Did you know that Rasa (Gaara's father) didn't actually die until right before the final part of the chunin exam? Cause I had completely forgotten about that. I'm glad I learned that when looking up his name. That adds an interesting spin to future events in this story.

Chapter warning: Character death, suicide (not the main cast and its kind-of vague, but still.)

"A path is something you create as you walk it. The ground you've trodden hardens, and that's what forms your path. You're the only one who can create your own path. Walk on your own. If you haven't given up yet, that is."
Cross Marian ( -Man)

Naruto woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling.

He felt odd. Half his body felt numb, but his head and stomach were all swirly like he had spent a lot of time on the spinning ride at the park. He blinked slowly at the ceiling as it faded in and out of focus.

It was an off-white color, streaked with sunlight. He turned his head to his right and found the sunlight came from a large window, partially covered by curtains. He also found another bed on his right containing Sasuke, unconscious and hooked up to an iv. Naruto watched his chest move up and down for a moment before his eyes drifted over the bandages peeking out from his hospital garb.

(His mind was being extremely sluggish. He couldn't quite remember why they were here or why he felt so exhausted.)

He turned his head to the left, half expected to find another bed.

But, there was none.

(Memories rose up. Blood soaked sand. Fear. Pain. Watching helplessly as his brother, his already injured brother, throw himself in front of a monster and declared himself a worse one.)

He tried to sit up, but pain forced him back onto his back only able to glare pitifully up at the ceiling.

"Ah, you're awake. I was starting to get a little worried, you've been out for several days."

Naruto blinked away the tears building up and tilted his head up to look at the new person in the room. He was a large man with long pale hair and vibrant clothing. He squinted at him, trying to recall ever seeing him before, but drawing a blank.

The man seemed to notice his confusion and scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh.

"Ah, yeah, I guess we haven't technically met before." He pulled up a chair and set down a take-out bag, Naruto belated recognized as Ichiraku's. "My name is Jiraiya. I just came back to the village. I'm a sealing specialist, so the Hokage asked me to look at your seal."

Naruto eyed him suspiciously.

"I brought ramen." The old man opened the container, revealing Naruto's favorite food in the entire world, and offered it to him with an awkward smile.

The scent made his stomach rumble, but Naruto tried to ignore it. Ramen didn't matter right now.

"Where's my brother?"

The old man's face did a weird little twitch before he grimaced and set the container back down on the side table.

"Did…you not hear? I know you fell unconscious very quickly after the Jounin arrived, but from what I was told, you were still awake when it happened. Most of the genin were, and everyone gave the same description of the events…even your Uchiha teammate before he collapsed from chakra exhaustion."

The was a pit in his stomach. He curled into himself, wrapping his arms around himself seeking warmth from the sudden chill that surrounded his heart.

(The demon who looked like his brother had told him. He had told him the truth. But, Naruto didn't really accept it, until it came out of his own brother's mouth. He knew then, deep down in his bones, that Natsuki was telling the truth.)

The old man started speaking in a gentle voice. "It was an outrageous claim. Everyone wanted to just chalk it up to a dangerous bluff to distract the One-tails, but…one of the Yamanaka clan members and I examined his mind and the seal and…well it seems to be the truth."

(Naruto wanted him to stop talking. He wanted him to go away. But, there was a lump in his throat. He struggled to push the words past it.)

"I'm sorry Naruto, I know this must be rough for you…I…well, I know a thing or two about betrayal. I know how much it can hurt…and, well, ah damn I'm not very good at this am I?"

Naruto sniffed and blinked up at the man through blurry eyes. Jiraiya sighed and reach over to ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Look, kid, it's going to be ok. The Kyuubi is locked away. It can't hurt anyone right now and we're working on a way to get it sealed up for good. I also checked your seal when you were asleep and you're doing perfectly fine, well, aside from your leg. Just…try to get some rest."

With that said the man practically fled the room.

"You'll break him."

He let out a small hiccup and a sob soon followed, making it passed the lump in his throat when words couldn't. He scrubbed at his eyes roughly.

"If anyone is doing the breaking its Natsuki…no…the Kyuubi." He muttered softly and curled further into himself as his heart gave a little squeeze.

(Why… why didn't he say anything? Was it wall just a lie? Just a trick?)

