It has been a long time. A preview for what's to come:

The hunter-nin jumped out of hiding into the clearing, his target waiting at the far end of the training ground. He stood as stone, waiting for his target to make a move, his eyes searching the area for the child.

"You must be pretty good to track me this far," called out the missing-nin.

Naruto paid no heed to his words. His fingers squeezed tighter around the hilt of his blade. He felt his memories twist inside, showing him his failures at the hands of the man before him. Their whispers filled his ears, their young voices long silenced by the wicked man he had been tracking for years. He had to know, he needed his answer.

"Where is the child?"

The missing-nin reached slowly behind his back, grabbing a small bundle. He tossed the bundle in the air, landing a few meters in front of the hunter-nin.

It was her cloths.

The coldness began to sweep through his limbs, the feeling of adrenaline coursing though the veins. His eyes began to glow: two dark blue amethysts that sang death in their gaze, but a death so beautiful that they alone would burn the image into your own eyes before your blood touched the earth. Holding his scabbard, he felt its weight bear down upon him. The voices of the dead rang louder in his ears. He was so tired of it, tired of bearing this weight with no hope to be clean. The wraiths of the dead manifested before his eyes, stumbling blindly toward him, their tiny fingers reaching to him. His thumb cocked the blade flush, ready to be drawn in an instant. This man would pay for his sins. My sins…The scabbard rattled in his hands; it just felt so heavy, so very heavy. The scabbard angled downward, the hate pulling it from his fingers.

The blade slipped out of the sheath, clanging loudly on the ground.