Blast to the Past

1

He sat up with a burst of speed, launching out of his bed only to get entangled with the sheets on the mattress. He crashed to the floor in a big heap, pain tinging through his synapses. He rubbed his blond head in pain before he remembered what had jolted him up.

Itachi, brought back by a reanimated Nagato, stood in front of him, arms stretched out to the sides. In slow motion, his body fell, causing his lover to scream.

The raven was caught in his arms as he fell, collapsing to the ground with Itachi in his lap.

"Don't leave me, Ita," he cried, as he watched the crimson stain spread over the raven's torso. "I don't want to be alone again."

Itachi smiled up at his love, even as blood leaked out of his lips. He raised his hand and touched his lover's cheek.

"I love you," he whispered. "Don't...give up. You can... win." With that, his hand fell limp and he released a final sigh of breath.

"Ita!" He cried out the man's name, looking around himself furiously, only to realize... he fell out of a bed. He was in a familiar apartment, one he hadn't seen since Pein had come and destroyed it. He ran to the bathroom, and stared in the mirror at the child that stared back at him. He looked around six years old. He didn't understand it. What the hell happened? He couldn't remember anything after Itachi died in his arms.

His apparent age registered in his mind, and he ran to the calendar he had hanging up near his dresser. The date was extremely significant.

It was the day the Uchiha clan massacre occurred.

How the fuck did he even make it to the day he was wishing he could change? How the hell did he even get here in the first place? That was what confused him the most.

He checked the clock and realized, if he was back in his childhood body, that meant he would be late for the academy. If he hurried, he might make it in time before Iruka-sensei blew a gasket at him for being late so many times in a row.

He rushed through his morning routine, found a random outfit that smelled clean and threw it on, then bolted out the door, making sure to avoid any crowded areas. Sage knew what would happen if he were to be caught running through the village.

As he raced, he thought of a strategy that could possibly spare himself and a few of his future friends quite a lot of grief.

He reached the academy, and rushed into his classroom, just barely making it before the bell rang to signify the start of the day. He sat down next to Sasuke, his lover's younger brother, and decided to strike up a conversation with him during break.

"Wanna hang out with me after school?" The raven boy was surprised to have someone kindly inviting him to do anything, without any kind of expectations as to whether he would agree or not.

"Um, sure. But I have to be home by dark tonight. My big brother told me he had a surprise for me."

'If you consider discovering your brother killing your parents a surprise,' he thought. He mentally sighed, while beaming and nodding in agreement externally. He knew at the age he was now, he wouldn't be able to change much of anything without seeming too suspicious, but if he simply walked Sasuke home, he could be the one to discover the catastrophe and stop the boy from bolting into the compound. With that solid plan in place, he waited until the end of the school day to "hang out" with Sasuke. (*cough* protect *cough*)

~~~

"Thank you for hanging out with me today," Sasuke said, smiling at his new friend. He headed for the door, only for his friend to rush over to him.

"How about I walk you home tonight, Sasuke? It's kinda dark, and this isn't exactly the best part of the village to be wandering around at night."

Sasuke considered his words before nodding in agreement, trusting his friend who had lived there for the last ten years.

Before reaching the compound, he caught the scent of blood in the air. Thankfully Sasuke didn't have a powerful nose like he did.

He stopped the raven from entering the compound by grabbing his arm. Sasuke turned to look at him in confusion.

"Go find the Hokage, or an ANBU," the boy said in a serious voice, one Sasuke had never heard him use before. "Don't go into the compound, something is wrong." He shoved the fearful raven away and ran into the compound himself, confusing Sasuke even more. Though he trusted his new friend, and did what he asked.

The boy ran straight to the main house of the Uchiha compound, avoiding looking at any of the bodies that were lying around on the ground.

"Itachi!" the boy called out, running through the main house in search of the older raven. "Itachi, you don't have to do this!"

He stopped dead in his tracks when he came upon the sight of Itachi holding a sword glinting in the moonlight.

"Ita—!" Before he could finish calling out, the raven swung the sword at the two figures kneeling before him, both bodies dropping to the ground in a heap.

The raven looked over to the boy standing in the doorway, eyes wide. "You..."

"I came to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life!"

Itachi stared down at the bodies of his parents in silence.

Before he could respond, they both heard the sound of voices shouting throughout the compound. Their eyes met and the boy realized there was nothing he could do to stop the raven from leaving.

"I know you're going to be Hiruzen's spy, Itachi. Please just... don't try to trick your brother into killing you as atonement. That'll just destroy him."

"Naru..." the raven muttered, before he left in a swirl of smoke. His last word spiraled through the blond's head as he realized what that name meant.

"He knows..." the blond mumbled, as the house was swarmed by ANBU. "He actually knows..."