Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Rinnegan. All powerful doujutsu. Very few have ever been able to obtain one.

Sasuke happens to be one of those people.

Yes, it took a lot of pain (he did almost die for it) and a lot of suffering (his entire clan is dead and all he has to show for it is an eye), and he can’t even say it was worth it. However, there are a lot of things the Rinnegan can do.

Some just think it’s a better Sharingan. Those people are wrong, and ought to base their opinions on facts.

The Rinnegan, while yes, one does need to have the Sharingan to have the Rinnegan, is fundamentally different from it.

Sasuke only has one Rinnegan, and that’s enough for him.

The Rinnegan bathes the world in monochrome. Everything is gray. Light gray, dark gray, some occasional black and white here, chakra signatures there, and boom. That’s the Rinnegan.

The Rinnegan can’t just see Chakra signatures, it sees the colours. Different types of Chakra natures will naturally have different colours to accompany them.

For example, an infant whose Chakra pathways are still developing would be a calm blue and, depending on their future natures, have a different feel to it.

Lighting Chakra is prickly, cold but hot at the same time. Think of pouring way too hot water over your foot. It’s so hot, it’s cold. That’s the feeling Sasuke gets from Lighting Chakra. Of course, his senses are enhanced due to the copious amount of Nature Chakra that seems to always gravitate towards him, but that’s a different thing in and of itself.

Fire Chakra is hot and sometimes can feel as though someone sprayed pepper spray on his skin. Though, the pepper spray effect normally only happens when someone is trying to forcefully inject their chakra into his pathways and kill him because of it. Otherwise, Fire Chakra feels like a warm flame in front of your face, warming up your nose.

Sasuke can sit here all day and talk about the different Chakra natures and how they feel, but that’s really not why he’s thinking about the Rinnegan in the first place.

No, it’s because Sasuke seems to be in a predicament.

He’s not in Suna, which is where he went to bed the previous night.

This would normally be fine, the Rinnegan has teleported him to different nations before, but this is different.

Sasuke isn’t in the Elemental Nations.

None of the Elemental Nations have buildings quite like this, people quite like this. Sure, Ame is weird, but this is really pushing it. These people don’t have Chakra signatures, they shouldn’t be alive.

The Rinnegan had never teleported him somewhere he hasn’t already been.

Sasuke takes a few deep breaths to steady himself.

He’s dangerously low on Chakra, and it isn’t regenerating as fast as it should.

His body is also rapidly deaging. What the fuck.

Sasuke should be about 19. Apparently, someone thinks otherwise, because he can feel himself shrinking.

Which is alarming, because Sasuke was only average height to begin with. He doesn’t want to get shorter.

“Hey kid, are you alright?” A guy in a weird outfit kneels in front of him. He looks like a robot on steroids.

Holy shit. He’s shrunk. And he’s wearing that stupid outfit from his time with Orochimaru. Sasuke hates that outfit.

Has he lost his Rinnegan? He can’t have, right?

He shoves the weirdly dressed man and runs into the streets.

Oh Gods. Everyone is weird.

Sasuke knows it isn’t a genjutsu, his Sharingan makes sure of that, but could it have been Tsukuyomi? No. There isn’t anyone alive who’s able to perform that other than him.

So what’s going on?

Sasuke turns to face the glass of a store and feels relief wash over him.

He still has his Rinnegan, so he still has a chance of going home.

“Kid?” Oh. The weird man again.

“I am not a child.” Sasuke snaps, then immediately wrinkles his nose. He sounds just as broody as his 15/16 year old self.

“Really? How old are you then?”

“I’m an adult.”

“You don’t look like an adult.”

“You don’t look sane, but I’m not saying anything.” Sasuke grumbles.

The hero furrows his eyebrows. “What were you doing in that alleyway?”

“The fuck should I know?” Sasuke mutteres, his mouth moving on autopilot.

“You’ve got quite the vocabulary.”

Sasuke resists the urge to glare at him. He can’t ask the man anything because that would make him seem out of place.

Do they have libraries here?

“Where are your parents?”

That’s when it dawns on Sasuke, this man doesn’t recognize him. Sasuke inhales slowly. “Why?”

“I’ll take you to them.”

“Lead the way then.” Sasuke says with false cheer. “Off to the cemetery.”

The hero stops in his tracks. “Oh.”

“Where am I?” Sasuke asks.

“Mustafu, Japan.”

What?

Now, Sasuke prides himself on his geography skills. He’s been pretty much everywhere in the Elemental Nations, so it would be hard not to have a good directional sense.

He can tell you the names and capitals of the 5 nations, and most, if not all, of the capitals of the smaller nations. He can name all the islands in the United Islands Republic, but never, not even once, has he ever heard someone mention a “Japan.”

So, with one option left, Sasuke is forced to consider the impossible.

Dimensional travel.

Shit.

Chapter Text

And so, Sasuke wonders, though not for the first time, how he ended up here.

“Here” being a police station. It’s been a long time since he’s seen the inside of a police station, since the Konoha Police Force didn’t continue after the Uchiha Massacre. It’s already odd enough that he’s back in a police station, but the dimensional/universal travel thing is really beginning to set in.

These people are… weird, to put it simply. Their clothing is odd, not that Sasuke can really judge considering what he’s wearing. Their mannerisms are just… so different.

Still, he has to at least try to fit in.

“Name?” A tired looking police officer asks.

“Hatake Kakashi.” Sasuke says without hesitation.

The police officer seems to accept it, if the way she hastily scribbles down the name is any indication. If she thinks the name is weird, she doesn't say anything about it.

“Parents?”

“What about them?” Sasuke replies coolly.

She narrows her eyes and writes something down. “Age?”

“75.”

She raises an eyebrow and sets her paper down. “We’re trying to help you, kid.”

“Is that so? I hadn’t noticed.” Sasuke snarks. He could easily get out of the police station, but these people could give him information he might not even know to look for.

She scoffs and leaves.

Sasuke wrinkles his nose at her unprofessionalism and stands up. He examines the entire office, committing every detail to memory. He’s in Mustafu, Japan. Japan has… prefectures? It seems so, anyway. There are heroes and villains… one of which is in a cell near him. Sasuke walks over to them.

“What do you want, kid?” They snap.

“Are you a… villain?” Sasuke already dislikes the word. Who were they to brand someone as a villain? There could’ve easily been other circumstances at play that the “heroes” were unaware of. Sasuke already knows he would be considered a villain if these people were to learn about his past. Not that he really cares. It’s just a title.

“I prefer the term… idealist.” They grin.

“I’m sure you do.” Sasuke folds his arms.

“So, what are you in for?” They ask.

“To hell if I know.” Sasuke frowns. “I guess having dead parents is illegal here.”

“Well did you kill ‘em?”

“You must be confusing me with my brother.” Sasuke drawls.

“Y’know, you’re not so bad, kid.” They say.

“I’ll let you out if you help me.” Sasuke offers.

“How are you gonna get me out of here?”

“I’m told I can be very persuasive.” Sasuke smirks, flashing his sharingan.

“Nice Quirk you got there.” They chuckle lowly. “Well, what do you need help with?”

“Damn.” Sasuke and the person he’s just broken out of jail stand on the opposite side of the street from the station and watch as the police officers look around in panic. “And they really can’t see us?”

“They don’t even know we’re here.” Sasuke nods.

“I guess I owe you now. Whaddya need? If it’s money, I don’t have very much of that.” 

“I just need information. I’m a bit of a foreigner.”

“Ah, well I know just where to take you.” They smirk. “I got a buddy a few blocks over, Giran, he’s who you gotta go to for information. We’ve been friends for a bit so just tell him you know me.”

Sasuke briefly wonders if this “Giran” would really help him before deciding that whoever it is, he could probably take them and if not, there’s always teleportation.

“I’ll bring you there but I can’t stick around long, I’ve gotta report back to my boss.” They say.

Sasuke assumes that villainy works the same way here as crime back in the Elemental Nations. Meaning there’s likely a group similar to the Akatsuki here. Sasuke doesn’t really care for the people in this dimension/universe so he’s willing to let the Akatsuki of this world go, as long as they don’t bother him.

“The name’s Ren, by the way.” Ren says. “I’m assuming your name isn’t really Hatake Kakashi?”

“You assumed right.” Sasuke nods. He hesitates before giving them his name, it isn’t like having loads of people know his name would be a safety hazard to him since he isn’t from this world anyway. “Sasuke.”

“Hm?”

“It’s my name.”

“Alright then, Sasuke, onwards.”

The walk isn’t far, it really is only a few blocks away. “If there’s anyone other than Giran here, it’d be better if you didn’t say anything.” Ren says as they walk up a few steps to a nice-ish building.

Ren pushes the door open and they both walk in. Sasuke immediately notices the other people in the room and decides to heed Ren’s warning.

There are 3 people present. One of which is completely made of mist, the second person has frazzled hair and shockingly pale skin, and the last person is dressed in a suit and has a cigarette in his mouth.

“Ah, Ren, out of jail?” The last person says, humour tickling their voice.

“Giran, so nice to see you again.” Ren replies politely. “I owe this one a favour.” They tilt their head in Sasuke’s direction.

“A child?” Giran raises an eyebrow. Sasuke pretends not to notice the way the other two people in the room are intently listening in on their conversation.

“His Quirk is something special, broke me out of jail without breaking a sweat.”

Sasuke wonders if Ren knew that this isn’t information they should be offering up so freely. Despite how annoyed Sasuke is feeling, he keeps his face carefully blank.

“Is that so?” Giran’s eyes glint with something dangerous and Sasuke has to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

Giran doesn’t appear particularly powerful, he’s very obviously underestimating Sasuke which will end up working more in Sasuke’s favour than Giran’s.

“I need information.” Sasuke speaks slowly, “I was told you could give it to me.” He keeps his chakra in check, no point in showing cards before he needs to.

“Oh? What for? This isn’t a place for little boys, you know.” Giran mocks.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow and lets his chakra “gently” wash over Giran. As Giran’s knees wobble, Sasuke grins. “Then shouldn’t you… get out?”

The room grows cold and Sasuke can feel Ren’s eyes on his back.

A cold smile spreads across Giran’s face as he strengthens his stance, “I like this one.” Sasuke reels his chakra in and glares at Giran.

“I want to know about the system in place here.” Sasuke says somewhat impatiently. “Heroes, villains, all that.”

“It’s not much different from anywhere else, I imagine.”

“Work under the assumption that I’m someone who’s never heard of that system.”

Giran pauses contemplatively before he begins his explanation. It’s obvious to anyone that Giran is biased, it would be difficult not to be. Sasuke figures that hearing the story from a "villain's" point of view would be better than listening to some hero's propaganda.

So, Sasuke listens to Giran. Giran's perspective seems to be very negative. The world itself looks to be a worse version of the elemental nations, or better, depending on how you look at it. The main difference is the hero system and the laws around crime.

Sasuke can’t say he agrees with most, if any, of the changes in this world but there isn’t much he can do about them. He’ll just have to work around the laws and find a way back as quick as possible.

“That’s about everything.” Giran says, finishing off his explanation.

Sasuke nods and stands up to leave but he’s stopped by the misty person and the vampire looking person.

“Can I help you?” Sasuke asks, his irritation growing.

“No, but we think we can help you.” Misty replies.

Ah, so this must be the Akatsuki of this world then. Perfect, Sasuke wants absolutely nothing to do with them.

“I don’t need, nor do I want your help.” Sasuke replies coldly. “Fuck off.”

“There’s no need to be rude.” The pale one scoffs.

Sasuke doesn’t acknowledge them, instead opting to step around them. When Misty blocks him again, Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “Move.”

“We’d like to talk.” Misty says amicably.

“I don’t give a shit.” Sasuke growls. He forces his way through and shoves the door open. It’s darker out, more time must’ve passed than he thought.

He briefly glances around and takes in his surroundings before he casts a genjutsu on himself. He doesn’t have anywhere to go, not yet, but Sasuke’s always been resourceful. He’ll find something if he needs to.

As the streets get darker, Sasuke takes note of the small civilian population. It seems like most of the civilians don’t walk around at night. It makes sense, he supposes, living in a place where “villains” ran around almost freely would make any average person afraid.

Sasuke weaves through the practically empty streets until he finds an abandoned building. After a few carefully controlled doton jutsu and a bit of sealing to keep anyone else out, Sasuke can finally get his thoughts in order.

He compiles everything he knows about the world he’s in.

First and foremost, he’ll need to do more research. It doesn’t seem like there are very many libraries, this world seems to be more futuristic than his.

Killing and maiming are also very frowned upon so he’ll have to keep that in mind.

Sighing heavily, Sasuke finds himself drifting into a fitful slumber.

There would be more work to do once he woke.

Sasuke’s gotten used to nightmares over the years. After the war, no one slept soundly. It's a permanent scar on the shinobi world. Despite being used to them, he still finds himself slightly shaken after a particularly bad one.

The death of his brother still haunts him. So, Sasuke's hardly surprised when he wakes up with a scream in his throat. No one would’ve heard him if he’d screamed because of the seals he has in place, but years of being a shinobi are hard to unlearn.

Sasuke dusts and washes himself off with an easy suiton jutsu. There are a lot of police and people who Sasuke assumes are heroes patrolling the area. Probably looking for him and Ren.

Sasuke uses a henge to transform into a disguise before he walks down the street, easily avoiding any police and heroes.

He’s walked at least 7 blocks away from the station when he becomes aware of someone’s eyes on him. Sasuke continues to walk as if he hasn’t noticed until he finds a park. He enters the park and pretends to warm up for a run, using the stretches as an excuse to look at his surroundings. The person tailing him is on the roof of the building behind him.

He feels a kunai in his sleeve and keeps it on hand. A simple shunshin relocates him to the spot directly behind the person.

Large red wings are the first things his eyes register but he evades them easily and sticks his kunai to the person’s neck.

“Why are you following me?”

Chapter Text

The last thing Keigo had expected was that he would be caught and by a child no less. Though, he supposes outward appearances can be deceiving.

“I’m from the Hero Commission.” Keigo says, raising his arms to show he's unarmed. The boy, Uchiha Sasuke, from their intel, doesn’t seem to know that his feathers are his weapons, still, something tells Keigo that he won’t be using his feathers. At least, not for a while.

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Uchiha asks darkly, his grip on the knife he's holding tightens. Keigo re-evaluates his approach.

“No, I guess not.” Keigo shrugs. “You’re not from around here, are you?” He doesn’t know the specifics of the boy’s situation, but if the energy spike is any indication, he isn’t from Japan.

The boy raises an eyebrow but doesn’t lower his guard.

“An energy spike appeared on our radars, I suppose you thought you arrived here without a trace, then?” Keigo asks, a bit mockingly.

“I didn’t think you were smart enough to pick up on anything but I guess even idiots can be surprising sometimes.” Uchiha snaps.

Keigo’s 90% sure that he hears the kid mutter something along the lines of, ‘it’s always the blondes’ but he can’t be too sure.

Uchiha’s eyes flare red and suddenly, he’s gone without a trace.

After thoroughly scanning the area to see if Uchiha appears anywhere nearby, Keigo decides that Uchiha is nowhere in sight and lets out an amused chirp.

“Huh. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday.”

Y’know, there were a lot of questions Sasuke had about life. Specifically why the gods decided to screw him over so many times.

You’d think after the whole clan murdering, brother gone crazy with desperation, village conspiracy someone would decide that enough was enough but no.

Sasuke sighs as he looks down from the building he’s on.

He isn’t going to jump. He doubts a jump from this height would kill him anyway. He’s been through too much just to drop dead in the middle of some hero/villain society that’s bound to crumble in less than 10 years.

It isn’t like ending up in a random universe is enough to make him want to jump anyway. He’s survived worse.

Sasuke’s lived his whole life surviving off spite alone and that isn’t about to stop now.

It’s unlikely that the Quirks of this world will help him much, based on the information he has and what he’s seen.

Sasuke already hates everything about this world. Even Naruto, for all of his smiles and sun-like tendencies, would probably have an issue with the way things are run here. Naruto is capable of understanding that not everything is black and white, even if Naruto’s version of that is black, white, and a singular shade of gray.

That’s fine though. Naruto’s an idiot.

An idiot he cares about, (not that he’d ever admit it to the aforementioned idiot) but an idiot nonetheless.

Sasuke sighs and disappears once again, choosing to go back to his hideout instead of staring off into nothingness.

Sasuke has no leads.

It’s kind of pathetic, really.

But Sasuke’s never been as good at problem solving as his brother.

He’s avoided heroes at all costs, villains too.

Sasuke wouldn’t exactly say he’s desperate to return to the Elemental Nations. Sasuke doubts anyone with a bit of sense would be desperate to return to the Elemental Nations. However, if he had to choose, he’d prefer the Elemental Nations to this world. At least in one place, Sasuke’s known and feared.

Sasuke wrinkles his nose when he thinks about some of the interactions he’d had with some of the people of this world.

Civilians, it seemed, never changed no matter where he went.

Leaving his makeshift home is a hassle every time but it’s becoming more and more necessary.

Sasuke’s faced with a problem he’s never had in his entire life. Even with Orochimaru.

Sasuke’s poor.

He’s never really considered himself privileged, backstory aside, but now, as he looks at his shitty, cardboard bed, he notes that perhaps he was better off than he previously thought.

Homelessness wasn’t exactly a thing in Konoha. Sure, there were people who couldn’t afford meals but they all lived somewhere .

It wasn’t because the Kage cared, not by a longshot, it was only because it would be inconvenient to have a lot of people living on the streets if they faced an attack of any kind. Besides, from what Sasuke had seen, a large portion of funding went to the civilian council where they would decide what to do with it.

None of that really matters at the moment, all that’s really important is a) Sasuke has no money, b) Sasuke has no way of getting money, and c) Sasuke’s hungry.

Sasuke kicks a rock down a road as he mulls over his options.

On one hand, he could probably go to the goody-two-shoe heroes for help.

On the other hand, he could do the same with the villains who are all basically just Madara or Pain reincarnated.

There’s a joke to be made in there somewhere, surely.

Unfortunately, it seems like Sasuke is most likely to “fit in” with the villains.

So be it.

Sasuke hasn’t really had a good moral compass before and there’s absolutely no reason to start now.

Chapter Text

Something Sasuke’s done at some point in his life has led up to this moment. Something at some point would probably be a perfect explanation as to why he finds himself in the situations he finds himself in.

Unfortunately, no matter how much Sasuke sifts through his brain to try and find a reason for it, he comes up empty as to why he’s sitting in a bar with the very people he swore to avoid.

“I’m so glad you reconsidered the offer.” The misty man from earlier says.

“Hn.” Sasuke shrugs. He isn’t here for pleasantries.

“Any particular reason you reconsidered?” The cloud guy asks.

“5 jobs. I’ll do 5 jobs for you and then you’ll do as I ask.” Sasuke doesn’t answer the mist man’s question.

“That’s a little presumptuous.” Misty says. Sasuke, quite frankly, doesn’t give a rat’s ass if it’s presumptuous or not.

“Is it?” He drawls.

“How can you be sure we’ll hold up our end of the deal?” Cloud dude seems like the presumptuous one, from Sasuke’s perspective anyway.

“If you don’t, I’ll kill you.” These people would be easy to kill, it’s almost an insult that they think he can’t. He has to remind himself that in this world, he hasn’t built up a reputation and he also doesn’t have the fame that comes with being an Uchiha, or the last one.

“You’re just a brat!” A man with chapped lips speaks. Sasuke is surprised he managed to keep quiet for so long. He seemed like he was about to burst a lung while Sasuke and Purple Mist were talking.

“And you act like one.” Sasuke replies coolly. He decides to name the man Chappy, for lack of a better title. Chappy reminds Sasuke of Hidan in all the worst ways possible. At least Hidan didn’t act like a child… mostly.

“I’ll fucking kill you.” Chappy seethes.

Sasuke doesn’t humour him with an answer. Instead, he gets up to leave.

If he really meant to leave, he would’ve been gone in less than 2 seconds. He doesn’t actually want to leave just yet though. Well, he does want to leave, but he doesn’t really have any options other than the discount Akatsuki as of yet. He only needs them to think he’s leaving.

“Ah, not so fast, Shigaraki.” A voice comes from a TV.

Chappy wilts but lets the TV person talk.

“What is it that you need from us?” The voice asks.

“I need access to dimensional travel.” Sasuke replies vaguely.

“Oh? Whatever for?”

“What’s it matter to you?”

“Fair enough. It may take a while to get access to such a Quirk, you understand?” Sasuke knows where this is going. If they find him useful, it won’t matter if they find a Quirk that can do what he needs. They just won’t tell him about it.

“I don’t care. If it takes longer than 3 weeks, I’ll do it myself.” He shrugs.

“Acquiring a Quirk with such a power may prove to be more difficult than you expect.” The TV voice speaks down to him. Sasuke wants to kill whoever’s behind it.

“Hn.”

“I see. Well then, welcome to the League of Villains.”

“Hn.”

Aizawa reads over his class list for the year. His eyes land on a boy with plain, light brown hair and brown eyes. Hatake Kakashi… interesting.

He seems startlingly ordinary, in comparison to the other students anyway. Aizawa would’ve completely overlooked him if not for the way he stood out on a page full of some of Japan’s future heroes.

He’d better be able to keep up.

Keigo spends an annoyingly long amount of time on his report on Uchiha Sasuke. Nothing is known about the boy. He doesn’t exist in any records, which shouldn’t really be surprising if the theory the Hero Commission currently has holds true.

Still, he muses as he looks at the possible recruits for the Hero Commission, the year is shaping up to be an interesting one.

Keigo scoffs quietly as he flies over the city.

He can only hope that it’s interesting in a way that won’t require him to be thrust into the spotlight.

Somehow, he thinks with a wry grin, that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for him.

He lands in front of Endeavour’s agency and steels his resolve.

“Endeavour! I’m so happy to be working with you again!”

Chapter Text

Approximately 2 days before the Yuuei entrance exams:

“You’ll be going undercover in Yuuei. I expect you to pass the entrance exams.” The TV voice, who Sasuke now knows as All for One, says.

“Hn.”

Their plans are pitifully predictable, really. All he’s doing is being this world’s Kabuto, for now, at least.

They’ve given him enough information on All Might and Yuuei as a school to make the mission easier than it would’ve been. It isn’t a particular difficult mission anyway, but intel makes everything easier.

They talk about mission specifics for 10 more minutes before Sasuke is “dismissed.” 

He returns to the place he’s slept since arriving in this dimension with a shunshin and sighs. It should’ve been obvious that it wouldn’t be that easy to get back to the Elemental Nations. The mission isn’t going to be that bad, but it’s still an extended undercover mission in which he’s to use a Henge, or extended genjutsu if he prefers. Henges are easy enough, Sasuke’s reserves will hardly feel the missing chakra but it’s still irritating.

Even though he can wear a Henge like a second skin, it still can’t help but feel odd. After extended use, no matter how skilled the user is, using a Henge for too long can lead to other issues.

Sasuke chooses not to think too in depth about the other problems or the Shinobi he’s seen after years of undercover missions like this one. He isn’t going to be here for that long, it’ll be fine.

If worse comes to worst, he can just use a genjutsu to get out and then threaten All for One.

Sasuke’s really starting to dislike Chappy. He’s annoyingly childish despite being older than Sasuke’s mental age.

He’s already pissed with his current height being that of his 15 year old self, he still has 4 inches to grow until he’ll be at his full height of 6’0.

“What’s your story, huh brat?” Chappy asks.

Sasuke ignores him.

“Answer me when I’m talking to you, you insolent shit!” Chappy gets up from the stool he’s sitting on and storms over to Sasuke.

“If you keep speaking like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum, I’ll treat you like one.” Sasuke says, quiet enough that no one else seems to hear him but loud enough for Chappy, who’s now directly in front of Sasuke, to pick up on what he said.

“I’ll fucking kill you.”

Sasuke’s been thinking of doing this since Chappy’s superiority complex reared its ugly head. He didn’t think he’d be doing it this soon, but needs must.

“Genjutsu: Rinnegan.”

Chappy immediately stops moving. He halts any action all together. Raikage is looking at them now.

Sasuke gets up and leaves Chappy where he is. He lets the genjutsu run for a bit longer, just to make sure that he gets the message across.

“What did you do to him?” Mist Man asks.

“I taught him his place.” Sasuke blinks and removes the genjutsu. Chappy falls to the floor behind him. “Shigaraki,” Sasuke calls, “are you better than me?”

“N-no.” He answers shakily.

“No, what?”

“No, Uchiha-san.”

Sasuke turns around and crouches to meet his eye level. “And why is that?”

Chappy grits his teeth. Sasuke is surprised he has any of that rebelliousness left in him. He’s a bit impressed, not that he’d ever admit that to Chappy’s face.

“Because I behave like an insolent child.” He mutters.

Sasuke smiles, cruel and cold. “Good boy.”

He can feel Misty’s shock even though his back is turned.

“Do you have something to say?” Sasuke asks him.

Cloud Man hesitates before saying, “No.”

“Good.” Sasuke says nothing more and leaves the hideout.

At the Entrance Exam:

Sasuke rolls his shoulders and scans the room he’s in. It’s an auditorium with hundreds of little brats in it.

They look so hopeful. It’s disgusting.

He doesn’t think he’s going to do overwhelmingly well on the entrance exam, partially purposefully. The test is a basic entrance exam, which is easy enough, but the final part is a test of his ethics.

Sasuke thinks about how a civilian might answer and just goes from there. He still isn’t going to be surprised if he got some questions that he’d meant to get right wrong. Civilians in Konoha are much different from civilians in his current dimension.

They’re split into a number of groups for the practical part of the exam.

Sasuke pictures Naruto among these hero hopefuls but quickly casts that thought aside. No use in dwelling on useless things.

They’re told to start and Sasuke begins his exam as soon as all the others do.

He follows the large crowd into the center of the make-shift city. He sticks near a few people to calculate their points and find the average so he can get something similar.

Overall, the entrance exam goes by quickly, not that Sasuke expected anything differently. He makes sure that he at least pretends to act tired.

He should’ve figured that the standards in this world would be vastly different. It was a bit disappointing, if Sasuke was being honest.

He stretches a bit and makes his way out of the city, careful to avoid any children on his way out.

fake tobi

[12:06pm]
You’ve completed your entrance exam,
correct? How did you do?

[12:08pm]
It went as expected.
Don’t text me.

[12:08pm]
So rude to those who house you.

Sasuke doesn’t humour him with a response quite yet.

He leaves the building and decides to sit in a cafe.

He finds a nice looking one and takes his time ordering. The cafe is decorated with warm browns across the walls; a dark looking wood for accents and furniture; and deep green pillows, blankets, and cash registers. Sasuke orders something savoury and sits down.

fake tobi

[12:19pm]
As if you’d be able to do this
if I hadn’t shown up.
Don’t kid yourself.

[12:19pm]
You need this as much as we do.

[12:22pm]
I hope you’re enjoying your snack.
[image.attachment]

It’s a picture of him eating. 

Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

[12:24pm]
Smile for the cameras.

Sasuke looks directly at Fog Guy through the camera lens of his phone and snaps a picture of him disappearing

[12:24pm]
[image.attachment]
Don’t text me.

Chapter Text

Approximately 3 hours after the Yuuei Entrance Exam:

Sasuke is walking towards a bookstore when he becomes aware of a presence following him. It’s familiar, he thinks. But he can’t quite place a finger on who it could be.

A flash of red appears in the corner of his eye and he remembers where he’s seen his stalker. It’s that bird guy he ran into a while back.

He didn’t exactly think that they would just leave him alone, but he hadn’t expected them to come back so soon when he was already aware of the fact that he was on their radar. They sent the same agent too, which was odd.

Sasuke turns to look directly at him and watches him falter.

Sasuke turns into an alley and waits for the guy to follow.

“You certainly found me quickly.” The man laughs. Sasuke pretends to be less irritated than he is.

“What do you want from me? I’m not joining your little cult of martyrs.”

“It’s not a cult -” The man squawks indignantly. “Nevermind. They want a meeting with you.”

“Ok.”

“So you’re coming?” The man asks hopefully.

“No.” Sasuke snorts before he shunshins to the League’s hideout. Some people have too much audacity and no visible skills to back it up, Sasuke thinks.

“You took your time.” Mist man, Sasuke’s number 1 annoyance, says, clearly amused.

“I ran into an annoyance.” Sasuke says shortly. “What do you want?”

He’s getting real tired of having to work for people and it hasn’t even been that long since he decided to work with the League.

“We’ve set up a house with a family for you to be with during your time at Yuuei.”

“No.” Sasuke almost laughs. They really think they can convince him to stay with some random strangers and play house?

“If you intend to avoid suspicion in any way, I suggest you take this generous offer of shelter.” Kurogiri says in what some might call a cheerful tone. To Sasuke, it just sounds mocking.

“There’s no reason for me to live with them.” Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “You seem insistent.”

Sasuke knows this trick. They want him to live with the family they’ve set up as a means to monitor his actions. He wouldn’t be surprised if the “family” they’ve set up are trained to subdue… well, try to subdue him should things go awry.

“This is an undercover assignment. You do understand the definition of ‘blending in,’ don’t you?”

“I’m capable of creating a fake family should the need arise. You needn’t be concerned about these things. If anything, your… close monitoring should raise more issues with the heroes.” Sasuke replies flatly. 

“Of course, we wouldn’t need to do this if you followed instructions.”

Sasuke is beginning to get real tired of Kurogiri’s better-than-you attitude.

Sasuke allows his chakra to expand and darts forward, yanking Kurogiri by his tie.

“Your monitoring is beginning to border on disrespectful.” Sasuke says lowly. “If you wish to uphold the pretense that any of us want to be here, I suggest you back off.”

Kurogiri holds his hands up in a placating manner that just fuels Sasuke’s ire. “Of course. Will you not even agree to a meeting with them?”

“For what purpose?” Sasuke lets go of Kurogiri’s tie and steps back.

“You cook for yourself, clean for yourself, and do everything yourself. I imagine you’re used to it but it could… get in the way. These people have been… told… to do those things for you.” Kurogiri adjusts his tie and resumes cleaning the whisky glasses in front of him.

“They’re servants, essentially.” Sasuke folds his arms. 

It would be nice if he didn’t have to worry about household chores… though he’ll still cook all his own meals and lock his door at all times.

“Precisely.” Kurogiri nods. “Master is doing what he can to make the mission easier for you.”

Sasuke doubts All for One would do shit for other people, but he doesn’t mention it.

“If I meet and agree to this, you’re not to bother me at all during this assignment. If you’d like a report, I’ll give it to you through them.”

“If you insist.” Kurogiri inclines his head. He sets the whisky glass and towel down and steps out from behind the bar. “Shall we go?”

“Hn.”

A portal of purple mist opens and Sasuke follows Kurogiri into it.

In terms of teleportation, Kurogiri’s mist is Sasuke’s least preferred method. The mist is freezing and makes even his bones feel cold. It’s so momentary that it would be unnoticeable to any normal person, but it feels jarring on Sasuke’s chakra. He imagines it feels the same for Kurogiri if he uses it too much.

When they step out of the portal, there’s 2 people, a man and a woman, waiting for them at a medium sized house.

“Where are we?” Sasuke asks.

“Denenchōfu, Ota City.” Kurogiri says. “It’s a relatively upscale place.”

“Kurogiri-san!” The woman exclaims happily. She’s pregnant, Sasuke notes as she gently lifts her long skirt to walk down the path that leads to the house.

Sasuke takes a moment to memorize the house’s exterior. The house is 2 stories with beige paneling and darker brown/gray accents. There’s a small balcony on top of where the door sits and an outdoor garage type thing for an expensive looking car. Not that Sasuke knows that much about cars since they were pretty rare to see when he was growing up.

“Suzuki-san.” Kurogiri nods respectfully.

The woman, Suzuki, smiles before looking at Sasuke. They’re almost the same height, with the woman being a couple centimeters to an inch shorter than he is.

“You must be Sasuke-kun.” Sasuke twitches at the familiar address before nodding. Her voice is smooth and saccharine. Sasuke hopes he won’t have to hear it too often. “I’m Himari Ichika, it’s a pleasure to have you in our home! Call me Himari or some form of ‘mother’ if you prefer.”

Sasuke will not be calling her mother.

“Of course, Himari-san.”

“Well then,” Kurogiri says “I’ll be on my way. I hope you settle in nicely.”

“Alright, Kurogiri-san.” Himari replies, the smile never leaving her face.

Kurogiri disappears in a swirl of mist and Himari turns to him. She gently takes his hand and leads him past the gate and onto the patio where a man, who Sasuke assumes is her husband, is waiting.

“This is my husband!”

The man steps forward and sticks out his hand for Sasuke to shake. Sasuke stares at it blankly before reluctantly shaking it.

“Suzuki Haru.” His voice is gruff like sandpaper, somewhat similar to Sasuke’s actual father.

Their names are bland and basic, there’s probably a million Suzuki Haru’s and Suzuki Himari’s in the world. Well, Sasuke doubts it’s either of their real names. All for One has likely brainwashed them in some way.

Oh well, it’s not like Sasuke particularly cares for the couple. He won’t be staying in the house for long with the 3 week time limit he gave All for One.

The couple open the front door to the house and the 3 of them go inside.

Himari watches him scan the house’s interior with a weird smile on her face.

The house is traditional Japanese mixed with more modern elements. The living room is the first room in the house, followed by the kitchen and dining room, and a bathroom.

Sasuke follows the couple through the house as they explain the basics.

“There’s a pantry over there where we keep most of our non-perishables. You know, things like rice, pasta, different types of flour. Oh, that reminds me! Are you hungry?”

Sasuke isn’t going to eat anything they make for him. He doubts they would poison him, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they slipped some kind of sedative in.

“No.”

“Oh, alright. We eat dinner at around 9pm, sometimes later depending on when Haru gets back from work.” She says cheerfully, undeterred by Sasuke’s bland attitude.

The rest of the house tour is uneventful. Haru leaves for work halfway through and Himari continues to smile at Sasuke.

When they get back to the living room, Himari leaves Sasuke to his own devices, saying something about prepping for dinner.

Sasuke exits the house silently and mulls over his options. He’ll have to be using a henge or keep up some kind of genjutsu at all times. His face is already broadcasted in several places after he released that person… Ren(?) from prison. Plus, the people from wherever that Bird Guy works are also going to be looking out for him.

Sasuke sighs and casts a genjutsu on himself and the air surrounding him. He’s unlikely to even notice the strain since he’s kept his body proportions the same to avoid odd situations in the even that he gets into a fight.

The other problem with a genjutsu is that if he keeps one up in a fight, he has to show the visible scratch marks on his clothes. It’s unlikely that he’ll get hit but he can’t control his clothes like he can his limbs.

A genjutsu is more practical than a henge, though.

An explosion brings him out of his thoughts. Looks like he’ll be getting into a fight sooner than he thought.

Chapter Text

Sasuke watches, slightly amused, as the heroes struggle to subdue their enemy. They aren’t particularly strong either, the heroes are just incapable of working together.

He sits on a bench and relaxes. It’s almost laughable, the amount of effort the heroes are putting in, just to still fail.

The screams slowly get closer and louder and Sasuke knows he’ll end up intervening at some point.

“Hey, kid! Get out of the way!” A hero, Mt. Lady, Sasuke remembers, yells.

Sasuke languidly opens his eyes and stares at the… thing exploding it’s way over to where they are. It has the appearance of a large beast and uses buildings to propel itself faster.

The Sharingan spins lazily in his visible eye and the beast freezes. It relinquishes it’s hold on a building and drops down to the concrete, sending pieces of the sidewalk flying everywhere.

2 minutes prior, Mt. Lady POV

Yu watches as the kid ignores her shouts to move, and instead stares at the villain she was fighting. She’s about to yell at him again when the villain cowers and removes itself from the building it was on.

Yu makes sure the civilians are out of the blast radius of the concrete sidewalk while Kamui subdues the villain.

It’s strange, she thinks as she explains what happened to police. It’s even stranger when the police ask her to go into more detail about the kid’s eye. Stranger still, when she can’t remember what the kid looks like, despite having looked at him directly.

The police sigh when she says that she can’t remember the details about him.

“What’s so important about the kid anyway?” She wonders aloud.

“That’s what I’d like to know.” The police officer sighs. “He escaped police custody awhile ago, taking one of the villain’s with him.”

“That kid?” She asks incredulously.

“The very same.” The police officer closes their eyes and rubs the bridge of their nose. “The weird thing is that no one can remember a damn thing about him. The only thing anyone can seem to remember are some weird eyes. Any and all information about himself he’d given was gone too.”

Approximately an hour after the villain fight

Sasuke enters the Suzuki household without making a sound. He hears conversation in the kitchen and walks up the stairs.

“Sasuke-kun? You’re home.” Himari asks.

They must have a system installed that alerts them when someone enters the house.

Sasuke wrinkles his nose at the word “home” but enters the kitchen nonetheless.

“Where were you?” Haru grumbles.

“Out.”

“Where?” Himari presses.

“Why does it matter?” Sasuke crosses his arms.

“Sensei has instructed us to-” Himari begins, but Sasuke cuts her off.

“I’m not here to play house.” He says bluntly.

Himari’s smile wavers, but she continues. “ Sensei has instructed us to be your parents, so we will act as such.”

“How about I give you some instructions.” Sasuke snaps. “Leave me the fuck alone. You’re not my parents unless there’s other people around, remember that, and stay out of my way.”

He turns to leave but he’s stopped by Himari making a strangled noise. He turns back to them to see Haru’s eyes roll to the back of his head and Himari clutching her heart like it pains her.

So All for One did brainwash them, then.

“I understand, Sasuke-san.” Himari’s voice is weary and strained. “We will not bother you for things outside of the mission but I ask that you play your part when it’s necessary.”

“Naturally.” Sasuke turns his back once again.

“I’ve set up the required books and supplies for your mission in your bedroom, please ensure that you’re up to date.”

Sasuke doesn’t bother to stay and listen to see if she has anything else to say. He shunshins to his temporary bedroom.

Sure enough, there’s an assortment of books and school supplies.

The bedroom itself is smaller than the one given to him by Sarutobi as a child, but not by much. The walls are a light colour and there’s plenty of unused storage space. The bed seems to be queen sized but Sasuke doesn’t really know a whole lot about beds. There’s another door that leads to what he assumes to be a bathroom in the left most corner of the room.

Sasuke drags his hand across his face and summons one of his smaller snakes, Ahmya.

The small snake poofs into existence and takes in her surroundings eagerly. “Sasuke-sama! Where are we?”

Ahmya is still young and full of energy, Sasuke briefly regrets not getting some more sleep before summoning her.

Sasuke gives her a short rundown of the situation and she frowns. Well, as much as a snake can visibly frown.

“Dimensional travel? When did you learn that?” She asks, confusedly. Sasuke understands the sentiment.

“I didn’t. I’m guessing it’s a power of the Rinnegan, but I don’t know how to undo it.”

“I’ve never heard of this happening to previous Rinnegan users… it seems you’re the first to do it! As expected of Sasuke-sama!” Ahmya slithers around excitedly.

“…Right. Did you sense anything off with the contract?” Sasuke wonders. It would be odd if there was nothing amiss. Some of the summons are older than even the Warring States Period.

“If any of the others did, they didn’t say anything to me.” Ahmya says. If she were human, Sasuke could picture her shrugging.

“Hn.” Sasuke’s lips twitch downwards.

“I can relay what you told me to the others, if you wish?” Ahmya is likely excited at the prospect that she knows something the others don’t. Since Ahmya is much younger, it’s not often that she gets to be the bearer of interesting news.

Sasuke nods and releases the summon.

With a sigh, Sasuke sits down and gets to work on setting up protective seals around his room. He checked for cameras or wire taps already but there were none. It makes sense, Sasuke supposes. All for One probably figured he would check and thinks it’s a show of goodwill or trust that he’s allowed Sasuke privacy.

It doesn’t take long before he’s done with the wards in his room. None of the people in this world have the chakra to break them so they aren’t particularly difficult to set up.

The sun has long since set, leaving the room dark since the only light comes from a lamp on Sasuke’s bedside table. With one last cursory glance around the room, Sasuke picks up one of the books and begins to skim the pages.

Chapter Text

“Sasuke-kun!” Himari calls. Sasuke really thought she would’ve dropped the honorific at this point but he supposes that All for One’s brainwashing has its drawbacks. “There’s a letter from Yuuei for you!”

Sasuke teleports into the kitchen and Himari hands him the letter.

Himari and Haru started being more respectful of his space and began acting more within the accepted perimeters of the mission, which was nice, but to them, All for One is higher on the chain of command. Sasuke doesn’t really mind, they still listen to him enough for this arrangement to continue being practical.

He returns to the bedroom and stares at the letter. 

The likelihood that it’s rigged is low, is what he tells himself. But not zero, another part of his brain supplies.

Sasuke scowls and summons a clone.

The clone raises an eyebrow before opening the letter.

It isn’t rigged. Obviously.

Sasuke still feels like an idiot.

The clone hands him the letter before dispelling itself.

Inside is a disc and multiple sheets of paper. Sasuke holds the disc and it turns on, revealing a hero. Present Mic, he remembers.

Present Mic begins to talk and Sasuke tunes him out, instead choosing to look at the papers.

The first two papers are stapled together. It’s a form to create an entrance card for each student. The forms are supposed to be scanned and sent in digitally. It’s practical for anyone who has a scanner. Not so much for anyone else.

The other pages are information packets, a school supply list, and a consent form so that the pro hero Recovery Girl can heal him in the event that he gets injured.

He hears Himari’s footsteps running up the stairs and opens the door before Himari can touch it.

He wonders if she should be running, with her pregnancy and all.

“Yes?”

“Sensei is requesting a meeting.” She explains, visibly out of breath.

“Location?”

“Sensei says you know where it is.”

Sasuke sighs somewhat dramatically before nodding. Himari smiles, relieved, before making her way back down the stairs.

He shuts the door to the bedroom and shunshins to the bar.

“You’re here.” Kurogiri says.

“Hn.”

“Wonderful, let’s waste no time then, hm?” All for One says. “We’ve finished setting up the necessary… arrangements for the circumstances leading up to your time at Yuuei.”

A backstory, then.

“There are group homes, of a sort, that house children with powerful Quirks in the event that their parents find themselves… unable to handle a power of that calibre and can’t find another person to take the child in. Coincidentally, it’s where many of the Heroes who are ‘trained’ under the Hero Commission come from.” All for One explains. “Some are privately owned. I happen to personally know the owner of one such establishment.

“Many of the children who enter those types have the correct papers, but just as many don’t. For the convenience of our arrangement, you are one of the latter children. You may choose how you conduct yourself, given the knowledge of your new past, but if you wish for this assignment to go smoothly for you, it would be in your best interest to continue to fly under the radar.”

“And for specific details?” Sasuke crosses his arms.

“Say what you like, as long as it’s consistent.”

“Obviously.” Sasuke scoffs. “Was that all?”

“Ah, one more thing.” The TV All for One is speaking from doesn’t show his face, but Sasuke can imagine the man with an annoying smile on his face. “Unfortunately, no matter how little attention you choose to draw to yourself, Yuuei is still one of the top ranked Hero School in our country. Therefore these little meetings of ours will have to cease until further knowledge. Kurogiri will contact you through your phone or we’ll send messages via your ‘parents.’”

“How tragic.” Sasuke remarks dryly.

“Quite.”

45 Minutes before the first day of school:

Sasuke walks down the streets somewhat leisurely. During a mission similar to this in the Elemental Nations, he would probably be more paranoid but as it stood, he didn’t really have much to worry about. Even in the event that his henge breaks, Sasuke vastly overpowers anyone and everyone in this world. 

It’s kind of funny, how easy it would be to level the country to the ground.

Sasuke stops himself before a smile makes its way across his face.

He sighs and adjusts his tie. He’s glad that he isn’t actually wearing a tie otherwise he wouldn’t have worn the uniform. Ties are a terrible thing to wear in the event that someone grabs it and attempts to choke you.

So is a cape, he thinks with wry amusement.

The school is easy to see from pretty much anywhere within the city. It sits atop a hill and the surrounding 1km area is all reserved for school related purposes. Not to mention the other buildings farther from the main one that the school owns and uses frequently.

For how few students that actually graduate from the school, Sasuke wonders what they need that much space for.

He uses the card he received (and had subsequently sent to the League to create a copy of) to get into the school.

The school is quiet this early in the morning. It’s not like what he was used to with the Academy, which had students turning up at all hours to use the training facilities. The amount of visible security is new to him as well, with the only real security at the Konoha Academy being the teachers and older students within it.

He doesn’t enter his classroom yet, since that would make him stand out even with the genjutsu he has on.

Before leaving the house, Sasuke had done 2 things. The first was put a Henge on so he looked like this dimension’s version of ‘Hatake Kakashi,’ and the second was place a genjutsu over himself to make onlookers more likely to forget he’s there altogether, or not pay attention to him. It can also be used to modify the memories of anyone actively trying to recall what he looks like.

It’s a useful genjutsu for missions like the one he’s doing.

The latter part of the genjutsu tends to be the thing that clues people in to the fact that they’re under a genjutsu, but Sasuke isn’t using the genjutsu for that purpose this time.

He takes 30 minutes to memorize the interior of the school. Even though he’s memorized the floorplan since a map of the school came with the letter they handed out to all students, the scale of the building is so much larger that even knowing the entire layout mentally only does so much to help.

When he returns to his new classroom, there are already several people there. Bakugou Katsuki, who Sasuke only knows because he was on the news; a kid with straight, jet black hair and weird looking legs, Sasuke vaguely recognizes him from the entrance exams; a kid with white and red hair who seems to want to be entirely unamused with the school, Sasuke shares the sentiment; and lastly, a girl with long, black hair in a high ponytail.

Sasuke sits down in the second row all the way on the left. The kid with the weird legs stands up as soon as Sasuke sits down and makes his way over to where Sasuke is sitting.

Sasuke inhales slowly and resigns himself to having to talk to the boy.

“Hello. I am Iida Tenya!” He introduces himself and sticks out his hand to be shook.

Sasuke hesitates before shaking his hand, adding to his character’s shy demeanor. “Hatake Kakashi.” He says softly. “Nice to meet you, Iida-san.”

“Likewise, Hatake-san!” Iida nods before he turns and walks back to his seat.

Other students gradually enter the class and Iida introduces himself to each of them.

Bakugou kicks his legs onto the desk and Iida nearly has an aneurysm.

Sasuke thinks he definitely should’ve tried for class 1B

Chapter Text

Aizawa, unlike most people think, is almost always early to class. He arrives 45 to 50 minutes before school starts, then naps when he’s sure everything is in order. He goes over his classlist once more and hums to himself.

Part of the reason why he’s early today in particular is because the principal asked to have a meeting this morning.

With a curt sigh, he makes his way to the principal’s office.

“Ah, Aizawa, you’re here.” Principal Nezu says.

In the room already is most of the teaching staff with the exception of Lunch Rush who was doing prep for the lunch hour.

Aizawa nods and Nezu decides to get right to the point. “We’ve discussed at length the topic of the… rather interesting turn out of students, both in the hero course and outside of it.

“As such, I have a couple things I’d like to add to that discussion that we haven’t thought about yet. First would be in relation to the students Bakugou Katsuki and Midoriya Izuku. In the past, their relationship has been extremely violent and one sided. A quick visit to their past school and a discussion with a teacher there will tell you everything you need to know.

“For cases like this, some would argue that it’s best to have them try and let go of their bad blood by forcing them to work with each other. This would be dangerous for everyone involved, and I’d advise against it. Does anyone have anything to add on this subject?” Nezu explains seriously.

“No, Mr. Principal.” The teachers chorus.

“Next, about the influx of students with apparent ‘villainous’ Quirks….”

Unbeknownst to the teachers, a hawk watches their meeting with keen eyes.

Lunch time

Sasuke opens the window in the bathroom and waits for one of his hawks to land on a nearby tree branch.

“They had a meeting?” Sasuke asks.

“As you predicted, Sasuke-sama. As far as I could tell, the majority of your teachers as well as the teachers of the other classes in this year attended. They discussed a couple of the students in your class, Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, and Yaoyorozu Momo. They also discussed a child named Mineta Minoru, however that was a brief discussion and more related to something that occurred in his middle school.”

“In the other classes?”

“They mentioned ‘villainous Quirks and behaviours’ quite a bit.” The hawk, Annaisha, says.

“I didn’t think of them as the type to care about biases like that.” Sasuke comments wryly.

“It was more like handling and reminding people that they’re students still learning.” Annaisha flutters her wings gently.

“Hm.” Sasuke didn’t really care about any of that.

“Nothing about you was mentioned. Whether it’s because of the genjutsu or because they see you as unproblematic, I couldn’t say.”

Sasuke sighs and thinks about what he should do next.

Having a summon tail his teacher would probably be useless, not when there’s been no reason to suspect that he does anything interesting in his time outside of school.

“Ok, thank you, Annaisha.”

Annaisha nods and poofs out of existence.

The only time a tail would be useful would be to listen in to the teacher’s meetings but even then, it could lead to unnecessary complications.

The bell rings and Sasuke makes his way back to class.

“Oh, Hatake-san!” It’s Iida. Sasuke somehow managed to run into the one person he’d introduced himself to.

“Iida-san.” Sasuke replies quietly.

“I didn’t see you at lunch after the Quirk apprehension test.” Iida says, making weird chopping motions with his hands. “Where did you go?”

The Quirk apprehension test was something their entire class had done earlier in the day. It wasn’t particularly interesting. Sasuke scored 12th overall with ease. The only notable thing was that a green haired child, Midoriya, wasn’t expelled.

All Might also spent a weird amount of time watching their class.

Sasuke wonders if he has any other classes to teach.

Why is All Might teaching at Yuuei anyway? As far as Sasuke knows, he has no prior teaching experience, hasn’t dealt with teenagers for an extended period of time… ever, and was still doing pretty well for a hero, even if his public appearances were going down.

“I’m uh… not a fan of public spaces.” Sasuke makes a show of looking down at his feet and fidgeting.

“Oh! I understand!” Iida says way too loudly for a calm conversation.

They enter the class and take their seats.

