Sasuke's head swam. Blinking through the haze, the face hovering close to his own slowly sharpened into focus, thought and reality snapping together.
A face achingly, wonderfully familiar to this reborn Sasuke.
Naruto.
He lay on his back in the shallow water, still. Beaten and bruised, his orange jacket stained with dirt and grime.
"Ah… that time."
The end of Year 61. When he'd betrayed the Leaf, seeking power from Orochimaru to kill his brother. Naruto had chased him. Fought him. Here, at the Valley of the End.
After their convictions had clashed… Naruto had fallen.
"It's real. A perfect reversal. Exactly forty years."
"Looking back on half a lifetime… and the first face I see is yours, Naruto…"
Sasuke smiled. Then he laughed, tears cutting tracks through the rain on his face. He'd wished for this—to see his friend just one more time—more times than he could count. A hopeless dream. Yet here he was. Alive. Breathing right in front of him.
He reached out. Fingers brushed his friend's cheek. He thought of all the bonds he'd watched fray and break in the future. His own powerlessness. His hollow survival. Heaven had taken pity. Given him another chance. He made his vow to that sleeping face.
"I swear… I will not let that future happen again."
The emotion—decades of suppressed grief, of love and loss—surged from the depths of his soul. It wasn't the shock of seeing a friend die once. This was the weight of having lived a lifetime without them.
Zzt.
Special Yin chakra flooded his optic nerves.
The hidden tomoe blazed to life in his eyes. Spun. Merged.
A six-pointed star took shape.
Sasuke Uchiha, reborn from forty years in the future, had just awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan.
The rain fell. Ripples spread across the water. The dizzying joy of rebirth and reunion faded, replaced by cold, hard purpose. Sasuke stood. A mission lay before him, and with it, his first choice.
Return to Konoha with Naruto? Plan slowly from within?
Or… become a rogue ninja once more. Go to Orochimaru.
The thought of parting from Naruto twisted his heart. But his decision was swift.
"Orochimaru is the key. Shibai awakens in thirty years. I have thirty years to bridge a gap of millennia. Every second from this moment counts."
"It seems… I'm destined to be a traitor after all."
Naruto's way of the ninja was a gospel for peace. Sasuke had never truly denied its beauty.
But history had proven it. Naruto's way could not save their world from a threat like the Ōtsutsuki God.
Sasuke looked down at his friend's peaceful, sleeping face one last time. Once more, he placed his headband—the symbol of his betrayal—on Naruto's chest. But this time was different. He gently arranged Naruto's hands over it, a quiet, deliberate gesture. Then he leaped, landing atop the stone head of Hashirama Senju. He looked back.
He knew. The day he chose to leave the Leaf again… a battle here at the Valley of the End was inevitable.
But this time… the conviction and purpose burning in his eyes were worlds apart.
—Naruto. This time, I'll be the one to change you. Wait for me.
Sasuke turned his back and left without another glance.
Four days later. Orochimaru's Lair.
Dressed in a pure white kimono, dark blue hakama, and a purple rope belt—just as before—Sasuke followed Kabuto's lead into the dim chamber.
Four days. Yet forty years.
The meeting he'd thought lost to the stars had arrived.
Four days ago, he'd said farewell to a wise, paternal Orochimaru in the cold void of space.
Now, the man before him, face half-lit by flickering candlelight, smirked with pure, predatory charm. The whiplash was dizzying.
Sasuke knew. This Orochimaru saw only his hatred for Itachi. Saw only a vessel for rebirth. This was not the mentor, the strange, chosen family he'd come to know.
His goal was simple. Defeat this Orochimaru. Then implant the orb of chakra—carrying the knowledge, memories, and heart of the future Orochimaru—into his soul.
This Orochimaru, fresh from a recent body-swap with a test subject, was still weak. His hands, sealed by the Third Hokage's Reaper Death Seal, were useless for jutsu.
"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru's voice slithered through the gloom. "I've been waiting."
"…" Sasuke kept his head bowed.
Kabuto adjusted his glasses nearby. "Raise your head. Let Lord Orochimaru see you."
Slowly, Sasuke lifted his gaze.
Their eyes met.
A dissonance, deep and primal, screamed in Orochimaru's soul. Every hair on his body stood on end.
"Hn!?"
Orochimaru's pupils contracted to slits. "Sasuke-kun… your eyes are completely different!"
He couldn't know. Within this young shell resided a soul that had once brushed the power of the Sage of Six Paths.
Instinct screamed. Danger.
"Kabuto—! Get away from him!!"
"What—!?"
Kabuto had no time. A towering, dark-purple demon materialized in his mind's eye. A colossal hand clenched around his consciousness.
"An illusion? But this chakra… how?"
Thud.
Kabuto's knees buckled. He collapsed.
Zzt.
Sasuke's eyes had already shifted. The Mangekyō pattern spun.
"I see," Orochimaru hissed, understanding dawning. "Those eyes… So you killed Naruto after all. Gained the same eyes as your brother. A surprising development…"
Crackle.
The Cursed Seal on Sasuke's neck erupted. Lightning exploded from his palm. He lunged.
Whoosh!
Even with sealed hands, Orochimaru was fast. A glance at the fallen Kabuto, and he vanished from his seat.
BOOM!
The wall shattered. They were outside.
Sasuke had already reached Curse Mark Stage Two. His skin turned ash-grey, bat-like wings sprouted from his back. He hovered in the air.
