Hey guys!

Before you start this story, I just wanted to state that there will be some angst in this story, though it's not what it will mainly focus on. I will be following Kishimoto-san's basic time line for the occurrence of events, but how they will happen will be different.

There will be spoilers up to Chapter 443 of the manga!

And, that's it for now.

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the plot, or any of the characters. They all belong to the amazing Kishimoto-san.

Naruto stood face to face with Pain, pondering the answer to his question.

"What if… What if I had a second chance?" Pain nodded slowly, his Rinnegan burning into Naruto's eyes.

"Will you take it? A second chance to save Sasuke." Pain paused. "To change everything."

Naruto stilled, beads of sweat rolling off his neck despite the unnatural chill that suddenly overcame him. He shivered.

"I don't know… I just want Sasuke back with me… with us."

And like that, everything vanished. Naruto yelped in surprise as the ground was pulled from beneath his feet, and he felt himself falling, and falling…

----

Darkness.

"Oi, dobe, get up!"

What…? That voice.

"Kakashi-sensei! Come quick, I think Naruto fainted!"

Sakura-chan… What was she doing here? No, not right now. That's not important.

Where did he hear that voice before? Why was it so goddamn familiar?

Naruto grimaced as he felt a pressure on his heart.

"He's fine, his heart's still beating. Sasuke, go get some water." Naruto shot up.

Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke.

Sasuke!

"Eeeek! Kakashi-sensei, Kakashi-sensei! He's awake!" The silver-haired Jounin sighed.

"I know Sakura, I can see that. Naruto, are you okay?"

The blond pressed a hand against his temple at the head-rush he received from sitting up so quickly and used his other hand to rub his still-groggy eyes.

Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke.

"Sasuke." Naruto managed to croak, grimacing at his oddly higher-pitched voice. "Where's Sasuke?"

"He's getting some water for you." Kakashi laid a hand on the blond's arm. "Lie down, you need to rest Naruto."

"No…" Naruto moaned slightly. His head hurt like hell. "Sasuke… Sasuke's going to run away again. I have to bring him back."

Naruto missed the worried look that passed between Sakura and Kakashi.

"Naruto-kun, you need to rest. Sasuke-kun's not going to run away, don't worry. Your head got hit by a rock while training, so please lie down."

Finally managing to crack open an eye, the blond attempted to focus on his surroundings. Everything was so blurry; it was frustrating.

The three sat in silence as Naruto's vision gradually cleared. What the blond saw made his heart skip a beat.

"Sakura-chan? Why are you so much shorter? Did someone cast a jutsu on you? And you're wearing your old kimono again! Did Pain do this?" Naruto's voice was getting higher and higher. "What happened?"

Sakura threw a frightened look at Kakashi, who shrugged in response.

"I don't know what you're talking about Naruto, who's Pain? No, never mind, I really think you should just lie down for a while." She bit her lips nervously. "The rock that hit your head was pretty big…"

The kunoichi quickly moved to Naruto's side, and he smelled the faint scent of strawberries as Sakura's waist-length hair cascaded down his shoulders while she attempted to settle him down. Naruto shivered. He remembered that Sakura-chan had first cut her hair during the Chunin exams, when she was protecting him and Sasuke from the Sound-nin. That was a long time ago.

Struggling to calm himself down slightly, he took another quick scan of his surroundings. Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered was finding Pain and finally meeting up with him…

Something spectacularly orange caught his eye. His pants; he was back in his old orange jumpsuit.

Naruto's eyes widened in realization as everything clicked into place.

"Will you take it? A second chance to save Sasuke. To change everything."

So this is what Pain meant.

"You're finally up, usuratonkachi."

Snapping up a second time, Naruto managed to stand, albeit unsteadily, and grabbed on to the hand Sasuke held out for support.

He took a second to look the raven over, taking in the always smug and arrogant expression on his face, the shimmer of concern in his eyes for his best friend, the way he was wearing his old blue t-shirt and baggy white shorts again.

It felt like a dream.

Naruto couldn't help the tears that welled in his eyes. Two and a half years since Sasuke had left Konohagakure, since Sasuke had looked at him with anything in his eyes but scorn, much less extend a hand for the blond to hold on to.

Sasuke was his comrade again. His friend.

The blond wrapped his arms around the increasingly confused Uchiha, squishing himself against the taller boy's chest.