Later that day

The school day ends after long, boring hours of doing basically nothing. Sasuke is already tired of school and it’s only been a day. He thinks it’s a bit weird, how long people spend in school in this dimension.

Their last couple classes had been designing hero “outfits” and a look at the school curriculum for the different core courses.

All Might says that tomorrow will be the first day of “real” hero training and they’re instructed to bring snacks and lots of water for all days in which they have hero training. Hero training is on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The other 2 days are supposed to be more academic heavy days.

It doesn’t affect Sasuke either way.

Well… it didn’t.

fake tobi

[3:14pm]
Sensei has found a Quirk that fits
your description.

Chapter Text

[3:16pm]
It will take longer than 3 weeks to
acquire, whether you attempt to
go after it yourself.

Sasuke scowls but relents. He figured it would take longer than 3 weeks, considering that 1 and a half weeks have already past since he first allowed the League to help him.

[3:17pm]
Approximate time frame?

[3:17pm]
4 months.

[3:18pm]
I’ll give you 3.

It’s generous, Sasuke knows it is, but he doesn’t really have much of a choice in the matter. Killing all of them wouldn’t benefit him, he’d just be back to square one. He’ll use them for information and resources for as long as he needs but eventually he might have to find another plan. It’s not like there are very many options for backup plans in his situation, though.

Instead of returning to the Suzuki residence, Sasuke decides to make use of the school’s library.

The library is a separate building from the main one, but it isn’t far. He’s momentarily taken aback by the sheer size of the library. The building is huge. He’s still adjusting to buildings being that size. The buildings in Ame were more tall rather than wide. This building is blocky and divided into two parts, one elevated and held up by circular pillars and the other connected to the ground.

He enters the building, carefully avoiding the influx of people going in and out.

When he’s in the library, he isn’t entirely sure where to start.

In the end, he decides that he’ll just wander around and read whatever interested him.

“The library is closing now, you can come back at 6am tomorrow.” A man tells him.

Sasuke nods silently and stretches. He was just about finished with the books he’d picked out anyway.

It’s weird, having access to information. The Leaf Village wasn’t really big on free speech or readily available knowledge that hadn’t been doctored. Neither were any of the other villages, for that matter.

Sasuke leaves the library feeling a weird sensation he doesn’t know how to identify. It’s odd how there was so much he was missing.

He turns a corner and finds a child being cornered by people twice his size.

Some things stay the same wherever you go, Sasuke thinks.

fake tobi

[12:30am]
We’ll be… visiting your school
tomorrow.

Sasuke wonders why they bothered telling him at all. What did they think he thought they did with the information he gave them? To be frank, it wasn’t like they really needed to break into the school for information, but he supposed dramatic effect was very important to villains of this world.

[12:49am]
Congratulations.

Kurogiri doesn’t deign Sasuke’s dry response with an answer and even if he did, they don't have much more to talk about.

Sasuke really wants to hurry up and get back.

True enough, there is an invasion the next day. Sasuke pretends to be surprised.

He wonders why they don’t just blow up the school and get it over with. If they could break into the school this whole time, it would probably be easier to just find All Might and off him once and for all. Especially in such an enclosed space, the collateral damage would make it difficult for All Might to fight to his full capacity.

Sasuke doesn’t worry too much about it, though. It’s not like he’s going to be the one killing All Might. All for One is far too self-assured for that.

The villains appeared in the cafeteria. They obviously only intended to scare a few students and teachers, though if they were really going for scary they should’ve just killed one and left.

The League of Villains doesn’t make much sense, Sasuke thinks. They don’t seem all that villainous to him. Sasuke’s met scarier Genin (granted, one of those Genin was Gaara who’s the exception to almost everything). Sasuke himself is technically still a Genin, he remembers.

The students are out on the main field while the evacuation takes place. He wonders if they’ll go back to school after this. He hopes not.

They do go back to school afterwards. Students are questioned about the incident and Sasuke summons a snake to spy on the meeting the teachers are holding.

Aizawa eventually returns from the meeting, Sasuke’s snake, Maemi, returns to Sasuke’s side.

“Anything?” He mutters.

“They’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a traitor.” Maemi replies.

“That fast? Maybe they aren’t as incompetent as I thought.” Sasuke muses.

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Sasuke-sama. It doesn’t seem like many believe the principal’s conclusion. I overheard other teachers discussing other options like hidden cameras and the like.” Maemi continues. “It’s unlikely that they’ll act within the next few months, given their traitor theory holds out.”

Sasuke inclines his head slightly and Maemi reverse summons herself.

“So far, it seems to be that the incident today was a harmless prank.” Aizawa says. Sasuke resists a snort. Aizawa obviously doesn’t believe a word of what he’s saying and, from the looks of it, neither do the students.

“But Sensei,” the frog girl asks, “why would they go to the trouble of breaking into one of the most protected buildings in the country for a prank?”

“Asui’s right.” A girl with a brown bob mumbles. “It seems like a lot of work for no reason.”

“Maybe they’re just fucking dumb.” Spiky hair grunts, though it seems like he agrees with the other two.

“They are villains!” Iida says. “There’s no point in trying to figure out their motives, we should focus on catching them!”

“ You aren’t going to focus on anything other than your school work.” Aizawa interjects. “And yes, Iida, there is a point to discussing motives, but we’ll get to that in Hero Ethics.”

The class quiets down considerably after that.

“Right. On that note, let’s move on. We’ll be having a field trip to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, USJ for short, next week Tuesday. If your guardians have yet to sign the blanket field trip permission slip, please do so before this Monday otherwise you will be writing essays instead of joining us.”

The bell went off a few seconds later and Aizawa collected his things. “That’s all for today, have a good evening.”

Sasuke gets up to leave immediately but is stopped by a group of his classmates who are still discussing the earlier incident.

“Excuse me.” He says quietly. Trying exceptionally hard not to break character and shove any of them.

When they don’t move, he tries again. “Excuse me.” A little louder, this time.

“For fuck’s sake.” He mutters. “Get out of the fucking way.”

They startle. “Hey, sorry man. No need to be rude.” The blonde one says, but he makes room for Sasuke to pass anyway.

“Yeah, whatever.” Sasuke scoffs before leaving the classroom. He does kind of regret his momentary break in character, all it’ll do is add suspicion to him in the future. Well, that’s something All for One can figure out.

For now, Sasuke is content to let things play out as is.

The next morning, they have english and math in the morning, then there’s lunch in the cafeteria.

Just before lunch, Sasuke asks to speak with the English teacher, Yamada Hizashi or Present Mic.

Sasuke doesn’t really enjoy making a fuss over the things he doesn’t like, but the cafeteria seems like one that’s unavoidable. He’s not quite sure what he hates about it so much, it could be the noise, the people, the atmosphere, but it’s enough that he’s willing to talk to one of the “teachers” about it. Naruto would say this is a step in the right direction, he thinks. Maybe that’s a good thing.

Really, he could just disappear to somewhere without anyone noticing each lunch, but he is trying to cement himself as a good, if not socially awkward, student.

“Hey little listener! What did you want to talk to me about?” Yamada asks.

“I was just wondering if I could get a pass to eat lunch somewhere other than the cafeteria?” Sasuke could throw up at how fake he sounds. Yamada doesn’t seem to notice, though.

“Of course you can! Did you have somewhere else in mind that you can eat everyday? We have the cafeteria so we can keep track of all of you, just let someone know where you’ll be on most days and we should be good.” Yamada explains.

Well, that was easy.

Sasuke decides to spend lunch in the school courtyard. It’s big enough that he can bring some of his summons out without anyone noticing.

Later that afternoon, they have Hero Basic Training.

“I am… coming through the door like a normal person!” All Might shouts as he walks through the door like a very not normal person.

The class is immediately on the edge of their seats. It must be a novel experience to be taught by your idol.

Sasuke can’t say he relates personally. By the time he actually began to look up to Kakashi, he wasn’t his teacher anymore. Orochimaru… well… while Sasuke did, at one point, admire Orochimaru for his strength, that died as soon as he really got to know the guy. The whole “neck biting” thing was very off putting as well.

“It’s All Might!” One of his classmates says.

“He really is a teacher!”

Teacher might be a stretch, Sasuke thinks but doesn’t say.

Sasuke observes as All Might walks up to the front of the class. Even Sasuke, who doesn’t really care for the man, can tell he’s stronger than a lot of the other heroes he’s seen. In Konoha, he’d be a strong chunin or a jounin on the weaker side.

“I teach Hero Basic Training.” All Might declares as if it isn’t obvious. He goes on to explain what it’ll entail and Sasuke effectively tunes him out. They already went over this when they read the curriculum.

They’ll be doing combat training. This can only go poorly.

They’re to change into their hero costumes, because really, that’s what most of them are, before they start the exercise.

Sasuke changes in the washroom and then finds his way to Ground Beta. 

His hero costume is plain in comparison to the others. It’s really just what he was wearing before he arrived in this world. A cape that stopped just short of his ankles, a slightly longer than average shirt with a white belt, black pants, and wraps covering the bottom of the pants so they wouldn’t get in the way while he was running. It was a bit pointless, he thought, but the outfit without the cape was kind of ugly so he couldn’t ditch the cape.

All the other costumes are flashy and impractical for anything related to stealth. Though, being a hero is a profession, so he supposes it makes sense.

What Yaoyorozu is wearing, however, is just flat out ridiculous. He blinks several times to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him.

She can’t have honestly thought that was a good idea for combat.

Well, they’re all still new. He can see several costumes that need to be changed. For their sake, he hopes they change them before they have to be full fledged heroes.

“That’s great, everyone. You all look cool!” All Might says.

Sasuke wonders why he’s encouraging this foolishness. They’ll all be dead faster than Shisui could shunshin at this rate. Sasuke stifles a chuckle at the thought.

All Might goes on to tell them that they’d be put in teams of 2 and then be assigned a role. Either heroes or villains. The villains will be given a few minutes to set up on one of the 5 floors with a mock nuclear weapon. The heroes need to find it within the allotted time.

It’s very basic, but there are only a select few students in the class who’ve been given combat training beforehand.

“Teams and opponents will be determined by drawing lots!”

Sasuke is put with Kaminari on team G.

Team A and team D are the first to go up against each other.

Yeah, Sasuke thinks, this can only go poorly.

Chapter Text

Sasuke watches Midoriya experience a small mental breakdown and wonders if maybe the teams were premeditated. He wouldn’t put it passed All Might, what with the way he so clearly favours Midoriya over the other students. Why is that, he wonders? Ultimately it doesn’t matter. He isn’t going to tell All for One about this unless he explicitly asks and what Midoriya and All Might get up to in their free time isn’t something for him to worry about.

They’re led into a monitor room where they’re to watch each fight happen from several different angles. The lengths this school reaches to try and simulate real life is astounding. Konoha would just throw them out into the deep end, which, he supposes is somewhat similar to what All Might did, and wonder why all their genin either die or return emotionally scarred.

Sasuke watches and isn’t all that surprised by what he sees. Bakugou is a prodigy, that much is glaringly obvious. He’d do well as a Shinobi, with his lack of care for his surroundings but excellent situational awareness nonetheless.

Midoriya on the other hand… well saying Sasuke was disappointed would imply he had any feelings about it one way or the other. Midoriya responds to the situation exactly how Sasuke would expect him to right up until he uses Bakugou’s move against him. 

He’s reluctantly impressed, if the rest of the class had been given any background combat experience, even just a day of training, things might’ve turned out differently.

Sasuke side-eyes All Might. Now would be the time to call off the match if he didn’t want his students to be injured.

Bakugou blasts Midoriya into the ceiling. All Might watches.

Maybe All Might is more like Kakashi than Sasuke thought.

Many of the other fights go similarly poorly, though nothing compares to the original horrendousness of the first fight.

Really, Sasuke had thought All Might liked Midoriya, but perhaps he was mistaken. Sasuke isn’t really good on reading emotions like that.

It’s now Sasuke and Kaminari’s turn. They go up against Mineta and Yaoyorozu.

“Hey! Dude so like, what’s your Quirk?” Kaminari asks.

“It’s an illusionary based Quirk.” Sasuke explains vaguely.

“Woah! Those are super rare.” So are electricity Quirks. “So you can make someone do whatever?”

Sasuke grimaces at the crude explanation of his skillset, but it’ll have to do for now. “It depends on how easy it is to manipulate them. In certain scenarios, I can make them live out years in just a few seconds.” 

And that’s all he’s going to say about his Quirk. Just enough to cement him as an opponent not to be trifled with, but not enough that there are any obvious weaknesses.

He decides to go with illusions over any other skill for a few reasons. The main reason is that it’s what’s on his official government registry. The less important reason is that it makes his other skills more explainable. If he needs to, which he doubts he will, use any of his other skills, he can essentially just manipulate the other person into believing what they saw was due to his Quirk.

Kaminari and Sasuke are on the villains team.

“Where should we set up?”

“The final floor?” Sasuke phrases it as a suggestion but it really isn’t.

“Won’t that be too obvious?”

“No.” Sasuke says and there’s a very awkward pause. “They don’t know us well enough to guess where we’ll put it.”

“Oh! So then they’ll waste a bunch of time looking for it?” Kaminari wonders.

“Hn.” Sasuke nods.

They set up on the fifth floor.

Sasuke was planning to intentionally lose without anyone noticing, but then he remembered that it was Mineta he was going up against. He couldn’t, in good conscious, allow himself to lose to someone like Mineta.

“If they get too close, send electricity through the ground.” Sasuke orders.

“What about you?” Kaminari asks worriedly.

“I’ll be fine.” Sasuke has a partial immunity to lightning. The fact that it’s his elemental affinity meant he could already handle it better than other people, but some of his training with Kabuto involved building immunity to pain, poisons, and various other torture techniques. Electricity was one of them.

“If you say so.” Kaminari shrugs.

And they’re off.

Sasuke already knows where they are as soon as they set foot in the building. They don’t split up like he was expecting, though. Likely Mineta’s influence.

He waits for them to reach the second floor before he uses a genjutsu on Mineta to make him think he’s still following Yaoyorozu. Mineta’s version of Yaoyorozu will lead him in circles, advancing just enough that it won’t raise suspicion. Mineta probably wouldn’t say anything anyway because of that weird thing he has for Yaoyorozu.

Yaoyorozu realizes Mineta’s gone almost immediately and Sasuke could swear he sees her exhale like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“Don’t like him, then?” Sasuke steps out from where he was hiding.

Yaoyorozu lets out a small squeak of surprise before she contains herself. She seems relatively confident in her hand-to-hand skills, not that Sasuke’s surprised. From what he’s heard, Yaoyorozu’s parents would’ve trained her from a young age like Todoroki’s.

Yaoyorozu doesn’t respond to his words but the moment she focused her attention on him, he already caught her in a genjutsu. 

To waste a bit of time, Sasuke lets her attack him first. He dodges her blows and responds with ones of a similar strength level, albeit a bit lower so he doesn’t injure her. He’s still acutely aware of the cameras on him and the image he’s supposed to be keeping.

After enough stalling, he steps back and allows her to be completely swept up in the genjutsu, which, until now, had been making her think she was winning.

Sasuke calmly walks up to her and wraps her in capture tape.

He leaves before releasing the genjutsu he has on her and the one he has on Mineta.

It takes him a bit longer than expected to reach Mineta, who had already gotten to the fourth floor by the time he’s locked down on his location.

Since this world is completely devoid of Chakra, Sasuke’s sensory abilities are somewhat dulled in comparison to what he’s used to. They’re still much better than the average person, but it’s been an adjustment nonetheless.

He doesn’t drag out his fight with Mineta for as long, going with the easiest route which is to just wrap him in capture tape.

And with that, the Battle Trails come to and end.

The League make it into the school building without anyone noticing, this time. Sasuke assumes that it’s not as much of a publicity stunt this time and instead, is just them getting more information. Which is odd, they can just ask Sasuke for anything they want to know. Though, Sasuke has never promised complete honesty and they know that.

In the end, there’s no point on dwelling on it. The League is in the school and currently snooping through files and Sasuke is debating on whether or not he should say anything about it.

The rational part of him says, “of course you shouldn’t say anything. They’re your ticket out of here, you know.”

The petty part of him that craves drama like a human craves water says, “do it just for shits and giggles.”

Sasuke is a man of questionable rationality at best. So, naturally, he goes with option number 2, but not yet. He has to plan this carefully. Obviously, he’s not going to be the one to tell them directly. All he’ll be doing is planting the idea in their heads.

He weaves a simple genjutsu without the use of his Sharingan and Aizawa, despite his skill, is easily caught.

“I’ve reviewed the footage of your Battle Trails. We’ll go over it later when I return from the office.” Aizawa says before he leaves to go grab what he thinks will just be a file but is actually several people from a budding terrorist organization.

Sasuke almost regrets telling him, though only because he’ll miss what’s probably going to be the funniest thing he’s seen in a while.

He puts his head down on his desk and watches as the class gradually descends into chaos. Iida is able to convince them to uphold a modicum of decorum, much to Sasuke’s amusement.

An alarm goes of and there’s an announcement over the PA.

Sasuke’s mildly disappointed that the school goes into lockdown instead of just allowing the children to experience all-out panic like last time. It makes logical sense, but that doesn’t mean Sasuke has to like it.

All that time Iida had spent trying to cull the energy and exuberance of his classmates was out the window now. They were panicking.

The proper thing to do in a situation like this would be to stay quiet and hide. But, Sasuke thought, maybe he shouldn’t look for something so important as common sense among hero hopefuls.

Iida, with the help of Bakugou’s glares, ends up convincing the class to be quiet.

They sit in silence.

The PA sounds again, explaining that the intruders were not caught but no one was injured.

Sasuke’s lips twitch downwards.

How boring.

Later that week, Iida and Yaoyorozu are voted as class president and vice president, respectively.

The fact that they need a bus to get to a separate place on a school campus is still a weird concept to Sasuke, and it seems to be the same for many other students.

Sasuke fully intends to change in the washroom until he gets there to find them out of order. Sasuke clicks his tongue disapprovingly. All that money and they can’t fix the washrooms at a convenient time.

 There are other bathrooms, but they were given a time limit on changing. He wouldn’t really mind being left behind, but being left behind because of a reason like that would undoubtedly make people think that he’s a bit strange.

He returns to where Aizawa is waiting.

Aizawa raises an eyebrow. “You’re not changed.” He observes. How perceptive of him.

“…The washrooms were locked.”

Aizawa sighs. “They’re doing maintenance at the moment.” A pause. “Is there a reason you don’t change in the change room?”

Sasuke grimaces. He’s a good 3-4 years older than all the kids here, and a hell of a lot more experienced. Being in a changing room with a bunch of prepubescent boys isn’t exactly his idea of a fun time.

Aizawa frowns slightly, contemplating. “I’ll unlock the staff washrooms nearby for you, if you want.”

“I can just go in my gym uniform.” Sasuke mutters. He doesn’t really want to change anyway.

“You’ll be at a disadvantage, though.”

Sasuke seriously doubts that but he answers anyway. He tilts his head as if he’s considering it. “I’ll change.” He agrees to avoid further conversation with the man.

Aizawa pulls a ring of keys out of his pocket and begins walking to where Sasuke assumes the staff washrooms are. They aren’t far, it isn’t even a minute walk.

“I’ll wait out here for you to change so I can lock the door when you leave.” He says.

Sasuke nods but didn’t say anything.

He let the genjutsu fall away and briefly wondered why he didn’t just add his hero costume to the genjutsu instead of going to the trouble of changing. His hero costume did have a lot of weapons he’d managed to convince the Support Department to add, though. So it could be useful.

He purposefully avoided looking at the mirror while he changed. It would be a stretch to say he was ashamed of his scars, really, but that didn’t mean he was proud of them either. Not when more than half of them were from Orochimaru.

He presses down on where he knows the cursed seal still is, as of now. This version of himself has yet to encounter Itachi. All it means is that he’ll have to be more careful.

Orochimaru is alive, as far as he knows, and resides in Konoha under house arrest. Sasuke briefly wonders if it would still be possible for Orochimaru to watch him using the cursed seal. Would he even chose to?

Sasuke shakes away that thought and steps out of the washroom.

“That was fast.” Aizawa says.

“My hero costume consists of regular clothes with extra pockets, Aizawa sensei.” Sasuke replies dryly, ignoring twinge in his chest at calling another person ‘sensei.’ “It’s not as impractical to put on as some of my classmate’s clothing choices.”

Aizawa hummed in acknowledgement and, oh no, was that pride?

Sasuke resists the urge to wrinkle his nose as they walk back to the meeting spot.

He receives a text on his phone and immediately knows who it’s from. He waits until they’ve both stopped walking to open his phone and angle the screen away from Aizawa inconspicuously.

fake Tobi

[9:00am]
Be prepared for your field trip.

[9:02am]
It’s almost like you want
to get caught.

[9:03am]
Is this your way of telling
me you’ll be paying the
school another “visit?”

[9:05am]
Sensei told me to inform you.

[9:06am]
Great.

Sasuke tries and fails to push down his amusement as he watches Kurogiri attempt to find something else to say several times. Sasuke lets himself to take a little joy in the way his dry responses make Kurogiri slightly uncomfortable.

By the time Sasuke looks up from his phone, there are already a few people there. Their costumes seem like they’d be easy to change into. Two of them are just in casual wear.

Gradually, the rest of the children return to their meeting spot and they board the bus.

The bus is filled with mostly idle chatter, Sasuke is fine with letting himself fade into the background. He prefers it to socializing with any of them.

On the bus, Asui points out that Midoriya’s Quirk is similar to All Might’s.

He hadn’t thought anyone else would’ve noticed, but he doesn’t really talk to them much so he doesn’t really have an ethical way of finding out what they think.

The red one, Kirishima, points out that All Might doesn’t injure himself while using it and that does enough to steer the rest of the class away from that theory. The fact that Midoriya injures himself when he uses his Quirk seems like a temporary thing, but Sasuke won’t point it out if no one else does.

They bring up strong and flashy Quirks, and predictably, Bakugou and Todoroki come up. They mention Sasuke a few times, but he’s not really interested in their gossip.

Bakugou is the physical embodiment of all things “flashy,” but he’s a bit ill suited to the heroics profession. So is Todoroki, really.

But as the conversation progresses, Sasuke realizes that this school and the ninja Academy are fundamentally different.

He’s been comparing them in the back of his mind, since in both cases they’re just training child soldiers, but Yuuei isn’t the same.

The Academy wasn’t exactly hiding the fact that they were teaching the children how to be dogs of the military, the similarities with Yuuei come in when you factor in the propaganda pushed on the children and how fighting (and subsequently dying) for your country is honorable.

Yuuei, while it still pushed the same narrative, viewed itself as some sort of safe haven.

Sasuke thought of the League and their motivations.

If All for One were to get his act together and stop being so obsessed with rivalry… Sasuke takes what he knows about All for One and what he knows about All Might and thinks about it for a while.

All for One would win.

(Sasuke could beat both of them easily but that’s not the point-)

The League isn’t weak when the power levels of everyone else in Japan are factored in.

Hm, Sasuke muses as the bus pulls into the parking lot of the USJ, maybe torturing All for One would be easier.

He cuts off that line of thought when they’re instructed to leave the bus.

He has a feeling that he’ll have to pick sides sooner or later, lest he wants to make things more difficult for himself.

Well, when the time comes, Sasuke already has a pretty good idea as to who he’ll pick.

Chapter Text

One day, Sasuke will look back on exactly this moment and realize that this was the point where everything went downhill. But unfortunately, today is not that day. Instead, he watches with detached amusement as his classmates collectively freak out over the people invading their field trip. 

They aren’t even half an hour into their field trip.

“How were they able to get in, sensei?” Kaminari wonders.

That’s a very good question, actually. One that would’ve been great to ask the last 2 times multiple people from a budding terrorist organization broke into an educational institution filled with literal children.

This time, Sasuke decides to do the bare minimum. As much as he wants to make life a little harder for the League, that doesn’t mean he’s completely willing to give himself up to the “heroes,” of all people.

“We have sensors, of course… but….” Thirteen’s voice trails off. The sensors aren’t working. Wow. What a shock.

Aizawa immediately takes action by jumping forwards to meet the intruders before they can reach the rest of the class. The intruders prove to be mindless thugs, as Sasuke thought they’d be, and are taken down almost immediately.

He probably already would’ve met anyone with actual power, or at least have been informed of them in advance, but he wasn’t so that means it’s just Kurogiri and Shigaraki here.

No… that can’t be right. All for One wouldn’t show up to something like this but Kurogiri and Shigaraki alone can’t take on several pro heroes and children with martyr complexes. What is he missing?

Kurogiri appears in front of the students and explains their motive behind all this, very dramatically, in Sasuke’s opinion.

Bakugou and Kirishima leap forwards and attempt to punch… the mist. They try to punch mist.

It doesn’t work.

Obviously.

They’re all scattered to different parts of the building. Some aren’t moved, like Sasuke, the dude with 6 arms who reminds Sasuke too much of Kidomaru, Iida, buff spandex guy, and a few others.

Thirteen instructs Iida to get back to the school as fast as he can and warn the teachers.

Iida makes a big fuss about it while Sasuke tries to think of ways to be involved without really involving himself.

The life of a double agent. How did Itachi do it so well?

It takes a bit of convincing, but Iida eventually agrees to go.

If Sasuke had been a lesser ninja, he would’ve said something snarky, but his attention is drawn to where Aizawa is fighting Shigaraki.

Sasuke doesn’t have to wait long for his question of “what is he missing?” to be answered.

“What the fuck is that.” He mutters. It seems his sentiment is echoed, because it has the rest of his classmates staring at the new challenger in abject horror.

A large, somewhat semi-human creature exists Kurogiri’s mist. It’s brain isn’t protected, it’s pink and fleshy and everything you’d expect from a brain. Sasuke’s seen his fair share of brains, mostly courtesy of Orochimaru, really. Sasuke isn’t in the habit of killing people via brain removal and he’s not really interested in human experimentation. Enough time with both Kabuto and Orochimaru made sure he’d never grow an interest for it.

It’s a hell of a thing to not mention to the person they’re trying to get information from.

Things are rapidly growing sour for the heroes, and by extension, Sasuke.

He’s not entirely sure what to do in a situation like this. They didn’t exactly cover this in dimension hopping 101.

The creature defeats Aizawa because of course it does. It looks like 300 pounds of pure muscle and no thought.

Kurogiri and Sasuke’s classmates are gearing up for a fight, now.

Kurogiri decimates Thirteen, but leaves her alive, for some reason. He hadn’t thought Kurogiri would make a mistake like that, but maybe he just hadn’t wanted to kill her. Either way, it’s odd. According to some info from All for One, Kurogiri shouldn’t really be able/want to make those kinds of decisions.

Sasuke summons a clone and replaces Aizawa with it, though not before putting the man under a small genjutsu. The clone itself is also under a genjutsu which will immediately connect itself to the creature, so all the onlookers (creature included) will think that it’s still Aizawa being beaten. Even when the clone dispels.

Contrary to popular belief, Sasuke doesn’t actually enjoy seeing people get the shit beat out of them, well with the exception of Danzo, Hiruzen, the rest of the village elders, Kaguya, Orochimaru, Kabuto… really the list kind of goes on, but that’s besides the point.

Sasuke doesn’t think there are any truly evil people in this world, not to the extent of Danzo. Not with the state this world is in now, most of the “evil” is just wronged people doing what they can. Which is why Sasuke has a bit of an issue with the hero vs. villan, black and white, outlook this world has.

Back to the situation at hand, he wouldn’t have even intervened had The League warned him about the amalgamation of people in that thing they’re having fight their battle.

Sasuke tunes back into his surroundings when All Might arrives.

All Might is with Aizawa in seconds, he moves fast. Sasuke hadn’t really expected that from him. All Might is more well-rounded in terms of physical ability than Sasuke originally thought.

All Might exchanges blows with the creature who seems to be unable to feel pain at all.

Sasuke inhales, exhales, and looks away.

They’re sent home, each escorted by a hero or police officer, after being checked by paramedics. His class is given a day off from school to recuperate and talk things through with Hound Dog, the guidance counsellor, if they wish.

It’s about midday when Sasuke receives a text from Kurogiri.

fake tobi

[12:05pm]
Was there a reason you
didn’t inform me of the
thing you let loose
earlier today?

[12:06pm]
Ah, we didn’t tell you?

[12:07pm]
Oh, is that a hero
wondering about the
whereabouts of a
certain villainous
organization? It’d be
such a shame if they
were to get an
anonymous tip.

[2:09pm]
Sensei would like to speak
to you.

[2:16pm]
It’s rather urgent.

[2:25pm]
I’m sure.

Despite any reservations he may have about the League, he ends up at their base of operations anyway.

Immediately upon entering the bar, he knows this visit will be different from his past ones. For starters, All for One himself is there.

“Ah, you’re here. Good.” All for One says with what would probably be a serene smile if he had lips that could smile.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

“Right to business, of course.” All for One speaks like he’s said something particularly funny and expects people to laugh.

The man continues in stride, and explains that he’s called Sasuke here to “show him something he’s been working on in regards to returning him home in one piece.”

“Though,” He pauses, “I couldn’t have done it without the help of a rather excellent doctor. Allow Kurogiri to take us?”

Sasuke narrows his eyes but concedes.

Familiar purple overtakes him and for a moment, he’s freezing cold until they both step out of the portal and into….

A lab.

Sasuke’s breath catches in his throat.

Oh no.

Chapter Text

Sasuke feels his mind shudder. Memories of another lab in a place out of reach. The sterile smell assaults his nose but can’t truly hide the smell of blood and death that lingers in the room.

The tiles on the floor are glistening but still stained red. Sasuke tracks the stains up to a large tank in the corner.

“Doctor?” All for One calls.

“Ah! Sensei.” Someone who Sasuke assumes is The Doctor, appears from around a corner on a chair with wheels. “You’ve brought someone new?”

“Not for experimenting, I’m afraid.” The tone of All for One’s voice is calm, but slightly warning. Whether that warning is for Sasuke or for The Doctor is unclear.

Sasuke’s eyes focus on the tank and inside, he can see multiple things that seem to be alive inside. Larger than a normal human’s body.

“Good eye, Sasuke-kun.” All for One looks down at him and smiles in a way Sasuke thinks would be warm if the man was capable of such things for reasons outside of manipulation.

“Oh, yes! The new Nomu.” The Doctor says. Nomu? That’s what they’re called?

The Doctor rolls over to the tank and lights illuminate the several figures inside. Sure enough, they’re just like the ones at the USJ.

“Now that you’re here, Sasuke-kun.” A smirk. A laugh. A cruel hand on his shoulder. “I’ll have Kabuto show you to the lab where you’ll be… training.”

He can’t move. He’s strapped to a table and shivers wrack his body. 

He can’t breath he can’t breathe he can’t breathehecan’tbreath.

His head twitches slightly to the side where he sees Kabuto’s glasses, shrouded in shadow, he suddenly looks more terrifying than Orochimaru did back in the Forest of Death.

“Isn’t that right, Sasuke-kun?”

“Hn.”

“You, Shigaraki, and the members of society without the right facilities to support them. Use the Nomu to build them for yourself.”

Sasuke tilts his head, considering. “They’re made of humans?”

“How perceptive of you!” The Doctor laughs lightly before his eyes narrow. “How did you know?”

Sasuke would be fully content with ignoring the question entirely, but All for One answers for him.

“Sasuke-kun’s Quirk lies in his vision. “ All for One says with false pride. “He’s got quite a good eye for things like this.”

“How interesting!” The Doctor’s eyes glint dangerously. Sasuke gets the feeling that he’s being analyzed more carefully than before. “You’ve certainly… picked up a good one.”

And oh, how Sasuke is getting deja vu. 

Foolish mistakes he made as a naive child. He observes his surroundings and realizes he’s about to repeat those mistakes again.

All for One and The Doctor take him to several other labs, each time he enters a new one he feels part of his awareness of where he is slipping away.

“Sasuke-kun, you look a little green.” All for One says, entirely unhelpfully.

“It’s the lighting.” Sasuke responds dryly, betraying none of his inner thoughts.

“I’m sure.”

Their tour ends with them back in the room they were in when they first showed up.

“Excellent work as always, Doctor.” All for One praises. Sasuke, even in the dazed stated he’s in, can tell it’s hollow. “Unfortunately, Sasuke-kun and I need to return. He has school tomorrow, you know.”

“Of course, of course, thank you sensei.”

“Kurogiri.” All for One calls.

Kurogiri appears in a swirl of purple mist. “Sensei.”

All for One steps into the mist and Sasuke follows without looking back, though he can feel The Doctor’s eyes burning a hole in his back.

Sasuke returns to the Suzuki household to find all the lights off and the door slightly ajar.

He should’ve seen this coming, really. All for One had probably noticed his growing apprehension in regards to both the mission and the way All for One runs things in general.

Sasuke was already planning on either ditching them or forcing their hand anyway, so all this has done is speed up the process a little.

He summons Annaisha.

“Sasuke-sama?” She chirps.

“Do you know Shigaraki’s scent?” He asks.

“Of course.” If Annaisha were human, she would be grinning slightly. Annaisha somewhat reminds Sasuke of Asui. Their brains work similarly in terms of deciding logical outcomes to situations.

“Find him.” Sasuke says lowly.

The sun is beginning to rise overhead. It paints the quaint little street where the Suzuki’s live in a dim orange and pink. A few doors down, a man leaves his house. He usually leaves at this time to go to work, Sasuke notes. Probably a businessman of some kind.

It doesn’t matter anymore, though. Playing house with these people was a waste of time. Entertaining the League even more so. The heroes aren’t likely to be any more help and Sasuke doesn’t feel particularly inclined to test that.

As much as he doesn’t really care for Himari or Haru, that doesn’t really mean he wants their death to be directly connected to him.

Sasuke teleports into the bedroom and summons a few clones to collect his things. He strips the entire house bare of anything he could need. Non-perishable food items, knives, first aid (he doesn’t really think he’ll need it but it’s still a good thing to have), and some of his things for Yuuei, just in case they don’t disable his student card and ID as soon as he’s pronounced as missing. It would be a hassle to have to break into the school if he needs to, so hopefully they’ll leave the cards in tact.

It takes him around 15 minutes before he has everything in a sealed bag. He wards the house with some easy seals that he picked up while wandering through the Uzushio ruins before he disappears.

He returns to the place he was staying when he first landed in this dimension and redoes all the seal work to keep people out.

He’s almost done setting everything up by the time Annaisha returns with news of Shigaraki’s whereabouts.

“He was twitchy. More so than usual. It seemed like he was waiting for you to come.”

“So All for One takes the Suzuki’s and expects me to retaliate violently. I guess they lied to him about how well we were getting along more than I thought.” Sasuke mutters.

“Shigaraki looked to believe that All for One had successfully cornered you and that you were licking your wounds. What are you going to do, Sasuke-sama? You can’t let this slide! Such dishonour on you can’t be forgiven!”

Sasuke smiles but it isn’t a nice smile. Sasuke doesn’t have a nice smile at this point in his life.

“I haven’t used a Chidori in a while… I’m overdue on some practice.”

According to Annaisha, Shigaraki should still be at the League’s base, so Sasuke goes there first.

“U-Uchiha-” Shigaraki begins but is cut off by Sasuke appearing behind him and holding a knife to his neck.

Sasuke says nothing through all of this. He raises an eyebrow at Kurogiri. It’s up to Kurogiri now. Sasuke knows he won’t let Shigaraki die, not in a million years.

Kurogiri concedes and brings the both of them to where All for One is.

It’s the lab. Haru and Himari kneel before him pleading for forgiveness until they notice his arrival.

“S-Sasuke! I know we didn’t always get along, but please spare us. Please-”

“Be quiet.” Sasuke cuts Himari off.

“You propose a hostage switch?” All for One says, seemingly amused by the situation but Sasuke can hear a sliver of annoyance in his tone.

Sasuke would’ve thought that was obvious, given the situation, but he nods nonetheless.

“What if I decline? I don’t believe you’ll-”

Sasuke, in the blink of an eye, has another kunai in his hand and uses it to stab Shigaraki’s leg. Shigaraki’s knees buckle but Sasuke keeps him upright.

“Do you still have doubts?”

“S-sensei-” Shigaraki says. His voice is pained, which makes it even more raspy than it already was.

“Hush now, Tomura.” All for One silences Shigaraki easily before refocusing his attention on Sasuke. “Do you have any other conditions?”

“If you ever do something like this again…” Sasuke warns, “You won’t have an organization to worry about anymore.”

Sasuke shoves Shigaraki over to All for One and both Suzuki’s rise hesitantly.

The Suzuki’s are halfway to Sasuke before they’re stabbed through the chest with black and red spear-like things.

“I don’t appreciate being threatened, Sasuke-kun.”

“Oh?” Sasuke steps forward and is beside All for One faster than his non-existent eyes can register. “I hope, with time, you realize that my threats are not just that.”

All for One moves to turn around and block his blow, but he’s not nearly fast enough. Sasuke already has a jutsu prepared.

“Chidori eiso.” He says under his breath, and a spear of lightning shoots from his palm and just misses All for One’s heart.

All for One collapses to the floor and Sasuke watches as blood pools around his body.

“Who has the Quirk that can suit my needs?” Sasuke asks.

All for One wheezes.

Sasuke steps on All for One’s chest and crouches down. “What’s their name?”

“Sh-Shie Hassaikai.”

Sasuke frowns. The mafia group? He’s heard of them in passing, of course, but there have to be hundreds of members in it. He needs a name.

“Who?”

“Eri.”

Chapter Text

“Aoyama Yuuga?” Shouta says tiredly. Patrol had gone on longer than he thought it would last night, so he’s more tired than usual, which is a feat.

“Here!” Aoyama says with too much sparkle for 8:45 in the morning.

“Ashido Mina?”

“Present!” She beams up at him, but Shouta notices that she’s tired too. 

“Asui Tsuyu?”

“Here, ribbit.” Asui raises her hand and waves slightly. Shouta tilts his head slightly in acknowledgement.

Attendance goes similarly until he gets to Hatake Kakashi. Shouta had noticed he wasn’t here, but there hadn’t been an email from his guardians or Hatake himself, so Shouta figured he was just late.

Shouta clicks his tongue and marks him absent.

The rest of the morning is relatively relaxed, though a bit tense. They’re still recovering from the USJ from 2 days prior. Shouta considers himself lucky that he got off with the injuries he got, even if he’s still a bit disoriented from the whole thing.

He’s just dismissed his class for lunch when he gets a text from Nezu asking him to come to the teachers’ office as soon as he can. Nezu doesn’t elaborate, but Shouta never really expects that from him.

When he gets to the teachers’ office, he finds a few familiar faces there. Police officers. Shouta inhales deeply and prepares himself for a long meeting.

“Sawamura-san, Adachi-san. Not that it’s not fantastic to see you all here, but, well.” Shouta shrugs.

“Believe me, Eraserhead-san. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t necessary.” Adachi grumbles. “But unfortunately, it pertains to one of your students. You have a Hatake Kakashi in your class, right?”

Shouta sits down and motions for Sawamura and Adachi to do the same.

“Yes…” He says carefully, “why?”

Sawamura grimaces. “His guardians were found dead in a warehouse a few hours ago. It took us a while to identify them since….”

“‘Since?’” Shouta prompts.

“The rats got to them.”

“Oh.” That’s a very unpleasant mental image.

“Would you mind calling him here?” Adachi wonders.

“Right, about that. He didn’t show up for any of his classes this morning. A lot of students didn’t because of what happened in the USJ, but all of them informed the school beforehand. He didn’t.”

“I see. Well it makes sense that his parents wouldn’t have emailed you.” Sawamura sighs. “If he didn’t come to school today, then that creates a lot of problems for the case and for him.”

“Ah, that’s true.” Adachi agrees and elaborates, “This case is being ruled as a Quirked homicide. We’re trying to identify people with similar Quirks, but it’s been difficult. I’d tell you more about the case, but I don’t want to do it here. I’ll send you some of the information from it when I’m back at my desk. I think this one’s gonna be pretty big, unfortunately.”

“Shit.” Shouta massages his forehead and tries not to think of worst case scenarios.

“You’re telling me.” Sawamura huffs. “The kid’s been completely ruled out as a suspect given the nature of his guardians’ death, but if he didn’t show up today then there’s a good chance he already knows or the villains got him too.”

“Yeah.” Shouta nods. “Why’d you come to me first, though? Isn’t the procedure for these things to pull the student out of class.”

“Yeah, usually, but the school just got on lunch break. We’re trying to keep this from the media as long as possible, and accosting the kid in the cafeteria didn’t seem like the best way to do that.” Sawamura chuckles humourlessly.

“Plus, you’d need to be informed anyway, so we figured we’d tell you first and bring him here as soon as lunch ended.” Adachi pauses, “Give him a good lunch before….”

“Right.” Shouta and the officers stand up. “I’ll let you know if he turns up here. Will you file a missing persons case?”

Adachi nods. “We have to, at this point. Would you mind relaying this back to your Principal? Ordinarily, we would’ve had this meeting with him and you, but there were scheduling conflicts.”

“I’d say ‘see you later,’ but whenever I see you it’s for something like this.” Sawamura sighs.

Shouta laughs breathlessly. It’s never good when they see each other, this time wasn’t any different.

He could only hope that the situation would resolve itself soon enough.

The situation doesn’t resolve itself soon enough. In fact, Shouta is 97% sure it’s only getting worse and worse as time moves forward

Hatake doesn’t show up, even as the Sports Festival is rapidly approaching. It’s gotten to the point that several students have asked him privately if Hatake is alright after the USJ. Shouta had to be honest with them and say he doesn’t know. 

He sets aside the papers he was working on and taps a pencil idly at his desk. It’s been just under 2 weeks since anyone’s seen Hatake last. With his Quirk, it’s probably very easy for him to hide in plain sight, so it explains why no one can find him. The thing is, no one can figure out why he’s hiding away if it’s so obvious that he wasn’t the culprit of the murder. It’s either that, or he’s already died. Shouta hopes it’s the former.

Shouta exhales slowly and begins to pack up his things.

He’s just about to leave the teachers’ office when his phone rings.

It’s Hizashi.

“Hello?”

“Shouta, turn on the news! Quick, or you’ll miss it!” Hizashi’s voice is hurried and Shouta turns the TV in the office on just in time to catch the tail end of what’s being said.

“-an explanation as to why several of the TMPD’s contacts with the Shie Hassaikai Group have gone cold. As we can see many of the buildings where the Shie Hassaikai Group have been known to reside are up in flames. Over to you, Chiba-san.” The news announcer explains, as several photos of buildings burning are shown on screen.

Shouta is well and truly speechless.

“According to TMPD chief, Tsuragamae Kenji, several of the strongest members of the Shie Hassaikai Group will be going under psychiatric analysis in accordance to their claims that they were hypnotized. Is this the work of a Quirk? More after this commercial break.” The next news reporter, Chiba, says. The screen switches to advertisements.

“Shouta? You there?” Hizashi’s voice filters through the shock plaguing Shouta.

He’s had several run-ins with the Shie Hassaikai Group. It’s never been pretty. Even the runners are well versed in martial arts, not to mention whatever else they keep locked up in their several facilities.

Shouta’s mind flickers back to at the USJ, when, just as the Nomu was about to crush him, something in the air shifted so seamlessly he wouldn’t have noticed if he weren’t looking back on it.

“Shit.”

“Shouta? What’s the matter?”

“I know who did this.”

“Huh? That’s great… isn’t it?”

“No. It’s not.”

If Shouta’s right, then that means the Shie Hassaikai Group was connected to the death of Haru and Himari Suzuki, but none of the documented members have Quirks that could really connect them back to the injuries the Suzuki couple sustained.

“What do you mean? Why not?”

Shouta’s phone starts to vibrate, it’s Adachi.

“Hang on, ‘Zashi, I need to take this call.”

“Oi! You can’t just leave me hanging like that!” Hizashi replies, indignant.

“I’ll call you back.” Shouta promises before he hangs up and accepts the call from Adachi. “What do you have for me?”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“Lay it on me, Adachi-san.”

“Well, two things. We tested the blood found at the scene. It matches some other DNA from several other unsolved cases.”

“What?”

“We’re talking like… supervillain. All for One.”

Shouta sits back down at his desk and listens to Adachi relay what the police has put together in terms of what happened during the fight.

All teachers in the Heroics Department were made aware of All Might’s… situation before school started, but were assured that All for One was dead.

Apparently, he’s not as dead as everyone thought.

“And the second thing?”

“We’re off the case.”

“Excuse me?”

“The Hero Public Safety Commission is taking over.” Adachi says and Shouta can hear the grimace in his voice. “It’s shitty, but this just means that there’s way more to it than we thought.”

“You’d think they’d want all hands on deck.” Shouta leans back in his chair and tried to ignore the tiredness seeping through his caffeinated energy boost.

“The HPSC are a bunch of secretive bastards, if anything. Since it’s your student involved, they’ll probably tell you the bare minimum, but they seemed weird about it.”

“When are they not?” He swears he can feel the gray hairs forming on his head.

“Good point, but seriously. Something’s happening. I know damn well you won’t leave this alone, but at least be careful.”

“You’re starting to sound like Hizashi.”

“Yamada-san is a sensible man.”

Shouta smiles lightly. “He is.”

Adachi sighs exasperatedly. “Don’t die, Eraserhead-san.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

Chapter Text

Eri shivers. She’d made a mistake in training and now her blankets were all gone. She misses her blankets. There's nowhere to hide from the dark now.

But she was resolute, she refused to cry.

The sole window in her room that was too high for anyone without a height Quirk to reach rattles ominously and she reaches for cover that isn't there.

The window makes a sizzling noise and there's a little red glow outside. Eri always wondered what was out there. She's only been outside a few times, but that was only to a yard that was connected to the building or for jobs that required her to leave.

The window opens and Eri scrambles out of her bed. Should she hide? She could probably fit under her bed, right? She’s gotten under there before….

A figure jumps in through the window and she’s about to scream, but a clothed hand covers her mouth.

“What the fuck?” The figure mutters. It sounds like a boy not much older than her. In any case, he’s certainly not as tall as most of the adults she’s met. The boy removes his hand from over her mouth and she breathes a sigh of relief.

She figures if the boy was going to hurt her, then he would’ve already, but she hesitantly asks anyway. “A-are you going to hurt me?”

“What?” The boy scoffs. “No. I don’t have time for that.”

Eri nods, satisfied. Time is a very powerful motivator, so she believes him.

“Are you a hero?” She wonders.

“No.” The boy sounds annoyed. Eri takes a subconscious step back. “Do you know anyone named “Eri?””

Eri frowns. “ I’m Eri.” She points to herself even though it’s dark.

“Oh.”

Eri stares at him confusedly.

