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Ever since the attack of the Kyubi, Naruto was shunned as 'Konoha's Demon' when he was born with the Kyubi sealed in him. His life was miserable beyond grief. Time passed by and he has slowly proven himself as its jailer instead of its incarnate. But despite this, love never truly touched the young jinchuuriki's heart until death came over him.

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A/N: I do not own Naruto, Bleach or any other canonical characters. If I did, I wouldn't be here in FF now would I?

Talking
'thinking/flashback'
Kyubi Talking/Jutsu
'Kyubi Thinking'

Chapter 2

A Fate Worse than Death

Where it continues…

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Silence…An ominous one to be exact.

Only the souls of those who lived in this forest could possible understand why it was so eerie and tense.

While friends and foes gather together for the fateful encounter that would inevitably change their lives, nature had other things planned for them.

For the trespassers on nature's domain, only the souls of the dead can attest to their fate in this chapter of their lives as nature itself, decides to join in the battle.

With Naruto's team prepared and itching for the battle to end this game of cat and mouse, Yamato, Naruto's new captain and sensei, kept ever vigilant of the horizon. With watchful eyes, he kept a steady gaze until he saw exactly what they had prepared for. Without a moments notice, he turned his head towards the team and said,

"They're here!"

As they heard his voice echo through the cliffs, they sharpened themselves for the plan to capture their foe, hook-line-and sinker.

Naruto stood as still as he could in the edge of the forest nearest the cliffs, with Hinata beside him. As Hinata crouched to make her less noticeable through the tufts of foliage, Naruto, with his left hand, carefully reached for his back pouch on his belt. As he took in his hand a kunai with a tag tied to its end and the kanji for 'fire' written on it, he went through his mindscape, trying play the re-run of the plan to capture Sasuke in his mind.

Flashback

Just after Hinata had used her Byakugan to see the enemy on the horizon, Kakashi grabbed their attention to strategize on how they will go about to turn the slippery eel into a caged bird.

With an authority brimming from his unseen lips, and his once speeding heartbeat from all the sprinting, now slowing down, he began to speak of his master plan.

"Ok, Here's the plan. Yamato, keep a lookout and place some wire around the remaining trees and stumps closest to the cliff so that they intersect with each other. Shino, keep your bugs within the forest grounds so they don't move out of the trap once they're in. Kiba, you and me will take out Sasuke's bodyguards. That leaves Sai and Sakura to distract them the moment we can't hold them in."

"what about me and Hinata-chan?"

Naruto questioned as he felt that he and Hinata were left out of the loop. Seeing this Yamato made an appropriate task for Naruto. He then slowly walked to Naruto and then placed his hands upon the blonde's shoulders. With a serious yet thoughtful gaze falling upon the puzzled blonde's face, he then told him.

"You're going to set off the trap and capture Sasuke. In the confusion, it will be hard for us to move, but with your Kage Bunshins, you have a better chance of taking Sasuke before they have the chance to move in for the kill."

He said with all seriousness, he handed over to Naruto a tagged kunai for him to use. Grasping this weapon, Naruto looked at Yamato…his cerulean eyes meeting his deep brown ones. Then he nodded in acknowledgement and moved in point to do his part of the grand plan. Hinata however knew that Naruto was as serious as he could be and wished to help him fulfill his task. A look of determination shone on her face. Her timid heart, though struggled for a moment, but eventually, submitted to her will. As she turns to join Naruto in his hiding spot, Yamato, unknowingly to her, grabbed her by the shoulder. This surprised her and caused her heart to beat faster. Her breathing became deeper as she felt the warm hands of Yamato.

Yamato could only say to her what was objective as this was what was logged into his mind after years of self-discipline and much battlefield experience. And so, that he did as he spoke to her…

"Hinata, please help Naruto. He needs you to guide him. Not just in this mission, but also after. He might become reckless. I know he is capable on his own, but someone needs to make sure he doesn't do anything too rash that it could cost him the team. And from my position in the plan, I might not make it in time to stop him. Can you do this?"

