Wrong Again

Chapter 1

I don't own Naruto or Sasuke or anything else and I don't especially make any money off of this.

For those who know me, I pretty much only write narusasu stuff, don't expect anything different this time. Here's my take on time travel. Enjoy!

He ignored the sounds of battle inside the village as Sasuke stood before him breathing hard. His chokuto had long ago broken under several Rasengans. Naruto himself was no better off. Weaponless and wounded, he was breathing hard as he leveled a glare at his best friend who up until that day hadn't stepped foot to these gates of Konoha for over three years.

It had been an unwanted nightmare when news from the patrols had come that Sasuke was heading toward the village. Reality approached when he stood in front of the village gates. He wasn't alone; behind him was his team Hawk, which consisted of the water freak, the originator of the curse seal, the fan girl, and the notorious Madara. They walked behind him and as he approached he didn't even bother to hide his presence.

His arrogance was something else. When Naruto had confronted him at the village gates, he had brushed past him like he was nothing. There was no acknowledgement at all; no words and barely a glance.

That was the real kicker. He could never stand to be ignored and by Sasuke especially who was the one person that he constantly sought acknowledgement from. Several heated words from Naruto had the cold boy turning around followed by some callous responses from Sasuke. He questioned, demanded answers as to why Sasuke was doing this.

Sasuke told him once to step aside; he wasn't the one he wanted to kill.

There were no more words after that. The fight was on and neither of them was going to back down. Sasuke didn't care why Naruto was standing in his way. It didn't matter; he just needed to knock the blond out of his way like he had done so many times before.

Naruto didn't understand why Sasuke was going against him and he only cared too much. He supposed he never did understand Sasuke's need for vengeance. It didn't matter; he just needed to knock some sense into that thick skull of his like he's been trying to do so many times before.

After watching each other and catching their own breaths, they started gathering their chakra for their trademark jutsus.

Naruto may, no, could have been something more if only there hadn't been larger than life Itachi standing in the way, taunting him.

Sasuke may have been his best friend, but this was his village; this was the village he swore to protect no matter what. He growled these words out to the other boy. They charged each other and clashed, staring eye to eye as each boy's jutsu threatened to outdo the other.

For a moment Sasuke stared at him, a nostalgic look on his face; so similar to his brother that for a second all he could see was Itachi bloody and wounded as he lifted up a finger to flick his forehead for the last time.

Naruto didn't see anything, much less the softening of Sasuke's face as the light was blinding, but that wasn't as blinding as the memory that assaulted him. Déjà vu deafened him and the pain of being pushed away constantly made him hesitate. In the most critical moment, he faltered.

Pain shot through his chest and he knew no more.

The explosion threw them apart but even still, Sasuke felt his hand plunge into soft flesh and organ before the white light became nothing more than pitch black darkness.

A cry ripped through the gates as the light dimmed and revealed the two bodies lying on either side of the destroyed area. Tears fell from jade eyes as she found herself too late and useless once more despite the training she had gone through. She took a halting step forward but gasped when the bodies started to dissipate like ashes in the wind.

As the bodies faded, she took another step forward only to find that she was vanishing as well. Another frantic look around her showed that the world itself was dissolving.

"Sasuke, wake up, it's time to get up! You'll miss your brother's departure if you don't get up," a female voice spoke quietly but firmly. The words of his brother's departure jarred a memory of a dying Itachi and he opened his eyes immediately only to groan and shut them.

A gentle chuckle came from the woman again as she apologized for opening the blinds.

"I thought you would already be up," she explained before tugging the blanket off of him and walking away. Not before leaving some parting words though.

"He's waiting for you downstairs." At that Sasuke slowly opened his eyes again. He caught sight of the woman closing the door and he almost did a double take.

"Mom?" he croaked out. She paused and raised a patient brow, "Yes Sasuke?" He drew a blank. What the hell was going on? Where the hell was he? Too busy trying to remember what happened he missed the frown on her face as she came back into the room.

"Are you alright honey?" she asked as she sat down on his bed and reached for his forehead. He jerked back reflexively and automatically tried to jump off the bed and onto the floor for better footing. His foot caught the blanket that she had pulled off of him and placed at the foot of the bed. His legs felt funny as he tried to catch his fall by taking a step only to find the ground much farther away from the bed than he expected.

Again he tried to catch himself this time with his hands but encountered the same problem as his feet. He landed in an ungraceful pile on the floor with the blanket wrapped around one foot.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?" the woman once more asked as she tried to help him up. Slight fear rose up in him as she reached for him. What had she done to him? He scrambled away from her hands and ended up looking like a squirming worm.

His arms and legs felt weird. He chanced a glance at them while he still struggled to get away from the imposter. They even looked weird, like they had shrunk! He glanced over his shoulder to see where the woman was.

Behind him on her knees she casted him a worried look but despite her kneeling position she was huge! Confused and disoriented he scrambled onto his back and managed to sit up.

"Sasuke! What is going on?" she demanded, concern and confusion lacing her voice and face.

