A/N: This particular bunny has been gnawing me for quite some time...considering the writer's block plaguing me of late, it's a wonder I got it writtten at all! xDD

This is my first foray into the Naruto fandom, so be nice. :3 Flamers shall be gifted a complimentary Katon jutsu.

Oooh, that Sasuke. -growls-

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Echoes

For many people, Team Seven is a repository of old memories, faded reflections and echoes of times gone by.

Kakashi finds in them memories of a childhood he never knew and teammates he swore never to forget. In Sakura, he sees the reflection of Rin, the sweet young medic-nin with her gentle smile and healing hands. The genin with the hair like the cherry blossoms she was named for, is not gentle, nor is she mild. But her hands are as just firm as Rin's as they move through the seals of the healing jutsus, and her smile can light up a dark place just as effectively. Deep within, both girls share the same fire of compassion, and after all, what is the Sharingan for if not for looking beyond the obvious?

Sasuke reminds him eeriely of himself. The boy spends himself in search for power and shuns human contact and friendship. Skill in battle is everything to him, and the raw scars he carries deep within his heart keep him from allowing anyone to reach out to himself. The similarity strikes him anew everytime he watches them train. Inevitably, Naruto will trip over his own feet and make some kind of blunder, which will evoke a sarcastic comment and end in the blonde boy yelling challenges at Sasuke while the Uchiha sighs and makes no effort to hide his contempt. Sometimes, it is difficult to restrain the urge to grab the boy by the shoulders and yell at him not to make the same mistakes he did, not to prize power and ignore the important things.

Finally, Naruto is Obito. From the spiky hair to the goofy jokes and the clumsy, good-natured obnoxiousness, and the orange goggles and orange jumpsuit that demand attention in the same way whenever the wearer enters a room. Both the weak one in the team, both the failures, the outcasts…but both also the fire and life and backbone that spurs the other members on and gives them the strength to do the things they never knew they could. There are other memories as well, embodied in this scrap of a boy with bright eyes and brighter voice. Those of cerulean blue eyes, a foxy grin and untamed blonde hair; the sensei who was the first to teach him that sometimes, rules needed to be broken.

But Sasuke awakens his Sharingan and learns to value his friends, and Naruto and Sakura are still alive, and that similarity ends. Though bitter sweet sadness has befallen the broken team, they did not follow the fate of his, and for that he is glad, though they remain a catalyst that never fails to bring the old memories gushing forth.

For both Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, Team Seven is not so much an echo as a very replica of the team they had been when young (and still innocent). Orochimaru does not waste his time grasping at echoes, he seeks only the way to power, and finds it in the fires of Sasuke's hatred and the depths of desire for vengeance. But the reflection that grows clearer and more similar every day, strikes pain through Tsunade and Jiraiya's hearts and stirs old wounds…wounds that are only freshly inflamed as Sasuke betrays his teammates to follow Orochimaru, and they realize the young genin are following in the doomed footsteps of the Sannin.

Despite their regret and their fear that the doom that befell them shall also devour this young team, they take on the remaining team and continue to shape them into likenesses of themselves. Tsunade teaches Sakura her medical jutsu and the secrets to her powerful strength; Jiraiya trains Naruto in the use of the Rasengan and the summoning jutsu. The reflection is growing clearer and clearer, brighter and harder, and the doom is becoming more sure.

Konoha no Sato is a village built on loss and sacrifice, memories of pain and grief, shadows of loved ones now lost and regrets pf things never done. Still, it is remarkable that so many of those memories should have come to settle on the shoulders of these three young lives, and to bow them under the awesome weight of the fate that came wherein.

But in the end, it is perhaps Team Seven who is closest to the truth.

Some of the memories they awake are known to them, some are none. They respect the sadness and cherish the regrets, but they will not accept the fate. They understand what ninja many times stronger and older than them do not…that reflections are not real, and echoes fade away, and in the end, their fate is theirs and only theirs to make.

That is why Naruto's belief that one day he shall bring Sasuke back and redeem the first friend he ever had, is as blazing strong as his determination to become Hokage. That is why Sakura learns to let go of her foolish young love for Sasuke, and to see Naruto's hidden worth and find in him a friend more staunch than she could have ever imagined. That is why even Sasuke, in his own way, combats the doom hovering over their shoulders when he passes up the chance to kill Naruto and obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Team Seven will not succumb to a path laid before them. They shall carve their own future, and whatever it may be, grief-filled or joyous, it shall be of a greatess never seen before. And most importantly, it shall be their own.

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A/N: Reviewers get cookies :3