Prologue

Different Destiny

Shinigami laughed bitterly. So this was the fate of the great hero, Minato Namikaze? The poor man had spent so much of his energy fighting the bastard fox, Kyuubi, that summoning the Death God had killed him. The man's plan had been to seal part of the Kyuubi's power into his son, using special seals to slowly drain the foxes power to make his son powerful enough to survive in the world that the Minato had known was coming. Unfortunately, he could no longer place the additional seals, since a dead man can't do much.

Without a summoner present, Shinigami could now dictate the terms of his visit, so long as it did not involve the actual removal of more or less than two souls. However, due to the man's heroic sacrifice, he decided to take pity on the newly deceased Hokage and fulfill his wish, even if it wouldn't be in the man's originally plan. It had been a long time since he'd had an Avatar…

He claimed the Kyuubi's soul, and transferred a portion of its power into Naruto, since the power needed to go somewhere. The remainder of the power was dispersed. He removed the baby's soul, then held the baby for a moment, before gently placing him back onto the ground. An Avatar of the Death God needed to have their soul removed in order to give it access to the world beyond. It would be nigh-impossible for the boy to use jutsus, but luckily, he had a latent bloodline trait that would solve this problem, as well as give him an outlet for the massive store of chakra he now had. Replacing the boy's soul, he both activated and strengthened the bloodline trait, as well as giving him gifts befitting of Shinigami's Avatar.

Shinigami had fulfilled the terms of the contract, by claiming two souls. There was nothing that said that he could not return them. He departed the world of the living, leaving behind a force that had not been seen in centuries.

Chapter 1

Nightmare

Intellectually, he knew that the boy's eyes were supposed to be a bright blue. However, when he'd tried to look at them, even from a distance, all he'd seen was his own demise. He'd seen himself die in dozens of different ways, from a hundred different perspectives. Which meant that, although it was immensely painful, it wasn't much of a surprise to feel the life draining out of him from the brat's damn black chakra-strings.

Mizuki coughed up blood even as he dropped the scroll, in order to wipe his mouth with grey, decaying hands. Moments later, his extremities began to crumble into dust, beginning with the fingertips, toes, and hair. It only ended when his heart was destroyed as well.

Naruto Uzumaki tossed the short sword to his right hand before sheathing it in the scabbard at his left hip. He then picked up the scroll and carried it back towards the village. Moments later, he was stopped by a man he recognized.

"Naruto! What are you doing with the scroll?! Don't tell me you were helping Mizuki!" Iruka shouted.

"Don't worry." Naruto said, perfectly calm. "I just killed him and retrieved the scroll."

Iruka sighed in relief. "Good." He'd hate to have to fight the kid, especially after what he'd done to that chunin proctor assigned to Naruto's special test.

Flashback

"Okay, Naruto." Iruka said. "The details of your Genin test are simple." He gestured to the nondescript chunin next to him. "Either land three hits on him, or one that takes him out of the fight."

"Whatever." Naruto said. Iruka shivered and looked away, trying to avoid glancing at Naruto's eyes. It was well known among the class that Naruto's eyes were among the most terrifying things any of them had ever experienced. He'd heard Jonin who'd seen them say the same thing. It was said that even looking at them would show you visions of your own death.

"W-well then, fight!" Iruka said, inadvertently meeting the boy's eyes for a split second.

Instantly, the chunin leapt into action, swinging at Naruto with a lethal punch. Naruto's only response was a simple yawn as the fist sped towards his chest. Before the punch could make contact, however, Naruto's chest became transparent. Suddenly, the man's arm shot through the boy's chest-hole up to the elbow. Then, Naruto solidified the missing torso, utterly destroying the man's upper arm, just above the elbow, without causing any damage to himself.

The severed partial limb fell to the ground, even as the man screamed and clutched the stump of an arm. Naruto looked at Iruka, who looked away and muttered "Pass." At that, Naruto just shrugged and his entire body went transparent, before vanishing. Iruka shivered for a moment at the boy's cold presence, before feeling the cool air suddenly warm.

End Flashback

"So, Naruto, you said you dealt with Mizuki? Where is he?" The Hokage asked, after Naruto returned the scroll.

Naruto shrugged. "Dust in the wind."

"I mean, where is his body?" The Hokage asked, chuckling at the boy's apparent wisdom.

"I just told you." Naruto said, wondering if all of the Hokage were this dense.

"Do you mean to tell me that one of our chunin was turned into dust?"

"In layman's terms, the life was sucked out of his cells, but yes, he was effectively turned to dust."

"Naruto… how could you do something like that to a fellow leaf ninja!?" The Hokage nearly shouted

Naruto tilted his head, confused. "Old man, he was a traitor. He attacked me once I found him, and I retaliated. I destroyed his oversized shuriken with my Knife and snared him in my death-threads. It was the most effective way of taking the man out." He paused. "Or are you telling me that a newly appointed genin should be able to incapacitate a chunin with many years of experience?"