“Shit.” He says.

~~~

Of all the things Sasuke was expecting, it wasn’t that “Eri” would be a child. A 6 year old, from the looks of it. A very malnourished 6 year old.

Sasuke had been working up to this break-in for a week non-stop. He’d spent hours each day on the streets gaining as much information about the Shie Hassaikai Group and determined two things.

First, there wasn’t any way to contact Eri without having a lot of money to “rent” her. The Shie Hassaikai Group was trying to re-establish themselves as a prominent yakuza group and to do that, they needed money. Money Sasuke didn’t have and didn’t really feel like getting unless it was absolutely necessary.

Plus, Sasuke wasn’t even sure if they’d accept obviously stolen money, since they were trying to pretend that they were a legal business.

Second, the Shie Hassaikai Group was very strict with the information they let circulate about them. It was just enough so that people who could afford their services would be aware of them, but anyone else was shit out of luck. 

He hasn’t shown up at Yuuei since he met All for One last. A missing persons report was sent out for him, he’s seen some posters around for him but he hadn’t bothered to really read one. He’s been on enough wanted posters in his life that he gets the gist of it.

It’s not even a nice looking poster either. It’s just got the photo he had to take for his ID on it and some numbers to call if anyone sees him. They could’ve put more effort in.

But all of that is besides the point.

He’s just burned down several buildings and is currently sitting on a very uncomfortable bed with a 6 year old staring at him.

The Shie Hassaikai Group has recently been dabbling in… pharmaceuticals, of a sort. Quirk enhancers, so far. There’s also been word on the streets that they’re working on a Quirk suppressant drug.

Eri reminds him of himself in the worst ways possible, but, unfortunately, he can’t really just leave her here because he does need her to help send him back.

Sasuke massages the bridge of his nose and stands up slowly.

“Eri, do you like it here?” He asks.

Eri is silent for a bit before she mumbles a weak, “No.”

Sasuke inhales sharply and makes a decision. “If I get you out of here, can you help me with something?”

He can sense her trepidation. He doesn’t want to manipulate her, but at this point he doesn’t really have a choice.

“Nothing bad,” he hesitates. “I promise.”

“You promise?” She asks softly. Sasuke feels his nails dig into his palms. She’s so young.

“Yeah.”

She doesn’t say anything for a while. Sasuke waits for her to sort out her thoughts and sits back down.

He’s heard of the Quirk enhancer that the Shie Hassaikai make. As for how they make it, Sasuke has some suspicions but it wouldn’t do to dwell on them right now.

Breaking into their main base of operations was supposed to serve 2 purposes. One of which has already been met, but it has Sasuke altering all his future plans in his head. The other was that he needed to find the drug called “Trigger.”

All for One’s plan to get him home was to get the drug, try it on Kurogiri, prove it worked, and then hold it over Sasuke for the foreseeable future. Obviously, Sasuke had several issues with this, so he decided to do it himself.

Eri being a child has thrown a bit of a wrench in his plans, but he can work around it.

“I….” Eri’s voice trails off.

“Hm?” 

Sasuke would like to say they have all the time in the world, but they don’t. If Eri doesn’t want to leave, then there won’t be anything he can do about it. He’s not going to kidnap her, there are lines he won’t cross and this is one of them. Plus, he doesn’t really want to take care of a kid who doesn’t want to live with him. He doesn’t want to take care of a kid at all , but given the situation it might be unavoidable.

“I want to go.” Eri says. “Please. Please help me get out.”

Her voice is watery with tears.

“Ok.” Sasuke inhales, suddenly feeling 10 times more stressed. “Great.”

He stands up and fixes all his escape plans to include a malnourished child.

“You have… nevermind.” He doesn’t know if she can actually count, so he summons a hawk. “This is a hawk.”

“Bird.” She says, awe in her voice.

Sasuke stares at her for a moment, bemused. “Yes, it’s a bird. Great observation. Anyway, she’s going to stay with you.”

“You’re leaving?” Eri whispers.

Sasuke blinks. Is she already attached to him? “I’ll be right back.”

“Promise?”

“Sure.”

Eri watches the strange boy disappear through the window he came in.

She looks down at the bird.

“Hi.” She mumbles softly. She can’t see the bird very well, the only light she gets at this time of night is from her old window which is too dirty to really see anything out of and the tiny crack between the bottom of the door and the floor.

The bird chirps quietly and nuzzles her.

Eri gasps quietly and gingerly reaches up to pet the bird.

The bird preens under her touch and she stares at it intently.

Distantly, there’s a shout and the sound of several soldiers mobilizing. Eri decides to hide under her bed this time.

She motions for the bird to follow her under, but the bird doesn’t. It looks like it’s standing guard. She doesn’t know how to get it to follow her under the bed, so she just hopes it’s safe and knows what it’s doing.

Eri doesn’t know how long she spends under the bed, but eventually, the sound of wind rustling and the window creaking almost silently let her know that the boy is back.

“You can get out from under the bed, now.” He says.

Eri maneuvers herself out from under the bed and stands up. The bird is back with the boy, who’s now holding a case of something.

“We’re going.” He sounds cold, but it’s not the same cold as her father.

Eri thinks that maybe he’s protecting himself, and immediately likes him more than her father.

The boy visibly hesitates before holding out his hand to her. Eri stares at it like it’s a foreign object before looking back up at the boy.

“I can’t get us out of here if you aren’t at least holding my shirt.” He sounds impatient, so Eri hurriedly complies.

She doesn’t know him well yet. Who knows what kind of punishments he could have in store? He’s young, though. So maybe he’s not as bad?

Anything is better than her father, she reminds herself.

She takes his offered hand and feels the world shift around her.

The light in the room they’re in is a stark contrast to the darkness of Eri’s room. The room the boy’s moved them both into has warm lighting and is clearly patched up in some places. There are books pretty much everywhere and unnatural looking walls section off different areas of the one large room.

It’s an abandoned warehouse, that much is obvious, but it’s also clear that the boy has gone to great lengths to make it livable.

It’s nice.

While Eri is still taking everything in, she notices that the boy has already began to walk towards a room with a lot of tables.

He wanders around the room a bit, looking a bit disoriented, before he turns and looks at her.

She can see him much better in the new light, and she was right. He’s young.

She wonders if maybe he’s like her.

“Are you hungry?" He asks.

He’s staring at her directly, waiting for an answer.

Eri doesn’t know what to say. She is hungry, but will he give her food if she says she is? If she tells him she’s hungry, maybe he’ll get angry at her for expecting him to give her food.

When she doesn’t say anything for too long, she panics even more.

He notices this and slowly walks over to her.

His hair covers one of his eyes, and his visible eye is coal black. He crouches down in front of her.

His face is clear and calm. He doesn’t look angry or annoyed.

“Are you hungry?” He repeats. His voice has no inflection to it. He sounds completely apathetic, like he doesn’t care one way or another.

Eri nods jerkily.

If Eri didn’t know any better, she’d say his eyes softened minutely.

“Alright.” He stands and walks over to the table room. He grabs things from inside the tables and the cabinets and sets them down on the table.

She doesn’t move from where she’s standing. She watches as he moves around the room and the whole warehouse is filled with a nice smell.

“You can sit.” He says, and motions to the stone chairs next to the bigger stone table he’s cooking on.

She doesn’t know if that’s an order or not. Does he want her to sit? Will he be upset if she doesn’t?

The boy raises an eyebrow. “Do you want to eat on the floor?”

Eri squeaks and runs over to the table.

“Wash your hands before you sit.” He tilts his head in the direction of a sink.

Eri nods and walks up to the sink. It’s a fair bit taller than she is, and she can’t reach the knobs to turn it on. The boy reaches over her and turns them on without saying anything before he resumes setting the table.

He sits down and waits for her to do the same.

The food smells so good, nothing like the cold trays she gets from her father.

He picks up his chopsticks and starts to eat, Eri hastily follows suit.

They eat in silence.

She wonders what the boy’s name is. He hasn’t given her anything to call him yet. She sneaks glances at him while they eat and wonders if she should come up with something to call him in her head.

“Do you want to ask me something?” He breaks the silence.

Eri shrinks in on herself and prepares to be hit, but the blow never comes. She opens her eyes slowly and looks directly into his. He continues eating, as if it’s any other day.

Eri wonders if he saves people like this often.

Maybe he is a hero. 

She thinks back to his blunt answer when she asked him if he was one. 

Maybe not.

That doesn’t matter, though, he’s her hero.

The boy sighs, “I’m not like your past caretaker, ask me what you like but don’t always expect an answer. You can do what you want as long as you don’t draw attention to yourself.”

He sounds like he’s telling the truth and he’s not an adult, so that makes him safer by default.

“Why did you help me?” She asks.

He begins clearing the table. “Because I’m… a bit lost at the moment.” He laughs like he’s told a funny joke. Maybe it is funny to him. “And I want to get back.”

Sasuke doesn’t know where this honesty came from, but it’s probably a bad sign. Eri doesn’t say anything as she considers his words.

“Thank you for helping me, sir.”

Sasuke makes a face akin to someone swallowing a lemon. Ah, he never told her his name, did he?

He can hear how his mother would chide him for being so impolite.

“You can call me Sasuke.” He corrects.

“Thank you, Sasuke-san.”

It’s enough for now.

Chapter Text

Sasuke settles into a good routine. He builds a space for Eri to give both him and her some privacy in the warehouse. She's not as jumpy around him now, though she still seems to be waiting for the metaphorical pin to drop. That’s ok, though. As soon as Sasuke figures out how she fits into All for One’s former plan, he can find a proper guardian to look after her.

He’s not giving her back to the Shie Hassaikai, though he’s sure they’re losing their minds looking for her right about now.

It’s late in the evening and Sasuke is reading a book on England in the 1700s. One of his snakes, Sana, is curled up in his lap content as Sasuke pets him idly.

Sana is an older snake, much older than Annaisha. His species is a Borneo Python, which isn't venomous. He's usually just good for intimidation because of his size and stealth. Either way, he's one of Sasuke's favourite snakes.

“I have to say, Sasuke-sama,” Sana says, “I never thought you would pick up another hatchling.”

Sasuke laughs tiredly. “It’s a surprise to me too.”

Sasuke sighs. His unfailing belief in his own ability is faltering. He’s still the strongest here, he knows that, but he’s not entirely sure there is a way back. The gap in abilities is too large. Even though the technology is more advanced, the lack of chakra is hindering them.

“You are fatigued, Sasuke-sama.” Sana says softly. “It is alright, I will guard.”

Sasuke would argue, but Sana is right. He’s exhausted.

“Sleep now, hatchling.”

He closes his eyes and falls asleep relatively quickly.

Sasuke wakes to the smell of something burning and is on his feet in a matter of seconds.

His eyes are immediately drawn to the kitchen, where Eri, with the help of Sana, is attempting to make breakfast. Part of him is glad that she’s at least trying to do things by herself but the other part of him is very annoyed at the cleanup he’ll have to do.

He runs a hand through his hair and walks into the kitchen.

Eri is whispering to Sana that she thinks the pan is too hot.

“The pan is too hot.” Sasuke agrees. Eri jumps and her elbow hits the pan’s handle, causing hot oil to spray everywhere.

A few drops land on Sasuke’s arm which is fine, he can hardly feel it, but some gets on Eri’s elbow.

Her face contorts in pain and Sasuke can tell that she’s on the verge of tears. He has a moment of internal panic and is about to get some cold water before he realizes that Eri isn't in pain, she's scared.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again. Please don’t hurt me, please, please.” She begs.

Sasuke is frozen in place.

Anyone could tell that Eri needs to be comforted. The problem is that Sasuke doesn’t know how to do that.

He looks at Sana helplessly. Sana returns his look and nudges his foot with her snout.

“It’s fine, I’m not hurt.” Sasuke says slowly. Eri continues to mumble apologies, obviously not hearing a word.

“Sasuke-sama, if you do not do something, she will not be able to breathe.” Sana points out.

“Yes, Sana, thank you for that.” Sasuke grits out. Eri is sitting on the floor with her head in her knees and her arms protecting her neck. It’s obvious from the way she’s sitting and her breathing patterns that she’ll run out of oxygen eventually.

He sits down on the floor next to her with his back pressed against the cabinet doors.

Eri flinches at his sudden presence next to her, but doesn’t immediately move away.

Sasuke’s kind of always gotten through his panic attacks by himself, he’s not sure how to apply what works for him to other people. He’s not even sure he has something that works for him yet, it’s usually a hit or miss.

“Eri.” He says quietly but sternly. It seems to get through to her because she looks up and meets his eyes immediately. Before she can look away, Sasuke places a genjutsu on her. Her breathing calms almost instantly, and Sasuke can only briefly feel guilty for it.

He’s not sure what she’s seeing, but the genjutsu should let her see whatever would make her feel the safest.

Sasuke doesn’t move from his spot on the floor until the genjutsu wears off 5 minutes later.

Eri blinks her eyes blearily and notes where they are.

Sana slithers up to her and places himself in her lap. Sasuke’s head rests on the cabinet door behind him and his eyes slip closed.

They sit in silence.

Eventually, Sana moves from Eri’s lap to Sasuke’s.

“Sasuke-sama, will you eat something?”

Sasuke doesn’t open his eyes, he just shakes his head.

He’s always hated the way he gets after a stressful experience. His body and mind tend to shut down instead of processing anything around him. Eri still sits next to him, seemingly dazed, so Sasuke guesses she works the same way.

He drifts for a bit before Orochimaru’s whispers of weakness force him to open his eyes.

He counts to 5 in his head and gets off the floor. His legs feel a bit shaky, but he doesn’t fall.

He walks with silent feet to the fridge and pulls out cheese and meat slices.

Sana gets the bread out for him and lays out 4 slices.

“Eri,” Sana says gently. Sana is much better at gentleness than Sasuke could ever be. “Would you like some lunch?”

It’s lunch already?

Sasuke glances at the clock that he found when he first discovered the warehouse. Sure enough, it reads 12:30 PM.

He sighs and grabs some glasses from in the cupboards and fills one with juice, the other with some kind of alcohol, he’s not entirely sure what type. It’s probably whiskey, from the colour.

He sets the table and sits down.

A few minutes later, Eri joins him.

They both eat slowly, and by the time they’re finished, it’s closer to 2 PM than 1.

Sasuke gives Eri a wet cloth and mimics putting it on his elbow. Eri does the same and Sana wraps the injury.

Sasuke goes back to sleep at around 3 PM.

He dreams of old laboratories and a voice reprimanding his fragility.

The next morning is marginally better. Sasuke feels like he can speak again, but Eri doesn’t say anything until later in the afternoon.

Sasuke is reading on a couch when Eri enters the make-shift living room. She stands at the entrance and doesn’t say anything. Sasuke puts his book down and indicates that he’s listening to what she has to say.

“I-I’m very sorry.” She apologizes earnestly, her eyes shining with tears. “Please don’t send me back to Chisaki.”

Sasuke doesn’t want her to have another panic attack so he motions for her to sit next to him.

“I’m not sending you back.” He says quietly. Eri relaxes a little. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“But…”

Sasuke feels tempted to cut her off, but he doesn’t.

“It hurt, didn’t it?”

“No.” Sasuke shakes his head slightly. He briefly contemplates elaborating and goes for something in between. “I don’t feel pain like that anymore.”

Eri looks even sadder at that, but Sasuke doesn’t attempt to console her.

“Oh….”

She looks at the couch and picks at a loose thread in the pillow stitching.

“Are you… like me?” She asks, rubbing at her arms that Sasuke knows are littered with scars from Chisaki.

No , Sasuke wants to say, I’m not like you . And he’s not.

Eri is young and kind. Sasuke doesn’t have the youth she has or the capability for kindness. Eri didn’t have a choice. He did. He could’ve easily chosen not to go. There were a million other options and he chose the worst one.

There’s a part of him reminding him of the cursed seal’s influence, but he doesn’t even have that excuse. He hadn’t used the cursed seal that much leading up to his defection from the village.

But still, he looks at Eri and can’t help but see himself in her.

“Yeah.” He says, but it comes out a little choked, so he clears his throat and tries again. “Yeah.”

“Oh.” Eri goes back to picking at the loose thread in the couch, Sasuke picks up his book again.

“Do….” She starts to say something but doesn’t continue speaking. She opens her mouth several times to continue, but stops short each time. 

“Doyouhavescarstoo?” She says finally.

Sasuke closes his book slowly. “I do.”

Sasuke looks at her for the first time in their conversation. She looks even smaller than usual since she’s doing everything she can to take up less space. Her bottom lip is between her teeth and she obviously wants to ask something else.

“Do you want to see?” Sasuke wonders.

Eri nods carefully, as if Sasuke will get upset with her for asking.

He’s not upset, not really. Eri hasn’t met very many other people. Especially not many who don’t actively seek to hurt her or hold malice towards her for some reason or another.

Sasuke pulls his sleeve up on his left arm which has the lichtenberg scars from when he was still learning and perfecting his Chidori. They aren’t the ones from Orochimaru or Kabuto, since he doesn’t really want to undress in front of a child, but these are the ones he’s proud of.

“They’re… pretty.” Eri breathes.

Sasuke blinks, taken aback. He doesn’t quite know what to say so he doesn’t say anything.

Eri eventually takes her eyes off his arm and Sasuke’s visible eye meets 2 red ones.

Sasuke decides that now is as good a time as any to ask the question he’s been wondering since his confrontation with All for One 3 weeks ago.

“What’s your Quirk?”

Eri looks up at him, clearly surprised to hear he doesn’t know.

“A curse.” She answers with practiced ease.

Sasuke nods at her to go on.

“I-I can… I can rewind things.” She starts out at a normal speaking volume but her voice gets quieter as she talks. “Until they…” Her voice is at a whisper when she says,  “die.”

That… is a remarkably useful Quirk. No wonder Chisaki had her on such a tight leash.

“That’s quite the Quirk.” He comments. But he can’t figure out how it ties into getting him back to the Elemental Nations.

“You’re not… scared?” She wonders.

Scared? It’s a powerful ability, but it’s also currently in the hands of a scrawny 6 year old.

“Should I be?” Sasuke replies. He doesn’t think Eri could make Sasuke fear her if she tried. He’s faced gods and lived, an ability like that isn’t something that would scare him just because he knows it exists.

Eri is quiet. “It’s a bad Quirk.”

Sasuke considers her question and the answers she’s given. “There are lots of heroes with Quirks like that.” He points out.

“Really?” She perks up considerably.

“Thirteen has a black hole Quirk that can tear a person apart easily, Present Mic can rupture eardrums if he screams, Best Jeanist can rip someone to shreds by using the fibers in their body.” Sasuke lists.

“Oh.” Her frown deepens. “So are all Quirks bad Quirks?”

Sasuke shakes his head, somewhat amusedly, and stands up. “The world isn’t so black and white.” He explains. “Do you think my Quirk is a bad Quirk?”

Eri seems to seriously consider this. “You saved me with it, so it’s good.”

Sasuke grabs a cloth to wipe down the kitchen counter. “If you say so.”

Eri’s eyebrows furrow before she gets off the couch and nods, resolute. “You’re a good hero, Sasuke-san.”

Sasuke pauses for a split second but resumes cleaning the table. He’s not entirely sure how to respond to that, so instead, he tosses her a cloth. It hits her directly in the face and falls into her hands. Her lips twitch into a little pout that Sasuke hadn’t expected to see from her.

“Those chairs won’t clean themselves.” He says.

She walks into the kitchen and stares at him.

“You’re a good hero.” She repeats, softer this time. Soft enough that Sasuke can pretend he didn’t hear it.

Chapter Text

Sasuke’s summons can’t find Kurogiri. He’s sent out snakes and hawks, but each time they’ve returned unsuccessful.

They are able to find Shigaraki, but every time they see him, Kurogiri is never with them. Which is odd, Kurogiri is supposed to be Shigaraki’s babysitter.

Sasuke sighs. As long as Kurogiri is still alive , this shouldn’t delay Sasuke’s plans too much. Plus, All for One is unlikely to let a Quirk like that go to waste.

It’s around 7 in the morning, so Sasuke should probably make some food, but they’re pretty low on ingredients and just… things in general. Sasuke needs different clothes; Eri should probably get different clothes, up until now, she’s just been wearing whatever she can find that fits her well enough; their food storage amounts to a few cans of canned tomatoes and 2 eggs; and Sasuke needs new paper for seals. For the paper, he’ll have to buy some regular cardstock and then imbue it with chakra, but it shouldn’t take long.

Sasuke summons Sana.

“Yes, Sasuke-sama?” He asks.

“I’m going out for a bit, let Eri know when she wakes up.”

“Of course, Sasuke-sama.”

Sasuke slips out of his house shoes and into sneakers before leaving the house. It’s quite warm out, since it’s pretty much summer time.

Sasuke, not for the first time, thinks about his Rinnegan. It does have a dimensional travel ability, but to this extent? He thought it would be more limited to alternate realities or something similar to Kakashi and Obito’s Kamui.

He enters the grocery store and picks up a few items. There’s a TV playing clips from the Yuuei Sports Festival.

Sasuke watches it while he shops. The screen shows an image of the explosion boy, Bakugou, chained to the podium. Bakugou looks angry and Sasuke can imagine he’s quite humiliated.

Sasuke snorts quietly.

So much for the heroes.

Sasuke wasn’t gone for long. He bought groceries first, then clothes, then the paper. He frowns when he realizes he didn’t get anything for Eri. It might be better to let her pick out her own stuff when Chisaki’s calmed down slightly if, by then, he still hasn’t found Kurogiri.

He returns to the warehouse to find Sana reading to Eri. Eri is listening intently as Sana does voice impersonations and makes shapes with his tail.

Sasuke sets the bags down and takes his shoes off. Eri freezes and shifts her body to hide behind Sana slightly. Sasuke doesn’t acknowledge the reaction and instead, asks her to help him with the groceries.

Sana slithers over to Eri and tells her where things go.

Eri’s grown on Sana. Sasuke wonders if at one point, Sana had children as well.

Sana confirms his suspicion later by saying, “She reminds me of a hatchling of my own.”

Sana is on his bed and Sasuke is folding clothes. Eri is reading a book somewhere in the warehouse. “What happened to them?”

“Nozomi was born albino, which is common for our species, but it was at a time when there wasn’t much study of snakes. Our summoning contract was held by Orochimaru, at the time. He took her one day and she never returned to me.” Sana’s voice is thick with grief that’s been stuck with him for several decades.

Sasuke realizes that this could solve several of his problems. Sana is fully capable of taking care of Eri, way better than he could anyway.

“You could look after her more often, if you want.” Sasuke offers. He knows he sounds nonchalant, but internally, he’s really hoping Sana agrees.

Eri is still important to his plans. He’ll need her to revert Kurogiri back to his regular state if things with the Trigger drug go awry. Sasuke can’t risk someone with a teleportation Quirk like that up and dying because of a faulty drug. He needs her to be performing at her best and have some level of trust that he won’t leave her on her own as soon as she does what he asks.

He is going to be leaving, he has to, if he could just find Kurogiri.

Sasuke closes the drawers to his dresser a bit more forcefully than he intended.

Sana’s lips twitch. “I would be honoured, Sasuke-sama.”

Sasuke wakes up with a scream about to leave his lips but he clamps it down just before he can let out a noise. It’s dark, which, if Sasuke’s mind hadn’t been in complete panic, would make sense because it’s night time.

He stumbles out of bed and bumps into several things on his way to where he keeps a dim light on in the living room. His vision is blurry, which only terrifies him even more, because he’s an Uchiha. His vision is never blurry, unless you’re Itachi with your terminal illness and shitty self preservation skills and–

Sasuke cuts that thought off as soon as he can, though it takes a bit of forceful mental blocks because he just can’t stop thinking and everything is getting worse and worse and worse and–

Then there’s something on his shoulder and Sasuke gets up faster than he thought he was capable of in a moment like this. 

“Don’t- don’t touch me.” He hisses, though he’s sure the shaking in his hands ruins the intimidation factor.

The warehouse is huge, logically, he knows that. He picked it out himself over a month ago, but now he has no idea where he’s going or what he’s doing, really, and everything feels so small.

“Now, Sasuke-kun. Those tears are your weakness. Quell them or I’ll do it for you. Your tear ducts can be shut non-lethally with the right precision, but Kabuto does so like it when you cry.”

He gasps, and pushes those memories away, away, away. Only for–

“Well… it’s been a long time, Sasuke.” and there’s just pain in his arm, burning, like it’s about to snap in half.

Then he’s in the tatami room and his brother is about to kill his parents again .

Please, no, Itachi, don’t do it. Don’t do it. No no nonono–

“Sasuke-sama!” Someone says. The voice is familiar enough that Sasuke manages to suppress a full bodily flinch to just a subconscious step back… directly into a wall.

There’s a weight on him which is wrong, he shouldn’t be with Orochimaru, he’s in the tatami room with Itachi who’s about to–

“Sasuke-sama.” They say again, which is odd, Sasuke doesn’t remember anyone other than his mother, father, and Itachi being with him. All of which are dead. Sasuke killed Itachi, Itachi killed their parents. In the end, they’re both clan killers.

His hands are being pulled off his ears, when did he cover his ears? The hands on his own are small, like a child’s, like Karin’s back when they were Genin in the forest of death. Karin who he stabbed in the chest like a monster.

The weight on his legs shifts and now there’s something lighter there. He can feel the thing sitting with him breathe, like a person, but it can’t be a person because–

Sasuke takes a breath. Then several more, then enough to get his lungs working again.

He’s soon aware of the fact that his eyes are closed, but he’s still breathing weirdly and he can feel every scar on his body so he doesn’t open them quite yet. He’s not quite sure what he’ll see, anyway.

Eventually, he’s breathing like normal, though he still feels a bit like he’s not getting enough air, and he realizes the thing sitting on his legs is a person. It takes a bit for his brain to pull up the only name that would make sense in this situation, but he’s only more confused.

He finally opens his eyes to see white hair, and his first thought is “Kakashi sensei?” but it’s not, because how could it be?

“Sasuke-san?” It’s Eri, this time. So the voice before must have either been Sana’s or he’s hallucinating.

He’s also sitting down, he notes. He’s not entirely sure when that happened either, but he decides not to dwell on it.

Eri moves off his legs and stands next to him. Staring at him with a mixture of emotions that Sasuke can’t untangle as of right now.

“I’m fine.” He croaks. “Go back to sleep, Sana will go with you.”

“Sasuke-sama-” Sana starts.

“Sana will go with you.” Sasuke repeats more forcefully this time.

“If you insist, Sasuke-sama.”

He hears more than he sees them hesitate before leaving.

If he had looked, he would’ve seen Eri’s tear-streaked face and Sana’s tail swishing anxiously. Maybe he would’ve seen the genuine worry in their eyes when they watched as he almost tore out the hair on his head. Instead, Sasuke forces himself off the floor via mental threats and relocates to his bed, where he promptly collapses.

He shuts his eyes for what he thinks is a blink, but ends up being 6 hours of absolutely nothing.

He pries his eyes open and stares at the ceiling.

“Sasuke-sama….” Sana says sadly. “Are you not hungry?”

Sasuke grunts but doesn’t answer the question. “What time is it?”

Sana hesitates. “It is around 10am.”

“Oh.”

“‘Oh’ indeed.” He sighs. “Sasuke-sama, I will drag you out of this bed if I must, but you’ve not eaten for several hours, seeing as you skipped dinner last night.”

“Hn.” Sasuke rolls over on his bed so his face is squished into the pillow.

“Just this once …” Sana mutters with fondness and exasperation that betray the fact that he would do this for Sasuke 100 times if Sasuke needed it. “I will bring you something to eat.”

“Thanks, Sana.”

“Foolish little hatchling.” Sana grumbles, but it’s half-hearted.

He lies on his bed for what feels like 10 more minutes until the sound of small, socked feet entering his room makes him open his eyes.

Eri has a plate in her hands and is standing several feet away from the bed uncertainly. She shifts her feet anxiously and Sasuke decides to get up before she can feel more awkward.

“I’ll take this.” He gestures to the plate and Eri hands it to him. “Thank… you.” He says awkwardly.

Eri nods once before darting out of the room.

Sasuke sits on the bed and picks up the sandwich on the plate. It’s some kind of meat and some kind of cheese, probably ham of some sort and processed cheese slices. He eats it slowly while trying to get his brain to function again.

The fact that he can’t find All for One or Kurogiri eliminates a lot of possibilities, but not all of them. Going to the heroes would just put him in the same situation, the only difference being he’d have to hang around more children all the time, or just end up in prison. He’s not a suspect for the case, they think his Quirk is just the illusions so the injuries that killed the Suzuki couple wouldn’t match up to what they know about him.

Of course, he could always just give the drug to himself , but he’s not really craving that sort of power as of yet.

It’s a last resort.

Hopefully it’ll stay that way.

Chapter Text

Sasuke returns from an outing to find Eri and Sana walking around the house with Eri naming common household items.

“Kitchen.” She says, pointing at the kitchen, then turns to the TV. “Te… television?” She sounds out each consonant and looks to Sana to see if she’s gotten it right. Sana slithers excitedly, clearly pleased with her improvement.

Sasuke walks quietly, as to not disturb them, since Sana would be upset if he set Eri’s progress back by scaring her.

When they’re done, Sasuke asks Sana what he’s doing.

“According to a book you own on child developmental milestones, Eri is missing several from her toddler years.” Sana explains with the seriousness of a father. 

Sasuke winces, “Sana, we aren’t going to be here forever.”

“Of course, Sasuke-sama.” Sana does the snake equivalent of chewing on his bottom lip. “It is only that I would like for her to be as ready as possible for the future, and give her some good memories to send her off.”

He knows he’s letting Sana get too attached, but he can’t tear them apart now, it would only cause problems in the future. He knows it’s only going to be worse when Sana and Eri inevitably have to part, but at that point, it won’t be his problem. Sasuke purses his lips but relents. “Alright.”

After yet another day of not being able to find Kurogiri, Sasuke attempts to shift his attention to other solutions. 

Finding another person with a relatively good teleportation Quirk won’t be the easiest thing to do, especially considering the fact that people like that either have very strong moral compasses and would refuse to help him/attempt to turn him in, or no moral compass and would either try to murder him or try to use him.

Most of his options for teleportation Quirks aren’t the best.

Kurogiri was convenient. He was easy to manipulate and Sasuke knew his Quirk well.

Sasuke clicks his tongue, annoyed.

A hawk flies in through one of the overhead windows and lands on his desk.

“Hm?” He pets the hawk’s feathers calmly as they relay what Sasuke’s been hearing for the past almost 3 weeks now.

They don’t know where Kurogiri is, he’s gone, they’re very sorry for their lack of skill.

“It’s fine.” It’s not. “I’ll think of something else.”

The hawk nods, seemingly appeased, before Sasuke releases the summon.

“Sasuke-sama, if I may?” Sana asks. Sasuke nods, signaling for Sana to continue speaking. “I think it may be time to abandon the idea that you’ll be able to find the warp user.”

Sasuke sighs. “You’re right.”

“Come now, Sasuke-sama.” Sana reprimands gently. “You have other ideas, do you not?” At Sasuke’s hesitant nod, he continues, “Well then, off you go.” Sana punctuates his statement by nudging Sasuke’s leg.

“Fine, fine.”

Sasuke takes a moment to thank the gods that he’s one of the best at silent breaking and entering.

It’s almost too easy, really.

He avoids the security cameras and guards, then easily finds his way to the file storage. He flips through the pages of all the Quirks under the sign titled, “MOVEMENT.”

The cabinet is organized by Quirk strength. The first on the list is, of course, Kurogiri, and it descends from there. 

Deceased, deceased, set to be executed by the HPSC, deceased, deceased….

There it is.

Wanted/missing, Chabatake Kazuhiko.

Sasuke scans the page with his Sharingan and instantly memorizes it.

Full Name: 和彦 茶畑
Trans. First Name: Kazuhiko
Trans. Surname: Chabatake

Mother’s Maiden: 鯉江 (Koie)

Gender: Male

D.O.B: 07/19/2XXX

Passport No.: RD3655515

Address: 153-1118, Oguchidori, Kanagawa-ku Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa

Note: Chabata is exceptional at escape tactics, any head-on altercations will result in the suspect fleeing the scene.

Sasuke assumes that the address on the paper has been checked thoroughly, so it’s unlikely that he’ll find anything there, but he’ll send a hawk to check, just in case. It’s in Yokohama too, so it’s not that far from where he is.

He carefully slips the file back where he found it and returns to the warehouse where Sana and Eri still are.

He should probably let Eri see the outside world, at least a little bit. All she really has are the grubby windows that sit at the top of the walls. He would just let Sana take her, but Sana wouldn’t do very well in defence.

Sana is still committed to helping Eri with her “children’s developmental milestones” thing, which is good, because it keeps Eri occupied.

When he gets back, Eri is drawing while Sana supervises. She’s naming colours as she goes along.

He wonders if this is what Sakura wanted when she said she wanted a family. Well, probably not this exact scenario, but something…… domestic(?) like this.

It’s a nice picture, but not something Sasuke can really ever see himself wanting, not really. He’s not one for domesticity. The closest thing he’s had to that recently was with Team Taka, if you could even call that domesticity. Sasuke certainly wouldn’t.

He pushes those thoughts aside, for now.

Sasuke finds one of his books with a map of the train lines and summons a hawk. He picks the hawk with the most speed, Haya.

He points to where on the map she’ll need to go and which train to follow in case she gets lost. Haya seems a little confused, but after a bit of explaining, she complies.

All of his summons, by now, are well aware of the dimensional shifting situation he’s found himself in. It would be hard not to be, what with Ahmya’s love for gossip, there probably isn’t a snake in any dimension that doesn’t know that he’s gone dimension hopping. The hawks are calmer about it all, they aren’t his primary summon anyway, so he usually just uses them for recon.

“Sasuke-sama,” Sana approaches him and Sasuke can immediately tell that this question will be Eri related. He doesn’t want Sana to think Sasuke thinks he’s not capable of separating his feelings from ‘work,’ or that Sasuke is doubting him, so he doesn’t show his exasperation on his face. “Eri has been inquiring as to what’s beyond these walls, what shall I tell her?”

He’s just come back from outside, but he does intend to let Eri out at some point. Better late than never, he supposes. “I’ll take her outside tomorrow.”

Sana blinks, clearly surprised. “I see. I will relay the good news.”

Eri and Sasuke don’t really speak to each other much, now. They communicate through Sana to avoid, well, seeing each other, really.

He’s sure, by now, Eri understands, at least subconsciously, that Sasuke didn’t really save her out of the goodness of his heart.

Even though when he saw her in that room alone, the decision he made wasn’t based on logic, he knows that but is going to ignore it.

Sasuke sighs, there’s no point in thinking about why he did it, it’s done now. He won’t be involved in her life anymore than he needs to be.

Sasuke has become way more involved in Eri’s life than he needs to be.

Really, it’s kind of ridiculous how quickly things went downhill. Comical, even. Like the ending of a bad comedy show with laugh tracks that’ve been around for decades.

However, there’s a completely logical reason as to why he’s gotten more involved in Eri’s life. A reason that really, hardly had anything to do with him.

If he could choose, he would choose to tell the HPSC to return to whatever corrupt hole they crawled out of and continue to scheme, or whatever it is that they do.

All these governments are pitifully predictable and Sasuke is not impressed. He’s quite annoyed, actually.

Now, to get back to the original point of this segment. Sasuke is unequivocally much more involved in Eri’s life now. It’s kind of hard not to be, considering the fact that he’s been put in a cell with her and stuck there for the last several hours.

Eri, of course, is terrified and thinks she and him are about to be sent to Chisaki.

Sasuke, on the other hand, isn’t scared, not really. He’d rather die than become a lab rat for the second time, but as it stands, it looks like he won’t have to take any drastic measures.

For a moment though, let’s backtrack.

3-4 hours ago, Sasuke had decided to take Eri out for the first time and buy her some new clothes. She couldn’t keep wearing his things. Sasuke didn’t like it when people wore his things and it would be good to get her some of her own stuff.

It happens in the children’s clothing store, which is odd because you’d think that the HPSC would care about civilian casualties, children casualties, more than whatever experiment they need Sasuke for. But alas, their concept of right and wrong is as loose as Orochimaru’s punishment back in Konoha.

They seem pleasantly surprised to find that the child that the Shie Hassaikai are missing is with him. He supposes “finding” two powerful children is better than one.

They don’t send the bird guy again, since he failed the other times he tried his whole recruitment spiel. It’s unfortunate, since Sasuke had something to ask him, but it’s not really that important.

Sasuke gives in without a fight. He doesn’t want to reveal his abilities to them unless it’s to make sure they don’t bother him again. Besides, causing a scene here would backfire for him in the future, not the HPSC.

If he starts using what the public will see as a Quirk in public against the HPSC, he’ll be seen as the villain. The public will assume that the government was just doing their jobs in subduing him.

The staging of the kidnapping (is it really a kidnapping if he went willingly? And several other questions he actually doesn’t want the answer to because it might be something he doesn’t like-) is actually pretty ok, he’d give it a 6.5/10 overall.

In terms of weapons, that’s gotta be a 1/10. Guns, really? They thought guns against him would do anything?

That leads to total intelligence. The idea was good, but the execution was pretty poor and their targets were badly chosen, plus, the first thing they said to him was “you’re a hard man to find, Uchiha Sasuke.” which, first of all, cliche, second of all, very boring. 0/10. He does wonder how they know his name, though.

The holding facilities are pretty nice. The beds are kind of shitty but if he lays on them right, then they’re actually pretty comfortable. 5/10.

Total score is 3/10.

Yeah, not good.

Sasuke decides to tell them this.

“I’ve seen 12 year olds do better.” And he has, but the measurements for skill here and in the Elemental Nations are very different.

“Sasuke-san!” Eri whispers harshly. “What are you doing?”

Sasuke silences her with a plastic smile and a finger over his lips.

The guard clicks his tongue quietly but doesn’t say anything. Sasuke sighs audibly and shuffles through personalities in his head. There’s a few types of people who work best to rile up guards like this one, but they’re for different occasions. It varies from situation to situation. For example, there’s 3 guaranteed to work ones for torture (depending on the motive), a few for infiltration, a few more for kidnapping, and several more for just regular old kidnapping.

Snark is a good way to get you killed if you aren’t skilled enough.

Sasuke is about as skilled as you can get. Plus, this is one of his favourite personas to play.

“You take your job very seriously, I can admire that, but do they give you vacations here? It seems like a drab place to be all the time. No wonder you’re so boring.” Sasuke speaks like he’s offering them advice they should value, and it is.

The guard clenches their teeth but says nothing.

“I can see you’re really… committed to your whole ‘strong and silent’ character, but I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t really think it’s working too well for you. You have innocent eyes-”

And that gets a rise out of the guard.

They slam the cell door open and grab Sasuke’s collar as soon as he’s within grabbing reach. Eri scrambles backward and Sasuke momentarily feels guilty for scaring her like this.

He smirks lazily. “Oh. You’re mad. Do you want me to apologize?”

“Quit mocking me you goddamn brat.” They snarl.

“How boorish.” Sasuke chides, which gets him thrown into the wall.

That probably should’ve hurt, but it didn’t.

He stands up and rolls his shoulders. “Listen, I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything-”

“Then don’t.” They lunge for him and attempt to body check him, but Sasuke calmly sidesteps him.

“-but I really think the cardinal rule for kidnapping someone is 'keep the door shut.'”

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke’s grabbed Eri, left the room, and slammed the door shut. It locks with an audible click.

The other guard, who had been sleeping up until a few seconds ago, blinks slowly.

“Ah, you’re tired. I know the feeling.” Sasuke says with mock sympathy, before slicing his left carotid artery.

He slips out of the personality like it’s a pair of well used jeans and returns to his normal self. The bubbly smile that was on his face twitches down into his usual, permanently disgusted face.

Eri’s watching him like she’s just learned something very important about him, which, maybe to her, she has.

“Are we leaving?” She asks quietly.

“ You are.” He summons Garuda, his biggest Hawk.

Garuda takes one look at his current situation and the child and says, “You know, when I was told, I thought they were joking."

“Unfortunately not. You know where?”

“Of course.” Garuda scoffs, slightly affronted.

“Just checking.”

Eri looks between the two of them, mildly confused.

“Eri-sama, I’m here to take you back.” Garuda tells her.

“You can just call me Eri….” She mumbles.

“Certainly not!” Garuda flutters his wings proudly. “You are a ward of Sasuke-sama and should be treated accordingly.”

Sasuke, who, until now, had been watching this feeling slightly bemused, decides it's better to go sooner and discuss the proper honorifics later.

He raises an eyebrow at Garuda, who lowers his head, abashed. “Yes, Sasuke-sama, we’ll be on our way now.”

Sasuke nods and helps Eri onto his back.

“Hold tight.” Garuda beats his wings and the force of the wind shatters the stone and a number of feet ahead.

He flies off before any of the guards can act on the sound. 

Sasuke cracks his neck, then his wrists, and knuckles.

He doesn’t have his chokuto on him, unfortunately, and he’s missing almost all of his other weapons, which makes sense, since Sasuke was conscious while they searched his body, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. In fact, he hates it quite a bit.

It doesn’t matter though, none of them are powerful enough to stop him, with or without weapons.

The first guard to enter is electrocuted until their body is an unrecognizable mound of charred flesh.

The next guard is reduced to ashes via fire jutsu.

The next is buried alive, and so on.

Eventually, no more guards come. It only takes about 10 minutes for all of them to find him and subsequently die.

Sasuke steps over what must be quite a few dead bodies, but they all kind of look the same when they’re burned to that extent.

Stepping on them still dyes his shoes red, though. For shame, he’ll have to throw out the shoes.

He makes his way down the hall and faces basically no interruptions, with the exception of the odd one or two lackeys that were too slow to find the room he was in.

The building he’s in probably isn’t even registered under the HPSC. No, he’s sure it isn’t. They may be stupid, and annoying, and weak, but they aren’t that incompetent.

Though it was easy this time, it probably won’t be next time.

Well, if Sasuke lets there be a next time.

Sasuke teleports back to the warehouse where Eri is waiting for him. Upon seeing him, she nods in relief and her lips twitch upwards a little. At this, Sana’s eyes light up.

He’ll allow Sana to live this through, until the time comes when they’ll have to leave, there’s no harm in letting Sana mourn the loss of the things he never got to do with his child.

Sasuke’s never been one to spare people’s feelings, but he thinks that just this once, he can make an exception.

Chapter Text

Sasuke wakes up one morning to find Eri laying on the couch, shivering, with Sana curled on top of her.

Eri’s face is flushed red and she still seems cold despite the several blankets piled on her.

It makes sense that she’d get sick. Her immune system is probably very weak because of Chisaki and the past few weeks have been very stressful. Not to mention that dingy cell the HPSC put her in would definitely have some germs in it.

Sasuke sighs and summons a clone to make some soup for her while he talks to Sana.

It’s probably just a cold, but Sasuke knows very little about illnesses in children.

“Sasuke-sama….” Sana says slowly. His voice is heavy with worry. It must be worse than Sasuke thought, then.

“How long has she been sick?” Sasuke checks her temperature. She’s quite warm, so she probably has a fever. Not that he would really know. Sasuke tends to run warmer than most people thanks to something Orochimaru did.

“Since this morning.” Sana says. “It has only gotten worse.”

Sasuke hums noncommittally and grabs a bowl of soup for her.

Sana opens his mouth to say something but hesitates. “It… reminds me of that day, when you were training the Seal of Heaven.”

Sasuke blinks. He doesn’t remember much from his training then, only that it had been very painful and he’d hardly been lucid half the time.

Sana is referring to a particular day, though, so it must be one of importance.

“Which day?” He asks.

Sana winces. “You were trying to perfect using your Chidori with the seal, only it backfired.”

Oh. Sasuke does remember that. The feeling of the electricity coursing back through him, making his bones vibrate and his teeth chatter. His body contorted in weird ways because of the seal. He broke several bones and couldn’t move for weeks.

“Oh.” Was he sick then? He doesn’t remember having a fever from that.

“I take it you do not remember much, but that is to be expected.” Sana’s tone is sad and Sasuke feels like he’s missing something very important.

“What happened?”

“Orochimaru was… not pleased, to say the least.”

Sasuke flinches violently as his mind is assaulted with memories.

“You seem to forget that your body belongs to me, Sasuke-kun. If you wish to keep abusing it in such a way, I’ll be forced to take… drastic measures.”

The pain seared through his common sense and ability to speak. Blood gurgled in his throat and Orochimaru smiled.

He crouched down next to Sasuke and ran a hand down his cheek.

“Sasuke-kun, you know it pains me to see you this way.”

And it’s wrong, wrong, wrong. Orochimaru isn’t like this. Something's wrong. Sasuke wracks his mind for an answer but comes up empty. There are no memories of what happened next, only of how much whatever he did hurt .

Later, he did get a fever. Kabuto had looked at him with visible disgust every time he coughed, but Orochimaru only smiled and said he was, “growing up.”

Sasuke comes back to himself to find he hasn’t moved an inch from where he was standing, which is different from how things like that usually go.

Sana is watching him carefully and seems pleased that the memory didn't result in a complete shutdown like usual.

“Oh.” Is all Sasuke can manage to say.

He glances down at Eri to find she’s already begun eating the soup, albeit slowly.

She looks alright, for the most part, better than he probably did all those years ago.

He puts those memories in a box at the back of his mind, to be thought about late at night when he can’t sleep, when he’ll have no choice but to think of them. That’s fine, for now.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Eri progressively gets worse and worse until every breath she takes sounds like it’s physically paining her, it probably is.

Sasuke is still trying to find ways to search for Chabatake Kazuhiko, since he, as Sasuke expected, wasn’t at his home, when Sana calls for him, his voice loud and alert.

Sasuke is where Sana is in a split-second, which is the bathroom. Eri is bent over the toilet coughing. The toilet bowl is stained red with blood. Her entire body is trembling and her lips are blue.

“That’s… not good.” He comments idly.

“Very much so, Sasuke-sama.” Sana nods and looks to him for a solution to the problem.

Sasuke’s never dealt with ill children. He hardly deals with children at all in the first place. That doesn’t mean it’s not obvious to him that Eri could very easily die if they don’t get this under control.

They can’t go to a hospital because registering Eri in one would lead the Shie Hassaikai directly to them. Plus, with Eri’s Quirk, they aren’t really sure what kind of drugs would and wouldn’t work on her. He doesn’t have enough money to afford a hospital that can take someone with a Quirk like Eri’s anyway.

This leaves him with very few solutions and he likes each of them less than the last.

Letting her die is out of the question, he needs her for when he finds Kurogiri or Chabatake, whoever comes first.

He could attempt to find a hospital that won’t ask questions, but he doesn’t really have connections like that.

The only other options are to return to Yuuei, which isn’t ideal, if their actions at the Sports Festival are anything to go on, or hope that she recovers.

Sasuke looks back over to Eri, whose eyes are glazed and has blood dripping from her lips. He doesn’t think of Itachi.

“Shit.” He mutters.

“Sasuke-sama?” Sana wonders.

“I’ll be right back.”

He puts a genjutsu on Eri to let her sleep while he leaves. He lifts her easily and wraps her in several blankets.

He puts her down on the couch and puts a genjutsu on himself so he’ll look like this world’s version of Hatake Kakashi.

He disappears from the warehouse and reappears around the back of the school. He chose the back instead of the front to give the teachers plenty of time to meet him at the gate while he runs up to the front. He decides to use his keycard to get in instead of teleporting directly inside so they’ll know he’s there.

By the time he’s at the school, several of the heroes are already there. Aizawa, Nezu, Midnight, and All Might.

Which is weird, they should all (with the exception of Nezu) have classes to teach.

“Young Hatake!” All Might shouts.

“Where have you been?” Aizawa says at the same time.

Sasuke ignores all of them and looks at Nezu directly. “Can I talk to Recovery Girl?”

“Are you injured?” Midnight asks, somewhat surprised.

“No. It’s not for me.” Sasuke doesn’t break eye contact with Nezu.

“You may speak to her. But you’ll be escorted by All Might and Eraserhead. I expect to see you after things have cleared up as well.”

That’s fair, Sasuke doesn’t really care. At this point, the more the merrier.

All he can think of is bloodied lips and promises that never came true.

“So you’ve come back, then?” Recovery Girl asks.

Sasuke doesn’t answer that. “Can you heal illnesses?”

Recovery Girl’s eyes look sad, now. “It depends. What’s the illness?”

“I don’t know.” Sasuke mutters. “She’s got blue lips, is coughing up blood, a high fever, and can’t seem to breathe properly.”

“How old is she?”

“Six.”

“Sounds like Pneumonia. In which case, I’m not sure I’ll be able to completely heal her. I can try, though.” Recovery Girl promises.

“Is there a reason you didn’t take her to a hospital, young Hatake?” All Might interjects.

Ah, that’s right. He should probably tell them now to avoid confusion. “I’m not Hatake Kakashi. He never existed in this world.” He lets the genjutsu fall away. “I’m Uchiha Sasuke.”

“Well that explains it.” Aizawa nods, like he was expecting this. “Don’t look so surprised. You walk in a way that hints at an injury that isn’t on your medical records, and believe me, we’ve looked, your Quirk is an illusion based Quirk and a good one at that, plus, whenever someone calls your name, you look like you’re expecting to see someone else. I don’t care that you lied, you never hurt anyone here so it’s not really that important. There’s a child’s life at stake, right?”

Sasuke nods, feeling slightly dumbfounded.

“Then let’s get to it.”

He feels a bit like someone’s tripped him and he’s flailing aimlessly. It’s been a long time since he’s felt like that.

“I’ll take you to her.” He hesitantly holds both hands out. “I can’t teleport all of you if you aren’t connected to me in some way.” He explains at their incredulous looks.

“I thought your Quirk was illusions?” All Might muttered, but he puts his hand on Sasuke’s shoulder anyway.

(And Sasuke doesn’t think of other people who’ve done the same to him. Doesn’t think of where they are or what they did to him-)

“It is.”

Aizawa and Recovery Girl both take one hand and as soon as they’re both touching him, he returns to the warehouse.

He lifts the genjutsu off Eri, who begins to cough heavily as soon as it’s gone. The shivers return and Sasuke wonders if Itachi suffered like this too.

Recovery Girl is over there in an instant, with the other two heroes following behind her.

“There, there, dearie.” She pats Eri’s head.

She then turns to Sasuke and starts asking him several questions.

“Does she have her immunizations?”

“I don’t know, doubt it.” Chisaki isn’t one to bother with such things.

“What’s her Quirk?”

“Rewind. It’s what it sounds like.”

“Any allergies?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Anything else I should know?”

A lot, actually, but Sasuke’s not entirely sure how to say that to her.

Recovery Girl plants a kiss on Eri’s forehead and the effect is almost instantaneous. Eri’s breathing calms, somewhat, her eyes return to their natural colour instead of foggy, and a bit of colour returns to her face.

“She’s not out of the woods, ideally, I’d prefer to bring her to a hospital, or even just to Yuuei, but I don’t think you’ll agree to that.” Recovery Girl sighs.

She’d be right.

“However,” She continues, “I can’t, in good conscience, leave you both here to live by yourselves. And we still do need an explanation from you. Don’t think you’re in the clear, mister.”

Something other than apathy must show on his face, because Recovery Girl’s eyes soften. “We can either talk here, or back at the school. It’s up to you, but we do have to talk.”

Sasuke could kill all of them in the blink of an eye.

He could, but some part of him is scolding him and telling him that doing so would be an exceptionally stupid thing to do.

“Here is fine.” Sasuke says because if he had to choose, he’d rather be in a place where none of them know the exact location of. Then, remembering his manners for a second, he offers, “Tea?”

Now it’s Recovery Girl’s turn to be confused, but she does a good job of not showing it. “Sure. All Might? Eraser?”

“I’ll have some.” All Might nods.

“No, thank you.” Aizawa declines. He does seem to be more of a coffee man.

Sasuke puts a kettle on and returns to the living room where the heroes and Eri still are. He lifts Eri up from off the couch and puts her down in her room where Sana stayed while Recovery Girl healed Eri.

The kettle whistles and Sasuke puts the tea in the cups before pouring the water. He sets three cups down on the coffee table.

All Might looks exceptionally awkward, standing around. Recovery Girl has already taken a seat.

“You can sit down.” Sasuke says flatly.

“O-oh! Thank you, young Uchiha.”

“Sasuke is fine.” Sasuke says. There are no Uchiha left, his last name is a reminder of that.

All Might looks like he’s about to argue but he holds his tongue.

When no one else says anything, Recovery Girl sighs.

“Of all the socially awkward- nevermind. Where did you go, Sasuke-kun?” Recovery Girl wonders.

He almost prefers to be called by Kakashi’s name.

“I’m sure you saw the news of the burned down buildings.”

“So it was you.” Aizawa mutters.

“That’s where I found Eri.”

“She was with the Shie Hassaikai?” Recovery Girl seems more worried than before.

“Hn.”

“How did you find out about her?” Aizawa asks.

“All for One.”

All might chokes on his tea. Sasuke will allow himself to laugh about it when the man isn’t sitting in the room with him.

“Pardon?” All Might wheezes.

“He and I had a deal, for a bit.” Sasuke answers calmly. “He went back on his end of the deal. I acted accordingly.”

“You mean to say you fought him?” Recovery Girl seemed doubtful of him, which was fair. But They’d hardly seen him fight.

“No, to say it was a fight may be a stretch. He’s still recovering, currently.” Sasuke refills his cup. He did a good job with this tea, even though it’s been a while since he’s made any.

This time, All Might spills his tea on his pants.

Sasuke hands him a napkin. “Don’t stain the couch.”

“R-right. My apologies.” All Might mumbles.

“How did you meet All for One?” Aizawa asks.

“In a bar a month or two ago. I was to go undercover at Yuuei” The pressure in the room drops at this. “While your protectiveness isn’t… completely unfounded, I never sold out your students.”

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Recovery Girl challenges.

“None of your students are dead yet, are they?” The silence in the room is answer enough. “Well, there you go.”

“You speak of life and death as if they’re trivial things… which side are you on, Uchiha Sasuke?” This was the most serious he’d ever seen All Might. He even pulled out his full name.

“Neither.” Sasuke leans back, he’s not scared of All Might. All Might is weaker than All for One and Sasuke could beat All for One. “I’m on the side that can get me what I need.”

“And that is?” Aizawa asks.

“However outlandish this may sound, keep in mind that I don’t really care if you believe me or not.” Sasuke reminds them. “I’m a dimensional traveller. Not on purpose, unfortunately. If it was on purpose then I might be able to get back without your help.”

“You’re… stuck here?” All Might mulls the idea over.

“Essentially, yes.”

“How did you get here in the first place?” Aizawa seems to believe him, even if the man still thinks Sasuke is a bit out of it, he’s not entirely wrong.

He brushes the hair that covers his right eye out of his face. “It was an accident on my part, it was a result of this eye, but I’m not sure what caused it exactly.” Sasuke shrugs.

If he were in this situation in the Elemental Nations, then maybe he’d be a bit more wary about giving this information away. As it stands, though, whether or not they know every last detail about his abilities, he can still beat them.

“What does Eri have to do with all of this?” Recovery Girl inquires.

“I’m currently in possession of a drug that can amplify a Quirk’s power by several notches. As I’m sure you’re aware, teleportation Quirks are rare. I can’t have any of them dying.”

“So you were going to use her?” Aizawa seems angry at this.

Sasuke frowns. Where is this moral high ground coming from? “Your school does the same, does it not? You use the children who go there for publicity and popularity while arguing that it’s for their own good. At least I’m not lying.”

“We’re training them to be heroes!” All Might says.

“They’re still children in the eyes of your law.” Sasuke points out. “Listen, I don’t really care if you want to raise child soldiers or not, it seems to be a common theme across dimensions. I want to go back, and I need Eri to do that. You can groom her all you want after.”

He’s not really seeing the issue here, but the heroes clearly think otherwise. Now they’re looking at him with pity. Well, All Might and Recovery Girl are. Aizawa just looks like he’s thinking.

