Naruto, and it's characters, and it's story, and everything else is © Masashi Kishimoto.

Child of Destiny
Prophecy is a dangerous thing, and destiny is fragile. They can shape our expectations for the course of history, expectations easily shattered in the whirlwind of time. Some prophecies become self-fulfilling, and some destinies truly are set. However, they may not always manifest in the way we imagined, and the results can have dramatic effects on the course of the world.

Prologue

The room was vast, an expanse in the eternity. They were young, yet their souls burned bright.

Naruto Uzumaki stood across from Sasuke Uchiha. The world grew around him.

Sasuke Uchiha stood across from Naruto Uzumaki. The world orbited his will.

The pair locked eyes, Naruto's blue matching the spinning tomoe of Sasuke's red.

They stared for a moment, then grined. As one, they extended their arms and touched fists.

Naruto stared down at the corpse of his erstwhile rival as a chaotic storm of emotions ran through his young mind. Disbelief; Sasuke could not be dead, not here, not like this. Sadness; how could someone leave him, how could someone abandon him like this? Anger; the bastard who did this had no right, and had taken something from Naruto right after he'd finally begun to grasp it. And finally, there was rage. There where no words for the rage, just a searing whiteness that ran through his body, renewing it with foul vigor. He felt something awaken inside of him, a strange clarity, followed by red-hot malice.

When Naruto had snuck into the sphere in hopes of 'rescuing' his companion, he had not had the least idea it could end like this. The concept that one of them could be killed was simply alien to him, despite the years of schooling that should have prepared him for such an eventuality; all shinobi faced death, such was their lot in life, but Naruto, like so many before him, had not realized the truth of it until faced with the cold, harsh reality for himself. For most junior shinobi, this was a time of emotion, but fundamentally a necessary step in their careers.

Unfortunately, Naruto was not most junior shinobi, and in more ways than one. As the floodgates opened, the pain of losing the first comrade let loose a storm of power that was unique to only nine extant individuals in the world. A gift and curse in equal measure, Naruto had something else that marked him as different from even those other eight, something that would change history with one almighty push. He threw his head up and let out a terrifying bellow.

Haku seemed aware of the magnitude of his mistake the moment that Naruto began to change. The air around him seemed to sizzle as visible red chakra began to bleed from the young blond's body, swirling around him in a spiral pattern. Haku was about to act, to do something, anything really, when the dome of shining glass mirrors exploded outward with an amazing force. Haku felt terror at first, followed by blackness, as he was sent sailing off the bridge and into the unknown.

He was not the only thing cast asunder by the blast. Massive chunks of the bridge disappeared beneath Naruto, leaving an almost queer pedestal where the boy, now long in the fang and claw, and his dead companion were left, surrounded by a crater of impossibly smooth stone. The wave of force echoed out farther, however, creating a windstorm that swept away the mist that had bedeviled the Konoha-nin. As it did, Kakashi could see quite clearly once more, but he did not like what he could see.

The swirl of chakra had died down, though Naruto's feral and bestial features remained. However, there was one feature in particular that shocked his sensei, and Zabuza as well, as they watched him look around, as if looking for new prey. As Naruto's eyes settled on something, Kakashi knew that things were about to go from bad to worse. Kakashi turned, and then he scowled.

Gatō led the pack. It was a veritable army of mercenaries, thugs, and various ronin who'd thrown their lot in with the aspiring tyrant. He had little idea of what he was walking into as he approached. Truthfully, neither did Kakashi, but he knew it wasn't good. He'd heard stories, but he'd never expected to see it, and certainly not like this. For not only had Naruto unleashed the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, he'd also unleashed a power potentially even more deadly than that. A legend. A myth.

Naruto stared down Gatō with eyes full of malice and anger. He stared, and Gatō found himself looking back into eyes with concentric black rings in a field of lavender.

Sasuke hurt. A lot. It was, in recent memory, the most pain he'd ever woken up in, rivaled by the time he'd spent two days straight training in the woods and then collapsed from chakra exhaustion, waking up to find his neck, arms, legs, and just about every other part of him both stiff and sore to the extreme, though the pain was yet dwarfed by the eldest of the times he'd woken up in confusion and pain. He made a mental note that it was perhaps time to stop waking up like that; it wasn't turning out good for him ever, really, and he really didn't like the pain. Yes, definitely time to consider not doing that.

