Sasuke slowly climbed out of the dark depths of shock-induced unconsciousness. He felt tired, and his wrists ached. And it seemed like they were somehow tied up...his ankles too... What the hell had happened? He decided to find out and slowly opened his eyes.
Just to be treated to the sight of one Morino Ibiki, the Master Torturers face hovering not 5 inches above his and smiling a wickedly wide smile.
He decided that to pass out again seemed like a good idea. No scratch that, THE BEST idea.
And like any good Uchiha once he had determined the prudent thing to do he immediately took action …. and passed out.
Kakashi had been pacing up and down the corridor of the Hokages Office since he had been called to come here roughly 30 Minutes ago. That was what he deserved for being punctual, he guessed, but after all, the fate of his Star Pupil was at stake here. He quickly shut down that train of thought, else he become as anxious as Sakura and Naruto had been when he had told them that something was wrong with Sasuke (he had to do that, as much as it pained him to openly give out information, as they had realized Sasuke was missing even before he did) and that he would inform them as soon as he knew more. If his guess was anywhere near correct Sakura was just now babbling Narutos ears full with any possible (and some impossible) things that might have happened to her crush. Poor Naruto...
The Door to the Hokages office opened and a Medi-Kunoichi stepped out, waving him in and then starting off towards the exit. Kakashi hurried to enter.
The Hokage sat behind his desk, Morino Ibiki standing at his left, as Kakashi entered the room. The rather ominous looks the 2 older Shinobi wore on their faces made the "Copynin" gulp. He decidedly hoped that his prized student would come out of this in one piece, and more or less sane, but the presence of Ibiki, always unnerving, made him reconsider that maybe, just maybe, it had been a spy somehow disguised as Sasuke. Although the fact that he HAD shown to posess the Sharingan strongly spoke against it...
"Well Kakashi-san", the Hokages voice cut through his musings, the soft but firm tone making a heavy weight drop from Kakashis shoulders, "it seems that we cannot deny that your "captive" IS Sasuke Uchiha."
The one visible Eye of Konohas second most famous (living) Ninja closed in sudden relief. Thanks to all the Gods. He almost let his shoulders slump a bit, but regained his composure just in time to hear the next bomb drop.
"However", the old mans voice rose to a somehow …. wondering tone, "it turned out that he is not our Sasuke Uchiha."
"...What?" Was the somewhat less than eloquent response the Copynin gave.
With a sigh the Hokage waved him to take a seat, which Kakashi did, lest the next thing the old man would most assuredly drop make him actually fall over. Seeing how this day had gone up to now that was an entirely valid precaution.
"Ibiki-san and I ….. interviewed Sasuke using a rather special, draining and strenuous Jutsu which by the way makes it impossible for him to remember the Interview, inc ase you were worried about any damage to his mind. It also allowed us to be absolutely sure of the truth of the things he told us." he didn't mention that this Jutsu needed a vast difference in the chakra levels of the interrogators and the interrogated, the reason why it wasn't used in normal torture).
The old man lighted his pipe and let Kakashi chew on that for a while, Ibiki there-while stood at attention, betraying nothing.
With a sigh the Hokage took a deep mouthful of smoke. "Now his memories of Konoha are genuine. There is no known method to impact such detailed and lengthy memories into a mind without leaving traces of manipulation, and we found none of those. Still, his memories differ, in some parts rather vastly, from what we know to have happened. As we can safely eliminate the possibility of another Konoha Gakure existing in another land of fire with all of us living in it, that leaves only one option. He is from another Reality." At that the Hokage looked as if he had his mouth full of lime-juice. Kakashis brow shot up. Another reality? WHAT? Had someone covered his Icha-Icha book in hallucinogenic powder? What would be next, Gai in sensible clothing?
"I can see in your face that you deem this impossible. However it is not. We know of at least 2 other occurrences, one in Konoha shortly after the 1st Ninja War, the other one roughly 100 years earlier and only second-hand, where such things happened." He drew some smoke.
"However this case is vastly different as our "Guest" had a very different life. In his world Sasuke had a normal childhood, except from awakening his Sharingan at a very early age, his clan survived as Itachi did not turn traitor and Obito lived through your mission. As you can imagine the reality of our Konoha will come as a vast shock to him." He didn't leave Kakahsi much time to respond.
"Even knowing that he DOES speak the truth, we have no idea on HOW he got here or, even worse, on how to send him back, though I do know of some scrolls we might find clues about that. This and the fact that since our Sasuke seems to have vanished when he arrived hence leaving him our only Uchiha, makes it imperative that you do your absolute best to make him as comfortable as possible, considering the circumstances. This means integrating him into Team 7 and hoping for the best. For now at least. You should tell Naruto and Sakura what happened though, they know him well enough to find out on their own anyway." With that the Hokage sighed again. "I know this wont be easy, but I have faith in you and Naruto to get it done. Sasuke will be brought to his house within the next few minutes and should awaken soon" With a nod he dismissed the still quite speechless Kakashi.