He said to her. A shocked Hinata turned her head around to face the dead serious Jounin. Though she was embarrassed, she nonetheless closed her eyes and smiled with her face blooming like a rose. Her smile in turn infectiously caused Yamato to smile as well. Yamato now felt that Hinata understood what her task was and was prepared to do it despite her emotional and psychological state. She wasn't always the shy reserved type he imagined her to be. He realized that despite her appearance, she was a strong person who was willing to do whatever it took to protect those she loved and cared for and was committed to the mission.

With that, Hinata faced her head forward and leapt off in search of Naruto.

Naruto then was surprised to see Hinata by his side. Of course Hinata explained that it was an, 'order from Yamato-taicho'. Though in her heart, she would gladly join him anyway as she no longer wished to succumb to her weak-willed persona forever. In her mind only one thought kept reverberating…

'Its been so long since I've seen him…I want to do things right this time…who knows were he would run off to this time…I don't want to regret not doing what I could have done before he left…not anymore.'

End of Flashback

Back in real time….Sasuke and his group hurriedly pushed towards the field ahead of them to avoid capture from the group behind him.

"THEY'RE STILL CHASING US!"

The troubled red-head in Sasuke's team said. They had sprinted much faster than before to escape the clutches of their captors. Unknowingly, into the trap set before them.

A concerned look was showing on the face of the tallest one in Sasuke's group. Aside from the black coat, he wore grey tattered pants and no clothing on his top half which revealed his chiseled, battle-scarred body. On his head, silver hair raised to the sky though slightly brushed back. He also had a diamond shaped tattoo on his left hand. Overall, aside from his size, there was nothing very distinct about him. As such, some people easily ignore him. This man, who began piecing together the events that are happening to them at the moment, voiced out to their leader.

"I think this is a trap. We should—"

before the deep voiced man could continue his sentence, they already landed on the ground near the cliffs. An ominous breeze could be felt in the air as they carefully searched around for their pursuers or any impending danger that may have been laid ahead of them.

To their right, a huge pit with nothing but darkness at the bottom implying a depth they cannot escape; an obvious trap that must be avoided. Behind them, the edge of the forest was lined with dying trees, as they grew closer to the cliff.

In front of them, was the steep mountainside brimming with rocks and boulders. A good hiding spot for an ambush and a potential trap as well.

To their left was a pile of stumps and broken trees that were not caused by any man. 'A storm had occurred' they thought at seeing the conditions of that side of the forest.

As they looked really hard, Sasuke spotted a shining object gleaming on the left side of his eye. As he turned his head to look, the object passed by in front of him.

While reflexively following the path of the object, his eyes opened wider with every millisecond.

It was a kunai just three centimeters away from his face. As it zoomed passed him, it hit a rock on the grassy field. Upon closer inspection, it had a tag on it that started to burn up like a dynamite wick. Seeing this, all four members, attempted to nimbly leap away from the impending danger. Their attempts failed as the earth itself reached for their legs and grabbed them with a tight grip.

'my technique was right on target I might not be able to hold them for long though'

Yamato thought from a hidden location as he kept a tight grip of concentration for the moment to give his teammates the necessary time to commence the plan.

As Sasuke's team panicked, Kakashi saw this chance and raised the end of the wire he was pulling and it immediately revealed itself from the grassy field. The wire revealed that it had several tags on it that lined up the hexagonal shape of the wires tied together. Sasuke did not flinch at this despite him being caught in this successful trap. He remained cold, calm and calculating.

After a second, he then barked at his team.

"Stay close to me… I'll get us out."

His orders cut through their hearts like a knife through the water. They immediately ducked in position as much as they could though their feet were still stuck in the ground. The tags then exploded, leaving a cloud of smoke around the area. Seizing this opportunity, they began their assault in the smoke.

Kiba and Akamaru leaped from the grassy plain and in midair, Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba, and both began to spin wildly.

"Getsuga!"

His command made them spin into two cyclones as they dived in the smoke.

Kakashi wasted no time either as he raised his forehead protector to reveal his left eyelid which had a vertical scar that ran down to his mask. When he opened it, it revealed a crimson eye with three tomoes that encircled his pupil. He then blurred through several handseals. When he finished the last one, he raised his right hand just a fist apart from his chest. The sounds of sharp crackling could be heard as it became a visible ball of pure lightning.

