Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Naruto felt a sickly, cold feeling spread through him, as he turned his attention towards his left side. Blood seeped into his jacket, and spread through the orange fabric. Just looking at the wound caused him to grow lightheaded, which sent him stumbling down, till he was sprawled out on the bridge's surface. The soft thud of his crash immediately alerted Kakashi to his plight, and the Jōnin rushed to his student's side.

As the Jōnin pulled up the boy's jacket to get a better look at the wound, he noticed a bloodied kunai lying next to him, evidently a stray one fired byone of Gato's goons. The wound itself was horrific, even for Kakashi, a seasoned Anbu Captain. The kunai had not pierced through him, but had left a gash that was nearly two inches deep against his entire left side. Kakashi noticed a few wisps of red chakra sizzling around the wound, but it didn't seem to be helping Naruto at all. After the boy's exhaustive fight with Haku, and then his earlier release of the Kyūbi's chakra, Naruto was in no condition to be healing himself.

Kakashi thanked his lucky stars that the Anbu corps required all of their members to know basic Iryō Ninjutsu. His palms lit up with the familiar green chakra of the Shōsen Jutsu, which he proceeded to push towards the boy's wound. 'No...it isn't going to work.' His stomach sank as the Jōnin realised that while his Iryō Ninjutsu was very, very slowly healing the wound, it was not helping his student by much. The boy had lost too much blood, and his face had already grown a sickly pale.

Sasuke and Sakura watched as their team mate fell to the ground, as his own blood formed a pool beneath him. Sakura's stomach couldn't bear the sight, so she ran to the edge of the bridge, and began to dry heave over it.

However, for Sasuke it was a completely different story. Dread filled him as he realised that once more, he was about to lose someone who he could call a friend. The worst part was the blood. Just like his parents, Naruto was there, lying in his own blood, completely helpless.

But he wouldn't be helpless this time. This time, he actually had the ability to do something. With that realisation, the Uchiha Heir steeled his nerves and ran over to his sensei, who he noticed had begun using some sort of medical jutsu to heal Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei, is he going to be okay?" The boy tried his best to remain neutral, but even he could tell that a little bit of emotion had leaked into his voice. Fortunately, Kakashi knew that it wasn't the best moment to joke around with that.

"It isn't looking good.He's already lost too much blood. There's a tiny chance that he'll be able to heal using his own chakra, but after his fight, this could go either ways." Even through the explanation, the Jōnin kept his concentration upon the Shōsen Jutsu, not willing to let go if there was still any chance that he could save his student. 'I'm not going to lose more people.'

Sasuke nodded, understanding what his teacher was telling him. "You can take my blood."

Those words were enough tocatch the Jōnin's attention, snapping him out of his own reverie. "What do you mean, Sasuke?"

"My blood, it's O-, so it works for everyone. I'm a universal donor." Those words immediately brightened Kakashi's disposition, as he realised that Naruto still had a chance.

"Sasuke, that's excellent. Come over here, I'll attach a bag to you right now. "Kakashi said, focusing on producing a seal less shadow clone. The clone proceeded to unseal amedical kit from his bag, from which it pulled out a drip and a bag. He prepared the equipment, before turning towards Sasuke.

"Now, I am going to remove some of your blood. You might feel a bit faint, but only for a little while." With that warning, the clone pushed the needle into the Uchiha's arm, allowing blood to flow into the bag attached to it.

Sasuke ignored the prick, not caring much for any discomfort. While the clone collected his blood, he looked away from Naruto, glancing around the bridge.It was mostly littered with the bodies of Gato's hired muscle, but the bodies of Haku and Zabuza also lay there, next to which was the Kubikiribōchō. Tazuna was still in a bit of a trance from having seen a small army torn apart by a single ninja, and Sakura was still leaning over the edge, trying to style her stomach.

As he looked over the bridge, he realised something. He had expectedto seea lot of blood from life as a shinobi, to be honest. But to be shown all of this on his very first mission outside of the village was something else.Yet he knew he couldn't just let his nerves get the best of him, because his team still needed him.

It was at that moment that Sasuke realised what kept Naruto going.The boy had always said it, but it was the first time that Sasuke truly learnt what he meant. 'I'll be Hokage, dattebayo!' The kid wasn't just saying that for himself. He was saying it for everyone in the village. His friends, his teammates, and everyone else he cared for. That's why, even though he was the dead last of their year, he was still bright and happy. Because he had something to fight for.