Sasuke's back.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing- hey! Get your hands off, dumbass!"

-----

Naruto trailed after Kakashi-sensei, lagging behind due to the various bonks left on his head from the Uchiha.

Despite how utterly weird and unbelievably, incredibly, insane this whole situation was, he couldn't help the grin that spread from ear to ear

Sasuke's back.

Okay, not 'back', technically, since he hasn't left yet. But still.

Sasuke's back.

Naruto savoured the thought, starting an almost sing-song chant in his head.

Sasuke's back. Sasuke's back. Sasuke's back.

Still lost in his own thoughts, he didn't notice that Sakura had been observing him this whole time, and was becoming increasingly worried about his behaviour.

What did Naruto mean when he said 'Sasuke's going to run away', much less the 'again'? When has Sasuke ever run away? They've only been Team 7 for two months, and she was sure Sasuke's never ran away from anything, or even left the team for long periods of time (unless you count going home to sleep, which was just plain silly). It was probably just the bumps on the baka's head doing the talking.

Feeling slightly more comforted, though she couldn't quite shake off this nagging feeling that something was wrong from the back of her mind, she slowed down her paces so that she was moving alongside the blond.

"Naruto?" The boy was grinning like an idiot.

"Hai Sakura-chan?"

"Are you okay?" Naruto laughed a little, which did nothing to lessen Sakura's fears.

"I'm feeling great, dattebayo!" The blond continued to chortle. It's been a long time since he last used the phrase. It felt refreshing, to be so carefree again.

"Naruto, what did you mean when you said 'Sasuke-kun's going to run away again'?"

Sakura watched as Naruto avoided an oncoming branch with ease, hopping from the side of the tree trunk onto another branch.

There was a loud cracking noise; the branch had snapped.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, a second too late as she watched the blond tumble down towards the ground. "Narut-!"

Her mouth hung agape in amazement as the blond quickly grabbed onto another protruding branch, and swung himself up so that he was beside her again.

"Wha- how, how did you do that Naruto?"

The blond smiled in amusement, and was about to reply when he suddenly realised he didn't know what to say. What should he say?

It wasn't like he could confess that his sudden lack of clumsiness was due to the fact that he was from the future. The poor girl would probably get frightened for his sanity and tell Kakashi-sensei, and this would eventually make it's way to the Hokage (Naruto's eyes lit up when he realized that this meant the Sandaime was still alive), and he'd probably end up getting sent to a ninja asylum or something. That would be quite problematic.

Besides, even on the off chance that she did believe him, he was sure something bad was going to happen. It was already dangerous enough that he himself was sent back in time (apparently), but if he involved Sakura in this…

No, that wouldn't be wise.

Remembering how crushed the girl was when Sasuke had first left, Naruto was sure she'd go crazy if she knew that Sasuke was going to leave them, and she could do nothing to stop him.

Naruto nodded to himself. This was his mission, and his alone.

"Heh. Well," Naruto drawled. "I am the great Uzumaki Naruto after all! I'm much stronger and cooler than that stupid Sasuke!"

Sakura's fist connected with the side of his head.

"Don't badmouth Sasuke-kun, you baka!" Sakura fumed, and passed the blond in a few strong leaps.

Naruto smiled. He really missed this, being able to joke with Sakura about Sasuke again, without any of the pain or guilt that ensued.

As he trailed after the group, he found himself observing the way Kakashi led the team with Sasuke close behind, followed by Sakura lagging a bit off; never being able to catch up to her beloved Sasuke-kun.

Naruto let out a heavy, wary sigh. Despite the younger body he was now outfitted in, he couldn't help but suddenly feel immensely old and worn out. To know what was going to happen, to remember…

Everything changed when Sasuke left; Sakura could never fully heal from the heartbreak, and Naruto had learned what complete and utter failure felt like.

All because he couldn't save Sasuke. His brows furrowed together deeply.

Watching the way Sakura finally huddled up next to Sasuke, flipping her long hair in an attempt to show it off, Naruto silently swore to himself that this time, he'd free Sasuke from the chain of hatred that his brother had trapped him in. He would rescue Sasuke.

Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! This is my first time writing a somewhat angst fanfiction, so please bare with me.

Augh. I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to put here but now I can't remember what it was.

Anways, I'll try to update as soon as possible!

Ja!