Second Chances

by Toa Naruto

Many have thought that death would be the "end of the line". But for Naruto, death was only the beginning. Watch what happens when Naruto gains a second chance at pursuing what he was denined in his old life: happiness, respect, and love. NarutoXRangiku. First shot at a BLEACH fic.

1. The End and a New Beginning

Second Chances

Wazzup! Hey, I've decided to do something out of the ordinary. This will be a Naruto/Bleach crossover, with the main pairing being Naruto Uzumaki with Rangiku Matsumoto. "Why this pairing?", you might ask. Well, I believe that this pairing has potential, since they both had somewhat similar childhoods. Plus, there are very few good stories with this pairing, so I thought I might as well give it a try. Warning, this my first time writing something for BLEACH, so please don't flame this the instant you read it. Also, any tips and/or pointers about the BLEACH-world will be helpful. I own nothing!

'Blah'- inner thoughts

"Blah" - talking

'Blah' - demon/monster speaking

"Blah" - jutsu being performed

"BLAH" - really angry yelling

# - scene change

1

Chapter 1: An End and a New Beginning

"Well, I'd say that it's about time we finish this little battle…and all of the battles we've had since we became a team!" shouted Sasuke. But this wasn't the Sasuke that was loved by the civilians of Konohagakure or by nearly all of the girls of his age group. No, that Sasuke was long gone, and was replaced by something that one would say only existed in nightmares. Gone was the mysterious, secluded boy that several of the young kunoichi fawned over. In his place was a gray-skinned monstrosity with ash-colored hair, and wings shaped like giant hands with small "fingers" jutting out all over them. The sclera of his eyes were jet black, with the Sharingan still visible as the cornea. In the middle of his nose was a black shuriken-shaped mark, and his lips looked as if here were wearing black lipstick, with enlarged teeth that looked like fangs jutting out.

If the Uchiha's appearance wasn't unsettling enough, then his opponent was more capable of frightening any regular passerby. Standing several feet across from the winged avenger was a boy wearing an orange jumpsuit that was torn and scratched in several places. The most noticeable damaged area was the hole that was in front of and behind his right shoulder, giving it the appearance that someone's fist had punched through him. The boy's face had a pair of three jagged whisker-like marks that looked as if they were carved into each of his cheeks. His eyes were dark red, with thin slits for pupils, giving them the appearance of a demon. But the finishing piece to his terrifying look was the large mass of "boiling" red chakra in the shape of a fox, that was surrounding his entire body.

Their battle ground was at the rocky base of a large waterfall with two enormous statues of Konoha's founding fathers facing each other on opposite sides. To the right of the waterfall was the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Facing directly in front of the Senju monument was the first original leader of the Uchiha clan, Madara Uchiha. This specific area was named "The Valley of the End", due to the notorious battle between the two founding fathers which forever altered the landscape. In remembrance, the people of Konoha carved enormous statues of the combatants on the opposite sides of the large waterfall, symbolizing the undying conflict that lasted between them.

But the most ironic part of the current area was that another battle of similar epic proportions was taking place. On Madara's side stood Sasuke Uchiha, the "top rookie" of his graduating ninja academy class, who was attempting to defect from Konoha in order to train under Orochimaru, the traitorous Snake Sanin. On Hashirama's side was Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune, and the "dead last" amongst his peers. His reason for being here? He was part of the team charged with the task of subduing Sasuke and bringing him back to Konoha. Unfortunately, the escort that was responsible for bringing Sasuke to Otokagure were Orochimaru's personal guard, five dangerous Oto nin that were highly proficient at using the traitorous sanin's curse mark. The retrieval team was forced to combat these…ninja…with each member fighting one Oto nin by themselves. This resulted in Naruto ending up as the only one left to pursue the rogue Sasuke. Naruto had chased after the renegade until he finally caught up to him at the monument, hoping that he could try to reason with his wayward teammate. To the young blonde's dismay, however, Sasuke was dead set on defecting from Konoha, and was willing to kill anyone that stood in his way. That part had really hurt Naruto, as he somewhat saw Sasuke as an annoying prick of a friend.

After Sasuke had tried to kill him twice, he was forced to use the Kyubi's chakra and take action against the Uchiha. This gave the young Uzumaki a much needed edge against Sasuke, who couldn't land a single strike against the Kyubi-powered genin. Not one to be outdone by anyone, Sasuke activated the second state of his Heaven Curse Mark, which evened the playing field for the Uchiha. Now, after a long and fierce battle, both combatants were on their last legs, and had enough strength for one final attack. But the last attack meant something different to each combatant. For Naruto, it was his last chance to bring Sasuke back and fulfill his promise to Sakura. For Sasuke, it was his one chance to finally break free from the very village that had been holding him back and finally obtain vengeance against Itachi.

'This will end it!' thought the two ninjas, as they prepared their final attacks. Sasuke thrust his left palm towards the ground, and began to channel lightning chakra, producing condensed bluish-white sparks. But then, Sasuke began to channel the curse mark's chakra into the attack, causing the sparks to change to a menacing black color, and the chirping sound that usually accompanied the jutsu was replaced with a sound similar to flapping wings. Meanwhile, Naruto was trying his best to form a Rasengan, but was having some difficulty. His left arm had become numb from the extended use of the Kyubi's chakra and he needed two hands to perform the jutsu correctly. Despite this, Naruto concentrated on forming a Rasengan in his right hand. Surprisingly, he felt the chakra starting to condense, not knowing that the demon fox's influence was responsible for this as well as the chakra orb's size and color. The chakra condensed even further into a spiraling purple sphere that was surrounded by a layer of red demonic chakra. Without wasting anymore time, the two combatants launched themselves towards one another, determined to finish the fight in one final strike, the distance was closed in seconds.

