Chapter 11: New Beginnings, Old Regrets

Sasuke grunted as he felt the air being forced from his lungs as he hit the ground with a painful smack. Coughing, the young Uchiha worked himself back to his feet, heaving great gulps of air, trying to regain his composure. Taking a deep breath, the raven haired boy centered himself and slid back into the combat stance of his family.

"Again."

Standing across from him in a small clearing within the deep woods of the Nara Clan, Naruto Uzumaki rubbed the back of his head in apprehension, a purple bruise blossoming on the left side of his face. When it came to prospective Genin, Naruto's taijustu was among the top five, as his technique was above average, but his endurance, strength and experience were on a whole other level than those of his peers.

Unfortunately, Sasuke Uchiha was another prospective Genin in the top five in terms of strength and skill and he made sure to remind Naruto of that every chance he got.

"You sure about this? You know how Shika gets when we ignore his scenario's so we can fight."

Sasuke merely narrowed his onyx eyes, as he tensed his muscles in preparation of a fight. He knew the Uzumaki couldn't resist a test of his strength. Like himself, Naruto was filled with an ambition that ruled every waking moment of every hour.

"Please. You know that Inuzuka will have already sniffed out where the flag is and will be charging for it first. Akimichi will be on defense, as he always is. And Nara will probably stick around Akimichi, keeping an eye out on you and Inuzuka to make a break for the flag, looking for an opportunity to take you down. Really, I'm doing him a favor here. So, fight me."

Conflicting emotions crossed Naruto's face as he tried to find a way around the Uchiha's arguments before giving up with an explosive sigh. While his grasp on tactics was high enough to have actually followed Sasuke's reasoning, thanks to Choza's patient and often violent teachings, he would always remain a scrapper at hart.

He simply preferred fighting over thinking, he couldn't help it.

Sliding into his own stance, which was becoming more and more unique to himself as he started to combine both the Akimichi fighting style with Goken and even some moves he picked up from fighting Sasuke all the time, Naruto gave a determined nod to the boy in front of him.

"Bring it, dattebayo!"

For a moment both combatants remained perfectly still, before they simultaneously shot off the ground at each other, fists cocked back in preparation of an epic clash-

"Tsuuga!"

-only to desperately dodge to the side at the very last moment, as what appeared to be the love-child of a tornado and a missile slammed down in the middle of the clearing, throwing up dust and debris.

Naruto and Sasuke both managed to land on their feet, shaken but not deterred as a dizzy Kiba stumbled from the grooved crater he'd made. Both children prepared to push off, intent on finishing their battle-

"Kagemane no Jutsu, success."

"Bubun Baika no Jutsu!"

-Naruto glared down at his feet in shock, seeing their shadow stretch unnaturally back into the bushes, where he could see the shadowed form of Shikamaru hold up the Rat sign. Sasuke meanwhile felt himself being engulfed by a hand that was about as large as his torso. He tried to squirm his way too freedom, but since his arms were pinned to his side he was unable to perform any ninjutsu.

"The hell Shika!?" Naruto yelled, as he strained to look over his shoulder, steadily drawing on his enormous chakra reserves, causing sweat to pool on the young Nara's brow as he struggled to contain the blonde Uzumaki.

"Tch. You know Sasuke, you weren't all that far off with your deduction. But if you think we're getting predictable, then you really need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. I knew that if you and Naruto ran into each other, you simply couldn't resist to try and beat each other to a pulp. So I simply made it look as if your deduction was correct, before using Kiba's superior senses to double back and track you down."

Sasuke stilled his struggles, though his onyx eyes flashed in irritation.

"Very clever, Nara. But you're talking as if you've already won. We all know that me and Naruto are the top combatants of our group. You've tracked us down, but can you defeat us before the chakra for your restraining techniques run out?" the Uchiha coolly said, his eyes flicking to the struggling Naruto, who's skin had begun to give off a slight blue glow.

Meeting eyes, the two rivals shared a smirk, and prepared for a whole different kind of fight.

Hidden under the trees of his Clan's forest, Shikamaru let out a bitter chuckle.

"Well, can't say you haven't gotten me by surprise there, Sasuke. You and Naruto teaming up? Guess we should be flattered. Apparently our skills have progressed enough that you see us as such a threat that you're willing to work together. You want a fight? Very well, then prepare to lose."

