Chapter 1

A solitary figure lay in the Valley of the End, where he was left there to die by his 'so called' best friend. The figure wore a normally orange jumpsuit, now stained red with his blood. The clothes were torn and there was a hole in his chest. His eyes were half-closed, showing that it was an unnatural shade of cerulean and his yellow hair that seemed to defy all laws of gravity hung over his face. His unusual whisker marks were as bold as ever.

"Sasuke… Why?" was what he said before he closed his eyes.

Then, in a whirl of leaves, another figure appeared. He searched the still body for a pulse, but found none. "Kami-sama… I was too late…" He whispered.

The famous Copy-ninja Hatake Kakashi then picked the body up, then started heading back to Konoha, to tell the grave news.

The retrieval mission was a failure. Uchiha Sasuke had escaped to go to Orochimaru and Uzumaki Naruto, self-proclaimed sixth Hokage, at the very young age of twelve, was dead.

… Or was he?

As a matter of fact, the said boy found himself near a cage inside his mind. He instantly knew where he was, as it is actually a really hard thing to forget that there is the most powerful of demons living inside your stomach. Especially since the tenant kept growling at his host for being so soft during the fight.

"…You IDIOT! Didn't I tell you to kill the bas-" At this point Naruto managed to block out what Kyuubi was saying. He no longer cared that much, as he was still contemplating what had happened.

'Sasuke-teme… Tried to kill me… Was he that obsessed with his revenge? How could that asshole do that!

'….Then again, what does it matter if I brought him back? Sakura-chan… Scratch that, Sakura would be fawning over her precious Sasuke-kun! The villagers would blame me for 'tainting' their Uchiha!

'Anyway, why should I bother trying to be Hokage if most of the population wants me dead? Why should I even try to live? I'm starting to see no point since hardly anyone accepts me…'

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" roared Kyuubi. "I've been listening to your thoughts, (since this is your mind) and I can't take it anymore! I probably only have a few more minutes left, since you're dying, and I don't want to hear your damn whining, you brat!"

The boy blinked. "Dying?" he asked the fox. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you are dying at this very moment. Do I need to spell it out for you? D-Y-I-N-G, and you won't be able to prevent this death from happening, even with the help of that old hag."

Then, to the demon's surprise, Naruto just shrugged. "Then that's it, I guess. If I die, everyone would be happy, I guess. My precious people would just have to get over my death, and I'm taking you down while I'm at it. Heck, the villagers would have a festival thanks to my death."

It was now Naruto's turn to be shocked to see Kyuubi's reaction. He laughed. "Kit, are you just going to give those villagers the satisfaction of you dying? Are you that weak?" The fox then grew more serious, "I actually had some hope for you, since your father was one of the best shinobi who ever lived. He was the one who sealed me in here, in fact."

Naruto's eyes widened. "You mean… He was-"

"You got it. His name was Hitomi Arashi(1), or more commonly known to you guys, the Yondaime Hokage."

"Wait, wait… I thought all demons hated humans, and here you are, praising him? I mean, what the heck?"

"Kit… Didn't you ever wonder why he sealed me in you instead of just killing me? He was definitely strong enough to do it. But we're running out of time for me to explain," hefinished, "So… Do you still want to keep living and try to change the future? Or do you want to die here, and never know the true reason why Arashi never killed me?"

"What? But I thought you said you can't prevent-"

"When did I ever say that? I only said that you and the old hag couldn't fix it. I, however, can. But it's up to you. Personally, I'd go for living, but… Eh."

"I'll go for living and try to bring Sasuke-teme back! It's my way of the ninja!" said Naruto, imitating Gai and Lee with his thumb up. Kyuubi inwardly shuddered.

"Alright, alright, I'll show you the seals; just… don't do that, for the sake of my sanity." 'Don't those people have any shred of shame?' he thought. "Now… Here are the seals you need to use as well as the necessary chakra…"

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Meanwhile, outside of Naruto's mind, to say that Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, was worried would be the understatement of the year. Her healing techniques had no effect and even the Chikatsu Saisei no Jutsu (2) had no effect on Naruto, and only the few medic-nins who helped with the technique would even come near a five-foot radius of him. Fortunately for the others, their conditions were stable and they were on the road to recovery. But while they were visited constantly by their friends and family, she was shocked to see only around five people came to visit the Kyuubi vessel. The most visiting being none other than a blushing Hyuuga Hinata. She chuckled at the thought of her fainting at the sight of Naruto covered in bandages, despite the sad fact that Naruto was-

No. She couldn't think that. It was too much to bear. She had lost her brother and her lover already. The mere thought of that cursed necklace killing the boy she was starting to regard as a little brother was starting to anger her. Why did she ever give him that stupid necklace? And why was life so cruel to her and her loved ones around her?

Suddenly, she spotted movement from Naruto out of the corner of her eye. His hands were starting to move to the seal of the bird, then to the hare. As he was doing more seals Tsunade realized what her surrogate brother was doing. She came across the jutsu while trying to find a way to bring her loved ones back to life but this required inhuman amounts of chakra and stamina. The technique was considered a kinjutsu for the high death rate so how in the world did he know about the time-traveling technique and how did he know what seals to use?

She was about to stop him from finishing the seals until she heard him. "Tsunade-baa-chan…" he muttered. A vein throbbed up in her temple. Here he was, almost dead, and the least he could have done was call her 'Tsunade-nee-chan' or 'Tsunade-sama'.

"Don't… stop me… Last chance at living…"

Naruto must have said that out loud without realizing it as he was still unconscious. The Godaime sighed and let him continue. If Kyuubi was that desperate to use a 98 death-rate jutsu she knew it really was his last chance. Ending at the seal of the monkey, there was a flash of light and Naruto was gone.

Tsunade looked sadly at the bed where Naruto once lied upon.

"Good luck, Naruto… Be the hero your father wanted you to be…"

Notes:

(1) I read this somewhere and I thought that it was a good name for him.

(2) The Chikatsu Saisei no jutsu was the regenerating technique the medic-nins used to heal Hyuuga Neji.

This is my first fanfic so be nice and review! And constructive critisms are very much appreciated!