He stayed like that for a long time, curled up on his side his breath coming out in hiccupped gasps. Tears and small sobs escaping despite his best efforts.

"Then something changed. I'm still not quite sure what it was. I can see more of the world through him, but it still comes to me in fractured bits and pieces through the seal. I don't think it was one moment or event. He probably didn't even notice the slow build of emotions, until one day he had to face the fact that he cared about you."

Another hiccupped sob escaped him unwillingly.

"That's a lie, isn't it?" He took a shuttering breath and roll onto his back once more to stare at the ceiling. "If he cared he would have told me. He lied. He…He was the monster…the demon the whole time. T-the one who killed our parents…"

"You'll break him."

He glared at the ceiling as his hands curled into fists. "Why should I care? He's…he's the demon fox who killed our parents. He killed a lotta people…and…and this whole time he was trickin' me. Tricking everyone!"

He raised his hands to cover his mouth and scrubbed at the tears. He tried to stop the tears through sheer force of will but failed miserably as sobs escaped despite his best effort.

(He remembered when they were young, Natsuki would wake up sobbing in the middle of the night. But, he didn't want to worry Naruto, so he covered his mouth to muffle the sobs. Naruto remembered the first time he woke up to find him like that. Shaking and wide-eyed. Muttering apologies for waking Naruto up. He was always doing that.)

Naruto shoved himself into a sitting position despite the pain and tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed. One came easily, but the other sent needle-like tremors through his whole body. He sat there a moment panting harshly before looking down.

On his right leg, there was a weird metal brace starting from his thigh and ending right above his ankle. His leg under the brace was wrapped tightly in white bandages.

(The sand was gritty under his hands. It shifted unnaturally and made him lose his balance, but he couldn't stop. He had to protect everyone. Had to hold off this monster so everyone could get away. The sand shifted. An eerie cackle. White hot pain.)

He grimaced and glanced around for anything that would help.

(He just needed to get out of the room, to move. He never did well sitting in one place. If he sat here, then he'd just cry more and remember more. He didn't want to do either.)

Naruto shimmied over to the edge of the bed and swung his good foot to the floor. He placed his hands on the side table and slowly forced himself to stand, swinging his injured leg to the floor. He gritted his teeth through the pain, but he didn't give up.

(The pain distracted him from his thoughts.)

He managed to make it to his feet and shuffled himself along the wall to the door, practically dragging his injured leg. He made it out the door and down the hallway, despite having to pause regularly due to the pain, which made his vision fade in and out. He wasn't sure where he was going. He just needed to move.

"N-neji-san, please. You have to eat. I-I brought some food…a bento I made. It has your favorites…?"

He paused and glanced towards the half-opened door on his right.

Naruto didn't interact with Hinata much, but he could recognize distress when he saw it. He leaned to the side slightly and caught a glimpse of a boy sitting on the bed, pale eyes unfocused. He winced when he finally recognized him as one of the boys he and Sasuke pulled away from the monster's attack, the ones they met before the first part of the chunin exam.

He didn't look so good.

Well, physically he looked fine. But, there was something about his eyes and the way his shoulders were hitched that made Naruto shiver.

"I can assure you Hinata-sama I am fine. You do not need to waste your time fretting over me when you could be doing something more productive than making bento's for branch members."

"I-"

Naruto had never seen the girl so visibly frustrated. From what he remembered of her back at the academy she was always sweet-tempered though prone to embarrassment. She never showed that she had a temper like some of the other girls in their class. Now, she looked torn between chewing the other boy out or simply crying.

(He could relate to that.)

He frowned.

"Hey, she's just trying to help. No need to be rude." He called over, leaning further into the wall when his leg twinged painfully.

"N-Naruto-kun!" The girl practically shrieked, her faced turning crimson immediately as she spun around.

Naruto glanced at her in confusion for a moment, before focusing on the guy again. He looked ready to spit a kunai his way.

"This is a Hyuuga matter and none of your concern." He voice was crisped and cold, but his eyes burned.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Look, Hinata-chan was my classmate and you're being real rude even though she was just trying to help…"

"None of this is your problem and there is absolutely no point in sticking your nose into something that doesn't concern you." He repeated firmly before rounding on Hinata who flinched back. "There is no point in you, the Hyuuga Heiress concerning yourself over a simple branch family member. It's disgraceful."

