Sasuke, obviously like many other ninja had waken up in odd positions, odd situations, and even odd places. However, nothing accounted for the sheer oddity that he'd just woken up with. A sense of switched mobility, and he knew he was accurately aware of how to walk. Opening his crimson pinwheeled eyes, the teen known as Sasuke gazed around non-nonchalantly— albeit tiredly—at his surroundings. There was not a ninja alive, aside from Naruto- If the Orange wearing knuckle head could be called a shinobi for all orange colored pain- who could even so much as hurt him. He'd attacked the Five Kage summit- the place of the strongest shinobi in the world- and had walked out alive before he even had his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan- Now, post war he was sure he'd defeat all of them with minimal effort. He'd fought Orochimaru- He'd fought all of the Kages, sans Tsunade- He'd fought Itachi, He'd fought Madara, he'd fought Kaguya, he'd fought Naruto Uzumaki. And even after fighting the most DANGEROUS people in the world- He'd done it toe to toe at age sixteen. There was not a random ninja in the world anymore that did not know his name, nor would be able to lay a hand on him. And he sure would have felt someone casting this jutsu in his sleep.
Literally.
As he gazed around, he found himself to be in the middle of a wasteland- All by himself in this strange place. Good, a groggy Sasuke was a bad one. It only meant death for the ninja who thought they'd take him out here to get rid of him. It wasn't like he'd had a reason to go back to Konoha anyway. This was it, transformed into to some random creature in the middle of nowhere.
It was a normal day for Uchiha Sasuke. Thusly, he'd gotten up and glanced around with some annoyance to find himself here in the middle of nowhere without a reason— Or a shinobi to kill for bringing him out here. With a sigh, he ran his hoof through his hair.
Wait, hoof?
"Hn." Sure enough, just like the raven haired one time avenger figured- there was a hoof replacing his hand. Just like he'd thought earlier, a jutsu to change bodies. Unfortunately for them, they were going to still get an ass kicking from a small horse. With yet another sigh, Uchiha Sasuke went on his way- he took his first shaky steps- which were concealed by the grace of shinobi training— along with some Uchiha blood— and began his leisured trek to find civilization. This also gave him some time to think about everything he'd ever done, he was ever so slowly starting to regret his past actions but put them out of his mind as much as he could. He knew it wasn't his fault, everything that happened was out of his power. He just did everything he could to get to this point. Who said being power hungry didn't pay off?
The wasteland was nothing but sand, sand like the desert. But much different than any environment Sasuke had been in. It looked like some sort of abandoned battle field. But with all the dead animal corpses on the orange colored ground, he really couldn't be sure.
After all, at the moment Sasuke was a horse.
With this in mind, he kept his senses extending out to search for any foreign objects, animals or anything unfamiliar in this already unfamiliar world.
*****
Sasuke had grown tired of walking by this point, there was nothing for miles to entertain him. His restlessness only made him more bloodthirsty, eager to kill the ones who did this to him. He'd always been a very patient person, but it'd been about an hour since he started walking and there was still not a single trace of people. Of course, he'd originally suspected Genjustu but his Sharingan was always active as a decadence to his late brother Itachi Uchiha- who in his travels had always done the same exact thing. Of course, there was no Genjutsu some run of the mill shinobi could pull off to best the strongest Uchiha in history. If one didn't count the original 'Uchiha', Izuna.
It was only then, Sasuke heard the sound of a moving cart. It was a sound he was all too familiar with, during his time in The Hidden Leaf Village he'd done numerous missions for people with carts.
The wheels spun loudly, coming just right over the hill from in front of him. There, he saw a cart being driven by three small horses- The same as he. This brought some implications he wasn't very comfortable with. It was very obvious to him now, if there were more small horses- That meant he wasn't even in the Elemental Nations anymore. It was very unsettling, but not too concerning at the moment. Sasuke waited patiently for the cart, which the drivers apparently saw him from a good distance away to which Sasuke's eyes went from a crimson red pinwheel to a dark obsidian black— his Sharingan was now deactivated. After about three minutes, the cart came to a stop right in front of him. It was then that an young rich looking stallion— Sasuke was still trying to come to terms with that sentence as it had ran through his head— with a yellow coat and a greased back black mane popped his head out the cart.
