Naruto: Rise of the Uzumaki by X009

Chapter 1

Naruto was slow to return to his senses from his place on the ground. With a slight groan, he began to stir, and the first thing he saw as his eyes cracked open was Sasuke's foot inches before his face, and the masked boy he and his teammate had been fighting lying sprawled out on the concrete

"Geez... you always get in the way..." Sasuke said, putting him down as always.

But that didn't matter right now! If Sasuke had managed to get them out of this, Naruto would take back everything bad he'd ever said about him. Not like he didn't know how good Sasuke was, even if he hated admitting it.

"Sasuke, you-!" But as he looked up, the triumph and gratitude he felt turned to ash. Coldness settled in the pit of his stomach as he saw the needles riddling Sasuke's body. Well over a dozen littered his arms, his legs, his back...

Five of them stuck out of his neck, leaking blood as he coughed up a wad of crimson that added to the splashes the blond just now noticed.

"What's... with that face... idiot?" Sasuke asked as he looked over his shoulder. His tone was the same as always, but only now did Naruto notice how he was struggling to speak. How strained he sounded.

"Why...?" Naruto started, unsure what to say. They'd hated each other. Anyone who knew them could tell. He should have been the last person Sasuke would lay down his life for. And yet...

"I... don't know..." Sasuke answered weakly. "I hated you..." He admitted, wondering about the answer himself.

"So why... save me?" Naruto repeated. He clenched his teeth. Angry at Sasuke for doing something so stupid. At the masked boy for doing this to him. At himself for running into what was obviously some kind of jutsu and getting them in this mess.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"I never asked for your help!"

Sasuke took a breath and just stood for a moment. "My body... just moved by itself." And with that, his remaining strength left him and he fell backward. Naruto caught him, mind racing as he tried and failed to process what was happening. Eyes wide as he realized how shallowly his rival was breathing.

"That man... my brother... I swore I would live until I killed him..." Sasuke said weakly, dull eyes focused on the blond. Some part of Naruto was perplexed by that admission, but it was small compared to the part screaming that his rival was about to die in his arms, to do something, but he couldn't move. "Don't let yourself die too..." And with that, the Uchiha's eyes closed, and the faint movements of his breathing ceased.

A tear fell from Naruto's eye. There was a burning feeling inside, different from the pain constricting his heart, swelling by the second.

"He charged at me without hesitation... and died protecting you. For that, he deserves respect," He heard the masked boy say as he rose to his feet. "Is this the first time you've witnessed the death of a friend? This is the way of Shinobi." And with that he slipped back into his mirror, his gaze not leaving his remaining opponent.

"Shut up..." Naruto said, quietly, focused on the unmoving body in his arms. 'I hated you too Sasuke... and yet...' His thoughts turned back to the masked boy, and at that moment he saw red. 'I won't forgive you!'

Crimson chakra erupted from the blond, startling the masked boy within the mirror as it began to tear through the ground, so intense was the normally intangible energy that it carved deep lines in the stone as it spiraled out from the genin's body.

As he leaned forward, resting Sasuke on the ground, his entire body tensed. Fire coursed through his veins, his mind almost completely blank as all emotions were drowned out by pure, burning rage. "I'm gonna kill you!" He almost roared, his voice a guttural growl as he bent forward, one hand laying Sasuke on the ground as the other clawed at the concrete. The Uzumaki rose to his feet, the wounds littering his body healing as he moved, senbon pushed out by growing muscle mass, cuts and scrapes steaming as they faded away until he was left unharmed... Above him, the spiraling crimson coalesced, shifting and taking shape...