Eternal Repetition

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter One: Eternal Repetition

Disclaimer: I am a student. I live in America. I can't draw fight scenes to save my life. What on earth makes you think that I could own Naruto?! But, I do own the poem that appears at the end of this chapter. At least I have something.

Full summary: Team Seven: the eternal dying flame of Konohagakure. The tale began with the Sannin, the very first team in a long and bitter tradition. They'd been the hope of the village, until Orochimaru left. It happened again with the Team Seven to which Hatake Kakashi was assigned, under the tutelage of Namikaze Minato. This time no one left the village, but Uchiha Obito was killed at the age of thirteen, bringing an end to the days of the team. Now, the mantle has been passed on. A new Team Seven has come to Konoha. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke, the second generation of Sannin. They are the final hope in a legacy that has gone on for far too long, a legacy of death, betrayal, and sorrow. Their predecessors have always learned from the mistakes of the past, determined not to make the same errors. But, no matter how much they learned… it was never enough for them to be able to save themselves. Maybe this time it will be. SasuSaku, NaruHina, NejiTen, InoShikaTema.

A/N: For the purposes of the story, please pretend that the Sannin's team number was seven. I don't know what it actually was, but for the sake of the story I'm saying that it was seven. It would be pleasantly ironic if it actually was.

It started long ago. They were three of the most powerful shinobi in history, tutored by the Sandaime Hokage and christened with the title of 'Sannin' by Hanzo, the formidable leader of Amegakure. It had seemed as though they were unbeatable, gods among shinobi, immune to the struggles of mere mortals. Every sensei's dream was to produce disciples as fine as these. Konoha had had high hopes for them. Then, something happened to change all of that. Something managed to shatter seemingly unbreakable bonds, bonds that had been forged in childhood and strengthened with the passage of years.

Orochimaru left the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

It had been a dark and stormy and horribly cliché night when Sarutobi headed a squad of ANBU into the depths of the village, determined to find whoever it was who had been causing the disappearances of villagers and bring them to justice, or to die trying. They had burst through the door of a seemingly abandoned building where, according to the rumors, the abductor had his lair. They had been completely unprepared for who they would find. Everyone had anticipated that it would be some enemy of Konoha using genjutsu to lull unsuspecting villagers into a false sense of security and convince them to follow him to their deaths. They had all been prepared for this scenario. Every single member of the squad had been hand picked due to their exceptional resistance to genjutsu. What no one had prepared for was for the abductor to be one of their own. What everyone had been even less prepared for was for it to be Orochimaru, the potential candidate for the title of Fourth Hokage.

The man stood at the opposite end of a long room, his back to them. Even now, it wasn't hard to identify him; only one man in the village had that long black hair and malevolent chakra.

"I've finally been caught," he leered in his snake-like voice, seemingly unconcerned by the matter. He turned, exposing his face to them and clearing up his identity beyond all shadow of a doubt. "How disappointing."

"Orochimaru. What is the meaning of this?" his teacher, Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, asked, apparently calm despite the gravity of the situation.

"I set a lot of booby traps, but it seems they were bypassed…" Orochimaru informed them, appearing to take pleasure in denying them the answers they sought. "I was surprised, but I see why now. It was you."

"People have started turning up missing lately in the village; Genins, Chuunins, even ANBU members. Also, we received information that you were acting weird recently," one of the ANBU stated.

"Orochimaru-sama, why is a great ninja like you doing this?" the other ANBU demanded to know.

"Shall I kill you too?" the snake-man asked, once again ignoring all questions directed at him. The ANBU gasped in shock at the threat, and Sarutobi spoke.

"Orochimaru, so you were behind all of that," he stated, no longer questioning now that his student had all but confessed to the murders. "Spill it! What are you doing here?"

"Now that you've caught me red-handed, I guess lying won't help," Orochimaru said. "I was developing… a new technique."

"Orochimaru, is that why you killed fellow village ninja?" the first ANBU asked.

"A forbidden technique, eh?" the Sandaime Hokage said, his eye closed in thought. He opened it to stare at his pupil as he continued. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Everything," was the reply.

"Everything?" The light above them flickered ominously as teacher glared at student, all traces of their usual bond absent.

"I want to master all techniques, and understand the truth of this world. The one who mixed blue and yellow for the first time called the new color green. I want to do something similar to that. If blue represents chakra, yellow represents seals. And green represents the technique. As there are many different colors, there are tens of thousands of techniques in this world. But to master all existing techniques and understand the truth, that requires a lot of time. The person who spends that amount of time, and understands everything, is worthy of being called the ultimate being. To me, the body's lifespan is too short. It's too transient. Even if I were a Hokage, everything would end after I died."

