AN: I have a horrible feeling that my half assed attempt to edit this has all been for nought so I apologise in advance for spelling errors and whatnot, my concentration is absolutely shot at the moment and that's pretty bad considering I'm usually pretty easily distracted at the best of times.

Love for eskimo-cones and Sneaky-Ninja-Muffin for commenting! This chapter is out because you guys liked it!

4: Love and Time Can Only Be Spent

Sasuke is 16

I return to the library, appearing on top of Karin who is gathering my clothes up, half squashing her as I crash into existence, sweating and shaking and trying not to throw up.

"Ah!" Karin exclaims eloquently, heaving herself out from under me and staring at me with abandon as I sit cross legged and completely naked on the hard stone floor.

Her mouth quivers into a little smile as she watches me and I muster up a scowl, wordlessly holding out my hand for my underwear and trousers.

"Er…oh, sorry Sasuke, I just thought that…well you know, I was just going to fold them," she tells me in a voice a few octaves higher than normal as she hands me my clothes, her expression disappointed as I slide them on.

"Hn," I mutter by the way of some sort of comment to all this inanity. "Have you heard anything recently about Naruto?"

The question obviously throws her magnificently. She splutters for a moment, her glasses sliding down her nose and her eyes widening comically as she regards me. The expression on her face clearly says: 'really? ' and I simply look at her with the full resolve I'm currently feeling.

Yes, this last time travelling trip changed everything. No, you don't need to tell me the details.

"I thought you weren't interested in the rumours about Konoha," Karin states suspiciously, handing over my shirt and watching me pull it over my head. "What exactly happened when you left this time?"

"It's none of your business," I tell her immediately, glaring at her with the sort of eyes that have made more intimidating shinobi crumble. She is, unfortunately, used to me though, her eyes narrowing to unattractive slits of red and for a moment, I have to remind myself that I'm not looking at that blasted fox demon.

"I heard something in town…about a week ago when I was sent for supplies," she admits grudgingly, obviously unsure of how I'll react to news of my old home. I try to keep my face as impassive as I'm usually able to though weirdly, it's hard.

"You know how the Akatsuki is after the tailed beasts…well, one of them, their leader, went for the jinchuuriki of Konoha."

My heart is pounding and I have to really fight not to double over and retch uselessly. Asking this question immediately after returning from a time travelling trip may not have been my smartest move but damnit, I need to know.

"Konoha was destroyed but they say that the jinchuuriki defeated the Akatsuki leader."

Karin cringes as she tells me that last part, obviously afraid that I'll erupt in a fit of childish rage over the idea that Naruto has become so powerful but, having seen that colossal jutsu he was using in whatever time I've just been to, I'm not surprised somehow that he was able to defend himself so well.

I think…well, I might actually be feeling some strange echo of pride.

He really is worthy to call himself my rival.

Something resembling a smile flitters over my face.

"We're going," I tell her bluntly, making my mind up on a whim and striding forward, all thoughts of researching the time travelling jutsu forgotten for now.

As I stride out into the corridor and make my way briskly back to my quarters to start packing, I feel better than I have done in months because now, I have a real purpose again.

Karin lopes behind me, having trouble matching my longer strides.

"Uh…going where?" She asks me, her expression now reflecting the sort of concern she would get when I would was particularly obsessive about revenge in the past. I must look as determined as I feel.

"Back to Konoha," I tell her simply, pushing the door to my room open and grabbing the few meagre things that I actually need.

"To Konoha?" Karin repeats, her eyes following me as I move about the room, hovering in the doorway like some sort of awkward, unwanted visitor. "But I thought you had no interest i-

"Karin," I say, addressing her carefully and turning to face her with all the respect I can manage. My eyes find hers and she shuts up, her mouth slipping closed. "You are under no obligation to follow me if you don't want to. I will not force anyone to follow me further now I intend to go back to the Leaf. I do think you might like it there if you came with me and I have no doubt the Leaf would welcome you with your unique talents."

Her mouth drops openly a little as she exhales and tries to find something to say. There are emotions swimming in her eyes that I can't quite give a name to but there is the telltale hint of loneliness behind the glare of her glasses and she closes her mouth again, letting her hair fall forward as she stares at the floor.

"I'll let the others know," she says, her voice melancholy and suddenly tired. "When did you want to go?"

I grab some of the scrolls I've been collecting from the library from a little dressing table, shoving them into my pack and making a mental note to return with someone a little more adept at solving temporal riddles before pointedly pulling on my shoes.

