Sakura's eyes narrow, trained on the form standing firm in the distance, lit by a daylight which felt rare in the bowels of Orochimaru's hideout. The form was that of Sai, team seven's replacement member and increasingly plausible trator. Her biceps flex in preparation for their imminent confrontation, her legs propelling her forward to the protest of the teammates behind her. The pinkette's hair whips past her ears as she charges down the dispassionate root member, red flashing in her vision as she grabbed him none-too gently by the collar, yanking his eyes away from whatever he'd been staring at and into her piercing gaze. Her anger, surprisingly, dimmed once she'd finally reached him, but was far from quelled.

"What are you really after!?" She hisses, teeth gritted and fist becoming tighter by the moment, her arm jerking him to convey her mood while the other hung poised to strike him, "Just how many times are you gonna stab us in the-!"

"Sakura? Talk about unexpected..." A voice from her left interrupts to the shock of the interrupted, her gaze slowly pulling away form the person clutched in her hands to behold the familiar speaker. Her mouth became dry and wordless, the fire of her rage unceremoniously doused and left pathetically sputtering. Sakura opened her mouth to speak the only word that she could think of in the moment, but nothing came out. Her hold on the boy beside her vanishes completely, her arms dropping to her sides as she peered up at her one-time teammate. The others quickly join her in an attempt to calm her understandable fury, but once there they too are caught in her cold, foreboding awe.

The first who'd joined was a man mid-way into his twenties, average height and build with a scar lining the bridge of his nose. His skin was darkened, and he wore the common chuunin vest over a black shirt and above a pair of simple pants and sandles, a pouch strapped to his leg. The man was Umino Iruka, her past basic studies teacher and current close friend and ally. He shared in her loss of speech. The second was a considerably younger man with jet black hair and a gaze hardened by his vicious early life. He too, was adorned in the common dress for the chuunin with the advent of an Uchiwa-shaped mark on the back. Unlike the previous two, he was able to speak, his one word dire and simple.

"Naruto... " Sasuke whispers, his eyes narrowing as he stared up at the darkened form of the former team seven member, the sun burning in his outline softly enough to leave his features relatively untouched.

"So many old faces! I'm a little overwhelmed... " huffed the young man perched several feet above them, his hand moving to the back of his head as he examined them. His hair was unkempt and a startling yellow, illuminated by the sun at his back. The whisker marks that had once lined his cheek were significantly faded, a compliment to his narrower, darkened eyes. Naruto's lips were upturned in a simple smile, a white kimono hanging on his shoulders and tumbling down into a large purple rope knot securing a similarly colored hakama and a sleek, threatening Shirasaya-style katana. His build was slightly diminished, almost lanky, but he was signifigantly taller than he had been during their last encounter with him. This only seemed to intensify the looming feeling he impressed upon team seven at that very moment.

"To tell the truth, I didn't think you of all people would remember me, Sasuke. But look at that, life still has it's little surprises." The blond hummed politely to the stone-faced Uchiha, sharing his gaze and staring him down a moment before his vision wandered onto the final member of their party.

"And Iruka-sensei, too? Wow, I never thought I'd see you away from the academy, let alone all the way out here. It's pretty dangerous in the field, ya' know? Maybe you should go home... " he continued in a tone that resembled mockery, a tone that the addressed ignored in light of his own hurried reply.

"Where... Where have you been, Naruto!?" Iruka choked out in mixed uncertainty and hope, his eyes piercing into pools of dark blue, "No one's had word of you in-... we were certain you'd died!" His former teacher exclaims painfully, venturing toward his old student. Iruka's advance was slowed to a halt at the low chuckle of his former student, the statement unexpectedly tickling him.

"Oh, I've been very alive. Sorry to disappoint." Naruto finally answered, that sickly smile still painting his face. The air became thick at his unfamiliar demeanor, the casual way he replied causing a fog of tension to hang over them. The reformed team seven suddenly felt out of place, as if they'd been reading a book and skipped an important chapter. Their words felt natural, but his replies hinted at their ignorance. The Naruto they'd once known stood in front of them, older, but the same... and different. As if something in him had been twisted just the wrong way, just enough. Sakura, finding her voice, quickly joins the conversation, her words experimental and unsure.

"We should... go now. All of us, back home. Everyone will want to see you... Everyone will want to know you're alive." she said, peering up at a now bemused Naruto.

"Home?" Naruto replies in mock confusion, his head swiveling back and forth to draw attention to the scenery around them, his eyes returning to her a moment later, "The only one's who're away from home here are you guys. And taking me anywhere isn't part of the plan. Do you really expect me to believe that you don't even know why you're here?" he said, his tone darkening slightly as his gaze flickered to the Root member in their presence, this action drawing the eyes of the others to him as well. Sakura, who'd since had quite enough of his secrecy, flashed him a dangerous look, one that demanded answers which he solemnly provides.

