(Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Oh well)

Prologue

Naruto was dead. It shouldn't have been possible. As relentlessly annoying as he was, as delusional about his own strength as he was, a world without Uzumaki Naruto blathering on about "Ramen" this or "Hokage" that was a violation of the natural order. Nevertheless, Uchiha Sasuke knew without a shadow of a doubt that what was left of the corpse in front of him was all that remained of the very same orange clad dobe that had insisted on calling him "friend". Even if Obito hadn't subsequently used a rather brutal technique to rip what was left of the kyuubi's chakra out of it's host, hastening his demise, there was no way the demon could have healed that much damage.

It was another example of life's unfairness. Of how broken the world truly was to let scum like Obito continue to have his way with the world. Just when Sasuke thought there was nothing more that could be taken from him, the world would twist just enough to prove him wrong again. First his clan, then Itachi, now this. With time, the last born Uchiha could draw some conclusions from this, and figure out where to go from here. Current circumstances pretty much guaranteed that he wouldn't get it.

"What now? What do we do now?" The pink haired kunoichi of team 7 stared directly into Sasuke's sharingan eyes. Normally this was not a brilliant idea, but he didn't see the normal brilliance behind Sakura's eyes. She was searching for something, as if staring as hard as she could at him would yield some hidden nugget of knowledge. Something, anything, that could make the situation different. There was a time when Sasuke would feel nothing but annoyance with Sakura for staring at him. But the attraction to the idea of Sasuke that Sakura had held onto was nowhere evident. It was equally a relief, and sign of something else that was gone. Sasuke found himself unreasonably angry at this.

"Why are you asking me?" Sasuke wanted nothing to do with any of this. All he wanted was his revenge. Revent against Obito for his part in the slaughter of the Uchiha clan, revenge against Konoha for allowing it to happen, and against the entire shinobi world for all it had taken from him.

"Because if Naruto were here, he'd trust you to figure this out. Regardless of anyone else's opinion, or how troublesome you've made our lives, you brooding bastard." Sasuke turned to see Nara Shikamaru, puffing on a cigarette and staring off in the general direction of Obito and the Juubi. "As much as I hate to admit it, without Naruto or Bee, you're the best shot we've got at surviving this." The Nara genius' choice of words wasn't lost on Sasuke. Shikamaru had given up on any hope of victory, a sentiment that was rapidly spreading like a cancer through the Alliance forces.

"Naruto was here, and look where that got us." Sasuke snapped back. "If he'd stayed away like he was supposed to, Obito wouldn't have the Juubi right now." Technically speaking, it was true. But Shikamaru wasn't ready to let that little logical fallacy slide.

"If he hadn't arrived when he did, we'd all be dead right now and you know it. Or do you think you could have stopped the Edo Tensei yourself? Or perhaps defeated an unkillable version of Madara all on your own? Sensed the difference between a Zetsu clone and a member of the Alliance? Face it, Sasuke, we needed him. Still do, actually, but now we have to settle for you."

"Tch…" he turned from Shikamaru, not willing to admit the man was correct. To do so would be to admit to being lesser than Naruto in a way, and that was unacceptable.

His gaze turned to Obito, standing a good distance away with an arrogant grin on his face. The man could have returned to finish them at any time, but with the death of the Alliance's hero, he seemed content to let them fall into despair first. Asshole. Standing there like his victory was preordained reminded him of Hyuuga Neji, in a way. Before Naruto had scraped together that winning strategy in the chuunin exams, he'd been under the impression that everything was dictated by fate. Not only had the dobe disabused him of that notion in a rather violent manner, but in that single act he'd set in motion a chain of events that had resulted in the divide between the branch and main families being reduced to little more than a formality. Even still, perhaps Neji had a point. Perhaps fate was an immovable object, and that changes to it were merely an illusion allowed to persist for a small time until it was violently removed. Obito finally spoke to the amassed army before him.

"Do you finally understand? Can you finally see that there is nothing you can do to stop my plans? Everything you've tried, I've had an answer for. Everything you will try, I can negate. Only when you have lived as I have, and can understand the world as I do, could you possibly hope to comprehend how hopeless things are for you. Too bad for you, the world as you know it is ending soon. Nobody will ever have to worry about such things again. No more villains imposing their will over the weak, no more heroes dying to maintain the status quo. There will finally be peace, and only peace." Obito's voice carried over the crowd, none willing to attack him at the moment.

Sasuke didn't respond, allowing the words to linger in his skull. Maybe it wasn't fate that led to this, but rather the persistence of a superior strategy over a long time by those hell bent on shaping things to their whims. And every strategy had a flaw, if you had the eyes to see it. "I have an idea."

Those four words had a bigger impact than he could have expected. If it weren't for his Sharingan, Sasuke might not have detected the subtle shifts in expression and stance in those within earshot. Shikamaru finished his cigarette, and dropped the butt to the ground before crushing it under his heel.

"What do you need?"

Sasuke's eyes remained focused on Obito, details of a desperate plan falling into place. "Buy me a little time."

Shika's left eyebrow went up. "You don't ask for much, do you?"