"N-neji-san…" Now she looked like she was seriously going to cry.

Naruto scowled and shuffled closer until he was leaning against the doorframe. "Look. I don't get what your problem is, but she is just tryin' to help you. She looks really worried about you and you're just blowing her off. I don't understand, why can't you just be nice and talk to her, ya don't have to refuse help like that."

(Why didn't he say anything? Why did he hold it all in? Was it really all just a trick? A lie?)

"This is not your problem!" He snapped.

Naruto watched, blinking slowly as the burning emotions in the boy's eyes finally made it to his face breaking the blank mask into tiny pieces.

"I thought myself above my own fate and was proven wrong! I am nothing!"

There was such a fierce look of self-loathing on his face that Naruto almost shuffled back from the sheer weight of it.

(How many times did he catch that look out of the corner of his eye on his face?)

"That's not true." Hinata cried stepping forward. "Neji-san, you're amazing! Being a part of the main or branch family doesn't matter! You're a strong shinobi and an amazing Hyuuga!"

"If I was so amazing I wouldn't have been completely helpless in a battle. I wouldn't have had to be saved twice. I wouldn't be here! I strove to be above my station. I thought myself superior when I was merely a speck of dirt and I…"

Slap.

Naruto wasn't sure who was more surprised. Naruto or Neji. But, there she stood hand still raised and eyes narrowed in as close to a glare as Naruto had ever seen from her.

"Don't." There were tears on her cheeks, and her voice trembled, but she forged onward. "Don't ever say that. You're my family. I…I know things aren't right but don't…please…don't ever think you're not worthy…"

She sobbed openly and wrapped her arms around herself before running from the room completely.

"I…" Naruto glanced at the now vacant looking boy and then back out in the hallway.

Maybe he shouldn't have interfered. He was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

"I was never kind to him." Neji murmured. "I told him every day that he was unworthy. That he would never achieve his dream because it was fate and no one could escape their fate."

Naruto's mind flashed back to the green-clad shinobi, Lee. He was so weird when they first met, but he was kind of cool in his own way. Naruto didn't know what had all happened when he was unconscious, but he must have been fighting, and from the way the two were position Lee must have protected Neji.

"He didn't have to protect me. He could have just left me. He should have just left me, but he didn't…he…he protected me even when even when it hurt himself…"

(That's what he was always doing, wasn't he?)

(Even if it meant muffling his sobs in the middle of the night. He was always trying to protect. Always.)

"I don't really understand…" Naruto shuffled closed and heaved himself into the seat beside the bed. Pale eyes glanced over at his leg and the boy seemed to curl into himself further. "Could you explain it?"

After a moment of hesitation, he did. Naruto listened without interrupting even when he wanted to scream and rage over the unfairness of the what felt like the whole world.

(How could someone do that to their brother; their twin?)

When Neji finished, they sat there in silence for what felt like a century. Naruto knew he should say something. Anything. But, he struggled with the words.

"I don't get this whole fate thing. Actually, I get it, but I don't believe it." Naruto held up a hand to prevent a rebuttal. "I think that we decide our own fate. It doesn't matter what other people say or do. You're you. If someone tries to tell you that you're worthless…or a demon…then just throw it back in their face. Prove 'em wrong. That's what I'm going to do. I'll become Hokage! And prove everyone wrong. And you know what? I'll destroy that stupid tradition as well. No one should be chained like that, you know? I'll make sure of it, so hang in there and enjoy Hinata-chan's bento. Deal?"

(First Sasuke, now this guy. He was making a lot of promises.)

The boy didn't say anything. He just watched as Naruto heaved himself out of the chair and shuffled to the door. When he reached the doorway, the boy called out.

"Your name?"

Naruto looked back with a grin. It wasn't up to his usual standards, but he made an effort at least.

"I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Future Hokage."

He received a small nod.

"Neji Hyuga."

It took some effort to shuffle down the hall. By the time he got back to his room he was too exhausted to do anything other than flop gracelessly onto the bed he woke up on. He stared up at the ceiling silently for a long moment. His thoughts tumbled around in his brain, tangling up into knots that made his head hurt as he tried to untangle them. Naruto wasn't used to not having anyone to talk too. Natsu was always there.