Sasuke was jerked out of his thoughts when the clone pulled theneedle out of his arm, attaching the now full bag to Naruto's arm.

By this point, Kakashi's breath was growing laboured. He had already used a lot of his chakra on making shadow clones and using Shōsen. But he was glad to note that with the blood entering the boy's body, he seemed to rejuvenate, and the gash was slowly growing smaller.

"Feed Naruto a soldier pill, stat." The original commanded, and the clone immediately pulled out a small pill from his pocket, which he crushed into smaller crumbles, and fed to the boy.

As soon as Naruto had swallowed the soldier pill, his cheeks flushed with colour. The combination of the feshly donated blood and the chakra replenishing pill had an immediate effect on the boy, as his chakra system was started up, causing his own healing factor to kick in.

'I can't believe we got lucky enough to have blood on the spot. I mean, had Sasuke not brought that up, Naruto wouldn't have made it.' The Jonin tried to shift his focus away from these dreary thoughts, instead marvelling over the amazing healing abilities of the Jinchuriki. Admittedly, his Shōsen was helping a little, but once the boy's own chakra had started healing him, the wound was practically knitting itself back to normal. 'Naruto just doesn't realize how lucky he is. I mean, being the Kyūbi Jinchuriki was one thing, but having the famous Uzumaki vitality and longevity on top of that.' The Jonin allowed his Shōsen to die off, not wanting to subject himself to chakra exhaustion once more. By this point, the gash looked like a much smaller cut, although the scar of the original wound remained. That wasn't going anywhere soon.

Turning to check on his other students, Kakashi noticed that Sasuke was still looking as solemn as ever, although there was a sliver of relief in his eyes. Sakura was faring much better now, and had gotten a hold of her nerves. She had managed to walk closer to Naruto, although she was still standing further away than Sasuke. "I-is Naruto going to be okay, Kakashi-sensei?" The girl asked, with a tone of sadness, and what sounded like guilt.

Kakashi finally allowed himself to release a sigh he had not known he was holding in.His mind felt a lot lighter as he smiled at his students. "Yes, Naruto's going to be just fine." The Jonin stood up, and gestured toward the bridge. "But we need to clean this mess up. I'll have a clone take Tazuna and Naruto back to his house, while we get started on theclean up."

Kakashi proceeded to make a new clone, as the older one had already dispelled.The clone picked Naruto up carefully, making sure to not aggravate the area around the injury. The boy might be out of the danger zone, but Kakashi knew he wasn't perfectly alright just yet. He would allow the boy to rest for at least a day before having him return to his duty of protecting Tazuna with the rest of theteam.

The Genin nodded stiffly. They weren't looking forward to having to clean up the bodies that lay strewn across the bridge, but they knew they had to do it, so they didn't complain. Just as the clone was about to jump away with Naruto, a rumbling was heard from the other end of the bridge.

Tazuna and the ninja – or the conscious ninja, at least – looked in the direction of the noise, only to see a small horde of people running towards them.

The group was armed with a great number of makeshift weapons, ranging from lit torches and pitchforks to kitchen knives and spades. At the head of the phalanx was Inari, surging forth with a slingshot in his hands, anda metal cooking pot on his head. "The people of Wave are here to help! We're gonna fight for our country!" The little boy's voice boomed across the bridge, as he pulled out a stone and pulled back his slingshot. "Now, where are the bad guys?!"

The shinobi were amused by their arrival, but Tazuna was not as happy. "Inari, you little brat, why'd you come out here when you knew you should have stayed at home. You're too late anyways, the ninja already took down all of the thugs." The old man pinched his grandson's ear, earning small sounds of protest from the boy. The rest of the villagers were confused by what Tazuna had said about the ninja having beaten the thugs. Or at least, they remained confused until a breeze blew by which finallyremoved thelast of Zabuza's Hiding In The Mist Jutsu. As that mist dissipated, the sight of all the corpses became visible to all the people there, and the effect was instantaneous.

Well, most of the civilians immediately felt sick, but some began to celebrate the death of Gato, and their freedom from his greed. The clone of Kakashi only sighed, before leading Tazuna and Inari away from the crowd and back to their home. The bridge builder continued to give his grandson an earful regarding his rash behaviour. But despite his front of anger, the man was pleased with the boy. After months of suffering under Gato, it was Inari who finally brightened the spirits of the villagers and rallied them together for a good cause. And Tazuna was proud to call Inari his grandson.

