Chapter Text
They are in a private training ground that sees too little use. The grass has rooted sturdily and its existence likely hasn't been challenged in months. Not since the last time he had come here. Bright, expectant eyes meet his own with a question.
"Well what do you think, bastard? Impressive, huh? I'm gonna be flashing around like my old man used to now, believe it!"
He lets a warm rumble through his throat, ambiguous enough to be a smug dismissal or bored agreement. Predictable noisy chatter comes in response, invasion of his personal space. Blonde hair brushes his cheek and blue eyes demand to be acknowledged. Frustration and determination are burning hot, as they always seem to in regards to him. It’s a tension he pretends to not feel the warmth of.
A shift in the air. Familiar chakra moving. Fuuinjutsu activating. Nothing.
Sasuke wakes up and everything is wrong. He knows where he is and yet he does not. Fire Country wilderness thrives around him, specific patterns of plant growth telling the story of approximately where he must be, but his knowledge of the area is in misalignment. Those berries are native to the central rivers of Fire Country, but that species of vine cannot be found any further south than Otafuku Gai. Sasuke is very sure that nowhere along the central rivers north of Otafuku Gai could look so untraveled. The entire stretch became the preferred civilian caravan route after the war. Is he lost?
Shinobi are required to travel frequently. They are taught the basics of navigation throughout the Elemental Nations, with an emphasis on Fire Country in Konoha, early on in the Academy. Sasuke is trained in far more than the basics and considers himself particularly well-traveled. Getting lost was not something he was aware he could still do. It's a strange and unsettling development. Genjutsu?
Bright, bright eyes and Fuuinjutsu flash into memory.
Ah. Sasuke’s understanding of the Hiraishin amounts to all that anyone well acquainted with chatty fuuinjutsu experts or scientists knows: it involves a spacetime component. Evidently, the idiot displaced him. Through both space and time. This isn’t something he can attempt to reverse himself. This isn’t something he is confident Naruto can retrieve him from, either. Interesting. A distant part of Sasuke realizes that he should probably be distressed by this development in his life, but the more present and in control part of him is too interested in figuring out the when of where he’s found himself to reflect on the personal deficiency.
Reconnaissance it is. He’ll start by heading south. He can try Otafuku Gai or the capital. Otafuku Gai is closer, but the capital is a reliable staple of general information. Either works. If he sticks far enough to the east of the river before it forks he minimizes the risk of running into Konoha or its routine shinobi patrols.
Briefly he considers heading north instead. Towards Rice or Iron Country. He can’t decide if the ache in his chest at the idea is immense discomfort or longing. He can never tell these days, but it doesn’t matter. Depending on when he is, the political situation could be too volatile to suit his purposes. It was foolish to consider. South is the obvious choice.
He never runs into Otafuku Gai, which is telling. The city didn’t take shape until weariness during the Second Shinobi War set in, so he isn’t alarmed by the small settlements of civilians he passes by instead of the more familiar hub of activity.
The sun is setting by the time Sasuke finds the capital. This suits him just fine. He notes that the state of the city itself doesn’t tell him much. Some decor is on the tasteless side of old-fashioned, but the architecture is familiar enough. The politics and pomp of the city's permanent residents have always demanded a certain level of tradition and timelessness. Sasuke, being a shinobi of singular focus, has never had reason to spend more than a night here and is comfortable with that remaining to be the case.
He disguises himself as a moderately wealthy civilian, the sort of person the capital attracts by the dozen, and locates an appropriate social establishment selling alcohol. His blatantly Uchiha features are altered with a genjutsu that he layers with a gentle perception shift; Nobody interesting here, probably just another man looking to dull his aches from long travel. He adds in a whole left arm with a plausibly civilian scar on its hand for further mundanity. He’s no amateur and will not be leaving any kind of trail of his actual self behind here. Infiltration specialists claim that genjutsu is not ideal for information gathering, but he’s never bothered going to greater lengths of subterfuge before and he won’t be starting now. He orders a drink that feels like swallowing fire to amuse himself as he settles into a corner, mindful of avoiding his habitually unapproachable posture. The patrons around him notice and disregard him in turn. Perfect.
“My wife is so lovely to others but so cold to me. With a situation like this, surely I am not at fault for our lack of children!”
“I’m not sure I understand, good sir. Are you saying she makes it impossible for you to feel pleasure with her? Are you certain it is her that has the problem? Don't be too embarrassed if not, good sir. Be of good spirits because there are herbs for exactly your situation!”
“Why, I! Whenever did I say-”
“Dreadful business. I come from a long line of success and taste within the merchant business. Surely my wealth speaks for itself? The capital’s reception of us has warmed over time, but there is so much more warmth that could be being had!”
“You speak true! My father enjoys nothing more than to tell me how easy I have it these days-”
“-would you hire, then?”
“The Senju, of course. My family has been hiring them for protection for years and they have not failed us yet.”
“I heard that the respected Suoh family were nearly butchered by the Uchiha last time they hired the Senju’s protection,”
“But of course, the respected Suoh family were traveling so close to Uchiha land! Such an outcome can only be expected-”
Fuck. Sasuke finishes his drink and finds his way to an inn. His head feels like it’s moving through water and, for the first time today, the weight of how displaced he is manages to find him. There was never any question in his mind about whether he’d try to return to Konoha. Of course he wouldn’t. Letting Naruto drag him back was a matter of acknowledging the connection they shared, the only connection Sasuke felt he had left to anything at all. He’d wanted to leave again almost immediately but those stupid, bright eyes kept asking him not to. Now he is utterly untethered, the only possible connection he has in this time- no. He has none. Sasuke hasn’t been a part of a clan since he was a child and any desire he once held for one suffered and died alongside his foolish adolescence. No, he has no connections tying him anywhere here and now. He is free to do as he pleases.
He pays the innkeeper with a genjutsu, makes his way to his room, and falls into an uneasy sleep.