"Orochimaru, is the technique that you were researching here…" his teacher cut in.

"Yes, you probably have the right idea." Orochimaru leered evilly, increasing the already tense atmosphere tenfold. "A technique dealing with eternal youth and immortality."

Water dripped somewhere nearby, the only sound in the room. The three Konoha ninja stared numbly at their former comrade, awed that someone who appeared so good could turn out to be so bad. The ANBU tensed, prepared to leap forward and attack at a moment's notice as Orochimaru stepped forward.

Eyes… Sarutobi thought, Eyes that had malice and ambition; I knew that he had those within him. I knew, and I pretended not to notice. It was still an era of war, and he was strong. A genius filled with potential. A once-in-a-decade genius. That's why I wanted to believe that you would inherit my power and will. But my optimism created that, and this situation. He formed a hand seal, preparing to attack the man before him despite their bond.

"Are you going to kill… me?" his pupil asked, obviously doubting in his teacher's ability to follow through with the threat. Sarutobi replied by biting his thumb deep enough to draw blood and continuing with the sequence of hand signs required for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The monkey king, Enma, appeared in the room beside the Third. The ANBU took a step forward, nerves on edge as they prepared for the imminent clash.

"But can you do that…?" Orochimaru asked again. "Sarutobi-sensei?!" He preformed his own sequence of hand signs, creating a wind that shattered the glass in the light above them. When it passed, the two ANBU lay dead and Orochimaru was on the other side of the room, now closer to the doorway than his teacher was. Sarutobi had not even batted an eye.

"Kill him, Sarutobi!" Enma cried. "Now is your only chance!" The Third Hokage stood completely still, not making any move to stop his former pupil's escape. Orochimaru turned to look at his old teacher one last time. To his teacher, the man looking back at him was not the deranged criminal they had met tonight. He could only remember the strong young shinobi who had so eagerly taken to his training. Orochimaru turned away, and was gone.

"I couldn't kill him," Sarutobi stated. It was the first failure, the first of a great many failures made by the teams over the years. This first failure was the bond between teacher and student, and the teacher's inability to completely sever that bond. It was this failure that allowed Orochimaru to live to return to the village many years later, during his Operation: Destroy Konoha, and eventually kill his old sensei.

As Orochimaru fled the village, he was met by Jiraiya. The white haired pervert attempted to stop his friend from leaving, attempting to persuade him to stay, just as Sakura would with Sasuke many years later.

"Why?" he cried at the retreating snake Sannin. "Why are you…? We were called the Sannin. Haven't we been comrades since we were young?" His former comrade chuckled, apparently amused by his friend's pain.

"You've always been a simple-minded man, Jiraiya. You never think enough before you act. That's why you never noticed what I was doing…"

"Won't you think this over more, Orochimaru?"

"Ridiculous! There is a limit to stupidity!" he cried, rushing at Jiraiya with the obvious intent of attacking and even killing, if it came to that.

He had won. Even before he defeated Jiraiya, he had won. He had won from the minute that he decided of his own free will to leave behind the village in pursuit of his own ideals. Because as soon as he had made that decision, as soon as he had decided that he didn't want to be rescued, he had already been beyond hope. The time of the Sannin was over. They Legendary Three were no more. And the legacy of the Team Seven of Konohagakure had begun.

The next time it had been Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, and Rin who made up the team. The emotionless genius, the class clown, and the medic-nin/ kunoichi, respectively. Their sensei had been Namikaze Minato (the Fourth Hokage, for anyone who hasn't read the semi-recent manga, or just forgot that), a former pupil of Jiraiya's, the man who was thought to be the greatest shinobi produced by any village in generations. They were not granted such a grand title as 'Sannin,' but they were a powerful force nonetheless. Kakashi became a Jounin at the age of thirteen, Obito was of the legendary Uchiha clan, and Rin was a medic talented enough to perform field surgery without killing her patients. (A/N: In Kakashi Gaiden, she managed to transplant Obito's Sharingan into Kakashi's damaged eye socket without killing either of them.) They had been the second hope, and surely they could not go as wrong as their predecessors? How wrong that hope was.