"What're you doing out here in the middle of nowhere, child?"
*****
"What're you doing out here in the middle of nowhere, child?"
Golden Coast was a very confused stallion at this moment, here he was traveling through a not very well known discreet location through the badlands with his mercenaries— which were actually hired due to being targeted by an opposing company that wanted him dead so they could reap the benefits— and there was a child that looked to be about sixteen at maximum, fourteen at minimum. It was horrible, to see a child so down on his luck he'd be lost through the badlands. Not to mention his rich looking snow white coat, onyx mane and black eyes. This child was clearly a descendant of some form of royalty. And if he was to exaggerate a smidge, maybe even a prince. With this thought, he was baffled and could only wonder how the child could have gotten here to begin with. There was no way this kid, even for his slightly toned look, was with the enemy. He was just a kid, even they didn't pull children into gang violence. It was generally, an unspoken rule. Would they really go so far? It was despicable, if so. Hopefully, it wasn't the case. The child simply gave a nonchalant shrug, it was clear either he was hiding something or he honestly didn't know why he was out here.
"May I offer you a ride?" The jolly pony offered, carefully opening the door for any sudden movements. One of the mercenaries he'd hired- Broad Sword- if he remembered correctly, looked spooked about letting in some kid he didn't think he could trust— As far as the guard was concerned a toddler was a threat— while he was pulling the carriage. The colt- lazily if one even paid attention- glanced at the hardened mercenary with disdain, which Broad Sword was only happy to return with a sneer. The colt then gazed back at Golden Coast with cold unfeeling eyes that— in Golden's opinion— only an experienced poker-faced noble could achieve. He nodded in return, climbing into the cart with the grace of a trained royal family member—confirming Golden's original theory of him being a noble— before sitting across from him, rather than the seat that he was going to offer next to him. The kid was cautious, as he should be. Getting into carts with strange ponies was Rule One against stranger danger. "So, tell me what you're doing all the way out here in the Badlands."
*****
"So, tell me what you're doing all the way out here in the Badlands."
In Sasuke's honest opinion?
This guy was a little too nosy for his liking.
All these questions made him feel like a criminal all over again. He wasn't sure how Itachi had done it for as long as he did without killing someone, he was already ready to seriously injure someone due to the fact he was stranded here and didn't know a way back. He didn't even get to snap the neck of the guy who sent him here. Sure, this horse was nice and offered him a ride—Which was yet another amusing thought in Sasuke's head—, but Sasuke was usually the one doing the snooping, not the opposite. Not to mention, the guy was bigger than him. It was slightly unnerving in the sense he wasn't actually sure if he could completely control his limbs to not kill everyone in this area on accident without getting injured morbidly. He wasn't actually afraid of him in the slightest. In his time as a human, he'd come to out grow most of his peers. Now that he was smaller, it seemed like these small horses were tiny until full maturity. He was only half as big as the massive stallion before him. However, he decided to give him half cryptic answers- hopefully to sate his curiosity.
"I suppose you could say, that I got lost." The ACTUAL current last Uchiha drawled out, sitting awkwardly on the chair, like he did as a human- which caused the other small horse to loft a single brow. The raven haired human turned pony simply ignored the brow much more easier than he was able to ignore Naruto. Which wasn't very hard, the idiot could be heard expressing his ire five blocks away.
"Lost in the middle of a barren wasteland, for miles? Why didn't you... turn back when you saw the big sign that said "you are now entering the badlands!" in bold red text?"
"...Hn."
Golden Coast sighed and ran a hoof through his mane, Sasuke felt for this man—Stallion, male, whatever—He really did, but he couldn't just tell him the truth. What was he going to say; 'Hi I woke up here, I'm actually a deadly shinobi who could probably kill all of you with a flick of my wrist, oh and I used to be a human'?