“Young Sasuke, heroes are very important to our society! Surely, you can see that?”

“I can see that. I’m not trying to argue with you. You don’t have to sell me the idea of your society.”

“Then-”

“For fuck’s sake.” Sasuke mutters before he completely tunes out everything All Might says.

He collects the tea cups and plates and puts them in the sink.

“Why did you stop working with All for One?” Aizawa asks him.

He’d thought the questions were over, but apparently not.

“You said it was because he went back on his word, but surely you were expecting that?”

How perceptive of him. And annoying.

“It doesn’t matter.” Sasuke decides. And it doesn’t matter, it’s none of their business.

Aizawa looks like he doesn’t believe him, which is good for him, but Sasuke isn’t going to elaborate.

He leaves the kitchen and is about to tell the heroes that it’s time for them to leave when Recovery Girl speaks.

“I’m sure, from what you’ve told us, there’s nothing we could do to keep you somewhere you don’t want to be, but Yuuei is open if you need it.”

Wonderful.

Oh, but that does remind him.

“I’d appreciate it if you could keep the HPSC out of the loop about this whole thing.” He says in his most non-threatening voice despite the fact that this is absolutely a threat.

“The Hero Commission? Why?” Aizawa wonders.

“I’m not sure what your policies on kidnapping are but I think they broke all of them.” Sasuke shrugs.

“They-”

“Young Sasuke-”

“Are you-”

They all speak at the same time Sasuke doesn’t know who to respond to, so he settles for responding to none of them.

“Are you safe now?” Recovery Girl repeats.

Saying “now” implies that there was a moment in which he was unsafe. “Don’t… worry?” He tries. At this point, anything to get them to leave. “They weren’t good at it.”

Aizawa inhales deeply.

“What the fuck.”

Chapter Text

The heroes leave, eventually. It takes a lot of poking and prodding coupled with several subtle threats, but they do leave.

“Sasuke-sama!” Haya says excitedly.

“Hm?” Sasuke looks up from the book he was reading.

“I’ve found something!” Haya lands on the couch cushion next to Sasuke.

Sasuke pats her on the head and listens as she explains that she was flying around Chabatake’s old neighbourhood when she heard someone talking to someone with the same last name, an older woman. It was Chabatake’s mother.

Still no word on Kazuhiko himself, but his mother was a good place to start. He wonders why she wasn’t mentioned on his file, but ultimately deems it as an unnecessary thought. He’s found her now.

“Thank you, Haya.”

“My pleasure, Sasuke-sama!” Haya chirps happily before disappearing.

It’s late now. 1am is approaching and Sasuke still feels like he has a lot to do.

He definitely wouldn’t be able to talk to Chabatake Sr. if he were to go to her now, since she’s probably sleeping.

Eri is asleep too, which is good. The sooner she’s over that illness, the better. Especially since he’s so close to finding someone who might be able to get him out and he’ll need her for it.

Speaking of which, he should probably see her Quirk in action at some point. That way he can see if a genjutsu would work in terms of getting her to use it effectively, since she probably can’t use it very well as of yet. That, and forcing her to use it if she doesn’t want to would probably make it less effective.

With everyone else asleep and there not being much he can do, for now, Sasuke decides to go to sleep.

Sana is curled up on the couch, so Sasuke dims the lights in the living room for him before returning to his room.

“Chabatake-san?” Sasuke is in Oguchidori in the Kanagawa ward, which is where Kazukiho used to live and where his mother still resides.

“Who’s asking?” She replies without looking up from what she’s doing.

He found her working at an ikayaki food stall. It’s a little more than halfway through July, now.  The street is decorated with lanterns and lights. It’s probably some kind of summer festival.

“I have some questions about your son.” Sasuke says slowly. “And I’ll take one of those.” He points to one of the ikayaki options on the menu behind the woman.

“Fine.” She starts making the food and Sasuke watches as people bustle around them, setting up more decorations for a festival. “You a tourist?”

“…Something like that. Why do you ask?”

“You look like it’s the first time you’re seeing the Toro Nagashi festival.” She replies as she hands him the food he ordered. “That’ll be 300 yen.”

Sasuke hands over some coins and waits.

“You gonna sit there all day?” She snaps.

“Like I said, I have some questions about your son.”

“What do you want to know about him? You aren’t a member of the police, are you?”

“No.”

“Yakuza?”

“No.”

She narrows her eyes at him and scrutinizes him slowly. “Then why d’you care Kazu?”

Sasuke decides to lie. “He helped me out a while back. I’m repaying a debt.”

“Then you’re shit out of luck.” She scoffs. “You say you owe him yet you don’t even know he’s dead?”

What.

Sasuke feels his nails bite into his palm. “Not even the police knew.”

“Everyone else but them did. Some problems came up between his guys and a damn supervillain.” She pauses and scans the crowd behind him. “It’s getting late.” It’s not, but Sasuke accepts the warning. “Get the hell out of here.”

Sasuke doesn’t waste anymore time arguing with her before he disappears back to the warehouse.

He takes a moment to calm his anger. His only lead is dead.

After all that… he’s dead. What a waste.

A lot of emotions go through his mind at once. Anger, frustration, anger again–

“Sasuke-sama? Any luck?” Sana asks.

Sasuke’s hands shake.

And it’s cruel, he knows it is before he does it but nothing is working out and he’s so upset with himself for letting hope weasel it’s way into his heart.  

He throws the plate of, now crushed, food at the wall and doesn’t even get the satisfaction of hearing the plate shatter because it’s made of styrofoam. His hands are gross and sticky from the soy sauce but he can’t find it in him to care.

“No.” He grits out before going to his room and slamming the door so hard some of the stone hinges shatter. He’s been cruising through this world so sure that an answer would just appear but he, of all people, should’ve known better.

Whether he couldn’t find Kurogiri because of some Quirk All for One gave him, or because they’d found a way around his tracking, or because he’s already fucking dead like Kazuhiko, it doesn’t matter. What looked like a short stay is turning into a lengthy one and Sasuke doesn’t know how to handle that.

It’s not like he’d even prefer the Elemental Nations to this one. The Elemental Nations sucks. A lot. It’s pretty godawful there and everyone knows it. But he’s lived there all his life. He’s grown up with it and intended to die surrounded by chakra and ninja and jutsu . Or at least something vaguely familiar.

And now would be a good time to think of a backup plan, but the problem is, Chabatake was his backup plan. It’s not even that he was his last resort, but he was the only plan he could go with that at least felt like he was upholding some level of human decency.

The drug, Trigger, could be used on himself. Sasuke’s considered it several times, and each time he’s reminded of how poorly that would go.

For starters, he doesn’t know what aspect of his power it would enhance. For all he knows, it could do absolutely nothing to help him and enhance all the wrong things. Because of how complicated Chakra is and how little understanding there is for it in this world, it would be extremely risky for him to use Trigger on himself, and even more so to attempt to have Eri rewind him, whether or not she’s under a genjutsu.

He also just doesn’t want any more power than he currently has. He spent too many years of his life desperately searching for power. The Elemental Nations are still suffering from the effects of his foolish decisions. He’s still suffering from the effects of his foolish decisions, and will be for quite some time.

Sasuke comes out of his own thoughts slowly. The sky, which was once warm with the Sun’s light, has dimmed considerably since he’s returned from Chabatake Sr.’s ikayaki stall.

He leaves his room and cleans the soy sauce off his hand.

He picks the styrofoam plate and puts the plate and the food on the floor in the garbage. A part of him protests at the waste of food– you don’t know when you’ll get more, you shouldn’t be wasting it, have you learned nothing?– but he ignores it.

Sana is blatantly staring at him since he probably knows that Sasuke would be able to see through any attempts at subtlety.

“Sana.” Sasuke tries to find a way to make things less awkward and settles for a strangled apology. “I… apologize.”

Sana accepts it immediately, like he always does. “It is alright, Sasuke-sama. There was never anything to apologize for.”

Sometimes, Sasuke thinks, the people in his life are too kind to him.

Chapter Text

Sasuke remembers, randomly, that he’s promised the principal of Yuuei a meeting to discuss… well, everything.

Now, with his last way of getting back dead with no body, he’s really got no other choice at this point. As much as he hates the thought of accepting something close to help from people like the Yuuei heroes, from people so self-obsessed, there’s not much else he can do, is there?

He’s tried doing things himself, which led him to the League, which led him to the heroes, which will either get him what he wants or lead him somewhere else.

“Eri.” He motions for her to come to where he’s sitting.

Eri is up and about, now. Her illness basically disappeared after another day of sleeping, which was a relief for reasons Sasuke doesn’t want to get into.

“Yes, Sasuke-san?” She stands before him, small and anxious. Sasuke only briefly regrets what he’s about to ask of her.

“You know how to use your Quirk, right?”

Eri, who had already been looking at her feet, seems to shrink on herself even more.

“Yes.” She whispers.

“Can you use it on this apple?” He picks up an apple from off the coffee table. Sana had been eating it earlier, so it has a few bites taken out of it.

“Okay.” Her voice is still quiet, she’s scared, but not as scared as she might’ve been a few weeks ago, which Sasuke chooses to take as a good sign.

She takes the apple in both hands and stares at it for a bit. The apple contorts a little as rot begins to take over the skin. The apple shrinks and shrinks until just the rotten core remains.

Both Eri and Sasuke stare at it. Eri with horror, Sasuke with mild curiosity.

“Okay?” She asks hesitantly.

“Yeah.” Sasuke gently removes the apple from her hands.

Eri doesn’t leave, which is good, Sasuke wants her opinion on the heroes, which she probably doesn’t remember very well.

He has yet to deal with Chisaki more… permanently, but it’s kind of taken a backseat to his other concerns.

He knows Sana told Eri how she was healed, at least a little bit. “What do you think about heroes?”

Eri points at herself questioningly. Sasuke nods. “They’re… okay?”

Usually people have a pretty concrete idea on them one way or another, but Eri wouldn’t have had many interactions with them before today, so it makes sense that she wouldn’t know what to say.

The only reason he’s even considering working with the heroes as a solution to his problem is because he’s out of options and they have resources, something that he could get but it would take a while and that’s more time he doesn’t want to spend here.

Eri doesn’t have a bad opinion of heroes, not that she would vocalize it if she did, which makes it easier.

Maybe being around people who aren’t 6 years old or have scales will be a good change, Sasuke attempts to rationalize.

Besides, if things go awry he can easily escape.

He decides to talk with Aizawa and/or Nezu before bringing Eri to Yuuei. He needs to know what they plan to do in terms of living arrangements and how they’re going to handle the whole situation.

Sasuke appears right outside the teacher’s lounge in the school and knocks on the door.

It’s Midnight who opens it.

She doesn’t seem surprised to see him. “Nezu told us we should expect you sometime soon.”

Sasuke carefully doesn’t let his face contort into a scowl.

She lets him in and lets Aizawa take it from there.

“Despite your explanation to us a few days ago, I’m sure you know we still have a few questions for you?”

“Hn.”

Aizawa goes on to explain that there’s a member of the police department who’ll be coming to the school who can test whether or not he’s being truthful. Sasuke’s a bit wary about having someone like that talk to him, but it seems like it’s unavoidable if he’s going to use the school’s resources to get back.

He and Aizawa go to the principal’s office, where they’re let in after a few minutes of waiting, to find Nezu and the police officer already waiting for them.

“Uchiha Sasuke? I’m Tsukauchi Naomasa.” He sticks out his hand, expecting a handshake. When it becomes obvious that Sasuke won’t be giving him a handshake, Tsukauchi clears his throat and keeps speaking. “I’ll be here to verify that everything you’re saying is true.”

Sasuke nods, he knows this already.

They all sit down and Nezu starts with the questions.

“You claim dimensional travel. It’s not as if it’s an especially hard thing to believe, but your only proof so far are your multiple Quirks, which, if you’re familiar with the nature of All for One’s Quirk, can be explained without dimensional travel coming up.”

“Right, but if you’re familiar with All for One’s personality, he’s more likely to keep any Quirks such as the ones I have to himself.”

“And what are those abilities?” Tsukauchi interjects.

Sasuke must hesitate for longer than he thought, because Nezu speaks up.

“We only ask because if we’re going to attempt to find a way back, your abilities might be more useful than anything we can do. Sometimes it’s just a matter of the correct environment, so to speak.” He says bluntly, no sign of a lie.

In the Elemental Nations, most abilities of higher ranking shinobi are pretty much common knowledge thanks to the existence of the Bingo Books and word of mouth.

Sasuke lists all the abilities he can think of, but there are probably more he doesn’t use as often. His arsenal is much larger than he’d originally thought, but he has improved a lot since he’s last done a full run-through of everything he can do.

He doesn’t go into much detail about what he can do, since it’s not really that important and it would make this meeting much longer than it needs to be.

“…That’s all true.” Tsukauchi nods after Sasuke’s finished speaking.

Nezu smiles, well as much as a mouse can smile. “How interesting! And you said these abilities are all connected to your Chakra?”

A part of Nezu reminds him or Orochimaru, just a little bit. Though Nezu seems much more… held back, than Orochimaru was.

“Yes.” Sasuke confirms.

“I see. Well, enough about that, I imagine we could spend hours at a time talking about differences between your world and ours. You came here to figure out a way back, is that right?”

Sasuke nods.

“You currently have the drug, Trigger, in your possession. Your original plan was to find a person with a teleportation Quirk, use the drug on them, and if it were to go poorly, have Eri reverse the effects?”

That’s pretty much it. Though it was All for One’s plan, not his.

He nods again.

“Ah, well, unfortunately, we can’t condone experimentation to such an extent, though I’m sure you would be very careful.” Nezu’s eyes glint dangerously. Ah, that’s it.

“Do you have a past in human experimentation, principal?” Sasuke asks, rather rudely.

“Do you?” Nezu counters.

That’s fair, they aren’t really here to pretend they’re friends. Nezu wants to know if Sasuke is a threat to the perceived safety they have here and Sasuke wants to know if Nezu will be useful to him.

Tsukauchi breaks the tension by speaking up again. “You said that coming here was an accident? Have you looked into why that might’ve occurred?”

“Not extensively, no.” Sasuke shakes his head lightly. “Experimenting with my Rinnegan tends to end in… unforeseen effects.”

“Of what nature?” Aizawa speaks for the first time in the meeting.

“Deadly.” Sasuke replies flatly. It gets his point across and they don’t ask much more on that front.

They decide to change the tone of the conversation completely by talking about the HSPC instead.

“They kidnapped you?”

That’s a bit of a stretch.

“I went willingly.” Sasuke corrects.

“Why?” Aizawa asks incredulously.

“I needed to send a message.”

“Did you succeed?” Nezu seems more amused than anything.

“I think so.”

The rest of the meeting continues similarly, they talk about Eri and living arrangements for her. Sasuke brings up Sana in passing, but he doesn’t mention that he’s a snake. They discuss possible uses of the Yuuei facilities for testing of Sasuke’s Rinnegan, but save it for a last resort since there’s always the possibility that Sasuke could level Yuuei to the ground.

They also discuss the League, albeit briefly. Sasuke hands over his phone as evidence, since it has a screenshot of the conversation in which Kurogiri gave him the address to the League’s hideout. Plus, it’s got a lot of other conversations with Kurogiri that the police want to look over.

The final topic of the meeting is All for One. They were probably leaving it for last, since it’s a bit of an awkward topic to bring up. “So, you almost murdered the supervillain that’s been bothering us for decades? Sounds fake but ok,” seems like an odd way to start a conversation.

“I’m sure you’d rather leave this alone, but we do need to know why you stopped working with All for One. As a safety precaution so we can know if he’ll want some kind of revenge.” Tsukauchi says slowly.

All for One will absolutely want revenge, and Sasuke is prepared for that, but he can see why it would be a concern for them, since there are quite a few children at this school.

“He’s likely to return. He doesn’t seem like the type to take betrayal lying down.” Not like the Sandaime had been, Sasuke thinks rather bitterly.

“No, he doesn’t.” Nezu stares at him intently, waiting for him to continue.

“As I’m sure you’ve picked up, principal, I have a bit of a history with laboratories.” Sasuke phrases this in a way that won’t let them pity him, since pity is the last thing he needs. 

“All for One, on the other hand,” he continues, “didn’t seem to get the message. I don’t know the extent of your understanding on how the Nomu the League uses… but there aren’t very many easy ways to get several Quirks into one body.”

The look of grim understanding that crosses Nezu’s face is probably echoed on Sasuke’s.

“Ah. And where is this laboratory?” Nezu wonders.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t given directions. I can bring you there, if you wish.” Sasuke, personally, would rather not go there again, but if they want to burn it down then he’s not going to hinder them.

“That won’t be necessary.” Tsukauchi declines.

“So you were taken to his laboratory, and… what, had a change of heart?” Aizawa asks suspiciously.

It does sound a bit ludicrous, especially without the context of Sasuke’s early teenage years.

“I miscalculated in the past, Aizawa-san. I don’t intend to repeat the same mistake twice.”

He, Sana, and Eri spend pretty much all day deciding what they want to keep and what they can leave behind.

Sasuke decides to leave up the warding seals, since they aren’t actively siphoning chakra from him, it would be more work to take them down than to leave them.

Eri chooses to keep more stuff than he thought she would. He’s not entirely sure what she and Sana do when Sasuke’s not around, but it seems like Sana’s taken extra care to teach her that the things she has belong to her and she can keep them for as long as she wants.

He watches, out of the corner of his eye, as Sana and Eri speak quietly and quickly before Eri approaches him.

“Uh… Sasuke-san…?” Eri asks carefully.

“Hm?” Sasuke looks up from the bookshelf he’s looking through. He, obviously, can’t take all the books he owns, even with a sealing scroll, it would be really annoying to take them everywhere.

“Where… are we going?”

“We’re going to find the heroes who healed you.” Sasuke replies.

“Oh.”

Sasuke resumes sorting through the bookshelf for things he hasn’t read and he hears Eri’s footsteps disappear to somewhere else in the warehouse.

He seals all the books he’s found that he hasn’t read and stands up.

“All done?” He asks Sana, tossing the scroll into the bag for sealed books.

“Yes, Sasuke-sama.” Sana takes one last look at the warehouse. “Shall we go?”

Sasuke picks up the two bags he managed to stuff all the scrolls into without damaging anything. 

Sana curls around his foot and Eri hesitantly takes his hand. He feels the air around him shift and instead of the dim glow of the warehouse, the stone walls that were lined with books and random sheets of paper, he’s looking at the sterile hallways of Yuuei.

He takes a breath, then several more, before knocking on the staff door once again.

Chapter Text

He and Eri are put with Present Mic, for the time being, since Aizawa will be away on a training camp for the first week of July.

When Sasuke met Present Mic for the first time, he thought the man reminded him of Naruto, a little bit. Loud, boisterous, blonde, to name a few traits they shared. Present Mic has obviously gone to great lengths to grow into his loud persona, just like Naruto did.

“You can put your stuff in the room two doors down that hallway.” Present Mic points to a hallway just off the kitchen. “Then we can all reconvene here to discuss some house rules, your schooling, etc..”

Present Mic, like Naruto, is a lot calmer when there aren’t as many people around. Sasuke doesn’t want to project Naruto’s past onto Present Mic, but he thinks that there are probably more similarities there as well.

Sasuke follows where Present Mic was pointing, noting exits, possible weapons, and break-in points as he goes. Eri seems to be doing something similar, but for hiding places.

There are cat toys in various corners of rooms, and other cat care-related items.

“Do you have a cat, Present Mic-san?” The answer is yes, obviously, but he asks anyway.

“I do! Two of them, actually. But they like to be outside more than inside so you probably won’t see much of them for a while.”

The room they’re put in is a decent size, a little cramped for two people, but it’ll do. Sasuke doesn’t really intend to spend a whole lot of time in the room in the first place, since he’ll be putting more effort into finding All for One and, well, putting it mildly, beating the shit out of him for causing so many problems.

He sets the bags down and waits for Eri to enter the room.

“Is this where we’ll live, now?” She asks quietly. A lot of her nervousness around Sasuke in particular has disappeared since he asked to see her Quirk on the apple. It’s probably because she knows what her purpose is, in his eyes, so she has no need to be so afraid of him anymore.

It’s a bit of a skewed mindset, but one similar to Sasuke’s so he can’t really criticize it.

“For now, yes.”

He lets her look around a bit more, lets her examine the room carefully. He does the same, but he’ll do a more thorough job with the help of Sana, who’s currently hidden under the bed.

He’ll have to bring him up to Present Mic at some point, but he figures it’ll get out on it’s own if he doesn’t actively try to hide it.

Sasuke and Eri return to the kitchen where Present Mic is making a few sandwiches.

“Hungry?” He asks.

Sasuke isn’t hungry, but Eri is. She looks to Sasuke for confirmation and he nods his head slightly.

She would probably let Sana test the food, if Sana were in the room with them, but as it stands, she’ll just have to hope that Present Mic hasn’t poisoned the food.

“No, thank you.” Sasuke declines.

“Alright, more for us!” Present Mic says, unfazed.

Present Mic doesn’t sit at the island with them, he instead stands across from them.

“So, I don’t really know what the rules were for you guys anywhere else you’ve lived, but why don’t we establish some new ones so everyone is comfy?” He says it like it’s a suggestion but it really isn’t.

Eri nods to show she’s listening.

“First, my name is Yamada Hizashi, you can call me Hizashi or Present Mic. I’m deaf in both ears, but I have a hearing aid so it’s usually not too big of a communication issue, but if I don’t have it in, I’d appreciate it if you could face me when you speak!” He pauses, trying to think of other things to say. “Oh! I use he/they pronouns and I do live with someone else, but we’ll save his introductions for when he gets here.”

Eri and Sasuke blink in unison, taken aback by the jovial introduction.

“Either of you can go next, say your name or a nickname you want to go by, your pronouns, and anything else about you!” He smiles warmly.

Sasuke has no intention of going next, so he lets Eri speak. “U-um. I’m Eri… I don’t know what a pronoun is, I’m sorry.”

“No problem, little listener! A pronoun is what you use to address yourself. Like she/her, he/him, they/them, xe/xem, are some common ones. It’s nice to ask because we want people to feel comfortable being themselves!” Yamada explains

“Oh.” Eri pauses, then says, uncertainly, “She/her?”

Yamada nods enthusiastically and gives her a little thumbs up.

“I’m Sasuke,” he briefly considers saying his last name but decides against it. “He/him.”

“Nice and short!” Yamada says, but it doesn’t sound like he’s mocking him. “So, house rules!” They pull out a piece of paper with several bullet points on it. Most of them are filled out, but some are left blank.

Sasuke tunes him out as Yamada lists the rules. He subtly looks around the room. He notes the knives above one of the counters, there are probably more in a drawer. One of the cabinets was left slightly open, it has cleaning products inside. Good to know. The lights are secure in the ceiling, but one of them flickers a little.

(–the only visible lightbulb blinks on. The rest of the lights in the room come up slowly, which means he’s back.

“Enjoy your time here, Sasuke-kun?”

Of course not, how could he? But he can’t say that because he can’t speak , can’t move can’t–)

Sasuke shuts off that memory as quickly as it comes and pushes it out of his mind.

He blinks a few times and scans the kitchen again.

Nothing else of interest, it looks like. Like with the room, he’ll have to give it a better look later.

Yamada is still talking. It’s about school now.

“Eri, you won’t have to go to school quite yet, since you’re still pretty young.” The heroes also don’t know how much she knows about anything, really. Sasuke’s been minimally involved in her education, he’s mostly left everything up to Sana.

“Sasuke, you will need to go back to school.”

Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

“No, don’t give me that look. You’re still legally a minor, so legally, you have to be in school. It doesn’t have to be Yuuei, if you don’t want it to be.” ‘ But we’d really prefer it if you went to Yuuei’ is left unsaid.

There’s really not much they could do to force him to go to school and he’s sure they know that.

“We can look into other schools in the area, if you want. Or if you have something else you’re interested in then there are probably programs available.”

“Right.” Sasuke says neutrally. He’s basically on house arrest, is what he’s hearing.

“The bathrooms are right next to the kitchen,” Yamada points to their left, “and then there’s one upstairs. The upstairs part of the house is kind of unfinished, so it’s just the bathroom up there. Both bathroom doors lock but can be opened from the outside with a key for safety purposes. The keys for both bathrooms are on top of the fridge. Your bedroom door also locks, but I’d appreciate it if you would keep it unlocked or tell me if you want to lock it. I think that’s everything for now, don’t hesitate to ask me any questions you have!”

Eri nods slowly, clearly feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Yamada finishes his sandwich and puts the plate in the sink. Eri does the same.

It’s a bit awkward, but that’s to be expected.

“Eri, I need to talk to Sasuke for a bit, okay?” Yamada says.

Eri nods and turns to leave, casting several glances back at them both before she disappears behind the door to their shared room.

“I know I probably won’t be able to convince you to go to school.” That’s correct. “But if you don’t go, then it’ll raise problems with Child Protective Services, and both you and Eri could be removed from my care. Which would put you both in the foster system or under the care of another pro with a foster license.”

Sasuke grits his teeth.

Yamada’s eyes soften. “I know you want to find a way back as soon as you can, but you have to work with us, okay?”

There isn’t even a guarantee that the heroes will be able to get him back. They’re acting like they’ll be able to find a solution by tomorrow, which they won’t. Sasuke’s read all the theories on dimensional travel available for public consumption and he knows they’re not even close.

“Fine.”

“Great!” Yamada’s smile drops for a moment. “I also have to schedule a doctor’s appointment for both you and Eri.”

“Why?” Sasuke keeps his voice neutral.

“I know you don’t like it,” and isn’t that an understatement. “But we have to make sure you’ve got all your vaccinations and check for allergies.”

“I can’t get common illnesses and I don’t have any allergies.”

“We still have to check.” Yamada says apologetically.

“There’s no point. My world isn’t completely behind yours in medical advancements. We do have vaccines.”

“Alright. I’m not trying to argue with you.” Yamada attempts to soothe. “I’m just saying that to attend school and go most places, you need an updated vaccine record.”

Sasuke refuses to storm off like a petulant child. He’s an adult.

The problem is, he doesn’t know how his body would react to a vaccine. There’s a high chance that it would violently attempt to push the vaccine out of his body, which is a lot of pain to go through for no reason.

Sasuke inhales and attempts to deal with this like a grown person.

“Medically speaking, I don’t know if I can get vaccines.” Yamada nods like he’s listening. “Due to some… body alterations, I’m physically incapable of getting sick with anything bacteria, virus, fungus, or parasite related.”

“Okay,” Yamada drags out the last syllable and appears to be thinking deeply about something. “We will still need to go, but only so we can give you a routine checkup, okay?”

It’s not like he didn’t know what he’d be getting into, deciding to go to the heroes for help, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying.

“Fine.”

Sasuke slips out of the house, unnoticed. He has a couple locations to check in his search for All for One, the lab is one of them, but he won’t be going there tonight.

Since using summons didn’t get him what he needed, Sasuke decides to look for himself.

He teleports into the bar. He doesn’t make a sound as he looks around for anything that could let him know where All for One is. No one is there, which is a bit odd. It is the middle of the night, but there was always someone around.

They’re probably executing a plan of theirs, one that will, inevitably, put several lives in danger.

And see, Sasuke would love to tell someone about it, but unfortunately that would alert Yamada to his nighttime activities and that wouldn’t be good for several reasons.

Instead, he uses this opportunity to look around more thoroughly.

The bar looks more lived in, which probably means they got some new recruits at some point. He finds a high school uniform and some medical sutures. An empty mirror frame and shattered pieces of glass, makeup that looks well used and well cared for, personal belongings. It’s not really what you’d expect from a place such as this, but maybe it is.

Shigaraki’s room is as messy as Sasuke expected. It smells pretty bad too, but that’s not a surprise.

There are papers with plans written and scattered haphazardly across the floor.

For some reason, Sasuke didn’t think Shigaraki knew how to write properly. Maybe because he couldn’t really hold a pencil normally. Not that it mattered. Shigaraki’s education wasn’t really something Sasuke felt like concerning himself with.

He reads through some of the papers and it’s basically illegible. 

Maybe Shigaraki can’t write properly.

It’s mostly terminology that Sasuke vaguely recognizes from video games, but the gist of it is that they’re attempting to get someone from Yuuei into their group.

It’s not a bad idea, if they weren’t trying to go for the hero course, which is what they’re probably going to do. Shigaraki has some weird vendetta against the hero course because of course he does. It’s not a weird terrorist organization if the leader isn’t obsessed with kidnapping/murdering people, mostly children, they’ve never met.

If they’d gone for someone with a lot of spite against the hero course, it probably would be a whole lot easier to convince them instead of someone already in the hero course.

Well, it’s not like the League being stupid is anything new.

Sasuke teleports back to Yamada’s house just in time to miss the League returning with a very angry Bakugou in tow.

Chapter Text

He returns from his outing early in the morning, there are voices talking in the kitchen. Yamada’s is one he recognizes well, he recognizes the other one too. Is that Aizawa’s voice? Sasuke wasn’t aware that they were roommates.

It’s almost 5am, though, and it sounds like they’ve been talking for a while, so something probably happened in Yuuei.

He enters the living room where they’re both talking.

“Oh! Sasuke, you’re awake?” Yamada turns from their position on the couch to look at him, there’s a cat in his lap, Sasuke realizes. 

Once the cat notices Sasuke’s presence, it jumps off Yamada’s lap and darts off into another room. Sasuke carefully doesn’t let his face contort into a scowl.

“Hn.”

“Well, it’s good. The police want to talk to you again, since something happened at Yuuei’s training camp.” Aizawa says bluntly.

Sasuke nods, he probably left just in time for the League to return with whoever they kidnapped. He expected this, really, though the police already know where the League’s hideout is thanks to Sasuke’s intel and his phone that he still hasn’t got back.

He makes himself some coffee that doesn’t really do much for him anymore, it’s more for routine than anything, and contemplates between making some breakfast or just returning to the shared room with Eri.

“It’s a bit early, but I can make you something to eat real quick if you want?” Yamada wonders, already getting on their feet to prepare something.

“No, it’s alright. I can cook.” Sasuke declines.

“Oh, if you’re sure. I can always do it so you can relax.” Yamada doesn’t move to sit back down so Sasuke politely declines again.

He checks the fridge to find they’re surprisingly well stocked, probably courtesy of Yamada more than Aizawa. There’s bacon, some mackerel and another type of fish Sasuke can’t see well enough to identify, eggs, milk, things you’d expect from a fridge.

They also have a pantry off to the side of the kitchen stocked with things for baking, pastas, rice, and extra cleaning supplies.

Sasuke has a feeling that things will start moving very fast very soon, so he decides to make a nice meal for himself and prepare for an inevitable confrontation with All for One.

He grabs ingredients for pancakes; a cup of flour, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of butter, half a cup of milk, half a cup of water, ¼ a teaspoon of salt, and some cinnamon for flavour.

He can leave the main fight with All for One to All Might. It would be better for everyone involved if it wasn’t Sasuke fighting one of the most feared supervillains and rather the pillar of strength from this world. Since he highly doubts All Might would purposefully kill All for One, Sasuke only really needs to stick around until after the fight to deal the finishing blow.

He starts on some eggs, scrambled for convenience. It’s enough for him, but he is making a mess of their kitchen…. He puts a few more eggs in. If Yamada and Aizawa don’t eat, it can be for Sana or Eri later.

All Might is probably going to lead, or at least be a driving force behind any rescue team they send for the kidnapped student. Who the kid is isn’t really important, not really, and there’s no point in wondering about it because he’ll probably get some more specific details later.

Now is a good time to start the bacon, he reasons, since it’ll probably take the longest if he wants it evenly cooked through.

He sets the heat to one of the stove tops on low and places enough for several people in.

Cooking the other things goes similarly. He decides to make a ganache because he’s feeling particularly extra and he also just wants some chocolate.

“Whatcha making?” Yamada wonders, inspecting what he’s made.

“Food.” Sasuke replies dryly, before hesitating. “There’s enough for you and Aizawa-san.”

Yamada seems particularly touched that Sasuke thought to cook for him, which is weird. He’s not a complete asshole. Usually.

“I’ll set the table!” Yamada grabs plates and lays them on the placemats on the dining table. He continues moving around the kitchen in a similar fashion.

Sasuke chops some apples and throws them into a bowl.

“Where did you learn to cook?” Aizawa wonders, looking at the breakfast he’s made.

Sasuke remembers standing in his new kitchen, taking in all the things he didn’t know how to use. He’d eaten out for several weeks before deciding to attempt to make something for himself.

He wasn’t feeling particularly ambitious that night, he hardly felt much of anything at all, then. Not so soon after Itachi left.

Memories of what exactly he made are fuzzy, but he remembers the rice cooker short circuiting and the ham slices burning. The smell lingered in his kitchen for several days.

He doesn’t think he ate dinner that night, since there wasn’t really a dinner to be had. Plus, if he remembers correctly, it was too late at night to order anything. He probably lay on the floor and mourned his failures because his eyes wouldn’t make tears. He did a lot of that when he was around that age. 7 or 8, he thinks it was.

“Self-taught.” He answers. The memory isn’t a bad one, but it isn’t nice either. His apartment always felt too large for him alone, but there was no one else to fill the space.

“Impressive.” Aizawa comments. The praise is sincere enough, but it still feels a bit hollow to Sasuke’s ears.

There’s a large window behind the dining table. When it’s light out, it does a good job of illuminating the kitchen, but now, it only serves to make Sasuke feel paranoid.

He sits at the left head of the table, Yamada brings 2 differently flavoured bottles of juice and sits with their back to the window. Aizawa sits across from him.

“Since you’re up early, is it alright if we see the police in a few hours?” Yamada asks.

Sasuke shrugs and they continue to eat in silence. It’s a bit awkward but it’s not too bad.

The rest of the morning progresses slowly, when Eri wakes, Aizawa and Yamada sit both her and Sasuke down to have a talk.

“Shouta and I have places to be for most of the day, unfortunately, so Eri, you’ll be staying at Yuuei for most of the day.” Yamada says apologetically.

Eri nods slowly and looks at Sasuke. “What about Sana?”

“Sana?” Yamada wonders.

Ah, that’s right. They don’t know.

Eri doesn’t look like she’s going to explain, so that means Sasuke will have to.

“Sana is one of my summons.” Sasuke explains. They already know about his ability to summon animals, but he didn’t specify which.

“Oh?” Aizawa raises an eyebrow.

“He’s a borneo python.” Sasuke watches their reactions carefully. He doesn’t expect either of them to like snakes, most people don’t, but it would be easier if they didn’t say anything that would make Eri uncomfortable. “Non-violent and non-venomous.”

Aizawa’s face appears to go through several stages of grief before landing on reluctant acceptance. “He keeps to himself?”

“Yes. He’s an adult.” Sasuke nods.

Yamada glances at Eri, who’s cautiously hopeful. “Alright, I don’t mind.”

Eri’s lips twitch upwards in a way that always makes Sana exceedingly happy, but she doesn’t smile.

After Eri eats, she goes to shower. Sasuke showered a few hours ago so there isn’t much for him to do other than wait, since Aizawa mentioned that he’d be driving him to the station.

Instead of his usual attire, Aizawa is dressed up in a suit and tie with his hair tied behind his head.

“I doubt you’ll be at the station for very long, since you’ve already talked to the police before.” Aizawa tells him. Sasuke can’t tell if he’s trying to be reassuring or just sharing his thoughts.

He doesn’t really have anything to say to that, though, so he just goes with, “Hn.”

The cat that had walked off earlier returns to the living room and stares at Sasuke. Sasuke stares back.

The cat decides it likes Sasuke, so it walks up to him and nudges his leg with more force than Sasuke would expect from a cat.

“That’s Jelly.” Aizawa says. “She’s not very friendly to people other than Mic.”

Sasuke nods but he doesn’t take his eyes off the cat in front of him. Before the Uchiha Massacre, several cats could be found wandering the streets and playing with the clan children. They were well liked, even by Sasuke’s father, who kept food around for them.

Afterwards, the cats slowly stopped visiting the compound since there was no one there to greet them.

“Do you like cats?” Aizawa asks after prolonged silence.

“I do.” Sasuke gently picks up Jelly and she bumps his chin. “I used to look after several.” It’s not important information so Sasuke doesn’t mind telling him.

“What happened to them?”

Sasuke actually doesn’t know what happened to them. It’s been a while, so they probably passed. He hasn’t been back to the village to check.

“It was a long time ago.”

Aizawa doesn’t say anything else on the matter.

The police interrogation just has Sasuke repeating things he’s already said over and over. He’s been here 15 minutes and he hasn’t told them anything that he’s sure they don’t already know.

“I’ll take over from here.” A man who Sasuke recognizes as Tsukauchi enters the room.

The officers who’d been questioning him up until that point scoff.

“Hello, sorry about them.” Tsukauchi sighs.

Sasuke shrugs off his concern, he doesn’t really care. If he did, the officers would be dead.

“As a result of your help, we were able to find Bakugou almost immediately. So thank you.”

Sasuke doesn’t know what to say to that, people don’t usually thank him, so he doesn’t say anything.

“Anyway, we won’t be here long, though I’m afraid this won’t be that much of a nice conversation. I won’t be the one questioning you, but the people who have are aware of your situation.” And he does sound genuinely apologetic about this. It’s the last bit that comes as a bit of a shock to Sasuke, though.

“Aizawa and Nezu are behind the glass. They can hear and see everything that’s going on. Is that okay?”

Sasuke nods.

A woman and a man enter the room. They’re both dressed in business attire, all their clothes ironed and their hair pristine. The woman wears very thin, satin gloves. They don’t look convenient to wear all the time, but maybe it’s for fashion.

“You can ask for a break at any time.” The woman says.

“This is a psych eval?” Sasuke asks, somewhat shocked. He hadn’t thought they’d care about his mental state, but it does make sense. They have to make sure he’s sane in order to trust the words he says. Doesn’t mean he has to like it.

“It’s an assessment of your mental and emotional state and your cognitive function, but yes, essentially.” The woman dances around the words like she’s been trained all her life at bullshittery, and to be fair, she probably has.

The only time he’s gotten a psych eval was after the Uchiha Massacre. Orochimaru hadn’t really cared for that sort of thing, but he was surprisingly… well, understanding might be a stretch, but he was aware of the mental states of all the people he worked with. It wasn’t out of courtesy, though. If you understand someone, you’ll be able to take them apart easier. Orochimaru thrived on that.

“I’m Takabane Ichigo, my Quirk is enhanced intelligence.” The man introduces. “My coworker is Iwakoshi Riko, her Quirk is Clairvoyance, but she is unable to use it without skin to skin contact.”

That explains the gloves.

They sit down across from Sasuke and begin asking questions.

“Name?”

“Uchiha Sasuke.”

“Birthday?”

“July 23rd.”

“That’s soon.” Iwakoshi comments. “Do you celebrate your birthday each year?”

“No.” Sasuke answers. He used to, when he was very young. While his father was still alive, he hadn’t seen the point to birthday celebrations. Each year Sasuke had one, he always made sure that everyone knew his feelings on the matter.

“Why is that?”

Sasuke briefly glances at Tsukauchi, who’s noting their questions and waiting for Sasuke’s answer, presumably to check if it's the truth.

“Pass.” Sasuke mutters.

“Alright.” Iwakoshi accepts and moves on.

“Do you have any siblings?” Takabane asks.

“Do I seem like an only child?”

“No, I think you have an older brother, is that right?” Takabane looks to him for confirmation.

“Had,” Sasuke corrects, “and you’re right.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Iwakoshi seems sympathetic but Sasuke doesn’t really care about her apologies.

“It’s fine.”

“If you don’t mind, when did he pass?” Takabane shifts his glasses and looks as if he’s in the process of solving a puzzle.

“3 years ago.”

Tsukauchi’s face contorts in confusion. “I’m sorry,” he speaks up, “could you elaborate a little?”

That makes sense. Sasuke killed Itachi 3 years ago, but Itachi was brought back to life several months later so it would’ve technically been 2 years at that point.

He doesn’t feel particularly inclined to explain the idea of reanimation and the circumstances behind Itachi’s death to a group of total strangers, though.

“The situation was a bit complicated, at the time, but he died 2-3 years ago.” 

Tsukauchi nods, not completely satisfied but he seems to know that he won’t be getting any more information.

“He must have been quite young when he died.” Iwakoshi prods.

Not really, in Elemental Nations standards. He lived as long as anyone would expect as a Shinobi, in fact, he actually outlived the life expectancy for ninja from his generation.

“He lived longer than expected.” Is what Sasuke goes for.

“Was he ill?”

“Yes.” But he could’ve lived if he’d gotten a proper healer.

“It must’ve been hard.” Takabane looks even more focussed than before. “Were you close?”

“Pass.”

“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to insist you answer this question.” Takabane replies without missing a beat.

“We were not close, no.”

Tsukauchi raises an eyebrow and Sasuke has to resist the urge to scoff.

“We were close when we were children, but circumstances led us to not talking anymore. We only spoke for a short time before his death.”

“Circumstances?”

Sasuke wants to strangle Takabane.

“ Pass. ”

“Forgive me–”

“Forgive me, Sasuke, there won’t be a next time.” Itachi’s body slumps to the floor. His chest doesn’t rise and fall to indicate breathing.

He’s dead.

But he couldn’t be. Sasuke doesn’t believe it. Itachi is strong, there’s no way. Sasuke hadn’t come into this expecting to win. And he apologized? For what?

His breaths become short as his mind spirals.

Sasuke’s entire life has culminated up to this moment, this point. He’s gotten the revenge he wanted so badly but now? Now he has nothing.

And it’s pitiful, the realization that after all this time, Itachi was still the only person who gave him a purpose.

No, not pitiful, it’s disgraceful. After the years of torture and pain. He deserted his village because of him, and he has the audacity to just die.

His blood is seeping out of his body and onto the floor. Sasuke desperately wants to reach down and try to stop the blood. Put it back in Itachi’s body. It’s not supposed to be outside of it, if he loses that much blood he’ll–

Sasuke can’t feel any of his limbs, he’s not sure they’re even still there.

It’s not fair.

He almost laughs at the thought as soon as it comes. Of course it’s not fair. Nothing has ever been fair.

It’s not fair that his parents and family were killed. It’s not fair that Orochimaru did all those things to him and expected a thank you. It’s not fair that after all this time, the years of work, the years of loathing, Itachi apologizes , he apologizes! Sasuke doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for, and he can’t even ask.

For murdering their parents?

For psychologically torturing him not once, but twice?

For making Sasuke chase him around the world just to die pathetically?

For… Sasuke doesn’t even know. There are so many things he could spend days listing all the ways Itachi screwed him over. He could write poems and rhapsodies about it.

And he just. Apologizes. As if that’s going to fix everything! As if the 16 years Sasuke spent hellbent on revenge will all go away with a simple apology. He tore his entire life apart.

And he just-

Sasuke really hates his brother.

But no, he doesn’t, he can’t. Uchiha’s never really hate their families, it’s not… it’s just not done. Well neither is murdering them but Itachi did that without an issue–

“-r name is Uchiha Sasuke, you’re in a police precinct, it’s Thursday, the 19th of July. Can you try matching my breathing?”

Sasuke exhales heavily but struggles on the inhale. The lights are too bright for his eyes, he can’t- can’t focus–

“Your name is Uchiha Sasuke, you’re in Japan in a police precinct. It’s Thursday, the 19th of July. Your birthday is in 4 days.” Aizawa repeats. “Your name is Uchiha Sasuke, you’re in Japan in a police precinct. It’s Thursday, the 19th of July. Your birthday is in 4 days.”

Sasuke’s eyes focus a little better. Enough to see the splinters of wood from the table scattered on the floor, to see Takabane and Iwakoshi standing back with somewhat guilty expressions on their faces. 

Good, Sasuke thinks viciously.

“Can you name 5 things you can see?”

“Table’s broken.” Sasuke mumbles. “Assholes standing in the corner.” That’s all he can come up with, at the moment. He feels slightly faint, a bit like he’s about to pass out but he knows he can’t. Not here.

“That’s good.” It’s not, but Sasuke let’s Aizawa tell him it is anyway. “Anything else?”

Sasuke blinks several times and wiggles his fingers now that he can feel them properly. His back is against a wall, there’s a chair in the corner.

“Chair.” He feels air rush to his lungs all at once and takes a handful of shallow breaths.

Beyond Iwakoshi and Takabane, there’s a door. A light flickers overhead and Sasuke has to try his absolute best not to be drawn back into his mind.

He needs– needs something sharp. He needs to ground himself.

He bites into his thumb like he would if he were going to summon an animal, but he doesn’t let go. Blood touches his tongue and the taste is enough to spread feeling to his legs and remove the veil of numbness that had fallen over his mind.

It’s not until his legs stop shaking that he removes his thumb from between his teeth. Blood drips from his thumb onto the floor.

Aizawa looks like he has several things to say about Sasuke’s chosen coping mechanisms, but he settles for, “Alright kid, let’s go.” Then, to Iwakoshi and Takabane, “We’re done here.” 

Sasuke looks over to see Aizawa next to him. Not in his space, but just close enough that he could catch Sasuke were he to fall over.

“I apologi-” Takabane starts, but Sasuke cuts him off.

“If you like your tongue where it is, you’ll stop talking.”

“Come on.” Aizawa is already outside of the room.

Sasuke follows him out.

 His eyes don’t process anything on the way out, he sits in the backseat of the car, unseeing of his surroundings, though he blinks a few more times to try and force his eyes to adjust.

“I’m not going to leave you in the house alone after that, so I’m going to call Nemuri, Midnight, rather, to stay with you since I have somewhere I need to be.” Aizawa says, sounding regretful.

“Don’t.” Sasuke replies immediately. “It’s fine.”

“I know it’s fine. It’s for my piece of mind rather than yours. Is there someone else you’d like me to call instead?”

Sasuke scowls but relents. He still has things to do. It doesn’t matter what happened earlier. He’s already planned the rest of his day. If he canceled plans every time something like that happened, he’d never get anything done.

Aizawa calls Midnight and Sasuke doesn’t say anything for the rest of the car ride.

Chapter Text

Aizawa waits for Midnight to arrive before he leaves for the press conference. It’s 9:30 in the morning, and the conference starts at around 10 from what Sasuke’s gathered.

He’s still feeling out of it. A bit like someone has blindfolded him, spun him around several times, and told him there’s a pinata somewhere in the room. Only, there isn’t a pinata anywhere in the room and now Sasuke’s wandering around aimlessly. A bit of an extended analogy, but it sums things up anyway.

“I heard you had a bit of a rough time talking to the police?” Midnight says, surprisingly gentle. Sasuke is wary of her anyway, like he is of most pros in general, but specifically those from Yuuei.

She’s wearing a maroon fleece sweater, large and baggy, with sweatpants and wedged boots. It’s not a look he’d expect from her, given her whole gimmick, but he supposes everyone has civilian clothes and the whole point of them is to not stand out.

Sasuke nods slowly.

“I know I’m kind of a stranger, but if you want to play a board game or whatever it is you kids like to do, let me know.” She pauses. “God, I feel so old.”

Sasuke feels very awkward. He’s never had babysitters, it was always just Itachi, his mother, or just him by himself.

“I’m gonna read a book,” she pulls out a book titled, The Tombs of Atuan. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Sasuke nods again, rather jerkily, but she doesn’t say anything. He takes that as a win and retreats to his room.

He changes into something different from what he was wearing at the police precinct and summons a clone to take his place, since he’s not sure how long he’ll need to be gone for.

As far as Sasuke can tell from overhearing people talk at the station, there’s a raid that’s going to use the combined might of several pro-heroes across Japan. He also learned that Shigaraki attempted to kidnap Bakugou and convince him to join them.

Sasuke might’ve laughed at one point in his life, but as it stands, he’ll settle for wry amusement.

He’s not planning on doing a whole lot of fighting. He’ll leave that up to All Might and company. All he’s really going to be doing is delivering the finishing blow, or finishing the fight if All Might is unable to subdue All for One.

He teleports to a park that’s around a block from where the bar is and walks the rest of the way. There aren’t any shouts or large explosions quite yet, so he probably has a bit of a wait ahead of him.

The flow of civilians gradually slows due to the roadblocks that the police put in place a few blocks over.

He watches as the police get into position and the heroes begin to swarm the bar. All Might is first, of course, and the other heroes follow after.

The building goes down a few minutes after All Might punches a whole in the door. Sasuke sees Shigaraki scrambling from the rubble and cursing at someone, probably All Might.

Things seem to be going according to plan, in fact, even better than what the raid team had originally planned, by the looks of it. All for One emerges from the rubble, as predicted, and Sasuke can tell that he’s still somewhat weakened from their fight.

Sasuke had thought that one of All for One's Quirks would give him faster healing, but there’s probably a science-related answer to that.

It’s going fine, as expected. All for One can do everything except the one thing he wants most, apparently, but the heroes must prevail.

Everything is good… until it isn’t.

Sasuke doesn’t know what happened. Well, that’s not true. He does know, to some extent, but he hadn’t thought it would have such an effect on him.

He’s watching the fight go down. All Might and All for One exchange blows and it’s quite obvious that All Might is mere minutes away from winning the fight.

All for One’s eyes zero in on Sasuke’s exact location.

Something tugs on Sasuke’s life. It pulls and it pulls, unrelentingly. Sasuke gets over the original surprise and manages to pull back, but a piece of him is torn off. He can’t reach out and grab it again, despite his best efforts.

He feels more than he actually acknowledges what happens next. His eyes blur and his ears block out any and all sound. There’s the dull ache of his knees hitting the concrete he was standing on. The taste of iron bubbles in his throat and blood pours out of his mouth, but he can’t reach his arms up to stop it.

The exhaustion hits him in several waves, each more nauseating than the last. His legs shake and buckle under the weight of his upper body.

The side of his head burns, like it’s been scraped, but he can’t figure out why.

His vision fades out just as he comes to a semi-understanding of what’s just happened to him.

All for One tried to steal his Chakra.

Sana feels his connection to this world flicker. Something’s happened to Sasuke-sama, he realizes.

“Sana?” Eri whispers.

They’ve been sitting with some teachers from the human school for a while, going from place to place. They haven’t met very many new teachers, though, which is probably for the best, considering the circumstances.

“Nothing, hatchling, it’s fine.”

Eri nods and a small smile graces her face at the term of endearment.

Sana is always so proud of her when she smiles, though the elation that usually comes with it vanishes pretty quickly as he thinks back to his other hatchling.

He made the mistake once of thinking Sasuke-sama was strong enough for anything that came his way. For now, he is still a child. Sana believes in him, he really does, but of course he worries.

He worries when Sasuke-sama forgets things from the time he spent with Orochimaru. He worries when Sasuke-sama wakes from a nightmare, despondent and so unbelievably sad for hours. He worries on the days when it’s difficult for Sasuke-sama to look at food, shelter, and basic necessities and believe he deserves them.

He worries and worries but knows that there’s nothing he can do.

Shouta had told her that Sasuke was quiet and wouldn’t disturb her. She’d been warned several times to keep her distance. And she knows that she should. She’s been doing her best for the past few hours and there haven’t been any complaints from the kid so far, but she’s unsettled either way. So much so that she might actually feel happy if the kid were to leave his room and complain about things on end.

Nemuri is a teacher first and a hero second. She fucked up at the Sports Festival. She knows she did. She watched the videos and realized that her behaviours were the very definition of villainous. She knows that she’s probably lost the trust of many kids across the country, Sasuke (probably) included.

That doesn’t mean she’s going to ignore the kid. She promised Shouta that she’d check on him and make sure he still had some sanity left in his brain by the time she left and she intends to do that.

After several minutes of contemplation (it took around 10 minutes, she checked), Nemuri decides to check on him. Just the once, and if he tells her to fuck off, she’ll listen. As long as he isn’t actively dying.

She checks his room.

He’s not there.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Sasuke blinks his eyes and sleepily registers his restricted breathing. He does what anyone in his situation would do and, well, he panics.

Terror washes over him like ice and he rips the thing that’s making it hard to breathe off his face. It’s better, but marginally. He looks down and blearily notes the IV in his arm. His entire body tenses and he can’t move.

There’s something in his skin. Under his skin. It’s awful. He wants to tear it out, tear it off. Burn it to the ground, but he can’t. He’s so fucking scared that he can’t… can’t do anything–

“Sasuke-kun, I’m hurt. That IV was to make sure you wouldn’t be in too much pain, but it seems you’re so ungrateful that you took it out. Do you enjoy pain?”

There’s blood dripping down Sasuke’s arm from where he ripped the needle out. It doesn’t hurt, oddly enough.

He opens his mouth to respond but finds that he can’t. There’s nothing visibly restricting him so why…?

As if reading his mind, Orochimaru responds. “I had to keep you… willing.” He sounds regretful, but Sasuke knows he isn’t. There’s a gleeful lilt to his voice that betrays his true feelings.

He continues, “So you’ll find you can’t talk. That’s the work of some venom I found. Quite useful, but it can’t really be used in interrogations. It locks your jaw, as I'm sure you've realized. For how long, I’m not sure. Yet. Many of the other test subjects didn’t stick around long enough to find out. You will, though.”

No, Sasuke wants to say. I’ll kill you as soon as I’m strong enough.

He doesn’t. He can’t. Plus, if he did, Orochimaru would do nothing more than smile down on him like a snake that knows it’s going to catch the mouse that’s running from it.

His memories fade to black along with his consciousness.

Ah, they must’ve drugged him, he realizes distantly.

He wakes again, relieved to find his mind more capable of coherent thought than the last time, but he knows he won’t be up for long. Chakra exhaustion is dangerous, he knows this well. All Shinobi do because they all have to learn the hard way. Especially Uchiha, who’s Sharingan drains Chakra faster than many advanced jutsu, which is why so many Uchiha were trained to fight without it.

Sasuke turns his head minutely. Pain shoots up his neck and he fights down the groan that would’ve left his mouth. He can’t move any more than that, not that he really wants to.

Someone is speaking to him, but he doesn’t understand the words leaving their mouth. It all sounds jumbled.

He feels his eyes slip shut again and can only hope that he’s in a place where it’s safe enough to sleep.

The third time he wakes up, he stays awake for several hours longer than the previous two times. Regrettably, his movement is still limited, but it’s better than nothing, though he’s almost completely defenseless.

He opens his mouth experimentally and moves his jaw around. He knows better than to attempt speech, with the way his voice must be completely messed up. Coughing blood will do that to a person.

He inhales slowly several times before looking down at his arm where he knows there’s a needle. Despite the mental preparation, he still feels his entire body spasm and his mind shudder.

His hands shake when he takes out the IV and they continue to shake for a while after, regardless of his attempts to stop them.

After he calms himself down a little, Sasuke takes a moment to examine his surroundings.

