Title: Eclipse of the Heart

Summary: Naruto is a war hardened Anbu captain, who regards everyone he encounters with distrust and disdain. His parents have had enough with their son's attitude, so they send him back into his past to learn three lessons from it. Naruto, however, doesn't care to participate. How will this affect the future? Time-travel. Slight Au. Non Yaoi. Please R&R.

Genre: Friendship/ hurt-comfort

Rated: T

Pairings: None to speak of at the moment.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. I do not own the song 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'. I am only inspired by it.

"Once upon a time there was light in my life, but now there's only love in the dark. Nothing I can do a total eclipse of the heart." –Bonnie Tyler

Chapter One

Naruto sat at his desk mulling over paperwork. . He sighed as he took another long sip of his sake and glared at the mounted papers before him willing them to combust. He really hated paperwork. There was just no point in it really. At least, that is what he had tried to convince the council of last night. They had turned up their nose at the idea, of course, and here he sat as a direct result. Naruto's frown deepened as he observed a tiny little drop of liquid escape from the mouth of his bottle. He groaned, out of sake already.

"Noboru" (1)

A young man appeared in a puff of smoke before him, kneeling and with a bowed head. Naruto appraised the newly assigned Anbu for a moment, before he shook his empty bottle in the air.

"I'm out" He said dispassionately.

Noboru nodded his head once in acknowledgement before he disappeared the same way he had appeared. Naruto sighed once again as he returned his attention to more 'pressing' matters: paperwork.

0-0-0-0

"Isamu, I told you already. I am not interested in you." A buxom woman stated in annoyance.

"Yui, you wound me yet again. Alas, will I ever get to call you my own?"

Isamu you pig, you say that to every woman you meet. Now stop bothering me, I have an assignment to finish."

Isamu sighed as he watched Yui walk away from him. He smiled wistfully as he turned around and ran straight into an eagle's mask. He heard a startled gasp as the young Anbu fell to his knees in an apologetic manner. He couldn't help but laugh as he took in the startled young man on the ground in front of him.

"My apologies, I didn't see you there. Please forgive me for running into you." Noboru beseeched frantically.

"No need to apologize, kid. It was me who ran into you after all." Isamu said with an amused smile as he held his hand for the kid to take.

"But sir-"He protested.

"So what did you think of Yui? She sure is something else huh, and she is totally into me. Don't mind what you may have seen or heard. Women are complicated, we all know she is just playing hard to get, the tease."

Noboru blinked unsure of what to make about Naruto's second in command. He sure didn't act like a normal Anbu, especially not one in a position of power. He cleared his throat as he went to pick up his mask that had fallen off his face during the run-in. He gazed at the eagle's face that stared back at him before discreetly sneaking a peak at what Isamu's animal of choice was. His jaw dropped.

"Something wrong, Noboru?" Isamu asked in amusement.

"A pig?" He asked in shock before his face heated up. "I'm sorry, I sho-"

Isamu cut him off with a round of boisterous laughter.

Noboru's face heated up even more as he looked away feeling embarrassed.

Isamu took off the pig mask that he had resting on the top of his head. "Yui picked it. She said if I was going to act like a pig, I might as well wear the face of one. I actually kind of like it, though." He said with a smile.

A small smile crept over Noboru's face. He couldn't help but feel at ease in the presence of this odd man. He took in his whole appearance. Isamu stood just over six feet tall and was well built. He had long red hair that he kept in a low ponytail, and mischievous copper eyes. He had a strange 'x' scar above his right eyebrow.

Isamu waited patiently for the teen to size him up. "So why are you here?"

Noboru sighed despite himself. "The captain wants more sake."

Isamu smiled sympathetically. Naruto never had been really good at controlling his emotions, and hadn't exactly hidden his disdain when Noboru had joined the Anbu team. In fact, as Isamu recalled Naruto had bellowed pretty loud that day and had left a huge hole in the wall. No one but Isamu had understood why this child had Naruto in such a bad mood, but he was under direct orders from his captain not to say a word.

"Why doesn't he like me?" The teen asked quietly.

Isamu sighed. "Naruto is just under a lot of stress. You know the council has been riding his butt about his lack of order when it comes to protocol and such."

The teen glanced up at him unconvinced. "It seems to me more of a personal issue than just your average stress."

Isamu smiled. "Well, maybe there is more to the story than I am offering, but you know I am not at liberty to discuss such things."

