THERE ARE TRIGGER WARNINGS REGARDING THIS CHAPTER. They are spoiler-y, but if you have triggers, I highly recommend you checking out the a/n at the bottom of the page.

dedicated to mangacrack on ao3 who said, and i quote, "The horrible truth is, no matter where Jinkan takes Sasuke, he cannot make it worse. Unless he actively sabotages it, but all in all the original time really sucks if your name is Sasuke."

i hope this lives up to your expectations.

2. He Doesn't Tell Them Who He Is

Sasuke swims in regret. He regrets being born the second son, never living up to his father's high expectations. He regrets annoying Itachi when he can see that something is causing his older brother to lose sleep at night. He regrets not asking Itachi what was bothering him. He regrets his inability to stop Itachi from snapping and killing his family. He regrets believing a lie fed to him through trauma and blood. He regrets killing his brother before he even knew the truth.

Regret, regret, regret.

He regrets other things he's done; his actions towards Konoha and Naruto being the larger ones. They, however, are around to give him a second chance to fix his mistakes. Konoha has acknowledged their past faults and Naruto never gave up on him in the first place. He has them, even though he feels he doesn't deserve them. He'll never get a chance to fix any of his regrets involving his self-sacrificing older brother.

That is, he never thought he's get a chance to change things until he finds himself dizzy, blinking away spots from his vision as his family stares at him with surprise. He's in shock as his mother and father yell, as Itachi draws a kunai, and as his younger self cowers behind his trained family. They don't attack him, however, as they must have sensed the whirling chakra that caused violently shivers across their bodies. The Jikan Phenomenon left a distinct chakra signature, one full of electricity and darkness that even those who have only heard the description will recognize.

"Jikan-san," his father says gruffly, his face like stone. "Are you hear to change anything?"

Sasuke stares, struggling with his answer. Should he change anything? His heart is racing and he his hands in fists against his side, clutched hard enough that his nails are biting into his palms. He could stop the Uchiha massacre, if he really wanted to. He could stop all of the regrets that clung to him like mud.

"No," he finally utters out.

There's a momentary pause as the family take him in, each with a different expression on their face. His mother is cautiously curious, a vague searching spark in her eyes. His father is as cold as ever, sharp and calculating. His younger self had calmed somewhat as he was identified as a traveler, but he still hid himself behind his father, only barely peeking out from his blocked position. Itachi, who would always know Sasuke best, was still clutching his kunai, eyes boring into Sasuke as he lied right to their faces.

He could tell them who he is, he knows, as they offer to get in touch with someone to give him a place to stay while waiting for his sharingan to take him back to his time. He could tell them and they would open their own home to him. Their grown son, who screams himself awake at night. Their grown son, who carries a visible mark of his failings with him for all to see. Their grown son, who struggles to meet their eyes.

He's going to change their future, but he must do it without them by his side. He couldn't bare to tell them who he is and then have them reject him. Not again. So, instead of confessing, he stays quiet, feeds into the illusion of not trying to change anything, as he is bustled outside to wait for the woman he is going to stay with to arrive.

Sasuke, of course, can never escape his regrets. He slashes a man's throat open, blood slicing through the air to paint the fence beside him. Another attacker, this time on his left, and he doesn't hesitate to shift his weight and give a direst kick to their head, slight chakra enforcement effectively snapping their neck as their head flies back.

Each face is blurred as he whirls around, death and destruction left in its wake. This is supposed to be the last guard patrol he'll run into tonight; the last five were just as easy to cut down. He could do it quick if he really wanted to. He could use his rinnegan to flatten the entire Uchiha district in seconds if he put his mind to it, but then he remembers that Itachi only had Obito there to aid him as he committed his massacre, so Sasuke pushes on, blade ready as he cuts down the last member of the patrol.

He takes it in for a moment, the air thick with the smell of copper and the ground painted with blood. He wants to let his panic set in, his utter devastation that is a ticking time bomb in his chest, but he's almost done and he can't stop now.

When he decided not to tell his family his true identity, he had thought he was doing what he had to do to protect him. If they thought he had no intention of changing anything, they would leave him alone for the most part. He managed to maneuver himself into a position to poison Danzo, which hadn't been easy in the slightest. He knew, just knew, that as long as Danzo was out of the picture, the Uchiha would have time to calm down. Fugaku and the Sandaime had already been in tentative talks about keeping the peace. With Danzo gone, the rumors about the Uchiha should stop spreading and eventually putter out. If nothing else, Shisui would still be around to get the clan elders to change their minds.

Except, that's not what happened. Because Sasuke hadn't asked what year it was. He had simply assumed. The night he crawled off to kill Danzo, Shisui fell, his eyes gouged out. Shisui's death impacted Itachi hard. The elders, who suspected foul play, were furious, The coup was not stopped; rather, it was pushed forward.

Sasuke watched in horror as his interference made everything worse. The clan was mobilizing, gathering their weapons. They would attack the village in rebellion soon. Sasuke panicked, turned his eyes to his brother, and felt the pit of his stomach turn to ice. He could sense the volatile chakra that was Obito and Zetsu clinging to Itachi. Itachi had already been approached. He might not have the mission from Danzo, but he still wanted to stop the clan and there was not way that Obito wouldn't take the chance to see them eradicated. This time, however, Itachi didn't have a mission to fall back on. If he did this, hoe would truly be a missing nin.

That night, this night when he sensed their chakra signatures for the first time, would become Sasuke's biggest regret. He couldn't let Itachi do that. Not when he could keep him from the trauma.

So, with that in mind, Sasuke looked himself in the mirror before leaving his room and slitting his host's throat in their sleep. Thus began his path to where he is now, dripping in blood from hundreds of Uchiha now slaughtered. He still has a few households left, including his own. His younger self will be home soon and Itachi's meeting with Obito will end eventually. They will both return to a massacred clan. They will receive no one to blame either, which was for the best.

Sasuke knows that the Uchiha need for revenge is dark. It twists the mind and takes the one experiencing it down a dangerous path. He won't let his brother or his younger self turn into avengers.

He doesn't face his parents down, not like Itachi did. They are elite ninja and in any other circumstance they would've put up a good fight, but Sasuke uses his teleportation to get him in their room. Two quick slashes and it's done.

His eyes are glazing over, his breathing wet as he clutches the sword that is buried in his gut. He won't let the two brothers fall like he did.

He'd die first.

TRIGGERS: VIOLENCE, BLOOD, MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, SUICIDE

The next what-if? - Sasuke finds himself back in time during one of the most horrifying events he has ever witnessed: childbirth.