Chapter Text
Uchiha Sasuke had a lot of regrets in his life.
The biggest was hating his brother; his brother who never actually did anything wrong, only following the orders of rotten elders blinded by their own perception; his brother who decided to bathe himself in the blood of their family for the sake of protecting little, naïve Sasuke who easily believed the words of others.
Another one was betraying his team—as in Team Seven. Much as he loathed admitting, especially to Naruto, Team Seven had grown into a sort of family to him. Even when he left Konoha and was practically on the opposite side as his former teammates, even as he tried to kill Sakura and Kakashi and Naruto, he still thought of them as a sort of family.
So, when he woke up this morning, finding himself in his twelve years old body, with a life surrounded by his mother and father and older brother—
—Well, he first thought that it was the Infinite Tsukuyomi, no matter how impossible it was since the Edo-Tensei’ed Madara was being preoccupied by one of Hashirama’s mokubunshin, and the fake Madara, Tobi, was off somewhere else, but definitely not on the battlefield.
He tried to dispel it, but no, it did not work. Perhaps, it was because it was an impossibly strong genjutsu that couldn’t be broken just by mere chakra disruption.
He played along with ‘his family’, not wanting to make anyone suspicious, even if it turned out that this ‘family’ of his turned out to only be an illusion construct.
He went to the academy. His ‘mother’ said that today was his Team Assignment day.
He sat on his usual spot (it had been so long), not talking to anyone. Really, he hadn’t really cared for anyone in this room. The only people he cared about in their graduating class were only Naruto and Sakura, and they weren’t here yet.
Ten minutes later, the door was slid open. Ino and Sakura entered together. Surprisingly though, unlike before, they weren’t arguing, instead they seemed to be gossiping about something. Ah, if this was Infinite Tsukuyomi, it’d make sense that this Sakura and Ino weren’t as annoying as their real, twelve years old self were.
Ino went to talk with Shikamaru and Choji, nagging them about something. Sakura went to sit on the same row as him. Yet, she did not initiate any talk.
Very strange.
In fact, Sakura was avoiding looking at him at the moment.
Sasuke’s brows scrunched down, and his black eyes glanced over the pink haired teen calculatingly. ‘Could it be…?’
Well, he could try asking something only the future Sakura would know… but Sasuke had been away from the village for three years, and the last time they met, he tried to kill her. Asking her about what happened between the two of them on the Kage Summit—well, it wouldn’t be tactful if this was indeed the Sakura he knew.
He was saved from asking when Naruto barged in into the classroom, five minutes earlier than before. Sasuke saw the blond looking at them, a knowing (if mischievous) grin stretched his lips as he rubbed his hands together, before the blond approached them, cheerfully asking in a whisper. He asked them how late they thought their jounin-sensei will be.
It was obvious that this Naruto was talking about Kakashi. The only jounin infamous enough to be known by his bad habit of being late was only the silver haired jounin, after all.
It also did not come as a surprise when Sakura answered the question almost in unison with him.
So, it wasn’t only Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura… they too were in this world as well.
Whatever this world was.
If this really was the Infinite Tsukuyomi world though, they’d have to break out of this world soon. Nothing good came from a world of dreams made of lies.
Even that much, someone like Sasuke knew.
Sakura finally breached the topic. Thankfully, Naruto actually had the answer as to where exactly they were.
Or rather, when exactly they were.
‘That means, this morning—it’s really Mother and Father and Itachi—’
A second chance, huh?
A second chance Sasuke doubted he deserved.
… He had a bad feeling.
Thirty minutes later, he was proven right when the door slid open and a woman they never seen before entered the classroom.
Uchiha Sasuke had a lot of regrets in his life.
The biggest was hating his brother; his brother who never actually did anything wrong, only following the orders of rotten elders blinded by their own perception; his brother who decided to bathe himself in the blood of their family for the sake of protecting little, naïve Sasuke who easily believed the words of others.
Another one was betraying his team—as in Team Seven. Much as he loathed admitting, especially to Naruto, Team Seven had grown into a sort of family to him. Even when he left Konoha and was practically on the opposite side as his former teammates, even as he tried to kill Sakura and Kakashi and Naruto, he still thought of them as a sort of family.
So, when he woke up this morning, finding himself in his twelve years old body, with a life surrounded by his mother and father and older brother—
When he found out that this really was the past; that it meant a second chance to be with his family, both biological and his team—
He thought that everything was going well for once.
Mother and Father and Itachi were here. Naruto and Sakura as well. Kakashi would come soon enough to complete it.
Except, Kakashi didn’t.
In his place, it was this woman; a brunette with purple marking on her cheeks. Nohara Rin, she said her name was.
She claimed to be their jounin sensei.
Silence stretched within the room after Nohara’s introduction, but Sasuke can see the utter denial on both his teammate’s faces.
Sakura was the first to react. “No, you can’t be!” She exclaimed, hands curled into fists as she glared at the brunette. “Our sensei—Our sensei is Kakashi-sensei!”