And with that, Shikamaru burst from the undergrowth in a dead sprint-

"What the hell, dattebayo!?"

-forcing Naruto to run forwards as well. Choji caught on immediately, and threw Sasuke at the involuntary charging Uzumaki, while Shikamaru forced his arm up in a picture perfect clotheswing.

The tactic, having caught Naruto and Sasuke completely off guard, worked like a charm, and with a heavy smack, Naruto's arm caught Sasuke in the upper chest, slamming the young Uchiha into the ground.

However, as the sprint and the sudden impact had canceled the Shadow Imitation Technique on Naruto, and Choji had released Sasuke from his Partial Multi-size Technique, this meant that both boys were now free from their constraints.

And they were itching for pay-back.

Sasuke climbed to his feet, ignoring the additional bruise to his chest as he gathered shuriken and kunai in his hand, his skill with thrown weapons unequaled by all of his peers with the exception of some girl named Tenten.

Naruto meanwhile simply loosened the control on his chakra, exploding in a blue colored aura that whipped his clothes in a sudden wind, while his spikey hair stood on end. Cracking his knuckles and his neck, Naruto let out a challenging grin, showing off pointed canines.

The grin was matched fang for fang by a recovered Kiba, having regained some of his chakra and overcome his dizziness, now flanked by Choji, who was desperately munching on some high-calorie sweets, and a tired looking Shikamaru, though his eyes were flashing with plots and tactics, even as his hands settled once more in a Rat seal.

For a moment, the two impromptu teams stared at each other, before on some unseen sign, they all charged, Jutsu being thrown around abundantly, while feet and fists clashed with meaty sounds, as they all yelled in exertion.

And a great time was had by all.

"Here's what I don't get."

"Hmm? What do you of all people don't get?"

"Ha ha, look at that, the Uchiha made a joke. I think the end-times missed their schedule and came a few millennia too early."

"Whatever Nara, just play already."

Sitting in the cool shade of a tree in the middle of the playground of the Academy, Shikamaru and Sasuke were seated in front of each other, a banged up and well-worn travel sized Go set placed between them.

Sitting next to them, keeping one concealed eye on their game and another on the bug preening itself on his outstretched fingertip sat Shino Aburame. The very definition of the 'silent type' Shikamaru had challenged the boy to a Go match one day after Sasuke had been frustrated by one too many defeats and had walked off in a huff, looking for Kiba or Naruto to get into a fight with.

While Shikamaru and Shino had played their match, the three other boys getting into a four-way battle royal, having inadvertently caught up Choji in it when one of them accidentally kicked his bag of chips to the ground, the Nara managed do draw the quiet Aburame into conversation, discovering that the bug user was a very intelligent person and not nearly as creepy as everybody had made him and his Clan out to be.

After that day, where Shino had lost the match, of course, and all of the boys had lost the fight to an irate Iruka, whose desk had been smashed once again, this time by Choji throwing Sasuke through it, Shino began to occasionally join them during recess, his quiet nature and fierce intelligence making him fit in with Shikamaru and Sasuke, whenever the latter boy got fed up by the loud-mouths of their group.

"What is it that you do not get, Shikamaru-san? Why do I wish to know? Because I dislike being kept in suspense".

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, just a sec." Shikamaru replied, his eyes focused on the Go board in front of him, before he moved his piece several paces with a nonchalant air, making Sasuke snort in disgust when he realized that he'd now loose the match in a few turns if he didn't come up with a counter strategy immediately, forsaking his own attack in the process.

Hiding a grin in order not to set off the prideful Uchiha, Shikamaru turned to Shino, ignoring Sasuke for now, who sat fuming at his side of the board, fervently murmuring to himself.

"Well, the Sharingan copies every technique it sees, correct?"

At the mention of his Clan's dojutsu, Sasuke's head shot up, the match forgotten for now.

"That is correct." Shino replied.

"And whatever technique the eye copies, the wielder can use with the same level as skill as the shinobi the technique was copied from, correct."

Shino thought for a moment, before calmly nodding, though Sasuke's expression got more intense as he tried to figure out where the Nara was going with this.

