Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I am writing purely to give an alternate interpretation of the story and make no money off it.

Most of this chapter is in past tense but it is just to set things up. The rest will be in present.

Chapter 1: The Death of Naruto Uzumaki

If you had asked Sasuke Uchiha what he thought of Naruto Uzumaki this morning his answer would have been simple; "a dobe". This may or may not have been accompanied by any variations of annoying, loud, stupid or orange. But if you dug a little deeper you'd know that he was one of the very few people Sasuke truly acknowledged as a friend and rival. And that's why when Naruto first started to scream Sasuke was already moving…

It had all been so simple just a few hours ago. Naruto had won his fight against Neji and now, in order to face his teammate in the finals, Sasuke had to defeat his opponent; an intimidating boy named Gaara. His sensei Kakashi Hatake had already briefed him on the details. Gaara manipulated the sand in the gourd strapped to his back for both attack and defense. In order to defeat the boy Sasuke would have to attack faster than the sand could react while at the same time avoiding being crushed by that very same sand. Truth be told Gaara sounded like a very one dimensional fighter. But it was his eyes that told the true story. They were more than just the eyes of a killer, every shinobi had seen those eyes before. They were the kind of eyes that promised the boy would take joy in tearing you limb from limb.

As they stood across from each other Sasuke observed his opponent one last time. His sharingan eyes searching for anything he could take advantage of. Most things were dismissed immediately, like his ruby hair or the love tattoo on his forehead. Others were committed to memory, like the rings around his eyes representing extreme sleep deprivation, the sash he wore that could be grabbed and used against him or the gourd on his back and how it would affect the boy's movement.

When the battle finally began Sasuke seemed to have the upper hand. Gaara's sand couldn't keep up with Sasuke and he was able to toss the boy around the ring like a ragdoll. Even when Gaara had retreated to his sand shell Sasuke had been in control. His chidori pierced the shield in a single strike and left Gaara with a deep wound in his shoulder.

That was when everything changed.

The arena was in chaos as foreign shinobi began attacking. Gaara's siblings had already swooped down and fled with their brother and Sasuke was ordered to pursue and eliminate the trio. And so Sasuke began his chase. The first sibling, Kankuro, was dealt with by a fellow leaf shinobi, Shino Aburame and the sister, Temari presented little challenge when she made her stand. She would be dead if he didn't need to conserve strength for Gaara.

However, when Sasuke's second battle against Gaara finally began something had changed. Gaara was still murderous but now he was just plain unhinged. It was like every blow Sasuke dealt only excited the boy. Worse still, Gaara's body was transforming as they fought. First one arm had been replaced by that of some sort of sand demon. Then came the other arm and finally a tail. And with each transformation Gaara grew faster and more powerful. Even with his sharingan Sasuke was running out of options and so, as he prepared his second chidori of the day, he knew it was his last chance. But Gaara only laughed at his attempt, apparently Sasuke had been very entertaining.

Exhausted and apparently out of options Sasuke was prepared to make his last stand. And that's when Naruto and Sakura showed up. Gaara quickly dealt with Sakura using his sand to tie her to a tree and challenging Naruto to defeat him if he wanted to save her. But the dobe fought with everything he had against the monster of a boy and he even seemed to be winning. All of this just to protect Sasuke and Sakura. But Sasuke knew it couldn't last and before long Gaara finally snapped. Transforming himself into a giant sand demon all to defeat the dobe. But still Naruto didn't give up, drawing on strength Sasuke couldn't believe he had, Naruto summoned a giant toad to combat the demon. Together, Naruto and the toad might even have won…. If the demon played fair that is.

The demons next attack was aimed not at Naruto and the toad but at Sakura. Even as his claw began descending towards the girl Sasuke knew he would be to slow to save her. Naruto on the other hand was not one to let the impossible stop him. As a result, when Naruto jumped in front of the attack it was him that was grabbed by the demon instead of Sakura.

There was only one solution. In order to save Naruto, Sasuke would have to kill the boy sticking out of the demons head before the demon himself could squeeze and kill Naruto. And so, even as Naruto began screaming Sasuke was sprinting with everything he had through the trees separating him from the demon. A loud crash resounded in his ears as Naruto's toad landed beside Sasuke. Without thinking he jumped to the toads back before it could make the final leap towards Naruto.

The toad didn't even seem to notice Sasuke as he sprinted up its back to the top of its head but as it made the final leap between them and Naruto it said one thing, "kill him in one shot kid".

