Another Chance

Chapter 1

A/N: Hi, so this is my first take on a Naruto story, but I hope you will like it! Tell me if it's going well or not. So, on with the story.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

~X~

Everything was burning to the ground.

He could taste the ash in the air, the fire that continued to lick the buildings, decimating it into nothing. He heard the unmistakable cackling in the distance and he urged himself to run faster, farther away from the masked man. He barely heard the surprised squawk of Karin, the last living member of Team Taka. 

The crushing guilt that suddenly assaulted him almost made him loose his balance, but he managed to compose himself quickly. He couldn't completely banish the guilt though. If it weren't for Suigetsu and Juugo, they wouldn't have been able to escape from Madara, their last words still ringing clearly in his mind.

"You better get out of here, Sasuke, or so help me, I'm going to kill you myself!" Suigetsu said, grinning cheekily back at him as he drew Kubikiribocho in front of himself.

"Don't worry Sasuke," Juugo said reassuringly, smiling at him. "We'll stay behind to give you two a chance to escape. I can't let Kimimaro's successor die here, not yet."

He could only give a sharp nod back, not trusting himself to speak, as he pulled Karin along with him. They jumped off the ground and left, never looking back as the sound of metal against metal and a roar resounded behind them. 

He was running.

He realized in morbid amusement. He - Sasuke Uchiha - was running away from everything again. He almost laughed. He wasn't proud of the fact but he couldn't quite get his legs to listen to his ego. 

All around the burning village, they were all screaming. They were burning. They were dying. 

And it was all his fault. 

They crouched behind a wall, waiting for an opening to escape this hell that Madara created and the next minute Karin jerked in front of him. He jerked back in surprise as her body slumped against him, something warm seeping through his shirt. His sharingan activated, spotting movement to his left. He flicked his wrist in an automatic response, hearing a thud as the body fell limply on the ground, a kunai firmly stuck on the ninja's head. His eyes were on Karin though, a kunai stuck to her throat and stomach, blood slowly pooling beneath them. Her breaths came out wet and raspy, the light in her eyes slowly dimming.

He felt useless. He didn't have enough medical knowledge to heal her. She was mostly the one doing the patching. Back then, he didn't even need to know, having Karin in his team, but he wished he knew, if only he could at least save one life other than his own. 

Karin smiled sadly at him, a trail of blood leaking out from the corner of her mouth. She reached up a hand weakly, tugging on his shirt. She pulled him closer until their noses touched, giving a shark like grin, before hugging him tightly one last time. He didn't have time to react before she was pushing him away. A violent cough racked her entire body, blood further coming out.

As the light completely disappeared, she gurgled out one word past the stead flow of blood coming out of her throat.

"Run."

He did, he ran away again. Away from the burning hell that Madara created, away from the dead corpses of his team, and away from the one place he momentarily had been happy.

This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't in his plans. He only wanted revenge against the village that caused his brother so much suffering, so like a blind fool, he listened to Madara.