Disclaimer: Nope, do not own Naruto.

Warning: scenes of graphic violence.

Chapter 3 – To be Reborn

It felt warm, very warm and comfortable. He could hear the morning birds carrying out their songs, the wind rustling the leaves right outside his window, the clock ticking somewhere in the background. All in all it was a usual morning for Sasuke to wake up to, but wait, something did not add up in his half awaken mind.

He slowly opened his eyes to look at his surroundings trying to make sense of them. He was getting pretty annoyed to be finding himself so disoriented at where he was so often. Yes, indeed, this was definitely his room and it was definitely an early morning and everything should have been normal except for the fact that nothing seemed to be normal in the past week for him.

Straining to get up, he noticed that his body felt a bit sore but then he remembered the training and the extra session of sparring with his old-times rival later that night, and at the last thought his face turned deathly white.

His hand reached towards his heart feeling the smooth and un-bruised skin on his chest. That was not right, not right at all. He remembered sparring, remembered being knocked down to the ground, the feel of the cold steel against his chest and then he remembered dying…

'What the hell is going on! I am supposed to be dead am I not? Was it a dream?'

Those questions were indeed very hard to answer as he bolted out of his bed to examine his whole body. No gashes, nothing broken, just a bit sore and then he stared at the skin right where his heart was, there was something out of place there. There was a dark mark that somewhat resembled a seal, it seemed like it was underneath his skin. It was some kind of ancient symbol that he did not know the meaning of.

After getting used to an idea of being alive and finding a weird mark on his body, he couldn't help but wonder how he got to his house and to his own bed at that matter.

'Naruto must have carried me here after … after whatever had happened' That must be it. It made perfect sense, but then why did he remember being dead and floating and talking to the nine-tailed demon?

As much as he would liked to spend the rest of his days pondering on this puzzle he could not afford to be late for their usual meeting especially when Kakashi said they had a mission today.

Shoving all his questions and confusion in the farthest corner of his consciousness, Sasuke decided that it is better not dwell on it for now. It might, after all, been some kind of dream inspired by all the recent occurrences. And thus, he ran out of his house towards the infamous bridge.

Naruto sat crossed cross-legged on the ground rambling about everything and anything that came to his mind while his pink-haired teammate was deep in her own world daydreaming of her obsession, who was now walking up to them, stoic as ever.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun!" Ohh, demons, how he hated that voice and that face, but he was a Uchiha after all, and Uchihas did not lose their cool so easily.

"Hn"

"Morning Sasuke-bastard" Naruto's voice was as cheerful as ever, nothing could ever bother him it seemed.

"Morning, Dobe" The raven-head decided he could not bring himself to look in the eyes of his rival, which haunted his trouble mind since he was brought back, so he settled on watching the river instead.

After another half an hour their sensei finally made his entrance in a usual puff of smoke. Just like any other day there was an excuse and loud "LIAR!" but that was to be expected, nothing out of ordinary, Sasuke noted.

"Yo, today we have a mission"

The cheers of pure joy resonated through the whole forest as the certain blonde kept bouncing up and down.

'Strange how he acts so carefree and childish in front of others, but there is so much more on the inside that he's hiding. You are truly a mystery Naruto Kitsune'

Sasuke mused while watching the hyperactive blonde, satisfied with the fact that only he knew the real Naruto. But then again, did he really know his friend or was it just some stupid prank or maybe a game played out solely by the demon inside. That made Sasuke wonder how much of a real Naruto he has seen and how much of it was the fox doing.

Sasuke's attention was averted back to their teacher when Kakashi started to explain the details of their mission. It turned out to be a B class mission on which they had to spy on a certain suspicious man who was currently staying in their village. The character seemed to be involved in some black market business and might be a very sophisticated thief. They were to follow him around until he meets with his contact and then they were to gather as much information as possible, while keeping track of all involved parties. Nothing team 7 couldn't handle.

The sun shone brightly onto the streets of Konoha where a pink-haired girl in her teens sat outside of a small restaurant casually drinking a glass of cool lemonade. She lifted her hand towards her hair as thought it needed a little "fix up" and at that moment a pair of blue eyes, which were watching her attentively turned to a raven-haired boy beside him in all knowing wink.

"He's here" the blonde muttered while casually walking across the street followed by his friend.

"Be carefull not to attract too much attention, Dobe"

"Ohh, you know me better than that, Sasuke-bastard" the blonde smirked deviously at his friend before continuing on with their cover up operation.

The two boys came to a stop on the corner of an alley and pretended to be browsing through some random magazines while watching the suspicious character. The man was some what tall, in his mid 20s, dressed in dark clothing and held a small package in one of his hands. The suspect stopped in front of some small boutique where he had said something to the owner, who went inside right away. After a brief wait another man came out with a bag and handed it to the suspect while taking the package and leaving in opposite direction. Sasuke quickly glanced to Sakura, who understood right away and slowly got up to follow the guy. While that was taken care of, he and Naruto had to make sure not to lose their primary suspect from their sight.

After some hiding and running they found their victim heading out of town and into the forest, to which they followed. Not more than 5 minutes later the suspect disappeared without a trace.

Startled and confused ninjas decided to break up to look in different directions. Sasuke making his way around the trees, in a hurry, looking for any trace of the stranger did not notice the kunai that flew straight towards him and when he did, it was too late and as much as he tried to avert it, the blade cut through his flesh and settled deeply in his left shoulder.

Sasuke spotted the attacker and despite the pain went after him in a lightning speed, rage filling him. The guy turned out to be a ninja as well and a good one at that. He evaded most of the boy's attacks and managed to pin Sasuke to the nearest tree while plugging yet another kunai in the boy's abdomen.