He’s in a standard hospital bed, though the tech is a little more advanced than what he’s used to, he can figure out the basics well enough. He resigns himself to asking for the specifics of the machinery, since he doesn’t want to be hooked up to all these machines he doesn’t understand.

He carefully doesn’t think about his change of clothes because that would make him remember things he doesn’t want to think about .

The door creaks open and a person with a pixie-cut walks in. She’s pretty short, even compared to Sasuke who’s only average height.

“Glad to see you’re awake.” She says flatly. "I'll be your doctor while you're here. Keiji Yumeno."

Sasuke makes the motions for a pen and paper, since he isn’t going to risk destroying his voice for something so trivial as this.

She hands him a pen and a sheet of paper.

How long was I out for?

She reads it and fixes him with one of the most unimpressed looks he’s seen in a long time. For a moment, he thinks of Sakura, but that thought is quickly dispelled.

“3 weeks.”

Sasuke inhales so sharply he almost chokes.

Sure, severe Chakra exhaustion can put your average shinobi in a coma, but Sasuke isn’t your average Shinobi. He should have enough Chakra for the little piece All for One stole to be inconsequential.

“We don’t really know what’s wrong with you. It’s probably something to do with your Quirk, right?” At Sasuke’s nod, she continues. “Yeah, I figured. That’s why you’re in the Q.I ward.”

Sasuke isn’t entirely sure what that means, so he asks.

Q.I ward?

“Quirked Injuries.” She replies easily. “Which reminds me, do you have anyone you want to call? We couldn’t find anything for you on the records and you didn’t have any ID on you.” 

He should probably call Yamada and Aizawa for situations like this, since they are his legal guardians, but he doesn’t know their numbers.

Yuuei, ask to talk to the principal about Uchiha Sasuke.

“Uchiha Sasuke? That’s your name?”

Sasuke contemplates retorting with something snide, but thinks against it. He’s long-since learned against talking back to medics.

He settles for a nod.

The woman leaves after asking a few other questions. His age, if he has any family members, that sort of thing. Eventually, she seems to know that he’s getting tired.

Sasuke fights to keep his eyes open, but he’s pretty exhausted, so it doesn’t last long.

He wakes up 2 days later to find Eri and Aizawa in the room with him. He keeps his breathing even, despite his original panic at having people in the room he's staying in.

"You're awake!" Eri jumps off her chair and runs over to his bed. “Sana and me were worried!"

Sasuke isn't entirely sure how to respond to that. Having people worry at his hospital bed is something he hasn't experienced in some time. It's… strange.

"What if you never woke up?" Eri's voice is quiet and her genuine worry makes Sasuke feel oddly guilty. To be fair, though, it's not like he expected to be asleep for so long. It's been a while since he’s experienced Chakra exhaustion so severe.

He's still a bit out of it, so Eri's question doesn't register in his mind until later.

He repeats it in his head several times, mulling it over. What if All for One had killed him?

For starters, this world would probably be fine. He hasn't meddled in too much, as far as he knows. People in Konoha wouldn't notice for some time because of how much he travelled and his tendency to disappear off the grid for several months on end.

And he… well, he'd be dead so he wouldn't be feeling much of anything.

He cuts that line of thought short, though. Aizawa is looking at him with a strange look in his eyes.

"I'm… alive." Is what he settles for. Not the most reassuring but it wasn't really meant to be. He's saying it for himself more than for them.

"But-" Eri begins but Aizawa gently cuts her off.

"Eri, he’s okay."

That's a bit of a stretch.

"When Mic comes back, we can go get him something to eat?" He looks up at Sasuke. "I imagine it's been a while since you've eaten anything solid?"

Sasuke blinks before remembering that they're expecting a response. He nods slowly, knowing full well that the chance of him actually eating anything they give him is slim.

"You're right!" Eri exclaims. "You can't go that long without eating! It's bad for your health."

She's clearly reciting something that's probably been said to her several times by both Aizawa and Yamada.

"That's right, little listener!" Yamada enters with the doctor, Keiji.

Eri removes herself from the chair next to Sasuke's bed and tugs on Aizawa's hand gently. Eri no longer seems hesitant about asking Aizawa for things. Sasuke is glad to see Eri's dependence on Sana wane.

Aizawa and Eri leave and Yamada takes Eri’s chair.

"You gave us quite a scare." He says, but it sounds more tired than angry.

"Indeed." Keiji says. She presses a button on his bed that makes the back of the bed sit up.

"I'm going to give you a routine checkup before we get into how you ended up here."

Sasuke doesn't say anything while she does what she needs to, but he still feels extremely uncomfortable throughout.

She hands him a pen and paper. "You can use this to talk, for now, since your voice is still pretty battered."

Sasuke sets them down next to him and she continues to speak.

"We found you on top of a building not too far from where the raid went down. What were you doing up there, Uchiha-san?"

I wasn't trying to kill myself, if that's what you're wondering. He writes before pausing, but I did know when and where the raid would be. I was observing.

"You were observing? Why?"

Sasuke goes for honesty.

In the event that All Might were unable to deal with All for One properly, I would finish the job.

"It does say here that you have personal history with All for One. Did you intend to kill him?"

Yes, but then he almost killed me so I suppose we're even.

They're absolutely not even and Sasuke will be getting him back for that.

"I see." She hesitates. "Because of the nature of your abilities, there's no point in charging you with attempted murder since I expect you'll just escape, but I have to ask that you don't do this again.”

Sasuke nods but doesn’t write anything down.

Who found me?

“The rescue team that was operating in the area, thankfully, the building you were on wasn’t destroyed.”

Is All for One alive?”

She hesitates and looks at Yamada. That’s a yes, then. Sasuke’s eyes darken.

He won’t be for long.

All for One sits in Tartarus thinking of the look in Sasuke’s eyes when All for One had tried to steal his Quirk.

All for One knows that he didn’t even scratch the surface of the well of power that sits in the boy. He savours the feeling of pure energy that surged through his body. It was a wonderful experience, one that almost allowed him to win the fight, but he exhausted his reserves too quickly, which was ultimately his downfall.

He’s not even sure how he did it, really. Which is something that he’ll have to remedy.

He knows that his Quirk latched onto some kind of energy he’d never seen before and he pulled on it until some of it came loose.

It doesn’t matter, for now. He should’ve stolen the Quirk as soon as he saw the kid, but he couldn’t help but be curious about him. It’s alright, they’ll meet again.

All for One chuckles to himself.

“Until we meet again, Sasuke.”

“Hawks. Your continuous failures on this mission have made the Commission very upset with you.” Keigo– Hawks’ handler says.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll do better, please I-”

“Enough.” His handler smiles down at him condescendingly. They rest their hand on his head and Hawks has to try very hard not to flinch away. “You know we don’t like to hurt you, right?”

Then why do you?

“Yes, I know. The Commission is very kind to me, I’m very lucky.” He parrots, showing none of his inner thoughts.

“And they’ve tried very hard to fix your image, you know?”

“I- yes.” Hawks knows that no matter what he says here, the outcome will be the same. The least he can do is attempt to lessen the weight of the Commission’s disappointment by showing he’s still loyal. “My failures are unacceptable.”

They crouch down in front of him. “You say that, but do you really understand the weight of your floundering?”

“I-I do, please.” He’s not entirely sure what he’s begging for. It’ll do nothing for him.

His handler clicks their tongue. “No, I don’t think you do.”

They stand up. “You have an appointment in training room 3. Someone will take you there.”

Hawks wants to cry, scream, reach out and beg to be left alone, but he doesn’t. He can’t.

The training rooms in the Commission vary in intensity. The lower the number, the more you’ve fucked up. They go from 1-50, with numbers 25-50 being more focused on actual training and not–

The door to the room creaks open again and Hawks is pulled to his feet and walked down the hall. No one says anything to him and he asks no questions.

They throw him into the room and shut the door.

And so, it begins.

Hawks does not cry.

Chapter Text

Sasuke sits in a meditative pose and reaches inward to check his Chakra. He was released from the hospital just a few hours ago, and his Chakra’s reaction to what All for One did to him is worrying, to say the least. There’s probably some reason behind why it was so averse, but he can’t figure out what that might be.

It does feel a little weird. Slightly different than it should. Like water that’s been left out for just a little bit too long.

He attempts to access it, but is immediately reminded of the presence of the Cursed Seal sitting on his shoulder. Pain shoots from his shoulder to the bottom of his foot and he sits, completely still, as he waits for it to pass.

His teeth grind together as he tries not to make any sudden movements.

It feels a bit like he’s been electrocuted, Sasuke realizes.

He looks down at his hands to see slight burn marks on his skin where his Chakra pathways are underneath his skin.

That’s certainly not good.

He stands up gingerly and flexes his fingers, then toes, then the rest of his body.

He locks the door to the bedroom and stands in front of the full-length mirror in the room.

It would be good to know how much damage he’s just done to himself, and if the marks he can see on his skin are any indication of how it is everywhere else, then there’s something seriously wrong.

He examines his face first, where his Chakra pathways lead to his eyes and ears.

Sasuke’s skin is very pale, so any blemishes would be easily visible.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like anything is wrong, but when he moves his hair to see his Rinnegan, the skin is slightly raised in certain areas, as if he was using a Byakugan.

He contemplates activating his Sharingan to test, but ultimately decides against it. He should avoid doing anything that would put too much strain on his Chakra coils, if he can avoid it.

He takes his shirt off and resists a grimace at the sight. He never likes looking at his body. It’s not only littered with scars, but it’s also just… disfigured. Even through all that, though, he can see where his Chakra sits under his skin more prominently than he should be able to.

It’s weird.

He puts his shirt back on and wonders what he can really do about it.

There are no Chakra specialists here, nobody like Sakura or Tsunade to check him over.

“Sasuke, can you unlock the door?” It’s Yamada.

Oh, that’s right. He’d been meaning to look quickly and then unlock the door before anyone noticed, but maybe he spent more time than he thought.

He unlocks the door and figures he should apologize in some way, shape, or form, but he doesn’t really know what to say. Yamada will probably bring it up anyway.

“You’re free to lock the door all you want, but just let one of us know, okay?” Yamada smiles at him and it takes a lot of mental fortitude for Sasuke to not wrinkle his nose.

“Hn.” Sasuke nods.

“I just wanted to ask what you wanted for dinner? ‘Zawa’s gonna be out on patrol for a bit, so it’s just the three of us.”

Sasuke shrugs. He doesn’t really care what they eat. He’s not really a fan of eating anyway, it’s all the same to him.

“Do you have a favourite food?”

Tomatoes are the first thing Sasuke thinks of. It’s been a while since he’s had a tomato-related dish.

“Tomatoes.”

Yamada grins brightly. “Tomatoes! We can do that.”

“Dinner is in…” He checks his watch, “an hour and a half, ok?”

At Sasuke’s nod, Yamada leaves the room muttering names of tomato dishes and ingredients. It would be endearing if Sasuke was anyone else.

Sasuke returns to theorizing about his Chakra. He doesn’t have a lot of information as of now. It would be nice if he had some Chakra paper to see if whatever happened altered the way his Chakra Nature appeared, but he doesn’t have any and has no way to make it.

Sana slithers through the little open crack in the door and curls into his lap. He’s been a bit clingy since Sasuke’s hospital experience, but it’s to be expected.

“I could feel your Chakra from in the other room, hatchling.” Sana says.

“Ah.” That makes sense. “What does it feel like?”

“Something has happened to it. Like an injury.” Sana narrows his eyes. “You said you were fine.”

“I am fine.” At Sana’s doubtful look, he elaborates. “All for One attempted to steal my Chakra, it’s having… unforeseen side effects.”

Sana looks at him like he’s grown a second head. “Did you think it wouldn’t?”

Sasuke huffs exasperatedly. He hadn’t thought nothing would happen, he just figured it’d be fine by now.

“Do not do anything foolish, Sasuke-sama.”

“Hm.” Sasuke hums tiredly and shuts his eyes.

Sana flicks him with his tail. “Brush your teeth before you sleep, silly hatchling.”

With a groan, Sasuke rolls over and gets to his feet. “I’ll wait to eat, first.”

Sana smiles. “A logical choice.”

But there’s more to it than that, Sasuke knows. There are memories of uneaten food, skipped meals, and misunderstandings. Memories that Sasuke hasn’t delved into for a long time. From the looks of it, neither has Sana.

“I’m fine, Sana.”

“I know you are.” Sana bumps his ankle with his snout. “But I am glad either way.”

Sasuke can’t help the small smile that crosses his face, however uncomfortable or out of place it may feel.

“Sasuke-sama, I regret to inform you that since your Chakra is… out of order, if I am to be summoned to Ryuuchi cave, I do not think I would be able to return here.”

Sasuke blinks. He hadn’t thought about that.

“Ah. I see.”

Sana opens his mouth to say something but falls short.

Eventually, he settles on, “Please tell Eri if I am unable to.”

“Of course.” Sasuke nods before picking up Sana and putting him around his shoulders.

He walks into the living room to join Eri, who’s lying perfectly still on the couch so one of the cats can sleep on her.

“Sana, Sasuke-san!” She whispers. “Look!”

Both Sana and Sasuke stare at the cat currently sleeping on her.

“My apologies, Eri, I may have to return to the bedroom.” Sana mutters.

Sana, being a snake, isn’t fond of cats. It’s a bit amusing, to see the way Sana always has such a clear cut reaction to seeing animals larger than he is. Though he doesn’t get this way with Yamada and Aizawa’s other cat, Jelly, which makes sense because Jelly is tiny.

“You’ve met Mickey Mouse!” Yamada says excitedly. Sana uses this as a distraction to quietly slip away.

“Shhh.” Eri whispers but at that point it doesn’t really count as a whisper. “It’s sleeping.”

“Oh, right.” Yamada starts again, quieter this time, “You’ve met Mickey Mouse!”

“Mickey Mouse?” Sasuke wonders.

“It’s a- oh that’s right. Mickey Mouse is an entertainment figure here, like a mascot.”

“Ah.” Sasuke doesn’t know what he’s talking about but he nods anyway.

“Are you hungry? Sorry, I didn’t start dinner until pretty late, huh?” Yamada asks, changing the subject.

Sasuke shakes his head lightly. This experience is too… too much like what his life might’ve been. Of course, the circumstances are different. There’s Quirks, Sasuke is much older now, Fugaku isn’t an overbearing figure breathing down his neck, it’s not so similar that Sasuke can’t separate his childhood from this in his head, but it’s not different enough that he feels nothing when he sees Yamada humming in the kitchen.

“It’s fine.” He’s not sure why he hesitates before saying, “I’m going out.”

“Are you sure? It’s a bit late….” Yamada checks the time worriedly.

It’s not late, it’s only around 6pm, but from Yamada’s perspective, maybe it is.

“I can look after myself.” He says. It’s a reminder for Yamada more than anything. He’s had a life before this. He’s looked after himself, lived for and by himself.

Yamada quiets down after that but Sasuke can’t find it in him to feel guilty.

He does say, “I’ll be back before dinner, though.” Since it’d be rude to just skip out on dinner after Yamada’s put in more effort than pretty much every adult in Sasuke’s life combined and doubled.

He doesn’t wait to hear Yamada’s response before leaving.

Without a set destination in mind, and with the tight leash he’s keeping his Chakra on, Sasuke has no choice but to walk around on foot. It’s not so bad once in a while. The city is… interesting at night. Much more luminescent than the night streets of Konoha had been outside of the Red Light district.

The alleys seem shadier than what he’s used to, though

A lit candle in a dim room makes the shadows seem much darker than they actually are.

It’s a quote someone told him at some point, probably Itachi from the sound of it. Itachi liked philosophical things like that.

He stops at a little shop with miniature ramen bowls on display. He stares. They’re somehow an exact replica of the ones sold at Ichiraku. 

The shop has a mellow glow in contrast to the bright neon lights of the street. Every time someone leaves or enters the store, a gust of cool air rushes to meet the humid atmosphere of the street.

A further look into the store makes Sasuke think of a toy shop. The store is filled to brim with boxes of miniature objects of all shapes and sizes.

The door swings open and someone moves to stand next to him. They have a third eye that sits in the center of their forehead, it blinks languidly as if it’s a separate entity from their other eyes.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” They smile softly, almost nostalgic.

Sasuke doesn’t say anything.

“They’re my partner’s work.” The person continues as if they haven’t even noticed Sasuke’s presence. “A lot of the stuff here is.”

Sasuke can’t shake the feeling that this person looks familiar, though.

“Do we know each other?” Sasuke asks, rather bluntly.

“Not that I know of, but maybe my name might ring a bell. I’m Shouji Kaoru. You are?”

Ah, that’s what it was. They’re one of Shouji Mezou’s parents.

When Sasuke attended Yuuei, he sat next to Shouji. It wasn’t for very long but Sasuke supposes sitting next to someone for almost 2 months will make you remember their face for a little bit.

“Sasuke.” He introduces.

“So? Do we know each other?” Shouji Sr. asked.

“I knew your son… for a time.” Sasuke replies.

“Ah, I see!” Shouji Sr. smiles serenely. “How nice! Are you still in contact?”

“No, I doubt he’d recognize me anyway.” Sasuke shrugs, already regretting his outing.

“Oh, but still. You must pay him a visit. He may remember your name?”

“I go by a different name from when we met.” Sasuke makes a show of checking the time on his phone. “I must be getting home now.”

“Oh, of course! Your guardians are probably worried about you.” They frown worriedly. “Do come back, if you have the time.”

Sasuke nods curtly, turns on his heel, and walks back to Yamada and Aizawa’s. He doesn’t teleport because he can’t. It’s not a far walk and it certainly isn’t worth risking messing things up for his health even more.

“You’re back!” Eri rolls off the couch and pulls him to sit at the table. “Yamada-san just finished dinner.”

Good timing, Sasuke thinks.

Speaking of Yamada, they look relieved to see that Sasuke came back at all. It’s a bit funny that Yamada thinks Sasuke has other options as if this whole arrangement wasn’t a last resort.

The food is some kind of flatbread with mozzarella cheese, basil, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and other types of vegetables. It looks and smells delicious, but Sasuke still waits for Eri and Yamada to take the first bite.

Despite the extravagant food, they still all drink out of plastic children’s cups, for Eri’s sake, most likely.

Yamada looks like they want to say something that’ll undoubtedly be bad news.

“How’s the food?” he asks, clearly avoiding saying something.

Sasuke stops eating for a moment. “Good, but there’s no need to stall, is there?”

“I can never hide anything from you or Shouta.” Yamada mutters, but it’s fond. “But, yes.”

Sasuke stares at him.

“In light of recent events, Yuuei is implementing a dormitory system when school resumes after summer break.” Oh no. “Shouta and I are both teachers at Yuuei, so we’ll most likely be moving into the teacher’s dormitories. Since we have you two with us, though, we’ll get accommodations for a larger space.”

Sasuke shuts his eyes and counts to 10 and back again until he’s calmer. His grip on the fork is so tight he’s surprised it’s still in one piece.

Think of the positives. There have to be some positives.

For starters, he’ll be closer to where the research for his ticket home is being conducted. That’s good because… well it isn’t, really. Just because he’s closer to it doesn’t mean they’re going to tell him anything more.

After thoroughly turning the idea over in his head, Sasuke concludes that this, much like his choice to ask the heroes for help, is a decision with no upsides.

His face remains neutral, despite his inner thoughts.

One look at Yamada tells him that there’s more.

“Also… your general doctor’s appointment is in 2 days.”

The metal fork twists in his hands.

Yamada and Eri’s eyes are immediately drawn to the fork and they both stare at it with shock outlined on their faces.

Sasuke gently sets the fork down before he can think of using it for anything other than eating. Namely, murder.

“I see.” Is what he ends up saying, though it doesn’t sound like it’s him who’s speaking. 

“Are you… okay? Do you want a minute?” Yamada asks.

It takes several repeats of the phrase “no murdering the heroes” for Sasuke to get his brain to calm down slightly.

He’s not entirely sure how a minute will erase the years of medical trauma he’s wracked up, but sure, he’ll take a minute.

He finds himself standing up and clearing his plate. His body moves on autopilot to the door but Yamada’s presence behind him stops him from leaving. Yamada’s hand hovers just outside of Sasuke’s personal space, clearly wanting to reach out, but he doesn’t. Small mercies.

“Sasuke, come sit on the couch with me. We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but it’s late and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Sasuke almost snaps at him, almost yells at him, but he’s had that instinct trained out of him.

His nails digging into his palms does very little to calm him down, in fact, it might just be adding to his jumble of emotions and making them worse.

It was fine when Yamada had said that the appointment was something that needed to be done. There was no set date, so Sasuke could pretend that they didn’t have to do it and that it wasn’t necessary. But now he’ll have 48 hours to “reminisce” about doctors and medical appointments.

He sits stiffly on the couch next to Yamada. Eri has long since left and Sasuke thinks maybe he should’ve noticed but maybe he also doesn’t really care.

Yamada opens his mouth to say something more but he seems to notice the way Sasuke’s body tenses even more and thinks better of it.

They sit in silence for several minutes. Sasuke slowly forces his body to untense but he can’t work past the lump in his throat that makes him feel a bit like laying on the floor and never getting up.

“Do you want to tell me why you feel this way about medical appointments? You can say no.” Yamada's voice is slow and measured, as if they’re speaking to a scared animal. Sasuke hates it.

No, Sasuke wants to say, let me pretend to forget about it for a little longer. But he doesn’t.

When Sasuke got back to Konoha, back and out of the T&I department anyway, no one asked him anything about what he did or where he went out of the village. That was firmly put in a box labelled Things No One Would Talk About.

Neither Naruto or Sakura could bring themselves to ask him about it and he didn’t blame them, Kakashi still saw Sasuke as his greatest failure as a teacher, and everyone else in the village hated him.

He didn’t blame any of them for any of it but sometimes he wished they’d just ask him about it once. Bring it up outside of “at least you’re not trying to kill us anymore” jokes that were never funny.

Sasuke blinks back to the present to find Yamada looking at him with open eyes, protective eyes, and he thinks, randomly, that–

“You remind me of my mother.”

Yamada blinks. Once, twice. “Really?”

And he sounds so… so happy that Sasuke’s said anything to him at all that Sasuke can’t do anything but look away.

“She was very… kind. There was never a time, when I was with her, that I didn’t feel….” He can’t say it.

Yamada understands anyway.

“Oh.” He says softly, like if he speaks any louder, the moment will shatter. “Thank you. I’m sure she was wonderful.”

Sasuke nods.

They sit in silence that, for once, doesn’t feel awkward or stifling.

Chapter Text

Eri’s screaming immediately pulls Sasuke out of his bed. She’d been shifting around in her bed, which had already been enough to wake him, but he’d hoped it wouldn’t devolve into anything else.

She bolts out of bed and as soon as she registers his face, falls into his arms, sobbing.

Sasuke blinks, confused by the turn of events. He and Eri aren’t… close. Not really. Sasuke saved her from Chisaki, who he still needs to deal with, and then handed her over to Sana. There shouldn’t really be a reason for her to run into his arms like this. But, well, the wonders of trauma bonding, he supposes. Even if it wasn’t really that traumatic for him, apparently the effect still stuck.

She’s muttering about how she doesn’t want to go back and how she wants Sasuke to save her from Chisaki again.

It tugs at Sasuke’s heartstrings in a way he didn’t know he could experience at this stage of his life.

His hand hovers awkwardly over her head but eventually he begins moving it through her hair methodically.

He figures now would be a bad time to ask her if she’d be okay with him killing Chisaki. Sasuke knows that 13-16 year old him would be supremely pissed if someone came in and killed Orochimaru for him, but he’s pretty sure Eri isn’t as fixated on revenge as he was.

Yamada and Aizawa burst into the room and switch the lights on. They both seem to have been expecting this and honestly, so was Sasuke. He’s genuinely surprised it didn’t happen sooner, but then again, he’s not often sleeping when Eri is.

Aizawa and Yamada make up for the verbal aspect of comforting, which is good since Sasuke probably would’ve sat in silence the whole time had they not shown up.

“It’s alright, Eri. You’re safe now.” Yamada murmurs softly.

Eri’s sobbing eventually subsides and eventually, her mind catches up with the situation.

“I-I’m sorry. Sorry. I-” She stumbles over her words, cutting herself off every time she tries to start a new sentence. Her breathing becomes more erratic as she apologizes, despite Yamada and Aizawa’s reassurances that it’s okay.

“It’s fine, I was awake anyway.” Sasuke says. “I’m only repaying a favour.”

Eri’s face contorts into confusion until her brain works through her memories.

Sasuke is referring to his nightmare… around last month (has it really been that long?) when she brought him food and sat with him. He’s only doing the same for her now.

“Oh.” She lets her eyes fall shut again. She says something else but it’s so muffled that even Sasuke, with his better than average hearing, doesn’t know what was said.

He picks her up with ease and lays her back in her bed.

“A favour?” Yamada echoes.

Ah, right. Yamada and Aizawa are also here.

“I had a similar incident. She sat with me as I did for her.”

A small smile graces Yamada’s face. “You did well, Sasuke.”

Oh.

Sasuke blinks several times, allowing his brain to process the praise. He’s… not entirely sure how he’s supposed to respond to that.

They take his silence in stride and motion for him to follow them into the kitchen, since it’s obvious that Sasuke has no intention of going back to sleep any time soon.

“Are you hungry?” Aizawa asks.

“No, thank you.” Sasuke declines and pulls out a book from the shelf.

The sounds of something cooking on the stove, Yamada’s typing, and Sasuke flipping through his book fill the otherwise silent room.

The doctor’s appointment goes smoothly. Sasuke sits stiffly as the doctor checks his blood pressure, ears, and breathing. They take his weight and height, which amount to what Sasuke expected, though now, he’s a little heavier than he was when he was this age in Konoha. 

“You’re a little underweight.” The doctor says. She has light brown skin and a buzz cut with a no-nonsense kind of attitude. “I’d recommend ensuring that you eat 3 meals a day and if this persists, we can set you up with a nutritionist.”

Sasuke’s face remains impassive, but it’s very difficult to keep it from twisting into a scowl.

“Alright, thank you.” Yamada nods, making a note on his phone.

“Now, why don’t we start on updating your vaccine record? I am one of the few doctors at the NCCHD who’s aware of your situation and we’ve all signed NDAs to ensure our silence, so you can speak as freely as you wish, here.”

Sasuke nods slowly but doesn’t offer any information.

“Alright, what sort of vaccines have you gotten?”

“People in my world have a separate energy running through us that makes most people impervious to illnesses such as the common cold or the flu.” He explains.

“So we can rule that out, good to know.” She motions for him to continue.

“From my research, most of our vaccines are the same. We’re on similar levels of medical advancements research-wise.”

“Are your vaccines up to date?”

“Yes.” Technically.

“Oh? According to your guardians, you were saying otherwise.”

“It’s not that they aren’t up to date.” Sasuke can already feel a migraine coming on. “It’s that they’re useless to me.”

“How so?”

“Some people in my world have a higher immunity than others, I’m one of them.” Not explicitly true, but she’ll have to accept that for what it is because that’s all he’ll be telling them.

“Would you mind elaborating on that?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. I can’t get the illnesses you’re attempting to give me immunity to. I already have that.”

“I see.” She pauses. “And that’s for every parasitic, fungal, bacterial, and viral related illness?”

“Yes.” 

“If you were to get a vaccine, do you know any possible side-effects?”

He can guess pretty well. It’s not hard to understand. His body would reject the vaccine entirely and he’d start convulsing on the floor. He might throw up, depending on the vaccine, or just pass out. There’s a likelihood that it could kill him. He tells her this, and watches a grimace make its way onto her face.

“Alright, I don’t really want to test that. The only way we can really make sure that you’re good to go is via blood tests…” Sasuke’s eyes darken and she quickly backtracks. “But as long as we're sure you aren’t a walking biohazard, it should be okay. How does that sound?”

What Sasuke hears is, “we really ought to do a blood test, but given what we know about you, I’m going to just say it’s fine.”

Smart move.

Sasuke nods and listens as she continues to speak.

“Good. How are you feeling since your visit here a week ago, all good?”

Sasuke hesitates. “Has All for One ever left any victims of his Quirk alive?”

She sighs. “No. He hasn’t. You’re the only one. All the others were killed or disappeared. Thanks to this, our understanding of his Quirk is very small. Are you experiencing any residual side effects?”

He’s not entirely comfortable revealing the scope of his current weakness to someone who’s essentially a stranger, so he remains silent.

She hums slightly, sensing his hesitation. “Any information you’re willing to offer up would help in the investigation, but I understand that you may be reluctant to share. In any case, do you believe it could be something detrimental to your health?”

Honestly, probably. His Chakra coils becoming visible on his skin is probably something to be very worried about.

He’s relatively confident in his ability to take down the doctor, Present Mic might be a bit harder, but there’s a low chance that he’ll attack him.

“My ability is linked to my life force– Chakra is what we call it. All for One tried to steal that.”

“Which is why your reaction to it, despite not having it fully stolen, was so grave?”

Sasuke nods in agreement.

“And how do you know that it hasn’t been completely stolen?”

“Because I would be dead if it was.”

“Ah.” She taps her pen against her clipboard idly. “Are you comfortable with answering a few more questions?”

Sasuke shrugs. Not really, but they’re here now and any answer they’re able to give might be better than what he had before.

She asks him to go into a bit more detail about how, exactly, Chakra works and some of the limitations. He explains a small amount about Kekkei Genkai but cuts that off pretty quickly.

“And Chakra pathways usually aren’t visible to the human eye?”

“No.”

“Can you roll up your sleeves for me?”

Sasuke reluctantly agrees and pulls his sleeves up. He points to where the irregularity begins and she follows it all the way up his arm.

“That is quite odd.” She mumbles to herself, seemingly ignoring the rest of the scars on his arms. “This only happened after you attempted to use your ability?”

“Yes.”

“From what I’m seeing, it looks like you’ve overused your ability. I’ve seen people with similar (though very watered down) Quirks. Though those Quirks are usually directly connected to their bloodstream instead of being completely separate, and a common thing that happens when they’ve used it for too long is that their blood vessels become more visible and pronounced along their body. It looks like this on your whole body?”

Sasuke nods.

She steps back. “Then that’s the best answer I can give you for now. I imagine your nervous system and… Chakra system(?) have had quite a shock. All we can really do is hope it goes away after a while. I can prescribe you with some mineral supplements but I’m not entirely sure if that would help.”

Sasuke shakes his head. “It’s fine.”

“I’ve probably just told you what you already know, right?”

Pretty much, yeah.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.” She does look genuinely sorry so that’s something.

She stands up and sets her clipboard down. “Is there anything else you’d like to talk to me about before we finish?”

Sasuke rolls his shoulders and stands up. 

“Why don’t you go to the waiting room? I need to talk to the doctor about something else.” Yamada smiles gently at him.

“I could just go.” He reminds him.

“I know, but I have something I need to talk to you about after.”

Sasuke raises an eyebrow but otherwise doesn’t say anything. He goes to the waiting room, which is far enough away that he can’t hear what’s being said.

The mood in the waiting room is quiet and slightly somber. The only sound in the room is parents whispering to their children in reassurance. It’s what Sasuke expected from a hospital waiting room, but it’s a bit stifling either way.

It only takes 10 minutes for Yamada to finish talking with the doctor, but if it had gone on for any longer, Sasuke was seriously considering teleporting back anyway.

On the walk back, Yamada says, “I received a text from Nezu during your appointment, there’s a meeting that he wants you to be in. It’s going to be him, you, and a few other scientists he’s brought onto the dimensional travel project to help. It’s in a week on the 11th.”

Sasuke isn’t sure how much help he’ll really be, especially since his Chakra isn’t currently in working order, but he wants to go anyway to see what they’ll talk about. Though he’ll probably have to do a bit of reading to properly understand any of the topics they’re talking about.

“I’ll let him know you’ll be there.” Yamada shoots off a quick text to who Sasuke assumes is Nezu before they get in the car and drive back.

Chapter Text

Sasuke’s sleep fades away when he hears Eri’s small feet enter the room and stand over his bed.

“Sasuke-san… Sasuke-san, wake up!” She whispers.

He opens his eyes to find her eyes directly above his. “Eri.” He responds, his voice is gravelly with sleep. “What time is it?”

“8am!” She responds cheerily. She must’ve gotten that from Yamada.

Sasuke sighs and gets up. Eri holds her hand out for him to take. “Come with me!”

He hesitantly grabs her hand and lets her lead him into the kitchen, which is decorated with lights and balloons.

“We missed your birthday… So here!” She drops his hand and gestures to their surroundings.

“Happy birthday, Sasuke!” Aizawa and Yamada say together, though Aizawa looks like he hasn’t slept at all ever, he doesn’t seem upset.

They’re both holding up a stack of pancakes with chocolate syrup drizzled on each of them and a candle in the center. The table is set with festive plates, napkins, and placemats.

Sasuke inhales to say something but it gets caught in his throat, so all he manages is, “Oh.”

“Do you not like it?” Eri asks.

“No– it’s. It’s… nice.” He mumbles.

Aizawa and Yamada set the plate of pancakes down on the counter and Aizawa steps closer to him.

“Come on, kid.”

Sasuke’s brain kicks itself into gear when it realizes that he’s just been standing there, silently, for the better part of a minute.

He sits down at the table and scans each aspect of the room, ignoring the part of his mind that’s screaming at him for being so careless.

The lights in the kitchen are dim, most of the light is coming from the sole candle on the pancake tower. The kitchen is spotless and a few balloons hang in the corner. Sasuke doesn’t know how they managed to do this without his knowledge but he’s reluctantly impressed.

Eri climbs onto the seat next to him.

“You ready?” Yamada whispers over-exaggeratedly in Eri’s direction. She nods once, resolute.

“Happy birthday to you,” It’s awful singing, it really is. Yamada is the only one who’s able to properly carry a tune and Eri’s probably never even used her vocal chords for singing.

“Happy birthday to you,” It’s… let no one find out he thinks this, but it’s sweet. It’s endearing. It was nice of them to even remember his birthday at all, since the only time he mentioned it was at the police interrogation and then everything else happened. He hadn’t even thought about it. But they did.

The last people to think of his birthday were Itachi and his mother for his 7th birthday.

“Happy birthday dear Sasuke… Happy birthday to you!”

He feels a bit childish when he blows out the candles, but he supposes he can afford it, just this once.

“Um… hi.” There’s a purple-haired kid standing in the middle of the kitchen with a bowl and a bag of chips in his hand.

It’s currently 2am.

“There’s more if you want them.” The kid gestures to the bag of chips in his hand. He phrases the sentence in an odd way, like he’s trying to avoid turning it into a question, but he’s probably just another kid with a strange personality.

Sasuke blinks to make sure he isn’t losing it, but when he opens his eyes and the kid is still there, he decides that he’s just going to have to roll with it.

“No, thank you.” He puts a kettle on the stove and looks through the cabinets for the tea he likes.

“Suit yourself.” The boy shrugs and pours some chips into a bowl.

“Assuming you haven’t broken into the house, how did you get here?” Sasuke wonders.

“I don’t think I know anyone who would break into a middle class house for chips.” The boy comments dryly, ignoring the latter half of Sasuke’s question.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “Someone who was in desperate need of chips would, I imagine.”

The boy stares at him unblinkingly for a moment before he laughs quietly. “No, I didn’t break in. I’m a student of Aizawa’s.”

“I didn’t know he taught a class at 2am while he slept.”

“He doesn’t… I’m staying for the night.” The boy answers, clearly expecting Sasuke to ask more questions, but Sasuke doesn’t really care about the kid that much.

He knew, of course, that there was another person in the house on this particular evening. The kid is quiet, but he’s not a Shinobi. None of that answers the question as to how he got here and why Aizawa hadn’t thought it important to inform him, but he’s not dangerous so Sasuke isn’t really that concerned. He’s more annoyed, if anything.

Sasuke takes the kettle off the stove before it has the opportunity to start making noise and prepares his tea.

He doesn’t offer any to the kid, which is probably rude, but he seems like more of a coffee person anyway.

He sits and drinks his tea quietly. He has a meeting with the scientists who were going to aid the dimensional travel project later today, he remembers.

Sasuke would be honest if he said he didn’t have high expectations for the meeting. If these scientists could’ve come up with a way to cross dimensions in a single meeting, they would’ve done it already. Still, though, it’ll be a good way to see where they’re at in terms of theories.

There’s not a lot he can do by himself, as much as he hates to admit it. There’s a high chance he’ll be here to see the year end, which isn’t something he’s looking forward to. The longer he stays here, the worse his skills will get.

He can imagine himself returning to the Leaf only to find that a Genin could take him down.

He washes and dries the cup he used and puts it away in the cabinet. The boy is sitting quietly on the couch.

They’re both completely okay with pretending the other doesn’t exist, which is nice.

He hears Yamada’s footsteps down the hall and contemplates teleporting back to his room, but Shinsou’s already seen him so there’s no point.

“Both of you couldn’t sleep?” Yamada asks tiredly.

Neither the boy nor Sasuke reply and Yamada sighs. “Okay, just remember to turn off all the lights and put away any food you use before you go back to sleep.”

He retreats back to his room before the boy or Sasuke can say anything.

“Uh… I’m Shinsou Hitoshi.” The boy, Shinsou, introduces himself.

“Sasuke.”

Shinsou looks like he wants to say something about Sasuke’s choice to exclude a last name from his introduction but he thinks better of it and turns on his phone.

Sasuke goes to shower.

He usually showers in the dark. It’s not like the lighting really matters because he can see pretty well in the dark anyway, but it’s just easier to get in and out if he leaves the lights off.

Afterwards, he decides to go out to the small backyard the house has.

He’s honestly surprised that a house in such a packed city has a backyard at all, but then again, both Yamada and Aizawa have more than one job.

He sits on the ground to meditate, something he should honestly spend more time doing.

He doubts that this meditation session will do much for his Chakra, not at this point. He isn’t going to waste his time being hopeful for something so foolish.

Either his Chakra will come back or it won’t and if it doesn’t then he’s kind of fucked, but he’ll work past it.

(–even if the thought makes him feel a bit lightheaded, a bit dizzy, a bit like the entire world is ending even though the endless sky still stares back at him when he looks. He’s long since learned that the world will not end because Uchiha Sasuke is suffering. As it stands, he’ll settle for forced acceptance because if he doesn’t, well, if he doesn’t, then he doesn’t know what he’ll do.)

The easiest way to fix his problem, well easiest in terms of what he can do right now, would be to attempt to reverse summon himself to Ryuchi Cave, which would hurt, but he would be able to heal his Chakra coils there.

He won’t do it quite yet, though. It would be best to think it through some more.

He sits in a meditative pose until the sun rises and the heat pricks against his neck. He blinks his eyes open slowly and gathers his awareness back to his body.

Standing up is a careful procedure. He doesn’t want to fall over because his legs have to get used to being used again.

When he returns to the house, everyone is already awake. Eri sits on the floor in front of the couch and Yamada is braiding her hair while Shinsou sets the table.

They all sit down to eat and Aizawa explains how the meeting with the scientists will work.

“I’ll take you and Eri there before I go to talk to my class about the dormitories and ‘Zashi’s gonna drop Shinsou home. You can text me when you’re done or just show up at the dormitories if I don’t come and get you. You still have your ID and keycard, right?”

Sasuke’s not entirely sure exactly where he put them. They could be in one of two boxes, but he knows they’re in the house somewhere, so he nods.

“Good, you can get into school using that and it’ll take you pretty much anywhere in the school. Just let me know if the meeting finishes early or looks like it’ll take longer than 2 hours.”

“Oh, speaking of Yuuei.” Yamada interjects, turning to look at Sasuke. “Have you put any more thought into where you’d like to go to school?”

Sasuke suppresses a sigh. It’s a fair question, school starts again on the 1st of September, which is 3 weeks away, so he’ll have to decide sooner rather than later.

He’s probably just going to go with Yuuei for convenience. He’ll be living there anyway, plus, there’s the provisional licensing exam pretty soon, so if he joins Yuuei’s hero course, he can get that almost immediately upon starting school. Not that it really matters. Legality hasn't ever been something he's concerned himself with.

“Yuuei.” Sasuke says eventually. “Hero Course.”

“Really? I’d have thought you wouldn’t want to be in the Hero Course.” Usually, Aizawa would be right, but extenuating circumstances, after all.

Sasuke shrugs but doesn’t say anything more.

“Alright, now that you’re all fed and watered, time to get the day started!” Yamada claps their hands and tells Shinsou and Eri to shower while Aizawa disappears into his bedroom to get dressed.

Yamada cleans up around the kitchen, humming softly.

Sasuke is about to go get a book when Yamada talks to him.

“Have you… ever considered talking to someone? Professionally, I mean.” They say.

Sasuke blinks a few times and turns over the question in his head. Like, therapy? “I don’t understand.”

“Well, of course you’re welcome to talk to us or really anyone you want to, we aren’t going to stop you but wouldn’t it be better to talk to someone who knows what they’re doing? Who can… help you more than we can?” The words tumble out of Yamada’s mouth faster than he himself seems to realize.

So he does mean therapy. “Why would I need to do that?”

Yamada’s face flickers through a series of emotions before it returns to being a blank slate. “Someone to help you work through some of your….” ‘Trauma’ isn’t said, but Sasuke hears it all the same.

“I don’t need to– I’m not–” He can’t even finish his sentence because he knows how much of a lie it is.

Still, he’s been doing fine. He handles things as well as he can and doesn’t need someone else to tell him how to process his life. It’s… out of the question.

“Okay, just something to think about.” Yamada shrugs and drops the topic.

Sasuke is quiet for the rest of the morning. He’s not upset, not really. He understands why Yamada would suggest it. Really, the information Sasuke’s given them about his life is vague at best so they’re probably hoping that he’ll open up more to someone else if not them. But therapy? Of all things?

He’s not weak. He doesn’t need to sit down and talk to someone about his feelings.

Sasuke is fine.

Sasuke is sitting in one of the many meeting rooms Yuuei has. It’s a long room with a large table in the center. There are windows at the back of the room that shadow the face of the person sitting at the very end of the table. People in various types of clothing are standing in groups around the room, talking. The loud noise is beginning to give him a headache.

Sasuke feels a bit out of place, but he doesn’t show it.

He’s already exhausted and the meeting hasn’t even started yet.

The doors open again and Nezu steps in.

“Hello, everyone. Sasuke, nice to see you again.” He says. Sasuke nods in acknowledgement.

“Take your seats, we’ll begin shortly.”

Sasuke sits at the end of the table in the seat closest to the windows for easy access. Everyone else seems to know where to sit.

Nezu greets some of the other people in the room before taking his seat at the opposite end of the table closest to the door.

“So, I’d like everyone to introduce themselves and their area of study. You all know me, but I’ll go first anyway.” He pauses. “I am Nezu, the principal of Yuuei. My fields of study pertinent to this meeting include astrophysics and biochemistry.”

The next person to go is a taller man with long, brown hair and dark skin. “I’m Cain Dante, I study radiobiology.”

They go round in a circle. There are astrobiologists, microbiologists, aerospace engineers, and physicists, to name a few.

“I’m Uchiha Sasuke, I don’t believe I study any of the sciences.” Is all he says.

“So, you’re the reason this meeting was called?” A woman, Akira Mari, says. She has short hair that reaches just below her ears and a stern face.

“I am.” Sasuke nods.

The rest of the people finish their introductions, and Nezu asks Sasuke to explain the circumstances leading up to his arrival in this world.

Sasuke nods and reveals his Rinnegan. “This is a Rinnegan, it’s powers do include dimensional travel, but not to this scale. I was under the impression that it could only transport a person to a dimension which still followed the laws of the world as I understood it, or a pocket dimension.”

“Did you have proof of these claims?” Someone asks.

“Yes. Both of those things have been proven to be possible several times before, and aren’t exceptionally uncommon.”

“But you still need help getting back?” A man, Horiuchi Gousuke, raises an eyebrow.

“The Rinnegan’s dimensional travel ability isn’t supposed to be this extreme, and therefore I do not know how to use it to get back.” Sasuke says honestly.

“Our progress on dimensional travel isn’t as extensive as yours. Such a thing could take decades, if not more. You are aware of this, right?” Mari says.

“I am, but I’m nonetheless grateful for any help you’re able to give.”

The meeting progresses similarly, Sasuke answers questions they have and they toss ideas back and forth. They eventually settle on the idea that they’ll have to use Sasuke’s Chakra to create a door between dimensions. Anything they come up with that doesn’t use Sasuke’s Chakra will take years that Sasuke doesn’t have.

Sasuke carefully doesn’t mention that his Chakra isn’t currently in working order.

They go on a recess and Sasuke ends up talking with some scientists.

“Your… Chakra, was it?” Sasuke nods and the man, Otani Kai, continues. “It’s revolutionary! We have nothing like it here, are there limitations?”

“No….” Sasuke says slowly. “The only limitations it has are what the human body can physically handle without being torn apart.”

“Fascinating.” Otani grins. His grin unnerves Sasuke slightly so he decides to remove himself from the conversation.

“Excuse me.” He says and goes to step into the hall where it’ll, hopefully, be a bit quieter.

Otani grabs his arm and Sasuke immediately slaps him away.

“I’d appreciate it if you would keep your hands off me.” Sasuke says calmly but he lets his voice carry. “If you touch me again I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to continue your studies.”

“Wha-” Otani begins to talk but Sasuke speaks over him.

“Unless you already know if there are research labs in the afterlife.”

“Are you threatening me?” Otani scoffs.

“Maybe it’s a dimensional difference, but where I come from, we don’t make threats that we don’t have every intention of following through on. You people seem to be so full of empty promises that bluffing has become the expectation rather than the exception.” Sasuke keeps his voice pleasant enough that it doesn’t really sound like he’s just threatened to murder someone.

Sasuke would usually feel at least a little smug, but his skin feels like it’s burning and it’s taking a lot of his concentration to ensure he doesn’t start scratching at it.

Otani visibly fumes and excuses himself. Sasuke is given a wide berth after that, which is good.

No one attempts to grab him for the rest of the meeting.

“How did it go?” Aizawa asks.

“It was… fine.” Sasuke says slowly, biting back a yawn.

He didn’t have very high expectations of the meeting in the first place. It had gone pretty much how he had expected, minus the Otani bit, but that was dealt with easily enough.

(Even if he can’t shake the feeling of wrongness from underneath his skin and had to spend almost 30 minutes in the bathroom convincing himself that it wasn’t worth it to cut off his wrist.)

“You don’t sound so sure.” Aizawa puts the car in reverse and backs out of the Yuuei parking lot.

Sasuke pushes back the urge to grimace. He’s not entirely sure what he’s supposed to say. There isn’t much to say.

“It was uncomfortable.” Is what he settles on. He knows Aizawa will attempt to pry, but he doesn’t have anything else to say.

“Oh? What aspect?”

Sasuke shrugs but otherwise stays silent.

Aizawa, seemingly sensing that Sasuke will not be offering anymore input, changes the subject. “We should start packing today.” At Sasuke’s somewhat confused look, he adds, “For the move into the dorms.”

Ah, right. Sasuke had forgotten about that.

The rest of the car ride is silent save for the quiet hum of the AC.

Chapter Text

August 12th comes, as it does every year, and just like every year, Sasuke takes the time to mourn the loss of his family.

He wakes early and searches through the cabinets for some incense. He’s pretty sure they have some somewhere, it’s not an uncommon thing to have.

“What are you looking for?” Yamada asks.

“Incense.”

“In the drawer next to the fridge.” Yamada replies. “What do you need it for?”

“I’ll burn it outside.” He says in lieu of an answer.

Yamada nods slowly before he gets out some ingredients and starts on breakfast. “Let me know if you need anything. I imagine you don’t want to be disturbed so I’ll leave you alone until lunch time.”

“Thank you.” Sasuke says honestly. He leaves the kitchen and makes his way out to the backyard.

He’d make a makeshift pyre if his Chakra was cooperating. As it stands, though, he’ll have to settle for a rock and the incense.

He kneels in the dirt and sets up.

He inhales deeply and starts a prayer, carefully centering his thoughts around the good memories he has of his families instead of, well, everything else.

It takes around 3 hours for him to notice soreness in his knees, but Yamada has yet to get him for lunch so he doesn’t move.

He drifts for a bit, his awareness scattered between memories and a vague watch he’s keeping on his surroundings. He’s out of it enough that he only notices Yamada’s presence when the patio door clicks open.

“Lunch is ready.” They say.

Sasuke nods and experimentally opens his mouth. He’d been clenching his jaw, he hadn’t even realized. It’s a bad habit of his.

He brushes off his knees and follows Yamada inside where Aizawa has just finished setting the table.

“We’ll be leaving in about a week’s time.” He says. “Most of the students will have moved into the dorms by then.”

The rest of lunch is filled with idle chatter that Sasuke tunes out.

“Are you going to return to the yard?” Yamada asks.

Sasuke nods again.

“Do you mind me asking what it’s for?”

“What’s what for?” Eri wonders.

“It’s a memorial.” Sasuke says, knowing if he gives them at least that much they’ll leave him alone.

“Memorial?” Eri repeats.

“It’s to remember someone who passed away.” Yamada explains gently.

Eri frowns. “Oh.”

Sasuke clears his plate and spends the rest of the evening kneeling in the garden.

It’s a Sunday when Aizawa locks the door to the house for the last time in a while.

Sasuke stares on dispassionately as Eri, Yamada, and Aizawa say their goodbyes to the house. It’s not like it’s being sold, they’re more than likely to see it again.

The car is packed full of luggage. Sasuke takes one look at it and decides he’ll walk. Sasuke’s claustrophobia isn’t a problem in most situations. It’s very specific, which is nice, because otherwise it’d be a pain to deal with.

“You can’t walk to the school.” Aizawa argues with a frown marring his face.

“I’ll– huh.” Sasuke is about to say he’ll just teleport there before he realizes that’s not an option for him.

“Even if you could use your… abilities, that’s illegal Quirk use.”

“It’s not a Quirk.”

“Try explaining that to anyone who catches you.”

“They won’t catch me, then.”

“Alright!” Yamada interrupts. “I can see that this is going absolutely nowhere and we’re on a tight schedule as is.” They pause, thinking. “Can you take public transit?”

“Probably.”

“Then do that, but please don’t walk all the way to the school. It’s over an hour away.”

“Fine.”

“Great. Problem solved!”

Sasuke helps them load the remaining bags into the extra space they have in the car now that he won’t be joining them and starts walking before they start driving.

He knows the route pretty well, or so he hopes. He’s had ample time to study road maps and subway lines.

The buses are, thankfully, pretty empty since it’s summer. If they weren't, he would've walked.

It doesn’t take long for the bus to pull into the stop that’s a few minutes away from the school. He walks the rest of the way and scans his keycard and face at the door. Once he’s let in, he goes the rest of the way to the dorm building, Heights Alliance.

He only knows where it is because he took the time to memorize a map of everything on campus before he first came to the school under Kakashi’s name.

It’s early in the morning, around 10am, so there are people moving about the dorms already.

“Oh! Are you the new student Aizawa-sensei was talking about?” A girl, Uraraka, if Sasuke remembers correctly, asks.

Sasuke nods and her smile widens.

“I’m Uraraka Ochako!” She sticks out her hand for him to shake and Sasuke stares at it for a beat too long. She pulls her hand away with an awkward laugh.

“Uchiha Sasuke.” He replies eventually. “Which way are the elevators?”

“They’re just behind that door.” She points to a door to Sasuke’s left.

Sasuke nods in acknowledgement and turns to leave.

“Ah, wait!” She calls out to him and her face immediately flushes when he turns to look at her. “Since you’re new… I was just wondering if you wanted me to introduce you to everyone later?”

Sasuke already knows his soon-to-be classmates since he’s been to Yuuei before, not that they know that. He knows it would be a bit stupid to be rude to her so early into the school year. No point in purposefully making a bad first impression.

“If you’d like.” He says before actually leaving this time.

His room is on the fourth floor sandwiched between Shouji’s and Satou’s, which is nice, because Sasuke knows they’re pretty quiet people.

The room itself is pretty big for a dorm room. He’d been expecting to get something in a similar size to the ANBU dorms, though he’s only been there once or twice.

He doesn’t have a lot of stuff. It’s mostly just books and disguised weaponry. Aizawa and Yamada had insisted he at least get a carpet, so there’s a small, gray, circular rug in the center of the room.

There’s a desk with a chair on the left side of the room along with a dresser. The bed is on the opposite side with the futon folded on top of it.

All in all, it’s an alright set up.

He feels a bit agitated from the knowledge that there are so many people around him at all times, but he knows he’ll just have to get used to it so he forces his rigid shoulders to relax.

It feels uncomfortable to hold himself like he’s anything other than a weapon, but he’s surrounded by civilian children again so he doesn’t have much of a choice in that area either.

Speaking of the children, a knock at the door brings him out of his own head.

He can hear the person on the other side of the door speaking to their friend pretty clearly, so that tells him all he really needs to know about the soundproofing.

“Uchiha-san? Aizawa-sensei sent me to come get you.”

Sasuke opens the door to see a guy with hair pretty similar to his own. It’s jet black and pretty straight. The length is similar too.

“Sero Hanta, nice to meet you.” The boy smiles and Sasuke thinks he looks a bit like a wind up toy but he doesn’t comment. He also doesn’t introduce himself because Sero apparently knows his name already. Sero takes his silence in stride and they head downstairs to where the rest of the children are.

The children are sitting in the common rooms with Aizawa standing in front of them. They’re all listening to him, which is a shock. Given how much Aizawa mutters darkly about their inability to follow instructions, Sasuke would’ve thought they’d be more rowdy. They were when he met them all those months ago. Though, current circumstances seemed to have calmed them down somewhat.

“As I’m sure you’ve all heard, this is Uchiha Sasuke. He’ll be in your class from now on.” Aizawa says.

Everyone starts talking at once and Sasuke feels the beginning of a headache. Aizawa looks like he’d take being 6 feet under instead of being in the room at that moment.

Iida (Sasuke thinks so, anyway. He knows Iida Sr. and they look pretty similar) stands up and manages to get them all to calm down.

“I am Iida Tenya. We’re happy to have you in our class, Uchiha-san.” Iida gives a curt, robotic bow and returns to his seat. Everyone else introduces themselves one after another.

Aizawa takes the opportunity to get out of the room while the introductions are happening and Bakugou leaves shortly after he gives his own introduction. Sasuke envies them both.

Eventually, conversation switches to their dorm rooms and how they decorated them. Someone, Sasuke can’t see who, suggests they hold a contest to see who has the best decor. The class latches on immediately. The suggestion alleviates some of the obvious tension in the room, though, so he supposes it’s a good thing. That, of course, doesn’t mean he has any intention of participating.

He slips out of the room while they discuss the specifics of the competition and texts Yamada that he’s going to the teacher’s dorms where they, along with Aizawa and Eri, are staying.

Really, he’d rather just go to sleep instead of doing this, but he doesn’t want to sleep in the dorm without one of his primary senses.

The teacher’s dorms are much different than the Heights Alliance, they’re bigger, for one, looking more like an actual apartment building with individual units than a dorm building.

Yamada and Eri are standing by the front door waiting for him.

“Sasuke-san!” Eri waves excitedly.

Sasuke nods in acknowledgement but otherwise doesn’t say anything. Yamada smiles gently and herds them into the building.

“Did you have something you wanted to talk about?” Yamada asks knowingly.

Sasuke lets his eyes purposefully wander to where Eri’s standing.

