For One More Chance
Chapter 1: The Ruins
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Notes: This is just a scene I've had floating around in my mind for a long while. I've actually had this written for some time, but I just recently found it again. I decided to give it a bit of an update and do something with it. I hope you enjoy it!
Kakashi stood in the middle of the ruined village street, staring remorsefully down at the broken body of one of his first students, his uncovered Sharingan permanently burning the scene into his memory.
Sakura's lifeless body sat in the street, shattered and forgotten in the chaos of the still raging battle that had claimed so many lives already. Her face was an ashen gray, devoid of its usual liveliness, and her natural beauty was marred by blood and the unrelenting grip of death.
A huge explosion rocked the ground a distance away, and a familiar, almost overwhelming chakra rushed over him. He paid it no mind. Nothing outside of the fact that one of his students was dead mattered to him anymore. He had failed her, just as he had failed so many others that he had cared about.
The silver-haired man heard someone land roughly on the ground a few feet behind him, but he didn't shift his gaze from Sakura's body. "I've failed them all, Guy. I was never worthy of being a jonin sensei."
The usually energetic Guy chanced a glance in the direction of the explosion as he solemnly walked over to the silver haired ninja. He placed a hand on the copycat's shoulder in an attempt to reassure his longtime friend and rival. "You did the best you could. Circumstances just weren't kind to them."
The legendary ninja solemnly shook his head. "No, I didn't do the best I could. I was so focused on trying to keep Sasuke in the village that I outright ignored Naruto and Sakura's training. Even then, Sasuke left the first chance he got. I should've known that there wasn't anything I could have done to stop him, and I never should've ignored the other two's training. This is all my fault."
Guy opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted when a giant, orange kitsune leg came crashing down a few yards away. The taijutsu master jumped back at the sudden appearance of the mythical kitsune. He looked up at the Kyubi, fear and respect mingling on his face.
He now fully understood why it was so feared. The sheer power of the monster's chakra alone was almost suffocating, and its eyes were filled with nothing but malice. They needed to leave. Now.
Guy looked over at the other jonin. He had not reacted at all. "Kakashi, we need to get out of here!"
The Kyubi glared down at the two and bared his teeth. A low, menacing growl issued forth from it's throat.
The silver-haired ninja's only response was to slowly look up at the Kyubi. Pain and remorse clearly visible on his face. "I'm sorry…Naruto."
The giant kitsune roared and lunged at him.
"Kakashi, move!" Guy yelled out as he tried to react in time to help his friend. Even after many years of training his body far beyond it's limits, the veteran ninja just wasn't fast enough.
'I'm not going to make it!' He thought in horror as the giant fox's mouth sped down at Kakashi. Time seemed to slow down for Guy as he watched, what he believed to be, the death of one of his longtime friends.
"Kamui." Moments before the Kyubi's razor sharp teeth made contact with Kakashi, there was the signature warping of space-time of the copycat's attack. A second later, a huge shock-wave of extremely powerful chakra exploded outward, forcing everything back with immense force.
Guy covered his face with his arms in surprise as he flew backwards into one of the few remaining standing walls in Konoha. He ignored the sharp pain he felt in his back and scanned the ruined street where his friend and the demon had been.
There was nothing there except for the rubble of a once powerful hidden village and the bodies of their dead. "What just happened?"
Notes: I really don't have much beyond this thought out, but I think that this would be an interesting fic to write. Opinions? I'm thinking of having this story have much shorter chapters that will be released with more frequency than TTAFR. I'm hoping that if I get stuck on TTAFR, I could work on this story and then go back to TTAFR with a fresh mind. Just as a word of warning, this story will have Naruto and Hinata as a pairing. I'm open to pairings other than that. Just tell me what you want. Anyway, thank you for reading! Have a great day!
Edited on October 10, 2011: A quick polishing.