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Colors of Life and Death- by Songbird21
Chapter 1

Rating: R (15+) for gore and language

Summary: Naruto is kidnapped by Orochimaru, finds out who his parents were, realizes he has feelings for Hinata, makes his first kill, gets adopted and deals with puberty. And if that's not enough his chakra has undergone a change that will turn legend...into reality....

Spoiler warning: Up to chapter 232 in the manga or episode 134 of the anime. After that it goes a bit AU, but in a good way. :)

I am warning you right now: This fic will contain some extremely gory stuff. If you can't handle that then don't read. However, always remember, no matter what happens in this fic, that I LOVE happy endings.

There will be NaruHina and SakuLee stuff later (Other possible pairs include Sasuke X Tenten and Shikamaru X Temari. I'm not sure if those will happen though).

Please note: I am notorious for getting major writers block and leaving people hanging for weeks at a time, so I would strongly suggest you ask me to add you to my mailing list or add me to your author alert list. Otherwise you'll get very frustrated at having to check to see if I've updated only to find out I haven't.

Please read and review. I love reviews! Thanks!





Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata sat, scarcely breathing, behind a rather large row of bushes. Hinata had her Byakugan activated, watching the two ninjas guarding a small building nearly two-hundred feet away.

Sasuke was angry. He had just gotten his life back and now that damned snake had stolen the person he thought of as his brother. "How?" he thought. "How the hell did he get him without a fight?" His hands balled into anxious fists...waiting for the signal to move. He rubbed the back of his neck where the curse seal used to be.

Not long after Naruto had brought Sasuke home, and thanks to the help of a seal expert from the Hidden Sand, Tsunade had managed to remove the seal from the young Uchiha.

After a day of healing both Naruto and Sasuke were moved to a room in the out-patient ward of the hospital. Two days after that Tsunade had decided Sasuke's actions had been mainly the fault of the seal and declared him safe from all persecution.

Sasuke thought back to the third day after Naruto had brought him home....

---------------------------------------FLASHBACK--------------------------------------

"Hey, Naruto?" Sasuke mumbled as he sat up in the hospital bed he'd been laying on. He winced as Tsunade attended the numerous wounds that Naruto had had to inflict to beat some sense into him. However, it would take more than a skilled medical nin to heal the wounds of his heart.

Naruto looked up from his seat next to the bed. "What?"

"What was that thing?" Sasuke asked, causing his best friend to freeze in place.

Naruto knew exactly what Sasuke was talking about. He looked at Tsunade, as if asking for her permission to tell his story. She nodded and stood to leave the room.

Naruto took a quick, but deep breath. "Thanks, Tsunade....sama," he said as though using the word 'sama' in reference to Tsunade was difficult.

Tsunade froze in place for a moment, an eyebrow cocked in surprise. "Did that brat just show me respect?" she thought in mild amusement. She then smiled, nodded and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Naruto sat in silence for a few moments. He gulped and looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke was getting impatient, but he knew pushing for a break from the silence might make Naruto loose his nerve.

"Haven't you guessed yet?" Naruto asked. Although it was more of a statement, since he knew the answer.

"Of course I haven't, dobe," Sasuke replied in frustration.

Naruto ran a hand through his thick blonde hair and sighed. "How much do you know...about the Kyuubi?"

Sasuke's eyes went wide as dinner plates as suddenly, horribly, it seemed to all make sense. He could only hope that his instincts were wrong for once. "You...you're...the nine tails??" he stammered, fighting the urge to back away.

"No. But it is sealed inside me...." Naruto answered, fully expecting his best friend to tell him to get out. Or call him a monster and then....

"That explains it."

Naruto looked up, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Everything. It all makes perfect sense now," Sasuke finished. He noticed the look of disbelief on Naruto's face. "Did you think I'd call you a monster?" Now Naruto's eyes went wide. Sasuke saw this, and suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "You did. Didn't you?"

Naruto slowly nodded.

Silence ensued for a long while as Sasuke considered his response. Finally he spoke again. "I'm sorry," Sasuke said, regret deep in his voice.

"For what?" Naruto asked as he wiped his eyes with his arm.

