This story is dedicated to chronos guardian.



I do not own any of the characters in this story.



A man with matted blond hair that had once shone with a brightness to rival the sun walked the deserted streets of what was once a thriving village. The wind whistled eerily through the fire gutted houses and an old school where you could have once seen children training to become deadly weapons. He stopped beside a large gate whose grandeur was lost on the poor souls trapped within its confines. Not that ever saw, as they were all comfortably snug in the ground sleeping peacefully, or not into eternity.

His feet scraped over the ground as he slowly made his presence known in this most holy of places. Dull blue eyes skimmed over names that had been lovingly carved into the stones jutting from the ground. He was the only one here now, but what he wouldn't give to have let the villagers succeed in their endeavors when he was younger. He slowly drifted away to the one place where he had ever felt truly happy. The view of the smoldering city below him made his chest ache with regret. If only he had been stronger. The view below would be so different than what his tired eyes saw now.

They were gone. Killed, because he had dragged Sasuke back and then he left. He had left them to their death. They had died and he had come back too late to save anyone. No one was left to carry on the power of youth, or the extraordinary strength of an angry baa-chan. Never again would he hear the degrading hn, or the tired sighs of a genius. The colorful pink hair was now a dull brown covered with the dirt of this beloved city and all three of his sensei had died protecting the home he had abandoned to it's fate.

Blood slowly trickled out of the deep wound in the blond man's side as he toppled from the mountain with the faces of a culture that would fade into myth… never to be found.

"Naruto you baka, were going to leave you behind", faded into the distance as the tortured being finally found a way to be among those that he had left behind.


No flames are allowed for this story. Review if you have something to say.