1 Unprecedented

This is quite the predicament, Sasuke thinks. Worse than when an alien goddess threatened to consume all life on the planet. Worse than when an alien demigod of the same lineage threatened to drop the moon on the same planet.

Difficult bars to clear, he knows. For what could possibly compare to imminent existential threats to an entire world?

This that Sasuke is experiencing right now, that's what.

See, over the years since the 4th Shinobi war, he had become increasingly familiar with his Rennigan and the abilities it provided. He'd slowly familiarized himself with the powers that Nagato and Madara and Obito had all held at one point or another, working his way through the paths as he did all he could to repent for his crimes and protect Konoha.

But of all the Dojutsu's abilities, the unique space time Jutsus had drawn his attention the most. Amenotejikara was chief among them, a power that was completely and wholly his own, a product of his 6th paths chakra. He'd yet to name the second, but it was arguably more impressive. Creating portals between dimensions was quite the feat, and a skill Sasuke was still trying to master.

Perhaps that was why he'd ended up in this situation, due to both the existence of such a power in the first place and his relative inexperience it. It'd been easy when they were battling Kaguya, simply following her Chakra signature as she passed between realms. Back then he'd had the high of adrenaline on his side, and the desperation born of knowing that it he lost here then it'd mean the end of everything.

Things weren't exactly as dire as that right now, but Sasuke was self aware enough to admit that his definition of a bad situation was probably skewed rather significantly.

Case in point, he felt only mild annoyance at the blade held to his throat.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Sasuke is exhausted, standing mostly by sheer force of will, and generally not in the mood to humor what he can tell is a demand. Sasuke is more then lucid enough to recognize that much. What he does not recognize is literally everything around him. He's well versed enough in the geography of the elemental nations to know that these trees are all wrong. The omnipresent hum of nature chakra he'd been attuned to even after Itatchi removed his cursed mark is gone. Something is deeply, terribly wrong, and Sasuke thinks it had something to do with his attempts to remedy is inexperience with dimensional travel.

Slowly, carefully, Sasuke's eyes fall to the owner of the blade that is a hair's breadth away from his neck.

Black hair, pale skin. For the briefest of moments, he can pretend he is looking at an Uchiha. Then his gaze falls lower and the illusion shatters as he meets heterochromatic eyes, one an almost sickly yellow, the other an oddly pretty turquoise. What really catches his attention is the distinct lack of chakra flowing through the man before him.

He looks the guy up and down to confirm, Sharingan spinning to life in his right eye to make absolutely sure his sense aren't deceiving him, chakra exhaustion be damned. The once over confirms what he already, the familiar energy that is life itself is just as absent in the man as it is in everything around him

His would be attacker tenses, and Sasuke can see their facial muscles flexing as they prepare to speak again. Focusing on their face was a mistake though, because there he spots a snake, scales white as snow with eyes red as his sharingan.

He sees a snake, and his blood turns to ice in his veins. He feels the phantom sensation of fangs sinking into his neck. He feels acidic chakra forcing it's way through his veins, thrumming with power he used to crave. He feels himself strapped to a table under the cruelest Sanin's hands. He feels a caged monster masquerading as a man rattling against the cage of his mind. He feels his brother's fingers, bloodied and bruised, pressing against his forehead one last time.

"I Said, who are you-"

He does not listen to the rest of the sentence.

Sasuke can't stay here, he decides. Not when his gaze dart up to that yellow eye and all he sees is a hungry gold. His heart rate spikes, stuttering as a surge of adrenaline fills him, and in a moment Sasuke is gripped by the supernatural speed of the shunshin.

He is gone in an instant, weaving between the trees till green turns to lavender, and then green again. He doesn't stop until memories he would rather forget are no longer forcing themselves into his vision. By then, he's miles away, standing in a forest just an unfamiliar as the last.

Sasuke Uchiha is not afraid of Orochimaru. He knows that is not the case, because he fought and killed the snake. Imprisoned his former mentor in his subconscious to use as a desperate weapon against his brother. Sasuke is not afraid of that man, not anymore.

And yet, his body betrayed him. It's frustrating, infuriating even, to know that he still has such a weakness. There's a word for this, he thinks. Something Sakura had told him about when he'd finally returned. He wracks his brain till the memory comes forth.

They'd been in the middle of a walk through one of Konoha's parks at her insistence, when a white snake flashed across their path, and all at once Sasuke's heart was racing as if he was in the middle of battle. He could see vividly, a half dead Itatchi stumbling towards him, blood on his teethe and self loathing in his eyes.

"It's called post traumatic stress" Sakura had said as she guided him to the ground, holding his one hand in her two as she directed him to breathe. "Just about every shinobi has it, and just about anything can trigger an attack."

He'd called it an inconvenience, which was the wrong thing to say as it'd sent Sakura on a tirade about mental health this and long term affects that. She'd begun monitoring he and Naruto alike so much more after becoming head of the hospital, always bugging them to take care of themselves physically and mentally.

Even now, the only real reason he bothered to remember to get regular checkups and meet with a Yamanaka therapist once a month when he was in the village was because if he didn't, Sakura would drag him to do both herself.

He maintained that these 'panic attacks' were supremely annoying, and talking about all their potential triggers even more so. Unfortunately, Sasuke had seen the end of what bottling up your emotions did, and could begrudgingly admit that talking to someone who knew the human mind inside and out had helped him.

One of the things his therapist had advised him to do was for Sasuke to remove himself from a potential trigger as quickly as possible, which he had just done, so point for him. Nobody could say Sasuke wasn't looking after his own mental health, even in a different dimension.

Which is what this was. He was certain of that now, turning in a circle with both his Dojutsu active. Not a lick of chakra as far as the eye could see, which was rather far for Sasuke.

He let out a silent sigh, deactivating his sharingan. He was in a different dimension. The thought made less and less sense the more he repeated it. He knew he could travel between them, had done so purposefully before, but none of them had been like this. So similar to his home and yet inexplicably different in all of the ways that mattered.

It was mind bending, to think that merely training with his space time Jutsu had somehow ended up with this. Running on fumes, worlds away from home, with only a vague idea of how he, the last Uchiha, prodigy of his generation, could have fucked up so monumentally.

Yes, sasuke thinks. This truly is quite the predicament.