Sakura’s reaction got a rise from Naruto as well. “That’s true! I-Is Kakashi-sensei on a mission right now? And you’re some kind of, I don’t know, a substitute teacher or something that dad sent us for the day?” Naruto was smiling, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. He was trying to lie to himself, because if Kakashi wasn’t here, that could only mean a few things.
Or a lot, because with many things changing…
“Where’s Kakashi?” He decided to ask, because neither of his teammates seemed to be brave enough to ask that question.
Nohara looked pale as she stared at them. “You—how did you know Kakashi?” She asked, voice barely above a whisper, but it rang loudly within this empty classroom with only four occupants. “Kakashi’s—” She stopped, flinching at whatever it was that passed through her mind. She shook her head, and then stared at them with hardened eyes. “Are you three from the future that never was as well? A future where Kakashi was your jounin sensei?”
“Y-You knew?” Sakura was surprised.
“I came from that timeline as well, though I had been dead for… more or less two decades, if I remember what Minato-sensei told me correctly.” Rin admitted. “We… we should talk about this somewhere else. Somewhere more private. The walls have ears, after all.”
Spies.
Probably Danzo.
So, even the great Yondaime of Konoha couldn’t get rid of the corrupt elder.
Nohara brought them outside of the academy. She led them towards…
“Why are you leading us to my home?” Naruto asked, frowning.
Ah, that was right. Since Naruto’s parents were alive this time around, he did not need to live in an apartment anymore. He had a real house, a real home.
“Naruto-kun, you might not remember this for now, but I used to babysit you, you know?” Nohara commented dryly as she opened the gates with her blood.
A seal based lock. How Uzumaki.
“Kushina-san is on a mission right now, and I’ve sent message for Minato-sensei to come.”
They were led inside the house, to the living room, where they sat in awkward silence. No one dared to speak anything. Not even Naruto, surprisingly. When Naruto did not speak his mouth off, it spoke of how serious the situation was.
The Yondaime appeared in a flash within the living room. He turned towards Nohara. “Rin, what’s the matter?”
“Well, sensei…” Nohara gestured to the three of them.
One glance at Sasuke and his teammates, understanding dawned upon the older blond, and a sad look washed over his face. He said nothing though, and instead, looked away.
“Dad! Where’s Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto had finally had enough with the no answer they had been receiving since Nohara appeared in their lives. “Is—Is Kakashi-sensei on a mission right now? Or, or maybe, does he never leave ANBU, that’s why Rin-san is our jounin sensei?”
The Yondaime ran a hand through his hair, an expression of conflict clearly displayed on his face. “Naruto, I…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say. What was so bad that even the Yondaime had no way of saying it directly?
‘Unless…’
There was only one reason why the Yondaime would feel so conflicted about telling his son about Kakashi.
There was only one reason for the sadness and guilt in his face as he tried to come up with a way to gently break the news to Naruto.
“… Kakashi’s dead, isn’t he?” Sasuke blantantly interrupted, because there was no other way to say this except by ripping of the band aid at once. “Somewhere along the line, as you tried to change the future, Kakashi, who definitely remembered the future that never was as well, sacrificed himself like the fool he was, didn’t he?”
“Bastard! Shut up! Kakashi-sensei isn’t a fool!” Naruto defended, glaring at Sasuke with blue eyes that were close to tears. “And Kakashi-sensei isn’t dead! He can’t be! Not when—not when everything was finally going fine for once! Not when I finally have my parents alive! Not when I have Kurama with me! Not when you’re finally back in Konoha with no reason to leave because your whole family is alive! Not when all of us are here to be a team again! Kakashi-sensei—” Naruto sucked in a breath, before he released it slowly, trying to hide the appearing quiver in his voice. “Kakashi-sensei can’t be dead.”
Naruto’s outburst was met with silence.
Sakura was the one who broke it. The pink haired teen turned towards the Yondaime and their new sensei. “Sasuke-kun is right, isn’t he?” She asked quietly, voice raspy as she tried to hold back her tears. “Kakashi-sensei… Kakashi-sensei is dead, isn’t he?”
“Dad, please tell me it isn’t true!” Naruto pleaded desperately.
And as much as Sasuke loathed to admit it, he didn’t want his presumption to be correct as well.
But life had always been a cruel mistress when it came to Sasuke and the people he was close with.
The Yondaime looked away, unable to answer his son face to face. “I’m sorry, Naruto… Kakashi’s…” he swallowed bile on his throat, before continuing, “Kakashi’s dead; has been, for almost twenty years.”
Uchiha Sasuke had a lot or regrets in his life.
Hating his big brother was one of them. Abandoning his first team was another one of them.
Not being able to apologize to Kakashi any longer for all the mistakes he had done even though now he had a second chance to do so was another one.
Life has never been fair. You can’t get everything you want. That’s the tragedy of life.