"CHIDORI!"

"RASENGAN!"

The two jutsus collided with a massive clash, both of them fighting to overcome the other. The two different types of chakra caused a massive reaction, which expanded until the two shinobi were engulfed by it, and made the down pouring water from the waterfall split. Not a second later, the sphere emitted a blinding light unlike any that has been witnessed before.

1

With Kakashi

Kakashi was at loss with words at the sight that he saw afar. He had hoped that he could get to his students in time, before either of them killed one another. But, it was obvious that he was too late. As he continued towards his students, he thought back to when his genin team had just started out. He thought about everything that they had went through, trying to figure out where things went wrong. Sure, he could've done a few things differently, and he could have tried to spend equal amount of time with each of his students, but things just got too complicated. After everything that happened from the team's first high ranked mission to the chunin exams, Sasuke's situation needed the most attention. After all, how else would he have been able to survive against Gaara?

'I just hope that I can get there in time to at least keep the damage to a minimal.' thought Kakashi, as he and Pakkun doubled their pace.

1

Within the sphere, both Naruto and Sasuke fought with all their might to come out top. The two of them were reaching their limits, the strength in their attacks being drastically reduced to their own natural chakra, and they both knew that they needed to end the battle quickly. At the same time, the boys forced their attacks towards different directions; Naruto's Rasengan went upwards, while Sasuke's Chidori traveled downwards. The lightning style jutsu plunged through Naruto's chest, stabbing through the center and out the other side. Naruto felt the traitor's jutsu rip into his body, as well as the blood rushing towards his mouth, but somehow managed to keep the Rasengan albeit being drastically weakened. Desperation finally taking full effect for the blonde, Naruto thrust his hand towards the head, connecting with the area around Sasuke's left eye. Despite the excruciating pain they were both in, the two genin struggled with all their might until the searing light was too much, causing them to break their concentration. Then, everything went black.

1

After what seemed like an eternity, Naruto finally regained consciousness. Getting to his feet, he immediately saw the crumpled form of Sasuke Uchiha not too far away from where he was. The young turncoat was desperately trying to get to his feet, and seemed to be clutching the area where his left eye was. After several attempts, Sasuke managed to somehow stand up, but was having trouble just staying upright. As he slowly staggered to where Naruto was standing, he noticed that blood was seeping through Sasuke's fingers. Suddenly, Sasuke stopped to catch his breath, and slowly removed his hand to reveal the most horrendous wound Naruto ever saw up close. Even though Sasuke's left eye appeared to be unharmed, the area around it was bloody, mutilated, and viciously torn up. The wounds appeared as a wide, red circle, with Sasuke's eye in the center.

"Are you finally ready to come back home Sasuke? It looks like you can barely stand up, let alone fight. I don't want to hurt you any further, but I will if I must!" shouted Naruto, who found it odd that he wasn't out of breath or sore all over. He found it even more odd that Sasuke was acting like he wasn't there, like he was invisible or something.

"Hey, Sasuke, are you listening to me?" shouted Naruto, hoping his louder tone would get break Sasuke out of his trance. But to his dismay, Sasuke said nothing, but started to limp towards Naruto again, like he was determined to close the distance between them. Even though the Uchiha was sounding like every step was killing him, he carried on regardless. This only made Naruto's last nerve finally snap.

"HEY, YOU FUCKING BASTARD! ANSWER ME WH-" But what happened next effectively stopped the blonde's rant. Instead of shoving him away, or starting the fight again like Naruto had expected him to, Sasuke just walked right through him like he was some sort of illusion! When Naruto tried to turn around, he suddenly collapsed to his hands and knees, feeling completely drained of energy for some unexplained reason. Despite this sudden new development, Naruto willed himself to move his body so that he could see where Sasuke was heading. It was like trying to crawl around with five hundred pounds attached to his body, but he nonetheless successfully managed to move his body so that he could see what Sasuke was walking towards. But what met his sight was something that he never wanted, let alone comprehend, to see with his own eyes. There, right in front of him, stood Sasuke staring down his own body, with a gaping, bloody hole right were his heart would be. Already, blood was steadily flowing out of the wound.

Sasuke just stared at the corpse that used to be his opponent, as if he couldn't really accept that he had killed Naruto. Suddenly, Sasuke felt blood rush up to his throat, and was forced to hack it up. As the blood spattered onto the body's face, Sasuke collapsed to his knees out of fatigue, his face inches away from touching the corpse's face. As he stared at the now lifeless face, his headband slipped off of his head, and clattered to the ground (right next to the head). Sasuke's blank stare then twisted into a smirk.

"Heh, just like I predicted, not a scratch on my headband." said Sasuke, in an arrogant tone, before he winced and clutched at his left eye. "But, I didn't expect you to actually go for a crippling shot, I'll give you that. Ugh, I think you might have blinded me; I may have lost the ability to use the Sharingan in this eye. But, it's thanks to you that I am one step closer to obtaining vengeance on Itachi." As Sasuke turned to face beyond the Valley of the End, Naruto saw Sasuke's right eye contort and change until it hardly even looked like a Sharingan. It had a black background , and a six-pointed red star on top of it. As he got up on his feet and began to walk towards the border separating Hi no Kuni and Oto no Kuni, going through Naruto again, Sasuke spared one last glance towards Naruto's body.