And that wasn't even the half of it.
Golden Coast decided to taken a different approach. A direct one.
"Do you work for the Black Dragon Gang?" Golden Coast carefully watched the Sasuke for any tense motions, which would automatically give him away. Sasuke just looked at him blankly, though he could have hidden a lie if he had been apart of them- he didn't know who they were, thusly on gave the stallion a long blank stare. For a moment Golden tensed, thinking he was about to be attacked by this young colt. After a moment of sitting there, nothing happened. This caused Golden Coast to sigh in relief. He realized he'd misinterpreted that stare for something hostile, and not confusion. "No? Good. I couldn't bring myself to harm a mere child."
Sasuke knew the stallion couldn't even physically touch him in his sleep. He had more talent in a single hair in his head than this guy had in his whole body. At this point, calling him a child with all he'd been through was an insult— even if technically true. Not to mention when they got their headbands as children, they became ninjas. Looking back, Sasuke didn't approve of that even if it helped him. All it ever did was create monsters, like himself— Itachi, Kakashi, and basically any ninja. Sasuke now had a goal, bumping up the age to be a ninja when he returned. Perhaps eighteen would be the age. However, he was too indifferent to comment on Golden's 'insult', this world may have held different rules. Which meant it was likely a much more peaceful world without homicidial children roaming around. Haku's death still made him grimace heavily, it was a mental scarring that would never go away. He was actually glad to be in a place where children were allowed to be children, maybe— just maybe he wouldn't beat the person who sent him here to death. He then gazed out to the passing scenery.
Maybe.
He continued to look out the window, looking for anything at all that could be remotely interesting— which while doing he noted with his senses that Golden was staring at him curiously—only to find more wastelands. Sasuke gave a long suffering sigh, causing Golden to quirk an eyebrow inquisitively.
This was going to be a long trip.
*****
It had been hours since they had engaged in the unspoken game of 'Who Will Talk First'. Sasuke, all to accustomed to the comfortable and uncomfortable silence of traveling with Team Hebi— or Team Taka— was easily able to ignore everything around him. The cart was at this time close to city. Sasuke could see it just over the horizon, a large bustling city filled with movement. This was capitalized on by seeing the sign that said "You are now leaving The Badlands!" in big bold red text. There was even this feeling, an energy he couldn't quite describe and the city was just fraught with it. While he wanted to grill the stallion for information, he had all the time in the world and then some to find out where he was and how to get back to his home world. He could just get the answers from someone else.
"Where shall you be going when you're leaving here, young one?"
The once terse silence had been cut swiftly with the abrupt question. Sasuke briefly noted that he'd won their silence game. It was then however, Sasuke was reminded of why he didn't want to ask this guy for anything. He was simply too nosy. He wouldn't resort to using his Sharingan on citizens unless there wasn't really a choice. Holding in a sigh that would offend his 'host', he gave a quirk of his head— the corner of his eye catching the window for it's wonderful sunset colored sky.
"To a friend, but it's fine to drop me off in the town anywhere." He lied, cooly. Telling this guy all his plans in a single day of knowing him didn't seem like much of a good idea. Golden Coast honestly didn't want to let Sasuke go like this, after all he seemed so mysterious— but he didn't dare protest. He looked slightly disappointed at Sasuke's choice, but didn't push it. Once they fell back into a silence, Sasuke realized he was starting to get hungry. He didn't have any currency to buy food or make any sort of living. He refused to ask this stallion for anything, his pride was on the line. There was something he could ask for, that wouldn't hurt his pride. "Do you have a map to navigate this town?"
Golden Coast looked surprised that he'd said anything else, but likely chucked it up as he'd needed something so he was going to ask for it. Sasuke vaguely realized he'd never even gotten this man's name. He'd need to rectify that, just in case he'd need assistance with anything at all.