"Raikiri!"

He then charged at breakneck speed into the smoke with right hand leading the way.

As quickly as he could, Sai started to draw several lions on his scroll and made several hand seals and finished by shouting the words,

"Choju Giga!"

As soon as he finished the incantation, the many drawings of lions came to life and charged straight through the smoke. In cohesion with his attack, Sakura grabbed a nearby boulder and threw it at the trees behind the smoke allowing the prepared broken trees to release the bugs of Shino that flew into the smoke as well. This action also made sure Sasuke could not escape from the forest behind them as well.

As the plan now materialized, Hinata decided to check things out using her special ability to see through the hazy mist of gunpowder and dust. She made the necessary hand seals and finished the incantation with the word,

"Byakugan!"

With that word, the veins of her eyes now throbbed and tightened revealing themselves for all to see. Her gaze sharpened, as she looked hard into the smoke. Her vision transformed from Technicolor into black and white. But with this change of vision color, she now could see farther and closer than eagles can. As she looked into the smoke, she pulled on Naruto's coat and spoke to him.

"N-naruto! I-is that…Sasuke?"

She questioned in utter distress with wide-open eyes. She gripped his coat even tighter at what she saw through her telescopic eyes. Naruto understood at what she saw, for he saw it firsthand at the Valley of the End. Feeling her fear, he grabbed her hand and calmly reassured her.

"Its alright Hinata, his bark is worse than his bite."

He said soberly to her. Feeling the valor in him that she always saw in him, she too, became courageous by the inspiration of Naruto's words. Hinata then joined him in his assault on the mist of smoke.

When the smoke finally cleared, the rest of team was shocked by the form of Sasuke that sent chills down their spines.

As Kakashi's electrically charged arm was halted dead in its tracks, and Kiba and his dog Akamaru's team attack completely stopped, by what looks like a giant brown pair of hands.

Underneath those hands, were the other three teammates of Sasuke. Sasuke himself was the one who shielded them from the onslaught of both attacks from Kakashi and Kiba.

As Sasuke brings his head upward his features have altered drastically. His coat burned from the explosive tags. And his Gi burned as well revealing his now dark skin. His hair was a shade of light blue, and reached the middle of his spine. On his face was a black tattoo-like cross marking and his eyes glowed red with the infamous triple tomoe on each eye know as the Sharingan. Sasuke's unusually shaped 'wings' opened up and retracted behind him; hung like cloth on a coat hanger. The monster in his inner reflection now became his outer one.

Kakashi and Kiba jumped back and allowed Sai's lions to attack while Sasuke's guard was down. Sasuke predicted this and used his Chidori Nagasi to eradicate the ink based beasts and the stony prison hobbling their feet. Not noticing the bugs on their backs, they began to take fighting stances.

Sakura leaped from the cliff heading straight towards the fray. Her left arm recoiled back as she ran towards the battlegrounds. When she got within arm range, in one flowing motion, she twisted her right side causing her right arm to recoil and charge her fist, and finally leaping to give a right straight punch to the largest one. The deep voiced man then leapt towards the right, barely avoiding the devastating punch that landed on the ground leaving a huge crater on the point of impact from Sakura.

This of course alarmed the troubled one beside him when the assault started. Especially since this attack killed the remaining smoke screen that was blinding them. This made her voice out in alarm.

"Jugo! Are you all right?"

The troubled one asked in despair. Realizing the potential threat in front of him, Jugo, the deep voiced man, cautiously fought the pink haired strong-arm in front of him. Just a couple of milliseconds had gone by before they all snapped to attention to commence their battle. The next set of blows would determine who was ready to fight and who was ready to die.

Bugs erupted from the ground in an attempt to engulf team Sasuke. Sasuke then activated his Chidori Nagasi once more and eradicated the bugs and Kiba and Akamaru's second assault.

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Kakashi's Fight

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The cynical one, with his right arm poised, reached for the object burdening his back. As he reached out to grasp what looks like a handle, Kakashi, with a burst of speed, assaulted with a kunai in his right hand attempting to lunge it at his opponent. Seeing this, the cynical one quickened his draw and met Kakashi's kunai with his now drawn weapon.