"For all its worth, I really wish that someone else that tried to stop me." said Sasuke quietly, before turning back and continuing on towards Otogakure. Naruto, getting somewhat control of his shock, tried once again to follow after the escaping Sasuke, only to trip and fall to the ground once again. Only this time, he heard a familiar rattling sound. Looking down, Naruto was shocked to see that he had a long chain coming from where his heart should be. After giving the chain a few tugs, he saw that the chain was somehow attached to the ground.

"Wha? What the hell is going on here? Why did Sasuke go through me like that? Why are there two of me? And why am I chained to the ground? I don't understand what's going on!" shouted Naruto, whilst trying to break the chain off of him. All rational thought had escaped him; it was of he were in some nightmare that he couldn't escape from. Just seeing his own body with the gaping hole in his chest was too much for him to handle.

"I wouldn't be yankin' on that if I were you, kiddo." said a laid-back voice from behind the blonde.

The currently freaked out blonde immediately stopped pulling on his chain, and whipped around behind him to see who had just spoken. What he saw was not something that he would've expected. Standing behind him was a girl that was about three years older than him. She had bright brown eyes with a few freckles on her cheeks, and had her sandy blonde hair in two pigtails. For some odd reason, Naruto noticed that a fang-like tooth was sticking out from her left upper lip. She was dressed in a black kosode and hakama, along with a white hakama-himo, tabi socks, and waraji shoes. Another thing he noticed was that there was some sort of badge that was tied around her left upper arm. Currently she was staring directly at where Naruto was.

"Trust me, kiddo, you do not want to damage that chain you're pulling on. Once it breaks and corrodes…well, let's just say there are fates far worse than dying." she added for good measure.

The shock of seeing the girl staring at him caused Naruto to stop pulling on his chain and stare back at the strange girl that didn't seem to be freaked out at seeing him chained near a dead body identical to himself. It seemed as if they were like that for hours, until the girl decided to break the silence.

"Oi, stop staring at me like that! It's already obvious that I can see you." interjected the girl, an agitated look replacing her once calm expression.

"Wh-what? Are you serious? Can you really see me?" Naruto nearly shouted. "You're not pulling my leg?

"Oh please, what kind of girl do you take me for? I never joke about my job or the dead." she said in a dead serious tone.

"What? What do you mean I'm dead?" How can you see me if I'm dead? Who, or what are you, huh? Answer me!"

"Hey, don't take that tone me, bub! It's not my fault that bastard ran you through with that flashy lightning attack. If you weren't dead, then why is there another you laying on the ground, stained with your blood?" she shouted, immediately shutting up the panicked blonde. "And as for how I know all of this, I'm a shinigami, it's my job."

This caused the blonde to tilt his head slightly to the side, like a fox would when it saw something confusing. "I'm sorry, but when you say 'shinigami' do you mean…"

The girl just rolled her eyes, having heard the unasked question over a thousand times. "That's right, I'm what your people call a soul reaper." she answered brusquely, hoping that this soul would stop asking questions. She didn't want to be here longer than what was necessary. She walked brusquely towards the recently deceased, intending on performing the konso as quickly as possible, and then going back to her quarters to rest. So she was even more annoyed when the soul suddenly leapt away from her. Even though the soul collapsed in a heap afterwards, huffing like it had just completed five consecutive marathons, that little feat did surprise the soul reaper. Pluses (or benign souls) were able to move somewhat freely, but they became extremely exhausted if they went through extended periods of strenuous movement. Sure, they could move more easily when their "Chain of Fate" was severed, but it would only be a matter of time before they turned into Hollows.

"Hey, what's your problem? I'm trying to help you out here!" shouted the girl, as she tried to get closer to the blonde soul, but was once again forced to avoid another strike that she almost didn't see coming.

"I…don't need...your help…" replied Naruto, in between deep breaths. He was completely exhausted, but he wasn't about to allow himself to submit to the very being that sealed him to his hard life.

"And what, pray tell, makes you think that?"

"I've…already…had one of your kind…fuck my life up by…sealing the Kyubi into me as a baby…and I…refuse…to be…toyed with…by you…and your kind…again!" snarled Naruto, in between deep pants, his eyes showing that he was still willing to fight.

The girl just stared at Naruto, before she glanced towards her right all the while muttering something. Even though he couldn't make out what she was saying to herself, he could make out something that she referred to as a "fuckin' Jibakurai".

"Oi! Don't act like I'm not even here! Since you obviously know about what's happening to me, then I demand that you tell me what the hell is going on!

This proved to be the wrong thing to say, as the pig tailed girl was instant in front of him, holding him by the collar of his jacket nearly inches from her face.

"How dare you take that tone of voice with me! Do you know how easily I can crush you like an insect? Just who the hell do you think you're talking to, brat?" she snarled.

"A stuck-up, rude, feral-looking bitch of a shinigami, that's who!" Naruto shot back, despite his close proximity with the death god. Just then, he heard a loud metallic snap, followed by something similar to someone trying to chew metal. Looking down, Naruto saw that the chain was no longer attached to the ground, and that the individual links furthest from his heart had sprouted mouths and were eating and chewing into themselves.

