SOTU Chapter 1: Wake up to Reality

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Konohagakure - Hokage Office

Haruzen Sarutobe - The Hokage

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Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage and leader of the most powerful Hidden Village in the world, set his pipe aside as faint smoke curled in the air as he rose from his chair. His robes shifted heavily around him, doing a poor job of concealing his armour underneath, at least to those who knew what to look for. The crimson and white of the Hokage mantle somehow felt heavier than usual as his thoughts went to the broken child of the now decimated Uchiha Clan lying in the Hospital.

A few Body Flickers later, he was standing in said Hospital, making his way to the boy’s room, having just been informed by ANBU that the boy would stir soon. 

“Has there been any change?” Hiruzen asked quietly, waving away the formalities at his approach as he and Inoichi made their way down the hall, while the faint smell of antiseptic crept into the air.

Inoichi shook his head. “He’s remained unresponsive since the incident. There have been no other problems or worries regarding his heart giving out due to shock. But the stabilisation of his yin chakra suggests his consciousness is intact, regardless of the significant increase, which was unusual even among other mental trauma patients. By rights, he should have remained comatose for a few more weeks at best.”

While he was thankful for the boy’s recovery, Hiruzen’s brows furrowed at the thought of what may have happened had Sasuke died at his brother’s hand. He was the only light left for him, and if he was lost, it would only guarantee Danzo’s death and the potential creation of an S-ranked shinobi who was unwilling to provide intel on the Akatsuki. Possibly with the additional hatred toward Konoha as a whole.

Haruzen could have only hoped Itachi didn’t team up with his old student if that were to happen, for Konoha may not survive the aftermath of their action as they were now. 

The silence stretched between them until the old Hokage exhaled through his nose. “Then let us see with our own eyes.”

They entered the hospital wards, sending nods toward the guards posted discreetly at the corners. Curtains shifted in the faint draft as they approached the isolated bed where Sasuke lay, pale against the white sheets, black hair fanned around his face. His chest rose and fell in shallow rhythm as Hiruzen came closer.

“He’s waking,” Inoichi muttered, loud enough for his Hokage to hear but not loud enough to disturb the patient. It was more of a formality than anything. Haruzen’s keen eyes already caught the twitch of fingers, the subtle tightening of eyelids indicating he would wake in the next few seconds. But it was a formality he appreciated nonetheless.

The boy’s eyes opened slowly. They were not dull, unfocused, or clouded with trauma as Hiruzen had expected, but sharp. Red. The faint glimmer of tomoe spun in the dark of his gaze before fading back into black. For a heartbeat, the Hokage felt something cold trace his spine as he saw the resemblance to Itachi's schooled expression during ANBU work. 

Unlike the vacant, broken look of a child lost in grief. The gaze in front of him was steady, as though he had already seen too much. Measuring even as it felt the full force of the grief not even he, who had fought in multiple shinobi wars, had been subject to. Yes, he had lost his wife to the Kyubi, relatives in battle, but not only was he older and more experienced with grief, he had also never lost all of them in one go.

Thanks to decades of experience, Hiruzen easily masked his unease with a grandfatherly smile. “Sasuke… you’ve returned to us.”

While he felt for the boy, he needed to do his duty as Hokage of the village and ensure no village secrets were in his head. Especially secrets that may show the Village in a bad light. He trusted Itachi. He had killed his own family for the village, after all. But his lack of caution led to the death of the Clan to begin with, and he would not make such a mistake again.

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Location: Unknown

The Void?

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Without realising how I got… wherever I was, I stirred awake in the middle of a vast, endless void. Galaxies shimmered in the distance, and stars were scattered like jewels in the night. I was somehow floating in space, yet I could breathe like I was still on earth. I couldn't even feel the cold or suction people were supposed to feel when the vacuum.

“Congratulations!” A calm, resonant voice echoed, carrying from nowhere and everywhere at once. “You have been chosen to transmigrate into the Elemental Nations, or, as it is more commonly known, the Naruto universe.”