The sound of metal could be heard clashing like the sound of the hammer of a blacksmith during a forge.

Kakashi, while guarding the weapon's attack with his kunai, said in shock to his adversary.

"That…THAT'S Zabuza's weapon! You took it from his grave! Who are you?"

It was a sword that was the height of a man and the width of its blade was the length of its master's forearm. The only other unique thing about this sword was that it had a cresent shaped area just below the center of the blade.

He questioned the man as he knew that the previous owner of that weapon had died several years ago and no one aside from his team knew where his sword was placed. That is, unless, he had a connection somehow to Zabuza, its previous master.

Upon hearing the question of his adversary, the cynical one just smirked and smiled, revealing his sharpened dagger-like teeth.

Kakashi, now realizing what he's up against, leaped away and formed several hand seals and shouted,

"Futon: Daitopa!"

A huge blast of wind came crashing into the enemy which sent him flying back into the broken trees behind him. As the cynical one fell back first into the trees, Yamato then blurred through some handseals and when he finished, wood from the fallen trees were the cynical one landed grappled him.

a spark occurred from the various tags that surrounded the snakelike wooden branches. Before he could wake up into consciousness, a huge explosion burned down the fallen man. All that was left was the huge sword lying on the ground.

'kuso…Suigetsu was careless'

Sasuke thought as he looked upon the remains. It was clear he was outnumbered and had fallen into their hands only to await prison in Konoha when they would inevitablely be captured.

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Hinata's Fight

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As Sasuke came to his senses from his brief rant about his fallen comrade, he felt a heavy and sharp pain to his left side. The pain felt like he was being shredded continuously by a meat grinder.

As he turned to look, he saw it was Naruto using one of his trademark techniques, the Rasengan--a ball of pure energy that tears to shreds in multiple areas on one location of whatever it hits.

This attack caused him to fumble back on the dirt and fall on one knee while clutching his rope-burned left ribs. Before he could recompose, another attacker came at him.

Before he could react, she stopped just right in front of him and went into a fighting stance where her left foot was slightly in front of her right, and her right hand coiled to her right side and her left slightly outstretched. Her eyes sharpened with fierce determination like that of a tiger. With absolute focus and her Byakugan still active, she then announced the incantation of her attack.

"Juuken Hyaku Nijūhachi Tsume no Tora!"

In a flash, using her grace and flexibility,

she sent twenty 'claw mimicking' palm strikes to the chest,

fifty to the solar plexus,

fourteen to the right and left arms,

a sweeping back, right, step kick to the back of the right leg and uses it to leap sideways to perform,

a graceful combination of a double spin while delivering forty strikes to the entire backside starting from the heel up and while still in midair,

she grabs his left shoulder and swings her body weight like a gymnast and sits on his shoulders facing him front; delivering him three strikes to the head causing him to lose balance, allowing her to back flip so she lands on the ground.

With both arms coiled back, her right foot back and her left foot to lead the entire body. When she makes the step, she releases a double palm strike to the chest, sending him flying to his troubled redheaded, making them both collapse into the ground.

Seeing the full-scale damage and area coverage of the technique, Naruto was amazed at how much she has grown in the two and a half years spent away. The once shy and timid Hinata he knew to faint, blush and stutter…is now a powerful, independent, and courageous woman!

As he dusted off his astonishment of her skills, he was surprised to see Sasuke standing up!

Completely unfazed by the attack combination and regenerating from the implosive destructive force of the juuken strikes and the grinded Rasengan damaged area with every second. Sasuke started to open up his wings and began to hover slightly above the ground.

Sasuke, not wasting any time and effort, flapped his wings, and charged at the duo.

And with his electrically charged sword drawn at his right hand, he made a swift side slash which Naruto ducked from and Hinata nimbly sidestepped to the right avoiding the weapon. Sasuke wasn't done there though. While still in motion, with his right wing, he slaps them hard causing them both to fly directly in the pit.

With eyes open wide, Kiba attempts to grab them both with utter failure as the pit now glowed red with a magical seal that kept others from entering and the two from getting out.

"Naruto! Hinata!"

He screamed as he saw his two friends fall further into the darkness. With everyones' attention drawn to the two falling, Sasuke used this rare opportunity to escape their clutches once more.

