I'm gonna say this right now, because I know that there are people on this site that absolutely hate Sasuke, but I do not, so stop reading if you're one of those that hate him, and leave no reviews.

Summary

As the two friends clash at the Valley of the End, Sasuke deals Naruto a severe injury, causing a long-forgotten Bloodline to awaken within him. From his father's clan comes a Doujutsu with great risks, and greater rewards if used wisely.

1: A Visit From the Shinigami

His claws scratched against the metal of Sasuke's headband, leaving a deep cut. As he felt the piercing blow to his chest, he saw Sasuke's eyes widen in shock as his blow landed while the blond's did not.

"Why?" Was the question asked as they began to fall toward the water.

Naruto could only smile as the Chidori pierced through his body. "Because...we...are friends."

They hit the water with an enormous splash, staining the pool red as Sasuke withdrew his arm, his hand-like wings rolling back into his shoulders. Naruto began to sink into the waters, not even bothering to hold his breath. His body was beaten, and battered beyond even the Kyuubi's helping. His chakra network was all but destroyed by overuse of the Bijuu's chakra in the one-tailed state for so long.

Heh, figures this is how I'd go, he thought to himself as he watched Sasuke swim to the surface for air. Should'a known, I guess. Dead last in everything, even when I fight with everything I have...oh well, at least I get to see the old man now...He closed his eyes as water began filling his lungs. This is it, no more...I've really had enough...Thinking back on his life, what did he really have to lose? Even though he knew why he was hated now, he couldn't bring himself to actually forgive the village. All he was to them was a vent for their hatred toward the Kyuubi he carried.

Stupid people, he sighed as he sank deeper, Even I can tell the difference between scroll and the kunai sealed inside it. His body began to grow cold the deeper he sank, and he knew it was over. Nothing could hurt him now. His life of hardships at the hands of his village's population was over. I'll miss all my friends, he thought, thinking about Shikamaru, Choji, and even Kiba. Three people he considered good friends, even though the latter was a bit of a pain.

Suddenly, he was being hauled upward, his body sailing through the water. Light filled his vision as he broke the surface, someone's arm wrapping around his chest. "Don't you dare die on me, you idiot!" Sasuke's voice growled as he hauled him toward the shore. "You don't get off that easy! If I'm gonna kill you in a fight, it's not gonna be from a freebie!"

Naruto rolled his eyes toward the boy, "What...the hell...are you doing, you bastard?" He asked weakly, "I thought you wanted those damned eyes of yours?"

He felt his feet touch the ground as Sasuke dragged him out of the water, "Not like this!" He growled, "It's not worth it!" He said, and hauled him onto the shore, collapsing onto the beach. "Dammit!" Sasuke lay sprawled out on the ground, not even caring about the stones digging into his back. "What the hell's wrong with me?!"

Naruto snorted, "You're seriously asking me that?" He said, his voice hoarse, "I could make a list a mile long if I could lift my arms right now."

Sasuke scowled at him, frowning as he saw that blood from his wound seeping onto the ground. "That's...that's not what I meant..."

Why isn't he healing? The Uchiha wondered, I've seen him come back from some pretty nast wounds, but this one's not even trying to heal! Naruto sighed tiredly, lifting one hand to see the blood on his finger tips. A small smirk came to his lips, "You might as well tell me what's on your mind, ya moody jackass." He sighed, "I'll probably be taking whatever you say to the grave after this one."

He scoffed at that, "Like you'd die just from that," he grumbled, "I've seen you get hit pretty bad sometimes, and come back from it just a little later, and you just took a Chidori to the lung not fifteen minutes ago, then it healed right in front of my eyes...what the hell's up with that?"

Naruto's smirk dropped and the blond teen sighed, "Guess I could tell you...not like it matters anymore," he sighed, looking up at the dreary sky. "You ever wonder how come all the villagers, even some of the seasoned Jonin keep their distance from me?"

Sasuke arched his brow at him, "What? Did you pull some kind of prank on them?" He asked, to which Naruto shook his head.

"No, it's more like the worst prank in history was played on me when I was born," he said, his hand moving to his stomach, "You know the old yarn about how the Fourth Hokage defeated the Kyuubi at the cost of his own life right? Well, that's not so true. He couldn't kill it, because it was a being made of the purest chakra...so he sealed it away into a newborn baby...which just so happened to be me."

Sasuke widened his eyes ever so slightly as he put what had happened during their battle together. The healing, the cloak of chakra shaped like a fox, and the intense killing intent he had felt before the blond had attacked him.