I was more than a little startled as I frantically looked around, but there was no figure to match the voice. Lowering my gaze, I froze, or rather, I would have frozen, but my body was gone and I was nothing more than a ball of pale, glowing light. It was making out to be a rather odd, realistic-feeling dream, even though I couldn't really test my sense of touch to verify.

“What's going on?” I asked in confusion, wanting to at least glean something from what the dream was trying to tell me. I had heard that dreams tell you things about yourself, so it was worth a shot. “Where am I?”

“You were overworked,” the voice replied matter-of-factly, showing me the events of ambulance workers taking me to the hospital and Doctors trying thier best but being unable to save me. “Your family called the ambulance when they realised you had not woken. You passed away in your sleep, but the medical professionals were unable to save you.”

Damn. The daily grind literally killed me. The fact that my ‘body’ was a floating ball of light was probably my soul manifested in ball form or something.

“My family… are they alright?” I asked, hoping my worries for them were unwarranted. There was nothing I could do about my own death now, after all.

“They will mourn,” the voice assured me while showing me what I assumed was the future, “but they are fated to live long, prosperous lives.”

“Oh,” I muttered in relief. “That's good.”

“The terms of your transmigration are the following,” the clearly not dream voice continued. “You will be randomly given a character to assimilate. Their skills and abilities will be yours to wield. You will also be randomly given an ability or bloodline, along with the use of the System, the Inventory, and the Essence of Blank, which are given to all transmigrants.”

A moment later, I had basic information and an image of a noble figure appear in my mind’s eye. An image of a Bleach character with family problems and aura farming tendencies.

“Byakuya Kuchiki.”

There were definitely more powerful people I could have been given, even if restricted to only being able to choose from the Bleach universe, but I would take it.

“Wait, how will that even work?” I asked quickly, a little confused. “Naruto’s people use chakra, not Reiryoku. And Byakuys is a Shinigami, people can't even see them.”

“The physiology and biomachanics of the vessel you will inhabit henceforth will allow the use of both,” the voice explained. “Your assimilated character's techniques will remain intact, as they are based in Reiryoku, also known as Spiritual Energy, which is a component of Chakra, the main metaphysical powersource of the Elemental Nations.”

Oh, good. 

Before I could press further, the voice added. “Your bloodline has been decided. You will inherit the eyes and heritage of the Uchiha. The body you shall inhabit is that of Sasuke Uchiha during his coma after the massacre of the Uchiha clan. However, as the Spiritual Energy of your assimilating character far exceeds the threshold that would allow for functional health in the selected body, you will only be able to access a significantly reduced amount at any given time.”

I could work with that. So, I have the skills and abilities of Byakuya, but can only use a certain amount due to Sasuke's weak body not being able to handle it. That's better than nothing, I guess. Being a Uchiha was already going to help me a lot as it was.

“I'm guessing the more I improve my body, whether it be through training or otherwise, I will be able to use more of Byakuya's spells?” I asked, just to be sure. If training couldn't do it, I'm sure there were other ways.

“That is correct,” the voice informed. “Please note, the assimilating character's Zampakto will not be provided and will have to be purchased from the system. However, due to assimilating Byakuya, you will be able to purchase his Zanpakuto along with an Asuichi of your own to bond with.”

…I was just about to ask that, actually. But that was yet another added bonus. “Thank you.” I hesitated a little before asking the other question on my mind, hoping I would get the answer that wouldn’t have me trying to redeem myself for decisions made by the entity. Those being transmigrating my soul, and hopefully not murder. “Just to clarify… if I take Sasuke’s body, won’t that mean stealing his life and essentially killing the kid?”

Transmigration was cool and all, and so was the Sharingan, but essentially killing a kid just to I could have another shot at life left a bad feeling in my heart, potential future arsehole or not, even though some might say he was completely justified.

“No. Sasuke Uchiha is already dead. The Tsukuyomi cast upon him by his brother, Itachi Uchiha, showed him the first-hand massacre of his clan and family members. The shock of reliving it multiple times shattered him. His body lingers… but his soul has gone to the pure land.”