"I do, I only have one however... Perhaps my escorts and I can show you—"
"—I only need to see it for one second." Sasuke cut off Golden Coast rudely, disregarding the very notion of being escorted around. Golden was once again surprised, and put off by Sasuke's bold nature— but only shrugged it off—thinking it was just because the boy felt like he deserved it, as children were often than not self centered— and reached over into his bag, pulling out a neatly folded map. Sasuke didn't hesitate to pluck it out of his hoof. Sasuke paused.
Hooves are apparently able to use magnets or some form of energy to stick objects onto themselves. This required further investigation, but for now he unfolded the map and glanced over it's contents. Using the map as a shield to hide his face, his eyes flashed a crimson red— his Sharingan eyes scanned over the page at a lightening speed. Instantly memorizing the map, he folded the parchment and handed it back over to Golden Coast who in turn took the folded page back with a confused face as he stashed it in his bag once more. They sat there in silence, the only sound was of the cart moving. Finally, for the third time this day— Golden Coast broke the silence with yet another question.
"Wait, that was it? You only looked at the page for a few seconds!" Golden Coast exclaimed with astonishment, his curled mustache looking comically amusing on his face.
"Photo memory." Sasuke simply replied without further input, at it was a half-truth he in particularly didn't want to elaborate on. Golden Coast glanced down at Sasuke's leg, making Sasuke's face twitch in annoyance. He didn't feel comfortable with some guy eyeing him up. "Is there something you're looking for?"
"Actually, yes. Is that what your Cutie Mark is? That's your talent?"
In mere seconds after Golden Coast's words left his muzzle, Sasuke had learned a few things off the bat.
Firstly, he felt his masculinity taking a hit from hearing the word "Cutie" come out of a man of any sort outside of some compliment. Even a horse type.
Secondly, apparently these 'marks' were common among the populace assuming Golden Coast was being honest with him.
Nextly, these "Cutie Marks" represented a certain talent an individual had. Sasuke didn't know if that limited them to that special talent, or if they were able to harbor several talents. It was a slightly upsetting thought however, that one would be limited due to a marking with the word "cute" in it of all things.
Lastly, he wasn't even sure if every horse harbored these marks or if they were just handed out at birth or something similar to a bloodline. Now he'd need to create a story, fabricate it so there would be no further questions. This further annoyed Sasuke, he was half tempted to just erase the memory from the horse's head. It honestly would be so much easier. He had a feeling that Naruto wouldn't approve though. Forcing the urge down, he slumped back in his seat grumpily.
"Yes, I suppose you can say that's my talent." It was a half truth, he was quite talented at Sharingan as everyone back home were so eager to point out. Golden Coast looked like he wanted to ask more, as such an ability was almost unheard of. Instead, he simply nodded in a surprised manner as he gazed back out the cart- half expecting the town to be at a distance and to Golden Coast's displeasure— And Sasuke's pleasure— the town was directly outside, as they were now pulling up into The Trade District. Pleased, with no longer having to wait, the boy turned pushed open the chariot door and hopped out onto the smooth square cobblestone. He took a glance back, at the startled looking Golden Coast who was just stepping out his cart.
"My boy, you're quite eager to get yourself out of the cart aren't you?" The golden pony gave an amused smile, to which Sasuke only gave a frown. This caused Golden Coast's smile to dim somewhat. "Not a very happy child are we?" It seemed like he was talking to himself, even if the ex-avenger heard him clearly. "And, where will you be going to now?" The question caused Sasuke to give pause. It was a good question, he was now at civilization. No money, no place to stay, no job, and not a single clue on how to get home. Why had he wanted to find civilization anyway? Sasuke took a long moment to gaze around the streets.
The Trade District was bustling with dozens of busy horses, in a flurry of painfully bright colors. There were ponies— He called them that because they were small— even smaller than himself, kicking around a red rubber ball with a few adult horses chatting near them while they were watching the children. The Uchiha gazed upward, there were several horses with wings flying about the ocean blue sky at extreme speeds, slow pace, and even breaking physics by doing strange tricks in the air. The structures around him looked like they were recently built, smooth grey brick walls with wooden porches, and even bridges passing connecting roofs to allow travel from up high. A warm crisp breeze blew through the city, causing some trees— and Sasuke's hair— to shake heavily. The smell of cooked vegetables filled with air as well. There were dozens of stalls around, selling numerous fruits and vegetables. More specially, the one that caught his eyes was the one selling tomatoes.
