The first thing that came to Sasuke's mind when he regained his senses was the sun is too bright. Blinking several times, Sasuke looked around to comprehend where -or when- he was. What he saw nearly sent him into a mini panic attack. He wasn't in any training field as a child, or anywhere in his old house, he wasn't even in the Uchiha Compound. He was in his apartment, the same apartment he lived in after the massacre.
Jumping up out of the bed, Sasuke ran to the adjoining bathroom to his one room apartment and looked in the mirror to come face with his twelve year old self's reflection. Sasuke spent a good five minutes poking and prodding at himself to make sure he was all there and it wasn't some sort of dream. Once Sasuke was done, he let out a defeated sigh and walked back to his room and sat on the bed. Taking a glance at his bedside table, Sasuke noticed there was a brand new hitai-ate there. He had graduated already. The time travel was a success, but the time period in which he was aiming for was a complete miss. He had completely passed the Uchiha Massacre and instead landed himself back to his genin days. At least he didn't have to go through any more classes. Looking at the calendar Sasuke also noticed that today he was supposed to go to the academy to get assigned to his team. That's when it hit him; he was going to see Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi again. It had been over a month since their disappearance, and now Sasuke was going to see them again. Their younger selves maybe, but it would still be them. Quickly, Sasuke slipped on this old ninja outfit and grabbed his hitai-ate as he walked out the door and towards the academy.
It took about ten minutes of walking from his apartment to get to the academy and as always he was early. Taking his typical seat on the side, Sasuke waited for the rest of the class to show up. While he waited he thought over what he could do to try to go back even further. The Uchiha Compound would still be deserted, so he could always sneak back there and see if he could activate the gem again. There were risks and a lot of holes in the plan, but he had to try; he couldn't give up just yet. When people started to file in Sasuke took a sparing glance at them. One by one the rest of his graduating class walked into the room, excitingly discussed about how they passed the genin exam. Sasuke noticed Hinata walk in and it seemed like Hinata noticed him looking at her and quickly flushed red and sat in the nearest seat possible.
Sasuke had forgotten how shy and reserved she used to be. In his timeline, Hinata had gotten over her stuttering and was a little more open; still timid and soft spoken, but more than when she was a genin. Hinata's behavior got Sasuke thinking, everyone was going to be like they were back in their genin days. That meant Naruto was going to be even more of a loudmouth idiot and Sakura was going to be a ditzy fan girl. Sasuke wanted to slam his head on the desk in front of him, but he was an Uchiha and Uchihas didn't do that. He did however let out a long groan and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Something wrong Uchiha?" An angered voice asked; a voice that Sasuke remembered distinctly.
Looking up, Sasuke came face to face with Naruto, his blue eyes piercing though Sasuke's entire being. Sasuke took this split second to notice that they were full of young innocence a sharp contrast to Sasuke's own timeline where they were hardened with power and the knowledge of seeing death first hand. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Naruto didn't take Sasuke's act of ignoring him as something positive and continued to glare at the raven haired teen. That was until someone accidently elbowed Naruto in the back and he came flying forwards and a lip lock was created between the two boys. Naruto pulled away with a scream and started coughing as if he was trying to cough out his lung. Sasuke pulled away and was furiously wiping his mouth. No matter how many times Naruto had gotten them in situations like this Sasuke still didn't enjoy it, especially when Naruto tasted of cheap instant ramen. After he was satisfied with the amount he wiped his mouth, Sasuke turned back to the rest of the class and noticed that Sakura was now happily sitting next to him, a beat up Naruto on her other side.
At that moment Iruka decided to come into the room and ordered for everyone to quiet down. The rest of the class went exactly as it had when Sasuke first went through it. The teams were the same, Naruto's complaints were the same, and Iruka's speech was the same too. Not one thing was out of place, it was like nothing had ever changed and things were going to go perfectly for them all. But Sasuke knew better, he knew that fate that was going to befall everyone. And it was all Madara's fault.
When the class was dismissed Sasuke walked towards the empty room that his team was assigned so they could wait for their sensei, but Sasuke knew that Kakashi was going to be late, he didn't remember by how much, so he didn't rush at all. Instead he decided to take a scenic route around the academy; it had been a long time since he'd seen it and it wasn't burned down to the ground. As he walked through the halls he saw even younger children in classrooms learning basic information used for both civilian and ninja life. Sasuke continued his walk around the building and grounds until he was left with no other choice but to head to the empty classroom; at least he managed to kill half an hour. Entering the classroom Sasuke was greeted with an eraser landing on his head, creating a chalk cloud around his head and making the Uchiha go into a small coughing fit as Naruto began laughing his head off.