"hn" was Sasuke's only response but as they soared threw the air towards the demon he spared his friend a glance. Orange chakra was pouring out of the blond much like it had in the forest of death. But, it appeared to make little difference and, despite the wind rushing through his ears, Sasuke could still hear Naruto screaming. It was at this moment that Sasuke felt his vision changing. Everything seemed to be slowing down to his eyes, and Sasuke knew exactly what he needed to do.

And so it was with precision that Sasuke jumped from the toads head towards the monster resting atop the demons forehead. He could feel the curse seal on his neck breaking free but at the moment he didn't care. He needed that power. He channelled it all into his arm creating a hyper concentrated chidori which appeared pure black to the human eye. And it was this chidori that he drove into the back of Gaara's unsuspecting skull. His sharingan memorising every detail as Sasuke crushed the monsters brain.

But the pit in Sasuke's stomach didn't disappear even as Gaara died and the sand began to fall. His sharingan tracked Naruto's body as it fell smashing into what seemed like every branch along the way. The moment Sasuke landed he began sprinting towards where he knew Naruto must lay. Not a thought was given to his limbs as they protested his continued abuse.

However Sasuke did not find Naruto. What he found was a deformed body that was once Naruto laying in a heap on the forest floor. His entire ribcage was caved in and his lower body looked like a lump of what might once have been described as flesh. As he kneeled before the corpse only one thought passed through Sasuke's mind "I failed".

A single whisper came from the body "S-s-sasuke?"

"I'm sorry Naruto, I was too slow." He responded unable to look Naruto in his eyes

"S-sakura…..is she a-alive?" Naruto questioned unwilling to die yet.

"Yeah, the sand holding her fell free when Gaara died." Sasuke replied still staring at the ground.

"Good…y-y-you have to make me one pr-promise though Sasuke. Promise me you'll keep Sakura safe… protect our comrades…." Naruto pleaded.

Finally raising his head and looking Naruto in the eyes Sasuke replied "I promise… no matter what I promise."

"You can do it….even if your eyes did get even w-w-weirder today" Naruto replied with a smile.

"Dobe, it's just a third tomoe" Sasuke replied despite being unable to call his trade mark smirk to his face.

And so with his last breath Naruto let out a single word "Bastard…"

Two weeks later the Hokage's funeral was being held. The shinobi of the leaf had come together to honour their leader for sacrificing himself to drive Orochimaru off. Each was dressed in the black garb of mourning and it seemed as though every shinobi had arrived, even the infamous Kakashi Hatake was there on time. But it was Kakashi himself who noticed someone was missing; his student Sasuke Uchiha.

Just as the ceremony was about to begin, Kakashi slipped away from the crowd headed for his students house; a house that the jonin found empty. However, Kakashi was able to identify Sasuke's scent leading towards town and so he began to follow it. The scent lead him along an interesting path. It walked past the Hokage monument before heading towards Naruto's apartment. From here it lead towards team sevens original training ground. The scent seemed to linger by the training posts where the team had officially been formed before leading off towards the forest. It was here that Kakashi found his student, standing before the memorial stone in much the same way Kakashi himself did far too often. Slowly approaching Kakashi went to stand beside his student.

An hour passed before either said a word.

"I lost my whole family already" Sasuke said in barely a whisper

…

"And now the only real friend I had"

…

"How do you do it Kakashi?"

…

"How do you move past it?"

"You don't really." Kakashi finally replied "You just learn to live with the pain."

"I made him a promise" Sasuke says lifting his head.

…

"I promised to protect Sakura and all of our comrades."

…

"I'm going to keep that promise Kakashi"

...

"No matter what…" Sasuke finished turning and walking away as the rain began to fall.

Authors Notes:

Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter. This is the first story I've written for this site and if you notice any mistakes or plot holes let me know via review or message. I hope to update up to chapter 4 in the next three days and once a week afterwards but I'll let you know if anything changes.

As for what happens to Kurama, not to worry I have something planned.

To be honest I always thought Naruto should have lost that fight against Gaara. Yeah it was a great moment for him but jonin have tried and failed to kill Gaara, I don't think Naruto was ready yet. Not only that but Gaara was fully transformed and all Naruto had was a little extra boost from the foxes chakra.

Also this story will be primarily following Sasuke Uchiha and his difficulties living up to the promise he made Naruto. And yes I know the key to unlocking the mangekyou is to feel the pain of your best friend dying. But for now the Sasuke's mangekyou will lay dormant. (spoiler) Kinda like Kakashi's did after killing Rin. Pairings are not really important to my story but there may be some later on (I won't tell you who though feel free to give your opinions).