All in all, this place seemed extremely friendly. It reminded Sasuke of Konoha. The place seemed homely, going as so far as to having cloth hanging up to dry on porches. Even with the occasional golden clad guard wandering around with the tooth pick weapons. For all their looks, they didn't seem to have much power. They pranced around looking like they owned the place, even with with their blank expressions. Strangely, they all looked the same to him. He couldn't feel a drop of chakara coming from them, so it was extremely odd. He did sense another source of energy, though he shrugged that mystery off to solve for later. There looked to be hundreds of colorful horses of all shapes, sizes, and genders moving about the city. Though, this was the trade district so it was really to be expected.
"—Boy?"
Sasuke finally took a moment to stop drinking in the city's atmosphere, to gaze at the mysterious Stallion— A sentence he still couldn't get over— that helped him. He'd yet to get his name.
"Sasuke, that's my name. What is yours?" Sasuke cut directly to the point, not wanting to beat around the bush. Golden Coast looked affronted, but nonetheless gave the duck-butt haired ex-avenger his name.
"Golden Coast, a pleasure to meet you...Sasuke." Golden Coast seemed to try to roll the name over his tongue, and apparently couldn't grasp it. "Such an odd name." Golden realized his mistake far too late, as Sasuke simply gave a grunt and turned away— leaving Golden Coast baffled from his abrupt departure. Sasuke then paused when he was a few foot steps away, hesitantly turning around to Golden Coast who quirked an eyebrow in curiosity.
"...Thanks, for everything." The Gold pony felt honored for some reason, he could tell though that 'Sasuke' didn't give out thanks very often. So he took what he could get. Before Golden Coast could get in a word edge-wise, Sasuke was swallowed up by the large crowd as they went about their daily life. When the area cleared, he could no longer see the small boy.
It would be about a week before he would see Sasuke again.
*****
Sasuke was not having a good day, or for that matter a good life. After all, one does not go on a revenge plan for more than ten years and try to have a good day, no to mention in the biggest plot twist of the century Itachi was the good guy. He pushed that thought away.
Sasuke didn't bother using transformation. It would simply be an illusion. It wouldn't do him much good to keep it up all day. He'd rather be in whatever state he was in to get used to it. All over all, Sasuke was pretty pleased. Sure he was still pissed someone had the nerve to do it, and when he found them—If he ever did— he'd rip them to pieces. And he sure as hell would enjoy it immensely. Sasuke wouldn't cry over spilled milk, it could have been worse. He could have his abilities taken sealed off until he found his way back. That would have pissed Sasuke off like no tomorrow.
Glancing down, he noticed some slightly smaller ponies running by kicking a ball with their hooves, it was actually the same group of children he'd saw back in The Trade District. He was now in some place known as Old Town in the city. It was a decently quiet place with ponies going about their daily lives. Such as barbecuing vegetables, fish—something he was glad they eat, as Sasuke refused to become a vegetarian— , and tofu. The smaller children had suddenly started kicking the ball back and forth with each other, laughing joyfully. Sasuke's mind wandered, he turned his head to the side and gazed at the blazing blue sky. Thoughts of the rookie eleven filling his thought process.
—"Oi! Sasuke-teme! Pass the ball!"
"With PLEASURE!" He had tossed the ball upward with his tiny eight year old hands, and as soon as the word 'pleasure' came out his mouth, he'd trash kicked the ball across the field and at Naruto. Naruto, being the horrible ninja he was back then didn't stand a chance.
"WAAAH!" He only had time to pale in fear, making a humorous wide eyed open mouth expression as the ball smacked him in the face— causing him to fly through the air and sent him careening into the nearby lake making a large splash on the surface. Sasuke tucked his hands in his pockets. Naruto had plummeted to the icy bottoms of the pool, but Sasuke didn't bother helping, as he knew Naruto could swim. The others didn't see that though.
