Author's Note: Welcome, one and all, to my first true story. I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (thank god)

No Matter the Cost

Chapter 1: Awakening

Naruto blinked as his eyes adjusted to the landscape before him. The boy gazed upon an unfamiliar picture: an old, decrepit shack that stood upon the top of a hill. Glancing up, a thunderstorm could be observed in progress, the wind howling around him and lightning striking through the darkened skies at random intervals. The landscape around him would become illuminated with each strike of lightning, each detail vividly highlighted, only to descend back into obscurity after the light faded. Rain poured down from the dark storm clouds, soaking the blonde jinchuurinki to the bone. Each drop of water felt like the sting of a bee due to the ferocity with which the winds hurled the rain at him.

Despite the violent nature of the skies above him, Naruto felt calm. Calmer than he could recall feeling in... a very long time. For reasons unknown, the scene he was witnessing did not serve to unnerve him despite its bleak and tumultuous nature; instead, he felt as if he belonged here, as if he was an integral part of the chaos. The fury of the winds and the suddenness of the lightning made him feel whole, as if he had been waiting his whole life to witness this very storm.

As the boy grew comfortable with his surroundings, he looked down from the heavens to observe the weather-beaten shack further. The gales of wind shook the sides of the shanty slightly, but the shack appeared to be structurally sound enough to withstand the rage of the storm. Naruto took note that the shack was made of wood that had been chopped down long ago if the age of the shack was anything to go by. It was difficult for the young jinchuurinki to see the shack properly between the flashes of lightning, so he walked forward, only then realizing he had been standing the entire time.

The small building grew larger as he got closer, and Naruto noticed the door on the front of the shack was ajar slightly. He reached out to the door, intending to open it and learn more from what was contained within, but something inside of him froze. A part of him was afraid of what he would see inside, although for what reason, Naruto could not fathom. He pushed aside his fear; he was Uzumaki Naruto. What would he fear inside of some old, crappy shack like this?

Naruto yanked the door to the shack open, and stepped inside. Inside, he could see bloodstains in the center of the room and along the edges. A small fire burned in a corner of the shack, although calling it a fire would be kind. It was closer to a pile of glowing embers than it was a true fire, but the heat it emanated was strong nonetheless. The fire was surrounded by three stones of a light gray color intended to stop the fire from spreading out of control. Naruto could see a faint outline of a grinning fox lying underneath the fire, almost taunting Naruto with the grin.

All of this was of interest to Naruto but none more so than the girl sitting in a wooden chair opposite of the tiny fire. She was gently strumming at a lyre she held in her hand, creating a melancholy melody that wrenched at Naruto's heart. She continued to play, her eyes closed in concentration, as Naruto stared at her. She was dressed in a crimson kimono, her hair put into an elaborate bun on top of her head, and her skin was a very pale white, as if she never saw the sun. Her features were delicate: her slim wrist, her raised cheekbones, her poised fingers gliding across the lyre.

The girl stopped playing her instrument and opened her eyes to look at Naruto. The jinchuurinki was startled to see her eyes were a deep crimson, the same color as her kimono. Naruto found himself drawn to her eyes, and after a moment's thinking, he realized why. Unlike the villagers' eyes, hers held no hatred; unlike Sasuke's, hers held no contempt; unlike Iruka's, hers held no pity. They were eyes filled with understanding and empathy, two things Naruto had long convinced himself no longer existed for him.

As Naruto came to this conclusion, the kimono-clad girl opened her mouth and spoke.

"Can you hear me?" she asked him in a quiet but firm voice.

Naruto frowned in confusion.

"Of course I can," he replied slowly. "Should I not be able to?"

The girl smiled back at him, and he felt his whole being lighten in response. "You are able to hear me," said the girl. "I am glad. But I must admit, iit took you almost 13 years before you found me, so I wasn't sure if you'd be able to hear me so quickly."

Naruto's confusion, and his frown, only deepened. After a quiet minute of thinking, the girl looking at him patiently, he squinted his eyes and tilted his head.

"I don't get it."

The girl giggled daintily at his confusion. "Allow me to explain," she offered. "This place we are at is a representation of your subconscious. Who you truly are is displayed here, although it may not be apparent at first."

Naruto interrupted her. "If this is all in my head..." he began. "Does that mean you are too?"

The girl nodded. "I am a part of you as well; however, I am more than just a part of your personality," explained the girl. "I am your zanpakuto. I am the part of you that refuses to surrender or give up. I am the part of you that fights to preserve the integrity of yourself and those around you. And whenever you are in need, you can draw upon my power."