Back at the bridge, the crowd had begun to thin out, with most people going back to the town to celebrate the end of Gato. Kakashi eye smiled atthe two Genin, though the smile was more sadistic than joyous. "Well, my cute little Genin, looks like we should get to work. "The two groaned as they begrudgingly got to work.

It was a long week, but soon enough, the bridge was complete. The entire town had gathered near the bridge to congratulate the old bridgebuilder and marvel at its magnificence. They had also gathered to bid farewell to the ninja of Konoha, whose mission had finally come to a close.

Naruto grinned as he stood next to his teammates, ready to leave for their return toKonoha. The boy had only needed about ten hours of rest before he was all good to go, and the wound on his abdomen was nothing more than a scar.

He had been surprised to hear about how bad his condition had gotten, and he had been even more surprised to hear that Sasuke was the reason he was still standing here. Between that and the boy having jumped in front of him to take on a hail of senbon, Naruto was beginning to realise that Sasuke wasn't a bad kid through and through. He had just been dealt a bad hand by life. Just like Naruto himself.

The three Genin had resumed their tree-walking training during the week after the battle with Zabuza, and though all three were now proficient with the actual exercise, Kakashi had instructed them to continue practising, as that would improve their chakra control as well as their skill with tree-walking.

Tazuna stepped forward, a look of triumph on his face, and a large bottle of sake in his hand. "People of Wave, we have these brave ninjas to thank for our freedom today. It is because of them that we can celebrate today," The man took a hearty swig from his bottle, and then raised it up above his head. "And in honour of their work, I have decided that this bridge shall be known as 'The Great Naruto Bridge'." The announcement was met with immense applause and support from the crowd, and it caused a bright blush to settle over Naruto's cheeks.

Inari picked that moment to chime in, as he clutched onto Naruto's leg. "Please don't go now, Naru-nii! Wave needs a good hero like you. Please, just stay here with us!" The kid cried out, with tears running down his cheek, unwilling to let go. Naruto leaned down and patted the kid on the head. "Inari, these guys don't need another hero. They have you. And I know you'll take care of all of them."

The Genin's words served to make the young boy begin crying even more. Frankly, the sheer volume of the tears was incredible by this point, but he finally let go of Naruto.

Fifteen minutes later, the group had taken to the trees, jumping from branch to branch in a flurry of mobility, with their home village on their mind as their destination. Kakashi was glad that the tiresome mission had drawn to a successful close. Though, the entire experience has been more than a little humbling for him. Evidently all the time he had spent outside of the Anbu had made him grow rusty. Five years ago, Kakashi wouldn't have had a problem with spamming jutsu after jutsu, but in his match against Zabuza, just a handful of jutsu drained him of practically all of his chakra. The whole incident had been an eye-opener. 'I need to start some more serious training once I return to Konoha. I can't protect my students if I'm in no condition to protect myself.'

Sakura was having a similar line of thought, although it was inclined towards her own weaknesses and limitations. 'I can't believe I just froze up like that in front of Zabuza. And then I couldn't even help Sasuke-kun against Haku. Even Naruto-baka risked his life and gave it his all to fight them.' She remembered how weak and helpless she had felt when she saw the missing nin fighting her team mates and her sensei. Heck, she could barely keep up with the movements of Naruto and Sasuke, let alone Haku. And the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi had been so intense that just the aura of both Jōnin had been enough to petrify her. The thoughts plagued her mind the entire way back, although they had diminished somewhat by the time the familiar village gates came into view.

The group landed onto the ground seamlessly, and continued walking toward the gates. The trip from Konoha to Wave that had taken a whole day when Tazuna had been along, but without them having to slow down to accommodate any civilians, the team of ninja was able to make the trip back in less than five hours. They had made a short stop on the way back, both to take a break and to finish up the mission report they would present to the Hokage. And the Hokage Tower was their first destination.

Hiruzen Sarutobi read over the latest mission report he had been given, a mask of complete composure on his face. Internally, however, it was a completely different case. The entire report was just...ridiculous. First of all, the mission had gone from being a C-Rank to a A-Rank once two Kiri missing nin had intervened, which happened less than ten kilometres away from the village. And instead of returning to the village once that had happened, Team 7 had continued on with the mission, breaching all protocol. To top it off, two more ninja had attacked the squad, including a previous member of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen of Kiri. At that point the mission was nothing short of an S-Rank.