The disaster had struck when they were all thirteen, on a mission to blow up a bridge in the Earth Country. Kakashi had been assigned to head this mission in Minato's stead, as a reward for his recent promotion to Jounin rank. The mission had gone well enough in the beginning, true, but they had not gotten too close to their goal before disaster struck. Rin was kidnapped by Iwagakure (Hidden Stone) ninja and tortured for information through the usage of genjutsu. Obito had insisted upon rescuing her from the start, but Kakashi was adamant in his refusal, saying that those who don't follow the rules are trash. Obito countered by saying that those who would abandon their comrades are worse than trash, and disobeyed Kakashi's direct orders by leaving anyway. He mounted an unsuccessful rescue attempt, but was ambushed and on the verge of being killed when Kakashi arrived to save him. The silver haired Jounin managed to save Obito from certain death, and the two joined forces for the purpose of rescuing Rin.

It looked like the team would make it through. It seemed as though this time, after only one repetition, the cycle could be broken, and Team Seven could have the happy ending that they so desired. But that was not to be the case.

Soon after his arrival, Kakashi lost his right eye in an attempt to protect Obito from an Iwagakure ninja's attack. The Uchiha started crying over his teammate's sacrifice, for which Kakashi reprimanded him. Taking the words to heart, Obito attacked the enemy ninja, awakening his Sharingan in the process. The two continued on, arriving at the cave in which Rin was held captive with the intent of refusing to leave without her in tow. At first it appeared that they would be able to beat their opponents by combining Obito's newly awakened kekkei genkai with Kakashi's usual brilliance on missions. However, the other shinobi specialized in Douton ninjutsu, giving him a definite advantage in their current setting. Using the Douton! Iwa Yado Kuzushi! Technique (Earth Release! Rock Lodgment Destruction!), he managed to make the cave cave in on them, no pun intended. A rock hit Kakashi on his blind side as they retreated, causing the young shinobi to fall. Obito barely managed to push him out of the way as a massive bolder fell just above him. When the dust cleared, Kakashi was safe. Obito had pushed him clear of the boulder. The only price was that the immense stone had fallen upon him instead. Rin could do nothing for him; this was far beyond the abilities of a thirteen-year-old Chuunin level medic-nin. Obito… would die. Before his teammates were forced to leave the wreckage, he gave his Sharingan to Kakashi as a gift to replace the eye that had been lost saving him. Rin preformed the surgery, and Kakashi emerged from the destroyed cave as the sole non-Uchiha bearer of the Sharingan eye. The Iwagakure ninja had foolishly decided to remain in the area, waiting for them just outside of the wreckage. His eye as red as the blood that had just been spilled, Kakashi charged forwards, vengeance shining in his eyes. Using his now-perfected Chidori, he quickly ended the man's life. With a final farewell, Kakashi and Rin left Obito behind, continuing on toward the bridge that had been their original mission.

Thus, for the second time, Team Seven met a tragic end. What should have been lifelong bonds were cruelly shattered in youth as one member was taken from them. Soon after, Rin died as well, leaving Kakashi alone. The second end had come far too soon.

It was thirteen more years until the next Team Seven passed the Academy's graduation exams and became Genin of Konohagakure no Sato. This time, they were headed by Hatake Kakashi, the sole surviving member of the previous Team Seven and currently the only one who had been part of such a team left in the village. The new batch appeared promising: Uzumaki Naruto, who, though he did not yet know it, was in fact the Kyuubi no Jinchuuriki (Human Sacrifice of the Nine Tails); Haruno Sakura, the most intelligent kunoichi in their year, who had achieved a score of 100 on every written test they had taken at the Academy; and Uchiha Sasuke, the survivor of the Uchiha clan and self-proclaimed avenger, who was recognized as a ninja genius even then. Maybe this time, they would be strong enough to escape the tragedies that had befallen their predecessors. Maybe this time, Team Seven could have a happy ending.

A year passed. The young team was given their first C-ranked mission (which turned out to be A-ranked): the Land of Waves assignment. Sakura displayed her exceptional chakra control, mastering the tree climbing exercise on her first try. Sasuke awakened his Sharingan during his battle with Haku, and displayed his willingness to sacrifice his life to protect his comrades. Naruto partially released the seal for the first time, drawing upon the chakra of the Kyuubi in his rage at Sasuke's apparent death, succeeding in defeating Haku with its help. However, he displayed his humanity by refusing to kill the other boy, recognizing him as the kid he had met earlier that day. Haku died anyway when he saved Zabuza from Kakashi's Raikiri (Lightening Blade), something that had been regretted ever since. Upon seeing that Naruto was still alive, Sakura rejoiced and asked where Sasuke was. Naruto couldn't bear the thought of being the one who had to tell her what had happened to the Uchiha, and instead turned away from her expectant face, tears in his eyes. She saw this, and was able to tell what it meant. Her precious Sasuke-kun had died. With Tazuna accompanying her, she ran to his body, stopping dead at the sight of it. Here, she broke, disobeying the twenty-fifth principal of shinobi conduct and crying over his loss. The sound of it was heart-wrenching, renewing Naruto's sense of grief and guilt over his teammate's loss.

