The Atonement of Uchiha Sasuke
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Sadly.
Author's Note: This is my first story on this website so I'm apologizing ahead if this was not what you had expected.
Prologue
(Sasuke's POV)
As the blade went through my body, I feared for the worst.
I felt my body meet the ground below as he dropped me, not caring if I was alive or not. I could see Madara walk away to continue to fight in the war, leaving me bleeding and struggling to stay alive. The sword pierced too closely to the heart, and with basic knowledge of the human body, anyone could tell that it would result in death. The chances of living were very slim.
I could hear the cries of various shinobis around me, trying to keep fighting and inevitably, failing to succeed in even keeping the enemy at bay.
My vision began to blur as the pain becomes a dull and throbbing feeling that seems to resonate in my very being. It acted as if it was a timer, and it was slowly reaching the end.
Is this the end?
I tried to keep my resolve to live as I remembered the very reason why I even decided to partake in the war.
To honour my brother's sacrifice.
Looking back, I began realizing all the mistakes I made during the years of my existence. I never seem to do anything right. All the years I've wasted on focusing on revenge against Itachi, not realizing that I was wrong about the massacre and that it was because of him that I was saved. All those memories in Konoha, wasted because of my hunger for power and becoming an avenger. All of those moments I could have had used in honouring my brother, wasted on training with Orochimaru for vengeance on my brother.
All that time wasted, because of my ignorance and blind hate.
Maybe, if I had known the truth, it would have been different. Maybe I could have been happier if I knew what I know now. Maybe I would have had a much more meaningful childhood, other than all those nights where I trained with the goal of killing Itachi. Maybe I could have gained another brother in Naruto, who had also shared a similar sad past.
That would have been nice, though it seems that it made me a bit sadder when I remember it.
I could feel my senses slipping away, leaving me numb. Then, for some mysterious reason, I could feel warmth instead of the so-called 'coldness of death'.
It felt as if my own mother was hugging me when I was still a child, although by then, I refused to be hugged by her because I wanted to be considered older.
As my eyes became heavier by the second, I felt myself smiling. If this is what death feels like, then I'll take it.
It has got to be better than this reality, knowing everything I did was wrong and getting to live in the expense of others.
As I breathed my last, I let myself succumb to the warmth, letting my last memory be the memory of my family, whole and happy.
I closed my eyes, letting that memory be imprinted into my very soul.
As I laid there with my eyes closed, I could smell something different. No, it wasn't the smell of blood. It also wasn't the smell of decaying corpses.
It was the smell of my mother.
Opening my eyes in alarm, I saw my own mother look down at me as she hugged me to her chest. I felt my heart constricting as she smiled at me, ruffling my hair affectionately like she used to.
I tore away from her touch as I took in my surroundings. I wasn't on the battle field anymore; I was in the Uchiha house.
I could hear my mother calling me again to her attention, sounding a bit distressed. Instinctively, I looked back at her, only to see her looking at me with obvious amusement in her eyes.
"Sweetheart, is something wrong?" She asked me, lowering her body a bit to meet me in the eyes. Why did she bend down?
Looking down at myself, I could see why. I had a body of a kid. And as usual, I did what any sane(?) person would do when they realize that they discover that they had the body of a kid.
I went hysterical.
My mother immediately began to panic as she saw me panic. I looked around and tried to remember where the mirror was. Running down the hall with my mother at my heels, I saw my reflection on the mirror. I looked at my mother again, who was becoming increasingly worried as I tried calming myself down. Trying to come up with a valid reason on how I could have regressed back to childhood, I looked back on all the jutsus I mastered, all the books I read. I finally came to a conclusion, the most logical one my mind could come up with. All the other possible reasons were crazier than the next. I immediately thought of a wild question.
"Okaa-san?" I asked in a whiny, child-like voice. I cringed at the thought of becoming stuck with such a wretched voice, if my prediction was right.
"Yes, what is it, Sasuke?" She seemed a bit calmer now that I began talking.
Taking a deep breath, I asked "Where's onii-san?"
I saw her take a breath of relief when she heard my question. "He's training with your father at the back."
"Oh." As I heard her answer, my suspicions were confirmed. I went back in time. Glancing at my body, I could deduce that I went back to the time when I was around 5 years old. I looked around again at the house, staring in wonder on how it changed drastically over the years. I could hear my mother talking to me, but I barely listened to her. I wanted to remember it all.