He felt heavier too, as if he'd almost doubled his weight really. Try as he might, Sasuke just couldn't manage to push himself up. Also, he couldn't see. Maybe he should open his eyes. Yeah, opening his eyes helped, even if the light seared his unadjusted pupils. He felt something strike his cheek, and realized that it was not the first; much of his face was dotted with wet droplets. Well, that made sense, given Sakura was hunched over him crying. That fact seemed to snap Sasuke into a sort of raw focus once more.

"Sakura," he managed to grunt out, causing the girl to seize up in confusion, "Can you let go, you're heavy. "

She stared at him with a bizarre expression before dragging him even closer, causing him to wince in pain. He did not cry out, as that would have taken far too much energy, something he simply didn't have at the moment. Feeling continued to spread through his body, but he dared not risk trying to move anything of note just yet. Finally, apparently realizing what she was doing, she let him down, sending him flopping back to the hard surface he was laying on. He grunted again in pain.

"S-sorry! Sorry!" she stammered out, picking him up once more, gentler this time. He just grunted again in response, not wanting to exert much more energy on such a trivial thing. Then again, just about everything seemed so trivial right now.

"Stop crying," he said suddenly after a moment of awkward silence, "The red makes your eyes look weird."

Sakura froze up again, staring down at the boy she so often claimed to love and adore. The words seemed so... odd coming from him. They were so close to a compliment, yet she found that him actually saying such a thing was simply bizarre to her. She began to laugh, a harsh rasping laugh that was as much crying as it was humor.

Sasuke, for his part, simply grunted again, trying to run through his head what had just happened. He felt something, though, deep inside of him. A strange vitality that seems to push through the pain. A fire, just embers really. Yet when he focused on it, he felt it burn and grow. He pushed himself up, staring out over the devastation.

The bridge was in shambles, massive chunks torn up to reveal raw metal reinforcement in places, which were themselves twisted to insane degrees. Blood and corpses were scattered about, with various pallets of stone or cranes sundered and smashed. There was a body, or parts of one, jammed between two colossal stone fragments.

"What the hell happened?"

Sakura's rasping laugh came to a close, and she looked down, a strange look in her eyes.

"Naruto."

They'd returned to Tsunami's home. There was little more to do. Zabuza had fled during the chaos of the fight that had ensued after Naruto went battle-mad, Haku had been flung off into the unknown, and Gatō... well, Kakashi didn't want to think too much on Gato. The small man had not been well treated by the empowered Naruto. The young Uzumaki had tore through the assembled mob and their leader. The mission was, technically speaking, a success; the bridge, though damaged, was in a far better place now that Gatō and his thugs were dead.

Plus, Tazuna was safe. Which meant, with Gatō gone and no one to pay him, Zabuza was an unlikely threat, and thus the mission was success.

Sort of.

Kakashi sighed, staring out as the sun rose above the horizon. He'd come up to the roof to think, having found it very difficult to sleep. He'd stayed up nearly all night watching over both Naruto and Sasuke, the latter of which had actually managed to walk back to the home on his own, much to Kakashi's surprise. Naruto had to be carried, and was still unconscious even now. He seemed, though, very peaceful. As far as Kakashi could tell, Naruto was going to be fine. He seriously hoped he was right.

Tsunami had been ecstatic they'd all returned, yet worried about Naruto too. Inari cried. Tazuna simply smiled. Apparently, the damage to the bridge was a small price to pay for Gatō being, put simply, 'dealt with.' The old man had endured much. He could endure a few extra weeks of work. Probably.

Naruto was still asleep. Sasuke was, quite strangely, doing very well. His wounds were healing rapidly, almost too rapidly really, but there were more pressing issues at hand than to worry about how the ice-user had been able to inflict wounds that would heal so quickly. It was clear the intent was to make the death seem real, and it had worked to shocking effect on Naruto. The rage had allowed the seal to weaken, ever so slightly. That would need to be watched.

More importantly, though, was what else seemed to have awoken in him.

"Kakashi-sensei...?"

The jōnin looked over to find that Sakura had poked her head out of the window. She shielded her eyes from the bright sun, and then pulled herself out, dangling herself on the perch of the windowsill. She rested her hands on the ledge and watched the sun come up, eyes finally adjusting to its bright glow.

"Ah, Sakura. You're up early," Kakashi said, putting on a smile behind his mask. He suspected his young student was worried too; best to put on the cheerful face. It seemed to do little.