"As soon as possible," I tell her with conviction, pleased when she disappears from my doorway on swift feet to tell the others of my new plan.

I'm going home.

Karin said that it's been destroyed. There probably isn't a compound adorned with the Uchiha fan anymore and my parent's graves have probably been irreparably disturbed. The people there I used to know will probably look at me with suspicion and anger for months, years and this is only if I manage to pull something out of my ass and get off with a light punishment for defecting from the council of elders but…

He is there.

' you're not…alone.'

The Hokage is in a coma, the 6th has been chosen.

Danzo…

The name isn't exactly meaningless to me. When we young, I heard about a military faction that trained certain ninja in ANBU ways. The leader was said to be…rather extreme in his ideals, always opposing the peace keeping ways of the 3rd Hokage and causing a bit of a stir when the council didn't entirely agree with him. For a little while, I weighed up the pros and cons of presenting myself to this faction in pursuit of ANBU knowledge for revenge but quickly decided against the idea because of the way they ran - with a lot less freedom than the common ninja, with a lot less accomplishments than the true ANBU.

How did someone like that become the 6th Hokage?

This new information slows us down considerably, stopping us a few miles away from Konoha just outside the borders of the village's security. If this new military man is the Hokage, I doubt I'll be able to persuade him to appeal to the council for a lighter sentence for my defection. If I'm lucky, my achievements in killing Orochimaru and Itachi will land me a life sentence in prison…

At least with Tsunade, I could have shown her the truth of why I've really returned and that alone would probably soften her to my plight.

I only want to see Naruto…

At the moment, he's probably deeply encased within Konoha, helping people with the village's reconstruction though they all used to sneer at him or spit at him when Team 7 would meander into town in the old days.

I wonder if I can get a message to him…

Of all the time he's spent chasing me, of all the measures I've taken to try and avoid him, forget about him, how strange it seems that now, when I actually want to talk to him, he's unreachable.

I'm on first duty tonight, waiting by the edge of the campsite with my back pressed against the rough bark of a tree adorned with familiar fan-like leaves. The world around me is pitch black save for a few minute trails of cold light falling down from a full moon and the sepia colour scheme of this night world is oddly comforting.

It's the brilliant colours of the day time that set me on edge recently. Don't ask me why.

I'm sending out my chakra in stable waves around me, keeping tabs on my surroundings so I might catch an enemy setting up an ambush all the while thinking of a way to meet Naruto without the tag along of my team and without a procession to back him up. I'm just considering the pros and cons of a one man stealth mission to the Hokage monument if I can only get information on when he'll be there, perching on the 4th Hokage's head as he used to when we were young and he needed to work something out, when I feel something that makes me start.

His chakra…

Close, letting out a pulse similar to mine.

What is this? An attempt by him to widen the scope of Konoha's defences following the Akatsuki attack? Why would he do something like this alone?

Maybe he's just letting me know that he's here…

Yes, okay, assuming that Naruto hasn't become the omnipotent being that I met in the future when I first travelled in the space of a few months, perhaps he's just come to meet me on some wild instinct.

And I call Naruto stupid…

Still, I can't let this opportunity pass. It's too good to be true.

Within seconds, I've taken off along the grass, running full pelt over bracken, fallen leaves and newly budding clover beneath the fall of trees with the same fan-like leaves. The closer I get to him, the more distinct the focus of his chakra becomes and what I feel surprises me slightly.

Something's happened.

His chakra is off. Though its strong and steady, prominent and full as always, there is a taint that wasn't there when I last saw him for that brief moment before engaging my brother, a taint that I know well.

I halt just before I get to the clearing, catching a glimpse of him through a pair of poplar trees, his bright blonde hair shining out even though it only has the half light of the moon to illuminate it. He's wearing the dark red coat he was wearing when I last saw him dropping out of the sky with a fatal wound to his middle and he's sitting cross legged on the grass with his eyes closed, so still that I can't even see him breathing.

Since when is someone as loud and fidgety as Naruto able to sit as still as that?

As I watch him, I notice that something is happening to his eyelids, patches of colour starting to coat them like eye shadow. Curious, I activate my sharingan and almost falter as I watch the chakra seeping calmly into his chakra coils from the outside, almost like he's drawing on the essence of existence itself for power.

Just what is this trick of his?

"I know you're there Sasuke. There's no point in hiding," Naruto says suddenly, his voice low and…irritated? My left eye twitches in response to his uncharacteristic awareness and I step out into the light, determined to make myself look as dignified but at the same time as harmless as possible.