Wow… Itachi could have just shown it to him once, or even not at all, and would still have achieved his goal by having Sasuke hate him. But clearly, he went too far and accidentally killed his brother. That’s rough.

A chill rippled through the man’s essence. Before I could respond, the voice delivered the next condition.
“When your soul takes root in his body, you will endure the Tsukuyomi as well. You will have to live through the remaining five hundred and eighteen thousand cycles of the Uchiha massacre.”

I wouldn’t help in instinctual recoil of my head, or soul, as my glow flickered when the words registered. Five hundred thousand…? I know Itachi was a child soldier, young and inexperienced with his Tsukiyomi at the time, having only really used it to kill his girlfriend probably a few minutes earlier. But… fuck!

“Can I skip that?” I winced. “Can’t you just make it so I arrive after the Tsukiyomi is over?”

“Unfortunately, that will not be possible,” My request was immediately shut down. “Due to the events of Sasuke’s death, if your soul appears any later, the body of Sasuke will no longer be usable.”

“Can’t you just create another body for me?” I asked with a bit of confusion and hope. Considering the being's ability to warp reality, I would have thought it would be easy to do this much. It did pluck my soul and was about to transport me to another dimension, to another body.

“You have not been awarded that privilege.”

With a wince, I steadied myself, knowing I wouldn’t be getting any leeway on that front. “Then… can you tell me about the system. What do I need to know? How best to use it, tips and tricks, the shebang.”

“The system will awaken when you do,” the voice answered. “You will have to take the time to discover its functions and their use yourself. However, there is a Help function included to aid your new life. You must speak of it to no one.”

I would have tilted my head in confusion if I had one. “But, in that world, there are people who can enter minds. Read thoughts. If they find out about the system, they’ll… well, it won’t be much of a life for me, after all.”

If anything, the only reason Sasuke wasn’t strapped to a table and having his organs and reproductive material extracted to rebuild the Uchiha Clan was only because Itachi threatened Danzo. Finding out I have a System, which grants ridiculous abilities I was hoping to reach the level of at least the Sage of Six Paths, might be enough to throw Itachi’s threats in the trash.

“All system-related knowledge is sealed,” the voice interrupted my thoughts. “It cannot be accessed, stolen, or borrowed through your mind or soul. Even the greatest of mind-walkers will find nothing. Should an attempt be made, they will be forced to live through the downfall of the Uchi just like you will, and even then, they will only be able to view the younger years of Sasuke’s life.”

That eased me a little. Not enough to overlook the fact that I was going to have to watch the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people if the fanon was correct though. I didn’t even like horror movies in my past life unless it has comedic elements to them.

“One last thing,” the voice said, softer now, almost like a mentor offering guidance. “The Reiryoku techniques of your character chosen for assimilation will need a veil of explanation. It is recommended that you study Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu. Through them, your Reiryoku techniques and the System Inventory can be passed off as a plausible evolution of said study.”

Before I could reply, the stars surged, collapsing inward like a black hole. I was dragged into the dark, unable to even scream at the feeling of falling.

The moment my soul slammed into Sasuke’s body, my world shattered. Blood was everywhere. The acrid metallic scent filled my nostrils even though I knew it was a Genjutsu, as screams were cut short by a silent, poison-soaked sword, throwing long shadows of bodies that twitched and fell one after another. At least those of the ones that were alert enough to even notice an intruder. I tried to move in another direction, to do anything else, but my body was that of Itachi, and I had no control of it. 

The sword flashed again, and crimson sprayed across the walls. The faces of Sasuke's kin, my kin, my neighbours, my cousins, children, blurred together in a nightmare of death. And even as he worked, I could only see momentary glimpses of his face in small reflections, as he never once looked in a mirror.

I couldn't even throw up. But as the vision ended, it would restart a moment later. The massacre again. The screams again. The sword flashing, the red spray.

Again. And again. And again.

By what must have been the thousandth time, I no longer tried to scream or fight my movements at all. He just… watched. Even going as far as using it as a tutorial to study.