“Eri, why don’t you go find Nemuri?” Yamada offers. Eri frowns at the obvious attempt to get her to leave but lets it slide.

Yamada then turns to Sasuke and motions for him to follow them.

They go up a flight of stairs and then into the apartment Yamada shares with Aizawa and Eri.

Aizawa is sitting on the floor with a computer open on the coffee table and papers scattered haphazardly around him.

Sana slithers out of what Sasuke assumes to be Eri’s room and climbs up Sasuke’s body so he sits around his shoulders.

“We’re as private as we can get, now.” Yamada says with a grin. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I’m going to try and fix my Chakra.” He says bluntly. He ought to do this when he isn’t quite so tired, but it should be fine since he won’t be the one using much energy.

“Oh?” Aizawa shuts his computer and turns his attention to Sasuke.

Sana, who already knows about Sasuke’s plan, explains so Sasuke doesn’t have to. “I come from a dimension connected to Sasuke-sama’s. It is called Ryuchi Cave and is home to the snake summons. Sasuke-sama plans to have me go there and request that the elders summon him to the cave.”

“Do you think it’ll work?” Yamada wonders aloud, easily accepting the new information.

“Most likely.” It’ll be painful, though. “I don’t know how long I’ll be there.”

“Thank you for telling us.” Yamada pauses. “Did you want to do it here?”

It doesn’t really matter where he does it, the result will be the same, so Sasuke shrugs.

“You’re welcome to stay here and try.” Aizawa says and Yamada moves to sit on the couch behind him.

“Thank you.” Sasuke nods and scans the room for somewhere where he can be sure any backlash could be controlled.

He finds a spot and sits cross-legged on the floor with his eyes closed.

“Sana, if you would.”

He feels Sana’s connection to the world snap like a bone and Chakra rushes into him. He sits with his back ramrod straight while he waits for it to pass and for Sana to get the elders.

“Are you okay?” Aizawa asks.

“‘S fine.” Sasuke answers through gritted teeth.

Yamada makes a sound like he thinks it’s very much not fine, but he knows there’s not much that can be done.

5 minutes pass and Sasuke feels the tell-tale signs of reverse summoning take over as his body is ripped through several dimensions to land in Ryuchi Cave.

“What in the name of the Gods have you done to yourself, you foolish boy!” Is the first thing he hears when he lands. He recognizes the gruff voice to be from one of the younger elders, Kohaku.

“Kohaku-sama, nice to see you again.” Sasuke looks up from his place on the floor to see large red eyes staring back at him.

“Nice to– your Chakra coils are completely wrecked! I’m surprised you even made it here at all.”

“Kohaku, the boy has had quite the journey, let’s all calm down.” The milder voice of Maaya, one of the oldest snakes in Ryuchi cave, gradually gets closer as she continues speaking. Kohaku immediately quiets down.

“Maaya-sama.” Sasuke greets.

“Can you stand?” She asks wryly.

Sasuke blinks and looks to make sure his feet are still there because he can hardly feel them. “…No.”

“I thought so. Ayako, Chiaki, help our halfwitted summoner to Izumi-Ohimesama.”

Ayako and Chiaki are large snakes that don’t speak any languages other than whatever language normal snakes speak.

Ayako responds in a series of hissing that means something vaguely along the lines of “what kind of hole did he crawl out of?” and Sasuke can do nothing but attempt a shrug.

Eventually, they get him to Izumi-Ohimesama. She’s blind, but still manages to see more than even Sasuke. Her body is slightly smaller than Aoda’s, but not by much. Her scales are a mix of dark green, black, and a brighter yellow.

She slithers off the rock she spends most of her time perched on and looks him over a few times.

“What has happened to you, hatchling?” She asks. “If I were not looking at you I would think you were dead.”

“The power in the world I’ve found myself in was… surprising. It will not happen again, Ohimesama.”

“Your promises mean little.” She narrows her eyes at him. “If you find yourself in such a state again, I cannot say for certain whether or not you would live. Some of the damage is irreparable.”

That’s… not what Sasuke had been expecting. He’d known it was bad but it hadn’t really felt like anything other than standard Chakra exhaustion. Though the feeling when he attempted to use his Chakra was a little different.

Izumi-Ohimesama moves aside so a healer, Kenji-sensei, can look over him properly. She whispers something to him and Kenji-sensei nods.

He stares at Sasuke for a while before sighing. “Izumi-Ohimesama is correct. Your Chakra pathways are not destroyed so much as they have pieces missing? No, that is not quite right. They have holes.”

“Holes?”

“Yes. Like… acu-acupuncture?” He looks at Izumi-Ohimesama. “Is that the word?”

Izumi-Ohimesama nods and Kenji-sensei continues, “I do not know how this happened, you are very lucky the holes are where they are and not half a millimeter closer to your tenketsu points otherwise you would not have survived.”

Kenji-sensei stares at Sasuke for a bit longer before speaking again. “Have you been feeling excessively tired lately? Unexplainable exhaustion, lethargy, that sort of thing?”

Well, yes, but Sasuke hadn’t thought that was too out of the ordinary. Though, looking back on it he probably should’ve realized something was amiss.

“I have.”

“Right, I thought so. It looks as if it targeted weak points and forced Chakra through them, which is now creating leaks. You are leaking Chakra.” He says the last sentence with a hint of incredulity and hysteria.

Sasuke parses through his, admittedly limited, medical ninjutsu knowledge and comes to the conclusion that he’s dying.

“I’m dying?” He asks, just to clarify.

Kenji-sensei goes quiet again. He opens his mouth to speak several times before settling on, “You would have been dead by the end of the week had you not sought us out sooner.”

The air leaves Sasuke’s body. “What?”

Sasuke is intimately familiar with death, having been pulled from the brink of it both physically and mentally several times, once by the Sage of Six Paths himself, but it’s still a harrowing experience each time.

“Do not be alarmed, hatchling.” Sasuke doesn’t know how to not be alarmed but the sentiment is appreciated. “We will work on a solution and it will be finished by tomorrow evening at the latest.”

Sasuke sits up from where he was lying flat on his stomach before and nods, forcing his inner feelings out of the equation.

“Thank you, Kenji-sensei.”

“Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to access your Chakra before then. I will give you some Chakra replenishing pills so you do not keel over as soon as you leave here. I know you are stubborn but the pills will not do much for you if you do not listen.”

Sasuke is about to nod again before Kenji flicks him with his tail. “A verbal response, please. You will not die, there is no need to act like this is the end of the world.”

“Yes, Kenji-sensei.”

A small snake that Sasuke doesn’t know the name of appears by his side and pushes a few large, circular pills into his hand.

“Take one now and the second as soon as you return to your dimension.”

The pills are about the size of the tip of his thumb, but a few moments of unpleasantness are better than death.

He swallows the first pill dry and takes several deep breaths to calm the immediate wave of nausea. Chakra pills have a feeling similar to drinking coffee, but instead of milk or creamer, someone used an energy drink.

It’s a pretty foul taste, but Sasuke’s life relies on them right now.

“Alright, off with you, now. I will send Sana back with you so he can alert us of any changes.” Izumi-Ohimesama says and Sasuke is pulled back to the apartment.

His ears ring as his awareness eventually seeps back into him. He’s laying on the hardwood floors and there are people standing over him.

“Are you okay? What happened? You didn’t say you would disappear!” Yamada’s rambling is the first thing his brain registers as it latches onto some semblance of familiarity.

Eventually, he sits up. “How long have I been gone?”

“A little over an hour.” Aizawa replies.

Sasuke grimaces before scanning the room for water.

“Do you want help getting up?” Yamada holds his hand out for him to take and Sasuke only briefly hesitates before taking it.

He gets himself a cup of water and takes the second pill.

“Did… did you work it out?” Yamada asks, nervousness colouring their voice.

“It’ll be fixed in a day.” Sasuke answers after a brief internal debate about how much he should tell them.

“You look….” Like shit, exhausted, dead, terrible, drained, to name a few. Aizawa settles for, “unsettled.”

“Hn.” Sasuke sighs. “I received unsettling news, that's all.”

“What kind of news?”

“The unsettling kind.” Sasuke replies wryly. “Thank you for letting me stay for so long, I’ll be off now.”

Yamada looks like he wants to say more but he holds himself back, which Sasuke appreciates.

They walk him back to the lobby and Sasuke turns down Aizawa’s offer to join him on the walk all the way back to the dorms.

By the time Sasuke returns to his dorm room, he’s too tired to be paranoid about the people around him.

He’s asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Chapter Text

“My, my. It’s almost a good thing I didn’t pursue Itachi’s body further. Yours is much more… moldable.” Orochimaru’s raspy voice sounds from somewhere in the room. Sasuke can barely hear it over the whir of machinery.

His eyes are shut as he tries to picture himself somewhere, anywhere else. If he imagines it hard enough, then it’s true.

Orochimaru continues to talk, all things Sasuke doesn’t want to hear and Orochimaru knows he doesn’t want to hear them.

He thinks of himself in the past, projecting his awareness to who he was back then as hard as he possibly can. Back when Itachi was still “ni-san” and he could think of his parents without seeing their dead bodies.

He can hear his parents talking to him as if they’re still there and for a bit he can pretend they are. Until the imagery is shattered by Orochimaru taking his chin and forcing Sasuke’s eyes open.

“Eyes on me, Sasuke-kun.” Orochimaru leans over to whisper in Sasuke’s ears. “I want you to be present for this–”

Sasuke wakes up with a start and is in his bathroom bending over the toilet before he can fully register where he is. His arms tremble with effort and it takes all the energy he has for him to remember that he can’t cast out his Chakra to check if anyone’s in his immediate vicinity.

He sits with his back against the wall for some time. He drifts for a bit, he doesn’t know how long. It’s better this way because it leaves his mind peacefully blank and numb. Nothing is registered, it’s like he doesn’t even exist.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he notes the sun streaming in from the window by his bed in the other room. The light is visible through the partially open door. It was dark when he woke up… maybe. He can’t quite remember.

Sasuke blinks and finds himself back in his bed. He ought to be more concerned about how he got there but as it stands, he remains unbothered.

He’s tired now, which is weird. He can’t remember doing anything that would make him feel this exhausted.

He shuts his eyes for a quick nap.

Sasuke opens his eyes and squints as the bright sun assaults his eyes. He checks the time on his phone. It’s 1pm.

“Fuck.” He says quietly.

He spends a minute in silence to gather his thoughts before sighing and pulling himself out of his bed and into the shower. He zones out a bit during the shower, but he manages to get clean so he decides that it’s a good thing.

He’s expecting to be reverse-summoned some time later today, so he doesn’t do anything that would take too much time.

Sasuke decides to read, which doesn’t go nearly as well as he wanted. His eyes don’t manage to focus on a word for long enough to actually understand anything.

He tosses the book to the side with an irritated scoff and switches to tending to and cleaning his weapons. It’s been a while since he’s used the things so they’re in pretty okay shape.

At around 3pm, he’s pulled back into Ryuchi Cave.

Immediately upon his landing, he’s dragged directly to Izumi-Ohimesama and Kenji-sensei.

“The procedure itself will not be difficult, only painful.” Kenji-sensei explains. It’s about what Sasuke had expected. It obviously couldn’t be easy, considering the mess that had been made of his Chakra.

“Please begin your standard meditation and attempt to draw Nature Chakra into yourself.” Kenji-sensei requests. He continues to talk once Sasuke’s legs are crossed and he’s seated somewhat comfortably.

“Do be careful of where you draw the Nature Chakra in. If you pull it through the holes in your system, it could be more dangerous. Focus on bringing it in through your normal pathways.” It’s a bit of a choppy explanation, which is fine. Kenji-sensei speaks snake first and foremost.

He understands it well enough anyway.

Kenji-sensei doesn’t warn him before he bites Sasuke. The sharp prick of pain is almost enough to make Sasuke startle, but he doesn’t.

Kenji-sensei’s fangs are short but wider than average. It hurts but Sasuke grits his teeth and bears it.

The sensation of Kenji-sensei’s venom entering his system is awful. Kenji-sensei’s venom, like most of the summonable snakes, is quite different from normal snake venom as it contains a heavy concentration of Chakra.

He sits quietly and waits until Kenji-sensei’s done.

After the fangs are removed from his shoulder, Kenji-sensei speaks. “Do not move from where you sit. Be still or you will disrupt the healing process. I would recommend a paralysis venom but I know you will decline.”

Sasuke doesn’t say anything. Speaking counts as movement.

Sweat beads on his forehead and he can feel Kenji-sensei’s Chakra pulling his own pathways back together and sealing them shut. Sasuke’s nails break the skin on the palm of his hands.

He doesn’t know how many minutes pass. It feels like hours drag on, but eventually the pain slowly lessens in its intensity. “Your coils are delicate. Do not overextend yourself or I will be unable to help you again. They will heal over time, but understand that it could take years for them to be what they once were. Thankfully, your overall reserves were left untouched.”

“The seal.” Sasuke mutters. “Check Orochimaru’s seal.” He doesn’t stumble over the name like he might’ve a year ago.

Kenji-sensei blinks but follows through wordlessly.

“Strange… it looks as if it’s still active but….”

“It’s not.” Sasuke finishes.

“No, it doesn’t seem to be. It’s highly possible that Orochimaru’s Chakra, as loose and volatile as it was, was what was taken. You have no control over the seal, so it’s possible that leaks were made and Chakra was released into the air, but we have no way of knowing as of yet.”

Sasuke hums and pushes back a yawn.

“You may rest here, but I will have you sent back before the sun sets.” Kenji-sensei says.

Sasuke nods in thanks and lays down. He’s spent many long nights in Ryuchi Cave, days training and learning how to use his summons properly, so it doesn’t take him too long to fall asleep.

He shuts his eyes and mercifully, dreams of nothing.

Sasuke doesn’t stay sleeping for long, which is good because it would’ve been worse if Kenji-sensei would’ve had to wake him. He wakes of his own accord and Izumi-Ohimesama sends him back soon after.

His room is noticeably darker than it was before he left. He’d guess it’s somewhere from 5-6pm.

There’s not much he can do for now. He’ll let himself heal for as long as he possibly can and use it sparingly when he does use it.

He’ll wait a few days to summon Sana again, too. Just to be careful.

For now, though, he’s not sure what to do. He has nothing to do. Sasuke is… bored.

Before his whole Chakra thing, he’d been planning to kill Chisaki for his own peace of mind, more than anything, but he’ll have to wait on that too.

He knows there are more cruel people in the world other than just Chisaki. And he knows that, if he really wanted to, he could dispose of all of them easily as soon as he found them. The Uchiha communicate through violence. It’s a twisted sort of love language that always leaves much to be desired from both parties.

He doesn’t know why it’s Chisaki specifically, why he pisses Sasuke off more than anything. Maybe it’s solidarity between him and Eri. An act of kindness. A parting gift. It’s probably for himself more than anything. 

Sasuke’s always been a bit of a selfish bastard.

He’s never liked doing nothing and since he’s making little to no progress on getting back to the Elemental Nations, he’s itching for something to do.

With no other options, he elects to leave his room. He doesn’t really want to see much of his future classmates until the term actually starts, but he does live with them now so it looks like he can’t put it off.

He doesn’t share a floor with that many people, so chances of him running into anyone on this floor are slim.

He makes it down the stairs without talking to anyone, but his luck ends there.

Obviously, there are people in the common rooms. Sasuke knows all of their names, but his primary identifier for most of them is their abilities.

 Uraraka looks up at him when he enters and waves him over. The cheer on her face as she waves almost makes him think she’s looking at someone else, but he knows there’s no one behind him.

After hesitating a second too long, he walks over to where she’s sitting with her friends.

“How are you finding the dorms?” She asks as soon as he’s close enough.

“…Fine.”

They take his clipped answers in stride and All Might’s brat, Midoriya, talks next. “Where did you go to school before this, Uchiha-san? Transfers from outside Yuuei are abnormal.” He mumbles the last sentence.

Yamada and Aizawa haven’t spoken to him about constructing a cover story so Sasuke assumes he can say whatever he wants. “I didn’t.”

“Huh?”

“Go to a school before this.”

“Not even for elementary?” Uraraka asks. Sasuke has a vague understanding at best of the schooling system here, so he’s not 100% sure how old elementary school kids are.

“I was taught privately for most of my life.”

“As was I! Though I attended a private school, were you homeschooled?” Iida asks.

Sasuke nods and wonders how he can remove himself from this situation. He casts a non-subtle look at the kitchen and hopes that the children pick up on his hinting.

They do, eventually, and Sasuke manages to end the conversation without seeming like he doesn’t want to talk to them. 

He doesn’t end up making himself any food, though. He doesn’t think he could stomach it now. Instead, he walks the way to the teacher’s dorms and lets himself in.

To say that he feels comfortable is a stretch, but he prefers the atmosphere of the teacher’s dorms to the student ones.

“I was just about to come and find you!” Yamada says. “Did you get your… Chakra fixed? What happened, anyway?”

“There were… holes from where it was forced to exit my system.”

Yamada is silent for a moment before saying, “Those would’ve had to have been there for what, weeks? A little over a month? Didn’t you say that was like… your life force? And that if you lost all of it you’d die?” They stare at him with alarm visible in their facial expression and if Sasuke were anyone else, he might laugh and pretend he was joking.

Sasuke laughing might be more unnerving to them, though.

“Sasuke, kid, I’m gonna need you to answer me here.”

“It’s not that bad.” It was that bad but there’s no need to cause unnecessary alarm.

“If you hadn’t gotten it fixed, what would’ve happened?” Yamada crosses his arms.

“It’s… fine now. I just have to be… gentle for a bit.” Sasuke dodges the question.

“That– I– that’s not the point . Oh my god, you and Shouta are two peas in a pod I swear.” His voice trails off into dark muttering that Sasuke only catches the beginning of, “You’d run yourselves straight into your graves if there was no one to stop you….”

And sure, maybe Sasuke takes that personally more than he should but really it’s true. Yamada hardly knows anything about him yet his words are so on the dot. It makes Sasuke wonder how much of himself he’s given away in an attempt to stay as vague as possible.

Yamada brings him upstairs to their living room and puts him on the couch. He watches Sasuke like he’s afraid Sasuke will up and vanish on the spot which, given what little they know of reverse-summoning, is a valid fear.

They make themself hot chocolate and Sasuke gets a glass of warm milk.

“You can have hot chocolate if you want, but you don’t like sweets, do you?”

Sasuke isn’t even going to ask how he knows that.

Aizawa enters the room soon after and sits on the arm chair.

“So.” Yamada says in a way that might be pleasant if not for the dark undercurrent in his voice. “When were you going to tell us that you were actually leaking your life force ? ”

The only answer he has for Yamada is never. He hadn’t planned on them ever finding out because it didn’t really seem like an issue. As far as he knows, he’s kind of just the random dude that came along with them taking custody of Eri.

“What?” Aizawa says, looking from Yamada to Sasuke. “Sasuke, you were dying ?”

Sasuke shrugs and waves his hand vaguely.

“I only found out yesterday.” That seems like the wrong thing to say, because Yamada’s expression crumples.

“That was your ‘unsettling’ news?” Aizawa asks incredulously.

He doesn’t feel any need to explain to them that he’s almost died several times before. He has actually died, too. When Madara stabbed him during the war. A memory that goes into the box of things he pretends not to think about.

“I’ll live.” Sasuke isn’t really seeing the issue here.

“You could’ve told us, we could’ve helped you.” Yamada is clearly going for calm and unaffected and failing spectacularly.

Sasuke bites back the cruel retort on the tip of his tongue. The truth is, he doesn’t know what to do when people care. Not in the weird “a single compliment gets me to trust you” way Naruto seems to adopt or the “you must be lying otherwise you’re insane” mentality Kakashi has.

Sasuke is mean. He knows he’s mean and doesn’t really care. It doesn’t bother him when the words he says with intent to hurt actually do. He’s a murderer and he’s okay with it.

It’s weird to admit it, even privately to himself, but Sasuke can’t connect care with Sasuke . Sure, if these people knew him as Uchiha Sasuke , Uchiha heir, Uchiha survivor, 4th war “hero,” then he’d understand.

He doesn’t like not knowing. He likes admitting that he doesn’t know even less, though.

So, he stares at them unblinking.

“Do you… do you think we don’t care about you?” Sasuke takes a moment to register Yamada’s hurt tone and carefully curates his answer. He knows they care about him on a certain level. He’s the weird guy who crawled out of some dimensional hole that they’ve been tasked with taking care of.

“No.” He says slowly but doesn’t say anything else because he knows it sounds like he’s lying and nothing he can say will salvage the stupid situation he’s found himself in because he doesn’t know what they’ll do next. He’s lied to them, practically made a hobby out of it, and now they know what he really thinks of them so it’s a bit stupid to keep him around. If he were them, he’d have hoisted himself off to some other unlucky soul a long time ago, but Sasuke doesn’t trust himself anywhere near children in the first place so he can’t imagine himself getting anywhere close to a situation like this–

But Yamada has this unbelievably sad expression on his face like he doesn’t know what to do with awful information he’s just been given which doesn’t make sense because how is this anything outside of their expectations for him?

“I want to give you a hug.” Yamada says. “Can I?”

“What.” Now it’s Sasuke’s turn to be utterly bewildered by the turn of events. Yamada’s words, at first, don’t even register in his mind as things that have been said because of how otherworldly they are.

He feels young for the first time in a long time and it’s a feeling he hates. He hates it so much he wants to tear it to shreds and never think about it again. He hates it like he hates the shitty situation he’s found himself in. He doesn’t know if he’s referring to the whole dimensional travel thing or this particular conversation but either way, the thought applies.

“A hug. Can I hug you?” Yamada, for the first time since Sasuke’s met them, isn’t eloquent with his words and Sasuke doesn’t know what to do with that vulnerability.

The words that are torn out of his vocal chords sound so honest he hates and hates himself for it. “ Why? ”

But it escapes no one’s notice that he hasn’t- hasn’t said no. Though he knows Yamada wouldn’t act on such a technicality.

Yamada casts a look in Aizawa’s direction who looks similarly confused as to the turn of events as Sasuke is.

“Because I want to.” Yamada answers. It comes out slightly rushed but gutturally genuine. “Because I care about you. I-” Yamada cuts himself off and laughs somewhat helplessly. “I don’t know how else to say it or show you.”

Sasuke is a good Shinobi. “Good” in the sense that he’s competent, though no village would touch him with a 10-foot pole because of his “loyalty issues.” Of which he has none but they don’t know that.

This weakness is inexcusable. Inexplicable. Unforgivable.

Unforgivable to who… he hasn’t decided yet.

But still.

Still, he finds himself nodding. Allowing Yamada’s admission of… of something , Sasuke doesn’t know what, to be acknowledged and accepted. Not understood because Sasuke still doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know if he ever will.

Yamada telegraphs his movements clearly so Sasuke has ample time to pull away, but he doesn’t.

He doesn’t pull away and it doesn’t make sense.

He instinctively tenses, but Yamada lets him relax. He waits for him.

It’s weird, a part of his brain supplies, rushing to come up with theories as to why this is happening. Poison (as if. Yamada seemed genuinely offended when Sasuke had asked if they used bleach to clean), drugs (hardly, for the same reason as the poison), seduction (the man is married and very clearly into the whole possibly-homeless look Aizawa’s got going on), manipulation (but with what motivation? What end goal?). But all the theories are half-baked and Sasuke has a sound enough mind to see that the other half is pure insanity.

The embrace is warm. 

Had Itachi’s love been like this at one point? Before–

Sasuke can’t bring himself to initiate contact with Yamada in return, but he gets the sense that Yamada doesn’t mind.

Yamada looks like it physically pains them to pull away but he does so anyway and offers Sasuke a soft smile.

Sasuke blinks and remembers to breathe.

“Kid, you with us?” Aizawa asks and he sounds a lot closer than he was a few moments ago.

Sasuke doesn’t know. He thinks he doesn’t know a lot of things.

“No.” It’s sharp and honest but he’s speaking like a sort-of-person so they’ll have to accept it.

“Okay. That’s okay.” Yamada says it like it’s the truth and they believe it fully. Like it’s as simple as the fact that the sky is blue and grass is green and Sasuke is Okay.

Sasuke is inclined to disbelieve every word that comes out of Yamada’s mouth on principle, but he doesn’t.

It’s always the blondes, he thinks, echoing his thoughts from when he first arrived here.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Yamada asks. Dryly, Sasuke wonders if he should ask which part, but he gets the feeling that the answer will be that they’ll talk to him about whatever he’s willing to speak about.

“I don’t know.” Sasuke tries for a shrug but doesn’t manage.

“If we ask, will you answer?” Aizawa prods, but it doesn’t feel like an interrogation.

This time, Sasuke actually succeeds at a shrug.

“Where was your favourite spot in your village?” Yamada wonders after a long break of silence..

It’s not what he was expecting. They could’ve asked about his brother, about his nightmares, about any of it. But they don’t.

Sasuke answers anyway. He hadn’t spent much time in the village leading up to his untimely dimensional departure, but he remembers…

“A dock by a lake….”

Chapter Text

“As you haven’t been here for a large portion of the year, I’d like you to take this test to ensure that you’re caught up with your classmates. You have the whole day to go through it, skip anything you don’t know and there will be a break at lunch.

“Your guardians have set up an appointment with Hound Dog for you to discuss making up for the missed internship, if you so wish, and provisional licensing.” Nezu continues when Sasuke nods. “Your time starts now. Please begin your assessment.”

Sasuke flips through the packet. It’s history first, then it moves to the other core subject each few pages. It looks like stuff Sasuke knows so it shouldn’t be too difficult, though his grasp of the history in this world isn’t what it probably should be.

He breezes through most of the packet and doesn’t bother putting effort into making it look like he’s struggling. A good amount of it is stuff he’s learned in his spare time, though some of the math and science questions are things he’s researched relatively recently while attempting to gauge this world’s knowledge on dimensional travel.

There are a lot of pages, is what he’s realizing as he finishes page 10 and notices he’s not halfway finished yet.

It takes him the better part of 2 and a half hours to make it through 20 out of 28 pages. It makes sense that it’s long, Sasuke missed several months of schooling and hasn’t been to their definition of a school… ever, so it’s understandably intensive. 

He stretches his hands and spends the next hour finishing the last 8 pages.

Nezu left some time ago to do whatever, and he returns just as Sasuke is on the second last question.

“Would you like to break for lunch?”

“No.” Sasuke pauses and quickly amends, “No, thank you.”

“Oh?” Nezu walks over to the couch Sasuke’s sitting on and observes his test. “You’re almost done?”

Sasuke shrugs and moves on to the final question. The last section of the test was on hero ethics, which might be the only part other than history that Sasuke could do poorly on.

He checks the time and writes down how long it took him to do the test before handing it to Nezu.

“How fascinating!” Nezu grins. “I had estimated you to take 5 hours to do the test but it appears I understated your abilities!”

Sasuke asks, because he’s curious, “Is that the average time?”

“Oh, heavens no! Most students would’ve taken the full day!” Nezu takes a sip of his tea that Sasuke doesn’t remember him having. “If I hadn’t known of your circumstances, I would assume your Quirk was intelligence based!”

The delight in Nezu’s eyes is gone in a blink and Sasuke shifts slightly, expecting a question.

“Do you do a lot of reading in your spare time?” Nezu wonders.

“I do.” Sasuke replies honestly. Noting any miniscule changes in Nezu’s body language. “Does that surprise you?”

“Not in the slightest! You’re well adjusted to this world, which, I assume, is partially thanks to what you read.”

Sasuke nods in acknowledgement and stands. Sometimes, talking with Nezu reminds Sasuke of talking to a Kage. It makes sense, though. Yuuei does a lot more than just teach kids and Nezu runs it all.

“Is the level of power you display casually customary for those from your dimension?” Nezu asks after a prolonged silence.

Sasuke considers lying but knows Nezu would see through him. “I am somewhat of an oddity amongst my peers.”

He’s vastly downplaying it and Nezu can tell, that is, if the amusement palpable in his strange smile has anything to do with it.

“Well, I’ve kept you from lunch for long enough.” Nezu hops off his chair and Sasuke follows him to the door of his office.

“I hope to see you at the next meeting to discuss possible ways to return you to your dimension.”

Sasuke nods. As long as people use the last meeting as a reminder for what not to do, everything should go fine.

“Of course, should anyone attending one of these meetings make you uncomfortable, it will be dealt with accordingly.” Nezu says cheerfully.

“Your concern is noted but wholly unnecessary, Principal.” Sasuke replies easily.

“If you insist. I would hate for things to get messy.”

“As would I.”

Nezu opens the door to his office and Sasuke steps out. “September 3rd, 5pm.”

“I’ll see you then, Principal.” Sasuke bows his head in polite recognition before he turns and leaves, his footsteps soundless against the tile.

“Ah, Uchiha, come in.” Hound Dog opens the door when Sasuke knocks. “Mic and Eraser should be here shortly.”

Sasuke steps into the room and sits down on one of the 3 available chairs.

“How are you doing today?” Hound Dog asks conversationally.

“Fine.” A short silence. “And you?”

Hound Dog’s lips twitch upwards. “I’m good. Lots of work to do to get ready for the new semester. How are you finding the dorms?”

Sasuke knows that Hound Dog’s function in the school is similar to that of a therapist, so he carefully picks his words.

“Nice. Quite large, though given the rest of the buildings in this school that’s hardly a surprise.”

Hound Dog laughs. “Yes, ‘plus ultra’ and all that.”

There’s a knock on the door and Hound Dog opens it to let Yamada and Aizawa in. 

“Inui! Good to see you again.” Yamada beams and gives Hound Dog a firm handshake.

Aizawa doesn’t say anything and instead sits down. Yamada follows suit with a fond sigh.

“So, let’s get right to business, shall we?” Hound Dog pulls out a notebook. “Since you have, technically, taken the entrance exam before and passed, there isn’t an issue with letting you rejoin the class. The only potential problem would be that you lack the experience that the rest of your classmates would’ve gotten through the internship that was completed earlier this year.”

Sasuke almost laughs. Him ? Lacking experience? 

“Experience isn’t a problem.” He says vaguely.

Hound Dog raises an eyebrow. “Are you willing to elaborate?”

Sasuke is familiar enough with the concept of ‘child soldiers’ that he knows every adult in a nearby vicinity will see him as one as soon as he explains why they really ought not to be worried about whether or not he’s behind his soon-to-be classmates experience-wise.

If he doesn’t explain further, then there’s a high chance he won’t be able to get a provisional license. Not that he really cares. There’s not really much they could do to stop him short of attempting to kill him and even then he doubts they’d manage.

Explaining might be a solution to getting them to treat him less like a kid but it could also have the opposite effect.

Either way, it doesn’t really matter to him. He’s not as upset about lost childhood memories as he probably should be. Not because of that anyway.

“The villages where I’m from are built for war.” He begins. “As such, operations during peacetime are carried out under the assumption that there will be another war before the youngest generation become adults.

“Because of this, schooling is quite different. Where your 6 year olds might learn to read and write, for me, it’s more natural that they should learn to throw knives.” He notes their somewhat horrified expressions and continues, “That’s not to say that there aren’t schools focused around things other than that, but they’re rare and often underfunded.”

Aizawa looks like Sasuke is confirming what he already knew, which is better than this coming as a complete shock.

“I,” Sasuke says slowly, “am a soldier. Shinobi, is what they’re called.” He stares directly into Hound Dog’s eyes. “So no, I don’t believe my lack of experience is anything to be concerned over.”

“I see.” Hound Dog says. Sasuke can’t get a read on his facial expressions too well because of the muzzle. “Did you do work similar to what heroes do?”

Sasuke disguises the laugh that leaves his mouth against his will as a cough and regains his composure. “In what sense?”

“Rescue work, subduing and capturing villains, that sort of thing?”

“Shinobi weren’t the… ah, subduing type unless given a reason. But yes, in some cases.” Sasuke shrugs.

Hound Dog blinks owlishly at him before his features morph into grim understanding. A quick glance at Yamada and Aizawa tells him that neither of them are surprised at the knowledge that Sasuke has killed people.

“You are unbothered by this?” Hound Dog asks. It’s genuine curiosity instead of an accusation.

Sasuke thinks about it. Most clan children held no illusions to the reality of Shinobi work. Unless there was a particular reason to shelter a child, clans usually took it upon themselves to educate their young about what they’d really be getting into if/when they decide to join the Academy.

Sasuke settles on saying, “I am… indifferent.”

It’s better than being wrecked with grief, but not much. Though, conversely, he could enjoy cutting lives short, but he doesn’t so he counts that as a win.

Hound Dog is quiet for a moment. “I’m afraid we’ve gone off track. Apologies.”

Sasuke easily waves off his concern and they continue the meeting.

The meeting comes to an end and Shouta watches Hizashi walk away with Sasuke.

He’s not… surprised by what Sasuke revealed in the meeting. It’s still an awful thing to hear about it either way, but Sasuke hadn’t really gone into detail (Shouta doesn’t know whether or not he should be thankful for that) so he doesn’t know how bad it really was.

Hizashi has been putting way more effort into actively showing Sasuke that he’s cared for since their talk a few days ago. The talk still weighs heavily on his mind, and he finds himself more distracted than usual in the wake of that conversation.

Shouta isn’t mad at Sasuke, of course not. He’s more upset with himself for not doing anything about the obvious red flags that some of Sasuke’s behaviour showed.

He’s doing something about it now, but he still wishes he’d done it sooner.

“Aizawa-san, did you have something you wanted to talk to me about?” Inui wonders.

“Yeah, I was just wondering if you could give me a list of resources so I can set up a therapy appointment for Sasuke.”

“Ah, that’s what I’d been hoping you’d ask.” Inui types something on his computer and the printer in the back of the room turns on and starts printing something. “This is a physical copy of a list of people I trust personally. I can also email you the list, if you’d like.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Inui hums. “No problem.”

There’s silence while he drafts the email until Inui speaks again. “You know he’s likely to object, right?”

Shouta hums in acknowledgement, though he actually doesn’t agree. He knows Hizashi talked to the kid about it once, and then he did object, but Shouta suspects that Sasuke will be expecting this. Either way, they aren’t going to force him.

He’ll talk to Hizashi more about it before he talks to Sasuke. It’s better if they’re both on the same page. Hizashi will definitely agree, since he had been pushing for this way before Shouta had thought about it.

“I’ve sent the email.” Inui looks away from his computer and levels Shouta with a stern look. “Please remember to send some of your students my way when the school year starts.”

Shouta nods. “Sure. Most of them probably need it.”

They exchange a few more pleasantries before Shouta leaves Inui’s office and heads to the teacher’s dormitories.

“Aizawa-san!” Eri runs up to him as soon as he enters their living space. “Is Sasuke-san with you?” 

“He isn’t. Did you want to speak to him?”

“Oh.” She demurs. “No.”

Shouta ignores the obvious lie and walks over to the couch where Nemuri is sitting. Things between them have been a bit tense since the whole All for One debacle. Mostly because Nemuri feels guilty over not keeping better track of Sasuke and Shouta doesn’t know how to explain that whether or not she had been watching him like a hawk the whole time, he still would’ve been able to get to Kamino if he really wanted to.

“Thanks for watching her, Nemuri.” He says.

“Oh, it’s not a problem.” Nemuri says quickly, standing up and collecting her things. “I didn’t think….” She cuts herself off. “Well, anyway, I’d be happy to do it any time.”

Shouta nods. He really needs to clear the air between the two of them. Let her know that he doesn’t fault her for it.

“Nemuri. Sit down.” He realizes how rude that sounds and adds on, “Please.”

She visibly hesitates before setting her bag on the floor and sitting back down on the couch.

Shouta wishes Hizashi was here. They’re much better at doing things like this than he is.

“I don’t blame you for what happened with Kamino.” He starts. She opens her mouth to say something but he speaks before she can. “Let me finish.”

“Sorry.” She mumbles.

It’s been a while since he’s seen her out of sorts like this. But extenuating circumstances, he supposes.

“What I’m about to tell you isn’t common knowledge, nor should it be, so please keep this to yourself.” He waits for her to nod before continuing. “Sasuke has prior dealings with All for One. Any and all connection the two of them had has been severed, now. But All for One had something Sasuke needed, so he agreed to work together. All for One… attempted to use it against him and needless to say, Sasuke didn’t appreciate it. I can’t imagine there was much you could’ve done to stop Sasuke from going to Kamino short of knocking him out.”

“Shit.” Nemuri says softly.

Aizawa’s lips twitch upward. “He’s an introvert by nature, so if you had tried to talk to him more I think he would’ve put more effort into staying away.”

“Sounds like someone I know.” Nemuri lets a small smile spread across her face.

“Haha, very funny. I’ll have you know he was like that before we found him.”

There’s a brief silence before Nemuri says, “Thanks, Shouta.”

Shouta sighs lightly. He knows he’s not good at accepting gratitude, but he’ll make an effort just this once. “Any time.”

Chapter Text

Sasuke sits in seat 16, which is in the back left corner of the class. He has a good view of everyone in the class from his position. It doesn’t really matter. Sasuke knows that he could easily beat all of the students in this class with his hands tied behind his back and a blindfold. Old habits die hard, though.

The students filter in at around the same time, since they all live together now and there’s no reason for anyone to be late.

The teachers come in last. There’s more than Sasuke expected. Aizawa, Kayama, and two others that Sasuke doesn’t know.

They explain that they’ll all be working on Super Moves over the course of the week, which, predictably, spurs excited yelling from the class.

“Change into your costumes and meet us at gym Gamma.” Aizawa instructs.

Sasuke had discussed what he’d be wearing for his hero costume with Hound Dog. Since he obviously couldn’t wear the same one he was wearing when he was at the school under All for One’s orders, they had to figure something else out.

He settled for insulated sweatpants that are secured around his ankles with black fabric as opposed to the white bandage-looking wraps most Shinobi use, a long coat with a collar, and a black turtleneck. There are two belts, both connected to his coat so it doesn’t move around too much. One belt sits around his waist and the other around his chest. He was given permission to wield a sword along with all of his other weapons.

The Quirk he put down was illusionary based again, which is fine because he hadn’t actually told anyone other than that one kid about his Quirk before, and he didn’t spend a whole lot of time at Yuuei before things went downhill thanks to All for One.

He changes in the bathroom and then goes to gym Gamma.

He isn’t the first one there because he wasn’t rushing to get to the gym. He’s probably not going to do very much for the semester. With any luck, he won’t be here long enough for it to matter. Though he doesn’t have high hopes.

The teachers explain why they’ll need super moves and their significance for current heroes. Sasuke tunes them out for the most part.

He’s paying so little attention that he almost startles when the brick looking teacher puts his hands on the floor and makes the gym shake and change shape.

The other teacher he isn’t familiar with throws up clones of themself and Sasuke briefly thinks of Orochimaru’s body replacement technique but he pushes the thought away where he can never think of it again.

The students rush to find a clone and Sasuke follows, albeit much slower.

“You’re still healing, right?” Aizawa asks.

Technically, yes, but he doubts whatever they’re doing here will hurt his Chakra pathways anymore than they already are.

He tells Aizawa this and the man sighs exasperatedly.

“Even so, take it easy.” He says. “Can’t have you passing out on us.”

Sasuke nods and goes to the only clone that hasn’t been claimed by another student.

“Alright, let’s see what you can do.” The clone says.

Sasuke wonders if they’re similar to Naruto’s shadow clones, but then there’d be no point in bringing them out if they’d dispel that quickly.

He considers going all out but then decides against it because he doesn’t want to have to go back to Ryuchi Cave and explain himself to Izumi-Ohimesama.

So, he settles for taijutsu only, with light chakra for speed boosts and such.

He puts a good amount of distance between him and the teacher. He doesn’t want to assume that the teacher won’t be throwing up any more clones, even though they already have 18 working with the other students.

He does a cursory scan of his surroundings. He’s on one of the higher platforms since the lower ones filled up quickly.

It only takes him a few seconds to come up with a plan, and soon enough, he’s making the first move.

He lowers his stance and center of gravity because he’s much shorter than the teacher, so he’ll just have to go for the knees. The teacher has pegs for legs, so he can target those as well.

The teacher doesn’t seem to expect him to attack, but they adjust quickly and Sasuke can tell that they’re going to attempt a kick.

As soon as Sasuke gets in range for the teacher’s kick, he ups the speed and easily dodges the hit. He slips around the teacher and puts a palm to their back, adding a little bit of Chakra to his push. It’s enough to make them a bit dizzy and cause their ears to ring. If he’d been trying to kill him, he could’ve just overloaded his systems and ruptured his blood vessels, which is easier to do now since these people hardly have any Chakra at all, so adding too much more will kill them.

They stumble but reorient themselves, unfocused eyes darting around to find Sasuke, who disappeared off the side of the rock they were both standing on and is using a small amount of Chakra to stick to the wall.

He hears the teacher make an amused sound and waits two more seconds, slipping two dull kunai into his hands, before returning to the top of the rock.

The teacher shifts slightly, obviously expecting a more hands-on fight this time.

They exchange blows for a few seconds, the teacher lands none of them so Sasuke eventually decides that he’s bored and wants to end the fight.

He sweeps his leg under the teacher’s and they trip slightly. Sasuke uses that to grab one of their arms and turn their body so when he pushes them, they land with their stomach flat on the ground.

Sasuke twists the arm around their back and holds a kunai to their neck.

“Do you concede?”

“…I concede.” Sasuke gets off of them and puts the kunai away.

“You’ve had training. Who’s your teacher?” They ask.

Sasuke blinks. Kakashi’s face is overshadowed by Orochimaru’s. “Irrelevant. You wouldn’t have heard of them.” He says curtly.

“Well, I can’t say I have any pointers on your fighting style. You fight easily and efficiently. You use your weapons as an extension of your own body.” The teacher pauses. “You fight like a soldier.”

Which makes sense. Because Sasuke is a soldier.

“Think about what you want your Super Move to be. I don’t think I saw you use your Quirk once. That’s good, you shouldn’t rely on it.”

Sasuke nods as if he doesn’t already know that.

The clone disappears and Sasuke slides down the rock.

Aizawa checks his watch and sighs. “Done already?”

Sasuke shrugs. Maybe they should bring better opponents if they want him to struggle in a fight.

“Why did you choose to use your dull knives instead of your sharp ones?”

He… doesn’t actually know. He hadn’t wanted to kill the poor teacher. They were trying their best. But even so, he trusts himself enough to know that he’d never “accidentally” kill someone.

“Why do you ask?”

“No reason.”

They stand in silence watching the rest of the class until Sasuke hears All Might’s footsteps coming around the corner.

Sure enough, All Might’s somewhat creepy, gaunt face appears in the doorway a second later. “I see everyone’s going at it!”

Sasuke almost wrinkles his nose as the phrasing of that sentence but settles for a blank stare.

“All Might…?” Midoriya asks slowly.

“I wasn’t called in today, but I had nothing going on, so… I am here!” He activates what’s left of his Quirk in that moment and Sasuke turns on his Sharingan.

Sasuke’s first assessment of the people in this world was that they have no Chakra, which, as he continues to live amongst them, has come to learn isn’t exactly true. They have it, but the amount is so little that he can’t sense it at all. Even with his Sharingan, it’s hard to see. In some cases, it’s different, which is probably because of Quirks. Some Quirks might be more connected to Chakra and use it more than others.

It makes sense, considering All for One’s Quirk was able to pick up on the Chakra from the Cursed Seal and yank it hard enough to render the seal inactive.

So, when Sasuke looks at All Might, all he can think is, “Wow, his pathways look worse than mine.”

All Might’s pathways are only slightly bigger than your average Quirked individual, but despite that, Sasuke can still see the knots and tears in his pathways. It looks awful. No wonder the guy is struggling so much.

“Something wrong?” Aizawa asks.

“You’re awfully curious today.” Sasuke mutters.

Aizawa stares at him for a moment before shrugging and turning to watch the rest of the class.

Bakugou explodes a pillar and the teacher along with it. Sasuke is reluctantly impressed. Though he despises Bakugou’s costume, the kid has skill. Upper genin level, most likely.

The only person Sasuke fought who could use Bakuton was Deidara, who used it in his clay. The Kekkei Genkai is interesting, a combination of lightning and earth release to form the explosions that can be so loud they deafen both the user and the intended target. A double edged sword, that’s for sure.

Sasuke wonders if Bakugou’s Quirk works in a similar fashion.

“I killed you, Ectoplasm!” Bakugou says proudly.

Ectoplasm must be the teacher’s name, then. Strange.

Eventually, they wrap up class. The rest of the day is relatively uneventful in comparison to first period, which, in Sasuke’s opinion, is a good thing.

“Eri’s been wanting to see you.” Aizawa says after class ends.

Sasuke doesn’t have a response to that. He doesn’t know why Eri would be missing him of all things. He can count the number of positive interactions they’ve had on one hand.

“Does she want me to summon Sana?” Sasuke asks. Aizawa steps out of the classroom and they walk to the teacher’s lounge.

“No. I think she just wants to see you.”

“I see.” No, he doesn’t.

Sasuke changes the subject.

“Has there been any movement from Chisaki?”

“Other than the fact that he’s relocated, no.” Aizawa pauses. “Why do you ask?”

“Sometimes, ignorance is a good thing, Aizawa-san.” Sasuke says, purposefully cryptic.

The door to the teacher’s lounge slides open and Yamada walks out.

“Ready to go?” They ask.

Aizawa nods, his watchful eyes falling on Sasuke, who ignores them.

Yamada spends the walk to the teacher’s dorms chatting about his day and asking both Aizawa and Sasuke questions. Aizawa responds with concise answers and Sasuke either nods or doesn’t say anything.

“We’re home!” Yamada calls.

“Good. I was about to come find you.” Recovery Girl appears from around the corner. She stares at Aizawa intently and her eyes dart to the door.

“I have to talk to you about something.” Recovery Girl says, and both she and Aizawa slip out of the dorm and into the hallway.

Sasuke listens to their conversation.

“–behind. Her education before, from what I can tell, was next to nothing. She won’t be able to start school next year, by the looks of it.”

“What’s her level of understanding?”

“At times, it resembles a toddler.” Recovery Girl says, quietly enough that Sasuke has to strain to hear.

“Do you know why?”

“I have my suspicions, but I’m not really a pediatrician or a psychiatrist. My guess is that it’s trauma based. You should bring her to a child therapist and see what they think. It really should’ve been done sooner but I understand why you didn’t.”

“What happens if we can’t find someone trustworthy enough?”

“It could be detrimental to her brain development.”

Sasuke stops listening and stares at Eri.

“Are you okay?” Yamada asks worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Sasuke replies instinctually. He walks further into the room and watches Eri, who’s playing some kind of word-match game on a tablet.

“Sasuke-san?” She asks.

“Hm?”

“Want to see my game?” She holds her tablet up.

Sasuke shrugs and nods.

Eri smiles slightly and pats the spot on the couch next to her.

“You have to tap the words that start with a letter so that the cat can get to the end…”

Once Eri has gone to sleep, Sasuke makes himself some tea in the kitchen.

He’s put Chisaki off for too long, he thinks. Burning down his buildings wasn’t enough, so Sasuke will have to deal with him more permanently.

It makes sense that Chisaki would just relocate. Especially after All for One’s defeat and the subsequent power vacuum it caused, Chisaki probably took advantage of that as much as he could.

“You look deep in thought.” Yamada says quietly.

“Hn.” Sasuke replies noncommittally. “Tea?”

“Oh, thank you.” Yamada smiles. Sasuke pours him a cup of tea and hands it to them. “I’ll walk you back, if you want.”

“I’ll teleport there.” Sasuke waves off his concern.

There’s a short silence before Yamada speaks again. “I know that you’re going to go after Chisaki.”

It wasn’t like he was hiding it from them. He asked Aizawa about it quite openly.

“Oh?”

“And I know I can’t stop you.” Yamada sounds resigned more than anything, but his face turns grim. “So, instead, though I know you’ll do it anyway, don’t hold back, okay?”

Sasuke blinks, surprised.

“What?” Yamada grins but it’s not his usual grin, it has too many teeth and there’s too much viciousness in their eyes. “Sometimes… the law isn’t enough.”

Sasuke inhales. “No. It’s not.”

They sit in silence for a moment before Sasuke stands up. “I’m going, then.”

“See you tomorrow.” Yamada gives him a curt wave.

Sasuke teleports to his room to change clothes. He puts on his hero costume because it’s one of the most expensive and practical things he owns. It was funded by the school, after all. It’d be a shame not to use it at least once.

He doesn’t have enough information to go right away. He’ll have to make a few stops first.

Good thing he knows where to go.

“Buying or selling?”

Sasuke holds his sword directly to the dealer’s throat.

“Neither. You’re going to tell me where the Shie Hassaikai are.”

“I don’t know anything abo-” Sasuke cuts the man’s arm off and points the sword at his throat again.

“Try again.”

“Sh-shit. Fuck. Okay. They’ve… they’ve got this agreement with the League.” He wheezes. “They’ve been… recruiting since Stain, since people think they’re connected.”

“Where?”

“Fuck, man. I-I don’t know. I was never gonna join them.” He inhales shakily and scowls. His face is rapidly turning more pale from blood loss. “They’re… a bunch of stuck up pricks.”

“Do you know anyone who knows?”

“Giran would know. But that fucker is… is working with The League now. You’ve gotta, gotta offer him something they can’t give him.” He pauses. “He probably already knows you’re looking for him.”

Sasuke sighs contemplatively. It’s not as much information as he’d like, but it’s better than nothing, he supposes. All of his connections to the League are outdated and he doubts any of his summons have memorized Chisaki’s scent enough to track him.

“So… are you, are you going to kill me?” The dealer asks.

“Probably.” Sasuke says honestly.

The man freezes, obviously not expecting him to give such an answer, before tentatively asking, “…Should I run?”

“If you’d like. I am able to teleport, so do keep that in mind.” Sasuke shrugs.

“Is-is there a reality where you don’t kill me?”

“Maybe.” Sasuke slashes the man’s throat with one swift movement. “But it’s not this one.”

He rolls his shoulders and summons Haya. She’s small enough that it hardly hurts to use his Chakra to pull her from the Hawk summoning realm.

“You know Shigaraki’s scent, yes?”

“Well enough.” She nods. Well, as much as a crow can nod. “Shall I find him for you, Sasuke-sama?”

“Yes. If the scent is weak, go to their old hideout.”

“Of course.” She waits. “If that’s all?”

“It is.”

She chirps once before flapping her wings and flying off.

It’ll take her somewhere between half an hour and an hour to find Shigaraki, so Sasuke can use the time to find Giran. He’s met the information broker before, back when he first arrived and needed information.

He doesn’t want to make too much of a fuss, but he doesn’t end up needing to. 

He’s interrogating his 3rd dealer when he senses a presence behind him.

“Ah, nice of you to show.” Sasuke says. The person behind him attempts to run away while Sasuke is “distracted,” but Sasuke, without looking, lands a kunai directly in their back.

They drop to the floor, motionless.

“Giran, is it? I believe we’ve met.” Sasuke turns to look at where Giran is.

“We have. I have to say, since your betrayal to All for One, I hadn’t expected to see you again.” Giran steps out of the shadows.

“My betrayal?” Sasuke’s tone is deceptively light. “I do hope All for One isn’t taking that too personally.”

Giran barks out a laugh, harsh and incredibly fake. He takes another step and Sasuke shifts so his sword is in plain view, a rivulet of blood drips off the tip of the blade and into a puddle of water at Sasuke’s feet, turning it red. Giran’s eyes track it and he retracts his step.

“Why don’t we cut to the chase, shall we?” Sasuke says, with a voice that sounds far more content than he’s ever been in his life.

“I’ve never been a fan of small talk.” Giran speaks like they’re bantering. He will soon come to realize that Sasuke isn’t here to bargain or play nice.

“Good. Unfortunately any information I have that you may want, I will not give you.” Sasuke takes a step closer. Giran’s hands twitch as if he’s reaching for a gun, but he doesn’t. Sasuke makes it obvious that he’s seen the movement and has decided it isn’t an issue.

“Unfortunate indeed. I wonder why you’ve made the effort to get my attention, then.” Giran agrees affably.

“You’ve been doing this for some time. I see it in the way you hold yourself.” Sasuke begins, already working through the intimidating monologue in his head. He’s always been a fan of dramatics. “But, I have to ask….”

Sasuke takes another step forward and teleports directly in front of Giran, the hair over his Rinnegan falls out of place. His eye bleeds red. “Do you know what torture feels like?”

When Giran doesn’t answer, Sasuke rocks back on his heels and out of Giran’s personal space. “You know next to nothing of what I can do to you. That’s fine, more for me than for you, since whether or not you knew every detail about what I’m capable of, it would never be enough.”

“Sheesh, you’re one intimidating kid.” Sasuke watches as Giran’s hands move behind his back to hide the fact that he’s shaking. Can’t have that, can we?

Sasuke’s hand shoots out and grabs Giran’s wrist. “You’re shaking.” He points out.

“I-”

“I think we’ve dragged this on long enough.” Sasuke cuts him off. “Genjutsu: Sharingan.”

He doesn’t need something as powerful as the Rinnegan for Giran. Especially not when Sasuke’s pretty sure that after a second under the genjutsu, Giran will crack.

The illusion he shows Giran involves Sasuke asking what Giran knows about the League’s whereabouts and their agreement with Chisaki. Giran refuses to say anything and a snake eats a portion of his skin down to the bone.

Giran is, of course, feeling pain and experiencing it as if he were actually there, but he isn’t actually bleeding so the snake could keep eating his flesh until there’s nothing left.

It’s when the snake tears through its second portion of flesh that Giran seems to realize this and panics.

Sasuke lets him run around for a bit before the genjutsu restricts all his movement completely.

It takes four more snake bites for Giran to give in, which is basically all of his right arm. It’s somewhat surprising, Sasuke thought he’d cave way sooner.

He tears his influence over Giran’s brain out forcefully and watches as Giran’s eyes clear slightly, though the dazed and terrified look doesn’t entirely fade. He glances around the alleyway, in a paranoid frenzy until his gaze lands on where Sasuke is standing, a few feet away, and he abruptly bursts into tears, stammering and whimpering his way through an explanation.

He’s a mess, but Sasuke manages to pick up enough important details.

He gets a vague destination for Chisaki, an exact location for the League’s new hideout, a short list of their new members, and the knowledge that the agreement between the League and the Shie Hassaikai isn’t really an agreement but mild tolerance. Of course, there’s random mumbling and he picks up on a few names that he doesn’t recognize, which he files away for later.

Giran continues to talk and Sasuke’s focus sharpens when he hears Giran begin to talk about who hired him.

“Stop.” He orders. Giran’s mouth snaps shut with an audible click. “Who hired you?”

“I-it was… was the Commission.” He says, his breath hitching when he says the name.

“When?”

“M-months ago. January.” It sounds like he’s tripping over his words and cutting himself off every time he speaks. “A Quirk had… i-it caused a problem in… in… I don’t- I don’t know. But they wanted to, to fix it. I don’t know how they did it, but they… they tried to repair it, but in-instead… they wound up with you.”

What. The fuck.

“The Commission brought me here?” Sasuke prods. Giran starts sobbing all over again, which is not helpful. “Answer me.”

“I don’t know.” He cries, and Sasuke, despite his best efforts, is unable to get anything more out of him.

Usually, he’d either kill Giran or wipe his memory with a genjutsu, but using more genjutsu on the guy might put him into a permanent vegetative state and, despite how little Sasuke likes him, Giran is useful.

So, he opens the box of knowledge that he hardly touches and makes a seal on Giran’s tongue, ignoring the cloying feeling in his chest or the whispers that he’s just as bad as–

Giran makes a horrible choking noise and bubbles tinged red flow out of his mouth.

Sasuke drops him and kicks the body away. The coppery smell in the air intensifies, but now with an added chemical element.

His lips twitch downwards and he checks to make sure Giran's really dead.