He stands as I extract myself from the trees, the movement fluid and really rather unlike him. When he turns to face me, his eyes flash open revealing a truly bizarre sight, bright yellow irises made distinct by horizontal pupils. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they looked like the eyes of a frog…

For a moment, the two of us merely stare at each other and I struggle with what to tell him.

What can I tell him? I don't really know why I'm here…

"What are you doing here?" I manage eventually, the question extending naturally to 'how did you know I would be here?' without me having to verbalise and a marked look of ire shoots across Naruto's expression as he digs into his trouser pocket to pull out a carefully folded note.

"You asked me to meet you, remember?"

I repress the urge to twitch in response to this news. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the presence of mind my future self obviously has to drop Naruto a note on what can only be another time travelling mishap, essentially saving me the trouble of infiltrating one of the larger ninja villages to try and get an audience with this idiot, but the appearance of forgetting my own note doesn't exactly work in my favour here.

I need to come across at least partially sane if he's going to believe anything I tell him…

God…he's so close…and so different…

"Ah," I intone, trying to appear as though I summoned him here on purpose. Attempting to explain to this dobe that this whole meeting has clearly been previously orchestrated by myself but not until later on in the future is futile.

And it's not what I want to talk about at the moment.

"I want to come home," I blurt out in a single arrogant sentence.

The air between us seems to warp into something nitrous as he processes this, his eyes widening until the electric yellow of his pupils flash like illuminated light bulbs in his eye sockets, framed by the weird blood red markings colouring the edges of his eyes. His face becomes taut and drawn with tension in an emotion that I can't quite give a name to and his mouth parts slightly though the intake of breath I can see following this statement is strained.

"…What?"

The word is short and sharp, like a kunai thrown between us in this crucial stalemate. It's cutting, full of accusations and stress and it's nothing less than I deserve, but I still wince as though I wasn't expecting it.

Did I honestly expect that he would welcome me home with open arms just like that?

Yes.

Because he chased me for so long, because he fought so hard for our friendship, because in another time not so far away from this one, he told me he loves me.

"My revenge is complete," I tell him, reporting to him as though he is the Hokage and I am merely a ninja giving a verbal recount of a completed mission. "There is nothing else left. I want to come home."

To the last place in this world that has something worthwhile for me.

His eyebrows furrow slightly, his eyes flash with a million thoughts and eventually, he fixes me with a gaze that could almost be described as shrewd.

"What do you mean there's nothing else left?"

I fight the urge to withdraw into myself following that heavy question, trying desperately to be honest and let Naruto see emotions that I can't quite feel any more. Years of training, of conditioning myself to be nothing more than a vessel of hatred and vengeance is really taking its toll…How can I be more now that I need to be more?

How can I show him the desolation I felt after Itachi's death? That would clarify what I meant by nothing else left.

"Sasuke?" he asks and the inflection in the way he says my name is almost gentle.

I adjust myself, responding to his tone and verbalise.

"Dobe…Orochimaru is dead. Itachi is dead…There's nothing left for me to do out in the world."

You're the only thing I have left…

"So you thought you'd just come on home."

… And it's terrifying for me to have to do this right now with the possibility of the rejection clouding the new strange colour of your eyes being real.

His jaw sets, his face becomes steely and his muscles shift slightly as he regards me. He was giving off undulating waves of agonised confusion but now, he seems resolute, sure. His feet crunch through the dry grass as he walks towards me, a stride full of the Uzumaki confidence I came to know so well in my genin days. At the time, I thought it unjustified swagger but now, I can see that its actually part of him gearing up to face the impossible.

Please Naruto…I don't know why I'm here…I don't know why your stupid bond matters so much…just please Naruto…

He stops when we're literally inches apart, so close that I can feel the edge of his breath brushing against the top of my black vest, causing the fabric to flutter against my sternum. His eyes are so intensely focussed, so hard, sure and full of all the pain I never let myself acknowledge in him that it takes all my willpower to hold his gaze, to show him the truth of my longing to come back home through my own eyes.

I read him.

He reads me.

Yet the punch comes as a complete surprise.

