Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach- (hah, forgot to add it in before... )

A/N-- Quick notice, Prologue is in 1st person. Starting from next chapter, it should be back to normal. That's to clear up any queries or confusion. Thanks. Enjoy!

Prologue- Story of My Life

I have only ever called a place home; Konoha, the village Hidden in the Leaves. It was one of the five great shinobi villages in which its power was rivaled by nobody else. The produced ninjas from Konoha were openly acknowledged as some of the greatest ninjas ever to grace the lands of the shinobi world. Through example, the great founders of the village, the first and second Hokage; Hashirama and Tobirama Senju were their names. Each Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village were unrivalled in their skills by many and made great influences over the recent history of the shinobi world.

Arguably, the most famous or most feared Kage to have ever stepped onto a battle field was the Yondaime of Konoha. Through a development of a legendary technique, he had risen to fame in the Third Great Shinobi War in which he earned his nickname the 'Yellow Flash' of Konoha. The technique was recognized by many and feared. Hiraishin was its name.

Many said that the name was befitting. 'The Flying Thunder God' was a hyper speed technique that had wiped out legions of men in a fell swoop and single handedly turned the tides of war. Despite all this, he still passed away in his early life. In the history books of Konoha, it is told that the Yondaime had sacrificed his life for the sake of the Hidden Leaf and killed the fabled nine-tailed fox.

I know better though, written words do not always depict the truth. It is no secret to the Konoha population that I, Naruto Uzumaki, was the container of the nine-tailed fox. I found the truth in the worst way imaginable- it was revealed to me by a traitor. That traitor was none other than Mizuki, one of my Chuunin teachers in the academy. He twisted his words and caused me to doubt Iruka-sensei. With that seed of doubt in my mind, nothing really mattered anymore; I turned and ran deep into the forest.

As I hid and listened to the ongoing conversation between my two Chuunin senseis, I felt saddened. It was because of a very sentence that had caused me to evaluate my beliefs; Iruka-sensei declared that I was not a monster fox; I am Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha.

I believe that certain events would cause a dramatic change in a person's life. Luckily enough it happened to me on that very night. My life was changed as I opened my eyes, feeling a slight difference. It is a feeling I would never forget- the softness of the cloth wrapped around the back of my head and the light metal plate with the insignia of a leaf.

I felt like I belonged in the world. It was the same feeling that I had when I first met the Third Hokage. I had lain on the ground bloodied and bruised, desperately trying to get up and run. The beatings stopped and my eyes dared to open to see an outstretched hand and a kind smile. It was a foreign thing to me but it was nice.

I used to look out from a hidden place, in a small hole of a bush, towards the park as I watched the small children play and laugh together with their parents. Sometimes, I also saw some little kids being scolded for doing something wrong. Even if it meant that I would be scolded or punished, I would have gladly given anything to have been in the child's shoes. To my mind Iruka-sensei had secured a place in my life alongside the Third Hokage, the ramen chef and the cook's daughter. To some degree, I had added Iruka-sensei into my definition of a family; I thought of him as a fatherly figure in some ways as I am constantly caught and lectured by him. In some ways I had always wanted to know what it felt like to have a family.

It was after my graduation, Team 7 formed. Over the months of chores we had to do, I found myself liking the team. In fact I felt that even Sasuke, my rival, was becoming something important to me. It was the millions of tasks we had to do each day-chasing that damn cat, painting the houses and even plucking the weeds out from the gardens of civilians- that allowed me to grow closer to the team. Sometimes I would feel neglected, such as Sakura always leaving me to pursue Sasuke. Nevertheless, I had accepted that along with the team. Despite their faults, they were still closer to me than anyone else.

Then there was Jiraiya-sensei. He was… proud to say the least- famous for being a top class pervert who had no sense of the word decency and was a self-proclaimed 'super pervert'. It was always entertaining to be around him. We became acquainted to each other in a humorous incident: he was caught peeking into the girls section of the hot springs. I felt that I really became close to him during our three year trip traveling out of Konoha after the incident with Sasuke.

Sasuke defected from Konoha to join Orochimaru because of the promise of power. A four-man team consisting of Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji and I had been dispatched to retrieve Sasuke. It ended up with all four of us being hospitalized and Sasuke escaping. I could never forget that, the feeling of betrayal by someone you thought of as a brother. I never could quite comprehend why he would throw everything away just for the sake of power. I had thought that by being a team, our bonds should have been strong enough for him to resist the temptation of gaining easy power just for the sake of revenge.