Beneath Sakura's sobbing form, a heart began to beat again, and the onyx eyes of Uchiha Sasuke opened. Haku in turn had displayed his humanity in his turn by sparing Sasuke, merely placing him in a death-like state from which he awakened after a short while. The team had not been broken. There was still hope for this third try.

The rookie squad was then enrolled in the Chuunin exams, where they displayed their strength, becoming one of only seven squads to pass the first two parts of the exam. It was here that they were exposed to the darkness for the first time. During their time in the Forest of Death, the three encountered Orochimaru, who branded Sasuke with the Curse Seal of Heaven. The curse nearly killed the boy, leaving him unconscious and in intense pain. Naruto had been knocked out as well by the snake, leaving Sakura to defend herself from the three Otonin assigned to kill Sasuke. After watching as Lee sacrificed himself in an attempt to protect her, she finally moved to fight for herself. In the battle, she was forced to cut away the hair that she had grown long in a vain attempt to impress Sasuke, finally casting aside her pathetic fangirl side and becoming a kunoichi. It had been during the Chuunin Exams that they all began to change from wild little kids into true ninja.

Their next milestone had been the fight with Gaara, during the Suna and Oto invasion of Konoha. That battle had offered definite proof of how much they all meant to each other. They had been willing to die for one another. It was this desperation that drove Naruto on, forcing him to unlock his greatest power yet. Pushed to the limits by his need to save Sakura from the punishing clutches of Gaara's sand, he summoned the power of the Kyuubi, even more than he had during his Chuunin Exam fight with Hyuuga Neji. Sasuke was in equal parts awed and envious of this power, but suppressed the envy for the moment; Naruto needed to be this powerful if they were to have a hope of survival. When Naruto finally defeated Gaara, and the sand crumbled away, Sasuke caught Sakura as she fell. He had been powerless to protect them. All he could do now was to catch her as she fell, after Naruto had accomplished the real task of freeing her. But he suppressed this feeling of discontent. Sakura was alive, and Naruto was alive, and he was alive, and that was all that mattered. For now, Naruto had saved them, and that was all that mattered.

Barely a month passed before Sasuke was given a chance to redeem himself. Uchiha Itachi had returned to the village, and his goal was to capture Naruto. This was the chance that Sasuke had so desired. Not only could he prove his superiority to the blond, but it was Uchiha Itachi. His revenge could finally be at hand. That thought had been firmly in his mind as he arrived, declaring his challenge to the elder Uchiha. It had managed to remain for only the brief few moments at the beginning of their fight, before it was replaced by another, darker thought. This other thought was a painful realization. During his fight with his sibling, his chance to finally accomplish his revenge after five long years, Sasuke was forced to face the bitter truth: during those five years, nothing had changed. Once again, all he could do was take the beatings Itachi delivered to him, screaming in both physical and mental agony. Itachi's Tsukuyomi had not been necessary to win the fight. From the moment that he realized his apparent lack of growth, Sasuke had already been defeated.

When Tsunade returned to the village and revived Sasuke, it had seemed as though things could go back to normal now. Sasuke would recover quickly, and everything would be fine. But that was not to be the case. Sasuke's mind was haunted by the memory of his recent failure. The knowledge that he had been so powerless tormented him, plunging his soul into the icy clutches of despair. Naruto had improved at an alarming rate, surpassing the Uchiha himself and managing to defeat a Jinchuuriki. Sasuke, by comparison, had done nothing. That thought was foremost on his mind when he asked Naruto to fight him on the roof of the hospital. The two of them had appeared to be evenly matched. Then, Naruto's desire to prove to Sasuke that he had grown stronger got the better of him, and he preformed the Rasengan. The Uchiha countered it with his own Chidori. Seeing the imminent clash, Sakura, who had been watching from the sidelines, rushed in, determined to keep the boys from killing each other. She would have been hit with both attacks, killing her near instantaneously, had Kakashi not chosen to arrive at that exact moment. He had shoved the quarreling teenagers into two water towers, ending both of their attacks. No one had wanted to believe it, but the crack had formed then. From that moment on, the third Team Seven was no more.