(It felt like he was missing a piece of himself.)

He stared up at the ceiling for a long while before rolling over to look at his unconscious teammate. The words spilled out before he could even attempt to control them.

"You know…right before we started the academy the Hokage asked us what our dreams were. I, of course, always wanted to be Hokage…but you know what Natsu said?" He felt a rueful smile tug at his lips. "He said 'I suppose I should become an Anbu guard if only to protect my doofus twin brother when he becomes the Hokage'. He was tryin' to rile me up, and it worked. It should have been just a vague memory, you know? Something easily forgotten…but I never did. I didn't really know why that moment stuck out to me even after so many years. There was something about it. Something about the way he said it, you know…"

He rolled over and looked up at the ceiling once more. "I was thinking about it when I was listening to Neji. How he never got a choice. How he felt like a caged bird…you know. That time, that was the only time Nastu ever talked about any sort-of future dream. And…" He swallowed, his throat feeling dry all the sudden. "It wasn't even his dream, you know? 'I suppose I should'…what does that even mean? It was supposed to be a joke, something to make me mad, but the more I think about it…it just sounds so terribly sad."

He raised his hands and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes until it hurt.

"He was always sayin' and doing things for me. To protect me." He took a shaky breath. "I…"

"You'll break him."

His hands curled into fists.

"No, I won't."

He had been sitting in front of the memorial stone for so long, his eye had lost its focus and he could no longer read the names. Perhaps it was a good thing. Kurenai told him all the time that it was terribly unhealthy for him to continuously read over the names of the dead.

Kakashi sighed lowly and tilted his face up to glare at the sky.

(It was too nice of a evening for a tragedy.)

(Then again, it always was.)

Another name would be added to the list.

(But, as much as it added to the numbness within him, that wasn't the reason he was here.)

Avoidance.

That was all he seemed capable of doing. In everyday life, and especially when things went wrong.

And things definitely went wrong.

(He didn't believe it at first…no, he didn't want to believe it at first.)

He had a gut feeling something was off, but his mind had gone to Kyuubi influence not…the utter insanity that even Jiraiya, himself, confirmed. Kakashi lowered his gaze back to the stone and traced familiar names absently. What would his sensei say? How would he react?

It all felt like he was living in some fantasy world. Some nightmare-like reality.

(Was it so much to ask for one tiny break? One moment in his life that wasn't tainted by tragedy and regret.)

His childhood memories of his father were tainted by his suicide. His fond memories of his team were tainted by their deaths. And now the memories of the twins, of being a sensei, were tainted by…

He shook his head and slouched further into himself.

Why didn't he notice?

People claimed he was a genius among geniuses, but was he really? When he was so slow when things really counted?

"Are you really going to stay here all night? Kakashi, you need to go home. Get some rest."

Kakashi didn't even turn around. "I thought you were staying with Gai."

"Kurenai took over." Asuma plopped himself down behind Kakashi and leaned his back against him as he lit up a cigarette. "I'm on Kakashi duty now."

He huffed out a weak laugh despite himself.

"So, I heard your blond kid woke up. Nurses were all in a tizzy 'cause the little brat got out of bed and wandered around despite his leg injury."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "That sounds like Naruto."

(He was so much like his mother it hurts. It hurts so much. To see her spirit in a boy that looked so much like his father.)

"Yup, and now the brat is demanding to see his brother. He was so loud he managed to wake up your little Uchiha."

He flinched. "I thought Naruto…"

"Oh, he knows and apparently doesn't care."

Kakashi sighed. "What did you want, Asuma?"

"What? Is caring for a friend whose beating himself up over nothing not good enough?"

"Nothing?" Kakashi stood abruptly, forcing Asuma to catch himself before he fell onto his back in the grass. "One of my genin is the Kyuubi. The Kami-dammed beast that attacked our village and killed countless people and I…I never even noticed. I never once realized that he was anything more than a semi-normal kid, with rampant nightmares."

Asuma looked at him silently for a moment. His dark eyes unreadable. Then he blew out a breath of toxic smoke and sighed deeply.

"You know, Kakashi, I think that says more about him than it does about you."