"All this time," Sasuke sighed, looking down at his teammate, "And you never said a word...why?"

Naruto shook his head, "I was terrified." He said, "When I first found out about it...I was told that I had been responsible for all the lives lost because the of the Kyuubi's attack." Thinking back on Mizuki's words to him back then, it was like getting hit with Sasuke's Chidori a thousand times over. Iruka had been like the father he had always wanted to him, and for a horrible moment he had thought he was the one that had taken his parents from him. "If it wasn't for Iruka-sensei, I probably would've gone over the edge." Naruto went on, "When we formed Team 7, I thought about telling both you and Sakura, since Kakashi-sensei already knew since he was a Jonin, but I was just...too scared about what you guys would think of me if you found out I had something like that tucked away in my body."

Sasuke nodded, "I can understand that," he said, sighing, "It's sorta like my clan and the Mangekyou Sharingan. All that power comes with a steep price."

Naruto nodded silently, his breath coming in ragged intakes of air. Sasuke looked down at him, "Hey, you hang in there, got it? You'll heal up soon, right?" He asked, beginning to worry.

Naruto smiled and shook his head, "Not this time...you got me good, you bastard." Sasuke's breath caught in his throat as the blond Jinchuuriki started coughing, blood splattering the front of his ruined jacket.

"Hey, this isn't a joke, you idiot!" Sasuke snapped, leaning over his friend, "Don't you dare die on me! Not after all the shit we've been through!"

Naruto chuckled, "We've been through some pretty nasty shit, huh?" He laughed, coughing again, "Do me a favor, huh?"

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked at him pleadingly, "I know you don't want to go back to the leaf, but please do it...Sakura-chan needs you...and...you need her...even if you don't wanna admit it." He grinned as the black-haired teen scowled, "And...take my body back...s'not like I've got any family to morn me, but I'd at least like a proper burial..."

Naruto's eyes began to close, but Sasuke grasped him by the shoulder, "Don't you dare!" He snarled, grasping him by the arms, and hauling him up and over his back, his black eyes glimmering, "I'll take you back to your precious village, dammit, but you gotta hold on!"

Naruto shook his head tiredly, "Don't think I can..."

"You'd better!" Sasuke snapped, and made his way to the wall of the valley, "Now, hang on tight, or I'll drop you!"

Naruto tightened his arms around his friend's neck as well as could be expected, what with the little strength he had left. "You should just let me rest."

"Rest is for the weak," Sasuke told him, "And you're not weak...you're way stronger than I could ever hope to be."

Naruto didn't answer having slipped into a blissful state of unconsciousness, his breathing coming in shorter breaths.

=x=

Pakkun and Kakashi sped through the trees as they became more and more desperate to find the two missing students. "Are we making any progress, yet?" He asked the pug.

"We're getting closer," Pakkun said, "But we need to hurry, there's a storm coming in, and the rain'll wash away the scent if we take too much longer."

"Then we really need to pick up the pace," Kakashi said, pushing more chakra into his legs to speed himself up, "Those two could easily kill each other if things go badly!"

Pakkun nodded, then sniffed, "Hey, there's someone up ahead!"

"Is it them?" Kakashi asked, but the pug simply darted down from the trees and hit the ground. Kakashi followed him and found the area around them desecrated. "What the hell happened here?" All of the trees around the area had been sliced, and cut down by what looked like a powerful wind technique.

Pakkun was sniffing the ground, "Hey, I know this scent...it's that Nara kid...and someone from the Sand village," the dog sniffed again, making his way toward a pile of logs, "And..." He stopped short as a moan from the pile caught his attention. "Hey, Kakashi! Someone's still alive!"

No sooner had he said that then someone tumbled out of the pile of logs, beaten and bloody. Kakashi was moving double quick as the person would have hit the ground had he not acted.

A curtain of light red hair fell from beneath a black cap atop the girl's head. Her face was fair, yet pale from blood loss, her breathing ragged and uneven as blood trickled from her lips. Around her hips was a metal plate with a single musical note etched into the metal. A Sound Hitai-ate.

"She's from the Oto." Kakshi breathed out, his conscience conflicting with his sense of duty to his students.

He laid her down on the ground, and prepared to leave, "It's better to leave her - "

"M...mother..."

Kakashi stopped in his tracks, Pakkun at his heels. The dog summons looked up at him, "Gonna help her?"

