brother's bedrooms, to his left, his parents' room. Not yet feeling brave enough to enter his parents room, Sasuke turned to the right. Reaching the first door Sasuke slowly opened it to reveal his old bed room. A room once full of childhood life and innocence was now cold, dark, and deserted. The floor was worn various holes were scattered randomly around, probably the work of termites or something of the sort. His books were gone as well as his television, taken by thieves he assumed. His bed was worn and covered in a layer of dust, and the rest of his room was covered in in mold, spider webs, and various damages due to weather while a thick musty smell clung to the atmosphere. Before Sasuke shut the door and head further down the hall, he spotted something sticking out from his old closet. Taking a few steps forwards, Sasuke carefully picked up the object; it was a plump green dinosaur. He remembered that his mother had gotten it for him on his fifth birthday, he was so ecstatic to receive it; he would refuse to part with it eve for the shortest amount of time. There was a tug on his heart as he looked at the old childhood toy now; old, moldy, torn in several places, and missing an eye. Still, Sasuke couldn't help but smile at it. Placing it gently on the bed, leaning against the old pillow, Sasuke walked out of the room and closed the door.
Taking a few more steps down the hall, Sasuke came face to face with the door to Itachi's room. Opening the door Sasuke stood in the doorway staring into the empty room. The room was cast in a dark grey tone, it was long past sunset outside and the moon cast an odd shadow into the elder brother's room. The room all in all was very bland, it always had been. His brother wasn't one for showing things off. All he did was train with their father and go on missions. In the deserted room was a single bed, still neatly made despite all the dust and debris that had gathered on top. The floorboards were falling apart and some large chunks were missing. The walls were bare besides from a single calendar and large Uchiha clan symbol above the bed. The shelves that previously held hundreds of scrolls, books, and tombs were now bare, and the closet was open, contents spilling out: some clothes, shoes, and some spare kunai. Next to the bed on a dresser was a single picture, one of just the four of them, all smiling, all happy. It was taken just a week before the massacre. With a weak smile, Sasuke turned out of the room and walked back up the hall.
The walk to his parents' room was dreadful. Even though it was only a short distance away, the memories of what happened there were still fresh in his mind. Stopping in front of the door and breath heavy, Sasuke just stared at it. As a child he has rarely entered his parents' room; the last time he had it was when he first heard the screams and the smell of blood. Taking control of his emotions, Sasuke grabbed hold of the sliding door handle and opened the door.
His parents' bedroom was large, not gigantic, but defiantly larger then both his and his brother's put together. In the middle of the room was a large bed with the traditional Uchiha fan above it, a few dressers- all of which were thoroughly searched and raided as well as the bed stands and closet. Looking over to the sliding doors that lead to the garden outside, Sasuke had to hold back a shiver running down his spine. The rip in the door where is parents' fell though was still there. Some feint splatters of blood were, surprisingly, still visible. The floor where the two of them laid, where they died, still had blood- faint, small, and stained into the floor, but it was still there. No matter how strong of a ninja he was, the memory of his parents' lifeless faces still plagued his thoughts. Avoiding his eyes from looking at the garden door, Sasuke turned back towards his parents' bed.
It was broken, most likely in the fight between his father and Itachi before his father was killed. Looking around the room Sasuke noted that there was nothing of importance there, why he had come, he did not know. His body just moved on its own accord like something in the back of his mind was trying to tell him something, something important. Wanting to let his mind rest Sasuke searched the room- still avoiding his gaze towards the blood stained floor. After about ten minutes of looking around, Sasuke concluded that there was nothing here that could help him. As he went to exit the room, he glanced once more at the large painted Uchiha fan on the wall. That's when he saw it; a single line going right though the entire thing, from ceiling to floor, a slit in the wall itself that was invisible to the eye, but was now seen after the years of weather damage on the seal.
To fully inspect the slit, Sasuke had to push his parents' bed to the side. By doing so, Sasuke noted that one of the floorboards was loose. Pulling it back, Sasuke revealed a small wooden box with a three tomoe Sharingan on it. Inside the box were two pieces of paper, the first one held a single message 'when all else fails, you know what to do', the other seemed to hold directions: straight, left, down, and then forwards.
Sasuke wasn't sure what to think of the note. He had a hunch as so what the note was referring to, but he didn't want to rush to conclusions. Slipping the two pieces of paper into his pocket, he put the box where it was and turned towards the slit wall. He stared at it intently for quite some time, trying to figure out a way he could get past it. He could always break down the wall, but there was a high possibility that there were precautions against such things, but after such a long time had passed they could of all become duds. Still, whatever was hidden beyond the wall was important so Sasuke didn't want to take the risk. Since it seemed to be an Uchiha secret, he assumed it had to be opened in a way only an Uchiha Shinobi could, a powerful one at least. With a deep breath, Sasuke closed his eyes and calmed his mind. Then he activated his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan; by doing so, Sasuke noticed that he had activated a seal of some sort, and he could faintly see a small point in the middle of the slit glowing softly. Taking a step towards it, Sasuke reached out his arm and placed his palm on the glowing dot. Slowly, he began to push some chakra into the wall. Not even a minute later, the walls began to part revealing a deep dark staircase going down.
