Ten years was a long time to hate someone, but it was an even longer time to hate everyone. Some scars never truly healed, and for Sasuke Uchiha that meant that a decade after he lost everything he still had gaping wounds that hadn't even begun to close over.

The Akatsuki.

It was a name he would never forget. It was on his mind every morning he woke up, every night he went to sleep, and with every bullet he shot. Some people had tried to move on and forget that bloody night, not that there were many people left to remember it. Sasuke never could, nor did he intend to.

Sasuke crouched under his father's desk and rocked back and forth in a sleepless daze, even long after the screams had died and there were no more gunshots to be heard. "Stay here Sasuke, no matter what", his father had told him. And he did just that.

It wasn't until almost two days later that an old woman found him when she was going through Fugaku's desk. She had been scavenging his office for any valuables she could take when she tripped on a small form huddled on the floor.

"What's this?" she said, looking down to see a small boy curled up at her feet. She nudged him a little with her foot, worried it was yet another dead body in the already desolate town. The figure unraveled and a pair of large dark eyes stared up at the women.

"My father," he choked out in a faint voice. "Where is he?"

The old woman looked sadly at the desk where her eye fell on a photograph of a family. Fugaku with his wife and two sons... one of them here in the room. "He's gone now, boy... Everything's gone."

"Wh-what do you mean," Sasuke whispered, though the screams and gunfire he had heard already told him his answer.

"You were too young to have been alive, but seven years ago a gang of bandits who called themselves the Akatsuki came through these parts. Luckily your father drove them off, but it seems they never forgot this place. They returned, looking for our gold."

"But we don't have any gold here," Sasuke said, still too in shock to fully comprehend the situation. "It's just copper in the mines... my big brother told me that."

"Didn't take 'em too long to realize that either. They threw explosives in the mines... they're completely gone now. Half the city is too. You're pretty lucky they didn't set fire to this place, too, or you'd be gone with the rest of them," the old lady said somewhat bluntly.

Sasuke's eyes watered. "My father?"

"The Sheriff did try to fight them off, so did some of the other men, but they were outnumbered. I'm sorry, kid. I wish I had good news for you," she said, shaking her head. Sasuke shoved past the woman and ran out of the office in tears. He had to see for himself.

The entire town was in ruins. The schoolhouse, the bank, the old saloon, almost everything had crumbled down with the flames of the Akatsuki. Sasuke ran down the path he knew so well as his tears blinded him, ran until he reached what had once been his home... now nothing more than debris and ashes.

Sasuke could never recover after that night, but neither could Konoha. With its entire mining industry collapsed and half the buildings destroyed, it became like a ghost town. Most of those who survived moved on, and those who stayed only did so because they had nowhere else to go.

He had only survived because of the charity of the woman who found him in his father's office. Granny Tami was a widow and had grown children who had moved out and left her alone, so taking in Sasuke was a way to keep her occupied. She wasn't the most honest or virtuous person, but for the most part she meant well and provided for Sasuke so long as he helped out with any work she needed done. Still, neither of them were very sentimental towards each as Sasuke had always kept his distance.

Any free time he had he spent shooting. He had kept only two things from his past life: his father's rifle and the picture of his family. He rarely went anywhere without either.

All his training was for one purpose only: to hunt down the Akatsuki and kill every single last one of them in vengeance for what they had done to his family and his town. Ten years training for his life goal, and he finally knew it was time to put his plan in to action. Today he would set out for the Akatsuki, and whether he came back alive or not didn't matter so long as every bandit was dead.

"Old Lady... I'm leaving," Sasuke said to the house, facing the door.

"Go catch me something to cook while you're out!" she yelled from the other room.

"I'm not coming back. Thank you... for everything," he said, and with that he was gone.

"What was that?"

The only answer Granny Tami got was the loud bang of the door as Sasuke left for the last time.


Naruto Uzamaki hadn't had much in life: no parents, no real home, no friends. In some ways the night the Akatsuki invaded had actually benefitted him, since he gained at least one of these things after that.

He had practically been shoved in to the small orphanage in Konoha the moment he was born, and there he stayed for the first 7 years of his life. It hadn't been too awful and sometimes it was actually kind of fun playing pranks on everyone, but it wasn't hard to tell that no one really wanted him there. It was all because of his dumb traitor dad, even though that had all happened before Naruto was even born.

Naruto had wished he was like Sasuke, though he would never admit it to anyone. Now that guy was cool, and he had a good dad the whole town looked up to and an actual family. The only attention Naruto could ever get from anyone would be if he was making them mad with his pranks, something he tended to do a lot.

When the orphanage was burnt down in the fire and everyone else was lost, Naruto had nowhere to go; no family, no connections, and nothing to his name but the heavy burden of being the son of the town's most hated guy. He had wandered around and couldn't help but being sad at the sight of his destroyed town, for even though it had never given him much he still loved it and deeply cared for its residents, most of who were gone now.

Eventually Naruto did wander to the outskirts of town, where he found himself standing at the door of the old Haruno farmhouse. The farm was far enough out that it had been completely untouched by the flames of the Akatsuki. He wasn't sure what compelled him to do it, but he ended up knocking on that heavy wooden door, and it was that simple knock that gave him the closest thing he ever had to a home.

The Haruno's had immediately welcomed Naruto to their home, completely sympathetic of the town burning down. The farm was even older than Konoha, they told him, and had been in their family for generations.

"You know, we could use a farm hand around here if you'd like to stay," old man Kizashi had suggested once Naruto told him his situation.

"Oh boy, would I! I promise I'd be the best farm hand ever! I don't really know what a farm hand does, but whatever it is I'll work really hard!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"Great! You can sleep with the horses," his wife added with a loud laugh. "I'm only kidding, we have a small cabin out back you can stay in if you'd like."