I returned to Konoha, at the age of fifteen. It had been nice to see the addition of Tsunade-obachan's face. Though I had always wanted to be the fifth Hokage, I still cannot think of anyone better to take up the mantle of Godaime. She was the one closest to a motherly figure I have. She was a very strong-willed lady who had lost her way and found it again. I couldn't be prouder to say that I had a small part to play in that.

There were many things that happened in the two years after I returned to Konoha. I was forced to learn so much more at a quicker pace, in preparation of war as well as the Akatsuki. There was the Sora-nin from the Sky Country who wanted revenge against Konoha.

Indeed, many things happened during the invasion. I had met a new friend, Amaru, as well as Sasuke who had assisted to end the battle albeit for different reasons. His reason was to retrieve something for Orochimaru whilst mine was to defeat the enemy to Konoha. Even though he had been cold towards me, I had managed to see that there was still something there that I could save. It was only the betrayal of him shoving the Chidori into my chest that sometimes makes me doubt my actions.

It wasn't until the day Akatsuki decided to attack my whole world changed. I had been in Myobokuzan, the land of frogs, learning how to control my sage powers. Then there was the news of Konoha being destroyed. The man known as Pain has used an ability of his, called Shinra Tensei- the manipulation of gravity- to demolish most of Konoha. The result of the battle was the deaths of my loved ones. I was not strong enough to protect any of them…

With no energy left Pain retreated, knowing that the damage was done. He had left knowing I was not going to run away. I felt unimaginable anger that day, feeling the guilt knowing that if I trained harder, faster, better, I would have been able to save their lives. It was what I told myself, in that cold night with the smell of blood lingering in the air. The plain truth dawned on me; I was a lone survivor of Konoha. One of the great villages had been totally annihilated by a single man with a legendary doujustu.

Angered and sad at the same time, I was confused. I wanted revenge for my loved ones and I had looked out for Akatsuki. It didn't matter anymore, all I could think of was to release the fox and get it over and done with. After days of searching for the Akatsuki base, I finally found it. Needless to say they had been guiding me to their base through hints. I didn't really care if they showed themselves in front of me then, just as long as I would have been able to see and kill all of them.

It was through my rage I became reckless. I attacked blindly, opting to release the Kyuubi, however, my blind attack made me fall into their trap. They sealed all my chakra and made sure my connection to the Kyuubi was lost. No contact between me and the fox was possible. The attack on Akatsuki had turned out pathetic and I didn't even manage to get a single hit.

As my body started to float, I felt the life being drained out of me, feeling the essence of my and the fox's chakra being pulled out of me. Then it all stopped…

Flashback…

"Come on idiot, I know you are awake," Sasuke said in urgency.

I felt tired, but I knew what happened exactly. In a moment of blinding light, everyone lost their concentration and Sasuke snatched me before escaping through the passageway leading up to the entrance of the cave.

The others were not too far behind and they were catching up. Carrying me had drastically slowed Sasuke and as we both arrived at the entrance he threw me outside before giving me a sad look. I didn't know exactly why he had saved me or even threw me but I had a gut feeling that something big was going to happen. I saw the shadows of the Akatsuki members getting closer through the entrance.

It was then I heard a soft whisper, "Goodbye brother…"

I looked to see Sasuke doing a series of quick hand seals before slamming his hand onto the wall, with massive amounts of rocks covering the entrance, burying himself inside to battle the remaining members of Akatsuki.

"No!" I shouted out.

I knew then that he had sacrificed himself to save me and through silent eye contact wanted me to become stronger- strong enough to completely kill off Akatsuki and eliminate Madara Uchiha.

Even with his sacrifice, the number of Akatsuki members would outnumber him and eventually kill him. I knew now, that if I wanted to get my revenge against that bastard organization, I would have to train to become the best.

Flashback end…

--

Here I am, stuck in a place of darkness, most probably in the stomach of the Shinigami. However, I am glad that I had achieved my goal of eliminating Akatsuki off the face of the world. The only thing that I can think of now is the two figures that had appeared before me. Perhaps they have the answers as to what I am looking for...

"Rest young one..."

I felt my consciousness fading away but I called out anyways, "Who are you?" I heard no response as I fell asleep unable to fight off the exhaustion that took over my body.

A/N: Just enjoy it. That's all I ask for.