Gates of Hell

Chapter 1: Rest in Pieces

"Naruto!"

"Sasuke!"

Ragged from fighting for a while, I figured this was the last attack he had in him. Honestly, I was at the end of my chain too. We all knew it would come to this; my chidori clashed with Naruto's rasengan. He had said it before, if we fought, we would both die. It all came down to this. Scowling, I urged the lightning further, attempting to alter the outcome. My opponent furrowed his brows, seething as he strained to exert more force. We held our position for a good few seconds before a sickening crack sounded.

I lost all control of my chidori. Lightning bent and engulfed the two of us, sending rippling shocks down my spine. My hand burnt from the clash of two powerful shinobi, tearing at the wrist and beginning to fall off. Everything began blurring and I could no longer hear my surroundings. I saw an orange figure, which I assumed was Naruto, slip away from me. In a split second, his rasengan broke and waves of chakra lashed in all directions. As I felt myself lose consciousness, I dully felt the chakra tearing at my flesh.

The last thing I saw was a giant chunk of my hair, still attached to a piece of my scalp fly away like a bird.

Bye bird.

xXx

All I could see was white everything. To my left, there was nothing but white. To my right, there was some white and a little nothing. In front of me, there was more nothing. Oh wait! There was something else there... No, that was just white. Where the hell was I?

"Teme..."

I look to where the voice was coming from, finding Naruto. At least, what was left of Naruto. A gaping hole was in place of where his chest was supposed to be; his face was skinless, seeming to have lost its mask; one of his eyes was stuck in the back of his head, never to look forward again. If that was Naruto, what did I look like?

Noticing the white environment beginning to dim, I realized that something must've been happening. We must've been going somewhere else.

"Hey dobe."

When the surroundings cleared, Naruto and I stood in front of a giant receptionist desk. The man sitting behind the desk looked bored. Taking one dull glance at us, he started flipping through a large book, muttering slightly to himself.

"Let's see... Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." One of his thin fingers pointed to an open page. "Ninja battle, yadda yadda yadda, both died." With that, he slammed the book shut. Picking at his nails, he grimaced. I waited for him to continue, but that time didn't come.

"Well? What now?" I impatiently spat.

"Wow." The man raised an eyebrow. "Someone's eager to go to hell."

My mouth gaped. Hell? Sure, I expected it somewhere down the road, but not this soon.

"Hell? That's not right!" I whipped my head to the loud-mouthed blond, continuing to ramble. "Sasuke doesn't deserve that, despite what a teme he is!"

The man sent an exhausted glance towards him, not even phased by his physical appearance. "Now, now, don't get worked up. You're not going there too or anything."

Naruto furiously shook his head. "That's not the point! Sasuke's my friend and I won't leave my friends behind. If you want to put someone in hell," he took a deep breath, "then put me in hell in his place."

What a dobe. If it were the other way around, I wouldn't have saved him. What was he thinking?

"That's not the way things work around here, kid." The guy pointed to the two signs on the wall behind him. One pointed up and read "heaven", while the other pointed downwards and read "hell". "You are assigned to go to one of these places because of what you've done in your life. You can't just decide where you'll go."

I shot him a glare and headed in the direction where the up arrow pointed. "Wait!" he called after me, but to no avail. Running as quickly as I could, I sprinted through a wide opening. My momentum carried me across the chasm to the opposite wall, where I clung with what appeared to be one hand and one stump of what was left of an arm. Though I didn't want to, I looked down. Below me was a dark, bottomless pit where an unpleasant heat was coming from. I couldn't go that way. I started ascending to what seemed like a bright and wonderful place.

Trying in vain to attach to the wall with my chakra, I realized that, in this place, the ways of the ninja weren't relevant. My fingernails dug into the wall as pieces started to crumble under my weight. I kept moving, afraid that if I didn't, I would fall along with the pieces of wall. Making my way carefully, I kept climbing.

After some time, my arm started shaking, about to give up. If only I had a hand on my other arm. Snarling, I forced myself further.

"Are you okay, lad?"

Surprised, I whipped my head to the voice. With what was left of my energy, I hoisted myself up, off the wall, and onto the platform in front of a desk where an old man sat. He smiled and clapped his hands pleasurably. "That was some climb. Maybe next time you should just use the stairs." He gestured to a winding staircase on the wall opposite of where I was climbing.

"Hn."

Another warm smile was given to me. "Alright I get it. No one want to talk to St. Peter. Just give me your paperwork and I'll send you on your way above."

Paperwork? Fuck. I pretended to be looking for something in my pockets, fumbling around slightly. He continued to watch me with grey eyes that seemed to read my every move. Will he call my bluff? "Gomen, doesn't look like I have it."

"That's okay. I'll just send you back to the receptionist." He winked a crinkled wink.

"No! Wait!" I came so far, only to reappear next to Naruto at the front of the receptionist desk.

"Hey. Welcome back." The guy smirked. I shot him a death glare, not affecting him whatsoever. "As I was saying, you can't decide where you go. You go where you deserve to go. Now, are you guys ready to move on?"

