Notes: This is a rewrite, meaning the plot is relatively the same, but I'm rewriting the story to better fit it. That being said, skip to part three for the new stuff. Hope you enjoy.

I.

Sighing softly to himself, he continues to idly spin the kunai on his finger around and around as he contemplates recent events. Before he'd been unceremoniously killed, he'd lead a good life. He'd made his parents proud of him through his own merit. He'd become the Hokage's right hand. He, along with his certifiable teammates, had made Konoha feared once again, and, despite a few skirmishes here and there, they'd been able to maintain peace.

Well, maybe most people wouldn't consider uncovering a plot to put the whole world under a genjutsu by Uchiha Madara - who wasn't actually dead, apparently - and Kakashi-sensei's old teammate - who also wasn't really dead - to be a mere 'skirmish', but he'd seen weirder things. (Kami knows Team 7 attracted trouble like flies to honey.) Besides, they'd managed to stop it in the end, so it doesn't really count. Obito had even been coaxed into changing sides (again), so it was a boon, really. His cousin's prowess with the Sharingan wasn't anything to sneeze at, even if it came nowhere close to surpassing his own.

His life had been more than good, so, of course, he was killed by a nameless shinobi whilst on a random courier mission - He hadn't even been able to finish said insignificant mission! He can only be thankful that his genin hadn't been with him; those little snots were only a couple of months out of the academy and in way over their heads. He's glad his teammates weren't there, either. Sakura would probably have cried all over him (and successfully ruined any remaining cool factor he'd had left), and Naruto would have threatened him to not die or something else equally moronic. And his stupid sensei would have blamed himself - is blaming himself, most likely - because he thinks he should have the ability to save everyone, even when there's no possible way he could have.

He has no regrets, not really, which brings him to where he is now, alive and whole. He stops the careless twirling and closes his hand around the hilt, squeezing hard enough that his knuckles turn white. Useless shinigami, he thinks angrily, disgust coloring the words.

Some people might jump at the chance to live again; they might even beg the death god to prevent the inevitable. Those people are idiots. Sasuke had never asked for this; he didn't ask for this.

This is not a gift.

The grey-skinned, demonic creature had smiled dangerously as he had offered the Uchiha another 'chance', and Sasuke, who had always been taught to look underneath the underneath, had seen right through the god's deception. Despite grudgingly accepting Naruto as his Hokage - because, knucklehead or not, Naruto had a way with words and could back up those words, making him a somewhat decent leader - he had never fully believed in his 'friendship-can-conquer-anything', blindly trusting ideals. He's certain that even Sakura - who was only slightly less brain damaged, if only because she personally contributed to Naruto's head injuries - wasn't completely convinced.

So he'd demanded to know what the shinigami was up to because he can't be bothered to play mind games when being blunt will get him the information he wants much faster.

The shinigami had showed off perfectly white teeth that sharply contrasted the being's overall dreary and dull theme. "Your counterpart will destroy this world without your intervention."

"Counterpart?" He'd parroted blankly, only marginally confused. If the dead could be brought back to life on a whim, he wouldn't have dismissed the idea of another world entirely. The sinister entity's next words had only confirmed his suspicions.

Gleeful grin widening, the spectral creature had elaborated, "There is more than just your world out there, boy. There are countless worlds and within those, countless planes of existence, but all of them share several universal constants." He'd held a wrinkled, clawed hand up and counted down as he'd explained, "The first is that there must always be a Konoha; the second, that there always be a team made up of Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. And the third constant..."

His appendage had resumed its place as the horned, otherworldly being trailed off, and his dark amusement had morphed into an enigmatic expression. "...is not for one such as you to know." Sasuke had gritted his teeth in annoyance, then, and the soul collector had spoken before he could demand an answer. "Be grateful for the information you have been deigned to know. No other human before now has had such a privilege."

"Why are you telling me all this? What would you have me do?" He'd questioned, stamping down on his indignation.

The shinigami had then finally dropped all pretenses. "Your counterpart will destroy this world; I only ask that you save it."

