Edit 28/02/10 - I've just been going over the beginning chapters as I slowly work out the sequence of events for the next chapter and I've noticed a continuity error. It's nothing bad as no-one else has noticed it but I have to change it now that I've seen it. I will not detail the error cause I'm a little embarrassed by it, especially considering the praise I have received for how well-written this story is, just know that it's fixed and it's all good :D

Edit 13/01/10 - I've made some minor changes to the first two chapters again, fixing grammar and paragraph structure, so the story moves a bit better.

After dong some more writing for this story, and reading the feedback I've gotten for this, I'm gonna make a few changes. Firstly, a brief background. This is a couple of years after the current actual manga timeline and story. No description on ages or other things that may have occured cause I don't think my story needs it. Just know that Akatsuki are still after Naruto, and Naruto is still chasing Sasuke. People who are dead in the manga story are dead in my story, and things have progressed the way I want them to progress.

Also some confusion has arisen in regards to this chapter and the next as to which goes first. Sorry, my bad, I didn't think of that problem at the time, but now that it's been mentioned I can see where the confusion may be. As this story is written that is the order it goes in. If it seems like a following chapter goes back to a place before a previous chapter and it's not a flashback, it is written that way so as to give another perspective or give more info on something that has happened or has yet to happen. Sorry again for the confusion. I will also be making grammatical correction as I go, but will welcome any corrections from readers. Oh, and lengths of chapters will vary according to how I write the scene. I know it sucks to only get a small dose of story sometimes, but I ask that the people who read this remain patient with me in regards to this. I will update as often as I can.

I also realise I write slightly differently to others, so when characters are speaking observe the following:

"Speaking current tense"

"Speaking past tense"

'Thinking current tense'

This is fanfic. I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1: A Late Realisaton - Part 1

'I guess I'm destined to fail after all.'

Limping along the well-worn path through the forest, the young ninja stared straight ahead, his legs taking him along a preset path back home. Back to Konoha.

As he stumbled along the road, the ninja felt every muscle in his body ache, every injury scream at him from different parts of his body. While he was dressed in standard ninja attire, now he looked more like a walking corpse.

His right arm was cradled against his body, held in place by a makeshift sling from the sleeve of his jacket, blood from a deep gash hiding the broken bone rendering the appendage useless. Several bruises and deep cuts also ran along his front torso to his left arm, which he could still thankfully use, while three broken ribs made it difficult to breathe.

And with each step pain shot through the corresponding leg, bruises and cuts aggravating the problem, while a steady stream of blood ran down his left leg, leaving a trail an inexperienced genin could follow in the dark blindfolded.

Blinking away the blood blinding his vision in his right eye, the left swollen shut and unusable for the time being, the ninja focused on the familiar gates several hundred metres from his current position from within the tree line of the forest.

'I made it.'

Continuing on, his feet shuffling one in front of the other, his body on automatic due to exhaustion, the young man thought back on the last couple of days as he neared his destination.

He had been tracking his target for days. He and his team had survived two close calls with rogue ninjas out to collect the considerable bounty on their head, the last one leaving one of his team incapacitated. Then they found him. He was just standing there, like he had always been there, that spot in the middle of the forest clearing just inside of Tea Country looking like it existed purely for him to occupy its space.

Unlike the first time they met on the battlefield, there was no cocky attitude from his opponent. Nor like the second time where every action he made screamed arrogance. This time there was just a blank stare, an air of indifference to the situation permeating the surrounding area. He knew better though.

As he stared into his opponents blank eyes, he could see the confidence, the anger, the need to fulfil his promise simmering with barely restrained fury just below the surface. Their fight had been one-on-one, his two teammates standing back to give them room.

'It didn't turn out like it should have. '

Lifting his head slightly as he continued his slow journey home, he came to a stop as the gates of Konoha slowly opened, his eyes settling on the two figures standing just beyond the threshold, their stance statuesque, like two silent gargoyles presiding over a castle wall.

Closing the distance as fast as he could while his body screamed at him for rest, he was soon inside the gates, standing in front of the two people waiting for him.

At first he simply stood there, his breathing ragged while he fought to stay standing as his body tried to collapse from under him. Then, slowly, he raised his head again, bringing his eyes at last into contact with the two silent guardians.

Looking at the woman on his right, he regarded her apprehensively as she stared at him with cold eyes, her body language showing how truly angry she was with his return. Shifting his gaze to his left, he was surprised to find the man he knew from when he was a mere genin was regarding him with a look of loathing and contempt, while his posture made it quite apparent that he was ready to take action at any moment.

