“Child, State Your Name.”

“Child, state your name.”

He’s shivering, his clothes tattered and burnt beyond repair, shuriken scattered across the forest he was ambushed in. His eyes can barely open but he knows the man in front of him saved his life—and somewhere deep in his soul, his chakra whispers that he will not be harmed.

“Sasuke,” he utters, trying to stand up but failing. Instead, he cranes his head upwards and ignores the ache that travels down from his forehead to his neck. And he sees…

A dead man.

The apparition scowls at him, nudging his bruised back with his foot and lets out a judgemental, almost exasperated huff.

The last strings of consciousness are snapped as his eyes roll to the back of his head. He must be in Hell, is the final thing he tells himself.

At the Wave mission, Sasuke still jumps in front of Haku's attack aimed at Naruto but instead of waking up to his teammates, he finds himself misplaced in time, as one does. Weird things have happened in Sasuke’s life before—but staring up at a man whose hairstyle looks exactly like Madara Uchiha’s with Sharingan eyes threateningly swirling at him has now reached the top of his list.