The sky has been dark for ages now, plumes of black smoke blanketing the trees and ground in ash. Sasuke shakes the debris from his hair, pulling the hood of his cloak around his head, and he scans the forest for any sign of a chakra signature. He breathes slowly, careful and deliberate in his movements. Since the loss of the war and the subsequent disintegration of most other hidden villages, Sasuke had learned how important it is to be careful. Maybe when he was younger he would've thought the near-compulsive and paranoid control he's displaying now was out of fear–any good ninja wouldn't miss an attacker approaching, on guard or not. His lips twitch at the thought. How naive he was.

Things had changed since then. Nothing was as it used to be since the war had begun in earnest. The attacks had started small–a fishing town here lost its ports, an outlying village there ransacked and lost their crops. The events seemed small, near random, and when the remaining villagers asked entrance into Konoha proper, the Hokage saw no reason to refuse the refugees. Tsunade dispersed ninja to the outer villages and offered protection to the civilians in places that had no ninja aid. She couldn't have known these events were linked–no one knew. With the Akatsuki on the move, holding powerful bijuu in their grips, all types of petty criminals had emerged from the tense environments. That was the effect of war–make people frightened, back them in a corner, and they will attack. There was no reason for anybody to believe the skirmishes were more than that, especially when Konoha intelligence had pinned the location of the Akatsuki down, thought they were still plotting.

It was only after months of these small events did they have a noticeable effect on the village. Teams of ninja had been dispersed throughout the land and hundreds of refugees had moved into the Leaf, enough that even with the large size of the city, the streets were filled. Small camps were erected outside the walls, people hungry, hurting, and displaced. Some ninja teams had been dispatched for months, losing members to the criminals with skill sets too far above what their level should have been. Maybe that should have triggered a red flag, but even then their troops weren't being slaughtered–they said a lucky shot. It's incredible what one will attribute to coincidence.

The Leaf thought they had been watching the location of the Akatsuki, thought they would have time to prepare for any charging army, but no one had realized the war had been in progress for months already. Konoha's resources were spread thin–ninja of all ranks were deployed throughout the nation and they were hurt, tired. Food was becoming scarce, farming villages losing crops and seeds to fire and theft, and the city itself was struggling to feed the mouths within its walls. Like lambs to the slaughter, Konoha and its citizens had been corralled into one central location, defenses weakened in months of battle skirmishes, and the exhaustion that made everyone weary left the population like sitting ducks.

When the Akatsuki released the bijuu, it was hardly even a fight. The raw power the rouge band controlled–or, thought they controlled–would've been difficult to beat with the full strength of Konoha's impressive militia, but in the state they had been, the fight was impossible. Hundreds died in the initial attack, higher ranking ninja holding off the chakra blasts as well as they could with their forces numbered, trying to bide time to evacuate who they could to safer ground. Sasuke remembers the heat of it all, the way sweat soaked through his clothes as Konoha was consumed by fire. There's not much else he searches to remember, his memories dominated by screaming, by death, and by then it didn't matter what side anyone was on. The terror that day caused was burned into his memory, and when it was clear that the Akatsuki could not control what they unleashed, it was a matter of pure survival. No one batted an eye when he started to defend the civilians fleeing the city–any help was appreciated.

Sasuke is almost startled when familiar chakra pulses faintly to the left ahead of him, and the raven flies through the canopy silently in his direction. Naruto is the only thing that hasn't changed. No, that's not true, he corrects himself when he lands next to the blond, the branch supporting them swaying with his weight. The man next to him was not the boy he was before the war, before Armageddon happened, but utter destruction does that to a person he supposes. Naruto lays a hand on his shoulder, inclining his head to the right in front of them, and Sasuke catches a glimpse of movement.

A glance to the side and he catches Naruto's blue eyes, the only part of him visible above the mask that covers his face and under the wrap around his bright hair. A group of ninja. It's often nothing more than useless hope, but the pair had searched since the war for other people from the Leaf. Kakashi, Sakura, the rookies… There had never been any official statement of the casualties, strongholds against the bijuu only standing for a few months before they drew attention to the tailed beasts, and they either disbanded or were discovered. And even if they held, the devastation of the initial attack was too large to even comprehend, too high a tally to bother counting. Every hidden village was targeted, and every single one fell.

