A distributed storage network (DSN) stores sets of encoded data slices in sets of storage units. A first storage unit assigned to store an encoded data slice included in a set of encoded data slices identifies a storage error associated with that encoded data slice. The first storage unit selects a second storage unit to generate a rebuilt encoded data slice to replace the encoded data slice with the error, and transmits a rebuild request associated with the storage error to the second storage unit. The second storage unit generates the rebuilt encoded data slice in response to the rebuild request, and transmits the rebuilt encoded data slice back to the first storage unit, which stores the rebuilt encoded data slice.