They could not accept it. Tears cried, sacrifices made, bonds formed, all that could not be thrown away so easily. They wanted to believe that. They wanted so much to believe that they could never truly be separated, that their bonds were strong enough to overcome this. They were wrong.

That night, Uchiha Sasuke defected from Konohagakure Village in favor of joining Orochimaru in Otogakure. Sakura tried to stop him, pleading with him to stay. He responded to her declaration of undying love with a simple 'thank you' before knocking her out and leaving the village once and for all. The next day, a five man team comprising of Akimichi Chouji, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Uzumaki Naruto, and headed by Nara Shikamaru was assembled for the sole purpose of capturing the fleeing Uchiha and returning him to his native village. Naruto even made a promise to Sakura that the mission would succeed, saying that it was "the promise of a lifetime, dattebayo!" The various members of the Sound Five occupied the efforts of his teammates and a later addition of Rock Lee, forcing Naruto to continue on by himself. It was the blond Jinchuuriki alone who arrived at the Valley of the End and dueled Uchiha Sasuke there. The curse seal on the avenger's neck had been accelerated into the second state, increasing his power and forcing Naruto to transform into his One Tailed Kyuubi form. The final clash between the two occurred with them transformed so, Naruto used his Rasengan and Sasuke countered it with his Chidori. Naruto's attack missed its mark, merely scratching Sasuke's forehead protector through the Leaf symbol on it. The Uchiha knew that now his Chidori could strike the blond, killing him if he so desired. He knew this, and that was why he turned his hand aside at the last minute, striking Naruto with the back of his palm instead of the lethal lightening attack. Enough of the attack's power still managed to strike Naruto, and he was knocked unconscious soon after. Sasuke continued on, alone, arriving at Orochimaru's base later that day. The Sasuke Retrieval mission was deemed by Tsunade to be a failure shortly after.

It was over. The third attempt at a happy ending for Team Seven had failed. That was what everyone thought in the face of Sasuke's sudden betrayal. It would have been true, except for one thing, one small factor that no one had anticipated: Uzumaki Naruto. Even in the hospital, covered in bandages, fully feeling the wounds dealt to him by Sasuke, his words were not ones of despair. Instead, even in that dark hour, his words were of hope. "Sakura-chan, I will bring him back to the village. It's the promise of a lifetime! I said that and I meant it!" Sakura had smiled. Naruto had that effect on people. Even if the situation looked to be impossibly grim, he could inspire people to reach farther, and do more than they ever believed possible. He did that to Sakura now. Her response was, "No, Naruto. This time, we'll bring him back together."

The members of the third Team Seven had changed each other, forging unbreakable bonds and leaving impacts that would last a lifetime. Naruto and Sasuke had grown as close as blood brothers. Sakura's crush on Sasuke matured into true love. Naruto was saved from the darkness growing in his soul by the arrival of people who acknowledged his existence and his power. And Sasuke… Sasuke opened up. For the first time since watching his family's murder at the age of seven, he was able to trust others, and managed to gain bonds that could not be broken despite his sincerest attempts.

And, there was one thing more. What had happened between Sasuke and Naruto during the final few moments before the effects of Sasuke's attack rendered his friend unconscious passed out. Both of them had looked into each other's eyes, sorrow and regret plainly evident on their faces. In the white light left over from the power of the attacks, both of them saw a vision of a younger version of themselves, reaching out and clasping hands. Younger Naruto grinned the whole time, and, after a moment's hesitation, younger Sasuke smiled back. This was the final communication between the two shinobi for two and a half long and painful years, the final message that Sasuke gave to his friends. I'm always there.

Can you see me?

I'm standing right beside you.

Are you sure that you can't see me?

I guess you can't.

It makes sense, you know.

You shouldn't be able to see me.

You may look at me, but you will never see me.

You see my smile and my laughter, and that is all you see.

You don't see my tears, you don't see my pain.

You look at me, but you never see me.

You never see me.

You will never see me.

No matter what, you'll really never see me.

You'll never see what's in my heart.

You'll never see it.

My eternal dying flame.

A/N: This chapter was mostly just the introduction. The actual plot of the story begins in the next chapter. So if you thought that this was boring, the story hasn't begun yet, please don't judge it harshly! (Even I admit that this bit was a little dull, it was just a collection of summaries, and I don't want everyone to leave this early! Please, read the next chapter before deciding if you like the story or not!) Note: The poem at the end is written by me! If you think I suck at writing poetry, please be nice about it. I like that poem, and it really makes me feel bad when people tell me that something I write sucks. (Not that anyone on this site ever has. You're all really nice, I'm just commenting about negative comments in general.)