"Whoa, Sasuke don't you think that was a bit harsh? Troublesome, now we need to make sure he'd okay." Shikamaru stalked forward, his hands in his pockets as well, looking quite moody as he made his way to the lake. Chouji followed after his buddy faithfully, without a single word. He'd just gave Sasuke a look that he knew meant that what he did was uncalled for. Kiba looked torn between laughing, and scowling at Sasuke for his treatment. Even if Naruto was closer to Sasuke than he was. Sasuke simply shrugged, spun on his heels, and walked off as soon as he saw Naruto break the surface gasping for air.
"SASUKE-TEME!" The loud sun-kissed haired child raged on at the retreating figure of Sasuke who held a smirk of superiority on his face.
Sasuke realized that he was not a very nice child back then.
"LOOK OUT!"
Sasuke had long known before the child had screamed for him to look out that a non-deadly projectile was hurling at his head quickly. Without even turning to look the direction, he simply held his hoof up. The ball smacked directly into it, catching it with the magnet ability it seemed to automatically possess. He then turned their way to see what exactly might have caused them to accidentally send it his way. He was only moderately surprised at what he saw. The ponies, both adults and children were gaping at his feat of catching the ball without looking. For him, it wasn't in the slightest impressive. He'd learned to do that by the age of six. He simply rolled the ball back to the group without a single word, then spun on his heels and left. Most of the ponies that had saw were clearing the way for him, awed by such a simple act.
*****
Sasuke had been doing some research since he had left the Old Town District. He'd also earned some coin, preforming demeaning street performances such as blowing fire. As an Uchiha elite, he felt disgraced for preforming such acts— But he'd needed the money to buy food. Even if he was a ninja, he wouldn't resort to stealing needlessly. He was quite popular, as the ponies of the 'Mage' Quarter had all come to figure out how he had been doing his 'tricks'. The 'mages' were baffled, and demanded explanations. He simply said "Magic." To which, they made accusations that 'Earth Ponies' couldn't use magic. This caused him to quirk a brow, and made him decide he'd done enough money earning for the day. He had already got enough for about a week worth of food. To their utter astonishment, he suddenly vanished in a whirl of leaves. Sasuke had been visiting all around the city after that. He'd bought himself a tomato, and some cooked fished which he'd eaten while walking around the city. He had come across some ponies daring to claim they were selling 'Spell Books'. He originally thought it was a scam, and prepared to simply walk away from the salesman, until the hooded pony in question started levitating a sign with the same foreign energy that was hiding the forms of those golden armored guards.
To him, this had proved their theory on 'magic' was correct and accurate. Whatever world he was in, magic existed in it. It was rather bizarre. He had bought the black book with a skull on it from the dark looking Mage without a second thought, and slid it in the saddle he'd bought as well. Strangely enough, he'd looked up and the pony in question was high tailing it with the coins that he'd given them in exchange for the book.
"It's yours now sucker! Have fun with your cursed book! Buwahaha! I'm free! I'm finally free!" The hooded mare had skipped off happily. Sasuke absently-mindedly noted that he'd be able to know the life signature of the one who was getting away, he'd kill her later for this 'curse'. Sure enough, the book was absolutely radiating a darker foreign energy. Was it similar to the cursed mark? He decided for later he'd find out more about the book, but it had been a long day and for now he was going to rest.
Sasuke had sat on a nearby bench, closing his eyes and planning on getting as well deserved nap while resting under the glory of the sun. Sadly, it would have to wait as he sensed two creatures standing before him. He opened his eyes with restrained irritation. Immediately, he recognized the two blocking his sunlight. Or he knew what they were, anyway. They were two of the golden clad guards that were patrolling the town. It seemed this book's curse was already in effect.
"Kid, we're going to have to ask you to come with us."
Sasuke resisted putting a Chidori sized hole someone's body.