"AH! What the hell is going on now?" screeched Naruto as he yanked himself free from the shinigami's grasp, and began to swing the chain around in a futile attempt to whip the chewing links off of it. If anything, it caused the mouthed links to start chewing faster.

"Hey, you knucklehead! Stop doing that, and just calm down! The more you freak out, the faster you speed up the encroachment process! And once the process completes itself, you'll turn into something worse than a monster!" shouted the female reaper, after nearly getting whacked in the head by the flailing chain. Immediately, Naruto dropped the chain, and raised his arms into the air. The cannibalistic chain links slowed their pace, but continued to chew at a much slower pace.

"Alright, now, let's try this again at more calmer manner." said the pig-tailed girl. "I'm sorry to say this, but you really are dead, kid. The fact that you have an encroaching Chain of Fate attached to your chest proves it. And if you need more proof, then just take a look at your bleeding body behind you."

Naruto quickly glanced back at his own corpse, before turning his attention back to the female shinigami. "But, I've nearly died plenty of times before, like when that traitor Kabuto tried to make mincemeat out of my heart. How do you know that I've actually died? For all I know, the damned fox is holding out on me just to teach me a lesson."

"It's because of your chain. It has already been severed, meaning you can't return to your body; not that it would've done you any good. Besides, the wound that you've sustained was too much for even a demon like the Kyubi no Kitsune to heal." was her reply.

"Yeah, but…wait, what do you know about the Kyubi?"

At this the girl grimaced. "Well, having one of us seal something as powerful and chaotic as the Kyubi no Kitsune into a human infant is something that no one in Seireitei isn't known. Even more so that it was done by a human making contact with a shinigami."

"Then, do you know exactly who it was that sealed that damn demon into me, or why I can't feel it like I normally do?" asked Naruto hopefully.

The girl just shook her head. "Can't say that do, kid. But as for your second question, I would assume that it had something to do with the seal that imprisoned the beast within you."

'Of course! The Eight Trigrams Seal!' thought Naruto. Memories of when he had first meet the fox face to face instantly flooded his mind. It was when Jiraiya had thrown him over a deep gorge in order for him to access his bijou's power more easily. The fox said so himself that if his host died, then he would die as well.

"Look, kid, we really don't have time to play twenty questions. I have to get you to Soul Society, now." said the still mysterious girl.

"But, you can't!" exclaimed Naruto, desperately. "I finally have something worth living for! I still have to become Hokage, and fulfill all of the promises that I made!"

"Tch, I personally don't see why you have to but in so much effort in keeping any promise you made to those two-faced ingrates." muttered the girl with a scowl.

"Hey, don't call my friends that!" shouted Naruto, indignation rising rapidly. "What do you know about my life, anyways?"

"More than you know, Naruto Uzumaki." replied the girl calmly. Seeing the shocked expression on her charge's face, she elaborated. "I did a background check on you while I was looking for your location. And I gotta say, I'm surprised that you actually want to go back to the life you had. If I were in your place, I would have left your village ages ago. Unless, you're some kinda masochist that enjoys having everyone put you down and treat you like dirt."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad! Sure, most of the people in the village hated me and saw me as the fox demon reincarnated, but there were a few people that acknowledged me."

"Oh yeah? Name them."

"Well, there's the Old Man and my old academy sensei, Iruka Umino for starters." began Naruto.

"Your "Old Man" was the leader of the village; he had an entire village to look after. If he really cared about you, then why didn't he do something more drastic to make sure that you had a better life growing up? The fact that he just gave you your own crappy apartment when you got kicked out of the orphanage just shows how he only does the barest minimum when it comes to you. And as for Mr. Sea Dolphin, he practically treated you with cold indifference like everyone else up until he was nearly killed by his traitorous comrade." was her rebuttal.

"Don't you dare say that! That's not true! They cared for me when I was younger, when everyone else treated me like shit!" growled Naruto, causing the encroachment to speed up quickly.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry, I take it back. They did care about you." said the girl in a placating manner, slowing down the encroachment process once again. "Are there any others?"

"Yes, there's Teuichi and Ayame, from Ichiraku's Ramen Bar. They were always nice to me."

"Okay, that's four people."

"There's Pervy Sage and Grandma Tsunade, they were nice to me…most of the time. There's the Rookie Nine from my class, as well as Bushy Brow's team,"

"Okay, now hold up for a minute." interrupted the girl. "How can you say that? Because, both you and I know that's not entirely true."

Naruto gave her a look, before continuing on. "Okay, so I didn't really get along with Neji, Tenten, Ino, or that Shino guy, but I'm on reasonable terms with everybody else, especially with my t-"

"Stop right there." said the shinigami abruptly. "I've seen several cases of delusion, but yours, kid, is by far the worst I've ever seen."

"And what's that supposed to mean? Hinata has always been nice and friendly to me. Sure, she always acted weird whenever she was around me, but she never once insulted me. And even though Bushy Brows is a bit hard to understand, he's still a nice guy."

"Right, so that leaves you with a testosterone-drunk jerk who constantly insulted and put you down so that he could think that he was the "alpha male", a violent food-addicted fatso that saw as an annoying pest, and lazy know-it-all that always spoke to you as if you were a mindless idiot."