With a sigh, he finishes the seal, just in case, and exits the alley.

It’s unfortunate that Sasuke couldn’t get anything else from him, but now no one else can either.

At least it isn’t going to take as long as he thought it would to find Shigaraki, he thinks wryly as he heads over to the location Giran gave him.

Later, once Sasuke is long gone, the body is found.

“Hey. There’s… there’s a body over here.”

“Identifiers?”

“No sign of Quirk use… looks like he killed himself.”

The body is rolled over.

“Shit. It’s Giran.”

“You’re positive?”

“Yeah, it’s him. Fuck, that’s bad.”

“I will inform Madam President. Finish your patrol, Hawks.”

“Yeah.” Hawks replies on autopilot. “I mean, yes ma’am.”

Chapter Text

The League isn’t where Giran said they’d be, but there’s evidence of them having been there quite recently, so he isn’t too upset about it.

He finds the Shie Hassaikai warehouse after just half an hour of searching the area given by Giran and using his snakes to track the League’s scents. It’s late into the night at that point, but Sasuke doesn’t get tired even after 24 hours of no sleep. He’d be dead in a ditch somewhere if he did.

It’s not hard to break in. The building is made up entirely out of stone and metal, no wood which means they learned from last time and settled for something less flammable. There are windows, though, and so he can just teleport directly inside without setting off any alarms.

From then, it’s just a matter of running around until he finds Chisaki.

He hears hushed talking and the sound of a door closing. He follows the sound until he finds a large door.

Sasuke forgoes planning entirely and melts the metal door with a powerful fire jutsu.

Chisaki has his back turned to the door and inside, there are two of his henchmen. Each with the strange masks on.

Chisaki turns and yells at his subordinates to attack him, clearly not recognizing him as the same person who burned down his establishments. It’s expected, since Sasuke never actually showed Chisaki his face.

It’s almost too easy to take out the underlings. One of them is this strange little black blob in a somewhat humanoid form. It charges at him and Sasuke builds a Chidori on his arm and grabs its face in his palm. It shakes like it’s having a seizure before falling to the ground, dead.

He kicks it to the side and watches as the second person scans him carefully. They’re obviously much more wary of Sasuke than they were before one of their coworkers died, since they don’t charge at him right away. That could also be because their hand-to-hand isn’t as good as it could be, but Sasuke doesn’t really care.

Sasuke feels his movements slow, which is probably because of the second person’s Quirk, but it doesn’t really matter. This won’t do much to impair him.

He pulls out his sword and throws a few kunai. They manage to dodge two of the five, two land between their shoulder blades and one skims their ribcage, tearing the weird robe/cloak thing they’ve got going on.

Their knees buckle and blood seeps through the fabric, colouring it a deep red. They fall forwards, unable to flail without risking tearing their arms out of the sockets, so they land face first, pushing both knives further into their body until Sasuke can see the glint of metal peeking through their cloak.

Chisaki is staring at him, his head tilted in slight confusion but mostly interest. He steps around his desk and walks towards Sasuke, his footsteps echoing on the hollow metal floor. He stops two or three feet away from where Sasuke is standing.

“I’ve not heard of you before. Someone as strong as you… surely there would be word on the streets.” He says. His voice is detached in a way that Sasuke’s only heard from Itachi and Orochimaru.

“Oh, there is.” Sasuke allows some amusement to slip into his voice. “Though, it makes sense that you don’t recognize me, since I never showed my face to you while I was turning your buildings to ash.”

The visible part of Chisaki’s face contorts in anger.

“That was you ?” He seethes, his hands twitch.

“Mm.” Sasuke smiles languidly. “Sure was.”

Chisaki’s eyes darken further before his features smooth out entirely. “You have her, then?”

“Who?” Sasuke asks, feigning curiosity and bemusement. “What do you mean?”

“Eri. Unless you’ve already killed her.” Chisaki says, trying very hard to make it seem like he’s uninterested in the status of his ward.

“Didn’t take you for the sentimental type.” Sasuke replies.

“I’m not.” Chisaki hums before sighing. “I don’t suppose there’s any merit in asking you to join the Shie Hassaikai, so I’ll have to take you out.”

“You’re a bit old for me.” So was Orochimaru, but Orochimaru didn’t bother with trivial things like “consent” and “healthy relationships.”

Chisaki doesn’t reply, instead, he touches his hand to the floor and stone spikes spring from the ground. They’re large, but easy to dodge, especially since Sasuke can somewhat see where they’ll come from.

He avoids the spikes and slips the kunai in his sleeve into his palms.

Sasuke imbues the blades with lightning Chakra, since it’s earth’s natural weakness. He doesn’t know if that still applies here but it’s worth a shot.

He throws them at Chisaki, who pulls up a wall made of stone to combat it. The blade almost breaches the stone, but it stops just short. Surprise makes its way through Chisaki’s otherwise blank face.

He uses his moment of distraction to get closer, and Chisaki moves to block a blow to the skull, but Sasuke is using knives and Chisaki defends himself with his arm.

The knife cuts his lower arm clean off and it falls to the ground, leaking blood and limp. Chisaki collapses, landing in the steady pool of blood dripping from where his arm once was.

Before Chisaki can use his Quirk on the arm, Sasuke takes his wrist and slices his fingers off. He then puts the palm flat to the floor and drives a kunai through it.

The scream that tears itself out of Chisaki’s throat is pained and guttural.

“My fingers….” He mumbles, eyes wide and voice shaking.

Sasuke tries not to take too much joy in the way Chisaki, who was so confident before, now kneels before him, bleeding everywhere.

The man is still groaning and whining about his missing fingers, arm, and the knife that’s stuck in his only remaining hand. He looks up at Sasuke, truly terrified in a way Sasuke rarely gets to see anymore. His breaths are short and quick, like he’s trying to stop them from coming out entirely, but not quite managing.

He’s not begging for death yet, though, which is what Sasuke was going for. Since Chisaki is now missing all his fingers, that leaves taking fingernails out of the question, which is good, since Sasuke doesn’t particularly like doing that.

Genjutsu it is, then.

Sasuke keeps Chisaki under Tsukuyomi for half a minute. In that time, Chisaki lives out 90 days exactly as Eri would under his “care.”

“Kill… kill me, please.” He begs, attempting to move but the kunai in his hand serves as a sharp reminder to stay put.

Sasuke, suddenly, feels disgusting. He violently shakes the thought from his head as soon as it comes. This is different. It’s different.

Even so, he decides he’s done and decapitates Chisaki for convenience. No one wants to lug a body around, even when it’s missing the weight of a few fingers and an arm.

He watches as Chisaki’s body slumps to the floor, his head rolls for a bit before stopping so his severed neck meets Sasuke’s feet.

Cold, dead eyes stare at him. He feels his shoe dig into where Chisaki’s neck used to connect to his body. Fleshy and disgustingly warm.

Chisaki’s skin is already completely pale, bordering translucent.

Sasuke doesn’t want to look for any longer.

He leaves the room and sweeps through the building, leaving a massacre in his wake. Every room is checked through and when he’s done, he levels the building to the ground with an earth jutsu.

Any remaining survivors in the building should be dead now. The police will find it soon enough, thanks to the noise, so he teleports into his dorm room.

He finds himself standing in the hallway for too long, completely silent. The blood on his shoes surely stains the wood flooring. Unease builds until he ends up pacing the room. Something… something isn’t right. Why does he feel so unsure? It’s hardly the first time he’s tortured and killed someone. It probably isn’t the last either. So what’s the problem?

It’s not guilt. It’s been a long time since Sasuke has felt any guilt over a kill. Even now, all he feels is mild sympathy for whoever has to clean up the mess he left behind.

Despite how many times he assures himself that he’s nothing like the snake , a part of his brain is always there to list all the ways he’s exactly like him.

He briefly considers going to either Aizawa and Yamada for…… reassurance , but immediately dispels that thought as soon as it comes. Thoughts like that are weaknesses that Sasuke can’t afford. A Shinobi has time for neither comfort nor consolation.

…is what he tells himself. Repeatedly.

He goes through the motions of his nighttime routine on autopilot, taking a few extra steps to clean the blood off his person. He pushes back the nausea bubbling in his gut and ignores the whispers in the back of his head.

He forces himself under the covers of his bed and prays for a dreamless sleep.

His prayer goes unanswered.

Chapter Text

Sasuke spends the morning feeling like he’s about to vibrate out of his skin.

He’s twitchy and irritable because he doesn’t know what else to do. He’s upset with himself, more than anything. He’s fully aware that he’s purposefully putting off seeing Aizawa and Yamada because they know. Not everything, because he hasn’t told them and it would be a pretty outlandish thing to come up with without much context, but still.

Now that he lives on campus, he can walk to the inter-dimensional meetings without needing to be driven, which lets him put off his problems for a little bit longer.

He doesn’t even have to walk far, since the meeting is only half an hour after school ends, so Sasuke can just wait in the school and walk over to the meeting room when it’s time.

He’s a bit early, which is probably a good thing. Or so he thinks.

The guy from before, Sasuke doesn’t remember his name, isn’t there. Apparently, Sasuke’s warning evaporated any interest he had in dimensional travel, which is weird, but Sasuke shrugs it off.

He’s standing outside the room scrolling through an article on some scientific theory, when a woman with a serene smile and black hair cut into a bob approaches him.

“Sorry to disturb you.” She does not look at all sorry. “But I wanted to apologize on behalf of my colleague. Otani-san has always been… overzealous. We mutually agreed it would be best if he was not present today.”

“Ah.” He should probably thank her, though he isn’t feeling at all grateful, so he doesn’t.

Her smile doesn’t waver and she doesn’t leave. Sasuke, having years of experience with ignoring fangirls, gives her the same treatment. He returns to his phone and doesn’t say anything to her.

Of course, she takes this as an invitation to keep talking.

“-which brings me back to our more modern theories behind dimensional travel, but even with all that, we never could’ve imagined it was so close!” There’s a glint in her eyes that wasn’t there before. “Perhaps your Chakra is the key that unlocks it all.”

“Perhaps.” Sasuke says neutrally. “Unfortunately, I am the only person able to wield it without overloading the human nervous system and going into a coma.”

She looks like she wants to say something more, but Nezu enters and starts the meeting before she can manage.

They don’t make any breakthroughs in the meeting, not that Sasuke expected them to.

The meeting drags on and Sasuke wonders why he bothered to show up. That is, until they ask for a proper demonstration and in depth explanation. Sasuke isn’t a good teacher, not by a longshot, but he figures there’s a first for everything.

He stands up and goes to the front of the room, noting how some of the scientists take out notebooks. It’s then that he realizes that they’re all serious about this. Good.

He begins with the fundamentals. Yin and yang chakra come first because it’s often the branch of Chakra that people have the hardest time understanding. The 5 nature releases and their weaknesses are next, along with a jutsu for each of them to explain the application.

It’s weird to be explaining this to people who couldn’t test it even if they desperately wanted to. The majority of the scientists look fascinated, which is about what Sasuke expected.

He does end up having a little bit of fun, watching the bewildered faces change to understanding.

They wrap up the meeting after Sasuke finishes explaining ratios of spiritual energy to physical energy.

“Very thorough explanation! I’m impressed.” Nezu says as the scientists either go to leave or stay in hopes of getting some questions answered.

Sasuke nods in acknowledgment as Nezu keeps talking, comparing it to the base of some religions they have here and asking a few questions here and there.

Nezu’s chatter eventually dies down and he looks at the clock. “My apologies, it seems my ramblings have gone on for too long. I look forward to seeing you all in a week’s time.”

Sasuke nods and goes to follow him out. He notices the woman from before in his peripheral vision, and speeds up his pace. The room is pretty full, so he easily loses her in the crowd.

School is, of course, boring.

Sasuke sits at his desk, absentmindedly twirling a pen in his hands as he waits for the bell to ring so he can leave. It’s almost lunch time, so his classmates are getting pretty rowdy. He sits next to Bakugou, who’s being quiet. It’s not that surprising since the boy is smarter than people give him credit for. He’s also probably tired from all the cleaning he’s had to do in the wake of his fight with Midoriya.

Aizawa explains a bit more information about the internships they’ll be doing soon after they get their provisional licenses, and three 3rd year students come to talk to them about it.

It’s interesting, in a roundabout way. Yuuei as a school is full of information and classes that are rare, even now. The concept of schools on a large scale like this isn’t something Sasuke has ever seen before. Most schooling for children was done privately. The only real reason to send your kids to the Academy was if they were civilian born or if the clan they were from wanted to show off. It was all politics, then. Though it might be different now. Sasuke hasn’t seen the revamped Academy.

Sasuke tunes back in when the blonde one offers to have all of them team up against him in a fight.

The class, of course, readily agrees. They’re all eager to prove themselves against someone older than them.

Sasuke has no such enthusiasm, plus, if he participated, it would be less of a display of skills and more a brutal smackdown.

Aizawa seems to have similar thoughts, as he says, “You’re planning on sitting this one out, right?”

Sasuke nods, somewhat thankful they’re on the same page.

“It’s probably for the best.” Aizawa agrees.

And so, Sasuke finds himself standing on the sidelines with Aizawa, watching the class prepare to fight.

He manages to keep a straight face when the blonde kid completely sheds his clothing, but all confused thoughts are banished when Midoriya goes through the guy.

Oh.

He’s like Obito, then.

That thought brings waves of emotion that Sasuke is absolutely unprepared to deal with so he settles for staring, wide-eyed, as the blonde kid continues to easily fend off his classmates. He keeps his breathing even, even as his mind crumbles.

“Are you okay?” Aizawa asks.

“Who’s that?” He asks, slightly rushed. “The 3rd year.”

Aizawa sighs lightly, more exasperated than anything. “They did introductions, but that’s Togata Mirio, one of Yuuei’s most promising students.”

Sasuke blinks, unsure why he even asked for his name in the first place.

“Why do you ask?”

He contemplates lying, but eventually decides against it. “He reminds me of someone.”

It’s obvious that Togata is much stronger than everyone in his class, the gap in strength only becomes more apparent as the fight continues. Togata beats them in around 5 minutes.

“Is there a similar power where you’re from?” Aizawa asks, far after the conversation has ended.

“There was.” Kakashi can’t use the Sharingan anymore and Obito is dead, so there’s no longer anyone else who can use Kamui.

“Ah.” Aizawa’s phone buzzes and he turns away to check it.

Sasuke lets his thoughts turn to the thing he’s been avoiding for the whole day. The Hero Commission.

From what Giran said, it seems like they didn’t bring him here intentionally, but Giran was under a bit of mental duress so Sasuke can’t be 100% sure. Either way, they had something to do with him coming here, which means that the “recruitment efforts” that Hawks made were less because he was just someone who popped up out of nowhere and more because they knew exactly who he was.

Aizawa returns with his jaw set in what Sasuke thinks might be anger or disappointment.

“Speak to me after class.” He says, and then he doesn’t say anything else to Sasuke for the rest of the day.

“I’m sure you know that I know about what you did to Chisaki.” Aizawa begins, his hands folded on the desk. The class is empty, since they’ve all gone back to the dorms.

Sasuke nods. “Is that what this is about?”

“Yes, it is.” Aizawa says, a bit of anger bleeding into his voice before he reels it in with a sigh. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, Sasuke’s eyes track the movement carefully.

The phone is placed in front of Sasuke. On it are pictures of Chisaki, exactly how Sasuke left him. His face is much dirtier, which is a byproduct of the building collapsing on him, but he’s easily recognizable.

“…And?” Sasuke doesn’t understand the need for a confrontation about this. Unless… “Did you want me to let Eri decide what to do with him?”

He didn’t intend to take away her revenge, but he hadn’t thought that would be something she’d want.

“No. Sasuke, you can’t just kill him.”

“Oh.” Sasuke is very confused. It’s what he would’ve wanted, hell, it’s what he did. Anyone from his world, barring Naruto depending on the circumstances, would’ve done the same.

“Life isn’t something you can play with like that.”

Sasuke feels something close to unease curling in his stomach. “People die all the time.”

“This is murder.” Aizawa stresses like he can’t quite believe what he’s hearing.

Sasuke narrows his eyes and stays silent while he thinks. He knows that, in this world anyway, straight up admitting to murder isn’t something you should do, no matter who it’s to.

“You and I have very different interpretations of what’s right and wrong.” Sasuke begins slowly. “I did what I needed to make sure that there was one less monster terrorizing a kid when she slept. Regardless of how it was done, he can’t do anything to anyone else ever again.”

“Outright killing him wasn’t the way to do that.” Aizawa argues. “He was being investigated, the police would’ve gotten him.”

“And in that time, how many other people would’ve died? How many people would you have been willing to lose in order to subdue him? Is his life equal to those? People who kill should be prepared to face the same fate.” Sasuke inhales deeply and steps back. “I’m not going to argue with you over this. He’s gone, that’s it.”

He disappears from the classroom and into his dorm room.

Panic claws at his throat as he runs over the conversation in his head. He doesn’t regret what he did. If he started regretting it now, the guilt would bury him alive. He can’t feel remorse over everyone he’s killed, it’s not how Shinobi function. Even so, if he were to start regretting killing people, Chisaki wouldn’t be the catalyst.

Chisaki killed others, so he should’ve been prepared to die.

He attempts to rationalize his actions, but despite his confidence in the fact that this was what would’ve happened anyway, the idea of being at all similar to Orochimaru destroys him from the inside.

“It’s different.” He says, outloud just so he can hear it. He repeats the thought as many times as he can until he’s sure it sticks. Still, he can’t seem to calm himself down.

He turns on the shower in the bathroom and steps in, not even bothering to take his clothes off.

The water turns from cold to warm to scalding in a matter of seconds. It stings his eyes and the cut on his lip that formed because he’d bitten it clean through.

He stands in silence until an urgent knock on the door snaps him back to reality. He shuts the water off and stands still, staring at nothing while he attempts to figure out what to do about his soaking wet clothes.

The person knocks again, this time accompanied by, “Sasuke?”

It’s Yamada. He’s probably seen the pictures too. Though, they did encourage it so Sasuke doesn’t know what they want to talk about.

Sasuke grabs a towel and begins patting his clothing dry, which absolutely will not work but he can try.

He decides to ignore Yamada’s calls in hopes that maybe he’ll go away and they can both pretend that this whole interaction never even happened.

“Sasuke, if you don’t answer, I’m going to have to unlock the door.” He does sound genuinely regretful, which is something.

The unfortunate thing is that Sasuke has nothing to say in response because he doesn’t want to talk to Yamada or anyone else until he has to.

There’s the sound of keys jangling and Yamada muttering a quiet, “sorry” before he hears the door opening and shutting again.

“Fuck.” Sasuke mumbles eloquently.

He uses the towel to dry the floor, which doesn’t end up doing anything other than moving the water around since the towel is too water-saturated to dry anything else.

Sasuke only barely manages to shove down the panic at the fact that there’s someone where he sleeps so he can figure out what to do.

Getting new clothes is out of the question now. Not that he would because he doesn’t want to change.

Ignoring Yamada also wouldn’t go well because they’d probably just wait for him to leave the bathroom.

If Sasuke had any sense at all, he’d have teleported somewhere else as soon as he heard Yamada knock on the door, but that wouldn’t have worked either because the sound of the shower running would’ve been heard from outside.

With no other options and a desperate need to get out of the bathroom, Sasuke opens the door and steps into his room where Yamada is standing awkwardly in the middle.

“Oh! I was wondering where you were.” He scans Sasuke from head to toe. “Did you… shower with clothes on?”

“No.”

Yamada eyes him critically. “Right.”

“Did you have something to say?”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me. Do you mind if I sit?” They gesture to the bed.

Yes. “No.”

Yamada sits down and sighs. “I’m just going to rip the bandaid off. I’m not angry with you. Not like Shouta was. He’s… nevermind, I won’t speak on his behalf.” He pauses. “I would never have killed him like you did, I wouldn’t have killed him at all, but that doesn’t mean I’m not… glad he’s no longer around.”

This isn’t very surprising, but it’s good to hear that not everyone in the school is out of their minds.

“I know you heard what Chiyo– Recovery Girl– told Shouta, she talked to me later as well. It’s upsetting, isn’t it?”

Sasuke nods slowly, not sure where this conversation is going.

“I don’t want Eri to live in fear of him. Chisaki, I mean. And with him in jail instead of gone permanently, the fear would always be there.”

Sasuke gets the feeling that Yamada is speaking from personal experience, which is… interesting. Sasuke doesn’t know how to feel about that.

“I understand where Shouta is coming from. Killing Chisaki isn’t going to make people like him go away.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“I know. I don’t think Shouta knows, though. It wasn’t a revenge thing, right?”

“No.” Sasuke likes to think he’s learned that lesson, at least. Lest someone comes along and starts telling him about how Chisaki was actually torturing Eri for the good of the people the whole time.

“Good. That’s… good.” Yamada nods. It sounds like he’s telling himself more than Sasuke.

There’s a beat of silence where they both collect their thoughts. Yamada breaks the silence.

“Feel free not to answer, but does this have anything to do with why you were so against going to the doctor?”

Sasuke is somewhat surprised that Yamada connected those dots, but it’s not like he was hiding his aversion to medical appointments and his dislike for Chisaki. That doesn’t mean he wants to talk about his past, though.

He settles for a neutral hum.

“Do you… think you could talk about it?” Yamada wonders.

Sasuke isn’t 100% sure, there might be a specific set of circumstances that would allow him to be comfortable or uncomfortable enough to talk about it, but he thinks the answer is no. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to just sit down one day and tell his life story. Even if he could, who would he tell? His relationship with Kakashi is… tense, if anything. Trying to kill someone will do that.

Naruto is, well Naruto would probably be more upset about it than Sasuke is. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to handle that level of emotion.

“I don’t know.” He says simply. “Maybe not.”

“Okay. Thank you for telling me.”

And that’s that.

Yamada gets up and smiles at him. “I’ll talk to Shouta. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

Sasuke nods slowly, somewhat stunned at the ease at which Yamada accepted, well, everything.

Yamada leaves and Sasuke lays in his bed with a sigh.

He spends the night staring at the ceiling in silence.

“Sir!” A woman with blue skin and short, blue hair bursts into the room where Sir Nighteye, also known as Sasaki Mirai, works.

“I’ve heard. It’s him, then?” Mirai asks. He knows it is. There’s no one else it could be and, logically speaking, the Shie Hassaikai have no reason to publicly fake the death of their boss. Not when they were hours away from finalizing a deal with the League of Villains.

“The DNA tests have confirmed it. The media is latching on and it’s been all over the news for over half an hour.”

“And what of the rest of the yakuza?”

“Gone.”

Chapter Text

The morning brings more talk of the internships, which is something Sasuke has very little interest in. He’s kind of surprised they’re going through with it at all, but given the fact that they went through with the Sports Festival despite the very recent attack, maybe it’s not as out of character as he thought.

During the morning class, he watches Aizawa closely. Sasuke didn’t think he himself would still be allowed into the school at all. Part of him figured that they’d send him packing for being a “danger to those around him”. Though, he gets the feeling that the principal would agree with what he did to Chisaki, all things considered.

As they’re packing up for lunch, Aizawa stops Sasuke and asks him to stay behind.

Sasuke very seriously considers leaving immediately and ignoring Aizawa, and he’s about to, but then the alternative is sitting in his dorm doing nothing.

“I have a couple things I’d like to discuss with you.” Aizawa begins. “The first of which being about your internships. You have a request for your work-study given by Hawks Agency.”

At first, Sasuke wasn’t even going to do a work study, but this changes things. Hawks obviously has some information about how he got here, which means he might also know how Sasuke can get back.

“Okay.” Sasuke nods.

Aizawa hesitates before exhaling lightly. “I also wanted to apologize. I realize that there are differences between us, that’s inevitable, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to approach that conversation in a way that was effective.”

Sasuke doesn’t really care that much. It was annoying at first, but now he feels more indifferent than anything. “It’s fine.”

“There is one other thing.” Aizawa says carefully, like he’s trying to approach a spooked animal. Sasuke is immediately suspicious. “Have you put any more thought into speaking to a therapist or a psychiatrist?”

“No.” Sasuke replies, possibly a little too quickly. He keeps his hands steady, since shaking hands at the mere mention of speaking to a professional doesn’t exactly scream “mentally stable”.

“Would you go to a session?”

“Why?” There’s nothing wrong with him. He doesn’t need some stranger poking into his life. Especially not one from this world.

“I’m… concerned. About you.”

Sasuke doesn’t say anything. What is there to say in a situation like this?

“Why are you against it?”

He’s had therapists before. He’s met with psychiatrists and done tests. It was pretty much all he did when he was 7, but eventually the mandatory months of therapy were up and there was nothing anyone could do to make Sasuke go back. The months he spent sat in complete silence while a stranger asked question after question aren’t months he looks fondly upon. He hardly remembers them at all, really, between the haze of grief and pure, unadulterated rage.

Even now, despite the decade that’s passed since then, Sasuke still can’t wrap his head around the idea that therapy really helps anyone at all. 

“Personal experience dictates that it’s unhelpful.” He says simply. It’s odd to be talking about this with Aizawa now. It was odd before too, but it’s different now that they’re both aware of the gaping canyon that contains all their differences.

“I see.” Aizawa stands up and puts some things into his bag. “Are you going to have dinner with us or in the cafeteria?”

“I should see Eri.” He doesn’t know if she knows about Chisaki, but if not, he’s going to tell her.

“She doesn’t know.”

“She deserves to.”

Aizawa pauses his movement briefly. “You’re right.”

The two of them walk out of the building all the way to the teachers’ dorms in silence. Sasuke spends most of it thinking about his internship offer.

He doesn’t trust Hawks as far as he could throw him… well, actually Sasuke could probably throw Hawks pretty far, so that’s probably not an apt comparison. That’s not important for now, though. The point is that Sasuke knows that he could easily overpower Hawks and The Commission probably also knows that, so there must be something he’s missing. Why would they invite him to the agency of their resident golden boy if they weren’t sure if Sasuke would leave him alive?

In the end, Sasuke can speculate as much as he wants but he’s not going to get any new information until he goes to Kyushu to intern with Hawks.

“I’m home.” Aizawa says into the apartment, though he needn’t have since Eri was running to the door as soon as she heard the approaching footsteps.

“Aizawa-san! Sasuke-san!” Eri gives them a somewhat awkward half-smile that only makes Sasuke wish he’d killed Chisaki sooner.

“Welcome home.” Yamada smiles at both of them warmly. Aizawa goes to wash his hands and Sasuke follows.

“I’ll tell her.” Sasuke says. It’s probably best if it comes from him anyway.

“Alright.” Aizawa nods. “We should eat first, though.”

Sasuke goes with Eri into the living room and she sits on the sofa, grabbing her tablet from where it was laying on the cushions.“I’m on the next level now.” She shows him her screen and, sure enough, she’s on level 4 instead of 3.

“Is the level different?” Sasuke asks for a lack of anything else to input.

“Yeah, you have to know what the words mean.” The level starts and words with their definitions fall from the top of the screen. Sasuke only vaguely pays attention until Yamada calls them both for dinner 10 minutes later.

“On today’s menu, little and big listeners, we have salmon teriyaki; grilled vegetables for me, Shou’, and Sasuke if he wants them; and raw carrots for Eri!”

Yamada gets rice out of the steamer and puts it into bowls for the four of them.

“Thanks, ‘Zashi.” Aizawa says.

Yamada offers him a beaming smile and a kiss to the forehead before handing Eri and Sasuke each a bowl of rice.

“Do you want me to serve you some?” Aizawa asks Eri.

“Yes.” She says, then adds. “Please.”

Sasuke takes his own portion and only stares at it for a few seconds before he starts eating. 

“Thank you for the food.” He mutters.

It’s good. Yamada clearly put effort into the food, which is… sweet. Even if it only means Sasuke will feel worse when he doesn’t eat all of it.

“How were your days?” Yamada asks. They’re obviously talking to all of them, but when neither Eri or Sasuke look like they’re about to respond, Aizawa answers.

“Good.” Aizawa says. “All the kids handed their work in on time, for once, so I’m not behind in grading.”

“All of them?” Yamada is clearly trying not to sound so disbelieving but he doesn’t quite manage.

“I was surprised too, usually I get at least one late. Must be because of internships.” He shrugs. “How was yours?”

“Alright. A bit exhausting, but the weekend is coming up so it’s not too bad.” Yamada replies then he turns to Sasuke with a smile. “Oh, right! Your internship with Hawks, did you decide to take it?”

“Yes.” Sasuke nods.

“Be careful.” Aizawa says, it doesn’t sound like a threat, but there’s an undertone of something that Sasuke can’t quite place.

“I’m not expecting to run into anything dangerous.” To him, anyway.

“It’s just that Hawks has a lot of people to report to and look after, he’ll probably be very busy.” Yamada says plainly, but Sasuke picks up on the unsaid words. They all know that Hawks is so far into the HSPC’s pocket that he’s practically underground.

“As expected of the #3 pro-hero.” I know . “Though his agency is large, I imagine I’ll be looked after the whole time.” He is expecting to be watched and tested carefully. He has no interest in getting into anything similar to ANBU, more likely ROOT, so he’ll just have to field any questions that come his way and try to look as uninterested as possible, which shouldn’t be hard.

“Is Hawks the one with the wings?” Eri wonders.

“The big red ones, yep!” Yamada replies with a smile. “Do you know him?”

“No.” Eri shakes her head but doesn’t say anything else.

“Hawks is strong, so it’ll be a good experience.” Aizawa says approvingly. “Anything you’re looking forward to?”

 “I’ve heard interesting things about the work his agency and their sponsors do.” Sasuke says slowly as if he’s considering his options.

“Yeah, Hawks is so young too.” Yamada agrees without saying anything positive or negative. He turns to Eri. “Do you have a favourite hero?”

Eri nods, “Yeah. They’re very cool.” She says cryptically.

“Not giving anything away, huh?” Yamada laughs. “Can I guess?”

A small smile crosses Eri’s face. “You’ll never get it.”

“I bet you 30 extra minutes of lessons that I will.” Yamada challenges. Eri laughs shortly before nodding.

“What happens if I win?”

“We can go and buy some dessert tomorrow.” They would probably have done that anyway, knowing Yamada, but it’s enough incentive for Eri to nod.

“Quite the businesswoman.” Aizawa mutters fondly.

Yamada and Eri go back and forth several times before Yamada’s exhausted all the top heroes on the charts and even the heroes who work at Yuuei, themselves included. She glances at Sasuke enough times for him to get what she means. It’s him, her favourite hero. It doesn’t matter how many times he tells her that he isn’t a hero and doesn’t even want to be one, she simply disagrees with him and won’t hear anything else about it.

It doesn’t bother him.

“Are you sure it’s not All Might?” Yamada strokes his chin in an exaggerated fashion.

“Yep.” Eri nods.

It bothers him a little bit.

“Alright, I give up. Who is it?”

She stares at Sasuke, daring him to say it. It doesn’t look like she’s going to if he doesn’t, so they sit in silence, looking at each other for a good 10 seconds before Yamada interjects.

“Sasuke knows?” They ask, also turning to watch him. Naturally, Aizawa does the same.

Children, the lot of them.

“Is it me?” He asks, already knowing the answer.

Eri’s smile widens a little. “Yep!”

Both Yamada and Aizawa visibly soften. Yamada actually coos, which is a surreal experience that Sasuke never wants to relive ever again.

He’s abruptly reminded of Chisaki’s severed head at his feet and cold spreads through his body. He shakes off the thought and tunes back into the conversation.

Aizawa is clearing the plates, cups, cutlery, etc. while Yamada talks excitedly about how much fun they’re going to have during his spare classes thanks to the work-studies. Sasuke knows that they probably have several appointments for Eri planned during that time but says nothing of it.

She slides out of her chair and disappears into her room.

“Are you going to tell her now or later?” Aizawa inquires once he thinks Eri is out of earshot. She isn’t.

Sasuke mentally runs through every direction the conversation might go in his head and sits down on the couch.

“Now.”

“Tell me what?” Eri walks back into the room, a toy in-hand. “What?” She asks, turning to look at Aizawa and Yamada for elaboration. “What’s going on?”

“Chisaki is dead.” Sasuke tells her. He probably should’ve asked her if she wanted to sit down.

Eri stares at him blankly, completely still. Sasuke can see the gears turning slowly in her head as she puts together the words.

“Dead.” She returns flatly. “That’s not true. He can’t die.”

Her certainty isn’t surprising, but Sasuke doesn’t like it either way.

“He’s dead.”

“You’re lying.”

“I killed him.” Sasuke says, uncaring of the two people behind him. “He’s gone.”

Her face screws up in frustration and confusion. Sasuke can see tears building in her eyes and he fights the urge to explain exactly how it happened because he knows it will only make things much worse. If she asks, he’ll tell her, but not today.

“No….” She picks at her nails anxiously and rocks back and forth on her feet. “No, no. No!”

“He’s not coming back.” Sasuke says, making an effort to sound at least a bit sorry.

Eri looks like she doesn’t know what to do with herself or what to make of the information she’s just been given, which is fair, Sasuke hadn’t expected her to. He watches her face shift through several facial expressions before landing on devastation.

“He can’t die.” She denies. “He can’t. ” A pause. “I-I can fix him.”

“There’s nothing left to fix.” Not entirely true, but he doesn’t want her looking for a corpse now or ever. There’s nothing left that she should see.

“W-why? Why did y-you kill him?” She’s almost shouting now, but her voice is clearly unused to being raised so it’s already hoarse. She threads a hand through her hair and yanks. “He’s- he-”

“He was hurting people.” He says to appeal to her empathy. “Lots of them.”

“But-” Eri cuts herself off to take a deep breath that poorly disguises a sob. “But if he’s g- gone , then who- who will you s-send me to when-”

Sasuke, despite having thought extensively about how this conversation would go, is not prepared for this.

“When you don’t want me?” Her voice is anguished and she starts crying in earnest.

What.

“Nowhere.” Sasuke says, keeping his voice carefully neutral. “You aren’t going anywhere unless you want to leave.”

“But….” Eri says through harsh cries. She doesn’t manage to say anything else.

Sasuke steps closer to her and crouches in front of her. He feels very out of place and forces the feeling of unease building in his chest to a place where he can temporarily forget about it.

Eri looks up at him, cheeks red with exertion and nothing but exhaustion behind her eyes.

He knows that he sees himself in Eri, but he figured it was a pretty logical comparison, all things considered.

When he first met her, he drew the line at professional interest. There was nothing more to their relationship, she was a means to an end. It’s why he let Sana deal with her most of the time and why he knew Sana would get attached.

Sana, though, is a lot older than Sasuke. Sana will be able to move on, continue with his life with no spared thought to what happened in this dimension. He’s been around for a long time and will continue to be. This will be nothing but a vague memory to him in a year or two. Sasuke on the other hand, knows he has a problem with cutting ties with people. When he wants to, they don’t let him, and when he doesn’t, they’re gone before it really matters.

So no matter what, he knew he could not come to care for Eri beyond having her well enough to do what he needed.

He exhales slowly and accepts the situation for what it is. He holds his arms out to her and sits on the floor in a gesture he wishes someone had done for him. Eri’s eyes widen and she hesitantly walks closer. She takes measured steps towards him and stops just short of where Sasuke sits.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

She bites her lips and gently crawls into his lap, her tiny arms reaching around his waist. 

She’s a kid, Sasuke thinks, somewhat astounded at the fact that he isn’t uncomfortable.

He returns the embrace and Eri cries again.

Sasuke is reminded of their first month together. He didn’t see much of her then, paranoid about causing another disaster like the burnt food debacle, but that was probably for the best. It turned out fine.

Eventually, his legs start to lose feeling. He moves his arms so Eri won’t slip out when he stands and holds her around his hips, similar to how his mother used to carry him. Eri doesn’t even seem to notice the movement, which is a bit concerning, but Sasuke files that thought away for later consideration.

He goes into the kitchen where Aizawa and Yamada had been standing, watching quietly to make sure they didn’t need to interfere. Originally, he’d figured they’d take over as soon as Eri began to cry, but they hadn’t. They might be better off for it, in hindsight.

He holds Eri with one arm and gets her a cup of water to slow her tears and avoid dehydration. Mentally, he’s feeling very wrung out, but physically he knows he could continue to hold her like this for the rest of the day and several after that. He doesn’t have the emotional capacity for confrontations like this. He doesn’t have the emotional capacity for much of anything, but this is miles beyond his comfort zone.

“You okay?” Yamada whispers.

Sasuke exhales, his breath feeling a little shorter than it should, and decides that he doesn’t really care all that much anymore. “I don’t know.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No.” He needs to make sure Eri comes out of this alright. Better than he did, at any rate.

He hands Eri the glass of water and she drinks it slowly, her cries gradually petering off. Sasuke walks around the kitchen, mostly for lack of anything better to do while one of his hands is occupied, until her ragged breathing becomes more even as she falls asleep.

She’ll probably be more confused than anything when she wakes up, but Sasuke decides to leave that to Aizawa and Yamada.

He puts her to bed, careful not to wake her, and he’s immediately exhausted as soon as he steps out of her bedroom.

His body is frozen just outside of the door as his mind goes through the entire interaction top to bottom, burning it into his memory for the foreseeable future.

Something terrible and cruel curls in his chest, the worst feeling imaginable in a situation like this. 

Envy.

Chapter Text

Uchiha Sasuke is jealous of a 6 year old. He never thought he’d see the day.

Sasuke knows that he’s not quite stable, a few screws loose of a full box, but this is new. He can’t really be this terrible.

He’s bad, sure. But to go so far as to be envious of a 6 year old who’s just received news that the person who’s tormented her for as long as she’s been alive is gone, that’s something else. Well, he supposes there’s always a way to exceed already low expectations. He wonders if his parents are disappointed in him.

It’s kind of funny, in a very not-funny sort of way. It makes him want to laugh a little bit. The sort of laugh that begins as a chuckle and ends in him waking up the next morning laying by a river in the Land of Grass even though he vaguely remembers falling asleep in the Land of Rock.

Someone is speaking to him, he notes distantly, but he’s too focused on the fact that he’s somehow a worse person than he thought, which shouldn’t be possible because his prior opinion of himself was already pretty low. On a “scum of the earth” to “best human alive” scale of 1-10, he’d rate himself at about a 1.1, but apparently he’s at more of a -5 which is unfortunate but not wholly surprising.

His brain is caught up in the fact that “it’s not fair,” a thought that Sasuke figured he’d gotten over when he was about 7 years old but he’s been wrong before.

This is what he wanted, though. He wanted to tell her and he made the decision to carry her around and get her water so maybe this is more his fault than anything else. He really stabbed himself in the foot with this one.

The young part of him (it’s not fair it’s not fair notfair–) wants to break into a thousand pieces which would, inevitably, lead to tears, but Sasuke is an Uchiha first and foremost (Uchiha don’t cry, Sasuke. Wipe your tears, Sasuke, they’re unbecoming of a man of your status. Itachi doesn’t cry). He’s the last one of his kind and the first person from his dimension so maybe he should’ve made more of an attempt at diplomacy when he first landed but he was a bit preoccupied at the time. Maybe he’ll be forgiven when he comes back from his extended vacation with nothing to show for it.

Well, they could always throw him into T&I again since that went so well for his patriotism last time, but clearly it wasn’t enough–

His attempts to shove his thoughts back into the box from whence they came isn’t working as well as he hoped. Actually, it’s probably making things worse at this point but it’s the only way he knows how to deal with anything so he keeps trying and crosses his fingers for the best.

Warbled sounds meet his ears, in one and out the other, gone too quickly to truly understand. His mind reboots but the jealousy still sits in the back of his mind, never forgotten.

He blinks several times in succession, noting the fact that his eyes were closed the entire time and he didn’t notice.

“You’re safe here. We’re in the teacher’s dormitories, Eri is asleep so it’s just you, me, and Shouta in the room. It’s 8:32PM and it’s a Tuesday.” It’s Yamada, he thinks belatedly. He wonders how many times this has to happen before he gets over it already.

An amalgamation of emotions burn throughout his body, embarrassment, bitter resentment, hatehatehateit’snotfair.

“Can you match my breathing?” Yamada’s voice fades in and out and Sasuke notes that yeah, he probably should try to match his breathing because passing out from lack of oxygen even though his organs are working perfectly fine would make everything so much worse.

He inhales deeply and follows the patterns of Yamada’s breathing until his lungs are expanding and contracting as they should be.

The stupid urge to apologize bubbles up and Sasuke is briefly horrified at the thought but it goes away as quickly as it came.

“Let’s sit on the couch.” Yamada says, taking a step back to create a clear passage to the living room.

Sasuke stares at the couch. He doesn’t particularly want to sit on the couch. He doesn’t want to sit at all.

He must be silent for longer than he thought, because Yamada’s voice wavers when they speak next. “Or we could stand, if you want.”

Sasuke doesn’t know what he wants. He wants to go back home to the Elemental Nations. He wants his brother, his family, the people he grew up with and loved so deeply that the ache in his chest somehow only gets worse with time. He wants to go back to his 12 year old self and shake him, scream at him.

(When was the last time someone cared about what he wanted?)

Mechanically, he walks over to the couch and sits down. His skin feels too large for his body, or maybe it’s the other way around. He is not himself in the same way that green is not red. A passenger in his own life.

He wonders, detachedly, what actions led him to this very moment.

“I know that you may not want to do this now….” Yamada says slowly, reluctant to speak. “But I think we need to talk about… well, a lot of things, actually.”

Sasuke’s body blinks in a way that’s unnatural for him, but Yamada doesn’t notice.

His mouth opens to speak without Sasuke giving the okay or even registering it until words freely flow out. “That… won’t happen again.”

That is not something Sasuke would say so he doesn’t know why he said it.

“Shou’ and I want to help. We really do.” Genuine, so genuine. “But we need more communication from you so we can do that. You don’t have to tell us everything, but maybe even just things to avoid saying or doing? Anything you feel comfortable sharing.”

Sasuke’s nails dig into his palms. He debates internally about saying anything, torn between not wanting to open his mouth and wanting to be rid of their concern.

Or, he considers, he could summon Sana to say all the things he can’t.

He goes through the hand signals and bites into his thumb, the familiar pressure and subsequent sting help bring him back to reality, just a little.

“Sasuke-sama?” Sana wonders. Sasuke makes a vague hand gesture in the direction of Yamada and Aizawa, doing his best to project his thoughts at Sana.

“Ah. I see.” Sana huffs out a breath of air and Sasuke really hopes he does, in fact, see, because this will be very awkward for everyone involved if he doesn’t. “Just the important bits?”

Sasuke doesn’t do or say anything, but Sana takes that as an affirmative.

“I do not know for certain how much you know, and as per Sasuke-sama’s request, this will be the very basic outline… but if he wants you to know then you will.”

And Sana speaks. He doesn’t explain the details (re: Itachi murdering everyone, Sasuke wanting to murder him in return, his disgusting jealousy at Naruto’s advancement, etc.) that led Sasuke into seeking Orochimaru out, it just boils down to “there was a shitty dude who was terrible and Sasuke lived with him for x amount of years and ta-da, trauma”. It’s an explanation that Sasuke would, otherwise, object to because he isn’t a victim, not really. Not like Itachi or Naruto, not like Kakashi or Sakura, even. He’s reluctant to say anything about the villagers because he gets the feeling that they’d be obtuse regardless of Zetsu’s influence, but still.

Sana does this thing, though, where he says stuff like: “He stole children and mutilated them until their organs failed or they bled out,” and doesn’t realize how genuinely horrible that is to hear for anyone who doesn’t have intimate experience with Orochimaru. It’s horrible for people who know him too, but there’s a certain desensitivity that comes with being in close proximity to the man for several years that numbs it.

Sasuke cuts Sana off when he starts ranting about how much he personally hates that Konoha just let Orochimaru back in with open arms because of his actions during the war, completely forgetting about how, before the war, he was still a child-stealing megalomaniac and probably still would be if not for Sasuke’s influence.

The four of them sit in silence.

“I… don’t know what to say.” Yamada mumbles. It’s the first time he’s been this quiet. Even when they’re angry, Yamada is still loud and upfront with his anger. This is something different.

This is along the lines of what Sasuke had been expecting, though. “I wanted it to be different for her than it was for me.” He says.

Aizawa looks at Sasuke with more emotion in his eyes than Sasuke can decipher. “You did good. I’m proud of you.”

The envy in the back of Sasuke’s mind dissipates and Sasuke is left feeling hollowed out but, surprisingly, not awful.

It’s strange.

“What do you think of the new guy?” Ochako wonders aloud. It’s late at night, the only people in the common room are herself, Jirou, Mina, Kaminari, Tsuyu, and Sero.

She’s been thinking about it for a while, but it’s weird that they got a transfer at all, isn’t it? She and Deku had been talking about it when he first showed up. Transfers within Yuuei aren’t all that strange, people go in and out of the other courses often enough that it isn’t anything to make a note of when it happens, but it hardly ever happens in the hero course.

Ochako, personally, doesn’t know what to think. He doesn’t say much, has made no attempts at conversation and the one time Ochako did talk to him it was stilted, a bit awkward. It makes sense, he’s the new kid, but she thought he’d make more of an attempt to socialize.

“Not much, ribbit.” Tsu says and the others say variations of the same.

“I’ve only spoken to the guy once and that was when he first got here.” Sero says with a shrug. “As long as he isn’t selling our secrets, I’m not too worried about it.”

“I hope not.” Mina snorts, popping a gummy bear into her mouth. “How awkward would that be?”

They all laugh and the conversation pretty much ends there. That is, until Kaminari says, “He’s kind of pretty though, right? It’s not just me?”

“It’s not just you.” Mina laughs. “Leave it to you to make things weird.”

“It’s just an observation!” Kaminari defends. “You were thinking it too.”

“Some of us have tact, Kaminari-kun.” Tsuyu says sagely.

Ochako grins and grabs a few chips from the bag Kaminari is holding. She relaxes into the couch and pulls out her phone.

There’s nothing to be worried about.

Mina gasps and nearly falls off the couch. “Didn’t we have an essay due tomorrow?!”

…There are a few things to be worried about, but a traitor isn’t one of them.

Hawks has taken one and only one intern before, and it was Tokoyami. Tokoyami who isn’t “secretly” from another dimension, who Hawks isn’t trying to manipulate into working with the HPSC, and who couldn’t actually easily kill him.

He’s seen the photos of Overhaul. He found Giran and had to give a statement as to what on earth happened.

The thing is, Hawks isn’t stupid. As much as his handlers like to pretend he’s a dumb little bird, he knows that the only person capable of pushing Giran to the point where the safety net The Commission installed had to activate is probably the same person who offed Overhaul and the same person who burned down those buildings a few months ago. He has no way to prove this, but he just knows. He also knows just what they’d plan to do with Uchiha if he agrees to work with The Commission. Well, what they’d try.

Hawks, despite himself, can’t let that happen. It was fine when it was just him. When he said he wanted to take on an intern, the HPSC didn’t care. They encouraged it, even. But never did they say that he had to attempt to trick his intern into selling his life away. Probably because they knew he wouldn’t do it.

Part of him had been hoping that the kid would turn down his offer, but he hadn’t so Hawks is stuck.

Hawks can count on one hand the amount of times he’s deliberately disobeyed The Commission. He remembers each time vividly because the repercussions made him regret it every time. He knows exactly how long it would take him to regrow his wings, and it isn’t because of any fight with a villain.

At any rate, he should probably ignore those thoughts for now. He’ll have time to worry about it on Sunday.

He slides the screen door that leads to the balcony open and steps out of his apartment. His wings shake themselves off and flap experimentally before he’s shooting into the sky to begin his nighttime patrol.

He, shockingly enough, has bigger problems than a dimensional traveler.

A snort involuntarily leaves his lips. A part of his brain supplies an aborted joke about how he should retire, but he knows better than to joke about that, even to himself.

Static fills his ears, a telltale sign of his communication device turning on.

“There’s a hostage situation 4 blocks from your current destination. The attacker has a D-level emitter Quirk. Elemental. 12 hostages.”

“Got it.”

He pushes the thoughts to the back of his mind where, later, he’ll wish he’d left himself more time to think about them.

Chapter Text

TW: Orochimaru, discussions of rape, allusions to human experimentation. Starts at ““This is… weird.””

“You will be doing your work-study with Hawks, correct?” One of Sasuke’s classmates, Tokoyami, asks.

Sasuke doesn’t interact with his classmates very often. He has no reason to. He doesn’t go to the common room or the shared spaces, hardly does much cooking, and generally avoids conversation in the classroom. Sasuke has no problems with this and, to his knowledge, neither do his classmates. Even if they think he’s a bit odd.

The only issue is that now, it makes the mandatory socialization that Sasuke will have to partake in that much more awkward.

“I am.” Sasuke nods. “You too, right?” 

He already knows the answer to that question.

“Indeed.” Tokoyami visibly hesitates. “I am aware that you don’t tend to converse with our classmates, is that a personal preference?”

Sasuke blinks, surprised by the forwardness of that question. He assumed that these kids would have the social skills of traumatized teenagers, but apparently, some of them are capable of communication.

“Mostly. Lack of opportunity plays a role.” That’s entirely incorrect, Sasuke could go out of his way to talk to the other students. He hasn’t and won’t.

“I see. I hope you won’t mind if I request to join you on the trip to Fukuoka?” Tokoyami wonders.

Sasuke doesn’t mind. He’ll have to take a train anyway since he’s never been to Fukuoka, and he’s never been on a bullet train before so he doesn’t have a reason to refuse.

“I don’t mind.”

Neither of them say anything more because the bell for the next class chimes and Yamada bursts into class with his usual flair.

As usual, when Sasuke steps into the usual meeting room, he’s bombarded with questions from curious scientists and researchers. He answers and fields questions as usual, figuring it’s an equal trade since they’re coming up with never-before-seen technology for his sake.

The meeting begins and they, again, shoot ideas back and forth. Gradually, Sasuke can see a few workable theories coming up. They’ll be testing metals to see if any of them can act as conduits for his Chakra, they’ll use the results from that to determine what kind of energy it is– that is, if it’s one they’re familiar with or not.

Despite his research, most of their terms still go completely over his head, which doesn’t bother him as much as it should. By now, these people have invested enough time and thought into this project that it would be very odd if any of them were to attempt sabotage.

Unfortunately, the woman from the last meeting still insists on pestering him.

He’s considering electrocuting her, just a little bit, not enough to do any lasting damage. There are too many witnesses for that.

He’s in the process of explaining why he will not allow his body to essentially be sold off for science and “the good of the people” for the 3rd time when she interrupts him again .

“But it doesn’t have to be that way! Don’t you see? Think of all the advancements we could-”

Sasuke interrupts her. “I’m not entirely sure what you’re suggesting,” he is entirely sure but she doesn’t need to know that. “But I’ll have to decline. I am here to find a way home, no more, no less. If you came into this expecting something grandiose in return, you’ll be disappointed.”

“The state of the world right now is terrible and you can help us fix it.” She argues, Sasuke uses the moment she takes a breath to interrupt again.

“The state of the world? There are more worlds than just your own.” He says. Now he’s a bit irritated, so he makes sure his tone mirrors that. “Again, I’m going to decline your offer, do not continue to bring it up.”

Anger ripples across her face as her hand shoots out and grabs his wrist. He catches her wrist, but it’s only then that he considers that her Quirk might only require skin-to-skin contact regardless of who initiated.

His thoughts come true when her entire face shifts and flickers. Her skin folds over itself like paper, molding and shaping her facial structure to become someone else. It contracts and compresses her face into one that Sasuke would recognize anywhere.

Her body shudders and Sasuke notes, with muted horror, that she’s growing in height. Her shoulders widen and he can see her muscles spasm as they adjust to newfound mass.

This is her Quirk, he realizes belatedly, staring directly at the face of Orochimaru, exactly as he remembers him in his worst nightmares.

“This… is weird.” She- Orochimaru- it says.

Sasuke can’t open his mouth to form words. The scenery around him shifts and he’s not sure if it’s a product of his mind or another facet of her Quirk.

The only redeeming feature about being in this new world was that this was the one place he was absolutely sure no one could get him. He had built himself up to believe that there was absolutely no way Orochimaru– or anyone else, for that matter– could reach him.

The laboratory is tinted green, as it usually is. The cabinets are clean, though they look worn. Sasuke always wondered why Orochimaru didn’t just use sealing scrolls, but the room was much more intimidating this way. Each vial is placed precisely where it should be. Pristine labels cover all the bottles, a direct contrast to the dingy lighting and stained floor.

He attempts to move his body, the little voice in the back of his head whispering that he shouldn’t, Orochimaru could be back at any second and he did not like it when Sasuke tried to move, tried to get away.

He finds that he can’t move anyway, but for some reason, that only makes him want to struggle more, despite knowing it’s futile.

“Fucking– let me go.” He feels straps against his chest weighing him down like bricks. His legs are thoroughly strapped down too. At the ankles, just above the knees, and a few inches or so below where his leg connects to his hip.

The straps dig into him like knives and he knows there’s going to be bruising when he goes back to his room. Orochimaru only brings him to Karin when he’s on the verge of death, and even then it’s iffy.

A pale hand worms its way onto Sasuke’s shoulder, squeezing it tightly. Sasuke doesn’t know if it’s Kabuto or Orochimaru, but he stops struggling regardless. Not because he wants to, but because he knows how much worse things will be if he doesn’t. It’ll be worse because instead of maybe staggering back to his bed, he’ll have to drag himself back with nothing but spite and pure terror of remaining in the laboratory for any longer. Or maybe, worst case scenario, he won’t be able to move at all and he’ll have to stay in the lab.

The hand ghosts down his chest and eventually moves back upwards to his eyes. His chin is tilted so he's looking into the narrow slits that could only belong to Orochimaru.

His eyes are covered by cold hands and Sasuke feels his heart drop to his stomach.

The hands are eventually replaced by a blindfold, which might be worse or better, Sasuke doesn’t know. At least with the hands, he knew where Orochimaru was.

“I wonder how far your body can go, if given a little push.” Orochimaru says, his voice smooth and calm, but Sasuke has known him long enough for him to be able to hear the undercurrent of glee.

And then Orochimaru stops. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t make a noise, Sasuke doesn’t even know if the man is still in the room.

He hears the clinking of what’s either a vial, a syringe, or both and thinks that he’d rather be dead than be here.

But death is too kind for someone like him.

