THE WHAT IF THEORY | sasukarin

1 : In Another World

Autho's note (August 3rd)

WARNING : the story sucks.

Im not trying to be self loathing or whatever, the story (especially the begining) sucks ass. It was written two years ago, abandoned, then refound just a few months back. The plot is not the best and the writing style at the beginning is not my writing style now.

I love the characters however, so I will continue to write this.

: :

We will not change the past

"So you'll be going back home?" Juugo asked, though he already knew the answer.

Sasuke drew in a breath of the fresh air, not polluted by smoke from fires or the stench of dead bodies. Being a Shinobi like himself, targeted at every point in time and going on S-rank missions like it were a hobby, meant that the air  he breathed was not always as clean as he wished it could be. It meant his clothes were not always as neat as he would like. It meant he did not look himself in the mirror and see someone worth loving, or worth saving.

Or even someome worth a shot at redemption.

"I've been running long enough."

But it had happened. And he was going home to face the people he had once tried to ruin.

Though a tiny part of him wished to stay.

We will not alter the road

Juugo nodded, unable to argue with him. Whatever Sasuke desired, he'd agree with him and support him, wouldn't he? But even with that, Juugo had other comrades. Comrades who were willing to do literally anything for him, comrades who he was abandoning to go live with people who pretended to understand half of his heart.

Konoha was filled with good-natured, righteous people, but Juugo knew those people lacked basic understanding of suffering and hatred. They lived in shelter for all their history, taking from smaller nations to expand their empire and live more comfortably in their green hometown. They did not know what it meant to go against the norm, to hate the authority, to be stripped of their comfort and thrown into a harsh reality.

They did not know what it meant to seek the truth.

What it meant to be Uchiha Sasuke.

Juugo knew, that although Sasuke would find happiness there, he wouldn't be able to truly be himself, to truly be free. The village would constrict him like they did for so many others.

And yet, Sasuke chose Konoha over Team Taka.

It irked him, but how could he blame him? It was his first home after all.

Still, though it was his first home, it was also the harbour of many evils. Sasuke wanted to protect the village...but did the villagers trust him? Would there be any instances where they'd stab him in the back? Could they accept both the Sasuke in the darkness and the Sasuke who was pulled into the light?

Juugo wasn't sure.

There are different directions

This was why he had to test his jutsu out as soon as possible. Not for him, but for Sasuke.

As well as Karin.

The girl had gotten the shortest end of the stick. The love of her life was married to her pregnant best friend; her Uzumaki lineage was never noticed by Konoha and they never offered her any sort of help; and she had given up on finding peace with herself and rather spent all her days in her lab, buried in work.