After deactivating the Sharingan, he began gathering a small amount of chakra in his hands, a small blue glow started to emit about his hand, just bright enough to light the area surrounding him. If he was able to, he'd thank Ino for that, it was a simple jutsu she had invented back in there genin days. Sasuke descended down the stairs and followed the directions that were written on the paper from before. After nearly an hour of walking, Sasuke came across a dead end wall with a large Uchiha symbol on it again. Sasuke didn't need to activate his Sharingan this time to know that it was opened just like the previous door. After about a minute of pushing chakra into the wall, it finally slid apart and natural light was let into the dark hallway.
Stepping out, Sasuke found himself in cave that seemed to have a large hole in the top. In the center was a single building, a small shrine. Walking towards it Sasuke noticed that sitting in the shrine seemed to be a small round red gem. Sasuke examined it for a minute, and then decided to fuse some chakra in it. The second his chakra touched the gem, a blinding light burst from it forcing Sasuke to take a step back and drop the gem, but instead of falling to the ground the gem floated in the air and continued to glow.
After the light dimmed, Sasuke turned back towards the now floating stone. The light it had emitted was now shining in a circle. Looking closely, Sasuke noticed that something seemed to be standing in the middle of the light. As the image became clearer Sasuke had to suppress a gasp. It was himself, and it was the exact image of what he was doing just that moment. If that wasn't strange enough for Sasuke, the other Sasuke started moving, but it wasn't forwards, he started walking backwards, back through the door, down the hall, around all the corners and turns. The other Sasuke continued to walk backwards, retracing every step the real time Sasuke had taken, but every second that passed Sasuke noticed that the speed of reflection Sasuke was going at was slowly increasing.
After a minute of watching himself walk backwards through life, Sasuke realized what was in front of him. It was a portal and not just any portal, a portal to the past. He still wasn't completely sure of it; the aspect of time travel was something that just seemed impossible. It could have been a hoax, but then again, it was hidden pretty well in the compound and in his father's bedroom, it couldn't have been hoax. Then a thought hit him, this portal to the past was to be used if the Coup failed- a last resort.
The images in the portal were now flashing by at a rather fast pace, even activating his Sharingan didn't help him view the images very well. Though, from what he could tell, it seemed to be at the time when the explosion of Orochimaru's lair happened and he has seen Sakura and Naruto for the first time about nearly three years.
Suddenly, Sasuke's mind began rushing through thoughts. If this really was a portal to the past then he could go back a change things in his life. And if he timed it just right, he could prevent the massacre from happening, or at least try to find a better way to solve the problem between the clan and the village rather than death. Though, there were always the consequences of it, like people could not believe him, time travel was always something of a joke of the mind and there was still the possibility of this being a hoax.
Then again, Sasuke had a lot of things that he always wanted. He had power, strength, the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, and the blood of the man who caused all the pain and suffering for his clan on his hands. Not only that, but Sasuke had a powerful team- though he was missing one currently- Team Taka was strong. They worked well together, even though Sasuke was never one for teamwork and preferred to work alone. He couldn't shake the strong bonds he had formed with the other members of team Taka.
Thinking back on teams, Sasuke remembered the first team he was ever put in: Team Seven. He remembered Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. He remembered the rest of the Konoha genin, Team Gai, and even the Sand Siblings. He once had bonds with them too, but he severed them in favor of his quest for power and strength and will to kill Itachi. Sasuke swallowed a lump in his throat at the thought of his brother.
Was Sasuke really willing to risk everything he had just to have a slim chance at changing the past? The chances of him actually landing in the correct time period was slim. He could either jump too early and miss his chance completely or land himself too far back and risk forgetting everything from landing in an infant brain.
Sasuke could always try to save and befriend- become allies with- the three members of Team Taka before Orochimaru damaged them all too much, but that would add even more stress to the Uchiha and he was running out of time. If he let too much time pass he really would end up back as an infant.
With a determined look on his face, Sasuke stared right into the portal, trying to catch at what point the portal was showing. The images were moving at such a fast speed that there was no way for him to exactly pin point what time in his life was flashing in front of him. A split second hesitation and then Sasuke found himself jumping into the portal. He was engulfed by another bright light and he felt as if his entire body was being sucked by a giant vacuum. Then, everything went black.
Seconds after Sasuke jumped into the portal, the gem flashed a bright light before dimming. It hovered in the air for a little bit before falling to the ground.
Ah, finally, finished this chapter. I started it three days ago, but an important school project got in the way and I couldn't finish it all in one day, but today I had no real homework so I had time to do this. I feel like the ending was kind of rushed, but other than that I'm generally happy with how this came out so far. I will try to get the next chapter out soon as I can, I'll probably start working on tomorrow or something like that. I tried to describe the Compound as close as I could to the anime and manga, but I couldn't get everything 100 percent perfect. Also, don't worry. Sasuke's back story as to why he's in Konoha and is a 'good guy' will be explained shortly. I also hope I described the whole time travel description well enough. It was surprisingly hard to write out in a way where it was easy to picture in your mind. So, can any of you guess as to whom the feet belong to? I won't say if you're right or wrong, but I'd like to keep a tally of what you all think. Thanks for reading!
4/19/13: Edited, changed a few things around. A set time for when Sasuke jumps back is set to where the manga currently is at: Chapter 626