Chapter Text
Chapter 2: Everybody deals with problems differently, fuck off
Even after Sasuke has confirmed his worst case scenario has come true, it takes 3 days before the denial wears off and he forces himself to sit down and come up with a plan.
He’s never been good with plans. Most of his big plans are unmitigated disasters in the most literal sense.
Okay, so he’s apparently in a different universe, or at the very least, a different time. He talks to a local and it turns out that he’s almost 20 years in the past from the point he disappeared from. He isn’t even born yet, and won’t be for over a year. Itachi is like four. Kakashi is a teenager.
He has information and now he has to decide what to do with it. Theoretically, if this timeline is currently the same as the one he was born in and only differs because he’s now present he could change things.
He could take care of Madara before his plans have a chance to get off the ground. He could get rid of Zetsu before he has a chance to touch anyone he cares about.
He could save Naruto’s parents. He’d never have to grow up as a lonely orphan, ostracized for something he never had any choice about.
He could save his family. He could eliminate the pressure that causes the plan for the coup to form. He could fucking murder Danzo.
He could save his brother.
Or he could do nothing.
On one hand the choice seems outrageously simple. He could do so much good, eliminate so much suffering for the people he loves. If there is one thing therapy has taught him it’s that no matter how much he tries to convince himself otherwise his emotional well-being is often a direct consequence of his closest relationships.
On the other hand, most of his most precious people were in pretty good positions when he left. Naruto is pretty much in training to be the next Hokage. Kakashi might be tempted to pull his hair out on a daily basis but he’s doing a good job. Much better than several of his predecessors. Sakura is a fully realized medic nin and honestly completely terrifying. Would preventing their suffering be worth putting that happy future at risk?
It’s surprisingly difficult to come to a conclusion. It almost feels selfish, wanting to prevent their suffering even though they turned out okay in the end. Is he just doing this for some buried selfish impulse? Is he really doing it for them?
Dr. Yamanaka says that he has a tendency to talk himself in circles. He stresses about things so much that when he finally makes a decision it’s out of desperation and generally turns out poorly.
So instead of thinking about what he would do he thinks about what his people would do. Would Naruto be struggling like this to come to a conclusion? Would he willingly step back and let things take their course.
Of-fucking course he wouldn’t. And there’s his decision. Naruto may be an idiot but he’s an idiot of action.
Maybe Sasuke could do with a little more idiocy, anyway. Thinking things through never got him anywhere.
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With his three day long existential breakdown over he decides to map out his goals. His therapist says it’s good to have clear goals that are achievable.
First, he’s going to find Zetsu and seal that motherfucker so hard he’ll never see the light of day again. Naruto has been developing loads of seals in the last few years, and it turns out that being his best friend has the benefit of mooching off of his hard work. There is a particular seal that should be perfect for this purpose. Using a very small seal you can seal almost anything into an everyday object. It’s absolutely perfect for hiding things that never need to be found, and also has the added benefit that if the object is destroyed there is virtually no way to get the sealed object back. Naruto has no idea where they go. There’s probably a pocket dimension that’s full of weird knick knacks at this point. He thinks Zetsu would be a great addition.
He thinks about writing out a complete list of everyone he needs to deal with but decides against it. He’ll focus on one goal at a time and then decide his course of action from there. He’s never seen Naruto make a to-do list in his entire life, so neither will Sasuke. (He’s already worried that using Naruto as his moral compass is a bad idea. He is not nearly as lucky as Naruto. He has a feeling this is going to blow up in his face. But that’s a very un-Naruto-like thought so he pushes it aside.
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Tracking Zetsu proves difficult. He had no clue what he was doing before he started skulking around Akatsuki. In the end he decides to head north and put his tracking skills to the test.
The Land of Waterfalls ends up largely being a bust. As he travels he gathers information, but nothing major comes from it. The Third War is a recent memory and many people are wary of strangers, but he finds that pubs are still a wealth of gossip.
He hears whispers that send him west, toward the Land of Earth. The terrain is brutal and in the end he finds nothing of import.
He continues to travel and the cycle of disappointment repeats itself. After three months of no progress he’s growing frustrated. He travelled through the Land of Wind, south to the Land of Tea. Nothing but whispers in the wind. He’s covered more miles than he likes to think about and hasn’t heard anything specific about a creepy plant man.
He’s also inadvertently begun building up a reputation for himself. Apparently a lone Uchiha is an interesting commodity. He limits the use of his Sharingan but gossip travels fast and he can’t avoid using it completely. He hasn’t activated his Rinnegan at all, unwilling to face the possibility of someone finding out about its existence. He’s not sure who puts a price on his head for just existing, but he fends off 8 attempted assassination during his months of searching. He leaves no survivors but the message still spreads, and this only serves to build his reputation more. It’s times like these where it occurs to him that maybe tattoos weren’t the best idea for a ninja. He already looks like an Uchiha, and his tattoos make him even more unique. But he also loves his tattoos and would fight anyone else who suggested that, so he just buys a long sleeve top and moves on. It doesn’t stop him from getting recognized.
He’s made it all the way to the Land of Lightning and he’s almost at his wits end. He thought Zetsu would stay on the mainland but now he’s wondering if he’s camped out in one of the island nations. If that’s the case travelling will get significantly more complicated and it will be even more difficult to avoid unnecessary attention. Just when he’s tempted to postpone the Zetsu situation and move on to another goal something completely Naruto happens. He’s moving between two small villages, trying to gather intel and he stumbles across a cave. He almost passes it by but his intuition drives him to explore it.
Naruto always follows his gut.
It’s the biggest lucky break of his entire life because it turns out what Zetsu was doing before skulking after Akatsuki was skulking in caves in the Land of Lightning. They’re both equally shocked to see each other, but Sasuke reacts faster. He at least knew there was a possibility of running into Zetsu here while his opponent doesn’t even know who he is in this timeline. He manages to trap him in genjutsu and seal him in a scrap of paper. He considers the paper for a moment, a bit taken aback that everything went so well. It makes him uneasy that it was over so quickly. He then dismisses that train of thought and gleefully lights the paper on fire and watches as it turns to ashes.