The dobe thought for a second, crossed his arms, then nodded in thought. It took a few seconds, but he jolted slightly. An idea just struck him. "What if you give teme a second chance to make things right? That way he can fix all he's done wrong and go to heaven!" Naruto looked hopefully towards the man with his one good eye gleaming and his skinless face in a crooked smile.

Honestly, I was hopeful too.

The man looked at Naruto with distaste, looked at me with a frown, and looked back at Naruto and narrowed his eyes. "Fine! But in order to send him back, I need another soul." He smiled wickedly at Naruto. "Would you be willing to provide that?"

The loud-mouthed ninja gave him a toothy grin and a thumbs-up. The man heaved a sigh and took out a sheet of paper. Muttering something about incompetence and damn, nagging dead people, he picked up a pen and scribbled quickly on the sheet. Setting the pen back down, he lifted the paper and flipped it to face Naruto. Naruto blinked once in confusion and in that fraction of a second, a massive flash emitted from the page. It disappeared as quickly as it came and the man rolled the sheet up, tying it with a thick string.

I opened my mouth to say something, but found I couldn't find the words. Naruto dropped headfirst to the ground and landed with a sickening thump. The man got up and made his way around the gratuitously large desk. A click of disapproval sounded from his mouth as he gently pushed the blond's face to the side with his foot.

"Stop it!" I hoarsely rasped. Finally finding my voice, I needed to defend the boy that defended me.

"Calm down, kid." The guy looked at me with an annoyed look. "This is just his shell. Your real friend is here." He held up the rolled page.

I looked down. "He's not my friend," I whispered softly.

"Well, he sacrificed himself for you," he muttered. With a slight grunt of effort, he kicked the body off the platform and into the open chasm. Watching in horror, my eyes locked on the form falling into an endless pit of horror and despair. "Need to feed the dogs of hell something, otherwise my ass is on the line." He took his time strolling back to his chair behind the desk.

Out of curiosity, I peered over the ledge, looking down at the dark hole. Two wolf-like beasts fought over a mangled, orange-clad arm, before one won the tug-o-war and ran off with it. Down, down into the pit they ran.

Still letting my gaze linger on the empty chasm, I forced myself to walk back in front of the receptionist. "Alright," the man started, "you basically have to atone for the things you've done in the past. Let's read the list, shall we?" I cringed, not wanting to relive my life. "You left Konoha as a rogue ninja, killed thousands of innocent people, murdered important figures Orochimaru, Itachi, and Danzo, betrayed your teammates, and attacked Konoha." He raised an eyebrow. "Did I name it all?"

Nodding, I murmured quietly, "Yeah. That should be it."

"Okay. Well, we will overlook the deaths of Orochimaru and Danzo, because we don't like them much. Damn bastards make such a ruckus over nothing. We'll also overlook, Itachi's, since you killing him was all a part of his plan. Regarding the killings of thousands and your own teammates... well there's not much that can be done about that. In order for you to atone for sins, you need to deal with the living, not the dead. So, that just leaves Konoha. I will assign you to the Konoha ninja that you've hurt the most. You must fulfill everything he or she wishes for to the best of your power. Once you're told that you have fulfilled your duties, then you may come back. If you come back without finishing your business," an evil gleam shone in his eyes, "I will gladly feed you to the dogs."

If this fucker thought he would intimidate me, he was dead wrong. I glared at him as he leaned back in his chair and spun around, facing his back to me. He tossed the rolled up paper back to me, which I caught with confusion. "Have fun on the other side, 'teme'." Bastard thought he was so damn funny. Restraining the urge to punch him, I stood there for another second before I was surrounded by white again.

xXx

I rematerialized at a river bank. Trees bristled in the wind as the clouds soared high above the world. In disbelief, I bent down to touch the grass, but didn't feel a thing. Wait a minute, my hand was back! I turned to the river and gazed at the rippling image looking back at me. Flawless pale skin, black, spiked hair, sharp onyx eyes... it was all there. I looked just as I had before the final battle with Naruto, presumably so I wouldn't scare the person I needed to help.

The sun shone, but, much to my dismay, I couldn't feel its warmth on my skin.

A soft voice broke me out of my thoughts. Slowly, I made my way to the source, but froze as soon as I saw the two figures appear before me. Instinctively, I crouched, not entirely sure if they would be able to see me anyway. "I have the report from the battle," a masked ANBU member stated monotonously.

"And?" questioned a feminine voice that came from behind a tree.

"Both Naruto and Sasuke died in battle. No chance of revival."

The female was silent for a moment and most likely gestured to the other that he was dismissed for he disappeared without another word. "Naruto... Sasuke-kun..."

That voice... Why was it so familiar? I moved to get a better angle on this mysterious person, hopefully to figure out who it was.

The receptionist said I would be helping the person I had hurt the most. A kunoichi that I had hurt? I stopped dead in my tracks when she came into view. Oh no...

A full head of pink hair came into my view.

Fuck.

A/N: Haven't written any SasuSaku for about three years... and it feels so good to be back! This story was inspired by a book I read six years ago, yes I am reliving my past, and I hope you enjoy it! And no, I'm not religious. But it's cute, eh?