"Kakashi, I cannot say I am pleased with your decision to carry out the mission, despite the deception of your client. You chose to endanger the lives of both yourself and your clients." Kakashi cringed slightly at the admonishment, as the Sandaime Hokage continued. "Fortunately for you, the mission did not have any casualties, and it says here that all of the Genin insisted upon continuing the mission, therefore I am willing to overlook this." This instantly calmed the Jōnin's fretted nerves.

"Well, it seems that everything is in order. You may pick up your pay from the mission office. You will be receiving the average S-Rank mission pay, and this will also be going on your record as an official S-Rank. All of you are dismissed, except for Naruto. I would like a word with you."

The Uzumaki gulped as his team mates left the office. He knew that his Jiji wouldn't actually do anything to hurt him, but the serious look he had on his face was scary nonetheless. "Hehe, is something wrong Jiji?" The boy asked in the most innocent voice he could muster.

The Hokage merely offered the boy a pointed look. "I cannot say I am too surprised, Naruto. Your first mission, and you've already gotten into a tonne of trouble." The Sandaime chuckled. "Of course, I wouldn't expect anything else from my future successor. I am glad that you are alright, though I would like it if you tried to not get injured to the best of your abilities." Hiruzen added a more serious tone to that last part, which caused the boy to grow slightly abashed. "But that is all, Naruto. You did well on the mission, so go on, enjoy your time off." Naruto smiled, before dodging out of the office, glad he wasn't in any trouble.

Once he had gotten his pay from the mission office – which was honestly so much that he had been shocked – Naruto made his way back to his apartment. It was early in the afternoon, so he wanted to just take the day to relax, and maybe hit up Ichiraku's in the evening. As soon as he arrived, he noticed that his apartment's door was open. He pushed it open, noticing that the lock of the door had been smashed. He felt his stomach sink as he entered the apartment, noticing shattered glass strewn across the entire floor.

He grew more upset as he realised that his entire home had been ransacked. The entire place had been covered with the glass, and all the windows had been broken. He stepped into the kitchen, only to see his cupboards broken and his fridge gone. His mattress was also in the kitchen, or at least whatever remained of it. From the burns across its surface, and the multiple holes made through it, it wasn't exactly something he'd be able to sleep on any time soon. He winced as he realised that his bedroom was probably in an even worse state.

For a moment he grew angry. In fact, angry was an understatement. He was properly agitated, as he saw the condition his home was in. He should have expected it, to be honest, as the villagers had always done something along these lines whenever they had gotten the opportunity. But it had never been this bad before. Sure, some jerks would spray paint the walls or kick the door in, but this was just something else. 'I leave the village for a few weeks and they've already destroyed my home. I swear, if I ever find out who's responsible, I'm gonna make them pay.' He forced back his rage, as he knew it would not do him any favors to grow upset. All he could do was hope that he would be able to replace or fix whatever was damaged.

He walked into his bedroom and was not surprised to see the bedframe missing, along with all of his clothes shredded up and on the floor. He only grew more infuriated as he registered the fact that now with all his clothes ruined, and his current jumpsuit cut on the side, he didn't have anything else to where.

With a weary sigh, he ran a hand through his hair. His day had really taken a nosedive. It was then that he remembered the small fortune he had just received for the latest mission. Obviously, he hadn't planned on using that money on getting his apartment fixed up, but he had to do what he had to do. "Ugh, looks like I'm going out again."

Naruto was about to head out, when an idea struck him. He smiled a little as he formed his favourite hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten clones appeared around him, and looked at him questioningly. "All right, all of you get to cleaning. Everything that's busted up goes out to the garbage. Anything that can be salvaged, you clean up and put it back to wherever it belongs. Now get to it!" His orders were met with mutters and groans, though the clones began to shuffle around and get the cleaning supplies. With a look of satisfaction, the boy then walked out of the apartment, heading toward the market.

Naruto had developed the habit of avoiding the civilian stores, especially since they would never treat him fairly whenever he went there. He was usually able to make do with the shinobi markets, but there would be times when he had no option, and he would have to go to the civilian side of the shops. Whenever that was the case, he'd use a Henge to cover up his identity, just so that he wouldn't be kicked out of the shops or ripped off. And this was exactly one of those situations. None of the shinobi shops sold actual furniture, so his only option was the civilian one.