And before he could refuse - or say anything at all - the world had shifted, and he'd found himself in his current predicament: trapped in an imitation of his old room, back at the Main House. And he actually means 'trapped'. The door opens, but outside is nothing but darkness. And he instinctively knows that attempting to navigate his way around in it would be fruitless; he's meant to wait patiently for whatever the death god has in store for him. He scoffs and flicks his wrist expertly, embedding the weapon in the wall in a fit of anger.

A crack forms around the kunai, and then the whole room disintegrates.

Startled, Sasuke falls through the quickly disappearing floor with an undignified yelp (that he will never admit to or acknowledge, ever) only to land gently in an identical room, with a minor difference.

"Who are you?" Demands a mirror image of himself - that is, if he were a twelve year old brat. The kid radiates angst, and his scowl looks more like a childish pout than the murderous vibe he's going for. Well, now he understands why no one ever took him seriously at that age.

Adopting his 'you're-nothing-to-me-but-I'll-indulge-you-nonetheless' expression (shamelessly copied from his sensei to use against his own students), he says easily, "Apparently, I'm you." Now that his 'counterpart' is here, all the missing pieces have fallen into place - quite literally. That damn shinigami should have been more forthcoming from the start, but at least he understands now. "From another world," he adds at the kid's skepticism, which naturally increases at such a wild claim.

He leans against the wall, arms crossed, as the kid practically hisses, "That's impossible."

"Do you know where we are?" He asks abruptly, deciding, as usual, that bluntness would better serve him here. Before the kid can answer, he says dismissively, "Yes, it looks like your room, but where are we?"

Mini-Sasuke's indignant expression changes into one of consideration as he quickly glances around the confined space while still keeping his attention fixed on him. Cautiously, the kid backs up and tries the door as he had done and finds the same nothingness. He whirls around and glares heatedly. "What is this?"

"'This' is a manifestation inside your mind," The older Uchiha replies. 'Probably', he doesn't say because he's mostly sure he's right, and he doesn't want to freak the kid out. "My consciousness has been forcibly added to yours, and this room is a safety measure meant to contain me." That's what he's going with, anyway. When he damaged the wall of his 'cage', it probably alerted the kid and led to this little meeting.

Eyebrows furrowed, the genin(?) vocalizes his suspicions, "How do I know this isn't an illusion?"

"You don't." He shrugs, and the kid's frown deepens. "Do you want to know why I'm here before attempting to force me out?" He offers. He doesn't know what will happen if his counterpart tries to purge him from his mind, and he doesn't really want to find out. The shinigami has a plan for him, obviously, but his safety was never exactly guaranteed.

Tensing even more, uncertainty flickers across the kid's face, but he eventually nods tersely.

"I died," he begins, and the kid can't quite hide his shock at the admission. Regardless, he goes on, "But the god of death stopped me from going wherever I was supposed to go and told me I had to save another world - your world." He leaves out 'from you' because, as long as the kid agrees to help him, it won't matter anyway.

"Save it from what?" Mini-Sasuke demands immediately, and he has to fight not to smirk at the irony. The kid also blurts out, "Why do you even care?"

Regarding the shaken, bitter child before him, he wonders what his counterpart has gone through in only twelve years. Well, he'll know soon enough. As for the second question... Heh, maybe his moronic teammates have brushed off on him, or Itachi's peace-loving idealism has influenced him after all these years. Shrugging again, he retorts, "Does it matter? Some awful things are going to happen unless I prevent them."

As the kid mulls over that bit of information, he reveals at length, "In order to do that, you're going to have to accept me - my consciousness, my memories, everything." His counterpart's eyes widen slightly in surprise, and the older Uchiha continues, "I can't promise you'll be the same person. Despite our physical similarities, we're obviously very different people." Moving away from the wall, he slinks toward the child and bends down enough to be eye-level. He then points out the one thing that will be the clincher for all versions of himself, no matter their differences in worlds or backgrounds or experiences. "But you'll be stronger."