"Okay, now you're just over-exaggerating things! Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji may have acted like that on a few occasions, but they always hung out with me during my time in the academy. They were my friends!"

"Really? How many times did they invite you to hang out with them after the academy was let out? Did they ever invite you over to their houses? Did they ever take the time to get to know you personally?"

Naruto tried to come up with some sort of rebuttal, but nothing came to him. As he thought back to when he was still attending the academy, he reluctantly realized that the girl was right. The only time that they actually hung out was whenever they were in class. After that, they hardly hung out with each other. Whenever he saw them with their parents, they would ignore him, like he wasn't even there. And when tried to go up to them just to say "hello", their parents would always shoot hateful glares at him or tell him to get lost.

"W-well, they still hung out with me. And just because they don't meet up to your standards, doesn't mean that they aren't good enough to be anyone else's friends, let alone mine." argued Naruto.

"Fine, fine. Who am I to say who your friends should be? Besides, with all things considered, they were way better than your so-called teammates and sensei were."

"Hey! Don't you start insulting my-"

"Don't finish that sentence! What you had was anything but a team! In fact, if you were to look up "team" in the antonym section of a thesaurus, your team would be listed!"

"What the hell are you talking about now? My team was one of the best Konohagakure had to offer!" exclaimed Naruto.

The shinigami just scoffed in disbelief. "Tch, if that was your village's best, then I fear for your village's future."

"What was that? I'll have you know that Kakashi Sensei is one of the best ninjas around."

"So? Just because he's a good shinobi doesn't automatically mean that he's a good teacher. Besides, in all of your time with your team, he's done a piss poor job of teaching you."

"That's not true! He was a great teacher!" said Naruto, defensively.

"Oh really, name one time that he personally taught or trained you."

"Well, he taught me the tree walking exercise, and team tactics…" started Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah, that's all good and all, but did he ever take any time to personally teach you, or even offer you any personal pointers? Or what about the Chunin Exams? Did he even try to help you prepare for your match? And when you had important information about Uchiha's opponent during the exam, did he even bother to take you seriously?"

That question had hit Naruto hard; that particular moment was a bitter pill to swallow. The fact that Kakashi had just traded him off to an instructor that had a grudge against him, with only chakra control exercises to work on, still made him resentful of his instructor. How was chakra control exercises going to help him against Neji Hyuga, who was top rookie out of his graduating class? Even though it all worked out for him in the end, it still hurt that Kakashi preferred to train Sasuke over him. Add the fact that he never once took him seriously about the whole Gaara incident just added salt to the wound.

"And don't even get me started on that prick, Sasuke." said the shinigami, as if she were reading the ex-shinobi's mind. "What your village, and nearly all of the women in your old village saw in him, I'll never know. If you ask me, you should have focused on killing that traitor, instead of trying to drag his ass back to your village."

"Hey, Sasuke was one of the few people that I could relate to! He was like the brother I never had!"

This elicited an incredulous laugh from the reaper. "Your brother? Your so-called brother spent most of his time belittling you to fuel his own arrogance. He had the entire village eating out of the palm of his hands, and he never once showed any gratitude towards them. Not to mention that he stabbed the entire village in the back, just so that he could learn a few high-power techniques from a traitor. And, here's the icing on the cake, he attempted to kill you multiple times, until he finally succeeded. Kami, I know a person's first love is special and makes someone act stupid, but this is-"

"I am not gay!" interrupted Naruto.

"Really? So, then how do you explain your first kiss during-"

"That was NOT intentional! That was an accident, and nothing more!" exclaimed Naruto, angrily. "I was only starring him down, when some bastard knocked me off balance, and I fell on him! I would have clobbered that jerk who caused that nightmare to happen if I had the chance."

"Okay, okay, I didn't mean it like that. But if Sasuke isn't your lover, then why are you giving him so much leeway, especially when he was the one that took your life? Especially, since he has never respected you as a comrade since the very first day you started working with your team."

Again, Naruto was at loss for words. Sasuke was never pleasant to be around. No matter how hard he tried and trained, Sasuke always seemed to out do him. And every time he did, the bloody Uchiha seemed to take delight in rubbing it in his face. He always envied how everyone automatically seemed to respect and accept Sasuke, and secretly wished that he could just switch lives with him. That was why he tried desperately to improve himself so that he would no longer be in Sasuke's shadow. Yet, whenever he did manage to surpass Sasuke in some area, the Uchiha became hell-bent to beat him down again or try to one-up him.

"And last but not least, there's that shallow, self-centered, pinky-haired, howler monkey of a bitch." said the shinigami.

"NO! Don't you dare say that about Sakura!"

"Why shouldn't I? She never said anything pleasant about you, so why should I say anything nice about her? But more importantly, why did you put up with the abuse for so long?"

"What are you…she never treated me badly!" denied Naruto defensively.

"Is that so? Then what you're saying is that all of those times that she hit you for being nice to her, criticizing her oh-so-precious Sasuke-kun, or for any other reason she found justifiable is a way expressing her affections to you? Wow! I'm so sorry, I had no idea!" replied the girl, sarcasm practically oozing from her voice.

"Sh-shut up! She it wasn't like that at all!" shouted Naruto, a waver easily detected in his voice.

