The world froze, incomprehensible to the human mind.

Sasuke's hand, his arm, had rammed through Naruto's chest, his lung; the Uchiha's arm still sparked with frozen lightning. Naruto felt no pain. He barely comprehended the idea that his best friend, his brother in all but blood, was trying to kill him. Even the pain that brought was numbed by the stillness of the world.

"Meatbag." The world echoed in Naruto's head, but did not filter into the frozen air.

"Kyuubi." Naruto answered back, monotonic in his incomprehension. "Am I going to die?"

The demon didn't answer immediately. The situation was almost surreal to Naruto. "No." Kyuubi finally answered.

"Why?"

Kyuubi laughed without humor, "Why, you ask! Meatbag! I am the all powerful Kyuubi no Kitsune! I'll make sure my worthless human shell won't die."

"Then give me more power."

Anger flooded over the unfeeling blond and the Kyuubi's response to his order was soft and strained, "What?"

"I said gimme more power!"

The screech of nails slashing across unbreakable barriers echoed inside Naruto, "No."

"I own you! You have no choice!"

"I have no choice!" Kyuubi roared and thrashed and snarled. "Fine! Have your power! But you will pay for it!"

&&&

The red chakra surrounding the feral Naruto flared intensely. The rasengan broke apart with lack of control; the duo was thrown back harshly. Naruto recovered first and charged at his disoriented and weakened opponent.

A fist was slammed unmercifully into the Uchiha's stomach and he was forced back. Naruto grabbed at his shirt in an attempt to stop the momentum. The shirt ripped and Sasuke slammed into a wall. The blond howled in rage and followed after the dazed Uchiha.

Naruto kicked; the Uchiha weakly blocked with his forearm eliciting two nasty, audible snaps from the breaking bones and newly useless arm. Sasuke doubled over to clutch his arm. The Uchiha could do nothing to stop the knee that slammed into his chest. Ribs snapped, he couldn't breathe; he fell to his knees, gasping, silently begging for the mercy he wouldn't have given.

Naruto roared triumph.

"You're weak, brother." Sasuke grit his teeth. Naruto's voice was so rough and garbled it could hardly be called human anymore. "Even with all the strength Orochimaru could give you, you couldn't beat me. You're nothing. I bet with this power, I could beat Orochimaru, ne?" Sasuke struggled to remain conscious. "You know what I heard, don't you, brother? Itachi is stronger than the snake freak. But you know what, Sasuke?"

Sasuke glared at Naruto. It was beginning to rain. The blond grabbed the Uchiha's chin roughly. "Say, 'What, Naruto-sama.' Say it, Sasuke." Sasuke's good arm ended in a white-knuckled fist. "Say it, brother."

"You're not you," Sasuke wheezed.

Naruto snarled, "I don't care! Now say it!"

"What, Naruto-sama?" He complied, glaring hatefully.

Naruto smirked darkly, "The man you want to kill, Itachi, Orochimaru, the sannin, the Hokage, Kakashi-sensei; they all grew strong in Konoha, the place you want to defect from, you idiot!"

Sasuke's eyes widened in surpise, "You're… still trying… to… convince me to… go back… to… Konoha?" The Uchiha was in terrible pain, more so as he talked.

The blond sneered, "What else would I be doing? Trying to kill you? Humiliate you?" He scoffed. "I made a promise, I intend to keep it. Besides, you don't wanna die, do you? No, no one does." The adrenaline rush was going away, and he was becoming aware of the sheer burning pain that the increasingly powerful red chakra was wreaking on his body. "Orochimaru was planning to kill you, take your body, your precious sharingan, and you wouldn't have had any revenge anyway."

He was incredibly tired, he realized, but the Kyuubi's evil chakra kept growing, even though the fight was over. Naruto blinked, his thoughts were getting foggy. "Wait, what the hell!"

"This is the price, meatbag! Say goodbye!" Kyuubi laughed spitefully.

"Wait! Wha— Ahhhhhhhh!" His body was being pulled apart; the blue sky wasn't there anymore, Sasuke wasn't kneeling before him, panting and gasping, the ground wasn't beneath his feet. He was rushing somewhere, fast, but there was no wind. And it hurt. The pain was absolute and terrible.

And then, any sensation available to him stopped. It was abrupt, but welcome, in a way.

"Uzumaki Naruto." A voice rumbled and echoed through Naruto's current void. "You are trespassing."

"What, but, but! I don't know how I got here! It's the Kyuubi! The fox did it!" Naruto shouted, afraid.

"That does not change the fact that you are trespassing, Uzumaki Naruto."

"But it's not my fault!"

"Perhaps, but you will face the consequences." The voice was resolute.

"But I didn't do anything!" Naruto whined.

"You have a choice, Uzumaki Naruto. Kyuubi, an embodiment of my key, has taken you here, a place where no mortal should ever be."

"Hey, hey, if I shouldn't be here, I'll go, right? You can send me back and I'll pretend this never happened, ne?" The blond laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

"It does not work that way, boy."