I only decided to listen to my mother after she thumped me on the head, earning a loud yelp from me.
"Okaa-san! What was that for?" I whined, trying to glare menacingly at her, although I could feel my current glare could only scare a guinea pig. I saw her chuckle at my 'glare', which made me glare even harder. At least that made my glare a Level 2: Enough to scare a rabbit.
"That was for not listening to me, sweetheart." She told me, smiling a bit too sweetly for my preference, making her even more menacing than any shinobi I faced. Her eyes then narrowed as she frowned slightly at me, actually looking like a stern mother. "And that was also for making someone cry."
"I made someone cry?" That couldn't be right. I don't remember making someone cry when I was 5. I should have remembered it; my memory was pretty good since I was a child.
I saw her sigh. "There you go again, 'forgetting' about making her cry again." She said, lifting her arms to make air quotes on the word 'forgetting'. She put her arms down to place them on her hips, glaring at me, making me gulp in nervousness. Facing an army of resurrected shinobis who is under the control of the snake-maniac's follower? Easy.
Facing my extremely pissed off mother for something I supposedly did? I'm screwed.
Seeing that I was nervous, she began scolding me again. "You should understand, she's younger than you. You should understand that she is still a baby."
'She?' I thought, putting my bet that this was probably a fangirl, although a bit younger than my usual fangirls, since my mother did say she was considered a 'baby' by my mother.
"All she wanted to do was to play with your toys. You didn't have to steal her doll and threaten to use it for target practice later."
'My... toys?' Okay, scratch that fangirl bet. I'm blaming Naruto for this one. Only that dumbass would put me in this kind of situation. Maybe he used his Oiroke no jutsu and acted as a girl in front of my mother? Then again, he developed that stupid ninjutsu when he was somehow older than 5...
"Also," she paused for dramatic effect, using it to pinch my cheeks. "You shouldn't have pulled her hair when she was trying to get her doll back. Look at the hair you managed to pull." She said, motioning over to the table on the side. On the wooden table, I saw strands of black hair, not blond hair.
'Black hair? The idiot has blond hair...' I wondered in alarm as my imaginary list of people to blame became shorter and shorter. Who has black hair, younger than me, and is a girl? I thought it over and finally figured it out.
Looking at my mother, I gave her my most respectful look and said "Sorry that I made you unhappy, mother." She looked happier when I said that. "I'm also sorry that I made Hinata-san cry. I'll go apologize to her right now." Although, why would a Hyūga play with an Uchiha, even if said Hyūga is the apparent heiress of said clan?
With my answer, she thumped me on the head again. "Sasuke! I wasn't talking about Hinata-chan!" She said, clearly unhappy with my answer. Then, she processed what I said earlier. "Wait, did you have a fight with Hinata-chan?!"
"No! Of course not!" I defended myself, rubbing the already sore spot on my head. She really did love hitting me on the head, even back then, to prove a point.
"Oh good... I thought you were picking on her..." She placed her hand on her chest, trying to calm her heart.
Sensing that she had forgotten the reason why she was scolding me, I escaped from her grasp, trying to look for any possible clues that could help me comprehend what was happening. Who did I bully that would cause my own mother to go ballistic?
I managed to get outside of the house, only to find a 5 year old Naruto walking around. As he noticed he didn't notice my presence, I decided to follow him to wherever he was headed. Anywhere is better than facing an angry Uchiha Mikoto.
I followed him, wondering where he would end up. As I followed Naruto, I saw people look at him with no contempt, just simple kindness. Some even stopped him just to say hi.
Odd. If I remembered correctly, he was called the 'fox brat' and everyone looked at him with hatred in their eyes. Some even ignored him and treated him like trash. Why did it seem like they actually acknowledge him and manage to like him?
Looking ahead, I felt a wave of nostalgia as I saw he was heading for his favorite place on earth: Ichiraku Ramen.
I walked up to him while he was looking at the sign of Ichiraku Ramen.
"Hey, Uzumaki." I called out, expecting that he'll look back and see me, then declare me as his rival, then I'll call him 'idiot', etc... But, he didn't even notice me.
"Uzumaki." Still no response from the orange clad idiot. I felt my irritation go up, as well as my fist to pummel the idiot for ignoring me.
