To see you again

Purpose

Sasuke and Lord Third were now having a private meeting. Sasuke updated the Hokage regarding his assignment at the academy, his training and inability to master that technique which brought him to the past.

"This worries me." Sasuke mentioned. And so he proceeded to explain about Sai and how Sai and not been part of team 7. At least not yet. That led to Sasuke giving Lord Third more details about himself, clan, and lastly his brother Itachi.

"What will make you truly happy?" Lord Thirds asked with a surprisingly calm face.

"Well..." Sasuke began. If he were honest with himself, he had not given that much thought. Originally, as a child his goal was to be acknowledged by his father. He then wanted to avenge is clan. He achieved that but, well, in the end he had wished otherwise. At the moment he was not entirely sure of what he truly wanted thus his journey of redemption and self discovery which led him to this place.

"Look, it does not do good any good to worry about things which we cannot control. Focus on what you can do instead. Perhaps destiny has brought you here to restore a broken future. Perhaps you are only meant to learn a lesson or perhaps there is no purpose at all. Though I refuse to believe the latter. " Lord Hokage said with a small, kind smile.

"I trust that you will choose wisely.  Now please , I have other business to attend to." Lord Hokage finished.

With that, Sasuke walked around the village to clear his head. Though the Hokage had not been direct, his words resonated with Sasuke. Was the Hokage giving him permission to intervene with his clan's problems? After all, he could try to change the outcome of the massacre.

Sasuke walked around some more and as he did so, he thought about Naruto and Sakura from his timeline. He thought about how he had gotten  close to them when they were gennin and how hard it had been to break those ties. Yes, it had been hard. Especially when Sakura showed up that night to stop him. His heart was set into a flutter when he heard her confession. He had avoided looking into her eyes for if he did he might have stayed. It did hurt to leave, but it was something he believed he had to do. In the years that he was gone, he had occasionally wondered, during lonely long nights, what his team mates were doing. By the time he had come back, there had been many changes. Now, all that was in the past...his past... Now that he was literally in the past, maybe he could try and change some things. Besides, he wondered, there was nothing left to lose. For all Sasuke knew his timeline could have been affected already just by the mere fact of him being in the past. What's a few more changes gonna do? If he couldn't get back to his line then at least he would try to make this one better for everyone. The Hokage in the shadow, he had once told Naruto. He would try to do just that.

Sasuke walked the village with new purpose. He was going to try..no..not try. he was going to stop his clan's massacre.

With his new resolution, Sasuke walked with purpose to his family's compound.