"They shouldn't have sent such a pathetic excuse for a ninja after me, too bad boy, you have to die now" the guy chuckled as he watched the blood spilling out of the pale teenager but his laughter seized at once when the boy reached out with his right hand and took out both of the kunai throwing them both aside. But what really made the older ninja uneasy was that the wounds that should have been fatal were starting to heal in an incredible rate, leaving no trace behind.

"You think I am pathetic, don't you?" An evil smirk played on Uchiha's lips as he felt an incredible power surging through him and healing his wounds. He knew it was not the cursed seal; it was much more powerful than the seal could ever be. The energy that was filling him gave him a sense of hunger, hunger for blood, pure blood-lust.

He stood firmly, his eyes hidden by his dark locks while his body started to emit an unbelievable amount of chakra forming a blazing dark purple aura all around him and lashing out towards the freighted ninja, blocking all means of escape.

Sasuke raised his head and glared into the eyes of the petrified man. The man knew he was going to die, never before did he know of such power, it resembled a demon not a human. He watched as the boy's eyes drowned in blood and the black dots swirled in them, the sharingan eyes. He watched as the boy's hands prolonged and the nails extended to form sharp claws. He saw sharp canines making their way out from under the creature's lips. He stared in horrific fascination as the foreign chakra morphed into a beast with many tails and blazing midnight blue fur.

The demon stalked towards the terrified human mocking him with an inhuman grin.

"Who is the pathetic one now?" the demon growled before digging its claws deep in the offender's neck and ripping the skin to pieces. The sense of intense pleasure came over the beast as he heard the pained screams of his victim as he tore the tender flesh mercilessly.

Sasuke didn't stop after the heartbeat seized its pace, he ravished the man's body, tearing it to pieces with his teeth and claws until he felt his blood hunger subdue.

"You are quiet a messy one!" An amused voice ranged from somewhere above.

The demon turned sharply in the direction of the new voice, growling. Up in the trees he saw something move before it landed right in front on him with a feline grace.

Naruto made a face at the display of blood and gore and turned to his companion with an amused smirk.

"You such a blood-thirsty bastard, Sasuke-teme"

A glint of recognition passed in the blood red eyes of the beast as they turned back to their midnight black and his form changed back to his human body.

As he surveyed the scene around him his knees gave out and he collapsed on the ground and a great feeling of nausea overtook him. The blonde boy kneeled down in front of his companion placing a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't worry about this too much… you'll learn how to control it eventually. Just don't be so messy the next time you decide to rip someone's throat out, ok?" Naruto said softly before standing up and moving towards the mess to look for the bag that the man was caring.

Sasuke felt sick and dizzy. He knew he was different now, he felt it. Suddenly he became very afraid, afraid of what he has become.

'So that's what Kyuubi meant when he talked about giving me power. But how is this possible? And what does he want in return from me?'

Cold sweat broke down from his body as the raven-haired boy forced himself not to go in denial and face the facts head on. Ohh it was not a pleasant reality to face and most of all what bothered him was Naruto's calm attitude towards the whole deal. Was Naruto the nine-tails or did the blonde really lost his mind and became like this himself, just like his brother. That thought made him shudder. His brother, the one that killed his whole clan without a trace of guilt or regret, was the reason why Sasuke sought power, to avenge. But now he wondered. Was Naruto just like his brother?

'No, it can't be, the blonde always protected everyone and was determined to be a Hokage one day. But can it all be a pretense? Am I becoming just like him?…like Itachi…'

Naruto's voice broke Sasuke's inner dispute and made him look up into the endless pools of sky blue.

"Don't think too hard, Sasuke. You are what you are, and you became what you are out of your own will, so don't blame yourself too hard. "

Naruto smiled at the confused and scared boy in front of him as if to say "It's ok, everything will be ok".

"I am not a human anymore, am I?" A quiet but firm voice broke the short silence.

"You are and you are not, you are a creature of a human and a demon, you were reborn, and today is your first new birthday, Sasuke-kun"

The demon boy simply nodded, getting grip of his self control once more he raised himself off the ground and walked a bit further away from the offensive sight of his previous work.

"What are we going to tell Kakashi? And the body…"

"Here, Sasuke, hold on to this." The blonde gave the other boy the contents of the bag which surprisingly didn't hold any trace of blood. It was one of the important scrolls that were held in the Hokage tower, stolen for sure.

"We can say we fought him and were able to retrieve the scroll but the thief got away. Even if they don't believe us, they won't be able to prove otherwise after I'm done with this mess." The blonde said in a usual voice but in a tone that permitted no objections as he turned towards the body.

Naruto soaked his fingers in the blood of the thief and closed his eyes, fully concentrating on the sticky substance on his fingertips. Sasuke watched this with slight interest not really understanding how his companion planed to get rid of the dead body. But he soon found himself once again startled by the blonde. He watched as the red chakra swirled around Naruto's hand and then shot outwards into every bit of flesh and blood on the ground incinerating it instantly.

Just as it came, it was gone and there was no trace of previous slaughter. Even Sasuke's clothes were cleaned by this unusual, but a very effective method. The blonde opened his eyes and turned towards the startled Uchiha. Wordless agreement passed between the two as they looked into each others eyes before heading back towards the village to return the scroll and report their findings. At least they won't have to worry about this certain character coming back any longer, for where he has gone there was no coming back, at least not for him.

- - - - -

Another chapter completed, I hope you guys enjoying the story. Although it might not seem like it yet, it is definitely a yaoi Naruto x Sasuke story. I promise that. But before I get to the yummy parts I want to establish the main plot.

Anyways, thanks a lot for reviewing : ) it really helps and motivates to write more.