Sasuke stared at a small spot on the opposite wall. Something must have hit the wall there because there was a small dent and the paint was peeling slightly.

"We can't just leave him locked up! He's not a criminal! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"Did you forget about what it did to the village all those years ago? All those people killed when the Kyuubi attacked us?" The white-haired sage snapped back.

"He's my brother I know-"

"He's a demon!" The man roared. "He was never your brother. Just a mistake of a faulty seal."

Naruto flinched back. The older man slumped.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice."

"But, you're not sorry about what you said," Naruto muttered back.

"Because it's true." The man replied tiredly.

Like most genin his age he had grown up with tales about the Sannin. It was strange to compare those stories to the real thing. Disappointing really.

"He's my brother." Naruto jutted his chin out and folded his bandaged hands over his chest.

The sage threw his hands in the air. He turned to Kakashi-sensei first, but the man was staring out the window from his position wedged in the corner of the room before turning the Sasuke. He felt himself straighten under the weight of the man's gaze automatically.

"You tell him, boy. I'm obviously not going to get a word through that thick skull of his." Sasuke blinked at him slowly his mind sluggishly trying to figure what he was expected to say. The man sighed. "Beside me, you're the one with experience with traitors in this room. Tell him that's there's no point in wanting to save a traitor."

Natsuki was like Itachi?

(No, the Kyuubi was like Itachi…but that didn't make sense either because he know knew that Natsuki was the Kyuubi. And the very thought of putting Natsuki in the same category as Itachi in his mind was sickening.)

He glanced at Naruto. He watched as blue eyes turn to him, lip trembling and eye's welling with tears and in a terrifying moment he realized what he said next could very well break the boy. He looked down at his hands.

They were trembling.

His vision blurred and for a moment he was back in the forest in the middle of that battle.

A hand covered his own. It was slightly smaller than his and covered in dirt and blood. There was a nasty scrape on the back of the hand and the pinky finger looked like it was broken. His eyes followed the length of the arm up towards the face of the person next to him. Natsuki was telling him something. It looked like it was important, but his ears were buzzing, and it was hard to focus.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, please listen to me! Things are probably going to get crazy after this. I don't know what's going to happen to me, but please. Promise me you'll protect Naruto. If I'm…If I can't…" Were those tears? He had never seen Natsuki cry. "Please, just promise me you'll stay by his side. He needs someone…you both do. Promise me."

He didn't give Sasuke enough time to reply. Then again, there was barely enough time to talk during that battle. And he doubted he could have formulated a response anyway since he had so much trouble focusing on the words in the first place. The sharingan was likely the only reason he could remember them now with such clarity.

He glanced up at the occupants of the room. The sage was looking at him expectantly. His sensei was still staring resolutely out the window. The man hadn't said a word since he slipped in and positioned himself in that corner. And Naruto….

Naruto was looking down at his blanketed legs. His hands were in his lap, fingers clenched tightly enough to make his knuckles white and his hand trembled.

"Promise me you'll protect Naruto…Please, just promise me you'll stay by his side."

For days, weeks and even years after Itachi's betrayal, he had been told how surprised everyone was at the sudden action. Everyone had positive things to say about him before the massacre. No one expected, perfect Itachi to snap like that. Everyone thought he was loyal.

But…

Natsuki…Natsuki was Natsuki.

He was one of the most frustrating people he had ever met. The orange haired boy smirk and made sly comments that drove him insane. For most of their lives, he had avoided eye contact with Sasuke and matched him at every turn aside from ninjutsu. Even then, he had found out belatedly, after becoming genin, the other boy was skillful at higher-level jutsus and had much more chakra than he did.

More often than not Sasuke had no idea what the other boy was thinking. He often went into long bouts of silences, eyes distant. It was a hassle to get even the simplest of confessions out of him, making Sasuke wonder why he even bothered at times.

But…

He had defended them from Orochimaru when they were outclassed. He had taken an attack meant for Sasuke without hesitation.

He had stood between them and certain death when the One-tailed went berserk.

Natsuki had looked so small standing between them and the giant One-tailed beast. Torn clothing reveal cuts and bruises. His left shoulder dislocated and hanging limply at his side. There was an exhausted slump to his stance and he had to visibly force himself to stand tall.

(How could anyone compare him to Itachi?)

