Everything hurt.
That was the first thing Sasuke registered. Pain everywhere, like someone had run his nervous system through a blender.
His body moved on instinct. Dodge. Kunai whistles past. Roll forward. Chakra flares—
Wait. Chakra?
The thought hit him and suddenly he was aware. Actually aware. He was standing on a giant stone hand. There was blonde hair and orange in his vision. A name came to mind.
"Naruto..."
But that wasn't right. His name was—
Then it all hit him at once.
Two lives. Two different worlds. Same body.
He—Sasuke Uchiha—was fighting at the Valley of the End. Some big dramatic final battle. But the other him, the one who shouldn't even exist here, knew things. Knew everything.
The Uchiha massacre. Itachi's orders. Danzo. The Akatsuki. The Moon's Eye Plan. Kaguya. It all downloaded into his head in one go, like someone had dumped a wiki into his brain.
"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice cut through his thoughts. "What's wrong with you?"
Sasuke looked up. Naruto was charging, Rasengan forming in his hand. That dumb determined look on his face.
Original Sasuke would've met that with Chidori. Would've pushed for more power, left with Orochimaru, all that revenge crap.
But he wasn't just Sasuke anymore.
Time slowed. He had maybe seconds to decide. Follow the script? Let Naruto win? Do something else?
No. He had something neither of them had.
Knowledge.
He knew about Hashirama cells. The Rinnegan. How the Sharingan evolved. He knew shortcuts that would cut years off the grind. He knew who to trust, who to avoid.
Most important—he knew how to get strong enough that none of the bullshit mattered.
The Rasengan was three feet away.
Sasuke moved forward.
His hand shot out. Sharingan spinning, he saw it. The rotation pattern. The spiral that made it work. And knowing it would work, he angled his Chidori just right.
The techniques collided. But not head-on like before.
His Lightning Release punched through a gap in the rotation. Disrupted the chakra flow. The Rasengan fell apart.
Naruto's eyes went wide.
Sasuke's palm caught him in the chest. No chakra. Not trying to kill him. Just enough to send him stumbling back.
"You..." Naruto gasped for air. "How did you—"
"I told you. You can't beat me."
Not arrogance. Not Sasuke's old attitude. Just cold fact.
He'd already made his choice.
Win this fight. Leave with the Sound Four. Use Orochimaru.
Not for revenge. Revenge was pointless when you knew the truth.
He was going to collect every power this world had. Hashirama cells. Eternal Mangekyo. Rinnegan. Tenseigan. All of it.
He was going to get so strong that even Kaguya couldn't touch him.
"Sasuke!" Naruto charged again. Red chakra started leaking out. The Nine-Tails.
Sasuke let his Sharingan spin faster, copying every move, every chakra spike.
Just as planned.