The world looked like the one the beasts emerged from–lit by fire and ash, inhabited by more than just the tailed beast, but chakra monsters of all types. Despite the devastation, he and Naruto kept looking. Naruto kept searching. Sasuke knows that he would've given up a long time ago if he hadn't found the blond and his endless determination, and even though it's been closing in on a decade, they kept searching for anyone they might care for. There isn't much else for them to do in any case, and without the resolve to keep looking Sasuke thinks they both would be lying in the dust by now.

Not that he'd say this, but he is endlessly grateful for the blond's presence in the past years. He knows Naruto knows this already, that he doesn't have to put it in words, but on more than one occasion he was Sasuke's saving grace. Laying a hand on Naruto's bent knee, he gives it a soft squeeze. The other man inclines his head towards Sasuke near-imperceptively, trailing his own hand to cup the back of Sasuke's neck before the feather-light touch is gone.

Sasuke brings his focus back to the group settling into camp in front of them, hardly visible in the trees and their chakras masked. Naruto stretches his neck, fingers fiddling with the kunai in their holster, and preps for battle. Even with no mal-intent, more often than not these meetings ended in fighting, the parties fidgety and panicked. Sasuke mirrors his partner, mentally logging what weaponry he still has, and settles down again under the weight of his katana strapped to his back. Together they leap, landing simultaneously in the dirt. They don't try to surprise the group but stay on edge, muscles taught throughout their body. They approach with cautious steps forward.

There's only four in the group, and when they get closer Sasuke knows none of them are Konoha nin. When he slides his eyes to Naruto's profile, he knows Naruto knows this too, and a frown tugs at the mask above his lips. The disappointment is familiar to the raven, but he knows the other ninja still struggles with the losses. They're about to disengage, avoiding a surefire conflict when one of the ninja ahead of them locks on their spot, skittish and jerking to a fighting stance. The other three stand at attention when the first one barks an order at them and from the way their eyes rove over their location, Sasuke knows they're improperly trained, probably only gaining experience after the fallout.

"Who's there?" one shouts, and it's hard not to roll his eyes. "Show yourself!" Naruto sighs, but nonetheless, he changes his posture to one of casual indifference, trying to look as unobtrusive as possible. He raises his hands slightly, showing off unarmed palms, and as he steps forward, Sasuke follows like his shadow.

"We don't want a fight–" Naruto is cut short when a kunai flies in his direction, sailing over his head. The ninja are jumpy and the black-haired man wonders how they've managed to survive thus far. Two of the four charge blindly, and he and Naruto have them down but alive in seconds, stepping out from the camouflage of the trees. The blond ninja tries again to settle the opponents, but before he can utter another word, exploding tags go off in a ring around them, the noise echoing around them, smoke rising and signaling their location. Sasuke's hands are around the offending nin's throat as the last one bursts.

"What the hell are you thinking?" he hisses, eyes narrowed as he presses the ninja back against the trunk of a tree. "Do you want the bijuu to find us?" Sasuke feels Naruto's presence at his back, having already knocked the other nin of her feet, and Sasuke drops the vise grip he's maintained around the unknown ninja's neck. He sputters at Sasuke's feet, no longer a threat. Sasuke glances around, trying to listen for anything approaching, but Naruto's hand reaches for his shoulder.

"Ne, Sas, I think we need to go–" A thunderous roar breaks over the trees, followed by the cacophony of noise as animals and survivors alike flee. A bijuu is coming.

Naruto is running before the noise quiets, Sasuke hot on his heels, and the raven can hear the fumbling steps of the ninja they left behind trying to follow after them, hoping for safety. Sasuke only hopes they can find a place to hide sooner rather than later, but his wish goes unanswered when he and his partner stumble into an open clearing. They try to skirt back to the tree line, hope to stay hidden, but when Sasuke activates his sharingan, he sees the beast has already altered course, its keen eyes locked on their movements. It takes miles in a single leap and descends upon them in seconds.

Naruto summons the wind to kick up as much debris as he can, trying to blind the demon so they can make an escape but it has little effect. Sasuke then fires a katon jutsu, hoping to wound, to slow it down, but it's been years since they've fought a bijuu. They've successfully avoided the conflict, knowing the two of them, no matter how powerful, would not be able to defeat the tailed beasts alone. If they don't distract it soon, it's likely that one or both of them will die.

Sasuke grabs Naruto's sleeve before he can leap away from him and stares him dead in the eye, onyx to azure. "Don't be an idiot."

