Title: It never ends.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
Pairing: Undecided
Summary: Determined to avenge the deaths of his friends by the hand of one Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto is unwavering in his decision to kill the man he once called his friend. But when an unusual manifestation of the sharingan sends him back to the past, will he allow history to run its course or will he change it in the hope that it turns out better? TimeTravel
- o0o0o0o -
The man stood in the centre of the decimated battleground, his long dark hair billowing in the wind, a maniacal grin residing on his face. His clothes were smeared with copious amounts of blood, its previously pristine colour of white almost unidentifiable within the damaged fabric. He held his sword, as bloody as his clothes, towards the ground, the crimson liquid slowly dripping onto the earth where a puddle was already forming. The field was deathly quiet, save for the crackle of burning flames and the quiet, hushed sobbing emanating from the woman kneeling down in front of him.
The man focused his gaze on her, his glowing red eyes displaying a mixture of mirth and disdain amidst the streams of blood running down his face. He raised his sword slightly, so the tip of the gleaming metal was pushing up on her neck. She instinctively flinched as the cold steel pressed into her flesh, drawing a small bead of blood.
"Sakura..."
She refused to acknowledge him, staring resolutely at the ground in front of her. He sighed softly before he used his other hand to yank her pink hair upwards, forcefully compelling her to look at him. What he saw in her eyes was not the fearful or despairing frown he expected she would have after seeing her entire team die in front of her, but instead an intense glare filled with hatred and defiance.
"Sasuke..." she hissed out slowly, gritting her teeth tightly, "I'm going to kill you for what you did to them...,"
Sasuke let out an amused chuckle as he abruptly dropped the handful of her hair he had been holding.
"And what could you possibly hope to do? You're spent all your chakra in an attempt to heal your worthless teammates, you're physically exhausted and no-one can help you here because they're all dead," he paused for a moment before gesturing to the corpse close to them with his sword. The dead shinobi looked even paler in death, his short ink-black hair managing to cover the final expression of shock evident on his face, the shock he had experienced as he was impaled by the full length of the Sword of Kusanagi.
"You could have saved this one, you know. What was his name again? Sai?" Sasuke taunted conversationally.
"You could have distracted or even wounded me before I stabbed him. I admit, I left myself vulnerable to you when I thought you were too busy healing Kakashi to fight. You could have taken advantage of my mistake and distracted me long enough for Sai to get away. But you hesitated. You were afraid of doing anything that would harm me. After all these years, Sakura, you are still weak."
Sakura bowed her head and refused to look up to the Uchiha Avenger's cold, heartless eyes because deep inside, she knew that he was right. She could have finished through with the slash, she could have wounded him and then maybe Sai would still be here with her. But she had failed, she had stopped the kunai halfway through its path, her trembling hands refusing to hurt the man she had once loved.
"It's been ten years Sakura. I heard that you were one of Konoha's strongest Jounin, the leading Medic Nin after I killed Tsunade a while back. But you're still weak, your resolve as unhardened as when we first met."
Sasuke grinned maliciously as he raised his sword slowly again, placing the full edge tenderly on her throat. Sakura gulped.
This would be it for her.
She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she refused to show any signs of weakness in front of her would be killer. Instead, she glared at him, accepting her impending death with pride and dignity.
"Naruto is going to catch you," she whispered hoarsely, but with a steady voice brimming with confidence, "and then he is going to kill you."
Sasuke chuckled darkly.
"I'm counting on it," he whispered back.
A flick of his wrist.
Blood spilled onto the earth.
- o0o0o0o -
A lone shinobi sped through the undergrowth of the forest at an insane speed, his sunny blonde hair whipping out from within his bandana. His eyes were panicked and unfocused as he sped up even further, pumping yet more chakra into his legs. He could smell it, his Kyuubi – enhanced senses detecting the acrid scent of fire and the overpowering metallic stench of blood. There was lots of it.
He hoped he wasn't too late.
He had come as soon as he heard, as soon as Jiraiya had walked through his door and informed him that his spy network had sighted Sasuke and his underlings near where Task force 7 was en route to. He had knew that the operation was trouble the second he had read the mission scroll but he ignored the foreboding feeling in his gut, dismissing it as paranoia. He had sent them out the door, saying nothing but a routinely "Take care," to which Sakura responded to with a cheerful "Don't worry Naruto, you know we will." Kakashi had chided her lightly as they walked out the door, "He's still the Hokage you know, you should show him some respect," causing Naruto to chuckle softly as he went back to signing papers.
Task force seven.
Naruto had reformed the team the instant he was in the Hokage's seat, reassigning Yamato from his ANBU duties to fill up the hole left by his promotion. They were amongst the strongest shinobi in Konoha, more than a match for the team of B rank missing nin plaguing a tiny merchant town near the Fire Country border.
