Disclaimer: I'll only say this once for this story! I do not own any characters or content (except this alternate version of the story) for Naruto... we really shouldn't be obligated to do this. We already put the fact that we don't own anything before we actually post!
Naruto: Pulling the Punch, Making a Change - Chapter 1: Saving friends...
"He- *Cough* hehe… you win… Sasuke," a blonde with whiskers, blue eyes, and an orange jacket and sweatpants, said as his life was slowly, agonizingly fading away.
"Y-yeah... I guess I do... Naruto..." the raven-haired teen said with tears trickling out of his ruby eyes, slowly morphing into an atomic shape as he spoke.
The two were in the valley of the end, the battleground between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha, one of the two known last Uchiha left in the world, was soundlessly crying as his Sharingan transformed into its final stage; the Mangekyo Sharingan. The reason he was crying was because what he could simply call his best; and possibly, only friend was dying at his feet; a second hole driven through his other lung – a second hole created by his own hands.
"Damn it..." the Uchiha muttered, "Why did you let your attack go? Why did you let me kill you?!" he said heatedly, glaring into the eyes of his friend.
"Heh, I'm not as stupid as you think; teme..." Naruto said quietly, "... I know about the Mangekyo Sharingan *Cough*..." the dying blonde rasped out, "And whatever I would have done wouldn't have gotten you to come back with me... so I'm helping you instead *Cough*... and I'd rather die than be a weapon..." he slowly rasped, breathing becoming ragged.
"... A weapon? What do you mean?" the Uchiha questioned with narrowed eyes. What did he mean?
"Just what I said... I'm a weapon, a Jinchuuriki, a container... of what you may ask?" Naruto asked rhetorically, "... just look at my birthday, the tenth of the tenth... the day the Kyuubi attacked, and the day I was born..." Naruto said, making it all click in his rivals head.
"So the Kyuubi..." Sasuke said as everything dawned on him. A brewing rage started within him. This damned village! They destroyed humanity just so they could have a weapon!?
"Naruto..." Sasuke breathed out, "I won't let you die here!" he said harshly as he bent down and grabbed the blonde's arm and swung him onto his shoulder in a fireman hold.
"Sasuke, what are yo-""Bringing you to Orochimaru, I won't let my only friend die..." the red-eyed Uchiha said, "I won't let my brother die," he said with conviction as he started running up the valley walls, rain hitting his face as it started falling.
"Thank you... Brother," the blonde whispered before his mind faded from consciousness.
-Later- -At Orochimaru's Base-
"Ah, Sasuke-kun, seems you have finally arrived," came the hissing voice of the recently body-changed Orochimaru, as he noticed the orange clad blonde on the shoulder of the Uchiha "And it seems you brought Naruto-kun, may I ask why?"
"He... helped me," Sasuke simply said as his onyx eyes shifted into his Sharingan, then transformed into the Mangekyo Sharingan. Seeing this, Orochimaru smirked. He had hoped that his next host would gain this power.
"I see," Orochimaru chuckled, "Well, what do you wish to do with him?" the snake-eyed man smirked sadistically.
"I want you to save him..." Sasuke trailed off, trying to find a reason that would suffice, "Because he's my rival, and one of the very few people who can challenge me and goad me into being better." There, that should be reason enough for the sannin.
"Alright then, I've always wanted to examine a Jinchuuriki; especially one of the few remainders of the Uzumaki clan," Orochimaru conceded.
"The Uzumaki clan?" questioned Sasuke with narrowed eyes, thinking he had just found something else that he would want to destroy Konoha for.
"Oh, another thing that that damned village neglected to tell everyone?" Orochimaru sighed, "My, my, Konoha has even betrayed a co-founder of the village... blatantly hiding the most important part of the founding of Konoha, disgraceful," the Sannin said with loathing.
"But to answer your question, the Uzumaki clan was a clan of Seal Masters and Kenjutsu users; but what they did for history was being the Mediators of the Uchiha and Senju – until they were destroyed by the united forces of Kumo, Iwa and Kiri, leaving no one of the Hidden Eddy Village alive." Orochimaru took a moment to consider, "The only one who I know survived was Kushina Uzumaki, and that was because she was sent to Konoha to be the next Jinchuuriki, as the one at the time, Mito Uzumaki, was becoming too old – yet she was still younger than most Uzumaki when they die, some becoming almost 200 and are still able to fight." Orochimaru said all of this in a lecturing tone as he had started walking into the entrance of the base.
"And as you've probably guessed, Kushina was most likely his mother..." the snake Sannin thought for a moment before continuing, "and from his appearance alone, you can probably figure out who his father is. Honestly, who else had such blonde hair and sky bright eyes," the older man said with a sigh at the end.
Sasuke thought over the new information before something suddenly clicked at the last sentence. "The... Fourth Hokage?" the Uchiha searched.
"Yep, and I really wonder why the people of Konoha never realized it; his father put too much faith in the people of Konoha, and Naruto-kun suffered for it," the man said, almost sadly.
