Chapter 1

The Beginning of the End

Two large stone statues…

A huge waterfall…

Two young boys, both giving off immense and inhuman chakra…

Neither moved, waiting for the other to initiate what would be the final attack for each of them.

I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word!

How on earth could you possibly understand?

"Now is no longer the time for words, Naruto. Let's finish this! With one last shot!" Sasuke shouted, the chakra from his cursed seal flaring.

"I won't lose to you, Sasuke! I have to bring you home!" With a red chakra tail swishing behind him, Naruto held out his right hand, the Kyuubi's chakra mixing with his own, forming a Rasengan. At the same time, Sasuke held out his right hand, letting a black Chidori form. Using his hand-like wings, Sasuke propelled himself into the air, Naruto using the Kyuubi's chakra to go towards Sasuke.

"Naruto!"

"Sasuke!"

The two attacks collided, surrounding the two shinobi. From the inside, Naruto knew he had a dilemma.

I have to take down Sasuke. I don't want to hurt him too badly though. I need to move my Rasengan so it just disables him, but if I do it'll give him a kill shot… I'll trust my brother.

In the next moments, Naruto did something he would forever regret. Pushing his Rasengan to the side, he hit Sasuke on the left side of his torso. It would knock out Sasuke and be a nonfatal hit. However, Sasuke took the opportunity presented to him, sliding the Chidori through his first Chidori's target.

Naruto's heart.

As the light faded from the collision of the two attacks, it wasn't clear what had occurred. Sasuke was at the edge of the river, unable to stay standing. He collapsed to his knees, coughing up a bit of blood. He looked around, trying to find Naruto. The only thing he could see was a cloud of red forming in the river.

"I… I did it! Naruto is dead! That Chidori through the heart had to have killed him!" Sasuke shouted, grinning wildly, his Cursed Seal receding and his new Mangekyo Sharingan spinning wildly.

From the shadows, a shinobi had watched the two friends fight, and when he saw the light clear from the final attack, he decided to finally take action. Vanishing from his hiding place, he appeared behind Sasuke, and with a chop to the back of the neck, knocked the Uchiha out. Looking over at the water, he let out a sigh.

"Time to get Naruto, it seems."

Naruto sat at Ichiraku Ramen, devouring a bowl of miso ramen. Jiraiya had given him the day off, since tomorrow was the Chunin Exam Finals. Almost done his third bowl, someone else sat down next to him, in a white hooded cloak.

"Three miso ramens please!" The man asked fairly loudly, smiling as he waited for his food. He glanced over at Naruto, giving off a small smile.

"Hey there kid. Like ramen?" The man asked, looking over at the stack of bowls, now three bowls high as Naruto ordered another.

"Yeah! And it sounds like you do too!" Naruto said, giving a famous grin. Both people were given their ramen at the same time, with a smile from the chef.

"So, Naruto Uzumaki. Genin of Konohagakure, and participant of the upcoming Chunin Exam Finals. Not too shabby." The man mentioned as he ate his first bowl.

"Ah, heard of me? You forget one thing though, future Godaime!" Naruto grinned.

"You want to be Hokage? I guess that's one thing your Tou-san and Kaa-san passed down to you, eh?"

After that sentence, anyone nearby could have heard a pin drop, because everything went dead silent. The only thing anyone heard for moments after that was a crash of a ramen bowl, which Naruto dropped as he processed what he just heard. Turning to the man, he glared, as if he was trying to mentally remove the person's hood.

"You know who my Kaa-san and Tou-san are?" Naruto asked, sounding deadly serious.

"Of course. They're both shinobi in my village, Shinigamigakure no Sato." The man responded.

"Shinigamigakure…? I've never heard of it. And, your village?" Naruto asked.

"Yup. I'm the Shodaime Zetsumeikage." The hooded man said, getting surprised looks from Naruto and the ramen chefs alike. "And I have to say, I'm fairly interested in you, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."

"Namikaze…? My last name is Uzumaki." Naruto pointed out.

"Yes, but seeing as your Tou-san is Minato Namikaze…" The man mentioned, keeping another surprised look. Naruto didn't know how to respond to this man. He knew he looked a lot like the Yondaime, but his son…?

"If you wish to meet your parents Naruto, you only need to do one thing. When you're near death, put a slash through your forehead protector. That's all. Until then, Naruto." The man said, seeming to just fade out of existence. Afterwards, Naruto didn't move from his spot for over an hour, until Teuchi and Ayame managed to get his attention.

As Naruto felt himself floating down into the water, he reached up, grabbing his forehead protector with the last of his strength. He could feel Kyuubi pumping huge amounts of chakra into his wound, but knew he would die. Grabbing a kunai from his pack, he made a slash through the Konoha symbol, feeling his grip on both the kunai and forehead protector fail. Darkness began to close in from around his sight, and Naruto resigned himself to death.

All of a sudden, Naruto felt a jerk from his right arm, and was pulled up. His eyes opened a sliver, and he could see a face looking at him from a white hood.

"Yondaime…" Naruto murmured, slipping into death's embrace.