The Jonin sighed, "Dammit..." He turned around and reached into his pouch for his first aid scroll. "I have to make this quick." He said, making the ram seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

=x=

Panting from exhaustion, Sasuke kept himself moving through the dense forest that led to Konoha, his neck pulsing painfully as the curse mark tried to take over again, making his movements all the slower.

"Keep talking, Naruto," Sasuke grunted, jostling the blond awake again, "Tell me who you were gonna take to the Rinne Festival this year?"

Naruto blinked his clouded eyes, the blue having become dull, "The...Rinne Festival..." he shook his head, "the vendors...always chased me away..."

"Not this time," Sasuke assured him, sweat beading his brow, "We can all go together if you want...you, me, and Sakura, hell even Kakashi if we can get him away from that damned book!"

A small, weak smile played across his lips, "That sounds...really nice..." he said tiredly, "I get to go...with my family..."

Sasuke almost laughed at being considered family to the blond when he suddenly felt his teammate become much, much heavier as he slumped over, unbalancing the Uchiha. "H-Hey! Naruto!" Sasuke tumbled to the ground, doing his best to keep Naruto from falling.

He laid the blond on the ground, his front covered in blood, and checked for a pulse...and found nothing. "No...no, this can't happen!" Sasuke rose to his feet, shouting, "Hey! Is anyone out there?!" He roared, "Shikamaru! Choji! KIBAAAA! Someone help!"

"SASUKE!" Kakashi's voice reached his ears as a small amount of hope came back and the Jonin landed neatly in front of him, "What's going on!?"

"It's Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, "He's got no pulse!"

Kakashi acted immediately, setting down the girl Sasuke only just noticed he was carrying on his back, and hurried over to the prone blond. Upon seeing the wound in his chest, he looked at Sasuke, disappointment clear on his face, "We'll talk about this later, Sasuke, and you'd better hope he lives, or else not even I could, or would save you from Tsunade!"

"Just do something already!" The Uchiha snapped, "I don't care what happens to me anymore, just help him!"

Kakashi didn't need to be told twice and charged his hand with Lighting chakra, "Stand back," he placed his hand over the boy's heart, and sent a surge pulsing through him, Naruto's body jolting. A single heart beat...and then nothing. "Dammit, again!" He sent another pulse through him.

"Come on, Dead Last," Sasuke growled, watching his friend jolt from the shock, "Don't do this!"

"Again!" The blond was shocked once more as Kakashi started to become desperate, "Come on, Naruto! Come back to us!" He roared, shocking him again.

Sasuke sank to his knees, warm tears leaking down from his eyes, "Dammit..."

"He's not gone!" Kakashi snapped, seeing the blood tears leaking from the boy's eyes, which meant only one thing, "Come on, Naruto!" He roared, and sent an even stronger shock through his body, head to toe.

"Kakashi," Pakkun said, resting a paw on his knee, "That's enough...let the boy rest, now."

the Jonin sat back, his hands smoking from his jutsu, "This is my fault..." he looked over at Sasuke, who was staring unbelieving at Naruto's body, "I should've seen this coming sooner."

Sasuke looked up at him with changed eyes filled with sorrow, "How is this your fault...I'm the one that...did this...I killed my best friend!"

=x=

The Kyuubi watched as his cage began to dissolve, his eyes lowering to the prone body in front of him as a gate opened up at the end of the hallway. A petite figure made its way into his seal, a katana at their hip.

The Kyuubi snarled at the figure, "Come no closer, Shinigami." He growled, "This boy belongs to me!"

The Shinigami looked up at the beast without fear, "I am afraid that I cannot do that." The Shinigami said in a feminine voice, "His soul has only remained in this realm because of your will, but you cannot keep him here. Bringing back the dead is beyond you."

The fox grinned maliciously, "Is that so, little death god?" His grin turned into a sneer, "Do you not know this boy, Shinigami? His father was from a clan long forgotten. They had a Doujutsu comparable to that damnable Sharingan the Uchiha coveted so!"

The Shinigami cocked her head in a curious manner, "And your point? A Doujutsu is useless to a corpse."

"The Doujutsu can only be awakened when the bearer has come into contact with death," the fox grinned, leaning his mighty head down toward the boy, his chakra beginning to boiled around him in a red/gold haze, "And here you are, a god of death, so near to a bearer of the Kerryugan!"

"What?" The Shinigami finally seemed surprised, "The Kerryugan? Him?" She asked, looking down at the boy.

The Kyuubi nodded his head, "Difficult as it is, this boy has the Eye of the Blood Dragon, which will make him great. No longer will he be on the recieving end of the wrath of those that hate him. He will rise above them all, or crush them under his heel!"