"Noboru, where is my damn sake?"

Noboru looked at Isamu with a panicked expression as he grabbed the bottle and disappeared. Isamu was left chuckling in his wake as he looked up at the window and slipped his 'pig' mask back onto his face.

0-0-0-0

Noboru handed the bottle to Naruto and waited expectantly for further orders.

"Dismissed." He said in aggravation.

Noboru sighed in relief as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto stared at his new bottle appreciatively before he set it down on his desk with a sigh. "I don't remember giving you permission to enter, Isamu."

Isamu smiled behind his mask. "My deepest apologies, your captainess, shall I go send myself to the retention cell now for a time out?"

Naruto scowled at his sarcasm. "I sure as hell wouldn't mind."

Isamu's grin widened. "Aw, but you will miss me." He said as he jumped down from the window that he had been occupying.

Naruto just snorted.

Isamu's eyes clouded over for a moment. "He just wants to earn your respect, you know. He doesn't really understand why you feel so strongly against him."

Naruto glanced up in surprise at this sudden change in conversation. "What are you talking about?"

Isamu just stared back at him.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "You know it hurts me to look at him." He said quietly. "I just want block everything about the awful day. That stupid war that should have never happened, so much was lost that day. It's been almost nineteen years now since I have spoken to the remaining few of our time. Then here he comes, my own personal ghost come back to haunt me. Every time I look at him I am slapped in the face. He should never have happened, and I will never forgive myself for it. It's why I choose to become an Anbu, you know. It is so much easier to put on a mask and disappear into the shadows. Those who meet me now, meet death. Seems fitting doesn't it?" Naruto said darkly.

Isamu stood there silently as his mind drifted back towards that awful day that had become forever known as 'Mourning Leaf.' It had been perhaps one of the greatest holocausts Konaha had ever born witness too. Sasuke had launched his attack on Konaha that day with Madara playing in his shadow. Isamu had met Naruto on that day. He had remembered the sixteen year old blond had looked at him with a smile and said 'I know you're a chuunin and all, but since I am two years older I get to call the shots ok." Together they had managed to fight their way towards Sasuke, and it was in those moments Naruto had forever changed. They had both joined the Anbu black ops two weeks later, and Naruto was promoted to captain four years later.

"I should probably go pay my respects to them; it has been eight years since my last visit after all." Naruto said sadly causing Isamu to come out of his musings. Naruto sighed as he slipped on a raven's mask. "Paperwork can live without me after all." Where the words that he mumbled before he vanished.

0-0-0-0

Naruto gazed at the obsidian stone in silence. His eyes scanned the names of all the men and women who sacrificed their lives in some way or another for the sake of this village. He remembered his former Sensei used to come here all the time to pay his respects to his fallen comrades and reminisce about his own mistakes. Naruto felt morbidly nostalgic at the thought as his eyes saw in what seemed to be in big, bold print: Kakashi Hatake. "Finally made it onto the stupid stone with your squad ,right, Sensei?"

"N-Naruto?" An astonished female voice asked.

Naruto froze and withdrew within himself. 'Sakura?' Naruto touched the mask to make sure it was still there before turning around to face the woman he had abandoned 19 years ago.

"I, uh, you." Sakura sighed feeling a loss for words at the moment as she stared back at the masked face before her. "It is you right?" She asked softly.

"Hn." Naruto grunted looking down at the ground in shame. He couldn't look at her, not after the way he had walked out on her. Not after what he had left her to deal with.

"It's ok, Naruto. You don't have to say anything. I will just come and pay my respects another day." With that Sakura forced a pleasant smile and left.

Naruto sighed as his shoulders slumped forward. "I really have become a coward, haven't I?" Naruto said to no one in particular as he left.

0-0-0-0

Sakura walked back towards the Hokage tower, her other 'home' so to speak. She sighed as memories flooded her mind.

"What do you mean you don't want the job?" An enraged Sakura asked the masked blond in front of her.

"I have discussed this with you already, Sakura. Since you apparently didn't hear me out the first time I will say it again, slowly. I. DON'T. WANT. TO. BE. TSUNADE'S. SUCCESOR. PERIOD. I am not taking the title of the Sixth. I'm sorry." Naruto said coldly.

Sakura stared in disbelief at him. Ever since she could remember Naruto had been bragging about how he was going to be the greatest Hokage someday, and now that he had the chance. He refused it? Sakura shook her head. "If you're not going to take the job then who is?"