The Hokage sighed. "No, no, you're right. Very good. I'll mark this down as a B-rank mission and place the pay into your monthly allowance, since you get it tomorrow, anyway."

"Thanks, Old Man, it's a bit late to be worrying about some money. Make sure I'm on a good team tomorrow, alright?" Naruto said as he faded into nothingness.

The next day, Naruto faded into his seat at the Ninja Academy right before Iruka began announcing teams. He was bored out of his mind, until his name was finally called.

"Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto groaned loudly. It was going to be a very strong team, but the Uchiha was such a jackass! When Sasuke shot him an arrogant look, he sent his threads, which he grudgingly made nonlethal, to grab the boy's ankle and pull him under the desk. Was it his fault that the imbecile tried to keep in his previous position and ended up smashing his chin into the desk instead of just ending on the floor? Naruto chuckled lightly as he vanished the threads. Everyone glared at the Uchiha, who tried to resume his previous arrogant position, as if nothing had happened.

Hours later, Naruto was pissed. Their bastard sensei wasn't there yet. His fingers brushed the hilt of the Knife at his side. If he didn't show up soon, Naruto might actually unsheathe the blade. He was exaggerating, of course. He'd never actually remove the sheath for something so petty. Although he might get some of his life sucked out. Naruto busied himself creating a spiraling sphere of his black threads.

Finally, the door opened and a man poked his head in. "Yo-" His greeting was interrupted by Naruto's throw of the black sphere. The man threw himself out of the room, slamming the door. He needn't have bothered. Naruto vanished the sphere before it could even hit the door.

"First impression of you guys? I hate you. Meet me on the roof in five minutes. " The man said, his voice muffled by the closed door. Naruto sighed and got up.

"All right, why don't you three introduce yourselves. You know, hobbies, likes, dislikes, dreams." The man said.

"Why don't you go first? Just so we know what to do." Shikamaru asked lazily.

"Fine. My name's Kakashi Hatake, I have a few hobbies, quite a few likes and dislikes. I have a dream. Now, why don't you go, Brooder."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I have few likes and a lot of dislikes. My dream is more of an ambition, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to kill a certain someone."

Kakashi sighed. "Now you, lazy-ass."

"I'm Shikamaru Nara. I like sleeping and looking at the clouds. I don't like troublesome things. My dream is to have a normal life and die old with a nice family."

Kakashi chuckled at the lazy attitude. "Now you, blondie."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are Shinigami, death, training, and messing with people. My dislikes include Jashin and his goddamned minions, people with obsessions, including fangirls and avengers." He shot a glare at the Uchiha. "Although that's not the full list. My dream is to kill Jashin."

Kakashi gulped at his third student. "And by Jashin you mean…"

"The Usurper who managed to steal a portion of my master's power and claimed it for his own. He has built a power base around killing and calls himself a god."

"So your dream is to kill a god?"

"Well, after I eliminate his higher followers. I need to kill his immortal high priests before I can do anything about the bastard."

"O… K…" Kakashi decided to stop questioning his obviously insane student. "Well, meet me at Training Ground 7 tomorrow morning for your first team exercise. It is a survival test that will determine whether or not you are fit to be Genin. It has a 66.6% failure rate." He turned to leave. "Oh, and you shouldn't eat anything, because you'll just throw it up."

The next morning, Kakashi arrived late again, and the bell test began. Shikamaru gestured to his teammates to follow him.

"So, what's up, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked. "I want to fight that jackass. I'm gonna drain every last drop of chakra from that bastard. His fingers brushed the hilt of his Knife. "Then, maybe we'll see how late he'll be without that other eye."

"Calm down." Shikamaru said. "Getting angry is too troublesome. Besides, the point of this test is teamwork. You can have your fight, but when I see an opportunity, I'll snare him in my shadow and Sasuke can take the bells." Sasuke grumbled in response, but agreed to the test. He wanted to be the one to fight, but the desire to see Naruto's true abilities outweighed that.

Naruto unsheathed his sword and tossed it to his left hand. "Hey, Naruto." Shikamaru asked. "The answer is probably too troublesome, but why do you keep your sword on your left hip, if you use it with your left hand."

Naruto just laughed. "Because you don't want to see what will happen if I use my right." He showed the two the spiral seal on his right hand. "This seal allows me to, among other things, unsheathe my sword."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke growled. He met Naruto's eyes and froze for a moment, before looking away.

"My sword is still in its real scabbard. It is called Shinigami's Kinfe, a powerful sword that eternally kills anything it cuts. If I were to cut your arm, it would never heal. This is a metal shield to allow me to spar. However, it is incredibly sharp as well,"

"It's too troublesome to ask how you got that." Shikamaru said.