"Oh for the love of…what the hell's the matter with you? Why are you so defensive with this girl when she never once gave you the time of day?" snarked the shinigami, her patience with blonde nearing its limit. "Criminy, just how ignorant are you?

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm not ignorant!" shouted Naruto.

"If you thought that you had a chance with that shallow, pink-haired, flat-chested bitch, then you clearly are ignorant! The fact that you're still crushing on that selfish brat just shows how much you're lost in your own world! No matter how nice you were to her, and no matter how many times you've asked her out, she still preferred to be shot down by that Uchiha traitor. That right there should have been enough proof for you to realize that the girl was a lost cause!"

"You take that back! You don't know Sakura-chan like I do!"

"I know that she hardly ever contributes to the team when you're out on the mission, and still criticizes you every little thing that you do. I know that she always takes Sasuke's side whenever you have an argument with that prick. And I also know that she becomes incredibly desperate whenever something or someone threatens said prick, in which case she does something extremely stupid that would endanger herself and everyone else around her! Why are you so dead set on making this girl like you?"

"Because, she went through the same problems that I did when she was still a kid! She didn't have many friends, she was being picked on bullies, and she always felt lonely!"

"So, I take it you tried to help her out?"

Naruto had the decency to blush at that comment, while simultaneously scratching the back of his head. "Well…I did sort get back at those bullies, and I tried to talk to her once, but…"

"Let me guess, she was already hanging around with that other brainless Uchiha-loving cow…uh, what's her name…it had something to do with sows…or was it pigs?…Ino! Yeah, that's it!

Naruto said nothing, his head seemingly focused on the ground. It was all too true. After she became friends with Ino Yamanaka, Sakura's attitude completely changed. She immediately started acting like all of the other girls in the academy.

Since she didn't get a response out of the soul, she interpreted it as an affirmative answer. That only made turn her nose up into the air in disgust. "Heh, that just proves that she was never worth all the time you spent pining over her!"

"Will. You. SHUT UP? You have no right to criticize Sakura-chan like that! She is a lot nicer-"

"SINCE WHEN?" interrupted the reaper, her tolerance for the whiskered blonde finally giving way to her frustration. "Since when has your beloved Sakura-chan ever treated you kindly? She never once gave you a chance to actually date you! She never complemented you whenever you accomplished something she couldn't, she never passed up a chance to either hit or insult you, and she was never nice to you! Hell, she never even thanked you for saving her own life; which she automatically assumed was saved by Sasuke, the ninja that couldn't do jack shit against that bloodthirsty Suna kid! And if that's not enough for you, she then had the gall to beg, with tears flowing from her eyes, for you to bring her Sasuke back! She specifically used you to get her Prince Charming back to her, not giving a shit if you or any of your teammates came back alive!"

All throughout the reaper's tongue-lashing, Naruto tried frantically to come up with a refute to her argument; anything to stop her from going on. But try as he might, he just couldn't do it. The years of denial and self delusion were finally catching up to him, overwhelming him with a torrent of emotions he had been holding back: confusion, despair, hopelessness, frustration, but most of all, anger. Thirteen years of repressed rage began to flow all over his body, like lava flowing from an erupting volcano. And it wasn't the anger he would usually show around in public, but the deep-seated kind that he felt ever since he was kid. He was angry at the Yondaime Hokage for sealing the Kyubi inside of him. He hated that he was always targeted because of the Kyubi. He was angry that the villagers, shinobi and civilian, never took time to actually get to know him, instead seeing him as the Kyubi reincarnated. He hated that he had work his fingers to the bone just to get the things that his peers often took for granted. He hated that his own teammates used him as fodder for their jokes, and always looked down at him as the lowest standard. And, most importantly, he was angry with himself for letting his life continue to degrade to such a sad state.

The shinigami, oblivious to the internal strife going on in Naruto's mind, continued on with her tirade. "It's time to face facts, bucko. Your sensei was a two-faced, lazy, favorite-playing, hypocrite. Your brother was a heartless, arrogant, power-hungry traitor. And you so-called crush was a good-for-nothing, materialistic, talent-less whore who gave kunoichi and women everywhere a bad name!"

"Fuck you…" replied Naruto, in a cold, detached voice.

Now it was the shinigami's turn to appear to be lost for words. Sure, she had heard that phrase hundreds of times before, but she never heard it in that way. The way it sounded made her think of someone that was about to kill her. It took her a moment to realize that it was a freaking Plus that said that her. A freaking Plus! Already, she felt her resolve not to physically harm the boy in front of her deteriorate at a rapid pace.

"What did you just say to me?" she said in a tone that was promising unimaginable amounts of pain.

"I said…fuck you. Fuck you…you FUCKING SHINIGAMI BITCH!" snarled Naruto, his head shooting up to stare the reaper right in the eyes. The very sight of those eyes elicited a gasp from the reaper, as they were not like those she'd ever seen in a Plus nor a Hollow. The sclera were a deep blood red, while the corneas remained blue. But it was the pupils that started make her uneasy. Instead of the normal circular pattern that she saw in both Pluses and Hollows alike, there were feral slits that sent chills down her spine. But that was nothing compared to the sudden flood of reiatsu flowing off of Naruto in a violent mixture of black and red, which slowly began to condense and take the form of some large animal.