Naruto's eyes crinkle, and he pulls off his mask to shoot his partner a grin. He, too, knows this may be their last fight. "Love you, too, Sas." And then he is gone, and the beast gives them no time to spare as it launches itself towards the pair.

He and Naruto fight and dodge, twirling out of reach of the long tendrils of chakra leaking from the demon. They don't waste their time on many direct attacks, hoping instead for an opening to run, but the beast is smarter than to give them one. Deep in his heart, Sasuke knows this might be his last fight. The thought is not frightening–death has long ago ceased to be something to fear, but a common occurrence. Using his katana, he slashes at an attack coming towards him, splitting the blast down the center, and he hopes Naruto will keep looking. He hopes the blond finds someone to stay with him, protect him as Sasuke did.

No sooner than he had made his peace, Sasuke sees scalding red chakra in his periphery, too fast for even the Uchiha to defend and he braces for the impact. It hurts more than he thought it would, the air escaping his lungs with the pain, and he is flung across the clearing. He knows a gash runs the length of his side, already oozing, and had this been before the war, before the madness, a medic could've healed him. But it's not that time, not that place, and Sasuke knows he will either bleed out here, just another victim of fate, or if by some miracle they survive, the would grow infected or leave him handicapped. Sasuke presses a hand to his flesh anyway, pressing tight against the wound, and tries to find Naruto in the clearing.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the blond is already racing over, trying to intercept the blast of strange white chakra forming in the mouth of the beast. Sasuke tries to tell him to stop, it's no use, to save himself, but the idiot has that look of determination on his face, determined to be a martyr. Naruto gathers what's left of his own power reserve, calling on the beast still within him, and creates a barrier they both know will do nothing against the free power of the attacking bijuu. There is no fear in Naruto's eyes either when their gazes meet, and they wait for the shrieking blast to come.

The last thing Sasuke expects to do is wake up. His side is throbbing, still oozing sluggish red blood, and his katana lays beside his body. It is his instinct to look for Naruto first, for the familiar figure bent over a small fire making dinner or suspended in a branch on watch. It's unnerving when he can't see the blond immediately, almost disturbing when he gets no acknowledgment when he calls Naruto's name. Sasuke hisses when he props himself upright, groaning as he stands, and he lets himself pant and lean against the trunk of a tree. When he looks to the sky, he is started by how clear it is, how blue it is, and he gathers that the time is around midday. He's been out for an entire night and morning, more sleep than he's had in years.

With still no sign of the blond, Sasuke begins to walk, heading towards what looks like a main path, but he stops short when he hears voices. He is in no shape to fight, so he sits in silence, watching until he can start to make out the forms of people traveling on the road. Only seconds pass until his breath catches in his throat, eyes growing wide. If it weren't for the pain, Sasuke would've figured he had died in that fight based on what he is seeing now.

"Naruto?" He doesn't mean to say it, but the group turns to face his location, drawing kunai from their pouches. Sasuke stumbles out of the underbrush, gait uneven and he sways on his feet. The faces of team seven, his genin team, stare back at him, unblinking. The blond he's grown used to, come to love, stares back at him, fifteen or so years younger than Sasuke had left him. There is no way he is seeing what he thinks he is, thinks maybe the beast cast some sort of genjutsu, so he lets his sharingan swirl.

The gasps from the team seem genuine, and he can't see the chakra if it is a genjutsu, so Sasuke is left with only one answer: this was his genin team. That was himself, staring back at him, dumb and thirteen, and somehow he had been transported back in time.

"Who are you?" the younger Uchiha asks, anger seeping into his voice at the sight of his own kekkei genkai. Sasuke can't help but chuckle at the absurdity, energy leaving him and he crumples to his knees.

"He's injured," he hears Sakura say, but his eyes have fallen shut, exhausted. Hands grab his shoulders and lead him to lean back against a tree.

"You need to tell us your name, and we will take you to the Leaf village." Sasuke laughs again and he must look insane, chuckling at the sight of a genin team, emerging from the wood half-dead already.

"What, Kakashi-sensei, you don't recognize your own student?" Sasuke peels open an eye to watch his old teacher's reaction, but the man's eyes only widen, then narrow a fraction in confusion and suspicion. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, and it seems I might be a little lost."

He's only awake long enough to hear the started gasps of his younger teammates and the beginnings of their protests, but before sleep claims him, Sasuke sees the gates of Konoha looming in front of him, standing for the first time in a decade.