"But—."

"Now, your choice is to live in eternal torment in my belly, or—."

"What! No way!"

"Or serve me for all eternity."

"And who would I be serving?" Naruto asked petulantly, crossing his arms.

"The King of Shinigami." The blonde's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" He received no answer.

"Choose, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uh, uh." Naruto scratched his facial blemishes anxiously. "Uh, the serving one, I think."

"Then swear fealty to me, Uzumaki Naruto."

"What's that?"

"Swear your undying loyalty to me. Swear you will obey me, and only me. I am your one and only King, your master. Now, swear you are mine."

"Uh… I…"

"Do it, or face an eternity of hell."

"I… I swear it."

"Good. Disobey me, your oath, and you will be erased."

Sensation returned as abruptly as it had originally fled. With it, Naruto realized he was falling, had been falling for a long time if the speed he was traveling at was anything to go by. With sight, came the appearance of a landing zone, aka, the ground.

Naruto screamed and collided; there was no give. "Oww, couldn't've been gentler with the landing?" The ground, which had so happily greeted him, was actually smooth, light marble belonging to a large, ornate throne room. Marble pillars reached up to a ceiling that was mostly a skylight to a bright blue sky. The walls were some kind of a highly polished wood lined with torches that released steady light.

"Welcome, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto's gaze snapped up; there, sitting on an elegant marble throne, was a man who was not a man. He was taller than the tallest man by feet, broad shouldered with a slim waist. The creature had unruly pale white hair with two black horns curving out from the messy locks. The hair contrasted dark gray skin and eyes darker than an abyss. "I am the Shinigami King." He was swathed in robes of the purest white. "This is my home and realm. Serve me, well."

A force compelled Naruto to kneel and bow, "Yes, Majesty."

The King grinned, revealing a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. "Excellent. Now, turn and meet your new comrades." Naruto did so and was faced with hard-faced men and women standing in perfect, militaristic lines. Naruto didn't bother to try and estimate the number; he just knew there were a lot of them. Each of them wore the same uniform, a white kendogi under a black cloak, though Naruto noticed personalized details such as cut off sleeves, or colored sashes. But the one thing Naruto noticed above all else, they all radiated power, to the smallest woman to the largest man.

Naruto gulped, they were all staring at him.

"Who will sponsor him?"

"I will, my lord!" There was no hesitation from the man who called out.

"Then step forward, Namikaze Minato. I have a special mission for you and him. Dismissed."

"Yes, my lord!" echoed powerfully throughout the room. In an orderly manner, the warriors exited. Naruto wondered if he should leave, too, but the gaze of the King ordered him to stay.

An equally blond haired, blue eyed man stepped up beside Naruto. Naruto glanced at him and promptly gasped as he recognized the man. It was the Yondaime Hokage! The young blond stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at his sponsor. Minato stood at attention while Naruto goggled at him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are not dead." King Shinigami stated bluntly. The young blond immediately recovered from his daze. Minato jerked slightly in surprise as well.

"But I thought—."

"You can therefore not stay here in a realm for the dead. Your mission is to go to the human world and—."

"I get to go home?" Naruto exclaimed, a burning hope igniting in his chest.

"Do not interrupt me!" King Shinigami roared. Naruto quailed instantly.

"Sorry."

"You will go to the human world and train. Do not draw attention from the soul reapers." Naruto opened his mouth, but a glare promptly glued it shut. "Your sponsor will explain. Namikaze, your job is to train and educate Uzumaki. Submerge yourself in the human world, jobs, school, clubs, etcetera. Grab a gigai and go. If you do well, I may permit visits between this realm and the human realm."

"But, why would I—."

"Come, Naruto. We have our orders."

"But—."

"I'll explain everything later."

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, but followed anyway, "Fine."

&&&

AN: I wasn't originally going to post this until forever in the future. But, I got over eager and I seriously want people to read it, I really do. I think it's awesome, the story I mean.

However, I made the compromise that to post this, I would need to post the need for a beta. I was reading some of the future typed out chapters (the ones I haven't read several times already) and realized that I made some errors.

The betas job: Obviously, look for and correct errors. Give me feedback: what works, what doesn't make sense, what needs to be changed, and so on. Give me ideas, you know, what you think might happen, what you would want to happen. I may not use them, but they could spark another idea, or what not. And finally, and the most important job (in my case) nag me to keep writing. And I mean nag, nag, nag. I may not like it, but I, and any readers, will need it.

Finally, more about this current story: I have typed out eight chapters, am working on typing out chapter nine. I have plenty written down on paper still, too. So, that should let you know I'm more serious about this story then my others. Lucky for you guys, I backed up this story on a USB drive before my computer finally decided to stop working for me. So this work is still alive, even if my other stories aren't.

I hope you enjoyed the beginning of this new story. It may not be completely written, but trust me, the end is clear in my mind. The only obstacle is getting there.