Disclaimer : Naruto does not belong to me because my name is not Masashi Kishimoto.

Author : kailynx

Title : Path of Repentance

Summary : Three years after the destruction of Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure no Sato, a young blond Hokage and his repenting companion must journey back to the past to salvage another future – save Uchiha Itachi and destroy Uchiha Madara.

Important Note : This chapter has been revised and re-uploaded on 21 November 2008, betaed by KyLewin. Any discrepancies you might find here are more likely from me butchering on the language afterwards :) *apologies in advance*

Path of Repentance by kailynx

Prologue – Part 1

The lone figure stared silently at the view beneath him from the top of Shodaime's head. In front of him, the looming giant carving of Uchiha Madara stood proudly, ready to battle his opponent. The same stoic expression was on Senju Hashirama's face, only he could not really see it from his current position. The figure continued his silent vigil in the early morning light. He had been there for almost an hour, and it was time to get back. A subtle shift in the air…

"Hokage-sama..." a voice suddenly spoke next to him. The blond Hokage barely glanced to acknowledge this new companion, but a small smile on his face indicated that he had already known of his presence long before his arrival.

"You know you shouldn't be formal when we are alone, teme," he replied. "Well, what brings you here so early in the morning?"

"Hn…" an oh so familiar smirk formed on his lips. "Just thinking that I could find you here, dobe." All formalities were gone now from his stance and features.

"Heh, didn't know that you would miss me so much! Be careful Sasuke, your stalking habit might lead one to think that you have a thing for me…" a kunai whizzed at him, but the grinning Hokage didn't even bat an eyelid as he effortlessly shifted, caught the flying missile and suddenly appeared behind Sasuke with said weapon pointed at his friend's jugular.

Another 'hn', the smirk only grew bolder. A slight glance at the man behind him, and he said, "Don't flatter yourself, Naruto. You know we've got important things to do. Since troubles always follow whenever you're around, who else would watch your back, if not me?"

"Heh, looks like it's you who need babysitting, my friend." As if to make a point, he nudged the tip of the kunai at Sasuke's vein. Sasuke remained impassive at the supposed threat. With supreme agility, he moved out of the way, suddenly appearing on top of Madara's statue head.

"Che… don't think because you're the Hokage I wouldn't kick your ass, Rokudaime-sama. Besides, no currently living shinobi or kunoichi could stand a chance against me…" he paused and then added softly to himself, "except you… of course."

Naruto, unfortunately, heard him.

"Aww, the last surviving Uchiha, admitting that someone can actually defeat him? I'm flattered, but you're forgetting Gaara. What about the other kage, not to mention any potential future threats, Sasuke?" Naruto's tone, although still casual and teasing, now got a hint of seriousness to it. "But I bet that Sandaime and Yondaime could still give you a run for your money. Don't you think so? And it's them we're going to visit, sooner or later."

Sasuke casually ran his fingers through his hair, which was messed a little by the light morning breeze. He looked around him. As the dawn came, he noticed clear water flowing smoothly between the ravines, making its steady way to the sea, the sound of the birds chirping loudly to celebrate the new day. All seemed normal and peaceful, as if nothing bad had happened.

But appearances could be deceiving. No, things had gone bad. In fact, they'd gone worst any other time in the history of shinobi world and he had been one of those involved in that destruction. One thing led to another, his path of vengeance had almost shattered his humanity. Realization came too late, and he decided to end his life for what he had unwittingly committed. As if a quick seppuku would be enough for his sins. Too bad fate had decreed that his punishment would be in the path of repentance until he died a natural death.

And that path of repentance came with the most unpredictable shinobi named Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto – his Hokage, his friend, his blood brother, his most precious bond. Since then, Sasuke had sworn his life and soul to protect their bond, although he would rather die than admit it out loud in front of Naruto…

"I need to clear up a few things. First, I don't flatter you, and you know exactly what I mean. Second, I know I can stand at par with the Kazekage, might even have some advantages against him. Speaking of him, the Kazekage has confirmed his consent to the invitation. As per request, he and the other Suna-nin will arrive at the estimated time. He expects to meet you at the Hokage office."