So, looking exactly like a middle-aged man with brown hair, he entered a furniture shop, and began to inspect the merchandise. After about half an hour, he had purchased a new bed along with a fridge. They weren't exactly the best, but they had been some of the more affordable options, and he didn't want to raise any suspicions. It had taken him a while to convince the shop owner that he wouldn't be needing any help with delivery, and that he'd just take the furniture himself. He again used the Kage Bunshin rather creatively, and made a set of clones with the order to take the furniture back to his apartment and set it up. He thanked his lucky stars that the shadow clones also had the Henge over them, and the clones took off while Naruto headed to a grocery store, still in disguise.

He purchased a load of cup ramen, along with a carton of milk. He quickly paid for the things he got, before heading towards the shinobi side of the market. He entered the general shinobi equipment store, and dispelled the Henge. He looked around the store, and located the clothes section. He began to browse through the options they had, and was rather pleased by the variety of orange. The first thing they had were standard black shinobi trousers with orange highlights on the sides – which he decided to get three of. He also got a couple of orange jackets, which had black sleeves, and a zipper across the front. That was all he needed for the time being, plus it was the best that they had in orange. He went to the counter, where a retired Chūnin billed up all the items, and paid for the stuff he got. The Chūnin then sealed the clothes into a scroll, which Naruto pocketed. The boy then left the shop after thanking the Chūnin.

As he walked through the streets, he got a sudden headache, as memories flooded his mind, of him having cleaned up is entire apartment. 'What the heck? That's what my clones were doing. Why'd I get the memories from the clones?' The boy questioned, as the small headache quickly dissipated. He decided he'd pin that to the back of his mind, and ask Kakashi-sensei or Hokage-jiji later.

Though he had to admit it, his clones did one heck of a great job at cleaning up his home. He rushed home, glad to see that the clones had also put the furniture in. They had managed to fix up the cupboards as well. They weren't perfect or anything, but he'd be able to use them at least.

He had soon stacked the food into the cupboards, and changed into one of the new sets of clothes he had just bought, while a pot of water boiled on the stove. He walked back into the kitchen with his new clothes on, and took the water to prepare a hearty meal of a double instant ramen. Five minutes later, once he'd finished up with his impromptu dinner, he went to his bedroom. He didn't know why, but he had been more tired than usual ever since he had gotten back to Konoha. He decided he'd just call it an early night, as he flopped onto his brand-new bed. He drifted off to sleep, as fantasies of all the Ichiraku ramen he could buy using the remaining mission pay flooded his mind.

Author's Note:

To kick this off, I just want to say that I have literally zero knowledge regarding blood donation/transfusion, so please forgive inaccuracies regarding that entire incident.

Secondly, as I read over this I realised there had been a bit of a NaruSasu feel to some parts, which was unintentional. This is not yaoi, not my cup of tea, but it will have Naruto and Sasuke being closer as friends and rivals. Sasuke may have seemed OOC in this chapter, but seriously, if he jumped in front of a actual hail of senbon for Naruto, he can't be too bad. Don't get me wrong, my favorite of the duo is Naruto by far, but I'm not going to be bashing on Sasuke either.

Moving on, this is something I am sort of working on because while it may be a really, really overdone plot, I want to do it because a Rinnegan!Naruto is honestly just cool, and it feels great writing this.I will actively try to change it up a bit and add originality - which I think is also present in this chapter because I haven't seen this sort of beginning to a Rinnegan!Naruto fic - and not allow it to be a complete cliché.

Of course, with the Rinnegan comes an OP!Naruto, but I will not just rush into it. I will do my best to make the progress realistic. And I have absolutely no idea of what I should do with pairings here, so I am open tosuggestions.

Finally, the whole apartment-ransacking thing will be looked into with more details later, and more explanations will be provided for the whole 'civilians hate Naruto' thing.

And, in the case that there are any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, I am sorry, but transferring a docx between the app and the website really messed the text up in some places. I've gone through it a couple times, but if you find a mistake, let me know and I'll fix it.

So, favorite and follow the story if you liked it, and if you have any questions, please leave a review or shoot me a PM.

Peace Out

Kofukuna Shi No Kami

PS: A shoutout to UzaiUkiyo for help with drafting this idea. If you liked this, check out his story as well.