Readjusting himself as he stood under the watchful eyes his two guardians, he took a moment to settle down, pushing aside the awkward feeling building in his stomach. He needed to do this, before he lost the will to do it. He needed to tell them what happened.

"Sakura, I'm..." Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of flesh hitting flesh resounded around the area as his head snapped sharply to the left from Sakura's open hand slapping him hard.

"Don't." interrupted Sakura as her right arm slowly lowered to her side. "Don't you dare say you're sorry. You don't get to say you're sorry." The words left Sakura's mouth with such quiet intensity that he was unsure what to do. Lifting her head up, he was further taken aback from the look she gave him, anger, contempt, loathing combined with tears just starting to form at the corners of her eyes, giving Sakura the look of someone not to be messed with.

"After all we've been through, after all that's been done to us, you think you can just come back and it will be fine? Well it won't. He's out there, instead of here because of you." Turning around, Sakura started to walk away from him.

"Wait, Sakura I..."

"Don't." Sakura said as she stopped at his voice. "Do you even know what you're doing here? What you are going to do here? You don't do you? It was a waste of time coming here, because nobody wants you anymore, especially me. So instead of trying to get sympathy out of me for your pathetic state, why don't you go talk to the one person that really matters in this and see if she is willing to listen to your crap."

Unable to believe what Sakura just said, he could only watch in shock as she continued to walk off down the street and out of sight.

"Well that went better than I expected." Turning at the voice of the other person standing watch, his face betrayed his shock as he watched Kakashi scratch the back of his head awkwardly due to the silence. "I was expecting to have to hold her off of killing you there for a second."

Staring blankly at his teacher, he quickly recomposed himself. "Look, I..."

"Save it, I'm not here to listen to your excuses either." interrupted Kakashi. "I'm here only to make sure Sakura didn't kill you, and to tell you to report to the Hokage immediately."

Looking into his teachers lone eye, he realised it was futile to talk any further. "I understand." He stated plainly as he started to move forward, only to have Kakashi hold up his hand to stop him.

"Not that it needs explaining, but you will not be travelling alone. Several Anbu squads will be watching you, and if you so much as sneeze funny, you will be executed on the spot." Finally looking at him with his lone eye Kakashi spoke the next words with a tone of voice he never heard before. "I would say I'm disappointed in you, but that would require that I actually care for you to some extent. Nor do I pity you. All I can say is that if you're looking for forgiveness by coming here, you won't find it, nor do you deserve it." With that done, Kakashi shunshined away.

Breaking out of his stupor from the words Kakashi said to him, he realised that the streets were empty, with all the windows and doors closed in every building. He was also aware of the sensation that he was being watched, so, not wanting to give anyone a reason to suspect him of added treachery, he started to walk down the street towards the Hokage Tower.

As he continued down the main thoroughfare, he began to pick up movement in the buildings surrounding him. At first it was the sensation of knowing there were people in the buildings watching him, scrutinising him and every action he made. Then he started to hear the hushed remarks being made about him as he passed the buildings.

"I can't believe it."

"Well would you look at that."

"The bastard came back."

"Arrogant prick."

"Dickhead should have stayed away."

"What do you think the Hokage will do?"

"Who knows?"

"I'll tell you what I would do."

"What?"

"Slit his throat."

"Why haven't they arrested him?"

"Look at him, injured and near death."

"You think he wants sympathy?"

"He doesn't deserve it."

"Yeah, he's been nothing but a pain."

"Little shit should just go kill himself."

"That'd saved us some trouble wouldn't it?"

He continued to hear similar comments the whole way to the tower til he finally made it inside the doors which promptly shut behind him.

"I see you finally made it." Walking up to him from the shadows of the empty reception area, Shizune looked him up and down before motioning with an arm to follow her to the far side of the room where an elevator was already waiting.

Getting in, he stood at the back of the elevator, using the wall to support himself, while Shizune pressed the button for the top floor. Shuddering to life, the elevator ascended smoothly, while Shizune kept her back to him the entire time. Then, just before he could speak, it stopped, and Shizune stepped out of the elevator and into the lit hallway.

"Follow me." Moving quickly out of the elevator and into the hallway in an attempt to keep up with her, he racked his brain for a way to speak to Shizune in order to get some information out of her about what was happening.

"We're here." Broken from his thoughts, he stood there staring blankly at her til he realised what she just said.

"Ummm..."