But if they ran into Sasuke...
Naruto knew that while they were all strong in their own right, they didn't stand a chance against the man who had singlehandedly defeated both Tsunade and the Raikage at the same time. And so he had leapt out of his chair and sprinted out of the room when Jiraiya had delivered his news, faintly hearing the white haired sannin ordering the ANBU guards to assist him. They had been left behind long ago at the speed that Naruto was travelling at, but he had no time to wait for reinforcements.
Naruto growled as he sensed the chakra in the air. He recognised it immediately, the overwhelmingly dark and sinister energy that belonged to the man he had spent the better half his life trying to get back to Konoha. Naruto narrowed his eyes in focus, masking his chakra before slowing down as he approached the battlefield. If there was one thing he learned during his time as Hokage, it was not a smart move to charge headfirst into every situation.
He crept forward stealthily, the dread he felt in the pit of his stomach slowly growing. It was eerily quiet; the battle must have already ended, yet he could not hear any survivors. He shuffled ahead slowly, cautiously, alert.
"I'm counting on it..." he heard, though barely, a dark whisper that he recognised immediately as his former teammates'. Naruto readied himself for battle as he sped up slightly.
He paused abruptly, the sound of metal cutting flesh stopping him in his tracks. His eyes widened in horror as a feminine cry echoed through the clearing. A second later, the sound of a body roughly hitting the ground. His mind raced as his heart started to pound loudly in his chest. The voice sounded like... no; It couldn't be...
Abandoning any attempts at stealth or subterfuge, he jumped through the final remaining shroud of brush separating him and the battlefield.
Craters littered the floor of the once perfect clearing, many still smoking, bearing the mark of recently cast jutsu. Discarded weaponry lay scattered on the ground or embedded into trees as wicked black flames burnt throughout the landscape, threatening to destroy all evidence of the horrific battle that took place.
Naruto's eyes were first drawn to the body lying next to him; he had almost stepped on it after his entrance to the clearing. He stared at the man whom he had admired and respected for his years as his squad captain. Yamato stared right back at him, his eerie, ghostly eyes capturing the final look of horror on his face as Suigetsu lodged the Kubilkirihocho into his chest.
He could see Kakashi lying face down to his other side, black flames slowly charring his corpse, black flames that Sakura had tried with all her might to set out, but ultimately in vain. Jugo was pinned to a nearby tree by a vine that had passed straight through his body and lodged deep into the wood. Naruto could spy Karin on the far side of the clearing, her body dangling from a tree branch she was most likely hiding in, caught in the crossfire of the deadly exchange of jutsu that took place.
"So she was right about that part at least," Sasuke mocked cruelly, "It's just too bad she didn't live to see it."
Naruto gazed in shock at the body lying next to Sasuke's feet. She was lying in a pool of crimson liquid that turned the colour of her bubble pink hair into a dark, deadly scarlet. Her eyes – lifeless and dull, stared directly at him, a sight that would haunt him for months.
They were dead. They were all dead, killed by the traitor's hands. Yamato, Kakashi, Sai, Sakura. He hadn't gotten there in time.
"You bastard...," Naruto whispered. The air filled with demonic chakra as his pupils turned red, his teeth elongated into fangs and his whisker marks darkened.
"I'll make you pay."
"Let's see if Sakura is right again eh Naruto? Can you really kill me, now that you've found me?" Before Sasuke had even finished his sentence, he was charging his Chidori, it's sudden, deafening screech echoing through the clearing.
Naruto's jaw set in grim determination as he calmed the raging emotions of hate and fury inside him, forcing his demonic chakra back down. Against an opponent like Sasuke, losing himself to anger would not win him the battle. And he needed to win this battle.
I can't hesitate this time. I have avenge them. All of them.
He took out his pair of trench knives and fit them onto his knuckles in one fluid motion, settling into a battle stance. He glanced at the knives sadly. They were Shikamarus, given to Naruto in his final, dying moments, making Naruto vow to use them to defend every remaining citizen of Konoha. He had broke his promise just a week later, by being unable to protect Tsunade and Shizune from Sasuke, just like how he was unable to save Shikamaru, his ANBU squad and the members of Task force 7 . It was failure after failure after failure.
"ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE TIME TO LOOK AWAY NARUTO?" Sasuke screamed as he ran, his charged chidori shrieking from his outstretched palm, mere metres away from Naruto.
Naruto powered up his chakra blades as he narrowed his eyes in concentration, preparing to retaliate.
I have to avenge everyone you killed and I cannot fail this time. It ends here, Sasuke.
- o0o0o0o -
A/N: If anybody's worried because I killed off the character they liked in this chapter, don't worry! It's a time travel fic, they'll come back. ^.^
Until next time!