The stoic Uchiha glanced briefly at the rising sun to check the time before he turned to look at Naruto's direction.

"Back to our topic, after what we've been through, other kage of this era are not even worth mentioning. The only potential future threats we should be concerned with right now are those in the past, where all the roots of problems come from. A lot of things need to be considered before any actions can be taken, which I'm pretty sure would include both of us in the plan. As for how I'd do against Sandaime and Yondaime, that remains to be seen, though I'm willing to bet that it would not be a walk in the park. They were legends, after all."

His piece of mind being said, he waited for reply. Getting none, he turned his face towards the young Hokage, but whatever he had expected from the blond was not what he was looking at right now.

At that moment, he swore that Naruto looked almost like a comic relief. His eyes had opened widely and blinked owlishly, gasping and counting…? noise could be heard from him, and he had turned red all over, finger pointing accusingly at him…

Naruto opened his mouth, but couldn't seem to really get the words out.

Sasuke waited patiently for the blond to burst out.

Naruto tried again, but seemed to have another dumb blond moment…

Finally, whatever mental problem he was having seemed to get worked out. "Oh... holy crap! Holy crap! You're actually ranting! You're what, like saying eleven standard sentences, with a hundred and seventy-seven words in total! Wow! If I didn't know it was you talking, I might think that you're somebody else!"

The stoic man had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at him, "Hn. Just shut up, dobe. Actually, I'm supposed to tell you something. Naruto… she's finally done it."

The unpredictable blond suddenly shifted to what Sasuke had dubbed as the "Hokage mode." That new information made his face softened a little. After knowing each other for almost eight years, full words and elaborated explanation didn't really matter with them. Gestures and expression, even the slightest of movement could indicate something that other people would be hard-pressed to guess. "Really… I never doubt her. So, what's her condition now?"

An almost-smile appeared on Sasuke's face. "She's suffering from chakra depletion and sleep deprivation, but nothing serious. It's her we're talking about, after all. A nice sleep and rest will make her as good as new tomorrow. I heard she said something like 'I've done it' just before she fainted dead away. She couldn't even get to the bed herself…"

"So, you've got her safely tucked into bed. Did she realize that you'd been there all along?"

There was a moment of silent, followed by his answer. "I could see that although she was really concentrating on her task, she was slightly distracted on occasion, as if she suspected that someone would barge in anytime. But I didn't think that she was aware of my presence. Even if she did, she would know that it was a directive from the Hokage himself."

"Oh, she'll know that it was you, at least she will after she wakes up and finds herself sleeping on the bed instead of the floor. Any other ANBU watching her wouldn't even dare to breach the mission parameters, except in extreme case of emergency. An exhausted medic-nin who can really take care of herself even in comatose state is hardly a valid case," the Hokage said, a hand shielding his sensitive eyes from the morning sunlight.

"Yeah, don't think I didn't know how many layers of sealing you've done to ensure that nobody can interrupt her work, and you've allowed my chakra signatures to be recognized by the seals so that no harm would come my way…" Sasuke replied. "If you were there you wouldn't simply be watching from a distance, you'd stay with her until she has to throw you out of the house."

"Haha, that's why I didn't want to be there myself, don't want her to get mad at me, you know…" Naruto said sheepishly.

"Hn… anyone would get mad if you kept pestering and whining and practically making stupid pranks for attention just because you're bored… typical dobe," the last surviving Uchiha retorted.

The reply he received was a swooshing kunai aimed directly at his throat, together with a whining 'teme!' from his aggressor. Only his natural reflexes and the large amount of time he'd spent getting accustomed to Naruto's speed saved him from the lethal weapon. A childish Naruto was dangerous enough; a serious Naruto would end up with his opponent dead, no question asked, although the young Hokage had only ever killed as the last option.

