Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I do not own Naruto.

Sasuke stood over the bodies of his fallen comrades. The life had faded from their eyes slowly, leaving their features permanently frozen. Sasuke was unmoved.

The heartbroken look that Sakura had given him hadn't bothered him. Nor had Kakashi's look of injured disappointment. The slight pain in his arm was nothing. Nothing at all.

No, the one person whose expression managed to irritate his conscience was Naruto.

His eyes had flashed, hurt and betrayed as Sasuke drove his blade through his chest, neatly slicing through a vital point. He had killed them all with dangerous efficiency. Blood splashed onto his cheek, and he watched as Naruto sunk to his knees before him. His eyes were already beginning to glaze over.

Sasuke turned his back on him and walked away, planning to double check that the members of his former team were all indeed dead. A gasp and groan from behind him made him stop and look back.

"H-how. . ?" Naruto had collapsed to the ground and was breathing raggedly, a pool of blood forming around him. Sasuke looked at him closely and was startled. Tears leaked from cerulean eyes and trickled down the blonde's cheeks. "H-how c-could you?"

Sasuke walked back to where his teammate lay dying and stared down at him, his eyes veiled.

"I had to," he answered, his tone soft and emotionless. Naruto's eyes flooded with sadness. It was almost painful to look into them.

"I n-never a-achieved my d-dream," he whispered roughly. He shuddered and coughed, his eyes becoming more clouded than before.

Sasuke flinched at the pain dripping from his words. He was robbing his friend of more than just his life. Everything he had worked for would never be accomplished. He would never be Hokage. All of the promises he had made would never be fulfilled. His future had been destroyed. All that would be left of him were the memories of the people who had known him. Maybe the people he had helped would remember him. Perhaps someone will see fit to note his accomplishments. Hopefully his friends will never forget him.

Sasuke suddenly felt hollow. The threads that held him together fell away; the bonds that had supported him were severed as his friend finally stopped breathing. Pain echoed through the cavern in his gut and filled his mind with a red haze.

With a jolt, he fell to his knees, a scream tearing through his lips. His body writhed with pain, and he thrashed haphazardly on the ground. He clawed at the earth, fighting to escape the pain. His body felt like it was burning from the inside out. The heat was unbearable. He screamed in agony as the throbbing intensified. He clutched his head, his nails digging into his flesh.

He didn't even realize that he'd closed his eyes until they burst open after a final spasm of pain. He froze in shock, his face paling to a deathly white. He was face to face with Naruto's corpse, the empty blue orbs staring at him accusingly. Sasuke jerked back, trembling.

Then, abruptly, everything changed. The sky bled crimson, staining itself darker and darker as the seconds passed. The bodies began to glow, emitting an eerie green light. Naruto's vacant eyes pierced his very soul.

He was angry.

Betrayed.

Hurt.

But even more horrifying, as Sasuke scrambled away and to his feet, was the giant wave of utter darkness rushing toward him at a terrific rate. The wind shrieked and howled, but the trees were utterly still. Unstoppable, the wave was like a black hole, swallowing everything in its path. For some reason, Sasuke couldn't seem to move; he couldn't run. He watched it approach, his eyes wide with dread.

The darkness roared as it swept over him, engulfing him in a sea of black. He couldn't see anything, not the trees, not the sky, not even the ground he was standing on. The temperature dropped, the coldness nipping at his flesh. Goosebumps raised the skin on his arms and his body started shaking, trying vainly to warm itself.

He began hyperventilating, and fought to calm himself. He spun around, trying to catch sight of something familiar in the darkness. Something to prove that he was not completely alone and helpless. He spotted something and turned to look at it, feeling relief. What he saw made his stomach churn uncomfortably.

The bodies of his teammates were vivid, as though they had been magnified by a spotlight. He watched, transfixed, as a few strands of Sakura's pink hair were blown away from her face by a breeze that, for some reason, he couldn't feel. Her expression shocked him.

Her face was twisted with anger and bitterness. Her empty green eyes stared straight ahead, the rage in them frozen forever. He had not realized that she was capable of so much hate.

Kakashi's expression was also not what he would have expected. He was a great shinobi; he was noble, brave, loyal, protective. But he had turned his face away towards the ground. Shame colored his lifeless features as he looked to where Sasuke had stood when he'd killed him. Sasuke had never seen the man so sad--so defeated.

Yet, the bodies were all he could see in the constricting darkness. Everything else had disappeared, and he was completely alone.

Fearfully, he glanced down at his hand, suddenly afraid that he had disappeared as well. To his relief, it was still there, as was the rest of him. But then he looked at his other hand.

Holding back a shout of surprise, he stared at his seemingly empty hand. He could feel the comforting weight of his katana and the texture of the handle. It was his constant companion in battle, his lifeline on the rare occasion that his chakra ran low. Yet the blade, itself, was invisible. Unwilling to be daunted, he swung it in front of him experimentally.

His honed senses picked up the sound of the blade slicing almost silently through the air. He stared intently, searching for even the tiniest glint of metal. It wasn't until mid-swing that he caught sight of it. When he did, he nearly dropped the sword.