A sudden pressure hit the room, making Orochimaru stop. An uncontrollable rage was filling Sasuke as he unconsciously activated his Curse seal level 2 and his Mangekyo sharingan flaring to life. Sasuke looked absolutely murderous as a purple shroud of chakra surrounded him, forming a skeletal visage around him; the beginning of his Susano'o.
"They will pay..." the Uchiha muttered darkly, making Orochimaru giddy. Who knew that telling him all of this could lead to such a strong reaction? "First Itachi, then Konoha will- no, MUST burn!" the Uchiha growled with his whole body shaking in pure rage and tears of blood pouring from his Mangekyo Sharingan.
'Magnificent' the Snake Summoner thought in glee. This much power at this age was simply marvelous to behold.
"Yes they will, Sasuke-kun. But for now, let's save your friend shall we?" Orochimaru asked, making the Sharingan wielder calm down a bit, dispersing his Susano'o and his Curse seal going back to level 1, but keeping his Sharingan active.
"Yeah, alright..." the teenage Uchiha breathed as he adjusted the load on his shoulders and kept walking.
-Later- -Orochimaru's Base- -Medical Room-
"I'll take care of him from here," said the calm voice of Kabuto after being informed of what had happened. He took Naruto into his arms and carried him to one of the operating tables; as he knew from a single glance that the boy would have to be operated on to save his life, and he figured the only reason he was still alive was because of his Jinchuuriki status.
Sasuke took one last glance at his brother in all but blood before walking off with Orochimaru leading him to his quarters. 'You'd better survive... brother' the young teen thought silently.
Kabuto proceeded to check over his newest patient, and was stunned by how much damage the boy took while still staying alive; generally, having a blade o lightning shoved through, not one, but both lungs was a pretty sure way of getting killed, but having half your heart boiled to top it off? He should have died in the instant he had that blade shoved into him. And all of this was without mentioning the fact that he had multiple fractures in his ribs and arms, 5 broken ribs, a twisted ankle... he should've been with the Shingami long ago.
Kabuto sighed; he would need a few hours to get the boy into a reasonable condition to live on, then a few weeks to recover properly, but he had time.
He went to the com system and called in one of his more trusted co-workers in the field of medicine; even if she was pretty new, she was a sensor – which would simplify the healing process by a mile.
"Karin, report to operating room 7A," he said into the small com-device.
While he waited, he begun with the standard life stabilizing procedures; setting up the IV drips, making sure his blood kept pumping and not going out of his body, setting the broken bones and fractures, the usual.
"What did you need me for, Kabuto-san?" asked the young female that just entered.
She was only slightly older than the boy who was dying. Her hair was an exotic red color that drew attention, with the right side of it being short and messy, while the left was long and fine-combed; her eyes were also of a similar red color while covered by red-framed glasses. Her skin was a healthy creamy color; showing that she did light amounts of field-work, but also staying inside most of the time. She was at the moment wearing a short-sleeved beige shirt, a red skirt, black stockings and a pair of ninja sandals.
"Thank you for coming in on such short notice, Karin-chan. I called you up here to help me with the blonde on the table over there," the silver-haired man said as he gestured to the boy who was currently on the brink of his demise. "You are one of our better medics; but you need experience, which is why you are here."
The glasses-wearing girl simply nodded to his answer, "So, what do we need to do," she said as she strolled over to the operating table, pulling on a set of plastic gloves that she got from... somewhere.
"First, we need to seal up the holes in his chest," Kabuto said as he rolled out a table with various medical tools from the corner, "And then repair his lungs, make sure that he'll at least be functional in the future..."
And with that they got to work...
-Present- -Valley of the End-
A silver haired man was running through the rain, approaching the battleground that he knew his students had been fighting at... but he heard nothing but the sound of thunder and rain. No sounds of battle or destruction were heard.
The sensei of Team 7 arrived at the head of Madara Uchiha as he peered down at the damage that had been done. He took in everything around him; the debris, the shattered stone, the cracked statues, but what caught his eyes was the small pool of blood that had amassed by the foot of Senju Hashirama.
The ANBU in Kakashi made him jump down and examined the blood. It was mixed with water, enough so that the scent would be useless, but he could still get a DNA sample... to find out which of his students was potentially dead.
Tears came to the Jounin's eye as he felt that he could've done more for both of them.
'Obito... Minato-sensei... Kushina...' he thought the names of the ones he'd failed, as he blamed himself for this failure.
-Later- -Konoha-
"... I found neither Naruto Uzumaki nor Sasuke Uchiha at the sight of engagement, nor was tracking an option due to both of their scents and footprints being wiped out by the rain..." the Hatake said as he reported in to his superior, Tsunade Senju, "I was able to find a small bit of blood at the sight, and kept it for study. Regardless, Mission: Failed, Hokage-sama," he said, barely keeping his composure.
"... Understood, dismissed," the older blonde woman – who still looked like she was in her mid-twenties, mind you – sighed, her shoulders slumping with her forehead resting against her bridged fingers.