'But that doesn't mean he couldn't accidentally kill someone else while bickering! Wait, I don't bicker! A lesser man could have died from that attack! Baka Hokage!' The stoic ANBU commander thought silently, shifting his balance and suddenly surged forward to the other man. His left hand flashed out in his trajectory before his body flipping back to his place, and Naruto had to execute some complex movements to the right to avoid a hail of senbon coming up his way.

Both had retained their own position on top of each statue, Naruto with his trademark grin at the moment, while a wider than usual smirk appeared on Sasuke's normally stoic face.

"See? That's exactly what I mean. No need to get excited, dobe. You know how hard it is to control your hyperactive urges. You might hurt someone unintentionally. Besides, it's not like what I said is untrue."

The young blond made a face at that remarks. "Aww, you shouldn't be so mean, teme! You know I'd only hurt the enemies, and other people aren't foolish enough to invoke my wrath, except you of course. But like you said, I'm bored now. So, care to spar?"

An amused smile crept slowly on the raven-haired man's face at the challenge, but there was a dangerous glint in his dark eyes now. Although his hand was rested casually on the hilt of his katana, his body was taut, ready to spring into action at any moment. "Just bring it on, Naruto!"

Within an hour and a half, any loyal Konoha shinobi passing through the border area at Valley of the End would simply have dismissed the raging spar as daily occurrence and went on their way. However, any foreign shinobi with illegal intention to Konoha, who were unlucky enough to encounter the two legends (or rather the two legends purposely made their warning known with killing intents reaching their targets in the surrounding forests), would have to turn tails and flee for their lives. Not that the two cared enough to do anything though... the Konoha's barriers and any ANBU teams on patrol duty would take care of them.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

It was already dark when Sakura came to her sense. Her body stretched sensuously on the bed, sleepiness making her feel reluctant to wake up. However, the blasting alarm had purposely denied her attempt to continue snoozing. She reached blindly on top of the small table near her bed, but couldn't find the annoying thing.

"Oww, just shut the hell up already! Can't you see I'm taking a break here? It's a damn long mission…" she paused, as if trying to comprehend her situation.

Her head tilted to the lab, which was an extension of her bedroom. She tried to ignore the loud noise coming from that freaking alarm.

"... Nani?" She abruptly sat on the bed, noticing that she was still wearing her last two days clothing, minus her gear. "Wait, I remember finishing the final phase, just before I collapsed to the floor due to exhaustion. I'm supposed to wake up on the floor, not on my bed, and I'm pretty sure that I didn't sleep-walk to my bed…"

She blushed a little. "Naruto wouldn't do that; he would simply come in earlier. That left Sasuke…" She walked groggily from her bed to the lab, and switched off her alarm. Later she stripped off her stained clothing, and threw them, her comforter, and the thin mattress into the laundry basket and went into the bathroom for a long hot shower.

The pink-haired girl only came out after one hour later. 'Wow, I couldn't really remember the last time I've been able to indulge like that. Who would have thought that Naruto could be such a slave driver?' She gave a glance at her digital timer, "Just about time…"

In another ten minutes, the femme-fatale kunoichi shunshin-ed out of her house to give her mission report to the Hokage.

To be continued…

Hehe… sort of busy right now. Actually I would like to include the introduction page in one chapter, but there would be too many things to include that it seems unlikely, therefore I have to separate it into two parts. Since today, 10 October is Naruto's birthday, I've decided to upload the chapter earlier in his honor. I will make the upcoming chapters much longer so that this story would be worth reading.

This is my first fic. Please read and, if possible, review so that I will know which part I need to improve. Insights and suggestions are highly appreciated, so feel free to PM me at your own convenience.

Thank you for reading. Again, I'll be happy to get any reviews. Ja ne!