"I had a hard time sleeping," she replied with a frown. Kakashi sighed internally, "What happened with Naruto..."

She paused a moment, and then continued.

"That power he had, the red chakra. I've never read anything about that. Never heard of something that could do that."

"The red chakra is something he'll have to tell you when he's ready," Kakashi said quickly, perhaps too quickly. "It's his secret to tell."

Sakura looked up at him, more questions in her eyes.

"And his eyes? Naruto doesn't have a family. Is it a bloodline trait? Is that linked to the chakra too?"

Kakashi paused this time, weighing out his words. The truth was, he had no real answers for her, not in this. Many things could be said, and almost none of them would be certainly right. He wasn't used to this sort of thing. He didn't think anyone was. When in doubt, however, say what sounds best.

"I think it is. A bloodline, that is. It something I've only heard rumors about, old stories. It's a very rare power, a very dangerous one. However, while everyone will be able to see and know about those eyes, I'd keep the other parts secret for now."

"The red chakra, sensei? A secret?" Sakura said with confusion; she wasn't sure why he'd ask her to do that. Kakashi just nodded.

"It's complicated, but lets just say there are some people who would be very interested in knowing about it, and that should be kept quiet. He'll have enough attention with the eyes, he doesn't need more."

Sakura thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded. Kakashi returned it, wide and true, his own eye closing as he did. He doubted he'd be able to keep the report that secret, but at perhaps until he'd found a way to deal with this issue, or bring in a specialist who could.

Not too far off, Naruto began to stir. His stillness had faded into a true sleep, and he'd recklessly thrown the blankets off him during his slumber. He was the last one in the room, even Sasuke having woken up and made his way, half-stumbling still, downstairs for breakfast. Tazuna and his family was already there, and Sakura had arrived after her chat with their sensei. She hadn't gotten many answers, but she at least had some thoughts of things to look into when she got back to Konoha.

Back upstairs, Naruto finally awoke with a start. He bolted upright, eyes shooting open as he did. The world seemed so clear, so vibrant. His vision had never been bad, but never like this, it was strange. Part of him almost thought he was dreaming, but the sheer reality of things, and the pain he was feeling made him think otherwise; he didn't hurt in his dreams. The young Uzumaki pushed himself up, yawned, and slowly began to make his way downstairs, soreness be damned. He was hungry!

The various people at the table looked up at him as he came down, surprised to see him awake. They all stared at him, even Sakura, who had seen him and had far less of a reason to be surprised. This, though, was the first time she'd really gotten a look at him. Naruto froze, suddenly self-aware. He also realized, despite his grogginess, that both Sasuke and Sakura seemed almost to be glowing. It wasn't a purely visual thing, or at least not ONLY that. It was strange, like seeing something he never had before. Sakura's was warm, precise, if not very bright. Sasuke's was far larger, and churning. It seemed vibrant, and familiar to him.

"What the hell are you all look'n at?" he said suspiciously, looking down at himself to see if he had a stain or something. It was Sasuke who replied.

"Naruto, what the hell happened to your eyes?"

Naruto froze at that, for the briefest of moments, and then ran off to find the bathroom. He threw open the door, Sasuke and Sakura hot on his heels as he entered and stared into the mirror. There, a blond haired and whiskered face stared back, just as he was expecting, but his blue eyes had changed. Instead, now a set of concentric black rings in a field of lavender looked back. It looked like Hinata's eyes, almost, if not for the rings. Naruto froze, and then a grin began to grow on his face.

"Awesome," he exclaimed, throwing a fist into the air. He spun around to find his teammates, and his sensei, watching him from the door. He smiled wide as he yelled.

"What the hell is it?!"

Author Note:
A small aside to my other stuff. New Naruto-sensei in the next few weeks, its with my beta being edited as we speak, and the chapter after it is about a sixth of the way done in writing, and fully planned. Also look out for, likely, a story called Bushido, about an AU where the roles of ninja and samurai in the manga were reversed.

Don't expect this to update as much (which I know for me sounds like never, but expect new stuff soon.) It's mostly an exercise in fun-times writing. I do have an arc for it, mostly. That said, Shadow Clones plus Rinnegan was an idea I wanted to play with.

As a note, I'm fully aware of how the rinnegan awakens, and trust me this has been taken into consideration. All shall be revealed, in time.