Kakashi left in a swirl of leaves that dissipated after a few moments. Tsunade sighed as she felt the presence of someone she really didn't want to break the news to. "Jiraiya... you can come out now..." she whispered, at the same time, an old man in kabuki style clothes, white hair and two red lines falling down from his eyes, like tears, merged out of the wall.
"I heard everything..." the old kabuki wearer sighed in frustration, "And there was nothing we could have done... you are the Hokage, and I was outside the village, gathering information..." he said with a solemn expression.
"Damn it..." the blonde woman whispered to herself, letting a few tears fall.
-Present-
A familiar figure to the sight of the Memorial Stone was now kneeling on the ground with his head to the skies, letting the rain wash through his silver hair, and hiding the tears that mixed in with the falling water.
Kakashi was distraught. He had lost two of his students; one, the legacy of his sensei, Naruto, the other, the last relative to his dead teammate, Sasuke. He couldn't help but silently let the tears fall from his uncovered eye.
Why couldn't things just go right for once? Why!?
-Earlier- -Flashback- -Gates of Konoha-
A solemn Kakashi half-ran, half-jogged up to the village gate. His mind was a mess, the only coherent thought that was going through his head was the fact that he had to report in to Tsunade.
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!" called a high-pitched voice, a pink head of hair accompanying it.
"Sakura..." the Jounin drawled tiredly, "No time, gotta report."
"Wait! Where is Sasuke-kun?" she hurriedly asked. Kakashi stopped for a moment.
"Sakura..." he said in a controlled voice, turning his one eye to her, "Both of your teammates are gone... the only trace I found was the blood in this vial," Kakashi said, sparing nothing as he held up the small vial of red liquid, then turning and running again.
Sakura was stunned at this... had they killed each other? Sasuke wouldn't do that... would he?
While she was contemplating, a figure with white eyes and midnight hair stood behind a tree, tears flowing freely from the orbs of vision. "Naruto-kun..." the voice of the figure whispered slowly, revealing it to be a young girl; the same age as the one with pink hair.
The girl stood silent for a few moments before sliding down to the ground, back against the tree. She silently sobbed while the rain masked her prescence.
-Present- -Memorial-
Kakashi sat there still, tears having dried up, much like the rain. But there was no sun shine. Only the grey blanket covering the sky
-Later- -Orochimaru's Base-
Kabuto pushed up his glasses with a sigh. The procedure was complete, he had gotten everything back in place, and he was thanking god for Uzumaki longevity. He had barely been able to fix the boy's lung, and the only reason he was actually able to fix it was because of the fact that the cells of an Uzumaki were able to duplicate for a much longer time, so he just sped it up by adding a few stem cells. So Naruto would live, but his life span was shortened by almost 30 years... but the Uzumaki can live to be almost 200 so he would still have about 100 years left.
"You watch over him, I just need to tell Orochimaru-sama how the boy is doing," Kabuto ordered the redhead who had helped him extensively.
"Alright Kabuto-san, just don't take too long," she replied with a bit of sarcasm as the bespectacled male left.
Karin sighed and looked over the blonde teen lying on the bed that they had set up post-operation. "You must be really stubborn to live through all of that," she said with a bit of amusement, "I just hope you're worth it in the end... I don't want to see you die after all of that effort."
-Later- -With Sasuke-
Sasuke was resting his head on the pillow of the bed he had been provided, thinking back to the words of his friend.
'... and I'd rather die than be a weapon...' he thought over everything that Naruto meant with those words. He had disregarded the subtle glares that had been thrown at his friend. He thought they were over some especially terrible pranks he had pulled, but looking back... he found raw hate and loathing in those eyes.
If there was one thing that the Uchiha had over others, it was their impeccable photographic memory, yet it was also a curse for him in that it made his dreams of his family dying that much more vivid.
He was broken out of his musing as there was a knock at his door.
"Come in," he said with as little emotion as possible. The door creaked open to reveal the grey-haired form of Kabuto.
"I thought I should inform you that your friend is going to survive," he said to the Uchiha, to which he got a barely perceptible nod from where the teen lay. "It's going to take a few days for him to wake up, and another few weeks before he can train regularly," the teen medic explained. "That said, I should get back to him to see if anything is needed. See you later Sasuke," he waved off and closed the door, leaving the Uchiha to his rest.
The youngest Uchiha was internally relieved. His one friend in this hellish world would live through it all. Now he just needed to get stronger... strong enough to avenge the Uchiha and Uzumaki.
A/N: I hope you people enjoy this... because I don't even know what happened! these stories just pop into my head and they fester and become the beasts/abominations you see before you! I'm just gonna roll with it, but juggling stories is getting hard for my head... Life gives you lemons and you make a combustible fire hazard of doom... that people will unsuspectingly eat and be turned into human fireaballs... wow... the fuck is wrong with me?
Anyway! Read, Review, Favorite and/or Follow at your leisure! Now I shall make some combustible lemonade! Bye!