AND BACK AGAIN [ NARUTO ]

[ 36 ] progress

previously. . .

"I. . ." Naruto sighed. "I know I won't be here forever. Especially with Sasuke to worry about. So there's something I need you to know, before we leave. I want to give you a chance, too, to change things for someone important."

Kakashi wished he didn't know what Naruto meant.

A chance. A chance he'd never been given because if only he'd been fast enough, if only he'd been stronger. Train, train, train, forget but remember. Carry on the legacy of a death you might've caused, move on but don't ever let go; you failed.

A sigh left his lips, long and low, and he began mentally bracing himself for whatever story Naruto had to tell.

"Obito. . .Uchiha Obito. . .he's not dead."

///\

A second chance.

When Sasuke first awoke in the past, he was given all but three minutes to grasp his surroundings and the situation before his mind surrendered to the area genjutsu that was active in the forest. The rinnegan, however, didn't surrender for long and Sasuke was quickly back to his own consciousness--enough to come to terms with the circumstance.

A second chance. The words were whispered in his head by a voice abandoned in the dregs of his mind long ago.

That wasn't what this was. This was a curse; a setback in the war he'd devoted himself and his goals to. A temporary complication, thank Kami, and it would be foolish to take this as some. . .oppurtunity among his many mistakes.

Deep down--and this was something Sasuke had come to terms with almost immediately after leaving Konoha--he missed the things he'd once had. Relentless nights with the Snake Sannin in a damp, cold base in the middle of nowhere ate away at his resolve. He'd find himself dreaming of Team 7, when they'd train until their bones ached but it was warm, a healthy sort of improvement. Orochimaru's smiling yet somehow expressionless face would goad him on, taunting him to kill and be swift about it where Naruto scolded, Sakura smiled brightly, and Kakashi pretended not to care.

Of course, it hardened his resolve as well. Sasuke's wishes to avenge his family were strongest when he could just barely recall the way his mother's arms used to feel around him. Sitting curled on a hard cot in the Middle Of Nowhere, he remembered a time when this determination to grow strong was only to gain the approval of his father, not when it was because he wished the worst fate upon his own brother.

Maybe if he'd blinked his eyes open to before, before all of the hatred had been able to bloom in his heart. In a time when the Uchiha lived, with all their prideful, secretive meetings and judgeful sneers and fierce loyalty to those they loved. Maybe he would've seen an opportunity before him.

But Sasuke didn't deserve that, nor did he wish to relive those days.

He had a plan now; one that he would carry through until he drew his last breath. Uchiha Itachi would be honored and the clan he'd sacrificed would be reborn. Sasuke was going to rebuild what he lost from the bottom up, and he'd make a place where history never repeated itself.

Something in his heart, however, felt ready to drop it all the moment he saw what exactly they were involved in.

Madara--whether deliberately or not--sent them to a pivotal time in the past. Sasuke's younger self was quite literally clueless about what he was up against and what he was really standing for. Naruto was right; he'd never forgive himself if he let Itachi meet the same fate again.