There is a movement that draws my eyes for just a second from his left hand, nothing more than a slight twitch and the next thing I know, something planet sized and solid as titanium has impacted the side of my face and stars explode behind my eyes as I'm thrown half way across the clearing. My back hits the base of one of the trees covered in fan-like leaves and the trunk splinters completely. I end up careening straight through it to the next tree that also splinters before collapsing into a writhing mass on the floor, groaning out my agony as I clutch at my face and try to collect myself, automatically running a surge of chidori through my system as protection whilst I'm otherwise incapacitated. Tears stream down my face in reaction to this attack and it takes a few moments of serious blinking before I can even see vague shapes.

I'm barely able to dodge Naruto's next attack, manoeuvring awkwardly out of the way of another punch only to be met by a chop executed at such a weird angle that I think perhaps Naruto has dislocated one of his arms for the sole purpose of landing a hit on me. I wouldn't put something like that past the dobe. He has no regard for his own safety so long as whatever measure he takes insures victory.

I land on the trunk of the next tree and very pointedly don't draw my sword though I'm itching to feel the handle of the blade beneath my fingers against this more powerful Naruto. Whatever energy he's managed to access through this new trick of his, it's like going up against a god damn bulldozer just faster…a lot faster…

When he comes at me again, utilising a move that's similar in grace to a more complex tai chi stance, again, I'm barely able to dodge without making an aggressive play of my own, utilising the weaknesses of his attacks to devise a strategy for a counter. I don't want to fight him though and I certainly don't want this to escalate. Whatever rage Naruto has to get out of his system against me, I'll take it gladly, I know I deserve nothing better and throwing punches has always cleared the air between us in the past.

I just hope the air hasn't become so fogged that it can no longer be cleared…

God…

When I land on the surface of a small stream with a light splash, a growl sounds from the depths of Naruto's throat and a shiver shoots through my spine.

When he lands on the water in front of me, his hands loosely swinging beside him, I find myself staring into the almost familiar crimson gaze of the Kyuubi though my brow furrows slightly when I find myself trying to focus on strange cross shaped pupils, the weird pill shaped horizontal pupils of his newfound strange power and the slit, sharp pupils of the Kyuubi.

He's combined his two roots of power…should that even be possible?

I'm so drawn in to the impossibility of these eyes, the implications that they spur in the back of my mind about avenues of power and this idiot's ability to truly breech the boundaries of possibility, that I don't notice the shadow clone hanging above me in the thick canopy of the trees, holding on to one of those spinning balls of wind until it drops down on top of me.

The ball of power Naruto's clone is holding on to connects with my stomach and erupts, causing a rapidly drilling, burning sensation to explode over my abdomen and over my lowest ribs. I grit my teeth against the pain, only vaguely aware as the clone disappears with a pop of smoke to be replaced by the real Naruto who promptly pins my arms to the bank of stream and sits on me, his thighs tight against my hips and his feet locked around my legs to stop me from moving.

A tiny part of me marvels at this hold, at this idiot's obvious improvement in taijutsu. Even if I really wanted to, I couldn't break this particular pin and somehow, that's a little unnerving. This whole thing is…a little unnerving…

I feel so vulnerable…I don't like it…get off of me Naruto…

He's breathing hard on top of me and I force myself not to panic like a caged animal in his grasp, keeping my eyes fixed on his as they start flashing like a series of strobe lights in fast motion between bright yellow, Kyuubi red and his own, original blue.

"Why won't you fight back?" he hisses out, his voice cutting like a whip through the silence that's fallen over us. As his anger intensifies with the question, his whisker marks start to become more prominent and as I shift slightly beneath him, he snarls and I can see that his canines have begun to elongate.

I simply let myself look at him, projecting as much sincerity through my expression as I can muster.

And my emotions sit raw on my chest.

Can he feel their burn through his body because we're so close?

"Maybe I don't want to hurt you anymore," I tell him.

He stares at me and I flinch against the expression. His eyes snap into the singular red colour of the Kyuubi, the colour of his mouth darkens and his hair starts to bristle against a choking heat that I can feel pushing deep into my arms, hips and legs from his body.

The air begins to hiss as the Kyuubi's potent chakra begins to leak from him.

"Liar!" he yells out, un-pinning my arms so he can grab the front of my vest and lift me up, slamming my head down against the bank of the stream. The earth there is muddy and wet so I feel no pain but the force behind that action is enough to intimidate.

"Of course you want to hurt me! Your brother may be dead but he spent a long time cultivating all that hatred inside you. Something like that doesn't just disappear Sasuke so fight me seriously! I can take it, your hatred, all of it!"

The way he says that…

'…all that hatred inside you. Something like that doesn't just disappear…'

What happened while I sought revenge against my brother?