The Shinigami scoffed as she regarded the boy, "If you truly knew anything about Uzumaki Naruto, then you would know that he would never mistreat a power such as the Kerryugan." She said, kneeling toward the boy, stroking his hair from his face, "He is too kind and gentle for such a thing." She looked back up at the beast, "He will be great, but not as you would have him, Kurama."

Kurama growled at the use of his true name, but allowed as the Shinigami were to be respected, even by his kind. "Step away, now...I need to revive him."

The Shinigami stepped back, allowing the small mercy as the fox's chakra spread from his body, and wrapped around the thirteen-year-old boy. As the Shinigami retreated back to her realm, she felt the boy's heart begin to beat again. A smile came to her lips as she hoped that it would be a long time before she claimed the young Uzumaki's life.

=x=

Tayuya of the Sound Four had seen better days as she began to stir. Her entire body was racked with pain as the slightest movement nearly caused her to scream. Even though the pain was great, she forced herself to sit up, and take in her surroundings. She was no longer under the pile of trees that the Suna Kunoichi had knocked down on top of her. She was in a clearing.

Her wounds, though they still pained her, were bandaged and treated, making her wonder, Just what the fucking hell's going on?

Her answer came as the scream of a young man reached her ears. She looked around, and caught sight of the Uchiha she was sent after, along with Hatake Kakashi kneeling around the blond she remembered jumping over her as she prepared to fight that lazy ass Nara!

The blond in question was writhing in pain, his body convulsing in horrible ways as a veil of red chakra cocooned around him.

"What's happening to him?!" Sasuke demanded.

"It's the Kyuubi," Kakashi said while watching the wound on his chest close, leaving a faint, yet noticeable scar right next to the other Sasuke had put in his chest. "It's...saving him!"

Sasuke sighed in relief, "Good...that's good..." As the relief of Naruto's renewed life flooded through him, so did the sheer exhaustion as he collapsed to the ground, falling unconscious.

Kakashi sighed at his two students, "You two...are going to send me to an early grave..."

Tayuya had been watching as the man turned to her, "Ah, so you're awake, are you?" He said, and she nodded, "Good, because I can't carry all three of you at once, even with the aid of Shadow Clones. I had to be quick about fixing you up."

Tayuya looked at the man in surprise. Why in the world would an enemy shinobi save her life, especially considering she had aided in the death of his Kage, and tried to kidnap a prominent clan heir?

"What the hell do you want from me?" Tayuya asked, snarling at him, instinctively reaching for her flute, which, of course, was no longer there, but destroyed when she had been hit with Temari's wind jutsu.

Kakashi sighed, and sat beside his blond student, no longer thrashing, "I want nothign for the moment, but I think my Hokage will have a few questions for you since you work for her former teammate."

"Former...ah, shit, you mean Tsunade, don't you?" Tayuya grumbled, "What's to stop me from getting my ass outta here before you get a chance to take me to her?"

"Well, first of all," Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, "Your left leg has multiple fractures, while your right leg is snapped in half," he pointed to the makeshift splint he had put in place, "So you really won't be going anywhere for the time being." He said before gaining a far more serious expression, "Second, I could easily put a kunai through your skull before you took two steps." Tayuya gulped as a kunai flashed into his hand, "Are these good enough reasons to stay put?"

She nodded wordlessly as he eye-smiled at her and put the blade away, "Pakkun," he called out, and a small brown dog came bounding out of the trees, "Go catch up to the medical teams, and lead them back here. Tell them I have three injured shinobi, and be sure to come prepared to treat extreme chakra exhaustion."

The pug saluted with a raised paw, "You got it, Kakashi." He bounded back into the trees, leaving the three humans alone again as Tayuya stared after the little animal.

"Talking...dogs...alright, then." She reached up to her head, thinking she had gotten hit harder than she thought.

Well, I have yet another manic story out and about. I don't know if I'm going to do the whole Akatsuki + Fourth Shinobi War skit, which seems to be getting old on FF, so bare with me until I get my head around a clear ending.

Naruto's Doujutsu is a Canon Doujutsu, Kerryugan, that resembles the Sharingan, save for that fact that it's a simple red eye with a round pupil, and no Tomoe around it. It creates extremely realistic Genjutsu, and allows the user to control blood, or liquid iron, so it's basically a combo of magnet release, and blood release since blood has iron in it. But, I have it as basically a blood controlling Doujutsu.

Hope you liked the story, and want to see more. If so, leave a review, if not...don't :p Sayonara!