Whatever misgivings the kid had crumble away before his resolve. Determination practically oozing from him, the child says, "I'll do it."

And the room falls to pieces around them.

II.

He wakes to a blinding headache and a soul-shredding emptiness so agonizing in its intensity that it brings tears to his eyes. Clutching his chest, he scrambles out of bed and barely manages to make it to the bathroom in time to empty the contents of his stomach into the toilet. With that done, he dry heaves for a while, clinging to the porcelain bowl and sobbing uncontrollably as he attempts to make sense of the mess that is his mind.

He remembers decades spent with his family unharmed, alive and whole, but all he can see is corpses littering the streets; his parents, gracelessly laid over one another in a puddle of their own blood; his brother, looming over him with cool eyes and harsh words.

He remembers countless afternoons playing with Naruto spent over at Minato-oji-san's and Kushina-oba-chan's, but all he hears is how the Fourth Hokage lost his life protecting the village against the Kyuubi; how nothing about his wife is ever mentioned, other than the fact that she lost her life as well; how his best friend is an orphan, like him, and is ostracized by the village because his status as a jinchuuriki has somehow leaked.

He remembers being passed between the Sannin for babysitting and, later, training, along with the rest of his team, but he knows that Tsunade-obaa-chan abandoned the village years ago; that Orochimaru-sensei fled and became a missing-nin; that Ero-Sennin hasn't been in the village since his student died.

He remembers a life surrounded by loved ones, whether he'd wanted them or not, but now, he is completely and utterly alone.

He gets his breathing under control after some time, as well as his crying, and the ensuing silence threatens to consume him. His childhood home, the Uchiha compound, is too big for one person; it's supposed to be brimming with people, with life. But he is all that is left - just him.

He loosens his hold on the toilet and slumps to the floor. Unbidden, a bitter smile forms on his face. No wonder the kid was so messed up. It also explains why he agreed so easily and why, without his interference, he would seek to destroy everything - Everything was taken from him, after all. The smile vanishes as his thoughts turn toward (That Man) his brother - his peace-loving, pacifist brother. Why would Itachi do something so completely against everything he's ever believed in? His earlier memories of this world line up almost perfectly with his own childhood. Where do the similarities end? He begins picking apart the events he can recall until...

His mind starts working furiously as he realizes it's been tampered with. The blank space of time between one memory and the next, as well as the faint sense that they've been influenced by someone else, tell him as much. And he'd bet anything that Itachi is the culprit. He clamps down upon the sense of wrongness, cleansing it in an effort to expunge the illusion. Suddenly, previously repressed memories unveil themselves as the fake ones fade away.

Itachi was crying that night. The fact that he took such measures to ensure Sasuke forgot about it is telling enough.

Hope - as cheesy as it seems - swells within him at this unexpected discovery, and he allows himself a moment to revel in it.

He's certain his brother was forced into action, but he doesn't know why. There's too much about this world he doesn't know, even with twelve years' worth of memories. Itachi would only attack the Clan if they were a threat to the village, and even then, only as a last resort. In his world, relations with the village were great. The Hokage and Clan Head - his father - were practically best friends, but here, the Hokage and his wife - who was close with his mother - died when Sasuke was a baby.

And soon after, the Uchiha were moved to the Compound, cut off from the village, because it was an Uchiha - Obito - who was involved in the Kyuubi attack. He knows from his own world that the villagers were suspicious of the Clan after that, but since the Fourth was unshakeable in his belief that they had nothing to do with it, the divide never occurred. He can easily imagine the resentment and bitterness that would have risen between the Clan and the village; he thinks of the tense dinners and stony silences of his last memories of his family alive and knows he's right.

Being more than acquainted with the Elders' arrogance and tendency to make rash decisions, along with Fugaku's pride, Sasuke has no trouble believing his Clan was going to attempt a coup d'etat. Considering Itachi was in ANBU - and his father's words about his brother being the bridge between the Clan and the village - he figures Sarutobi knew and ordered his brother to massacre his family to save Konoha. The pieces slot into place, and Sasuke has his answer. The only remaining question is why he was spared, but he already knows.