What exactly has Naruto been through?

There is something in the way he's looking at me through the Kyuubi's eyes, something devastating and suddenly, I don't need to think about giving the right impression through projecting my sincerity, I don't need to think about the complexity of showing emotions I've become accustomed to burying because, at the moment, I couldn't hide them if I tried. My eyes latch on to his and for this moment, we really see each other.

"Naruto," I say, his name a soft lilt in the air. I've never used this voice before. I didn't even know it could be this gentle.

"I'm done…I don't want to hurt you anymore."

His expression changes instantly, the rage dropping off of his face like water to be replaced with a shock that burns me to my core. The air that was starting to become unbearably hot cools to a normal temperature and his eyes fade gradually to his usual blue. I've never been so relieved to see that virulent colour, those eyes.

This is the Naruto I know. This is the Naruto I risked coming back to Konoha to see.

His hands are still bunched up in the fabric of my shirt leaving my arms free. I'm sure he knows that he's left himself open but he doesn't move to pin me properly again. It's the smallest sign that, at least subconsciously, he still trusts me enough not to take advantage of him.

"…Then what do you want?" he asks in a defeated voice, so quiet that I have to tilt my head to catch his words.

My chest clenches when I hear the true weary misery in his tone.

What will fill the void left by the hatred?

I let my mind go into overdrive for a moment, contemplating my answer but in the end, I know I can only tell the truth. To him and only him.

"I don't know," I admit carefully, feeling his fingers tighten in my vest. "I think I might just want to live."

He's looking at me as if I've grown a second head, as if he would like nothing more than to move away from me and put some distance between us and this look scares me but I persevere with what I'm saying, determined to follow in Naruto's footsteps and continue on guts alone.

"Will you let me try?" I ask him carefully, knowing I'm pushing it a little and knowing that at this point, I need to.

A million different emotions flash through the depths of his blue eyes like the tantalising flicker of fish below the surface of the water and just as I feared, he pushes himself up and backs away, shaking his head, blonde locks flying out over his head.

And I can't actually hide how crushed I am.

It's the worst feeling I've experienced in a long time.

I feel vulnerable, more naked than I've ever felt on one of my time travelling escapades and smaller than I was when I faced Itachi on the night of the massacre.

Naruto…

"Don't tell me you're finally giving up on me…" I whisper, almost surprised to hear the catch in my throat, to feel the lump and the tears threatening to press against the edges of my eyes.

How mortifying…

Ninjas don't cry Naruto.

"Just when I've given in to your foolish wish to return to Konoha."

He glares at me through steely blue eyes, his lips pursed in what could be annoyance.

"I've given up on giving up," he tells me solidly, a statement that makes me frown because it's a weird concept and fits Naruto to a T.

He's thought about this.

Hard.

"Teme, truth be told, this is too easy. It doesn't feel right and I don't understand how when you were so hell bent on cutting all ties with our home, you can just return out of the blue like this but even if this is some kind of crazy trap or whatever, I don't care because you're back and I'm not gonna waste this chance to genuinely persuade you that coming home legitimately is the right choice."

I blink at him.

He thinks this is all some sort of elaborate plot? When did he become so suspicious?

He fought and destroyed the Akatsuki leader…the Akatsuki who are after the tailed beasts and have been since he was 12…

What kind of life has he been living up until now? How often has he been hunted?

Whatever he thinks though, I can't help the feeling of relief that washes through my body, making my knees feel weak.

I'm not too late…

"I don't trust you," Naruto tells me simply and though I know that should hurt, it doesn't because right now, it doesn't matter if he's willing to give me another chance to earn his trust again.

"But I haven't stopped believing in you."

Naruto…

His eyes are clear of turmoil now, glinting as the first rays of sunlight bathe the world in a burst of fiery orange and in that moment, he smiles at me, a poor impression of the grin that used to split his face but it's a start.

"Welcome home teme."

I tell him immediately about my comrades back at our make shift camp and make a point of asking for leniency in their treatment. Naruto's demeanour towards me seems to lighten a little bit following this request and, in a direct correlation that seriously baffles me, my own mood lightens as well. We have a brief discussion about how to go about presenting my return to Danzo as the sun continues to drift lazily upwards, both of us sitting with our backs to each other on the bank of the stream. We toss a few ideas back and forth just like we used to on missions as genin and this discussion is so surreal…sitting with Naruto like this is so surreal…

He says he doesn't trust me but at the moment, it feels like nothing's changed.