Kakashi was still deep in thought when he exited a road at the border of the Uchiha District. A Sasuke not driven by revenge, having grown up with multiple Sharingan-instructors and already having his own active at the age of 8! Even considering all the nonsense about alternative realities and the fact that this obviously wasn't his pupil, he could not help but wonder how much that might have boosted his skills and abilities.
Overall, he thought, it might have been a very lucky coincidence (or whatever) that brought the "Other Sasuke" here...
Yes, he would do his best to make him improve. Deep in thought he arrived at the gate to the district.
Naruto and Sakura had arrived on the gate to the district before him! While that usually wouldn't have perturbed Kakashi, this time he had not even informed them! Hm, probably the Hokage had, so he just nodded to them and went inside, making his way to Sasukes house in silence.
Interestingly Naruto and Sakura kept silent as well. Maybe they were finally learning that...
"Kakashi-sensei!" So far for learning, Kakashi thought as Sakura interrupted his train of thought.
"Whats the matter with Sasuke-kun? Is he sick? Is there anything we can do to help?" The pink-haired kunoichis voice was even more exasperated than usual.
"Sasuke has had a very interesting day." Kakashi replied, stalling for time. How the hell was he supposed to explain something to them that he himself had a hard time believing, never mention understanding. He sighed and decided to go with the simple "different memory" explanation for now. He could still elaborate details once he himself had a better grasp.
"Listen you two, what I am telling you now is considered a village secret. Got it?" Both of his pupils nodded enthusiastically. "Good. Sasuke is not the Sasuke we know. His memories are different." He raised his hand interrupting any interruptions. "Why exactly that is the case I will explain once we are in possession of all the information. For now you only need to know that in his memory his clan was never massacred by Itachi. This led to Sasuke having a more peaceful and normal childhood, for an Uchiha prodigy that is. This morning I discovered him at the Memorial Stone, and reading all his families names on the monument shocked him into unconsciousness. I expect you two to do your best to help him acclimatize." There, that should do the trick. Hopefully the Hokage would come up with a solution, or at least more information, soon.
"Of course, I will do everything to help Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, her eyes already tearing up. Narutos face showed deep thought (or indigestion?) instead. "So, he's not all gloomy and talking about being alone? Only that now he IS? Damn, that's hard..." the blondes voice trailed off. Yes, Kakashi could imagine that that made the "Demon-brat" think.
They arrived at Sasukes house while the orange clad Ninja was still "thinking". "Now then", Kakashi stated. "How about we go in and see if he is awake?"
And that they did.
Sasuke once again did his best to rise out of the dark depths of unconsciousness. That was the third time, dammit! What was the matter with him? He hadn't fainted that often in the whole last year! His eyes snapped open, almost angry looking, only to see his team. Kakashis eye smiled, as did Naruto, no grinned was a better description, and Sakura smiled slightly but looked worried as well. Great, she would worry about him anyway...
"What did I miss?" he asked with a quiet but relatively steady voice.
At that Kakashi sighed. "Well Sasuke, there are a few things that I have to tell you that you won´t want to hear, but there's no use in delaying..." And so Kakashi waved Naruto and Sakura to wait outside for a bit. And started to fill in his pupil on the facts of being the last Uchiha, heir to the clan, and from another world.
Outside the room Naruto and Sakura were leaning against the wall opposite to Sasukes room and waited. Until they heard a loud "Noo!" followed by a louder crashing sound and a somewhat more quiet "Dammit!" They locked eyes, and simultaneously decided to go in and see if they could help.
Once through the door the sight of a slightly guilty looking Kakashi and a slumped over Sasuke greeted them, as well as a smashed table. Sakura immediately hurried to get to her crush and comfort him, but he lifted his head, a somewhat resigned smile on his face. "Well", he said with a shaky tone of voice, "Seems I cant do anything against it anyway. So as uncle Obito always said "Play with the cards you are dealt, because life wont give you another hand" " He straightened himself, nodded towards Kakashi, an then said: "I`M OK. No fuss."
And so they left, with a rather proud looking Kakashi behind them, to take their first mission.
The other Team 7 was formed...
AN: And here we go, Team 7 is reunited, somewhat, and we are ready to "launch" the actual story now.
Mostly a "getting started" chapter, but still I hope you like it, feedback is always appreciated.