Kakashi Hatake felt himself rushing faster and faster. He could no longer feel Kyuubi's chakra or the Cursed Seal's chakra. That wasn't what worried him though. He could feel Sasuke Uchiha's chakra, just barely.

But he felt nothing from Naruto.

Please be alright Naruto…

When Kakashi appeared on the scene, he was mystified by what he saw. Sasuke Uchiha was on the ground, breathing but injured slightly. There was a white-cloaked man standing, and he could read the back of the cloak. Shodaime Zetsumeikage. He'd never heard of it, but his attention wasn't on that.

Naruto Uzumaki.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy was on the ground, and was the center of the cloaked man's attention. Kakashi was just focused on the hole in Naruto's chest. His pale skin. His no longer rising chest. And Kakashi knew that he was too late.

"NARUTO!"

Kakashi turned his head to the cloaked man, who leant over his student, doing a few handsigns.

"Tiger-Snake-Rat-Ox-Dog-Ram-Tiger-Snake-Dog-Dragon-Ram! Space-Time Sealing Technique: Death God Rebirth!" The man shouted, and Naruto's body was encompassed by a black void in seconds. The void seemed to retract, and Naruto was gone. Kakashi rushed over, his hand glowing.

"You bastard! Raikiri!" Kakashi thrust his hand forward, but as soon as the attack should have hit, the man was gone. Kakashi looked around, and found the man standing over Sasuke Uchiha, his hand over the Cursed Seal.

"I really should just kill this prick for killing my son, but I'll instead do something else. Sealing Technique: Cursed Seal Overwrite!"The man's hand glowed with green chakra for a moment, and if someone watched, the Cursed Seal would have been seen to be twisting and turning until taking the form of the Uzumaki seal. "There… with the side-effect of sealing off the Mangekyo. Not too shabby." The man murmured, nodding. Kakashi just stood there, glaring at the man.

"You take the body of my dead student and seal away my other student's eyes?" Kakashi shouted.

"Maa maa Kakashi, I just sealed away the Mangekyo, not the normal Sharingan. And I believe as Naruto's father, I have more right to his body than Konoha does." Suddenly, the man vanished in a yellow flash, appearing behind Kakashi.

"M-minato sensei?" Kakashi murmured, before he heard something.

"Sealing Technique: Selective Memory Repression."

That was the last thing Kakashi heard before he blacked out.

When Kakashi came too, he felt a throbbing pain in his head, and stodd up, looking around. He saw Sasuke on the ground, and rushed over. "Sasuke! What happened?" Kakashi asked hurriedly, not having seen Naruto anywhere.

"Hehehe… finally got him…" Sasuke murmured, clenching his bloody hand. Kakashi heard a squelching sound from Sasuke's hand and reaching down, opening his hand. What he found was ¾ of a heart and a necklace that he well-recognized.

"No…"

"So, what do you think is gonna happen?" Kotetsu asked his partner, Izumo.

"I'm not sure. I half-expect Uzumaki to walk through the gate with the Uchiha on his shoulder, and a big grin on Naruto's face." Izumo snickered, just imagining Sasuke's fangirls reactions.

"Meh, I don't really- Wait!" Kotetsu gasped, seeing something.

Kakashi Hatake was walking back to the gate, with Sasuke Uchiha on his shoulder, tied up in half a dozen different ways. The only other thing they could see was an opaque bag in Kakashi's free hand, and a solemn look on the Jounin's visible face. Izumo and Kotetsu both knew that they should just let Kakashi by.

Kakashi went to the Hokage Tower, ignoring the receptionist and going straight to Tsunade. Opening the door, he saw Sakura there, talking to Shizune as Tsunade drank some sake.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto kept his promise!" Sakura squealed, seeing the Uchiha.

"Kakashi, I take it the mission was a success?" Tsunade asked, but having another question on her mind.

"…Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi sighed, looking away as a tear slipped from his free eye. Everyone in the room noticed it.

"Kakashi…" Tsunade murmured.

"Kakashi-sensei… where's Naruto?" Sakura asked, half-worried.

Kakashi walked up to Tsunade, and placed the bag he was holding on her desk. "Those were in Sasuke's hand when I found him."

Tsunade opened up the bag without hesitation, but when she saw inside, she felt her heart skip a beat, and tears began to pour out.

Sakura took a few cautious steps over and held the bag, looking inside of it. Dropping the bag, her face turned green, and she ran over to the trash can, her breakfast leaving her. All four conscious people in the room had the same thought.

Please, not Naruto…

Well, I hoped you liked the first chapter! This is my first time writing a story like this, and my first time writing anything for FF. Now, I'm not a Naruto super-fan, but I feel like I know enough to make a somewhat close fanfiction. But yeah! I have something of an idea what I'm gonna write about, and I probably won't abandon this story.

Please read and review! And if you do review, tell me if you'd rather Chapter 2 be about Konoha's reaction or what happened to Naruto. I want to have a lot of viewer input for this.

But yeah. New writer, I know I suck, you don't need to tell me. Just constructive criticism please. Thanks!

~Darkdawn