I felt someone's chakra coming closer, and I managed to lower my fist to make it seem like I was not trying to beat up the idiot. I looked at my back and saw a young Akimichi Choji and his father, Akimichi Choza, approaching us.
"Hey, Sasuke! What are you doing here?" Choji asked, munching on some chips, leaving crumbs on the swirl pattern on his cheeks. Naruto seemed to hear Choji's question and looked at us in surprise.
"Hey teme!" He greeted me, also waving at Choji and Choza. The Akimichi clan leader nodded his head, smiling slightly.
"Hello, Naruto-kun. How's your father?" Choza asked, reaching over to ruffle Naruto's hair.
'Wait... FATHER?!' I thought hysterically, distinctly remembering that Naruto was an orphan.
"He's fine. Just buried in paperwork." Naruto grinned, remembering the time he was trying to learn how to make a paper airplane with one of the daimyo's letter to Namikaze Minato. He never knew that a person could turn that kind of red in under 5 seconds.
"Ah... must be hard, being the son of the Hokage."
"Not really. There's something harder than that."
"Really?" Choza seemed genuinely surprised at his response. I also looked at him a bit weirdly, trying to comprehend the fact that he actually had a father.
"Yup. It's being that guy's best friend." Naruto said, pointing at me. I glared my Level 2 glare at him while I made my way to punch him on the jaw.
Choza laughed whole-heartedly, grabbing me by the shoulders, stopping me from killing my so-called 'best friend'. I looked over at Naruto and saw him and Choji laughing at me.
I was about to retort when I saw my mother heading towards where I was. I felt myself tense as I saw the anger in her eyes.
As she approached us, she realized who I was with and managed to conceal the anger in her eyes to serenity and happiness.
Now that was scary.
After she managed to excuse me from their presence, she dragged me back to the Uchiha compound, scolding me all the way. I was barely listening to her as I tried warping my mind by the fact that Naruto wasn't an orphan and that his father was still the Hokage. Something was seriously weird.
As she brought me back to the house, I saw a 10 year old Itachi and my father, Fugaku, talking. They stopped their conversation when they saw us approaching. My father looked at me, then at my mother, trying to guess what we were doing.
"Is everything alright?" He asked, a bit stumped as to why I was being dragged back to the compound.
"No. He still hasn't apologized to her."
"Seriously?" Itachi asked. Looking at me, he shook his head in amusement. "Just say sorry and everything will be fine."
"Sorry? Why should I say sorry?" I'm beginning to feel like Naruto, always confused and wrong.
"Because you threatened to steal her doll." Fugaku said, crossing his arms.
"Her doll that strangely looks like Itachi." Uchiha Shisui quipped, appearing out of nowhere. He was, if I remember correctly, Itachi's best friend. He died, though, because of Danzo in the future.
"Shut up." Itachi looked at him, lightly glaring at his best friend. Shisui just shrugged and disappeared again.
"Yes. The doll that looks like Itachi." Mikoto nodded, not realizing how weird and creepy it sounded. The fact that someone had a doll that looks like Itachi creeped me out a bit. Although, it would be more creepy if someone had a doll of Orochimaru...
Seeing as that this conversation was getting me nowhere, I decided to just face it head on.
"Okay, okay... I'll apologize..." 'Does it count if I didn't remember what I actually did?' I wondered. '... Who cares, anyway? The sooner this is over, the better it would be for my remaining sanity.' Yeah, I'll go with that.
"Good. Now go and apologize." My mother pushed inside the house, smiling at me.
I just realized that, though I was apologizing, I didn't know where to find that person. Looking at my mother, I asked if she could come with me.
When I asked her that, she shook her head ruefully, mumbling "I'm sure she won't bite you again..."
'Bite me?' I wondered, placing my self-bet that this was an Inuzuka. Who else would bite a fellow person?
But, my guess was wrong again as we walked inside the house and up the stairs. As I walked, I could feel a sense of dread wash over me as I reached the end of the hallway with my mother trailing behind me. She placed her hand on my right shoulder, making sure that I would not try to escape her once again.
She stopped me in front of a shoji in the far end of the hall and motioned me to slide it. On the other side, I could hear slight movement. I looked at my mother and asked her "Do I have to?"
She looked at me sternly. "Yes, you have to."