"Argh! This is all so messed up. If you'd decided to do this even a couple of weeks ago, you could've just gone straight to the old hag and everything would be fine!"

He lifts up his arms and runs his calloused hands through the wild tresses of his hair, grabbing on to chunks of obnoxious blonde and pulling, groaning when he can't think of anything new. The movement is animated and over-the-top, so very much the Naruto I knew as a kid that I can't help the small, foreign smile that tries to edge across my face.

When he flops against my back, letting the tension in his body go, I stiffen on a reflex but don't move.

He sinks down against me until his head and shoulders are supported entirely by my frame and I crane my neck so I can see over my shoulder, my eyes fixed on the top of his head. He lets out a large huff, a movement I can feel through my spine and the sensation is both disconcerting and comforting.

That I could be so close to another human being without wanting to kill them…this is what Naruto does to people…

"Perhaps I should take a leaf out of your book and simply go for a straight forward approach," I remark passively, watching a water skipper jumping across the surface of the stream.

"Yeah right teme, Danzo'd execute you on the spot," Naruto mutters dejectedly behind me, lifting his arm up to rest it over his eyes against the light.

"Not if I offered him something he couldn't refuse," I respond dryly, an idea springing to mind that is at once repulsive but at the same time, the only way I can see of going forward.

"Like what?" Naruto snorts.

"Like my sharingan."

Naruto inhales and holds his breath as that sentiment drops between us then he shifts slightly, craning his own neck so the corners of our eyes meet.

"You wouldn't really give him your eyes would you?"

"Not mine," I admit, the thought of being blind, of someone like Danzo walking around with the Uchiha coveted sharingan, quite honestly sickens me to my core. I don't think I could go on without my sight.

"But if I had children with someone from the village and those children happened to bear the sharingan, they would be loyal to Konoha…Konoha would gain back the sharingan that it was famous for."

Naruto's skin pales slightly as the notion of this idea truly sinks in. His lips purse and he pushes himself up to turn and face me properly, looking me in the eye. I almost miss the warmth of another body pressed like that to my back in such a companionable position but it would be a lie to say I'm not relieved that he's moved. Somehow I'm able to think clearer without him so close.

"Sasuke," Naruto says, his eyes serious. "That's fucked up."

"Really?" I say in a companionable manner, as though we're discussing nothing more complex than training tactics. "I think it's plausible."

"You can't just…offer yourself up like some kind of prized poodle to be bred! Think about what you'd be asking yourself to do! You'd have to have…sex! With…someone!"

He punctuates this ludicrous prudishness with an animated arm flail that makes me want to smile again. If he's talking like that about sex then…I suppose I can draw the conclusion that he's still a virgin. I can't exactly boast about my sexual encounters considering I really have been too caught up in revenge to think about it at all but somehow, it's a relief that we're still pretty much in the same boat in that department.

"Last time I checked, sex was rather enjoyable," I say, a purposefully ambiguous statement designed to make him think I'm more experienced than I actually am.

Okay, I admit it, I'm teasing him just a little bit.

Naruto blinks a few times, his eyes growing huge and round as dinner plates, his mouth opening just a fraction. The look he's giving me is so comical that I actually have to fight the urge to laugh at him.

"Eeeeeeeeeeh? Are you saying you've already…with who?"

I raise an eyebrow at him, giving him his answer non-verbally before turning my attention back to the matter at hand.

"I don't think it would be so bad if that was all I had to do to have the chance to go home Naruto. It's unethical but that's fine."

Naruto's expression is suddenly desolate and I frown at him, asking without asking what the matter is. Strange how we can still communicate without having to verbalise everything. Naruto is able to read my subtleties better than the other companions I've had over the years, companions that constantly tell me they think I'm somewhat emotionally retarded.

"Sasuke, during Pain's invasion…well…Konoha was destroyed. The Uchiha compound…your home…it's not there anymore. We're rebuilding but…"

I give him a side long glance that says a lot of different things.

I know that.

I never really thought of the Uchiha compound as my home after my parents were killed.

You are the last thing I have left idiot.

I sigh when Naruto just continues to look mournful and fall back until I'm lying in the dry grass with my arms under my head.

"It doesn't matter dobe."

We're silent for a long moment, each of us lost to our own thoughts before I harden my resolve on the matter and stand, wincing against the feeling of caked mud on my back and in my hair. When I glance down at Naruto, I can see that he too is covered in mud from where he was leaning against me.