"This mission is officially to raid Orochimaru's current hideout and dispatch him, kill him if possible." Sai recited, his eyes shifting away from theirs as he continued, "The assignment for the Root division of team seven is to assassinate the fugitive known as Uzumaki Naruto for safety of the village. As the fact that he lives and does so as a missing nin is unknown to the general public, so too must be the task of... removing him." Sai finished, Sakura glowering at him while the others looked on incredulously, unsure of the extent of root's obsession till that very moment. Danzo's methods were morally ambiguous to be polite, but to go this far?

It took a moment, but Sakura finally tore herself from the root member, a mix of disgust and desperation churning her stomach
as she faced her old teammate, who'd already replied.

"Oh wow, you really didn't know. How... fitting." said Naruto, again tickled by the situation as he chose the last word. Iruka, noticeably disturbed by his tone and the situation they were in, could do nothing to halt dark possibilities flooding his mind as he spoke up.

"None of that matters, Naruto." Iruka whispers, his chest tightening with hope and fear, "If you come back... if you come back then none of that will matter. You might be reprimanded, but, you'd be alive! You could still-" Iruka stumbled out desperately as he squeezed his pantlegs in his hands, Naruto's interruption stopping him in his tracks.

"Jeez, you're making this a little... difficult, sensei." Naruto hummed dejectedly, pulling his gaze away from his old teacher as he thought of a way to convey the reality of the situation. It doesn't take long.

"I'm not going back... " Naruto stated simply, a subtle smile playing on his face as the crushing finality of his statement turned team seven's insides cold, his eyes trained on his teacher's slow realization with mild curiosity. This was the second time that they'd been rendered speechless by the events quickly unfolding. However, this time it was much, much worse. Confusion, hope and joy and been replaced with dread, disbelief and horror.

"Why? Why here? And him, Orochimaru off all people... " Iruka chokes out, his eyes scanning the ruble littered ground around him as he desperately tried to find a rationale. "It's that thing, isn't it?" Iruka whispers, his hands tensing on his pant legs again as his memories flood back, "You've been talking to it, haven't you? You've been talking to it and it's twisted you into... Into... Something I can't recognize!" Iruka cried weakly, his hands trembling slightly as tears filled his eyes, all audience to the blond who continued to look on with morbid interest as the conversation turned to the Kyuubi.

"You say that, but he's really not so bad." Naruto returns matter-of-factually, Iruka trying in vain to shut out what he was saying, "He told me this really funny joke once. You like jokes, don't you Iruka?" Naruto said, crouching slightly and taking a seat where he'd perched above them, his legs hanging haphazardly below him. Sakura approaches Iruka and places a hand on his shoulder, her old teacher's plight reaching her and his state demanding some manner of attention.

"Stop me if you've heard this one. Once upon a time, there was a Hokage. The fourth, to be exact." Naruto begin, Iruka's eyes widening slightly as he predicted the subject that Naruto was ultimately about to delve, "He was a ninja, and he lived peacefully in this village. Konoha, it was called. Well, one day, on the cusp of his son's birth as a matter of fact, his village was attacked by a frightening demon. While the fourth Hokage's power was great, he was totally unable to defeat it through brute force. So, with his dying breath, the forth Hokage sacrificed what remained of his life, and used his only son as an anchor to seal the demon away. Content in protecting his village and ensuring that his son, too, would lead a rich life as the village's hero, he died, leaving Konoha to take care of him." Naruto said, a grim sense of anticipation building in him, and so too building in the listeners, as only one of them had known the truth. It was a story they'd heard a hundred times before, but not quite in this fashion, and certainly not with a clandestine birth.

"Unfortunately," Naruto continues, his eyes glazing slightly in reverie, "Things don't quite go as planned. The village is saved, of course. And the Kyuubi is sealed, of course. However, as his child grows, the village's gratitude wears off. No longer content with the lives that were saved, they dwell on the lives that were lost. And the child?" Naruto asked, his eyes shifting as another sickly smile tugged at his lips, "They wouldn't spit on him if he was burning alive." He adds with an uncharacteristic sobriety, his body shifting uncomfortably above them.

The cogs in the collective mind of team seven begin to turn, answers that they'd pondered for a fraction of their young lives suddenly clicking together. The demon that had vanished, the boy that was scorned, the secret that was kept, it all fit. And it did so right in front of them, in the form their former friend and teammate. Naruto continues, placing his hand up suddenly and shaking it, a pathetic grin tugging at his features.

"No no! Don't laugh yet! Almost there." Naruto exclaimed in mock comedy. "One day, when the boy is all alone, as usual, a voice comes to him. Whispers to him in the day and night. Tells him all about the circumstances of his birth and where he comes from. All about his heroic father and his sweet mother who gave everything, everything for him and their village to survive. The same village that continued to widdle away their pitiful, weak existance. Content in living on the corpses of their fallen stars. Content in wasting their lives away in drink and sex and murder all the while crushing their son's face under their shoes as they cursed him." Naruto hissed, the topic raising the ire in his blood, "Content in wasting my mother and father's sacrifice just so they could survive." He whispers, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"So, One day, when the voice in his head becomes deafening and the miserable, feeble desires of the rotten village become too much for him to handle, he leaves. Without a word or a sound, he leaves them in their darkness, and doesn't return."