"But why?" I was genuinely curious as to why I had to apologize.
"Because that's what families do. Forgive each other, even if it hurts." She said, her eyes gaining a gentle touch. I felt a lump in my throat as I remember the past, now future, Uchiha clan massacre.
'Wait. Family?'
"Family? What are you talking about, mother?" I asked, my eyes widening in confusion. She seemed to have become angry again as she pinched my cheeks, roughly.
"I'm talking about your sister!"
"... sister...?" I felt myself stop breathing, staring at my mother. She seemed to notice my daze and proceeded to call my supposed sister.
"Jin-chan, can you come out? Your Sasuke-oniichan wants to apologize for hurting your doll and pulling your hair."
As she called out 'Jin', I felt a strange sense of happiness and confusion. I had a sister. I had a fucking sister.
"My doll has a name. It's Kami-chan." A small voice said, trying to prove a point. My mother just chuckled softly as she quickly amended her previous statement.
"Gomen, gomen. I meant, your Sasuke-oniichan wants to apologize for hurting Kami-chan and pulling your hair."
We were only met with silence. My mother tried again talking to her.
"Jin-chan, can we come in? Your Sasuke-oniichan wants to apologize and I need to check if your head is alright.
"... Wait a minute." We heard her mumble, then some footsteps. We waited for a while until the shoji slid to the side, revealing a 3 year old girl with onyx eyes and black hair that seemed a bit too mussed up and spiky at the back to be deliberate. She was the splitting image off my mother, only with paler skin and longer eyelashes.
I stared at my sister, not believing that I had a baby sister, of all things. I would have preferred cats, but a sister is fine... I guess.
She looked at back at me, then at my – I mean – our mother before side stepping to let us in. I felt our mother push me inside my sister's room.
My mother grabbed my sister's hand as she led her to the bed on the side, making her sit on her lap. There, she was checking her head, or more specifically, her hair. I could hear her displeasure as she surveyed the damage I seemed to have caused. I decided to walk around, seeing as it is my first time in a girl's room.
Her room was different from what I expected. Instead of seeing pink, unicorns, and puppies, I saw a lot of books and the color gray. There wasn't any toys lying around and it was surprisingly clean and neat, for a child's room.
I felt her staring at me from our mother's lap. I looked back at her with the same stare and I saw her prettily smile at me.
'I knew it.' So she's just like the Hyūga girl: shy, demure, cute. Typical of someone from a well-known clan.
As our mother finished up her inspection, she released her and announced that I will apologize to her and that afterwards, we can get to eat onigiri.
Seems easy enough.
As I was left in the room with my sister, I looked at her again, just for her to know that I was talking to her. She seemed to be in a daze.
"Ah... sorry about your hair." I said, slightly wincing at her current hairstyle. It wasn't mussed up anymore, but it was still spiky at the back.
She didn't reply. Or seem to notice.
I decided to continue. "And sorry about your doll." I waited for her reaction.
Nothing.
I waited for a while, and then I concluded that she probably wasn't paying attention to me. Typical of a kid having such a short attention span, even if she was supposed to grow up to become a ninja.
I turned to live her room, when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I looked back and saw her standing beside me, just staring at me blankly. I was a bit creeped out when she stared at me like that.
I then noticed that she was telling me something.
"Sorry, what was that?"
She looked down for a moment, trying to clear her throat, and then looked back at me with something weird in her eyes. It looked ominous and diabolical, especially for a kid her age.
"Touch Kami-chan again, and I will castrate you. That I promise."
"... hai." I couldn't say anything else. Where else would you hear a kid say 'castrate'?
"Good." She smirked at me, and then proceeded to leave the room. I followed her, walking slowly so that I could observe her. I stopped halfway down the hall so that I can keep watching her. She kept going until she reached the steps of the stairs. She looked back at me with slightly dazed eyes, until she blinked, and then her eyes reverted into those diabolical eyes with malicious intent. And to think she probably didn't have the Sharingan yet.
"Remember, Sasuke-oniichan" I could hear the sarcasm dripping from her words. "I always keep my promises."
Then she went down the stairs, humming a tune.
I was frozen there, wondering if what I just witnessed was some sort of tomato-induced hallucination.
I hoped it was.
I don't think the remaining sanity I had left could handle this kind of pressure.
Author's Note: Review please.