His brother loves the village - peace - more than the Clan, but Sasuke will always, always come first.

Now that he's aware of Itachi's sacrifice, well, it's time to return the favor, isn't it? Never mind Itachi's plan to have Sasuke avenge the Clan. It may be the older brother's duty to protect the little brother, but...

It's the role of the younger brother to never listen to his older brother and protect him, anyway.

III.

The Uchiha Compound is a silent, unsettling thing.

Even now, as Sasuke moves through the once-bustling streets and his blood pumps from the exercise, the sheer emptiness of his home sends goosebumps across his skin, sends shards of lancing pain through his heart, makes his eyes burn. There are no indicators of that night anywhere - no broken windows or torn paper doors, and still...

He laughs, brokenly, and shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. "Pull yourself together," he mutters aloud. He's twelve and twenty-two, and he should really have a better handle on his emotions by now. He inhales sharply and then exhales slowly, allowing all of the negative emotions in him to flow out. He'll find time later to mourn. He's spent twelve years bottling all of this up, and while not exactly healthy, he can keep it up, at least for now. He has goals to achieve, people to protect, and if there's anything he's good at, it's throwing himself into his training with single-minded intensity.

He reaches the deserted training ground and takes stock of the place. It's bare, save for the straw dummies and targets. He'd expected this and brought along his own supplies. It's time to train this body to match up to his old one's standards. There's bound to be some overreaching and general oversights otherwise.

His counterpart had been good, but with so many years without proper teachers (or genius godparents to beat techniques into him), he's nowhere near as good as he'd been at this age. Sasuke kind of wants to pat him on the head and let him know that he'd done the best he could, though. No one had ever shown him genuine kindness after the incident, and even if they had, he'd been too stubborn to accept it.

Brushing off those thoughts, he gets to work. Shuriken and kunai hit their targets, even when he twists and turns and closes his eyes. He's always had good spacial awareness. Next, he goes through his Clan's basic kata, slowly incorporating his 'new' moves (including those involving a sword he'd nicked from the Clan's armory) as he does so until the whole thing's a lot more cohesive. He'll feel the ache from muscles he's never used before tomorrow, but that won't be a problem for long.

After that, he dips into his relatively large chakra pool (that had definitely increased since he'd merged) in order to assess his body's ability to make use of his arsenal of ninjutsu. In the end, he's able to do the three basic techniques, his Clan's fire techniques, a few water and earth techniques, and finally, the Chidori and all of its variations. He's a little worse for wear, panting heavily, body already aching, and his chakra dangerously low, and the surrounding area has been marred beyond recognition. Nonetheless, he smirks, pleased with the results.

He drops to the ground, sprawls out, boneless, and stares up at the steadily darkening orange of the sky. The compound is still eerily quiet, and he can't quite think of this desolate place as home - not yet. But his brother's alive and hurting, all of his friends are still just kids in way over their heads, and there's a disillusioned, lost cousin of his out there plotting all of their deaths at this very moment.

He's twelve and twenty-two, an adult in a kid's body, and hell if he's not going to try to save everyone.

IV.

They're all so young.

It's his first thought upon setting foot in the classroom, as his eyes take in the rowdy children, images of their older counterparts superimposing over all of them until he blinks it away. He spots a tiny Shikamaru drowsing next to a tiny Chouj somewhere near the back of the room. A tiny Kiba is laughing uproariously at something, whilst a tiny Hinata is shrinking into herself near the top row, and near the middle, a tiny Shino is blending quietly into the background. The sight of them all is bizarre, even if part of him insists he's seen it everyday for the past few years.

The rest of the kids aren't quite that familiar to him, even if his counterpart had shared all of his classes with them. Nevertheless, as he moves toward an open seat near the window, some of the girls recognize him and hurry to his side excitedly, pushing each other out of the way and generally just being nuisances. It takes him aback because while he'd certainly had fans, they'd been a bit more discreet than this. His counterpart's memories assure him that this is also normal, and he can't help feeling rather harried.