"I was hoping to hit Sensei with that because he was late! But instead I got Sasuke! This is even better!" Naruto continued to laugh as he clutched at his sides; completely ignoring Sakura as she yelled at him until she hit him over the head. Sasuke outwardly sighed at his teammates' antics, but in his mind Sasuke smiled; he really missed them no matter how much he didn't show it.
"Now that all your fun and games are over, head up to the roof and we'll begin our introductions." Glancing behind himself, Sasuke saw the familiar bored face of his sensei, Kakashi. Sasuke didn't get that long of a look before the silver haired Jounin disappeared with a puff of smoke.
The three genin made their way up to the roof of the school building where Kakashi was leaning against the railing looking blankly at the three of them. Once the three of them were seated on the steps, Kakashi looked at the three of them with his one visible eye before talking. "Begin with introducing yourselves."
"What do you want to know?" Naruto questioned.
"How about your likes, dislikes, your dreams for the future, you know, things like that." He replied nonchalantly while waving his hands around in the air.
"Hey, you go first. You're the sensei." Naruto called back.
Nodding her head Sakura added, "Yeah, you kind of look weird for a ninja."
Scratching his chin, Kakashi looked up into the sky as if thinking about the meaning of life. "Hm, I suppose so. Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell any of you my likes or dislikes. I have no dreams for the future and I like lots of hobbies." Sasuke mentally groaned; he forgot how vague Kakashi was when they first met. Sakura and Naruto looked annoyed at only learning his name, but that was to be expected. "Okay, now it's your turn. Let's start with the obnoxiously colored one." Kakashi said pointing towards Naruto.
Ignoring his comment, Naruto carried on with his introduction. "Alright then, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen- especially when Iruka-sensei pays for me- and I dislike waiting three minutes for instant ramen to cook." Ramen obsessed as always. Sasuke thought to himself. Adjusting his hitai-ate to make it gleam in the sun, Naruto grinned widely. "And my dream is to surpass the Hokage and then have the people of this village acknowledge my existence!" Sasuke smirked to himself. If only this Naruto knew that his dream was not only accomplished, but far surpassed even his own imagination. "And my hobbies are pranking people! Like Sasuke!" And there went Sasuke's brief admiration of Naruto.
Kakashi seemed to be processing this information then did a slight nod of the head before turning towards Sakura. "Alright, you're up next Pinkie."
Sakura sent a glare at Kakashi from the corner of her eye, "First off my name is Haruno Sakura. I like…" she started blushing here and sending Sasuke a side glance. "My dreams are…" She continued to blush and squirm around. "Oh yeah, I dislike Naruto!" The defeated and shocked look on Naruto's face made Sasuke wish he had a camera. "And my hobbies are…" She sent one more glance at Sasuke before softly squealing into her hands. All Sasuke could do was try to ignore her as he groaned to himself. Since he was from a different timeline and not the one he was in now, he didn't have the constant thought of killing Itachi on his mind to distract him from listening to Sakura's squeals. He hoped he didn't have to stay in the timeline for long or he'd go crazy. Worse comes to worse, he could try to snap some sense into the female member of their team before she let her obsession with him get in the way of their missions.
Kakashi looked like he wanted to smack his hand against his forehead. With a defeated sigh, he turned towards Sasuke. "Alright depressed boy you're last."
Sasuke knew he couldn't act too out of place from what he originally said or he'd cause suspicion for making a sudden 180 degree turn over night. He also didn't want to lie to himself; he made a promise to the rest of Team 7 that lies between teammates and oneself was not a good thing. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes and training. I don't like a lot of things, like snakes." He suppressed the face of his former Master and his long strange looking tongue. "I don't have much of a dream except to rebuild my clan to its former glory. I also want revenge. I want revenge on the one who cause my clan's destruction." The atmosphere in the room suddenly got all tense and quite. No one said a thing or moved a muscle.
After a minute passed Kakashi let out a large sigh that caught the attention of his three students. "Alright then, from what I can gather from all of your rather strange introductions I have concluded," He paused for dramatic effect, "That I don't like you at all." All three genin just glared at their new sensei. Ignoring the death stares of his team, Kakashi continued on. "Before any of you even think that you are Shinobi now, you need to pass a test."
"A test," Sakura asked, "didn't we have enough of those in the academy? Why do we need to take another one?"