"Gee, I've never had my own place before." Naruto flashed a toothy grin and rubbed his head. The Haruno's invited Naruto inside as they left to go fix up the cabin in the back.

As soon as they were gone a girl peeked out from the hallway of the farm house and came in to the front room. She had short pink hair that flew everywhere, two front teeth missing, and boyish overalls on over her skinny frame. "Hey Naruto, you're okay!" she said, looking him up and down with her bright green eyes.

"Sakura! I didn't know you lived here!"

"Never mind that, what do you know about the town!" she demanded. "The other school kids?"

"Well I don't know, I didn't really see anyone. When those scary guys came I had been hiding in a tree, waiting to pour paint on anyone who walked by. Guess I got lucky," he explained sheepishly.

"Typical Naruto," she muttered. "But hey... did you see Ino?" Ino and Sakura were best friends, even Naruto knew that. The two were practically inseparable in the school yard.

"I think I did, with Chouji and Shikamaru. They were all running around when everything was happening," he said, thinking hard. "But I don't remember anything else."

"Stupid Naruto, this is important!" Sakura yelled, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. But no matter how much she yelled Naruto had no answers for her.

So they had all lost something that day. Sasuke had lost his family, Sakura had lost her best friend, and Naruto had lost his place in the orphanage, not that that was really a bad thing.

He had kept his promise and had continued to work hard on the farm for the next ten years, determined to do right in his life for once. With every piece of horse poop he shoveled, he felt in an odd way he was atoning for his father's sins as well as for his own past prankster ways. But it still wasn't really enough. Naruto couldn't shake a restless feeling, a yearning to leave Konoha and see what else the world had to offer to him.

Opportunity presented itself when Sasuke Uchiha came knocking on the Haruno's door, just as Naruto had done ten years prior. But this time it was Sakura who answered it. She had grown taller since her younger years but still maintained a sort of boyish awkwardness that thinly veiled her blossoming beauty.

"I need a horse," Sasuke said without greeting.

"Oh, good morning Sasuke," Sakura said with a blushing smile. They had discovered Sasuke's survival not long after the bandit attack when he and an old lady had stopped by to purchase some crops. Since then they had had quite a few encounters. After all, when a town was as small as Konoha was residents were bound to run in to each other.

"How much is it."

"The horse?"

"Yes," Sasuke answered, practically steaming with impatience.

"Depends on the one you want. I'll lead you out to see them," Sakura said, stepping outside and walking around the house to the stables in the back. Every now and then she turned around to see if Sasuke was still following her. Those dark intense eyes, that brooding stare... he really is handsome, Sakura thought with a blush, turning back around so he wouldn't see it. Not that he would have noticed; he seemed to be in another world at the moment. "Here we are! The horses are just inside."

Sasuke moved past her and stepped inside to the small stables, where five horses were lined up in the different stalls. In the center of it all was Naruto shoveling poop, causing Sasuke to display a rare amused expression.

"Still scooping horse shit for a living, I see," Sasuke said to Naruto, who turned to glare at the Uchiha.

"Sakura, why is he here?"

"I'm a paying customer," Sasuke said, pulling a wad of bills out of his pocket. "I'm here to buy a horse."

"Big deal, like you could even ride one. What do you need a horse for anyways?" Naruto scoffed.

"I'm going to track down and kill the Akatsuki," Sasuke answered.

Sakura gasped and ran in front of Sasuke. "The Akatsuki? Do you even know how dangerous that is! They practically wiped out our whole town, and I heard they've only gotten worse since then! How would you expect to take on all of them by yourself!"

Sasuke frowned. This girl was really annoying. "All I asked for was a horse and I have the money, so spare me your lecture."

"He won't be going alone Sakura," Naruto said, "cuz I'm going with him!"

"What!" Sakura and Sasuke exclaimed in unison.

"The Akatsuki practically destroyed Konoha, we can't just let them get away with it. Sasuke's right, it's time we go after them and make them pay," Naruto said.

"Then I'm coming, too," Sakura added. "You need a woman with you if you plan on getting anything done."

"You're not really a woman, though, Sakura," Naruto said sheepishly, only to receive a hard punch from Sakura.

"OH YEAH, at least I don't hit like one!" Sakura screamed, displaying her fiery temper. Sasuke only frowned impatiently, anxious to be done with the two.

"I don't need the son of a traitor and an annoying farm girl with me. I am going alone," Sasuke said coldly.

"Hmmm, too bad you need these horses. It's a shame you'll have to walk that whole way," Sakura responded playfully.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well I'm obviously not going to sell you any horse unless you take me and Naruto with you," she said, crossing her arms. "How else would I make sure you keep my horses safe?"

Sasuke groaned and closed his eyes. "Fine. But if you two are a burden to me don't think I won't leave you in the middle of the desert."

An hour later they had prepared everything and were seated on their horses, leaving Konoha for the first time in their lives. It wasn't easy convincing Sakura's parents to allow her to go, but in the end Sakura could be pretty persuasive.

"You really think the three of us could take on the Akatsuki?" Sakura asked Naruto as Sasuke rode ahead silently.

"Of course we can, believe it!" Naruto said with a smile. Sakura wished she could be as optimistic as Naruto, but for the mean time she was simply happy to have left the sheltering confines of the farmhouse. She had lived her whole life in a bubble, never doing anything worthwhile in all her 17 years, and she was ready to prove that for once she could be useful. No matter what she would not be a burden to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Well either way, we got a long way ahead of us," she said. "This valley goes on for miles, and who knows what might happen along the way."


This chapter was still setting up a bit, but more action at least.

Next update soon.. reviews appreciated!