If there was any doubt in my resolve, it disappears upon seeing that. I want a chance to sit with him like that again and I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

"Naruto…I'm going to see the Hokage now. I appreciate you coming when you received my note and for accepting my need to come home. It was important that I spoke to you first."

Naruto is on his feet in about 5 seconds, opening his mouth to protest my sudden foolhardiness but on a reflex, I slide to the side of him and touch a couple of crucial pressure points in his neck before he can react, watching unhappily as his eyes dull and close, catching him as he goes limp, my arms sliding quickly beneath his arm pits.

I drop down with him, holding him carefully with his head against my shoulder and place him gently on the grass, brushing a lock of unruly hair from his face.

For a couple of seconds, I simply watch him as he sleeps, appreciating the gentle rise and fall of his chest as breathes and wondering when I'll see him again. Then I uncoil from my crouched position beside him and take off into the trees towards the camp site, intent on getting the others ready before Naruto rouses and chases after us.

I wonder how pissed off he'll be when he wakes up…guess I have another black eye coming my way.

Oddly, the thought makes me feel better about what's to come.

Konoha's decimation…

…hits me like one of Naruto's more emotionally fuelled punches.

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting to find upon returning to the village, debris, a mass of broken buildings, streets laden with body bags waiting to be buried in the graveyard but as we move towards the entrance to the village, towards the gates I remember leaving behind as a genin, what we see is nothing short of a levelled wasteland, destruction so potent, so absolute, that I can't even make out where the cobbled pathways running through the village used to be.

Just how powerful was the Akatsuki leader to reduce Konoha to this where even Orochimaru at the height of his power failed? How powerful did Naruto have to be to defeat him?

Karin's whimpering alerts me to the fact that we've been surrounded by a small legion of ANBU but I don't turn my attention to them immediately, still staring at the crater that was once an entire nation's ninja village, at the rubble ringing the edge of Konoha's walls like a cup stain on a coaster, at the space where the Uchiha compound used to stand, nothing but a mass of upturned earth now.

It doesn't matter dobe.

And it didn't…doesn't…

Whatever I had in that compound, whatever my life was, I honestly don't care that there's nothing to remember it by…nothing to remember any of them by…

People's thoughts should not dwell on the dead.

"Uchiha…Sasuke?"

The muffled voice of a masked ANBU rouses me out of my stupor. I turn impassive eyes on the man standing before us, an ANBU I recognise from the chuunin exam many years ago by the particular unique style of his hair poking up through the top of the mask. He's flanked on either side by two more ANBU who are standing completely still, their postures giving nothing away.

I make sure to look superior as I reply, tilting my chin up in the way my father always used to when he was addressing the subordinates of his police force.

"I am here to see the current Hokage," I tell them, my voice ringing with unquestionable confidence.

There is a pause following this announcement as the ANBU think about this, gauging me and trying to work out if I have some sort of ulterior motive. I simply sit back and let them draw their conclusions, willing the others to remain calm in the face of the fairly intimidating Konoha elite. Eventually, the ANBU that I recognise from my days as a genin nods to me and more ANBU appear from the trees, an elite escort in case we should try something suspicious.

They surround us on all sides, each of them taking up a mark on my companions which makes Suigetsu squirm. I shoot him a warning look as we begin our descent into the crater that was once the village, my eyes glinting coldly as he pouts like a child.

As we move down into the base of the crater, I can see the foundations of new construction sites being laid out so that Konoha can start rebuilding. As we draw closer, I get my first glimpse of the people milling about over the rubble, salvaging what they can and working in large groups to try and keep society functioning as best it can in the current circumstances. The foundations being laid are for the busiest and most crucial businesses so that Konoha can re-establish trade as fast as possible and this makes sense to me.

There is only a single ramshackle building in the centre of the current priorities that sticks out like a sore thumb because this wasn't an essential re-build whatsoever but still, it makes me smirk.

Ichiraku Ramen.

We take an extremely convoluted route to the Hokage's current makeshift headquarters which tells me a lot about my own reputation within Konoha. Rogue ninjas were only ever brought in discreetly when the ninja escorting them were afraid of the reaction of the public should they be paraded through the streets. I suppose my appearance directly after the Akatsuki's invasion would put people on edge considering I was affiliated with someone else that tried to destroy the Leaf for years…

Eventually, we're stopped outside a large wooden cabin towards the back of the village near where the Hokage tower used to stand and one of the ANBU disappears inside. After a few minutes, he reappears and beckons me inside, making a motion to the others that they are to stay put. I enter the cabin with a steely expression and my heart thudding painfully against my throat, squinting against the dim darkness at the man sitting rigidly in a large chair at the back of the room behind a large wooden desk.