Naruto continued to look at her, a dim light of understanding reaching his eyes but not completely banishing the confusion apparent in the cerulean orbs. "I'm not sure what you mean exactly," he said slowly.

The girl simply smiled at him in return. "It's okay," she responded. "You'll know once you leave here. Just remember my name, and all will be well." At this, the girl leaned in close to Naruto, never breaking eye contact.

"My name is..."

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he remembered where he was. Zabuza was attacking. Kakashi was fighting. Sakura was protecting. And Sasuke...

His eyes glanced down to the Uchiha who was lying in his arms riddled with senbon.

Sasuke was dying.

At that thought, Naruto's anger and determination filled his entire being. He could faintly hear the masked hunter-nin speaking to him. Speaking of Sasuke.

In that moment, he drew from a source of power he never had felt before. Two sources of power, in fact.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Naruto's body exploded with a foul, red chakra that quickly surrounded his body. Senbon were pushed out of his body as the holes they left behind were quickly healed by the demonic chakra. Said chakra began to ripple out from his body, spiraling upwards where it formed the image of a fox smirking at the hunter-nin before dissipating. Naruto looked at the masked ninja with blood-red eyes, his pupils turned into slits. He was not done yet, however.

Holding his arm out to the side, hand outstretched, Naruto spoke these words without thinking. He had no clue why he was saying these words, but they would eventually come to signal the death of those who opposed him.

"Bleed, Jikogisei (Self-Sacrifice)."

Upon Naruto uttering those words, the blood Naruto had lost from being pierced with the masked ninja's needles rose off of the ground and went to his palm, absorbing one another and becoming a large orb of blood. The blood then elongated and thinned until it had formed itself into the shape of a katana.

The blade of the katana was as long as Naruto's arm and curved up slightly towards the end of the blade. The guard was a spiral exactly like that on the back of Naruto's jumpsuit that bent backwards slightly towards the handle. The handle was just long enough to Naruto to grip with two hands if he so pleased yet short enough to be used with one hand comfortably.

Naruto gripped the katana as he stared at the hunter-nin. With a fierce growl, he swung the katana at his enemy, slashing the air in front of him. From his sword came a red, hazy aura that formed into the shape of a crescent and was sent flying at rapid speeds towards the ice user.

Haku's eyes widened as he witnessed the genin before him hurl an attack his way. While he had no way of knowing how dangerous the move would be, his confidence in the strength of his ice mirrors had been ripped to shreds upon feeling the raw malice emanating from his blonde opponent. His instincts screamed at him to move, and he complied, leaping from his ice mirror to another one nearby. As he landed in his new refuge, he could see the mirror in his peripheral vision. What was left of it, at least. The attack had destroyed the mirror into several pieces and had even continued a small way out into the mist.

The ice ninja looked at his opponent who had also witnessed the power his new technique was capable. The blonde had only observed for a second longer than Haku before his eyes snapped over to where Haku had fled. The Konoha shinobi lunged forward, the red chakra enhancing his muscles to a point where Haku was barely able to track the blonde's movements.

The masked ninja fled his mirror yet again as it was destroyed, only this time by a punch thrown by his opponent that created a shockwave through the mirror that utterly destroyed it. Haku landed in his mirror and, realizing defense could not win the fight for him, quickly fired a barrage of senbon at Naruto. Turning, the genin roared in fury at the attack and accompanying the roar was a wave of chakra that knocked all the needles out of their flight and sent them spinning into the ground.

Haku couldn't believe his attack had been repelled so effortlessly, but he had no time to be astonished. The demonic-looking genin had launched himself at the ice ninja again, this time stabbing forth with the katana that had unleashed the destructive attack earlier. Haku quickly exited the mirror yet again as the blonde stabbed clean through the reflective ice, shattering the mirror just like the rest as the guard ran into the ice.

Haku fled towards yet another mirror, his mind racing to find a way to defeat the monster he had suddenly found himself facing. Before he could formulate a plan of action or even reach another mirror, he felt his ankle flare up in pain as it was roughly grabbed. Angling his head downward, he only caught a glimpse of the raw anger in the blonde's red eyes before he was brutally hurled in the direction opposite of the one he had been fleeing, crashing roughly into the ground.