Orochimaru stood in the biting wind, long hair whipping, his body coiled within the bulk of a giant snake. His vertical pupils tracked the sky. "Your growth in such a short time is impressive, Sasuke-kun. But I am puzzled. You should seek greater power from me. Have you abandoned your revenge on Itachi?"
Sasuke's answer was a thunderous dive.
Orochimaru smirked. "Still naive, I see!"
Sasuke's right hand shot forward, cloaked in screeching Chidori lightning.
He'd favored his left in the past. But after losing that arm to Naruto, he'd lived decades relying on his right. Reborn, it felt more natural.
CRACK!
Mid-dive, the lightning lengthened without warning. It pierced through Orochimaru's unguarded chest.
Guh-ack! Blood sprayed from Orochimaru's mouth, his snake-eyes wide with shock. "He just learned the Chidori during the Chunin Exams… How did he master such advanced shape manipulation so quickly?!"
The body had limits—chakra reserves, muscle memory. But knowledge of jutsu? That was etched into the soul. For Sasuke now, it was as simple as breathing.
"Urgh—!!" Orochimaru performed his signature shedding. His mouth tore open, a new, slick body sliding out.
The reborn Orochimaru's legs fused into a serpent's tail, carrying him rapidly backward.
Sasuke gave chase, driving him against a cliff face.
Orochimaru spun, flattening against the ground.
—Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!
Hiss—!!
A flood of serpents erupted from his mouth. Not just snakes—these creatures writhed, each maw disgorging a gleaming, sharp Kusanagi blade. A rising tide of scales and steel, surging skyward to meet him.
Sasuke merely flicked his sleeve.
—Chidori Senbon!
Swish! A downpour of razor-sharp lightning needles drowned the serpent swarm. Then, before the ashes could settle…
—Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame Technique!
ROAR!
The inferno turned scales and swords to cinders.
CRUNCH…!!
The explosive flames were split apart by something massive, white, and scaled. The cliff behind groaned and shattered under the pressure.
"SASUKE!!!"
As the fire and dust cleared, an eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent demon loomed.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "The Eight Branches Technique already…"
Zzt. At that moment, the six-pointed star in Sasuke's left eye sharpened its focus on the hydra's form.
—Amaterasu.
Fwoom…!!
Black flames ignited across the serpentine flesh.
The Eight-Headed Serpent thrashed in silent agony.
Squelch, squelch, squelch…
But a viscous, slimy form pushed itself from the central head's mouth. Orochimaru's face formed, grinning wildly. "Heh heh… true brothers. Even your Mangekyō abilities are identical. A pity. Your black flames are useless against my immortality…"
Ssshhhluck! As he spoke, the great serpent shed its burning skin in one swift, grotesque motion.
Seeing Sasuke's monstrous growth firsthand only solidified Orochimaru's desire. This boy was his future. He had to reel him back in.
"Well?" Orochimaru purred from his perch. "You see, Sasuke-kun? With your current methods, you cannot kill me. You have grown stronger, yes. But you are still no match for Itachi. Stay with me. In two years… no, in one… I will give you the power to surpass him."
Behind his back, Sasuke's right hand clenched. The faint glow of the 'white orb'—Orochimaru's final gift—was shrouded by Chidori's crackling light.
Sasuke played along. "Is that so… If you can withstand my next attack, I might consider it."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Such a stubborn child. Very well. Come."
Sasuke's wings beat. He shot forward, his Chidori-engulfed right hand aimed straight for Orochimaru's chest.
"The Chidori again?" Orochimaru's voice dripped with condescension. "Sasuke, there are limits to looking down on your betters—"
SHUNK!
The lightning pierced his chest. Orochimaru's smug expression froze solid.
"You… what did you…"
"You are still young, Orochimaru," Sasuke's voice was low, penetrating. "Your immortality has made you arrogant. Careless."
His gaze softened. "But… that's fine."
Zap. The white orb, hidden within the Chidori's core, dissolved into Orochimaru's very soul.
A floodgate opened. A tsunami of knowledge, memory, and raw feeling from the Orochimaru of the future crashed into his mind.
"Th-this is…!!!"
BOOM…!!!
The colossal form of the Eight-Headed Serpent disintegrated. Orochimaru's true body crashed down into a crater ringed by Amaterasu's still-burning rocks.
Fzzzt…
The Curse Mark receded. Sasuke landed lightly before the fallen Sannin. He knew. Digesting that much information would take time.
In mere minutes, Orochimaru lived decades. He saw the path he would walk, perfected and then corrupted by Kabuto. He saw its dead end.
His turning point had arrived. Far, far earlier than before.
Perhaps his current spirit couldn't fully align with that future self's heights. But the baptism of that ultimate truth shattered the narrow worldview of this Orochimaru, remolding him. A metamorphosis of the soul.
"So… that's how it was."
When Orochimaru rose from the rubble, his eyes were utterly changed.
Uchiha Sasuke, the aggressor mere moments ago, dropped to one knee. His head bowed. "Orochimaru. I need your help. I must change the future. Help me become… an Ōtsutsuki."
Orochimaru stepped forward. Gently, he pulled Sasuke to his feet. A warm, genuine smile—one this body had never worn—touched his lips. "Sasuke-kun. You certainly chose a dramatic way to deliver a message. The pleasure will be mine. From now on… let us do our best."