Nevertheless, he's beginning to realize that although he seems to have access to all of his counterpart's memories, they're still just that: someone else's memories. They're the equivalent of reading someone's memoir or a personal account. He can call upon experiences that aren't his and draw information or conclusions from them, but the emotions or memories themselves don't affect him personally. Perhaps that's why he's been able to retain his own sense of self; he hasn't actually merged with a twelve year old, only taken control of his body. Somehow that feels wrong, but he ignores it. Nothing he can do about it now, anyway.

He's not entirely certain how to deal with what is effectively a mob, so he tunes them out to the best of his ability. The love declarations, while nice (in a roundabout-maybe-he-should-feel-flattered kind of way), are entirely inappropriate considering his mental age, and they're coming from easily infatuated children, all of whom should probably be more focused on their professions. Somewhat guiltily, he wonders if this is why they're most likely going to fail their team tests.

His train of thought - along with chatter from the rest of the room - is derailed quite thoroughly when two girls slam the doors open and wrestle each other as they try to gain entry. He'd know that head of pink hair anywhere, and he watches almost fondly as she argues with another familiar face. Sakura and Ino had always fought even as adults, but he supposes that's just what best friends do. He knows that they're not exactly on good terms here (and he has a sneaking suspicion as to why), but he's sure they'll patch things up at some point. Both of them are just entirely too stubborn.

They eventually catch sight of him, and yet another argument turned brawl ensues as they attempt to sit next to him. He sighs, exasperated, and wonders if maybe he shouldn't have sat next to an open seat. Then again, whoever sat next to him would probably have been harassed, so this might be for the best.

The last newly-minted genin to show up is Naruto, and it's only then that he realizes that the blond hadn't passed the graduation test. How had he gotten that headband? He refrains from asking, all too aware that doing so would raise questions and likely only result in a fight. Someone else asks him, anyway, and although he doesn't give any details, he doesn't seem to be lying. Sasuke will just have to press him for more information later.

Naruto's gaze meets his before he can look away, and the orange-clad ninja immediately frowns. He hops up on the table in front of Sasuke and glares at him. Irritated that he hadn't even done anything to merit the action and not one to back down from a challenge, he glares back. He can practically feel the air crackling with tension. Then, inexplicably, Naruto falls forward, eliciting a kiss between them, and their faces morph into horror and shock.

They instantly jump apart, gagging and wiping their mouths. Sasuke feels like he's going to throw up. He'd just kissed Naruto. Ugh. As he attempts to rid the whole incident from his mind, the girls team up on Naruto, and just for that moment, he's vindictively satisfied. Despite all of their in-fighting, it's Naruto who claims the coveted seat, and Sakura takes up the one next to him.

Not long after that, Iruka-sensei arrives and gives them his patented you're-leaving-I'll-miss-you-try-not-to-die speech, and soon, they're assigned to teams. He's not surprised when Team 7 meets his expectations (the shinigami had promised as much, after all), but he can't help being relieved that all of his friends are on the same teams as well. It's comforting, in a way.

They're dismissed for lunch with the instruction to return this afternoon, and with little else to do, Sasuke meanders the village, taking in all of the new-old buildings and shops and the variety of people running them. The lack of Uchiha milling about is painfully obvious, and he spares a moment to think about all of the people who'd been close friends with his Clan, whom must have felt some pain at the loss of comrades and lovers and customers. He wasn't the only one affected, but as a lonely child, his counterpart hadn't or didn't want to notice. It's easy to dwell on his own pain, after all.

He stops at a shop run by a little, old lady and buys a few dango. She makes some small talk with him, and he finds that he likes her. The dango is really, really good, too. He finishes the rest of it and prepares to pay, but she insists that it's on the house. He can't see any pity in her eyes, and yeah, he definitely likes her. With a promise to return, he heads back toward the Academy, a little more cheerful.

He runs into Sakura, fidgeting on a bench and seeming to be waiting for someone. He plans to simply walk by her, but when she sees him, she practically lights up. "Oh, Sasuke-kun, you're back!"