"Those were your academy tests to see if you had the basics down. This test is of my own and it's perfectly in the rights for me to make you take this." Kakashi's eye swept over all three of them, "And send you back to the academy should you fail." Sakura and Naruto looked aghast and started to yell protests at the Jounin. Sasuke just continued to sit there quietly. He knew that was going to come around, and he knew what the test was and that they were to pass. Kakashi continued to explain the rules and instructions to the survival test, being as vague as ever, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke decided that this was time as ever to see if he could sneak into the Uchiha Compound. As he walked off to leave the academy roof top he felt a tug at the back of his shit. Turning, Sasuke came face to face with a now timid Sakura.
"Um, how about we get some lunch now?" She asked hesitantly, "Since you and I are on the same team now I thought it might be good for some team bonding, right Sasuke-kun?"
As much as eating a meal sounded good at the moment, Sasuke had to decline. He had a mission on hand. "No thanks. Take Naruto, instead. I have something I need to do." He hesitated for a moment, before adding on, "If I finish early I'll see if I can find you two." With that Sasuke walked off not sparing a glance back.
Briskly, Sasuke walked into the Compound, past the buildings and shops and through the housing apartments until he finally reached his own house and immediately walked into the parents' room and stood in front of the wall. With a deep breath, Sasuke activated his Mangekyou Sharingan only to be hit with a massive wave of nausea. Falling to his knees, Sasuke clutched at his head as sharp pains started shooting though his brain. In the corner of his eye Sasuke saw his mother's old mirror on the ground. Sasuke forced himself to move towards it. Grasping the handle of the small mirror, Sasuke held it up to his face to see a strange sight. This Sharingan was activated, but the three tomoes were fading in and out of focus. With determination, Sasuke tried again to force his Mangekyou to activate only for another wave of nausea to hit him. Before Sasuke dropped the mirror to the floor he saw the tomoes try to force themselves in to his Mangekyou but then fade away completely.
With great difficulty, Sasuke forced himself to stand up and walk out of his house. He needed to get somewhere else anywhere else. The room was spinning and he felt like his head was going to split in half. Sasuke stumbled out of his house and down the streets of the Compound all the way his head feeling heavier and heavier. It took twice as long for Sasuke to maneuver out of the Compound, and once he was out he collapsed next to an old stream next to the Compound in the forest where he proceeded to empty out his stomach of its contents. After he was done Sasuke rinsed his mouth in the stream and leaned against a tree, breathing heavily.
What was wrong with his Sharingan? It worked perfectly before. It hurt Sasuke's head to even think about it. What had gone wrong? Did something get messed up when he traveled back in time? Multiple different scenarios ran through his head. If he couldn't activate his Mangekyou Sharingan then he couldn't get to the gem and no gem lead to zero access to time travel. This meant he was stuck in the time line he was currently in. Sasuke gripped at the grass under his hands in anger. This wasn't the plan. He was supposed to travel back to before the massacre and try to stop his brother then or convince the Elders not to kill off his entire clan. But he had messed up, he was nowhere near that time period and without his Sharingan, there was no way for him to even try again. He wanted to scream out in anger, but instead he settled for biting his lip till it bled.
After his head wasn't feeling as dizzy, Sasuke stood up when a thought hit him. Quickly he formed the hand seals- ox, rabbit, and monkey –and watched in defeat and slight horror as the usual flow of chakra to his hand and familiar blue lighting sparks of the Chidori did not appear. With a small amount of panicking Sasuke quickly focused chakra to his feet and tried to walk up the tree he was just leaning against. He made it about half way up before the chakra gave way and he fell to the ground with a thump. Rolling over onto his back, Sasuke started up at the tree branches above his head gasping for breath; he was exhausted already. It seemed like it wasn't just his Sharingan that was affected, but his entire chakra system. Even his reserves and control seemed to completely disappear. It must have been the body he was in. His mind, knowledge, and personality may have been the same as the future, but his body was that of a typical genin restricted by its physical capabilities. He'd have to retrain his body in order to use any of the jutsu or skills his mind already knew. It was going to be really troublesome, but he had no other choice. He had to retrain himself to learn the Mangekyou Sharingan so he could go back even further in time and hopefully, not mess up again.
Finally finished! I would have had this up sooner, but I got a bit sidetracked. Also took a bit of time for both my (awesome and amazing) betas/best friends to both go through this chapter. We had to debate over some grammar and Japanese to English spelling. (Mainly they did, I just sat in the corner.)
Sorry to those of you who thought that Sasuke was actually going to change the massacre, but I honestly didn't know what I could possible do with that. This was also my original idea and I would like to stick with it. And yup, you guys won't know just yet who the mystery person is, but y'all are still free to guess. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner, but no promises. Thanks for reading!