Disclaimer: I own nothing! Nada! Zero! Zip! I certainly don't own Naruto either.

Sasuke's Redemption

Chapter One: The Stranger With Eyes Like Mine

Sarutobi sighed and clenched his pipe in his teeth and stared down at the small curled up body of the child. He looked at the medic nin, "His current status?" he demanded harshly.

"Comatose. We believe he suffered some sort of genjutsu attack on his mind that left him a near vegetative state."

Sarutobi was silent and shook his head. "Chances of recovery?" he asked in a softer tone of voice.

"I believe … it might be possible to repair his mind but for now, it might be best to just see if he can recover on his own. Once his condition stabilizes, his prognosis might improve."

"You can't do anything?"

"The severity of whatever attack was used is simply out of our capacity to heal. Perhaps if Tsunade were here, she might…" the medic nin began hopefully but Sarutobi gave a sharp and negative shake of his head. "No. She will not return for this," he said in a hard tone of voice. Then he looked sad.

"Well … we shall simply have to wait and see then," he said quietly. The medic nin nodded and they both left the room. Sarutobi glanced at the two ANBU stationed outside the room and gave them a nod. He doubted that they were really needed. If Itachi had wanted to kill Sasuke, he would have done so without bothering with a genjutsu assault.

As for this … this incident, there were so many other words he could call it but they lacked sufficient fire for the enormity of it all, he suspected that Danzo knew far more about it than he was letting on. And worst of all, his jaw tightened … he no longer fully trusted Koharu and Homura. They had urged him to force a confrontation with the Uchiha Clan but even Itachi's information had been … vague. At best. He wanted proof. Solid proof that they were deliberating committing treason before he went and formally accused them. Because if they were in fact loyal, such an accusation might drive them into treason.

But the Uchihas did not fully trust Itachi. They believed that his loyalty to Konoha overshadowed that of any loyalty he felt to the Clan itself. Ironically, Danzo, Koharu, and Homura believed Itachi might not be as loyal to Konoha as he was to his own Clan either.

Had the situation been any less grim, he might have had a few chuckles over the irony of it all. But not now.

Had they gone behind his back?

He could believe that Danzo was capable of that. But not Koharu and Homura. He wanted to believe that they wouldn't. That they couldn't. But deep down, he felt otherwise.

He felt a deep throbbing in his temple as he walked down the hospital corridor, deep in thought. Damn it, he shouldn't have to deal with this crap. He had been happily retired and playing the doting grandfather when he been forcibly pulled out of retirement with Minato's death. The panicky Council had immediately latched onto him as the obvious choice of Hokage. He would have refused but he knew that had he done so, then Danzo would be first in line presenting himself as a suitable interim replacement. Interim! Hah! His old, spotted, and wrinkly ass! he bitterly thought to himself. And the look the old bastard had been giving the infant Naruto had given Sarutobi's chills.

He needed time to think about this. Time to calm down. Before he did anything. Like rip off Danzo's remaining arm and beat him to death with it. He grumbled to himself, I'm too damn old for this shit.

It was several hours later and the two ANBU guards were bored stiff. They were getting paid to basically stand in one of the most heavily protected buildings in Konoha (short of the Hokage Tower of course!) to stand watch over a comatose kid. Chunins could do this sort of thing. Hell, Genins would probably be better. It was a severe waste of a couple of highly trained, extremely dangerous ANBU, in their personal opinions. But their opinions of course didn't matter.

A medic nin came striding down the corridor apparently studying a clipboard and was walking past the private room when he looked up at them. Their eyes locked and they suddenly stiffened. The medic nin smirked as the two ANBU were lost in the genjutsu he had cast on them. Standards are really slipping, he thought to himself as he quietly entered the room and let his henge dissipate.

He was tall and slender. He had raven black hair that stuck up from the back of his head. His blood red eyes with triple comma marks spun around the central pupil lazily as he surveyed the room cautiously. Good no additional guards, that makes it easier, he nodded to himself, as he walked up to the bed and looked down at the prone figure lying there. He wasn't going to complain but he was quite frankly appalled at how easily he evaded the security. Maybe I should write a note and deliver it to the Hokage, fling it through his office window wrapped around a kunai and embed it in that hat he wears…

He hated hospitals. He remembered waking up here as a child. The smell of the disinfectant, the sterility of the surroundings made him uncomfortable. It offended him actually. He quickly made a few seals and then reached down and pried open an eyelid and gazed into the eye of the young boy even as his eyes morphed into the Mangekyou Sharingan. Contact.

Sasuke suddenly jerked upright and screamed. He gasped, shaking as he blinked several times to focus on the man standing next to him. He jerked backwards. "Itachi!" he shrieked and tried to scramble away but his muscles were weak. "No. Not Itachi, Sasuke," the young man said softly. He leaned closer to the bed, allowing the boy to see his face.

Sasuke relaxed as he realized that it really wasn't his brother. But it did really look like his brother at first glance. "Uh … are you my cousin or something?" he asked bewildered.

"No," the Itachi-look-alike shook his head.

"But you are an Uchiha…" Sasuke said uncertainly. His Sharingan looks funny… he thought to himself as the stranger's eyes shifted to a more normal looking one.

The man gave a short nod, confirming it with, "Yes, I am."

"Who are you?"

The older man smirked, "I'm you."

A/N: I've been stuck with my other stories for a while and when I was trying to work on "Girl Genius", an idea popped into my head about what if Sasuke was the one who travels back in time to try and alter the course of events. This is the result.