Naruto shrugged. "Well, there aren't exactly a lot of survivors left suitable enough for the job. Shikamara is brainy enough, but he has his hands full trying to take care of Asuma's child. Hinata wouldn't stay conscious long enough for the ceremony. Ino would complain that the hat would mess her hair up. As for Lee, well, could you honestly picture his face on that mountain?" Naruto shuddered.

Sakura's face paled at the image.

Naruto glanced up at her sheepishly. "I guess that only leaves you then."

Sakura blinked. "Absolutely not."

Naruto looked back at her stubbornly. "Well, you are the best choice having been trained by the former Hokage. I am not taking the job, so it's in your hands now."

Sakura's eyes filled with tears. "Naruto, you know I just can't right now." She said in a pleading tone.

Naruto's eyes filled with pain for a moment before they iced over. "Deal with it." He said as he left.

Sakura hugged herself. It had been the last time she had seen Naruto in 19 years. Tsunade had died one year after the war had ended. She had requested that Naruto be her successor. Naruto told her not to worry he would take care of it right before she died. She looked upon the stone mountain at her carved image. She had been appointed the new Hokage a month later instead.

"Mom, what are you doing walking outside at this hour?" A concerned voice asked.

Sakura glanced up from her musings to see her son rushing over towards her in earnest. "Just getting a little fresh air, I suppose." She smiled at the dark haired teen in front of her. He had grown up to become a fine young man. He even had the same dark, handsome, cold, features of his father, of Sasuke. 'Sasuke.'

"Stop right there Sasuke, I cannot allow you to go any further than this." Sakura stated as she held a kunai in front of her in both an offensive and defensive posture.

Sasuke's red eyes stared at her amused."What? No tear filled speeches this time? You disappoint me, Sakura. "

Sakura's eyes hardened as she felt her heart break. "What no speech about being an avenger? It seems we have both softened over the years."

Sasuke smiled a twisted, malevolent smile. "Hn. I guess so. I am in a generous mood today, though. Perhaps I should fulfill your once childish desires before I kill you."

Sakura took a step backwards suddenly in terror as his eyes began to change.

"Mom?"

Sakura snapped out of her past as she smiled at the teen in front of her. "Don't worry, Noboru. I'm fine."

Noboru looked at her unconvinced, but decided to leave the subject alone for now.

o-o-o

Naruto entered his apartment and threw himself onto his bed as he tried to escape the memories that were plaguing him. He found the bed completely useless at suppressing them and turned towards his liquor cabinet for solace, only to find it didn't help either. He growled in frustration as he threw the bottle across the room. "I should have killed him sooner, and then maybe you wouldn't have suffered. They would all still be alive. I failed everyone." He said as he put his head down onto his knees.

"Naruto."

Naruto glanced up in confusion. "Mom?"

Kushina smiled. "Yes son, it's me."

Naruto frowned wondering how much he had drank before he broke that bottle. "Where's dad?" He chose to ask in case this was real or whatever.

Kushina frowned. "He couldn't make it. I was the only one allowed to enter the world of the living for a moment." Her expression softened. "My how you have grown since the last time I saw you."

Naruto blushed slightly and turned away from her stare. "Mom, why are you here?"

"Your father and I are concerned about you. We feel like you have given up on life. That you allowed a part of yourself to die a long time ago."

Naruto sighed. "Why did you choose to show up now?

Kushina smiled a humorless smile. "We were hoping that you would grow out of it eventually. When you never did… well it takes time to cross over into a new realm also."

Naruto glanced up into his mother's face. It was just as beautiful as he remembered it to be. "Well mom, no offense, but unless you can turn back time there isn't much you can do for me."

Kushina smiled as she caressed her son's cheek. "Relax. Take a deep breath. When you wake up don't panic, you will be exactly where you are supposed to be. Think of this as a gift, and a lesson to be learned, three to be exact. I hope you will find peace again."

Naruto's eyelids grew heavy as he tried to fight off the sleep that suddenly was trying to overpower him as his world suddenly turned black.

-End-

A/n: I would like to welcome you to my maiden story. This is the first fanfiction, I have ever attempted my hand at, and I hope you guys will come to enjoy it. Yes, I knew it's an over-used plot, but I hope that I can introduce some of my own twists to make it fresh. I really don't have anything else to say. Please review if you liked my story. Also review if you see something that is incorrect, I am all ears.

Noboru: ascend; climb; virtuous