I studied the way his body moved, the areas he struck to make sure the blood stayed out of his eyes, the way he allowed himself to remain stealthy regardless of the chaos. The more I watched, the more I started to realise that it may have been Itachi's plan to begin with. Basically, teaching Sasuke how to efficiently take a life and forcing him to be desensitised to the act.

Some kind of misguided way of giving him an advantage in the line of work at a young age sort of thing.

The horror dulled. Where once I would have wept for the dead, now I counted them and their cause of death mechanically, like keeping a tally in a ledger. By what must have been the hundred-thousandth massacre, I think I lost my gag reflexes at the scent of blood. I could distinguish the subtle shades of it, arterial spray versus the slow ooze of a punctured lung. By the two-hundred-thousandth, I knew every scream by pitch and distance, along with every gurgle by cadence.

It took a surprisingly long time to reach that point. I thought it would be something like wanting to be a doctor and slowly being accustomed to blood. But I suppose the circumstances in which I was exposed to it were too much on the traumatising and extreme side. Besides, doctors saved lives, not the opposite.

And still, it went on.

When at last the Tsukuyomi ended, I no longer shook at the sight of corpses. Blood was no longer grotesque, it was familiar. And gore and death were an inevitability  and natural order of life. The man from Earth, a world where I’d once flinched at horror movies and jump scares, was now long gone.

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Konoha Hospital

Sasuke Uchiha

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When I finally opened my eyes in Sasuke’s body, the Sharingan spun not just with inherited visual power, but with the reflection of half a million massacres burned into my memory. As my eyes adjusted to the sterile brightness of the hospital room, I blinked slowly, my gaze swept over the pale curtains letting in a light breeze and whitewashed walls before finally landing on the two figures standing at the foot of my bed. The Third Hokage stood tall and composed, while beside him, Inoichi Yamanaka observed quietly with a solemn expression which barely hid his pity.

“Sasuke… you’ve returned to us,” Hiruzen said with a grandfatherly smile, which would probably have fooled a real seven-year-old. But I knew full well the old bastard standing in front of me was lethal enough to earn the moniker ‘god if shinobi’ by racking up bodies in several shinobi wars. There was a beat of silence before the Hokage spoke again due to my staring and lack of reply, which, to his credit, showed he was being a little patient. “We were worried when your heart stopped, Sasuke. But it is good to see you stable now.”

I narrowed my eyes faintly at the words, blinking a few times, pinching my arm, and using the rat hand sign to disrupt my chakra as I tried to force away Genjutsu. Nothing happened as I let out a barely audible mutter. “So, I did die… good to know.”

Thankfully, I was able to sift through Sasuke’s memories as an extra bonus of getting his body without the emotions being linked to them. So, I was able to learn all the Jutsu he knew, which was only really the [Fireball] and the academy three, which only brought up more questions as to why he wasn’t allowed to advance like his brother was.

The hoarseness of my own voice and the scraping in my throat due to so long without use was irritating, forcing me to let out involuntary coughs. Patiently, the Hokage moved to the bedside table, poured water from a large jug into a glass and handed it to me. “Here. Slowly now.”

I accepted it with both hands in case the strength in my arms had weakened too. I raised the glass carefully, sipped, then drank slowly while the Hokage and Inoichi were seemingly having a silent conversation with their eyes. I decided to use the brief lull to summon the system with a thought just to make sure. ‘Status.’

[Name: Sasuke Uchiha]

[Template(s): Byakuya Kuchiki (Chapter 1: 1%)]

[Essence(s): Blank]

[Abilitie(s): Inventory]

[Function(s): Status, Help, Shop]

When I set the cup down, the Hokage’s voice came again. “Itachi has been placed in the bingo book as S-rank threat, to be brought in dead or alive.”

I didn’t change my expression in the slightest. No flicker of rage. No visible grief. Only a faint nod. Nothing he just said was new to me after all, and even if it was, with what I’ve been forced to see, it would take alot more to surprise me now.

The Hokage seemed to study for a little bit, looking for any sort of reaction that would show him my thoughts. Whether he found something or not, he did not indicate so. 

