AN: Major computer crash here folks, getting my writing bits together gain. Please bear with me or a while. Enjoy.

History Repeats

A Lesson

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When the Hidden Village of the Leaf went to war, there was a team of ninja who were stronger than any other. The squad was feared and respected, the Leaf revered them and the enemy reviled them. Some on all sides of the conflict wished them horrid and painful deaths. The three had been born into a politically unstable time. Tragedy had only passed from the village, and it was not long before war engulfed them. They were still relatively new ninja when first sent into battle.

In spite of their inexperience, it was expected that the ninja would be powerful. They had tremendous potential and one of them was considered a great genius. They had a teacher who was renowned throughout the shinobi world, respected as a genius and had trained under a genius teacher of his own. It had been his first genin team, and it would be his only genin team. The war came and the group was simply too effective as a fighting unit to take veterans off the field to train new recruits.

However, all things are broken in times of war.

The team was disrupted when the Hokage, the revered leader of the Leaf, admired by all for valor and bravery, feared by many for power and recklessness, was struck down. The war lapsed and Konoha fell back under their opponent's onslaught, spurred on by the Hokage's death. Reacting to the tide turning, the leader of the team who slaughtered and carved their way through the enemy took charge, organized the defense and the counterattack.

He took over the place of the previous Hokage, unintentionally, and unwillingly, but there he was, and there was naught to be done for it. If the loss of their teacher deterred the team, they showed no signs of it. They pressed on with savage fury, slaying and laying waste to the enemy. Expressing their feelings of loss in the enemy's bodies it seemed.

Suddenly without having their sensei, the three realized they were no longer children, and that they in turn were doing a disservice by not teaching their skills to the next generation. So, two of them went out to find their students from the children still learning at the ninja academy, while the third reorganized and made the hospital in the hidden leaf efficient once more. The two who took students still went out into battle when they were called, and with their teammate still slaughtered anything between them and victory. But it had been years since they first set out in the war, and they were still trying to help their new apprentices.

The older of the two apprentices soon became a great ninja in his own right, and went with his master out on missions, showing himself to be adept, a master of his skills, and swift of mind to boot. It was not long before that ninja established his own legend and he too became feared by the enemy and revered by his allies. However as mighty as he was, the three original ninja were still stronger together. They got farther, deeper into enemy lines, and came back with better than three kills for every one of his. They were the superior force, and most knew it.

Eventually, the enemy was defeated, and the war was over. At a heavy price to Konoha, but a heavier still price to their opponents. The three ninja returned home, and the solitary hero returned as well. The village settled quickly into peace, weary from the long war and needing rest. The Hokage, too, was tired, exhausted from the drain of war and leadership that he had endured since his predecessor's death. He stepped down and set about selecting his successor.

Now the young hero of the war had been amazing, but he only come into his own near the end of the war. The three ninja had been there throughout the entire affair, and proved their worth early on. Their exploits were tremendous and easily exceeded the young hero's accomplishments. One of the three ninja had made it his purpose in life to be Hokage. He fought hard for that purpose and dreamed of being there to protect the people of Konoha. His teacher and his teammates knew of his dream, and most expected he would be new Hokage.

He was not.

The sudden betrayal he was shown, with the disbanding of his team as a combat unit, embittered him. He withdrew from the social light. All the while his devoted apprentice followed him. This ninja, whose dream was shattered, turned to learning, but what he learned was not accepted, was not desired and the people had no use for his knowledge. When his sensei discovered his means of learning, he was forced to flee the village. Although he had never hurt a citizen of leaf, his experiments required human bodies.

The ninja went to his apprentice and told her what had happened. He explained why he had to leave, being with her completely honest. He gave her the chance to stay behind in Konoha, to fulfill his dream, to be strong and one day perhaps become Hokage. But she refused, and went with him while he moved from country to country. Staying one step ahead of the hunter-nin and establishing bases of operations throughout the world. As time went on he lost his early ambivalence and became even more bitter with Konoha. Coming to hate them and curse their name.

The ninja's teammates were shocked and distraught by his departure. One who regarded him as a brother felt betrayed, and set out to find him. They had asked each other, 'why? What did we do to send him away?' But they knew his dream was shattered, and that he had to find a new dream. They hoped, and prayed, that one day he would return to them and be their friend again. For they had been family before, and family always forgives.

So it was that Uchiha Sasuke left fire country, promising his former teammate Haruno Sakura- who was now Hokage- that he would return with their friend and his brother. He would bring back Uzumaki Naruto, who held the nine-tailed demon fox in his stomach, and whom the villagers cursed and spat upon even when he had been a hero for the village. The man who had slain Orochimaru, had been trained by Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya, Sasuke would find this man and bring him home.

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Author Note: fufufufu…

I do not own Naruto…