"YOU FUCKING SHINIGAMI ARE THE REASON WHY MY LIFE WAS SO FUCKED UP! YOUR KIND WERE THE ONES THAT SEALED THE KYUBI INTO ME, CURSING ME TO A LIFE OF BEING THE ENTIRE VILLAGE'S SCAPEGOAT! YOUR KIND CAUSED ME TO EXPERIENCE PERPETUAL PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION FOR SOMETHING I HAD NO CONTROL OVER! I HAD TO WORK NONSTOP TO TRY AND SALAVGE THE MANGLED LIFE THAT I WAS GIVEN; CONSTANTLY FIGHTING TOOTH AND NAIL JUST TO BE ACCEPTED AMONGST MY PEERS LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! AND NOW, WHEN I'VE FINALLY MADE SOME LEEWAY INTO IMPROVING MY LIFE, YOU CRITICIZE THE FUCK OUT OF IT, AND TELL ME THAT I HAVE TO LEAVE IT BEHIND? WELL, FUCK YOU! FUCK THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU SHINIGAMI BASTARDS! I KNOW THAT MY LIFE WAS HARSH! I KNOW THAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER, BUT IT WAS THE ONLY LIFE THAT I HAD, DAMN IT!" hollered Naruto, as the reiatsu condensed on itself even further, until the shinigami saw that it resembled a large fox, with huge sharp teeth, and nine long tails that were thrashing around as if they had a mind of their own. The sight was so terrifying that the young shinigami almost didn't notice the soul's chain began to encroach like a school piranhas going on a feeding frenzy on an obese cow. Any second now, the chain would be completely corroded and the boy would turn into a Hollow. And judging by the amount of reiatsu this soul was generating, she really didn't want to fight it when it became a Hollow. That, and she would get in a lot of trouble with her superiors for provoking a Plus into corrupting itself.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for being so blunt; I've had really bad day, and I wasn't in the mood to go on this mission. I didn't mean to I upset you, but I was just trying to help you pass on!" she said, desperate to calm the young boy down.

"PASS ON? PASS ON? WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WANT TO PASS ON? I WANT MY OLD LIFE BACK!"

"But I can't do that! It's already too late f-"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT! YOUR KIND CAN SEAL GIANT, MALEVOLENT DEMONS THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD'S LANDSCAPES INTO HUMAN BEINGS, AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT YOU CAN'T DO SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS EXTENDING A HUMAN'S LIFE?"

"I can't do that! Your Chain of Fate has already been severed; the soul can't be returned to the body! You have to let me perform the konso on you, so you can go to the Soul Society!"

"SOUL SOCIETY? IS THAT WHAT YOU LOT CALL OBLIVION? GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULD EVEN THINK ABOUT ALLOWING YOU TO TAKE ME TO THAT FUCKING PLACE?" At this point, only about a third of the chain remained.

"Because if you remain here, you will become a Hollow; a monster that feeds on the souls of the living! Once that chain is gone, you will be cursed to an existence of despair, pain, and endless hunger! And considering all that you went through when you were alive, I doubt that you would want to suffer for the rest of eternity!" exclaimed the shinigami.

That tidbit of information was enough for Naruto to subdue his rage, as he collapsed to the ground, the exhaustion finally catching up to him. The overbearing reiatsu started receding until there was nothing left, leaving the Plus hunched over on his hands and knees, his face looking at the ground beneath him, and the Chain of Fate slowly encroaching towards the center of the boy's chest. Seeing that she had little time to accomplish her mission, the shinigami approached the deceased youth once she determined that he would not attack her. But when she got the boy, she noticed his body was trembling, and there were small damp spots on the ground right underneath where his eyes would be. Then she heard the barely contained sobs.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Just hurry up and get it over with! If I'm going to be sent to this Soul Society, purgatory, or Hell, just do it and spare me the suspense." choked Naruto.

Feeling a new wave a pity for the young deceased, the reaper gently cupped Naruto's chin her hand and slowly brought his face, which had to tears dripping down his cheeks, up to hers. It was then, Naruto saw the female shinigami's face. It wasn't emotionless or vindictive like he read in the old history books, it was gentle and sympathetic, which made it even more confusing considering how the girl had acted earlier on.

"I never said that you were going to Hell." she said, softly. "The Soul Society isn't as bad as you think it is. It's actually very similar your village. You'll be able to live in peace, with no one judging you for something that you didn't do. It'll be like getting a second chance to live a good life."

"But…but, I'm scared…" said Naruto in barely a whisper. "I'm scared to see what's on the other side. I'm scared that things will be just the same as when I was alive."

The shinigami gave a gentle smile. "It's alright to be afraid. Everyone's afraid when it's their time to go. I know that it's hard to let go, but you'll only be hurting yourself and everyone else if you stayed here."

Naruto became silent once again, this time remembering all of the people that he did care about, and knew truly cared about him as well. He didn't want to leave them all behind, but he didn't want to stay and potentially hurt them. But there was still one nagging thought that kept on bothering him.

"Um, will it hurt at all?" asked Naruto, quietly.

This got a small chuckle from her. "Not at all. It's completely painless, so long as you haven't committed any crimes or sins against nature. And before you ask, that excludes you keeping the Kyubi at bay." With that, she withdrew her katana from the scabbard, causing the blonde boy to flinch. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." she said reassuringly, before she switched her blade into a reverse grip.

"Wait! Before you send me away, can you at least tell me your name?" asked Naruto.