"Natsuki…" He started still unsure of what he was going to say. He glanced at his sensei. His image overlapped with another similar one back in Sasuke's apartment, before everything went to hell, and he suddenly understood. "Natsuki is Natsuki. He is my teammate and Naruto's brother. And…on this team we don't abandon our teammates."

He tried to ignore the sudden blinding grin he received from Naruto, but it was hard to ignore the first true smile, from a usually happy person. He hadn't seen a hint of it since he woke up yesterday evening. Sasuke swallowed and turned his gaze to the Sannin. The man's face was twisted wavering between disappointment and disbelief. He turned to Kakashi again.

"Kakashi tell these children that they're being foolish!"

"If being realistic means abandoning my brother, then I'd rather be foolish!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke, however, was staring at Kakashi. He wasn't done. He had to…he had to convince someone. "You keep talking about rules and traitors, but isn't that just a cover to hide your own mistakes?"

"I'm trying to protect you two from experiencing the same disappointment that I did!" The Sanin snapped back.

"No! You're only protecting yourself!" He was trembling, and his voice shook, but he forced himself to continue. "You're trying to project your own mistakes onto us and our situation in order to justify your own actions! You're telling us to give up. Telling us that Natsuki is a traitor! That he's just like Orochimaru and Itachi! But, you don't even know him! Did you ever bother trying to talk to him? You didn't! No one did! You just locked him away and are now trying to convince us that he's a traitor when He's the one who protected us! He's the one that stood up to the monster and saved our lives! HOW DOES THAT MAKE HIM A TRAITOR!? IS PROTECTING PEOPLE NOW COMPARABLE TO A GENOCIDE?"

He cut himself off panting before he continued in a quieter voice. "You say he's like Itachi, but you have no idea who Natsuki is. You say he's a monster. But, his last words to me were to protect Naruto. His last actions were to protect all the other genin. How could you compare that to the man who murdered my entire clan? How dare you."

His sensei didn't even twitch. He closed his eyes, unable to continue, but Naruto was there immediately to pick up where he left off.

"Natsuki cared for everyone! He always tried to protect me, and he never once did something horrible to anyone, even the people who insulted us! Would a monster be able to take the abuse we did? Without lashing out!"

"He's the Kyuubi, Naruto." The Sannin replied looking unforgivably sad. "He's the reason your parents are dead…"

"He's also the reason I didn't grow up alone," Naruto replied stubbornly. "There must be a reason for attacking the village. I just know it!"

"He attacked the first Hokage because he was being controlled by Madara Uchiha." Sasuke butted in, his mind whirling back to the stories, the legends, and the whispers. "What if something similar happened back then? Natsuki and Naruto never lost control without something major happening and they never actually fully released the...well Kyuubi. Even the One-tails wasn't fully released from Gaara, was he? That's what you told us. So, why was he released back then? There must have been a reason…"

"Yeah! Natsuki said he was afraid of the sharingan!"

"You idiots are not getting the point…" The Sannin growled.

"That's enough Jiraiya-sensei." Kakashi-sensei finally spoke, turning his head towards them. There was an emotion he didn't quite understand in his eye.

"Kakashi! Thank goodness! Tell them-"

He was cut off by Kakashi-sensei. "No, they won't be convinced. Trust me, I know my students."

The man pushed himself away from the wall and looked fondly over Naruto and Sasuke.

"I'm the one who taught them to stick together, to never abandon one another…and frankly I think it's about time I lived up to my own teachings."

The paperwork was stacking up on his desk. There were so many things he needed to do. Some many people he needed to talk too. He would have to call some meetings to go over and update everyone on the current situation with the failed invasion from their supposed allies, the escape of Orochimaru, and a certain not-jinchuuriki child currently locked away.

(Purple eyes lingered in the back of his mind. So empty and dull compared to their usually expressive nature.)

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, inhaling the toxic smoke from his pipe with unusual aggression.

All of that could wait.

He was tired.

(A bone-deep ache. One that had nothing to do with his age.)

Hiruzen breathed out slowly. Watching the smoke as it lazily drifted towards the ceiling.

So, many things had spiraled out of control in the past several years he didn't even know where to begin fixing anything, anymore. He was losing his grip, no, he had lost it a long time ago. He was just too stubborn to admit it. He should have picked another successor, even if his best options were either dead or adamantly opposed to it. He sighed softly.

