The Third was dead.

Naruto hadn't been there to see, but everyone was saying he sacrificed himself to save the Leaf. Apparently, Orochimaru had used a forbidden jutsu to revive the First and Second Hokage. Naruto didn't know the details, but by the end of the encounter, Orochimaru had fled the village, the surviving Sound ninja had retreated, the Sand had surrendered – and the Third was dead.

That was what he kept coming back too.

Naruto had never really experienced this type of loss before. He'd lost his parents on the day he was born, after all; he'd been more or less alone for most of the time after that. It was only recently, with his graduation from the Academy and promotion to genin, that he'd had people working their way into his life on a more permanent basis. Iruka, Kakashi, Konohamaru, Sakura, even Sasuke - he finally felt like he was starting to really get his life together… which was why the Third's death hit him so hard. Having fought so hard and for so long to finally build these bonds with the people around him, suddenly, shockingly discovering exactly how fragile they were broke something, deep down. The Third was the closest thing to family Naruto had had for most of his life, and now he was gone.

Naruto wanted a family. He wanted his family. Maybe it was childish, this longing he had. He didn't know. What he did know was that he wanted to meet his parents. He wanted to laugh and cry and live with his mother and father. But he couldn't. They were dead, long dead, and he'd never even been told their names. And while chakra could do a lot of things, he'd never heard of a jutsu that could bring back the dead.

.

.

.

Waaaaait a minute.

Stealing the scroll was a lot easier than it should have been, really, but he supposed that the ANBU could be forgiven for having other matters on their mind. Most of the village forces were guarding the village borders. The recent attack had left the village vulnerable, and they were more concerned about any enemies who might decide this was a good opportunity than they were an unwatched genin making his way through the darkness.

Besides, this was hardly the first time he'd stolen a scroll.

Getting out of the village might be a bit harder, though.

He crouched in the shadows near a hole in the wall that hadn't been their prior to the invasion. He couldn't see anyone, but he didn't doubt that there would be ANBU watching carefully. He couldn't risk getting caught. Shuffling back into the darkness a little more, he brought up his hands and silently made the signs to summon three shadow clones. The clones activated a basic transformation jutsu to disguise themselves as the three Sound ninja he remembered from the Chunin Exams. There were probably some details wrong, but it would suffice. He sent the three clones out through the hole in the wall, sprinting off into the darkness with more focus on speed than stealth. Sure enough, he just caught a flicker of shadow moving after them – ANBU, he was certain. The clones wouldn't last long before being caught. He'd told them to split up, in order to buy as much time as possible, so he gave them a couple of seconds, and he made his own move. This was largely going to be based on luck, now. Desperately hoping that there weren't any more ANBU watching, Naruto sprinted off into the darkness of the forest. He didn't really have an exact idea of where he was going. He just knew he never wanted to lose anybody again – and that with the edo tensei, he'd never have to.

It took two days for anyone to realise Naruto had disappeared. With the report of three Sound ninja attempting to escape, and revealing themselves to be clones when confronted, it was assumed that Orochimaru had taken the container of the Kyuubi as a consolation prize. It was a further four days before anybody noticed the missing scroll. The thought that Naruto may have been involved never even crossed anyone's mind.

Crouched down in an abandoned farmhouse, several days journey from Konoha, Naruto was scowling down at the scroll.

"Kill someone? I need to kill someone for every person I try to revive? Hrrrr…"

He grimaced. He wasn't sure he was up to that. He was all for sorting out this jutsu – saving his family, bringing back the Third, never needing to worry about losing anyone he cared about again – but this seemed like a high cost. Perhaps he hadn't thought this through. He set the scroll down and thought.

"Well, I guess it makes sense… I mean, it's like an exchange… take a life to get a life. But I can't just go around killing random people…" Suddenly, he brightened. "Ah! Bandits, and Missing-nin, and stuff! They only hurt people anyway. My family deserves to live more than they do. That'd be okay". He nodded to himself, pleased. He was excited for this to work. He couldn't stop thinking about his family! Of course, he'd need to find out who they were, first… and even if he did, he didn't want his first test of the jutsu to be on someone he really cared about. This was important. He needed to perfect the jutsu before he used it like that. Of course, that brought up a whole new issue. Who was he going to bring back first?

He thought about it. Whoever it was, it should be someone he knew, at least partially – he needed to know that their personality remained intact. Did he know of anyone who'd died recently? Other than the Third? He frowned.

Then he smiled.

That'll work, he thought, face splitting into a grin. That'll work very well.