Catching the attention of his other teammates, he then said,

"Now is our chance…lets move Jugo and Karin…gahh!"

Sasuke said to the deep voiced man and the troubled redhead, taking the opportunity at hand while still holding his side. The damage that both fighters gave to him now started to take effect.

'kuso…that…was…really…painful…AAack!'

The wounded raven haired boy thought as he gripped his bleeding side and shivered from the intense pain of Hinata's strikes.

Karin, seeing his badly beaten state, held Sasuke's left arm over her while jumping off with him and Jugo following behind carrying a bottle of water and Suigetsu's sword.

Sai attempted to follow close behind but was held back by Shino as he grabbed him and told him.

"Not now, Naruto and Hinata are the first priority. Besides, I have them tagged with my bugs already."

The rest of the team then stood over the pit with Sakura attempting to break the invisible seal…all to no avail. They all stared into the thickening darkness. Hopelessness filled their eyes and tears streamed forth from Sakura's own. They could not go in to help them. Neither could the two in the blackness come out with such a strong barrier over it.

Yamato however, remembered something from his early days concerning this situation. With all the emotionless charged words he could muster, he then told the helpless lambs.

"I have heard of this pit. They say that, before civilization was formed, a huge battle ensued between the 'Four Gate Guardians of the Continent' and that the one who won that battle, was buried here and that his soul will not rest until his thirst is fulfilled by the souls of 'true hearts'. It was also said that when a suitable soul was found, a magical, unbreakable barrier would form over the entrance and he would live in the chosen sacrifice and would eternally feed on his or her soul until he could regenerate and be reborn. It was just a fairy tale, a legend… Until now, I never knew it actually exists."

All six of them tried hard to swallow this information as they were still traumatized at how their friends were just thrown into a disaster like this. Trying to make sense of it all, Kakashi voiced out his curious mind.

"But who was chosen, Naruto or Hinata? Could it be both of them?"

He had a point. It could be that only one of them, or both, or even the unlikely chance that they were taken by mistake. But despite this, the hole in each of their wounded hearts could think only one thing…

'this is unreal…it's a mistake…'

But Yamato could not see how Kakashi's statement could matter at a dreadful time as this. He then turned to Kakashi. With nothing but the pessimistic, yet unbridled truth, his lips formed words that lacerated the team even more than ever…

"Does it matter? Either way, they both are now forever damned down there. The seal isn't a regular seal. Its powers are arcane to us. It might be a better time to retreat at the moment…"

He was right despite the bitter taste of the inference of Yamato.

They knew full well that none of them could save their friends that have fallen in a forever blackening pit with a monster waiting at end to consume their souls.

To them, death would have been better than the unknown knowledge of whether they were safe or not from the thing that awaits them at the bottom.

But one thing was certain,

That darkness… and depth of it… was definitely…a fate worse than death.

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Yup, here it is. Chapter two of Naruto: Death's Second Chance.

Ya, the main pairings are obvious. I really don't think Sakura deserves the noble blonde's heart after what he went through. I mean C'MON! I understand how Kishimoto wants it to be Sakura because she didn't know and understand, but when you think about it, Hinata tried her best to actually befriend him and never hit him for being annoying. Plus, it's painfully obvious how much better of a pair they would be.

The next chapter will change things for both of them.

One last reminder, please review!

And thanks for reading the latest chapter in Naruto: Death's Second Chance

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Choju Giga(Super Beasts Imitation Jutsu) - Sai's special jutsu that allows his drawings to come to life so he can use them for various attacks and defenses.

Chidori Nagasi(One Thousand Birds Current)- A technique that produces a current of electricity to act as a shield that stuns those who come in contact with it.

Fuuton Daitopa(Wind Art: Great Breakthrough)- a technique that sends a blast of wind. the strength of the technique is proportional to the chakra molded for it.

Juuken Hyaku Nijuhachi Tsume no Tora(Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty Eight Claws of the Tiger)- a modified version of the one hundred twenty eight palm strikes in which chakra is manipulated to create swirling vaccums in the tenketsus instead of closing it causing the target to suffer from intense implosive destruction.