Breaking the silence, I cut to the chase. “You’re here to get into my mind, are you not?”

Hiruzen stroked his beard, not breaking eye contact even once. “Yes… But it can wait a few hours, if necessary. You have only just woken, and the body must recover. Still,” his eyes narrowed slightly and his lips thinned. “The sooner we understand what you saw, the better.”

Of course, he would say that. It's his best friend’s ass on the line after all.

I panned my eyes to Inoichi and stared while simultaneously using the [Help] function of the System to ask if they would be able to see my thoughts of the massacre and those involved, Danzo included, even though it’s not technically linked to the system. I know I already had the answer when I was in space-void, but it felt rushed.

[Answer: Those who delve into the host’s mind will only see the events of Itachi Uchiha’s Tsukuyomi and the younger years of Sasuke Uchiha. Thoughts and feelings directed at anyone, thing or event after the event will be restricted to their base form or have their reason indistinguishable from any other.]

Brilliant.

My eyes shifted from the Hokage to the blond-haired Yamanaka. “I’d prefer if we did it now. I don’t like the idea of someone messing with my head. So, its better to get it over with.”

The quicker I got the lethal old man in the hat off my back, the better. He would still be keeping an eye on me, as I was the ‘last Uchiha’. But the less he assumed I knew of the reason for the massacre, the better, at least until I was confident enough to kill my way out of the village.

The room went quiet for a moment as Inoichi blinked, either caught off guard by my bluntness or the fact that I wouldn’t fight the idea of having anyone shifting around in my mond after what happened. But it was Hiruzen who spoke first, playing into his grandfatherly facade. “…Are you certain, Sasuke? You’ve only just—”

“I’m certain.” I interrupted, wanting to get the show on the road already.

For another long moment, Hiruzen’s weathered features tightened in thought before he turned to Inoichi and gave him a slow, deliberate nod. “Very well.”

Inoichi approached the bedside and raised one hand, forming a one-handed ram seal, and placed the other gently on my skull. I closed my eyes, slowly exhaling through my nose, but just before the technique began, I opened them again and casually added. “Five hundred and eighteen thousand.”

Both their brows furrowed as Inoichi asked. “…What?”

“That’s how many times I watched it,” I explained. “The massacre. Over and over again.” The air in the room seemed to tighten, even as they schooled their features. Neither man spoke, but the clenching of their jaws and their hard expressions was enough for me to read between the lines, but I couldn't care less at the moment. “I’m ready when you are.”

There was a momentary pause as I closed my eyes again before I felt Inoichi adjust his hand placement. “Then relax,” he said quietly. “It will be quicker that way.”

I felt the chakra move, but didn’t do anything to resist. Seeing nothing else to do as he did his work, I activated my [Sharingan] again, wanting to see if it would copy things I felt even though I couldn’t physically see it, but got nowhere. So, I turned it off and just laid there and started doing meditative breathing I saw once on youtube to escape the boredom.

For several minutes, what I would later learn was actually a few hours, the Yamanaka patriarch delved into my memories and by the time we were done sweat was beading across his brow, his skin was pale, and his eyes were looking at me with even more pity. He stepped back, steadying himself with a sharp breath, and turned to the Hokage with a silent nod. Hiruzen inclined his head in return before turning his gaze back to me while I remained utterly impassive. “Rest, Sasuke. Regain your strength. We will inform you if anything new arises.”

Without another word, he gestured for Inoichi, and the two of them left the room.

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“Wake up to reality.”

— Madara Uchiha.

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Hello There

Without going through the genjutsu of the Uchiha massacre, he would have spent the years coming to terms with being forced to take a life in the Naruto world, as is the norm for some good Naruto fanfics that aren't just writing murder hobos.

Not that I’m saying he won't end up being a murder hobo himself, but you get the point.

If what Fanon says about Sasuke having to experience the Uchiha massacre 518,400 times is true, I'm surprised the kid even remained as functional as he was to begin with, because that’s diabolical.

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Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original character and ideas. All credit goes to their respective owners.

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Thank you for reading.

As always, stay awesome.

Until next time, Light's out.