"Naru-" Sakura began, stepping forward in an attempt to stop his ghastly anecdote, even though she knew that in his heart he was beyond reasoning. There was no sweet sentiment or apology or plea that would move him from this and solve all of his problems. Certainly not now in the least, not now, which is why he uncaringly continues through her.

"No, no. Not yet. Don't laugh yet. Here comes the punchline." Naruto said, commanding, warning her more than interrupting, "So, he leaves, gone in an instant. The Jinchuriki is gone. No one can find him, and no one knows where he went or where he's going or what he's doing. They're swallowed by fear." Naruto whispers, the quiet, casual whimsy in his voice returning as he throws his arms up into the air, his eyes suddenly tainting red with black slitted pupils, now resembling a monster's more than a mans, "Now they can't stop looking for him! Suddenly they can't stop paying attention to him! He's all they can think about!" he exclaims, letting his arms fall back to his sides.

"They send for him every day at all hours, searching for him. They send specialists, assassins. They even send unwitting friends to happen upon him, anyone they can get to find him, and take him, and bring him all the way back. All the way back to 'home sweet home'... " he finishes, a deafening silence engulfing his solemn-faced audience, the third and final bitter-sweet pause to be had.

Unfortunately, the silence doesn't last long. What followed was much worse. Naruto laughed. It was loud, slow, deliberate, as if he was extracting some form of pleasure from every moment reguardless of the fact that the act was far from genuin. His voice echoed in the tunnel to their left, rattling it in their heads and filling the scenery around them with the grim, terrible sound. It went on forever, on and on and on until finally, it stopped. The source of the sound let his head fall limply as he took a deep breath and regained himself, his next words coming out softly, but venomously.

"... what? You didn't like it? Wierd... " he whispered, lifting his head to scowl down at them, his blood red eyes filled with a hate they'd never seen, least of all in someone they'd once considered their friend. "It was the funniest thing I'd ever heard... " he whispered between clenched teeth, setting his palms at his sides and lifting himself from where he sat to his feet. Again he loomed over them, his transformation into what he'd become in his absence complete, eyes glowing inhumanly scarlet as his hand slowly shifted upwards and curled around his sword.

"Sakura, Iruka, Sai!" Sasuke warns hastily, pulling a Kunai from his leg pouch and poising himself for what was about to come, Sai doing the same with his baton. Iruka and Sakura, however, were completely absorbed in what they were witnessing, no longer able to break themselves away from the ghastly reality in front of them. They heard, and they watched, but couldn't react, not anymore. Naruto's blade shines as threateningly as his gaze, his arms and legs tensing in anticipation.

"Oh, and about that going homething from before, I've changed my mind, Iruka." Naruto reminds, his form flashing from the ledge with blinding speed to join them below, his arm falling on Iruka's shoulder opposite of Sakura's own as he fully unsheathed his blade in a reverse grip, the scene that happened to them moving in slow motion. Sasuke shouts desperately, his own burst of speed propelling him towards Sakura, Iruka, and the newly arrived Naruto, but not fast enough, not nearly enough to arrive in time. Naruto's lips part again, his words slithering from his lips in suppressed animosity.

"You're not going home, ever... "

_
Author's Note:

What I wanted more than anything in this story was to delve into what would have happened if Naruto and Sasuke's lives has
been altered just a bit. As stated many times in the show, it's quite possible that Naruto and Sasuke's roles could have been
reversed, and I wanted to represent, as accurately as I could, a scenario in which that happened. But, seeing as Naruto and
Sasuke are different people, I didn't want to write a 'Naruto, but pretty much Sasuke' story. Where I saw Sasuke as cold,
uncaring and vengeful, I wanted to see Naruto in a fashion that twisted who he already was as a person, making him bitter,
resentful and even a little sadistic. Not too different from a younger Gaara in that respect, as early on the Kyuubi had
similar motives to that of Shukaku, and would lend a lot to who Naruto turned into as he would be his only real confidant
when he was alone.

As such, I found myself with the Naruto I've written into this story. One who's turned his personal pain into disgust at the
injustice he feels from having lost his parents to the people who largely mistreated him, and not the mindless Kyuubi who was
simply being used by Tobi like a sword. I also wanted to leave much of the early part of the story up to the interpretation
of the reader, only keeping the fact that Naruto left the village early, perhaps even before the Chuunin exams, as a static
plot point.

I'm not a very good writer, and doesn't help that the program I used to write this kinda' messed up the formatting which I did my best to fix. But I did really want to write this. I've gone over it a few times, but If there are in serious grammar errors, I apologize. I'm not quite sure if I want to continue this or leave it as a short, sweet twist on the story, so I'll leave it open and read the comments concerning continuing it. As of now, this story is considered 'complete'. Thank you for reading, and please review!