At least the children were safe.

Injured and likely traumatized, but alive.

Including the Kazekage's children, the youngest safely sealed by Jiraiya. He'd have to make a decision about them soon. Hiruzen glanced back down at his desk at the report he just received.

(He didn't agree with Rasa on many things, but the man was dedicated to his village.)

He was certain, now that the man's plan with Orochimaru had fallen through, that he'd do anything to maintain the peace between the two villages. Especially since Konoha now had his three children as political prisoners.

Hiruzen turned his chair to face the window, tracing his gaze over the buildings. It was late, but there was still movement on the streets and the roofs as general citizens and shinobi alike went on with their lives. Most only still vaguely aware of what had almost occurred in their home.

He took another deep breath from the pipe.

A knock on his door forced him to leave his thoughts. He didn't turn around even as the door opened and a familiar presence slipped into the room.

"Danzo, I think the both of us are too old to be up so late at night."

He received a dry chuckle in return.

"Perhaps, but the village does not run itself."

"Hmph, I wish it did."

They both laughed at that, before falling into silence once more.

He had already noticed the different guards at shift exchange.

"Danzo…" He sighed deeply and stood to move closer to the window, all while still not facing the other man.

"Your ideals are ruining Konoha."

"The invasion was prevented…"

"You're planning on making peace with them again? They tried to invade us, and you want to talk to them and work out a compromise. And that's not even mentioning how Orochimaru managed to get away again."

He closed his eyes.

"What would you have me do? Go to war? Again, Danzo? To put our people through that hell again?"

"Suna is weak. We could decimate them easily and prove Konoha's strength once more to our enemies."

Hiruzen opened his eyes again and looked over the city once more. It had grown so much since his childhood. It was a beautiful village. A perfect melding of forest and buildings. He stared silently until his vision started to blur.

He hadn't noticed a change in taste in his tobacco, but that didn't necessarily mean much to those skill with poisons.

The knife was expected, but he sucked in a sharp breath anyway.

He turned finally, but not to look and Danzo who still stood proudly across the room. No, he wanted to look into the eyes of the poor child he failed.

(He told himself it was for the good of the village when he ignored the missing children and Danzo's increasingly cruel nature. He told himself that it was better this way, when he noticed the dead-eyed look in many of the anbu he knew were under Danzo's control.)

The child was barely in his teens. Maybe a year or two older than the current batch of genin. Yet, he wore the armor and tattoo of an anbu.

The boy's eyes were as blank as his expression.

He sighed deeply as he stumbled back against the window and slid to the floor.

Another failure to add to the list.

His name was Asuka. He didn't know his last name. He didn't even know if Asuka was his birth name. He couldn't remember his parents or whether he had a family at all.

All he knew was Root.

The Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, died with soft apologies spilling from his lips.

The image stirred something in his heart, a distant memory perhaps, of a wrinkled hand in his hair and a proud smile on an old woman's face.

The memory was squashed immediately as he was taught to do.

Danzo-sama didn't dismiss him.

His mission wasn't over yet.

Asuka turned and disappeared out the window, careful not to let himself be seen by the shinobi still traversing the rooftops this late at night.

The light of the nearly full moon guided him to his apartment complex.

He slid into his window without trouble. It was a tiny apartment, only one room, that didn't see much use. It wasn't home. He didn't have a home.

He took off his gear carefully and laid them out for his shift the next day. He changed mechanically into his sleeping clothes before padding over to the kitchenette and pouring himself a glass of water using the only cup in his cabinets.

The poison was tasteless.

Alright, there we go. Another one done, and in a reasonable amount of time. Yay.

Fun fact. I've had Sasuke's pov written since the beginning of Wave ark, with very little change. It was about that time that I had decided on an ending for the chunin exam and started adding in some hints into the chapters about what would happen to Natsuki/Kurama. I was worried that some of them would be a bit too obvious, but no one has brought it up yet, so I was probably worried over nothing. I get the feeling you guys will pick up on it this chapter though. Lol

Also, guys chill. I said that this fic will probably stay gen then whole time. So, no romance, unless I change my mind. Which frankly, isn't likely. No need to freak out over it.