The ice ninja stood, despair filling his body. He had failed Zabuza. He had not been strong enough, had not been a good enough weapon, and had been defeated. The only thing left to do was wait for death to relieve him of the pain of failing his precious person. Another roar of fury indicated death would be coming for him very shortly in the form of a blonde, rage-fueled maelstrom. He turned to see the genin charging him, his sword held poised to cut him from shoulder to hip. He could feel his mask, damaged beyond repair from the crash into the ground, break into pieces and fall off of his face as he waited for the Shinigami's embrace.

Only to see Naruto stopped inches away from ending his life, staring into Haku's face with wide, cerulean eyes.

"H... Haku?"

Kakashi observed the aftermath of the battle that had encompassed the bridge their mission revolved around. His fight had been extremely difficult, one he hadn't been sure he was going to win. Zabuza was truly a demon to be able to survive being impaled with so many weapons and still finding the strength to kill Gato after their grueling fight. What interested the cyclops more than his fight with Zabuza was the battle his genin had against Zabuza's assistant, who had displayed the ability to utilize Hyouton techniques. Sakura was still crying over Sasuke, who had just woken up after the fake hunter-nin had neutralized him. Sasuke surely had done well and reportedly received the worst of his injuries protecting Naruto, a deed of which Kakashi couldn't help but be proud.

Protecting Naruto hadn't been in vain as the orange-clad prankster had managed to defeat the ice ninja. Kakashi had initially been terrified that the seal had broken and the Kyuubi was loose, but once he realized the biju was not about to rampage, he was exponentially less worried. He had heard of jinchuurinki being able to draw upon their demon's chakra, so such an ability was not unusual for Naruto to display, especially after he had believe Sasuke to be dead. The emotional trauma of believing Sasuke to be dead in his arms would likely affect Naruto for days or weeks to come.

Even more interesting than the Kyuubi's chakra was the weapon Kakashi noticed on his blonde genin. An ornate katana with a deep crimson sheath was strapped to Naruto's back and the boy seemed completely at ease with the presence of the deadly weapon. Kakashi didn't have time to question Naruto about its appearance, but he certainly would make time later to figure out exactly how his orphaned student had pulled a highly expensive-seeming katana out of thin air. He doubted the Kyuubi was involved, but if it was, he would have to ascertain the katana wouldn't affect Naruto's mind.

Naruto sat in the room Tsunami had offered to him when his team had settled into her home. She had also offered it to Sasuke, who lay on the bed next to him motionless. Naruto couldn't believe how relieved he was when it was revealed Haku had not killed Sasuke but instead had put him in a state of near death, much like he had with Zabuza. He didn't think he'd ever be able to get rid of the image of Kakashi's arm impaled through Haku's chest as the ice ninja protected his precious person.

At least Gato had been defeated in the end. He and his team were safe, and they would be leaving Wave in a couple of days once Tazuna finished building the bridge. Naruto drew his sword - Jikogisei, he reminded himself - and stared at the blade of his newly discovered katana. He had yet to kill anyone with this blade or even to draw blood, but he knew the time would come. The life of a ninja insisted he would harm another at one point or another, and this weapon of his seemed to be his best bet in causing harm to his enemies.

But I won't just be a weapon, thought Naruto. I'll be a protector, and I'll make sure that no matter what, no one hurts my precious people!

Author's Note: And that will conclude the first chapter. I apologize if the length is too short; as I said, this is my first true story, so I am unfamiliar with how long or short the chapters will be. A couple of things I'd like to touch upon for those reading this:

I will not be writing scenes that do not differ from canon. Why? Well, if you read/watch Naruto, you already know what has happened and don't need me to write it all over for you. Not to mention I would be extremely uninspired writing something my readers already know and I already know. So if I skip a scene or two, you can assume it is the same as canon for now. As the story progresses, it will diverge more and more from the canon plot, so instances where I would skip over a canon scene will grow fewer and fewer.

I'm sure plenty of people have done this before. Naruto gets a zanpakuto, wrecks havoc, so on and so forth. What I intend to do differently is both in how the zanpakuto will work and how the existence of zanpakuto in the Naruto universe will function. There will be no appearances of characters from the Bleach universe, although some of their powers may be borrowed/hinted at. That is a long ways away, though.

Anyways, please review and let me know what you thought. Was it too long? Too short? Boring? Horrible grammar or spelling? I would love to hear any constructive criticism you people can provide. If you are going to flame, feel free. Just don't expect me to take your opinion under consideration if you do.

Adios!