"Good. I'll tell you about some of my other abilities later, since you'll need them to plan our strategies." He faded out of sight.

Naruto flashed into view in front of Kakashi about a second later.

"Shouldn't you be aiming for a surprise attack, Blondie?" Kakashi asked, still reading his orange book. Moments later, a pair of Naruto's death-threads narrowly missed Kakashi's back, due to the man's leap out of the way. The boy hefted his short weapon before hurling it at the man, who managed to repel himself off of the ground with a quick burst of chakra. Kakashi landed on the ground, smirking at the boy.

"Now, since you don't have an equipment pouch, looks like it's over. Throwing your only weapon is never a good idea." He pulled out a kunai with his hand.

"You know, Kakashi, you shouldn't be so cocky, especially when you don't know the capabilities of your foes." Black lightning crackled from Naruto's right palm and suddenly, Kakashi leapt aside, narrowly avoiding the Knife. Naruto caught the Knife and charged forward. The Jonin leapt aside and drove a kunai into Naruto's side. Unfortunately for him, Naruto's side phased out of existence, catching him off balance. An instant later, Naruto's blade came down on Kakashi's forearm. The man fell back.

"Nice shot." Kakashi said, impressed. "Looks like I'll have to put away my book." He slid the orange volume into his pocket. Then, he noticed Naruto's stance. The Knife was held in his left hand, while his right fingers were outstretched, each connected to a black chakra thread. "Hey, I thought you were right handed."

Naruto chuckled. "I am. I choose to use my sword in my left hand, in order to prevent any unnecessary… incidents. After all, it wouldn't do to use my real blade against the sensei who's supposed to be fighting with us in the future."

"And why not?" Kakashi asked, amused. As if the boy could hit him, no matter what weapon he was wielding.

"The wounds aren't capable of healing, seeing as they cut all the way into the soul. Even if you somehow jumped to another body, it wouldn't help, because the wounds would just reform."

Kakashi whistled. That was an impressive claim. He eyed the strange weapon in Naruto's left hand. "Then what's that?" He gestured at the Knife.

"Oh… I'll explain everything… After the test!" Naruto shouted.

Suddenly, Kakashi froze. A moment later, something was torn from his belt. He saw Sasuke with the bells, while Shikamaru was standing not far away.

"Brilliant plan." Kakashi said. He was having a bit of fun, so he might as well keep it going. "But I've got till noon to take them back." He began to break free from the Shadow Possession. Shikamaru was surprised as his shadow began to waver.

Then, Naruto began to move and everyone looked at him to see a whirling sphere of grey death-threads. A black Rasengan! Kakashi thought in shock. A moment later, Naruto hurled it towards him. It slammed into him, knocking him back, before unraveling into a hundred grey threads, which slashed at Kakashi, before wrapping around him.

"Game over." Naruto said calmly, looking at the bound Jonin. "As I'm sure you've noticed, the chakra is already being drained from your system. I could have just as easily made it suck the life from you instead."

Kakashi laughed. "Alright, alright, you all pass. Mind letting me out?"

I just came up with this idea and started writing... This seems to happen a lot to me. I really like the idea of the story, but I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go with it. I'm not even sure if I'm going to keep it online or not. If I don't get 10 or more reviews telling me to keep it online, I'll probably take it off in about two weeks.

I guess I'll list Naruto's abilities:

His eyes, which don't have a name, since I'm useless with Japanese. I considered calling them the 'Shinigamigan', but thought it was too amusing for such a serious bloodline. Its powers are fairly simple: By looking into them, you see your own death from every possible viewpoint in every possible way, which tends to mess with your head. Essentially a vastly more powerful version of Killing Intent. It also enhances the senses. He has already unlocked the second stage (there are at least 3), which enables him to see the strong and weak points of his enemies (in terms of killing). He sees the place they kill with most, as well as the place that will allow him to more easily land a killing blow.

His chakra strings (or death-threads) have the ability to suck either the life or chakra (Naruto's choice) out of anyone or anything touching them. They can cut things and can be made permanent. He can cause them to vanish at will, but must generate them from his body (at the moment, just the fingers). They can be controlled by his mind and currently have a maximum length of about 5 meters.

He can 'ghost' portions of his body, in order to prevent harm. When they solidify, they destroy anything that would be occupying their location, enabling this to function as a deadly weapon, as well as a powerful defense.

His Knife is a lethal weapon. It has two scabbards, the normal one he uses to carry it, and a blade. The blade is the real scabbard, while the other is simply made to hold it. The true Knife blade's primary function is to permanently kill anything it touches. Nothing can regenerate or heal from a strike from the weapon. It has many abilities, but are mainly unused by Naruto.

Naruto has a special seal on his right hand, identical to the one on his stomach in the anime (he doesn't have one here). It allows him to control his knife. It will also enable him to summon death spirits (mostly ghosts that can affect the physical world).

Please tell me what you think.