"Well, here's what I don't get. Why don't they copy from each other? The Sharingan essentially removes the need to train a technique all together. Just think about it, a single Uchiha comes across a pretty awesome technique on one of his missions and copies it. If he'd show it to all the Sharingan wielding ninja of the Clan, than the Uchiha as a whole gain a new technique and become stronger as a result. Or what about a ninja who has just awakened his Sharingan? Instead of wasting time teaching them ninjutsu , you can immediately jump to tactics by just showing him all of the techniques the Uchiha have amassed and have his ninjutsu training covered in like, a day or something."

Shino tilted his head, deep in thought, while Sasuke stared at Shikamaru as if the boy had just told him that the sky was actually purple.

"Hmm. If this was implemented, the overall strength of the Uchiha would increase exponentially. Why? Because, there would be no difference in strength, at least ninjutsu wise, as they would all possess the skill of their strongest member. Every new addition to their forces would quickly be on the level of their strongest member and if one Uchiha learns something new, they will all learn it. A sound strategy."

Both boys turned to look at Sasuke, who still hadn't said a word, his eyes focused on something far away as he tried to wrap his head around what this could mean for his Clan and it's future.

"A sound strategy, indeed…"

"You want us to do what?"

Shisui Uchiha stared in confusion at his future Clan Head, even as he held the position himself for now. His confusion was mirrored by the other Sharingan wielding members of the Uchiha Clan, having gathered in the practice yard on Sasuke's request.

There were only around twenty people there, and of those twenty, eight were too old to be active duty at all, and four more were active shinobi, but only in supporting roles as they were simply too old or too young to be any use in live combat.

Shisui's thoughts briefly flickered to the Third Hokage, considering just how stupidly powerful the aged leader's life-force and chakra must be for the man to be still considered among the most powerful ninja alive, even nearing the age of seventy, which was almost twice as old as the average life-expectancy for most ninja.

His thoughts were inevitably brought back to consider the pitifully small group of ninja around him and he couldn't quite shake the sheer guilt and despair that threatened to crush his very soul.

'So few. So few of us are left. And it's all my fault.' He admitted to himself, before he tried to steel his mind.

'Which makes them my responsibility. I have brought this misery upon them, it's my duty to see them through it. I can collapse later, when Sasuke is strong enough to lead and protect them.'

Depression averted, for now, Shisui turned his attention back to his best friend's younger brother, who stood tall before the disbelieving eyes of his Clan members.

"The strongest of us will showcase all of their techniques, while everybody else will copy them. Following them, those of you who have techniques not yet shown will demonstrate them in turns, meaning that by the end of today, every single one of us will share the same knowledge."

"But… but why?" one of the elder shinobi croaked.

While Shisui knew that all of the ninja here were loyal to both him and Sasuke, as well as Konoha ('they wouldn't be alive if they weren't'), this blatant breach with tradition was still something they found difficult to swallow.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and for a moment Shisui feared the boy would lose control of his volatile temper. Sasuke had been twisted by the Massacre, more so than others, and had developed both a temper, and a very short fuse in contrast with the sweet boy Shisui knew the child had once been.

Sasuke however surprised everybody there when he let out a tired sigh. For all that he was but a child, Sasuke had still managed to build an image of strength around himself, the promise of a better and safer future for his Clan, which had done much to ensure that he was still in line for Clan Head even after the kinslaying of his brother.

He never tried to show weakness, not to anyone, so the drawn expression on his face and his sagging shoulders caught many of them off-guard.

"It's because we are weak."

Protests and assurances came from the assembled shinobi, but with a sharp gesture of his hand, Sasuke silenced them, much to the hidden envy of Shisui, who had often tried to do the same, with not nearly as impressive results.

"We are weak. We may wish that we weren't, we may delude ourselves into thinking that we still hold the power we once did, but the simple truth is that this is no longer the case. Not after… not after t-that night. Much knowledge and skill was lost, and on top of that, a message was sent out to the world: the Uchiha are not invincible."

Sasuke stared at his desperate looking people with grim eyes as he continued.

"Doing this will not only make most of you more powerful. It will also mean that whenever one of us… doesn't make it back, that we don't lose any more power. We simply cannot afford it. On top of that, I will soon reach the age to unlock the Sharingan myself, and there are still the other Uchiha children. We cannot waste time being trained; we need to be able to approach whatever few members are available to us at any given time and be trained in all of the knowledge the Uchiha possess at once."