The reaper was momentarily surprised by the question; very few souls asked for her name. Perhaps, this particular soul wasn't completely annoying. She quickly regained her composure, and allowed a smirk to form on her face. "Hiyori. My name is Hiyori Sarugaki, lieutenant of the 12th Division." she said in a calm tone. "You know, it's customary for a guy to give a girl his name once she gives you hers."

Naruto just had to smile. "It's Naruto Uzumaki, Monkey Brat." he said, with a smirk of his own. It appeared that his old personality began to resurface.

"You're so lucky that I need to get you to the Soul Society." she said, a tick visible on her forehead. She then gentle jabbed Naruto in the forehead with the pommel of her sword, leaving behind an "approved" kanji. Immediately, Naruto felt an overwhelming, calming sensation wash over him as he entire body began to glow with bright blue/white light. Subsequently, Naruto slowly began to sink into the ground, leaving behind a black butterfly that fluttered off to the sky.

Seeing that her task was gone, Hiyori withdrew a cell phone from her pocket, and hit a button in order to contact her superiors. "Yo, it's Sarugaki. Yeah, the Plus has been taken care of." she said. "No, I had gotten to him before any Hollows could get to him. And it was a good thing too, this particular one was able to use reiatsu without even knowing it. Hell, it was even able take a visible form….What it did look like?…I don't know, it kinda looked like some kind of wolf with multiple tails…no, wait, it was a fox. Yeah, yeah, it was a fox. But it had nine tails instead of one….Look, can you just open the gate so I can get home? If you're so interested in this Plus, you can read my report!"

Mere moments after she cut the connection, a large sliding door materialized out of thin air. The door then opened, revealing a blinding white light, yet this did not impede Hiyori from entering through it, before it finally phased out of existence. All that was left was the bleeding body of what used to be one Naruto Uzumaki. Suddenly, it started to rain with increasing intensity, as if Mother Nature was crying for the two young shinobi that had lost their innocence. The scene remained as so for nearly five minutes, before Kakashi and his ninken Pakkun arrived to the scene. Kakashi just stood there, shocked stiff at what he was seeing. He tried to convince himself that the rain was making him see things, but knew that was just wishful thinking on his part. As he slowly approached the body, Pakkun trotted over to the headband that was laying on the ground.

"It's Sasuke's." the dog said after giving it a few sniffs. "His scent is being washed away by the rain. I can't track him anymore."

Kakashi remained silent the entire time, just staring at what used to be his hyperactive student, the "dead-last" of the Academy, the legacy of the Yondaime Hokage. The very sight of Naruto made Kakashi think back to when he first began as the jonin sensei for Team 7. Before he passed the team, he had told his students that he believed that those who broke the rules were trash, but those who abandoned their comrades were lower than trash. But upon retrospect, he realized that he didn't really follow his own teachings. He was lazy when it came to training his students, thinking that he was actually giving them their own space to hone their own skills. And whenever he did take an interest in training with them, he only taught his students teamwork exercises, but never really bothered to stop them whenever they fell apart. To make matters worse, he would constantly spend extra time to help Sasuke after their usual team meetings, but didn't extend the same courtesy to Naruto or Sakura. Heck, he even opted to train Sasuke for the chunin exams over Naruto, and just passed him off to another jonin so that he wouldn't have to worry about it. It spoke volumes as to how he had failed as an instructor, and Naruto paid the ultimate price for his lack of actions.

"Kakashi, what are going to do?" asked Pakkun, as he watched his summoner carefully pick up the body of Naruto into his arms, before he went to retrieve the discarded headband.

"Let's head back home, Pakkun, and report this to the Hokage." he replied solemnly.

"But, what about Sasuke? Are you sure th-"

"I'm sure, Pakkun!" interrupted Kakashi, a bit more sternly than he intended. "Sasuke's already crossed the border, and the rain is washing away his scent. It'll make tracking and finding him nearly impossible."

"Right." was all that the small ninken had to say, before he and Kakashi leapt off towards Konoha. He knew what was going through Kakashi's mind, but decided to just follow his master back home.

Not a minute later, something slowly emerged from the ground. At first glance it looked like a plant that was similar to a Venus fly trap. Except, the "plant" was wearing a black cloak with red clouds, had a head with green hair, as well as arms and legs. But the most noticeable feature of the humanoid plant man was the face. Its head was of two colors meeting at the center of the face; the right side was a dark black, while the left side was white. The odd thing was that only the white side seemed human like, as half of a mouth and the bright yellow eye was visible. The black side, on the other hand looked as if it were devoid of any human characteristics, with the exception of a beady yellow eye that showed no cornea or sclera.

"That fucking prick! Looks like you can always trust the runt of the Uchiha clan to screw things up." said a voice that seemed to have originated from the black half.

"Indeed." said different, more calmer, softer voice that seemed to have come from the left side. "The leader will wan to hear of this immediately."

To Be Continued…

1

Well, there's the first chapter. Now, as a warning to you readers, this is the first time that I've written anything for BLEACH. So, if I happened to get describe a character incorrectly, or get one of the technical terms wrong, feel free to let me know in a review or PM. Also, I now have a deviantART account, which I will post the address to my profile, but I'm more of an art collector than an actual artist. Anyways, I'm still looking for artists that specialize in anime and TRANSFORMERS style. If anyone is interested, just give me a PM. Next chapter, we see how Naruto's death affects everyone. T.T.F.N.!