"Hn." Sasuke didn't have time to explain. If this was to work, he needed the Alliance to play its part. "About as much as Naruto would have."

"I believed in Naruto-kun, and he believed in you." Sasuke didn't have to turn to identify that voice. Hyuuga Hinata continued, "So to honor his memory, I'll believe in you too." As she spoke, her voice rose to carry to more people. A resolve in her voice that was infectious. "An illusion of peace is no peace at all. I would rather die and see Naruto again than fall victim to the whims of a madman." At this point Hinata was speaking less to Sasuke and more to the Army. "Who's with me?" Murmurs in the crowd turned to shouts of determination.

"So damn troublesome. Maybe when I die I can finally rest." Shikamaru rubbed at an itch on the back of his neck. "Alright Sasuke, we'll give you the time you need. I just hope it isn't much." Shikamaru and Hinata turned walk towards the front line, with Hinata giving a rousing speech that Sasuke couldn't be bothered to listen to. Only Sakura lingered for a moment, murmuring a quiet thanks to an unresponsive Sasuke before joining the other two Konoha nin.

Shouts of defiance roared through the army one last time, and what started as only a few slowly moving towards Obito quickly turned into a charge. Sasuke's cloak whipped about while Shinobi and Kunoichi raced past him. Sasuke himself stood still, eyes never straying from Obito, as if waiting to see what the response would be.

"Oh, you still don't get it yet? Well, I guess I can play with you for a little bit longer," and Obito proceeded to do exactly that. With the power of the Juubi at his disposal, he casually tossed jutsu of every element to slaughter ninja by the hundreds. Sasuke watched dispassionately as countless people were slaughtered, ignoring the pleas and cries for help of those being crushed, drowned, burned alive, or cut to pieces in front of eyes that would never be able to forget the scene playing out in front of him. It threatened to make him ill, but he forced himself to endure the sight of so much death, looking for the opening he needed. True to his word, Obito used a technique to create an elevated platform, raising him above the army attacking him for a moment. "Enough! I'd say you should be admired for your tenacity, but your unwillingness to accept the truth makes me sick." Obito put his hands together for a hand seal, only to abandon the jutsu in order to dodge a flurry of shuriken sent at him. "What now?"

There was the poof of smoke, and one of the shuriken changed to reveal Uchiha Sasuke, eyes blazing red, as he began a relentless taijutsu assault on Obito.

"Oh come on Sasuke, do you really think you can kill me where everyone else has failed?" Sasuke didn't reply, instead choosing to let his sword speak for him with a rising slash meant to take his head off. Obito backflipped out of the way. "Or is it that you'd rather die like the rest instead of live eternally in a dream? I can oblige you if that's the case. After all," Obito put his hands together in a seal sasuke found familiar, "we're family! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" The area glowed red with the immense fireball that razed the surface of the platform Obito had created. Hellish heat melted the rock in places, and all the moisture in the air fled. Obito held his breath so as not to breathe in the superheated air, and his eyes darted about. That shouldn't have been enough to kill Sasuke, and he needed to be ready for the counterattack. "Where did you go?"

The moments ticked by. The air cooled enough to be breathable again, if only just, and Obito let himself inhale slowly, intently scanning the red glowing debris and letting his finely honed instinct guide where Sasuke might come from. The seconds turned into a solid minute, but the counterattack never came. Obito played the events of the fight through his mind. There was no way Sasuke should have died to that. Obito prided himself on never under- or overestimating his opponents. As if to confirm that, there was no charred corpse where the fireball had been, and no indication that Sasuke was there at all. It was as if he'd never been there in the first place.

Obito flexed his chakra, but nothing changed. That meant he wasn't in a genjutsu, which only left… He realized with a start that the ambient red glow he was seeing wasn't being caused entirely by the glowing embers below him, and turned to look at the moon. "NO!"

Out in the field, still standing in his original position, but staring at the moon this time, was Sasuke, holding a hand seal and bringing every iota of his chakra to bear on his next technique. "Did you really think that dobe was the only one who could use that Jutsu?" Sasuke didn't speak much louder than normal, but he didn't have to for his voice to carry to Obito's ears.

"NOOOOO!" Obito pumped as much chakra as he could into the shunshin meant to carry him to the one trying to usurp his plans.

"Too slow." Sasuke felt the technique complete with the last remnants of his chakra, and the world slowed to a halt around him as he cried out its name, with his eye reflected from the moon:

"MUGEN IZANAGI!"

A/N Hello! Welcome to my first fic! Well, maybe it's my first? It's definitely the first that is seeing light outside of my google drive account. In true Naruto fashion, I will introduce myself as team 7 did. I am Leniad Kurrem. I enjoy reading all kinds of stuff, gaming, and being a programmer by trade. I dislike ginger ale, and people who don't think for themselves. I have many dreams, but the relevant ones are that people enjoy themselves reading my works, and that certain authors I follow deem me worthy of following in return.

Full Disclosure: I'm using Nanowrimo as an excuse to force myself to write, so most, if not all, of what you see here will be first drafts for the time being. That having been said, I hope you enjoy Reimagining Fate!