Sasuke clapped his small hands, the sound still startling loud in the silenced yard.

"Now then, get to practicing. Do not limit it to just ninjutsu, share any skills you think the Sharingan will allow you to share with your Clan. We need to become more powerful, and fast. Good luck."

With muttered agreements and thanks, the small crowd split up into groups and soon the yard was filled with Jutsu, while the red of the Sharingan shone in the growing dusk, tomoes spilling madly as the Uchiha made their first tentative steps into taking their Clan towards a new, stronger and brighter future.

Hiruzen sat at his desk, only illuminated by the light of the moon and the soft glow from his pipe, files and reports strewn haphazardly in front of him. The Hokage's eyes were however locked on something only he could see, as he puffed out clouds of smoke, deep in thought.

Dismantling Danzo's Root had been a major headache, simply because there was so much of it. Thankfully records were kept on the most basic of things, so stuff like tracking down and reassigning the Root operatives was relatively easy, though their emotionally stunted nature made it a nightmare of its own to integrate them in such a way that they wouldn't rise any suspicion.

But then there were all of Danzo's own secret little projects. Thankfully the information pumping done by Shisui had not only given them the location of most of them as well as many of the security measures that had been used, but Hiruzen had still lost three men trying to recover them all.

Three men too many, in his opinion.

Then there was also the fact that Danzo had been at this for a long time; ever since Hiruzen had become Hokage in fact. Trying to go back through all of the evidence, tracking down all the scars left upon the world, both within Konoha and without was a near impossible task.

For the hundredth time that day, Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing he had never allowed Danzo free reign and leaving him with this mess, which in many cases were simply far too sensitive to really do anything with it, other than either storing it or destroying it.

All of the Sharingan they had discovered, for instance…

Sighing, Hiruzen cleaned his pipe, and grabbed his bag with tobacco, beginning to fill it once more as his eyes looked out over his moonlit with a faraway expression.

'Danzo… damn you and damn your ambition. And damn me. For making you shoulder the darkness of the Tree of Konoha alone. But I wished to be its leaves, to bask in the light, and didn't have the strength to stoop to the darkness as well, to be the roots that support the tree from the shadows. I guess we both thought that you did have the strength for that, but looking back… yes you were the roots, but of a tree of your own Danzo; you weren't supporting Konoha, you were strangling it.'

As he lit his pipe with a small flame from his thumb that briefly illuminated his office, Hiruzen mused over his final meeting with his former adviser, and the man he had called, long ago, his friend.

Hiruzen stared at the wall of black flames that cut off him and his army from the retreating back of the young Itachi Uchiha. He was pretty sure he was the only one that paid enough attention to see the boy's shoulders shaking, or notice the brief flash of tears as they fell to the ground. As he stood still, staring at the back of the promising young man whose future he had doomed, he absently noticed as the men around him found that nothing they did, not even the combined Water Jutsu of a dozen shinobi, could quench the flames the kinslayer had summoned, though Hiruzen had already realized this.

'Amaterasu. So, you have evolved the cursed eyes from your Clan then, young Itachi.' Hiruzen thought to himself.

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama! It's Danzo sir, we've found him."

Turning to look at the Salamander mask, Hiruzen was only briefly taken off-guard by the man waving two whole arms, before remembering that he had another ANBU take up the mask in order to quash any possible rumors about Konoha being short an ANBU Commander.

Making his way to where the faux-Salamander was standing, the Hokage's eyes landed on the mangled, bloodied form of the man responsible for much of this mess in the first place. Either by a miracle or sheer strength of will, the aged advisor was still alive, one hand feebly trying to halt the flow of blood coming from a deep cut across his entire chest.

"Thank you, Salamander. Please get a medic, Shimura-san is in need of medical attention."

All of them knew that Danzo was too far gone for medical help, even if Tsunade herself were willing to operate on him. They also all knew that even if this wasn't the case, Hiruzen wouldn't be sending for medical help anyways. So as the ANBU pretending to be Salamander sped away in a Shunshin Danzo couldn't help but give out a wet chuckle, knowing that wherever the ANBU was going, it certainly wouldn't be a hospital.

