Chapter 10: Broken

Sasuke fell asleep during his mental struggle. This gave one of the Anbu a chance to sneak into the house. The ninja was wearing porcelain bird mask and standard Anbu uniform. The other two stayed outside to keep watch. The masked ninja silently opened the drawer and carefully examined the contents of the note and the scroll. The agent carefully put the contents back and flickered outside. His other two companions-tiger and rabbit- looked at him.

"It seems Orochimaru's influence is still present," Bird said, "I will report this to Hokage-sama, keep watch over the boy."

Both of his comrades nodded.

Bird disappeared. Leaving his other two companions behind, he appeared again in Tsunade's office. Tsunade, was half done with the paper work she was working on.

"Hokage-sama," he reported, "it seems Ororchimaru's henchman is here. He sent Uchiha Sasuke a letter as well as a summoning contract. He gave the boy a week to decide whether he should betray Konoha." Bird reported in monotone.

Tsunade breathed slowly. Well this just made her headache even worse. It was almost nightfall and she still had half a stack of papers to go over and sign. "I want you and the others to keep watch over the boy. Let him be for now. Report to me with him if he shows signs of betraying the Leaf."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," with that, bird flickered away.

'It looks like we'll have show the truth to him sooner than planned…well…that is if he leans to Orochimaru's side.' Thought Tsunade.

She suddenly felt old, and wondered why she had taken the accursed mantle of Hokage. Ah right, the idiot Uzumaki...Tsunade breathed out and smirked faintly, putting Sasuke's fate in Naruto's tiny hands.

The week passed without incident. Sasuke followed his regular routine. Wake up, feed or change Naruto and train. Then he would go back home-unless Lee or Tenten dragged him to lunch-and put Naruto to sleep. He had decided that he could choose what to do about Ororchimaru later.

During that time Uchiha decided to encourage Naruto to walk, though, he didn't know why. Sasuke just felt that it was his duty to do so. During the day it was easy to ignore the decision in front of him because of Naruto. But, at night he was alone with his thoughts and dreams. Dreams about the massacre and Naruto. It was as if, the desire to seek vengeance for his family, was fighting against the love that had grown in Sasuke's heart. Sasuke was surprised to find that both were equally strong desires.

Iruka, their old academy instructor stopped by one day. By now everyone in the village knew. It was hard to keep a secret in a ninja village, since it's a secret to everybody. Well maybe not all secrets, at least the ones that are deemed of high importance. Sasuke watched the man play with Naruto and interact in a way the raven never could. Iruka got down on the floor and actually did the baby talk thing. The whole concept of speaking like that made Sasuke's cheeks go red. It was embarrassing, but Iruka pulled it off so naturally and Naruto seemed quite taken. Ino showed up at some point as well, although most of what she did was flirt. But, when the Yamanaka took hold of Naruto she cuddled him to death.

After that Sasuke came to the conclusion that Iruka-sensei was better suited to care for his former teammate, as well as the other rookies. The thought brought a strange sort of ache to his chest. It also made him jealous. Jealous that someone that wasn't him could do better at watching the dobe. Sasuke couldn't understand it. When the day came for him to make a definite choice, he made sure that as soon as training ended, he was left alone. Just him and his baby.

The raven closed his eyes and pondered the road he should take. If he left, there was the risk of getting captured again. Not only could Sasuke lose his freedom, he could lose his life. Which meant he would lose the opportunity to butcher his brother for what he did to their family. It was too risky. But if he was successful…maybe he could kill Itachi and come to get Naruto later on. They could live somewhere far away. He could raise Naruto and keep him safe.

"Wait," Sasuke muttered, "Where did that come from?"

Sasuke was very much disturbed with himself now. He tried to think of other scenarios. Any scenario where Naruto wasn't involved in his life. But he couldn't. He couldn't completely cut Naruto from his plans.

As the afternoon turned to evening, Sasuke's head was about to implode. He decided to sign the damn contract and get it over. He needed to kill his brother first. Maybe, after that he could dream of a happy future. He stood from the place he had taken on his bed and opened the drawer. He opened the scroll and bit his thumb getting into the sitting position. The Anbu were ready to appear but Naruto's cry beat them. The blond was awake. Sasuke stood up and went over to the crib.

"Waaahhh!" Naruto cried, he was wet.

Sasuke stared at the contract and then at Naruto. He figured he could change the dobe one last time. Sasuke washed his hands and got to work. He unclasped the diaper and carefully cleaned him up with wipes. The raven-haired boy then put on a new diaper.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered.

Then it happened. Naruto giggled but it was different. It was followed by a word. A word that rocked the Uchiha's foundation and built it again.

"Papa!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. Thump…thump…thump…went his heart.

"Could you leave him again?"

No. He couldn't. Not now…and if he tried to take Naruto with him, chances are the baby would be stripped away from him. Sasuke was trapped. What could he do? What path should he take…

"Do not let your hatred blind you…you can choose a different path…"

"Hate me…despise me...and when you have eyes like mine come find me."

Love or hate? Light or Dark.

"Papa!" Naruto giggled, pulling his hair.

'Darn it he said it again!' yelled the young Uchiha in his head. After a few moments Naruto grew anxious and began to cry. Then Sasuke's will broke. He would follow the light.

Okay, So I got that over with. Now I can focus on Shippuden XD. But I might make the time skip longer(and the Akatsuki's plans would start later for some reasons I won't mention. it will mostly be the same. I'm debating to end the fanfic here and make another one a longer sequel*shrugs* or maybe just end it here...).