He raises an eyebrow, unbidden. She doesn't seem to notice. "Now, we can continue where we left off!" She informs him with a pretty blush.

He has no earthly idea what she's talking about. And then it hits him: Naruto must have done something. When in doubt, assume it's the chronic prankster. It's a motto he picked up over the years, and it's usually right on the mark. "Where's Naruto?" He finally chimes in.

"Oh, see. There you go, changing the subject again." She goes on, heedless of his confusion. "Anyway, Naruto just picks fights with you. You know why he's so annoying? 'Cause he wasn't raised right. He doesn't have a mother or a father - no one to teach him right from wrong. Think about it. He just does whatever comes into his head."

He frowns, indignant on Naruto's behalf and disappointed in her ignorance, but she continues to put her foot in her mouth. "If I did things like Naruto, forget it! I mean, my parents would get mad, and I'd get in trouble. So of course, I don't do it. But if you don't have parents to tell you, how would you know? He's selfish and bratty. He's all alone." She ends the rant with a haughty, knowing tone, as if she could ever understand what it feels like - and that's the clincher, isn't it? This little girl has been raised by two loving parents and has never known true loneliness.

He's going to make sure she never has to. But before that, he has to clear up a few things.

Gently, he points out, "I don't have any parents either, Sakura." Her eyes widen in surprise, as if the thought had slipped her mind, and maybe it had. He and Naruto act nothing alike, after all. He smiles, weakly, "And yeah, maybe we'd be better off with parents to take care of us and scold us when we've done wrong-" He knows they would be, of course "-but we don't because they were taken from us." She looks to be on the verge of tears, but she needs to hear this, so he goes on, "Naruto can be loud and annoying sometimes, but honestly, I think he's dealing with it a lot better than me."

That's a little more honest than he'd normally allow himself to be, especially to someone who is basically a stranger, but it's the truth - he's still grieving. Naruto doesn't have anyone in particular to miss, but he feels that gaping lack of something like love or affection all the same. Even his counterpart, who'd been blind to everything but his ambition, had been able to see that.

He glances over to Sakura, who'd begun crying, and he winces. He hadn't meant to do that, exactly. He'd just wanted to get her thinking. "Just give him a little more credit," he suggests. "Especially since he thinks the world of you."

She hiccups, tears running down her face, and he definitely did not sign up for this. He's never been good with crying girls, and being dropped into an alternate world hasn't changed that. It might even be worse. He can't remember the last time he made a child cry. He moves closer and pats her head, awkwardly.

"Uh, it's okay. Don't cry." He spends the next few minutes trying to calm her down, and he only drops his hand and backs away when her sobs turn into small sniffles.

She wipes her face, a bit clumsily, and then peeks at him through her eyelashes, clearly embarrassed. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun." She studies the ground as she explains, timidly, "I hadn't ever thought about it - how it must feel. You and Naruto... you're both really strong. I don't think I could take it if-" She sniffles again. "Anyway, you must hate me now."

"I don't hate you," he retorts - because new world or not, this is Sakura, and he could never bring himself to hate her. Her head shoots up in surprise, and he inwardly scoffs. To her, he calmly states, "You didn't know, but now you do. It's okay."

She smiles tremulously, and the two of them walk back to the Academy together in comfortable silence.

Intermission was a little more eventful than he'd expected, but hopefully, this means his new teammate is willing to see Naruto in a different light. The kid's had it hard enough from everyone else. He deserves a break when it comes to his team.

End Notes: It was pointed out to me that AU!Sasuke was irrationally mean for a supposedly experienced, 'happy' twenty-two year old man, especially concerning children, and I agreed. It bugged me so much that I couldn't bring myself to write the next chapter. Also, I've been writing a mini-series revolving around the AU world, and that Sasuke is completely different - thus, the rewrite.

I hope you guys will like this one even better - I certainly do. It's not as... snarky, but I'm going to make up for that when Team 7 actually forms. Even then, it'll be more playful banter than anything, though. Let me know what you think! :D

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