"Well then, Hiruzen, it seems you have won in the end. Using me and my Root to attack Madara, instead of using your own men, while crippling the Uchiha forever. Well done." The traitor gasped out, his voice barely carrying to Hiruzen, who kneeled in the ash and dust next to him, bowing over the man, conveniently blocking the view of the steadily growing group of onlookers.

"Well to be honest, I couldn't have done this if it weren't for you." Said Hiruzen, his tone biting.

'I wouldn't have needed to do this is if it weren't for you' went unsaid, though Danzo's frown told him that he advisor had picked up on it nonetheless. Spitting out the blood that had flown into his mouth from his internal bleeding, Danzo glared at his former rival and friend, the strength of his will unbroken by the failing of his body.

"Hate me all you want Hiruzen, but we are different sides to the same coin. Every action you have ever made, you did with the conviction that it was for the betterment of Konoha. I merely did the same."

Hiruzen felt rage roar to life inside him, but his control slammed down on his massive chakra, yearning to lash out, while he carefully schooled his features in a cool expression.

"Forgive me for having trouble believing that you acted in the betterment of Konoha as I'm sitting in its burning remains and amongst its slain people."

Danzo simply gritted his teeth, his hand grabbing the hem of Hiruzen's battle attire, dragging the Hokage closer as he lifted himself a little of the ground, desperately chocking out his final words to the only man he had ever considered a true equal.

"It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not, Hiruzen. I don't matter, you don't matter. Konoha is the only thing in this wretched world that matters. Amongst all of the death and destruction that this world of ours is filled with, it is Konoha that must survive, that must endure. I won't be there to do your dirty deeds anymore Hiruzen. I won't be there to take the darkness within me, leaving you to bask in the light. You must ensure the survival of our Village, and to do that you will have to become both leaf and root. I don't care anymore how you'll lead the Village Hiruzen, I won't be around to judge anyway, but you MUST make sure that it endures. Can you do that, Hiruzen? Will you see to it that the generations to come will have a Village to inherit, to be proud of, and to pass on to their generation?"

Speaking for so long and with such passion clearly took its toll on the badly injured advisor, and with a rattling breath, Danzo fell back to earth, his arm limply falling away from Hiruzen's clothes. For a single moment Hiruzen merely looked at his oldest friend, a single heartbeat stretched out into a lifetime, as he considered the man in front of him, all of their history together, how often they had clashed, especially in later years, but now also remembering the early years of their friendship. When Konoha was still the only Hidden Village in the world, and more a dream of the Senju brothers than reality, even as the first few Clans settled down under their banner. A time before the war, when two boys of differing Clans managed to become friends, a time before one of them was chosen to become Hokage, while the other fell to jealousy and greed.

Finally, Hiruzen gently clasped his former friend's hand and placed it upon Danzo's chest, looking in the elderly shinobi's eye with a saddened expression on his face.

"Yes. I promise."

Briefly, Danzo's eye lit up before the man let out a deep sigh, and with an expression more peaceful than Hiruzen had ever seen on him, Shimura Danzo, leader of Root, passed away.

Lifting his hand, Hiruzen softly closed the open eye of Danzo, before coming to his feet, surprised by the ache he felt inside his chest.

"Goodbye. Old friend."

Hiruzen sighed, before extinguishing his pipe, plunging himself and his office in darkness, only slightly lifted by the moon peeking out from behind the clouds that hung over the sleeping Village of Konoha. Slowly he let his face drop in his hands, and for once, just this once, in the privacy of his office, Hiruzen caved in to the enormous weight of his position.

As the night slowly went by, one old man gave in to all his regrets and mistakes he had made over the course of his long life, unwilling to face sleep and the dreams and monsters that it brought along with it.

Fun Fact (Credit goes to DanYHKim): The Ōnaruto Bridge (Great Naruto Bridge) is a suspension bridge on the route connecting Minamiawaji, Hyogo on Awaji Island with Naruto, Tokushima on Ōge Island, Japan. Completed in 1985, it has a main span of 876 metres. The waterway is very hazardous because of whirlpools that form as the tide changes. These whirlpools are called Uzumaki.