The entire thing had been turned blood red. He stared at it, overwhelmed by all these strange occurrences. With a cautious flick of his wrist, he tried to see if the foreign coloring could be shaken off. Nothing happened.

Slightly shaken, Sasuke tried to think--tried to plan. But he couldn't concentrate. His mind was filled with images of the bodies and his scarlet sword. He ground his teeth. This wasn't supposed to happen! What the hell was he supposed to do if he couldn't see?! Overwhelmed by rage, he slashed the air with his katana.

The blade struck something solid, startling Sasuke. He froze for an instant, his training causing him to stay ridged as his mind caught up with the situation. Warily, he reached forward with his free hand.

His fingers traced the rough texture of wood, and he could feel the grooves in the bark. His stiff posture relaxed; the feel of something familiar at his fingertips soothed him. Reassured, he withdrew his sword from the tree.

The instant the metal left the bark, the entire tree became illuminated. Sasuke fought to keep from jumping back, having not expected the sudden change. His surprise was visible on his face, and his jaw clenched as he struggled for control. Within moments, his expression changed from startled to calculating. Something had caused this change. But what?

He struck out again in a different direction, his katana arching gracefully through the air. It hit another unseen object. This time, he didn't pause; he slashed across the surface, watching the scarlet blade closely. Once again, the moment that the blade was free, the object lit up. It was another tree, smaller than the first.

He was starting to piece together a pattern.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he swung his sword downwards, scraping it against the unseen ground. Instantly, the grass and dirt were illuminated, forming a circle of light that spanned ten feet in every direction.

Sasuke smirked; it was meager, but it was enough. There would be no stopping until Itachi lie dead at his feet.

He took a step forward and his expression shifted into a scowl. The light did not travel with him. He moved until he was at the edge and then ran his blade along the ground in front of him.

Another circle appeared with him at the center.

His scowl disappeared, leaving him expressionless. Nonetheless, he stepped forward with complete confidence. At the end of every circle, he would strike the ground and a new one would appear.

It worked, but it was slow. After covering a considerable amount of ground, he was beginning to get frustrated.

He had managed to find the road and determine which direction he needed to travel. Yet, he had to stay on the path in order to remain on track. He would have preferred to keep to the woods; after all, there were still shinobi on the lookout for him. He knew by now that he was entered in most standard bingo books. It wouldn't help matters at all once his teammates' bodies were found. But he didn't have much of a choice. His newest source of information about Itachi was waiting to meet him in the next village. He would have no way to orient himself if he strayed from the road.

The darkness was still suffocating; the blackness swallowed his surroundings and left him cold and alone. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the emptiness he felt bothered him. He wanted to escape. The burning desire to see ate at him. Was there no end to this eternal abyss?

Suddenly, a lone figure cut through the icy darkness ahead of him. Sasuke jerked to a stop, eyeing him wearily with his sword held ready.

It was a young man, maybe two or three years younger than him. He wasn't glowing, not like the corpses of Sasuke's teammates; yet Sasuke could see him clearly. And it was then, in the overpowering darkness, that he realized that his sword was shining. Its light was tainted, giving off a dark red hue. The sword itself seemed to pulsate with its hunger for blood.

And its blood lust was infectious.

A warm, tingling sensation ran up his sword arm, spreading to his shoulder and then throughout the rest of his body. He felt on edge, drawn to the lone figure heading towards him. His body trembled with anticipation, and he couldn't seem to bring himself to suppress it.

It's hard to say whether he could have refrained from attacking if the boy hadn't made a fatal mistake. He wasn't watching where he walked; instead, he gazed around him, absorbing the scenery that was entirely hidden from Sasuke. Without any kind of warning, he stumbled (Sasuke couldn't see what caused it). Nonetheless, the boy was suddenly a perfect target. He was off-balanced and defenseless. The flesh on his neck was exposed, looking pale and vulnerable and open for attack.

Sasuke was darting towards him before he'd even bothered to think of the consequences. His movements were purely instinctive; he ignored his training for neat efficiency. The blows from his sword were random, most not even hitting a vital spot.

The boy let out a single bloodcurdling screech before he fell beneath Sasuke's sword. His eyes glazed over and his light brown hair became matted with blood.

Sasuke stared at him as the frenzied desire to kill faded. As he calmed, he noticed that the body was slowly beginning to glow. The light intensified, surpassing the glow that had come from his teammates' bodies.

Yet, it didn't stop there. Sasuke let out a gasp as the light emitted from the boy began to melt the darkness around him. The inky blackness receded, revealing numerous trees and boulders. Light blue sky came into view, adorned by a few wispy clouds the color of untainted snow. He could actually feel a light breeze tugging at his clothes and the warm sunshine shining on his skin.

He grinned as he wiped the blood from his katana and returned it to its sheath. His eyes were different than before. They held a sort of wildness--a kind of insanity that hadn't been there previously.

This was his answer.

The bodies that had turned his world to darkness could also be his lantern in the dark. He could continue his quest for Itachi.

Nothing truly had to change.

Wow. I never thought that I could write something like this. Let me know what you think. Please review!

Also, I will be making this story a two-shot, so expect the second part to be posted in a week or so!