"Stay away from me!" he squeaked and covered his mouth with too small hands. His voice! He sounded like a…like a kid! The situation quickly fell into place as that realization dawned on him. His eyes raced around the room frantically, his quick eyes picking up the traits of his old room; a room that he hadn't stepped foot into for over three years.

A genjutsu, it had to be an illusion! But his eyes should have seen through it. He gathered chakra and let out a pitiful amount with the word dispel in an effort to escape the genjutsu. His only result was his mother, no, not his mother, staring at him like he had just lost his mind.

He tried once more but couldn't summon much more than what he had last time. His mother, no, she didn't try to touch him this time but just kept watching him with critical, worried eyes.

"Who are you? What did you do to me?" he demanded; his panic still evident and his mind still hysterical over the fact that his voice was so childish. Immediately he covered his mouth again but that only reminded him of his small size.

"I didn't do anything, Sasuke. What's wrong honey? Did you have a nightmare?" she tried to coax him into calming down and reached out to comfort her little boy like any mother would. When she tried to grab his wrist to pull her into her embrace, instinctively he grabbed her hand and twisted it painfully just like he had been taught.

Surprised at his action she could only scream in pain as he let go and scrambled backwards until he hit the wall. The door flew open and Itachi flew into the room brandishing his kunai. He eyed the situation but confused he didn't say anything as their father stepped into the room.

His mom, the woman, was now standing up and backing up to her husband with a strange look on her face.

"What's going on here?" his father demanded as he frowned at his distraught wife and defensive son. She was holding her wrist in pain and Sasuke was crouched by the wall looking like a cornered animal. No one answered his question so he demanded once more. His voice was low and hard, promising punishment if unanswered.

"What is going on?"

"I woke him up. He's confused and didn't recognize me. I tried to comfort him but he…" she didn't finish. She looked at Sasuke pleadingly, "What's wrong honey?" she tried asking again.

Sasuke could only stare at the three people standing before him. His father, mother and big brother, Itachi. They looked so real that he could almost believe that it really was them staring down at him. But he took in their looks and he viciously fought down the unwanted need to run to them and hug them.

They were looking at him like he was the crazy one; like they weren't an illusion that was bound to shatter when he started to believe.

"Sasuke," his father's voice ran out with steel, the tone that he used when he was displeased, exactly how he used to sound when Sasuke had done something he shouldn't have. His eyes whipped over to the older man.

"What are you doing," he grounded out. It took most of his will to not bow down his head and apologize to his father for disappointing him. It was strange, how he had tried so hard to get rid of these feelings but only for them to resurface as if years hadn't gone by.

"So-," he caught himself despite his mind screaming at him to not submit to the genjutsu. He shook his head but didn't dare take his eyes off them. He had yet to look at Itachi; he couldn't bear to look into his eyes or look upon his face. He wouldn't be able to stand the mocking look that he was sure was there. Once more he was disappointing his father. He could never please his father; he was forever in the shadow of his brother.

A flash of orange from outside brought his mind back to the issue at hand.

Naruto.

"No." He closed his eyes, screw the illusion. This wasn't real. He was fighting Naruto; he was going to get the idiot out of his way even if he had to beat him out of the way. The stupid boy was always in the way, trying to distract him from his goal. Remembering how that goal had gone, maybe it would have been better if Naruto had steered him away from his goal.

"Sasuke," came Itachi's calm voice, sounding so much like it always did. This only made him shut his eyes harder and cover his ears. Someone was saying no; they kept repeating it over and over and Sasuke wanted them to shut the hell up.

He needed silence to figure out how to get out of this illusion that hit way too close to home.

Home. Naruto.

Interchangeable in his mind; they meant the same thing. Where was that idiotic moron now? Did he lose? Did Naruto finally beat him?

No, he didn't. He could remember the feeling of his left hand arm deep in his chest. The distinct memory of heat from the blood and tissue as his chidori ripped through tender flesh was clear in his mind. It was even clearer than these imposters in front of him.

He heard his name being called once more and to him it sounded a lot like Naruto. Did that mean he was alive? He had survived the last time so maybe this time he…

He had to know. He opened his eyes only to find them still there. The one playing Itachi moved forward and determined to find out if Naruto was alive or not, he jumped up and attacked. His sudden movement caught Itachi off guard, but like a true genius, he quickly gained the advantage despite his surprise.

His brother easily countered his feeble attacks and once again he was devastated that he couldn't even beat a fake. The last thing he saw was his mother's crying eyes as a blow, most likely from his father, landed on the back of his head.

So what do you think? This hopefully won't turn out to be as long as As It Is Now. But it will be darker and most likely not a happy ending; at least this part. I'm thinking of a two part story, this being the first part of course.

Also the perspectives will be from both Sasuke and Naruto's point of view. It'll switch back and forth a lot and to make it less confusing, it'll only be in one or the other's POV and no one else's. Expect chapter lengths to be like this until they grow up again.

Hope you guys liked this as much as I do!