~~~

When Shouta gets the call that he needs to come to Nezu’s office, he prepares himself for a villain attack, a breach in security, someone dying .

Nothing could have prepared him for this.

He gets to the hallway and sees someone being restrained by security and dragged away. Shouta is informed that the police and paramedics are on their way, and that he should make his way over but he’s warned to proceed with caution.

He turns the corner and finds shattered glass everywhere. All the indoor windows in the hallway have been blown out and the walls have cracks in the concrete. Sparks from broken light bulbs drop onto a puddle of water, causing the whole thing to light up briefly.

At the center of it all is Sasuke, body so rigid he looks like he’s about two seconds away from imploding from tension.

Shouta steps a bit closer, still a great distance away, which is how he’ll keep it until he has a bit more information.

He can vaguely see that Sasuke’s lips are moving, but he’s still too far to hear what the kid is mumbling.

“Sasuke?” He calls, tentatively.

Nothing. Not that he was really expecting a response.

Shouta takes a step closer. From where he is, he can see the way Sasuke’s chest is heaving, the way he’ll tense up occasionally but immediately force his body to relax– at least a little bit.

“Sasuke?” He says again, but he receives silence. “Shit.”

It would probably be best to try the grounding methods now, but Shouta doesn’t think Sasuke would be able to hear him completely from where he is. So, he takes a step forward and begins to speak. He states Sasuke’s name, the date, his own name, where he is, and reminds Sasuke that he’s safe from whatever horror he’s experiencing. He’s not sure how many times he repeats himself, he’s sure he’s partially dissociated for at least a third of the time, but eventually, he does get a response.

“ No .” And Shouta has never heard Sasuke sound so terrified. Genuinely scared out of his mind to the point where he’s able to set aside his pride and beg. He isn’t talking to Shouta, though, so he doesn’t let it distract him from repeating the phrase that must be ingrained in his head by now. 

“Your name is Uchiha Sasuke. The date is September X 2XXX. You’re on Yuuei’s campus, you are safe.”

He’s not sure how long he stands there, but eventually Sasuke slumps backwards and stares at the ceiling.

“Sasuke?” Not even a twitch.

Shouta takes another step closer and Sasuke immediately looks at him. He watches Shouta for a moment before deeming him ultimately unimportant, turning to the side, and throwing up the contents of his stomach.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Shouta offers, expecting a no.

Sure enough, Sasuke shakes his head rapidly.

“Okay, that’s fine. I’m just going to sit here, if that’s okay?”

Sasuke doesn’t object or show any outward emotion at all, so Shouta sits down and waits. He inhales deeply and takes this time to collect himself. He notes the things he can see, the current situation, and makes sure he remembers the steps that led him to where he is.

“H-” Sasuke begins to speak but his voice breaks. “How long?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll check the time.” He reaches into his pocket slowly and brings out his phone. He got the call at 4:13 PM and it’s now almost 7 PM. “A little under 3 hours.”

Sasuke doesn’t show any signs of having heard him, instead, he returns to staring at the ceiling.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

No response.

They sit in silence for 15 more minutes.

Sasuke is the one to break it. “Why?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you here?” Sasuke clarifies.

Shouta blinks, not having expected that. He answers nonetheless. “I was worried.”

It’s an easy answer because it’s the truth. He doesn’t need to lie, pretend he’s an asshole when he isn’t. Especially because he knows that’s the exact opposite of what Sasuke needs right now.

Sasuke stares at him, unblinking. His head jerks minutely but Shouta can see the moment Sasuke gets frustrated with himself and bangs his head against the concrete wall behind him.

He tries not to be too shocked when he sees the visible dent that Sasuke’s head made. But wow , that strength is no joke. Even knowing that Sasuke isn’t exactly this world’s version of “human” so his skull is bound to be made up of stronger stuff, Shouta is still worried.

“Hey, kid, it’s me. You’re still in Yuuei on campus, you’ve just come out of a meeting. It’s 6:57 PM.”

Sasuke mutters something under his breath that Shouta doesn’t quite catch before he speaks out loud.

“Where. Where am I?” Sasuke asks, desperation beginning to bleed into his voice.

“Yuuei. Next to Principal Nezu’s office. Yuuei is in Musutafu, Shizuoka. Shizuoka is a prefecture in Japan.” He adds, because while he knows Sasuke is sure to have memorized the prefectures of Japan at least by now, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still somewhat unfamiliar territory given how he got here.

Recognition sparks in Sasuke’s eyes and he breathes deeply. “The- there was a woman?”

Ah, that must’ve been the woman he saw being taken away by police. “She’s gone, you don’t have to speak to her or see her ever again.”

“She can’t–” Sasuke cuts himself off.

“She can’t do what she did to you ever again. It was a Quirk.” Not that Shouta knows exactly what she did, but at this point it doesn’t matter because she’s not here right now but Sasuke is. Shouta would trip her if he saw her again, though.

“He can’t find me.” Sasuke mutters. Shouta gets the feeling that was supposed to be something that wasn’t spoken out loud, in fact, Sasuke doesn’t even seem to realize that he’s spoken at all.

“Talk.” Sasuke pauses and inhales carefully. “Please.”

And Shouta does. He talks about literally anything that he can think of. He tells him how he and Hizashi first met, where and why they adopted their first cat, and about Eri’s journey to taste all the flavours of ice cream before her next birthday.

Eventually, Shouta notices that Sasuke’s breathing is less erratic and he seems to have calmed down considerably.

“Do you want to stay here for a bit longer or go somewhere else?”

Sasuke blinks, as if he’s only just realized the carnage around him. A light flickers overhead and he flicks his hand, a knife coming out of seemingly nowhere and completely destroying the light. It’s a good deal away from them, so the glass that shatters lands nowhere close to where either of them are sitting.

Somewhere else it is, then.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Shouta slowly gets to his feet, telegraphing each movement carefully until he’s standing. Sasuke follows suit, though much quicker than he did, even if it looks like his body isn’t ready to handle the quick movements just yet.

Sasuke looks torn between teleportation and walking, but he settles for the walk, never deliberately going in front of Shouta or too far behind him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Sasuke stops moving abruptly. Shouta turns to look at him.

“You already know. Or you’ve guessed.” He says matter of factly.

He’s right, Shouta has his theories and vague ideas of Sasuke’s past. Little snippets of his behaviour that paint a gruesome and quite possibly tragic picture, but he’s missing large pieces from the middle.

“I could be wrong.” Shouta says.

“You want to be wrong.” Sasuke corrects, a knowing lilt to his tone that usually wouldn’t be there.

When Shouta says nothing more, Sasuke starts walking again, still allowing Shouta to pass him and walk ahead.

“I told Eri we were similar.” Sasuke says eventually. “That isn’t true.”

Shouta keeps his voice even, desperate to hide the shock he’s feeling over the fact that Sasuke’s saying anything at all. “Oh? In what way?”

“I went to,” Sasuke stumbles over his words, “ him by myself. She didn’t have that choice.”

Shouta is missing so much context.

What he knows is that:

1. Sasuke is a child soldier. This was normal where he’s from
2. Sasuke doesn’t like his village
3. Sasuke has a brother who is dead and who he didn’t get along with until the end(?)
4. Sasuke was abused in every sense of the word by an authority figure, human experimentation and sexual assault are both very strong possibilities.

He doesn’t say anything, though. Instead, Shouta waits for Sasuke to collect his thoughts and say anything he wants to.

“I had options, better options, but I–” Sasuke sighs, rolling his shoulders and walking faster to keep pace with Shouta. “It doesn’t matter. Ask if you want, but I have nothing more to say.”

Shouta hesitates. A burning need to know clashes with a want to give Sasuke space. In the end, he asks anyway.

“Your brother. What happened?”

Sasuke, oddly enough, seems surprised that he asked, before his facial expressions smooth out. “This was unrelated, but if you want to know….” He shrugs, as if the next words to come out of his mouth will be about the weather. “Itachi, by the order of my village’s government and with the help of an outsider, slaughtered the entirety of the Uchiha Clan– my family and his. 233 people.” Sasuke pauses as if he hasn’t just revealed one of the worst things Shouta has ever heard. “I found out that it was sanctioned as an official mission by the village’s government a year ago.”

Oh.

Yeah, that’ll do it , Shouta thinks, somewhat hysterically, his mind reeling with the information he’s just been given.

He shoves down an emerging panic attack and directs Sasuke to the dorm he shares with ‘Zashi and Eri.

“If you want to sleep, you can use our bed or the couch, if you prefer.” Shouta says, forcing his words to come out as anything other than a wheeze.

Sasuke nods and, thankfully, doesn’t seem to care about sleeping in a bed that isn’t his. He disappears into Shouta and ‘Zashi’s room and Shouta texts his partner.

It’s a weekend, so Hizashi is nearby, thank god, so Shouta goes to the bathroom, sits on the floor, and allows the horror and panic he felt while Sasuke was talking out. His mind moves too fast for him to actually grab hold of any thoughts and think them through logically, stuck in panicwhatthefuckpanic mode.

His chest tightens like a snake and he attempts to force the questions he’s not mentally able to handle yet out of his mind. Things like “how old would he have been when it happened?” , “Did he see it?” , and “What the actual fuck is wrong with his village?” .

He doesn’t register the front door or the door to the bathroom opening until there’s a blob of yellow right in front of him and Hizashi is speaking to him in low tones.

Hizashi’s voice calms him down immediately, even though it isn't not enough to completely pacify his hysteric mind, it does make it so he’s alright with being held.

His mind can’t stray from thinking about waking up one day to find out that literally every single person closest to you has died and it was your brother who did it. Or worse still, seeing it happen and not knowing why. Did Sasuke spend years hating his brother, only to find out too late that it wasn’t his fault? He doesn’t know the age gap between the siblings, was his brother only a child himself when he had to murder his family? Sasuke is only 16 but he speaks as if it were several years ago.

He sits there ruminating in his own thoughts for who knows how long before the anxiety fades to the background.

“Hey, back with me?” Hizashi asks, kissing his cheek gently.

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to tell me what triggered this?”

Shouta sighs and slowly begins recounting his experience from start to finish.

He really ought to retire.

From the look on Hizashi’s face, they think so too.

Chapter Text

Sasuke wakes up, anxious and unsettled like he often is after a nightmare. Thankfully, he has no recollection of this one other than the phantom feeling of hands in places they shouldn’t be.

A quick check of the time tells him that it’s early, 5:00am early, so there isn’t much he can do yet. Aizawa and Yamada are surely still asleep, as is Eri.

Sasuke sighs, exhausted. He just wants to get out of here already. In a few months, it’ll be a year since he first got to Japan and in his personal opinion, that’s 12 months too many.

Sure, he’s appreciative of all the things the people here have done for him, but he’d like it much better if they hadn’t had to do them at all.

(He ignores the part in him that’s disgustingly grateful for Aizawa and Yamada staying the whole time, despite his… everything. The events of yesterday only confirmed that these people are kind, kind in a way that can’t be found in the Elemental Nations, the type of kind that Konoha likes to rip from its citizens. It’s different from Naruto because as much as Sasuke knows Naruto cares about him, he’s never actually listened to him. Not once. And that’s okay because Sasuke knows his decision making skills are god-awful but it’s still nice to feel like an actual person instead of something the cat dragged in when speaking to someone.)

The embarrassment and deep self-loathing only begin to settle in when Sasuke thinks of his… for lack of a better term, tantrum yesterday.

The thing is that even if someone like that woman had appeared in the Elemental Nations, Sasuke wouldn’t have shut down. There’s something about this place that’s making him soft and he doesn’t know how to fix it. He still exercises the same way he did but that’s only physical. Mentally, his mind is beginning to unravel and he’d very much appreciate it if it didn’t.

Setting those thoughts aside for now, Sasuke gets to his feet and goes about the motions of starting his day. He brushes his teeth, changes his clothes, and tries to regain some semblance of normalcy.

He feels stilted, like he’s a sentence someone couldn’t say. It makes him twitchy and a bit more paranoid than he can reasonably justify.

(The cynical part of him, which is most of him, is expecting Aizawa and Yamada to tear into him for what he did yesterday. The softer part is begging him to apologize so that doesn’t happen.)

So, he steps into the living room and is relieved to find no one in it. They’re all asleep, like he expected.

Coward.

He ambles around the kitchen aimlessly, knowing he should make breakfast but also aware that he would not eat it. Eventually, he settles for a glass of water.

Once the water is drained, which takes far more time than it should, he spends several minutes deciding whether or not to summon Sana.

He does, in the end.

He chokes through an explanation of what happened and is glad to find fierce protectiveness in Sana’s eyes, because Sana knows him. Sana knows Sasuke maybe better than he knows himself.

“This place is good for you.” Sana says eventually. “They support you in ways you could not find in Konoha.”

Sasuke nods. He agrees, but this place isn’t his reality. For him, it’s an idea of what could be , despite its flaws.

“I can’t stay, you know that.”

“I know. I would not ask you to. I only ask that you take advantage of what they have here while you can.”

Fair enough.

Sasuke inhales, exhales, and squares his shoulders.

It’s okay if he takes a little longer, he thinks.

It’s okay if he puts himself above the needs of people he can’t even reach, just for a little bit. For as long as he can bear it until the guilt sets into his bones like it’s always been there.

Just for now.

~~~

“Good morning.” Aizawa greets. It’s nearly 6am now. Yamada is in the bathroom doing unspeakable things to his hair while Aizawa makes breakfast.

Sasuke opens his mouth to say something but chokes on his words and has to clear his throat. “I… apologize fo-”

“No. None of that. It’s okay.” Aizawa interrupts with a soft voice that would usually make Sasuke twitch with irritation. “I don’t hold it against you, since it wasn’t your fault. You have nothing to apologize for.”

Sasuke nods slowly and the room lapses into silence. The door to the bathroom clicks open and Yamada enters with a smile on his face.

“Hey, little listener.” They wave and thankfully don’t ask any questions about yesterday. Instead, he helps set the table and offers mindless chatter until they sit down to eat.

Breakfast is mostly silent, with the exception of a few words exchanged to confirm schedules.

“You’ll be okay for the internship?” Aizawa asks, and Sasuke can’t find it in him to be annoyed at the lack of faith in his abilities because he knows it’s not that. He can’t bring himself to harbour ill-will towards the man who stood by him for nearly 4 hours and listened to him speak like the words he was saying mattered.

“I’ll be fine.” Sasuke replies, his tone softer than he thought possible.

“Alright.” Yamada replies, a gentle smile on their face. “We’ll be here if you need us.”

There’s a brief pause where everyone collects their thoughts before Aizawa changes the subject.

“You’re going with Tokoyami, right?”

“We discussed it, yes.” But they didn’t actually end up going over any of the specifics, so Sasuke will probably end up hanging around in the common room in the dorms, which he doesn’t mind as much as he did before. He hasn’t had much time to interact with his classmates and while he doesn’t really mind, he is somewhat interested to see how different their mindsets are from someone the same age in The Elemental Nations.

Yamada hands him a bento, which Sasuke puts in his bag, feeling very much like he did during his first year at the Academy when his mother was still alive enough to make his lunches.

With that, he teleports into the dorms.

He doesn’t spend a lot of time there, not when the soundproofing in the teacher’s dorms is so much better.

(–and he doesn’t have to come home to an empty room, but he’s used to that by now so it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t. )

There’s one other person in the common room, Bakugou Katsuki, if Sasuke’s memory serves him correctly which it usually does.

“Jesus fucking-” Bakugou visibly startles, nearly falling out of his chair with shock. “When the fuck did you get there?”

“4 seconds ago.” Sasuke replies, trying not to relish in the irritation that takes over Bakugou’s face.

“And you couldn’t use the stairs like a normal damn extra?”

“No.” Sasuke moves to sit on the couch and Bakugou scoffs.

Sasuke is abruptly reminded of Deidara and has to push that thought away before he can think on it for any longer.

They are remarkably similar, though.

It’s around 7am now. Students begin to trickle in, yawning and stretching. All of them startle when they see Sasuke, which is fair enough since he’s never around. They don’t pester him or do much, though, which is nice.

Tokoyami is the 6th person to come down, excluding Bakugou and Sasuke.

“I realized we had not formalized a meeting spot or time, I apologize if you waited long.” Tokoyami says politely.

“It’s as much my fault as it is yours.” Which is true. He wasn’t planning on ditching Tokoyami so he really should’ve made a bit more of an effort to get the details. It worked out fine, in the end. He was… occupied, anyway.

Tokoyami nods slightly before grabbing a glass of water from the kitchen. “I won’t need much longer to get ready. I need only get my bags.”

Sasuke notes that Tokoyami says nothing about Sasuke’s very obvious lack of luggage, despite his curiosity on the subject.

Sasuke inclines his head and Tokoyami disappears back up the stairs.

Some of his classmates glance at him, but don’t ask questions. Clearly they’ve gained some tact since Sasuke was originally here as Hatake Kakashi.

“So, you’re going with Tokoyami to Fukuoka?” Kirishima asks with a smile, having none of the reservations that the rest of his classmates have.

“I am.” Sasuke replies, before somewhat awkwardly adding, “I hope that the experience is educational.”

“That’s cool!” Kirishima says, bulldozing past Sasuke’s social awkwardness. “I’m going to Fat Gum’s Agency in Esuha. He’s super manly and one of the third years here is going there too!”

Esuha and Fukuoka are both south west, but Esuha is in the Kansai region so it’s further along than Fukuoka is.

Fat Gum is 58 on the hero ranking chart, not that it really matters. The charts are mostly based on who’s most popular and which of them fits the most widely accepted definition of “hero”.

Kirishima continues to talk, clearly used to somewhat one-sided conversations. He tells Sasuke who’s going where and doing what with which hero, which is informative since Sasuke hadn’t really cared enough to listen when his classmates were talking about it previously.

Tokoyami returns 10 minutes after he left, pulling a suitcase and carrying a backpack on his shoulders.

Aizawa and All Might briefly appear to see the students off and verify their methods of travel, and then they’re off.

They end up walking to a train station to take the bullet train. The trip is roughly 6 hours, so Sasuke ended up packing a few books.

Tokoyami is the more social of the two of them, but not by very much. He spends the walk there occasionally filling the silence with his own experiences, having worked with Hawks before, and telling Sasuke what to expect.

It’s around 8am when they get on the train, and the train ride passes in a similar manner to the walk to the station. Sasuke listens as Tokoyami gives him a brief summary of everything he missed, being a transfer student. Sasuke knows all of this but he listens anyway. Tokoyami doesn’t speak much, clearly used to summarizing long-winded stories into a few short sentences.

They have lunch on the train and Sasuke orders fish with rice while Tokoyami orders meat that looks nearly uncooked. Dietary restrictions, Tokoyami explains. Sasuke is eating fish over red meat for similar reasons.

It’s late in the morning when they step off the train in Fukuoka. They get off at Tenjin station, which isn’t too far from the Agency building. Tokoyami explained on the way over that the Agency has 3 main buildings with several smaller ones. The office, the gymnasium, and the sleeping quarters. The office building is exactly what it sounds like. A 15 storey building equipped with state of the art computers and known as one of the most efficient dispatch systems in Japan. The gymnasium has everything from a swimming pool to a spot for high ropes. The sleeping quarters are pretty bare bones. A bed, bathroom, mini fridge, and microwave. The sleeping quarters also have a cafeteria, so the residents don’t end up doing much cooking.

“Shall we take a taxi or are you okay with walking?” Tokoyami asks. The walk is only 12 minutes, and the drive would probably take longer given the traffic.

“We can walk.” Sasuke agrees and they set off.

They walk along the busy street, the city bustles around them. They cross a large, concrete bridge that creates a passage over a river and almost have to shove their way through crowds of tourists taking pictures over the river.

“Fukuoka became an even larger tourist attraction after Hawks debuted.” Tokoyami says, a small amount of irritation in his voice.

They approach the second bridge, which is, in Sasuke’s opinion, much nicer looking than the first one. Instead of concrete, there’s more greenery surrounding the water. The water looks much better maintained, which makes sense because this river is smaller.

After 2 more minutes of walking, they stop in front of the Agency.

The layout of the entire Agency is like a triangle, with the office building being the only access point to civilians.

Sasuke wonders where the heroes get all their money from.

They walk through a revolving door and are immediately greeted by a woman.

“Tokoyami, welcome back!” She smiles at Tokoyami before turning to Sasuke. “You’re our new intern, right?”

“Uchiha Sasuke.”

“I’m Kaneko Mei. Think of me as your manager for your time here.” She bows slightly before motioning for them to follow her. 

Kaneko leads them to the end of the building and pushes open a door to reveal the courtyard. It resembles more of a campus than just a space between the other buildings, with benches and rentable bikes, tall trees and other flora, and several smaller buildings scattered between the 3 larger ones. There’s even a fountain and a small body of water.

Hawks’ Agency, like everything else in this world, is much larger than it needs to be.

They walk through the courtyard and into what Sasuke assumes are the sleeping quarters. They take an elevator 2 floors up, during which Sasuke ignores the claustrophobia threatening to swallow him whole, and Kaneko brings them to a door.

“This is your room, you’ll be sharing, but it should be spacious enough for both of you. Inside, there’s a half bathroom, missing only a shower, but there are full showers and a sauna on the first floor. Down the hall, there’s a room with a black door that has extra pillows, blankets, etc., make use of it if you need it.”

She hands them both keys.

“Do not lose these. You have one free replacement before you need to pay for it and they are not cheap to make. Final note, there is an air conditioning unit inside, do not bring it below 19 ºC or it will stop working. Any questions?”

“No, ma’am.” Both Sasuke and Tokoyami reply.

“Good. Schedules will be emailed to you first thing tomorrow and then the work study officially starts the following day. Ask for me at the front desk if you need me or call me at this number.”

She hands them a business card and leaves. Tokoyami stares at her for a moment and Sasuke unlocks the door.

Sasuke enters the room and Tokoyami follows.

Sasuke’s first thought is , this is a bit more than spacious .

The entrance is a hallway, and to the right of it is a door that presumably leads to the bathroom. There’s a space for shoes and coats, and it’s large enough for Sasuke to be able to stand next to Tokoyami and have about a foot of room.

Both Sasuke and Tokoyami take off their shoes and walk further into the space.

When the hallway ends, there’s a small kitchen, though he hesitates to call it such, since it’s just a microwave, a mini fridge, a coffee maker, a few hanging cabinets, and one countertop cabinet. Regardless of its size, it’s still more than he thought he’d be getting so that’s nice.

The hallway and the kitchenette both have tile flooring, but the actual bedroom is carpet. It’s set up a bit like a hotel room, now that Sasuke thinks about it.

There are two decently sized beds in either corner of the room, separated by a half wall, a side table each, two desks, a bookshelf, and a dresser. The dresser has 8 drawers, 4 on the first row, and then single drawers for the following 4 rows.

Tokoyami speaks first, “We can each have half of the storage space for clothes.”

Sasuke doesn’t particularly want to store his clothes in the dresser, but he doesn’t really care about these clothes all that much so it doesn’t really matter. Besides, he is trying to pretend to be a normal Quirked individual.

“Okay.”

The first day isn’t over yet and Sasuke is already exhausted.

(He wants to go home. The only problem is that it’s getting harder and harder to keep the Elemental Nations at the forefront of his mind when he thinks of home. Not when there’s Yamada, with his gentle smiles and continuous optimism, and Aizawa, with his terse personality that is somehow similar and completely different to Sasuke’s father. Not when he has people who listen to him for once and neither treat him like a hero or like a sin.

He is human here, and part of him doesn’t want to give that up.

Is it okay to be selfish for a little while longer?)

Chapter Text

“Have a good night, Midoriya-kun!” Togata-senpai waves Izuku off with a smile.

They’ve finished changing out of their hero costumes and have set them aside to be cleaned, since most hero costumes have parts that can’t be cleaned by regular means. Izuku briefly wonders if there are hero dry-cleaners, since there are quite a few pro-heros who aren’t affiliated with any agencies and probably don’t have special washing machines for their costumes. He shakes his head at the thought, the business wouldn’t be lucrative enough to stay afloat. Non-agency affiliated heroes probably go through agencies for that sort of thing or do it themselves.

Pushing that useless line of thought aside, Izuku steps out of the elevator on the floor to his room and begins walking down the hall. It’s a relatively short hallway since the Nighteye Agency doesn’t have a lot of rooms for boarding.

The building itself is small, nowhere near the size of Endeavour’s Agency, but that’s to be expected since Endeavour is the #2 hero, despite All Might’s very few public appearances.

Izuku sits at his desk, flipping through the notes he managed to get during the day. It’s only day two and he’s learned so much ! The stakes, so far, have been pretty low and Togata-senpai has assured Izuku that there will always be someone available to answer the questions he has. It’s much different from the internship with Gran Tornio, where they were technically just there to observe.

The first thing they did today was go over responsibilities. The first few days are preliminary days where Izuku will be taught how to fill out forms, correctly submit paperwork for a number of different things, write proper reports, that sort of thing. Then the rest of the work study will be practicing response time, learning how to spot a problem in need of intervention compared to a problem that will resolve itself, building a relationship with local authorities, and the thing that Izuku is the most excited about, real battle situations. He’s already thought of a hundred different things to compensate for when comparing the battle simulations at Yuuei to a fight with an actual villain, he has notes on all of his colleagues (and isn’t it so cool to think of them that way?) and how he can best adapt to their fighting style.

Izuku shuts off the light on his desk and begins going through his night-time routine, his thoughts running at a mile a minute.

This is it.

His first real chance at doing hero work. Legally, anyway.

The most important thing is a good night’s rest. He doesn’t want spend hours laying awake thinking and then be exhausted the next day.

But , he considers, as much fun as this is going to be, I need to take this seriously! I won’t be in a controlled environment like the one I’m more familiar with at school .

He is better prepared than most students thanks to the League, but there are still many opportunities for him to be blindsided. He hasn’t done any hero work in an real city setting, there are a lot more factors to be concerned about.

Lives other than his own are going to be his responsibility. People are trusting him to keep them safe.

“Okay, Izuku,” he says to himself. “Now is not the time to psyche yourself out!”

He settles into bed and stares at the ceiling.

Tomorrow is going to be great.

~~~

Eri is tired of appointments. She’s tired of the poking and prodding and touching . She’s tired of the baby talk and the dancing around topics that might upset her. She’s not a baby. She’s been through much worse than bad news . She wishes she had the words to articulate how she’s feeling. She wishes she could do anything other than give a number on a scale of 1-10 on how her day is going.

Desperately, she wants understanding. The kind of understanding that only Sasuke is able to give her, the look they share when someone says something that they think is unnatural.

But she’s heard the way doctors talk about Sasuke when Aizawa and Hizashi think she isn’t listening. After years spent holding her breath to try and hear footsteps or medical carts, pretending to be distracted is easy.

He’s a “cult kid”, or so they say. She doesn’t know what that means and can’t look it up. She won’t ask, either, lest they figure out that she’s been listening in.

Eri is fiercely jealous of the other kids she sees at the hospital, but at the same time can’t imagine being anything like them.

She’s a “special case”, but “special” makes it sound like a good thing. Like everything that happened to her from the day of her birth until Sasuke found her was just a bit different than what other kids did. They got to go to preschool while she had her blood, flesh, and soul taken from her. They went on vacation while Eri was woken up at all hours if Chisaki wanted to test something new or to punish her for not being happy enough over having her skin carved off her legs.

Chronostasis used to look down at her and say, “be grateful we haven’t touched your face.”

She wonders if other kids are taught how to smile like she is.

She looks across the street at the children at the park, joy making their faces bright. They wear bright t-shirts and chase each other around, screaming with delight as they go. They sit in the sand with their friends and don’t think about hiding their arms or how much food they’ll be able to stomach or what will make their day go from an 8 to a 2.

Eri looks at the mirror, at her solemn face and droopy eyes. At the bandages that wind around her arms and up her neck. At her unmarred face and out-of-control hair. She thinks about Sasuke and about how he carries himself. How he may be bigger than she is but they both walk like each step might be their last.

No , she thinks, I don’t think they are.

~~~