He doesn't look up as I enter, scribbling a harsh chicken scratch across a scroll instead with the utmost concentration and weirdly, this makes my jaw clench. For all the fondness Tsunade must have shed for me over the years considering what I did to her favourite ninja, how I've hurt him, I still believe she would grace me with enough common decency to acknowledge me if I were to walk into the room after nearly 5 years of absence from the village.

I make a point of not speaking, my eyes boring holes into the top of Danzo's head as he writes, hoping that my unnerving scrutiny will make his hand falter on the words he's so carefully thinking about but no such luck. I examine him with abandon, taking in the very careful placement of bandages over his body, the scars on his weather worn face, the flash of colour in his eye, like weak black tea, as he writes and the robe he wears - a comfortable choice for someone getting on in age but still expected to move as though he is still a younger man.

He meets my eyes only when he's finished the letter, reaching across the desk for the Hokage's seal and stamping the scroll shut. I'm immediately struck by this man's absolute sense of self certainty and within a glance, I know that he is at least marginally less intelligent than me.

"Uchiha," he says in an old, frail voice that doesn't fool me for a second. Old he may be but if he's the Hokage, he definitely isn't weak.

I remember vaguely that I want this man to at least co-operate with my desires as I incline my head to acknowledge his superior rank, biting the inside of my lip to hold the acerbic remarks making my tongue taste like acid.

"This is an unexpected honour and one that I am not fooled by," Danzo begins by telling me, his visible eye narrowing into a suspicious slit. Suddenly I'm reminded of what Naruto told me not hours before and my breath hitches slightly in my throat.

'I don't trust you…but I still believe in you.'

"It seems rather too much of a coincidence that you, the snake's subordinate, should show up on the very eve of Konoha's destruction like some sort of harbinger of further discord and I really am forced to wonder what you could possibly gain by presenting yourself so freely to me."

Hn, perhaps my initial supposition about his intelligence was a little hasty.

"I'm returning home," I tell him simply, showcasing the truth of my words through my expression in the vain hope that he'll accept this truth as Tsunade might have if she were still Hokage.

Danzo levels with me, his expression reflecting a morbid sort of curiosity and below that, a misplaced excitement that he can barely contain. It's truly disconcerting to be looked at like I'm nothing more than some sort of misplaced valuable trinket he's only now just found.

"Why?" he asks stiffly, his teeth clacking as his mouth snaps shut following this question, giving me the floor to explain myself.

"Orochimaru and my brother are dead," I tell him lightly. "I have no further need to be away from my home."

From Naruto…

Danzo stares at me for a long time, his mind obviously fighting to work around this chosen course of action. I suppose from an outsider's perspective, I'm nothing more than an egoist constantly taking advantage of situations to further my own goals and something like this that can only cause me hindrance is massively out of character. I'd be lying if I said that egoism wasn't a huge part of who I am, why I've come back…

I came back because Naruto is here and, now, I believe that he is the best thing for me, even if I have to endure the punishments of Konoha for becoming a rogue ninja.

"You do realise that traditionally, rogue ninjas are put to death upon their return to the village," Danzo tells me, as though explaining the way of the world to a small kid.

I nod once, a slight incline of the head.

"I believe that I can sway you away from that course of action," I tell him, letting my eyes flash with the brilliant red of the sharingan for a second or so before letting the more natural black assume dominance.

"I'd like to make an offer."

For a few minutes, Danzo's face remains frozen in a decidedly impassive expression as he considers my words, runs through every possible meaning and makes a decision about whether or not he wants to listen to my proposition.

I hold my breath where I stand and pray that I've judged his character correctly.

Is this man driven by enough greed to listen to me?

My heart hammers in my chest as I wait for his verdict but like him, I make sure I appear apathetic. To an outsider, we must look like nothing more than ninja mannequins in this most crucial moment…

Eventually, Danzo breaks the silence that settles over us and I flinch almost imperceptibly at the sound of his voice.

"What kind of offer Uchiha?"

I have to fight the urge to smirk as he takes the bait.

So no actual time travel this chapter (le gasp) but hey, this chapter was pretty important for transitional purposes y'know? Hopefully I did the reunion between Sasuke and Naruto well enough, I spent ages on it.