"The Hokage is inside waiting for you." Opening the door, Shizune stared at him til he moved forward and over the threshold into the Hokage's office. He froze. The pair of eyes looking at him had him so transfixed that he didn't even register the door being closed and locked behind him. They were full of pure hatred.

"So he returns." The intensity of the words and amount of killer intent coming from the woman seated behind the desk positioned in the centre of the room froze him, causing his breathing to become shallow and his body to stagger.

Then it was gone and he was able to recompose himself slightly. That was when he noticed the second person in the room, standing to the left of the Hokage's desk, her back facing him. Studying her quickly to ascertain her identity, he noticed two things that made her stand out. First was her long straight midnight blue hair. The second was that her body was shuddering, but only a small amount that if you weren't a trained ninja you wouldn't notice it.

Clearing her throat, the Hokage drew his attention back to her. "So I take it from your current state that your mission was a failure?" Nodding, he watched as the Hokage stood up and walked around the desk to stand in front of it.

"And I take it that after walking through the village you're wondering what is going to happen to you?" He nodded again.

"Well what do you plan to do about the situation to fix it?" Dumbstruck by her question, he couldn't believe it. Was she, offering him a chance to fix this?

"I... I want to fix this, to make things right."

"I see," Looking to the person beside her desk, the Hokage then turned back to him. The smirk she had on her face was that of a hunter catching its prey.

"Well, unfortunately you haven't convinced me. However, it's not me you have to convince." Moving back behind her desk and sitting down, the Hokage continued. "You see, the only reason you're here right now instead of a dark cell with Ibiki and his interrogation squad is because I was convinced to let you come here by this woman." at this the Hokage pointed to her unnamed guest. "So if you want to make things right I'd talk to her."

At this the mysterious woman slowly turned around revealing herself to him. Her beauty left him awestruck as she stood there in a simple white kimono with a light flower pattern, her long, midnight blue hair elegantly trailing down her back and framing her flawless face and skin that made her seem like an angel. But it was her eyes that had his complete attention. They were pure white with a hint of purple, and contained a myriad of emotions that danced beneath her calm exterior fighting for control.

"Do you know who I am Uchiha Sasuke?" Shaking his head, Sasuke tried to keep his composure as stress from his wounds and the venom of her voice when she spoke his assaulted him.

"No, I do not."

"I am Hyuuga Hinata, heir of the Hyuuga clan. Do you know why I'm here?"

Shaking his head again, Sasuke answered in the negative. "I do not know why you are here Lady Hyuuga."

A small smile graced Hinata's lips for a brief second and then was gone.

"That's good. I'm glad to see you at least know how to act properly given the situation." Taking a step forward, Hinata continued. "I am here because my fiancé, Namikaze Naruto, was betrayed by you, leading him to chase you around the country, only to be defeated and then handed over to the Akatsuki, where he is now being held so he can have the Kyuubi extracted from him, which will cause his death."

Taking another step forward, she continued. "And you're here because not only do you have knowledge of how Akatsuki operates, but you also wish to redeem yourself given that you not only betrayed your village, but also the one person who gave his life for you."

Taking one more step forward, Hinata now stood in front of Sasuke. "From the moment you walked into Fire Country, your life has been in my hands. You only breathe here now because I wish it, because there's a slim chance you may be of some use to me. Do you want to be of use to me?"

"Yes, Lady Hyuuga." With those words, Hinata's eyes became hard and her voice became ice.

"Good, then you will be of use to me. You will now swear a blood oath stating your allegiance to me, and that you will do everything in your power to help me rescue Naruto, even if that means giving your own life in the process. With this act, you may be able to redeem yourself and your clan from dark abyss it has fallen into. Will you do this?"

As Sasuke nodded affirmatively the Hyuuga heir revealed a kunai and pricked her left index finger. Noting that Sasuke couldn't use his right arm to perform the same act Hinata also cut Sasuke's left index finger as he raised his left hand to her. Then, once Hinata finished drawing the seal on the back of Sasuke's left hand, Sasuke used that same hand to draw a seal on his exposed skin over his heart.

"I, Uchiha Sasuke, do hereby swear an allegiance to Hyuuga Hinata, to do everything in my power to protect her and to rescue Namikaze Naruto, alive, from the Akatsuki, on pain of my death if I should fail in either of my duties." Finishing the oath, the seal flashed then disappeared from his skin.

Kneeling down slowly as his injuries racked his body from the sudden movement, Sasuke bowed his head to the woman standing in front of him, as she allowed a small smile to grace her lips.

"I am yours to command, Lady Hyuuga."

Reviews, comments, error correction welcome. Thanks for reading.