"For making you doubt me like that. For making you think I'd so easily call you a monster. Especially when the real monster...is me." Sasuke looked down as he finished his sentence, missing Naruto's expression, which was a mixture of confusion and surprise. "I nearly betrayed Konoha. Nearly...killed you," he continued as he stared at his right hand. The very same hand that had held the deadly chidori just a few days earlier. "This hand...it was..."

As Naruto watched in amazement he saw something that he never had thought possible. There were tears in the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke. "Sasuke?" he thought in question.

"It was through your body. I...I could feel...your...your blood...your organs...and...and it didn't bother me!" Sasuke said in a choked voice.

Naruto reached a hand out toward his friend. "Sasuke...." he began.

Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand away. "NO! Don't you get it???" he screamed in rage and sadness.

"Sasuke...it was the seal..." Naruto began.

"I ALMOST KILLED YOU!!!!" Sasuke screamed as tears began to flow. "I was so absorbed in avenging my family that I didn't even see the one I had!!!" he cried.

Naruto couldn't believe his ears. "Family? You consider me...family?" he said as the tears returned to his eyes.

"You, Sakura, even Kakashi. You're all I have....and I nearly destroyed that. I nearly lost everything...again..." Sasuke said as his tears soaked into his shirt.

Naruto suddenly looked very determined. "Sasuke...I...I'll help you."

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "What?"

"I said I'll help you. I'll help you kill Itachi," Naruto said with conviction, but expecting to be yelled at for suggesting that Sasuke should need help. When no such yelling came he continued. "You don't have to carry that burden by yourself. Sakura and I are here for you. You're not alone anymore."

Although he hadn't said anything, Sasuke was gritting his teeth to keep from telling Naruto that it wasn't his fight. But he decided that, at the current time, it wasn't worth it. He hurriedly wiped his eyes. "Arigato." He suddenly straightened himself and looked like he had decided something. "Naruto..."

"Yeah?"

"Take off your jacket and hold out your arm," he instructed, earning a very strange look from the blonde-haired gennin.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Just do it," Sasuke answered.

Naruto sighed and did as was requested of him. Sasuke turned to face him and made a series of seals. After the last seal his right index finger had a small glowing symbol hovering just in front of the tip. Naruto looked closer at it. His eyes widened when he saw the symbol was actually the kanji for 'Uchiha'. Just then Sasuke spoke.

Sasuke was staring at the kanji. "I never thought I would use this jutsu. Normally only the head of the family is allowed to." He reached forward with the Kanji and touched Naruto's right bicep.

A small hissing sound was heard as Naruto flinched. "Hot hot hot!" he yelled indignantly. After the burning stopped he looked at his arm. The symbol of the house of Uchiha was quickly healing into a scar. He looked up at Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled. As much as Sasuke ever did smile anyway. "Now you are my brother...officially. In my family's records you will be listed as Uchiha, Naruto."

An impossibly huge grin spread over Naruto's face. "HA HA!!!" he laughed in joy as he launched himself at his newly appointed brother, knocking him over in a huge bear hug.

Sasuke was immediately annoyed. "Get off of me! DOBE!!!" he yelled.

---------------------------------------END FLASHBACK---------------------------------------

Sasuke was brought out of his reverie when the trio heard an explosion to the east. The sound ninjas that were guarding the building left instantly. "That's the signal! Let's go!" he said with authority.

They reached the door. Sasuke, who had been designated team leader in Kakashi's absence, ordered Hinata to activate her Byakugan one more time to make sure they hadn't been seen. "Sakura, open the lock," he commanded.

Sakura made a short series of seals. A small stream of chakra leaked out from her fingers and entered the lock. In less than two seconds a click was heard that indicated the lock was open. She made a slight smile of satisfaction. "Ready," she said.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Go slowly. We don't know if there are any traps."

Both girls nodded in agreement and walked inside. Sasuke turned to Hinata. "Hinata, your Byakugan," he half asked, half commanded.

The black-haired heir to the Hyuuga clan shook her head. "Mm mm. The walls are too thick and the...they are s...solid cement."

Sasuke frowned. "Alright then. Split up and search. If you find him, contact me," he said, pointing to his headpiece microphone.

Both girls nodded in agreement and disappeared. Only small puffs of smoke echoed their existence. Sasuke immediately set off on his own path. He ran quietly, yet swiftly, and soon found himself in front of a heavy iron door. He took a calming breath and pushed it open...he nearly vomited.

The stench of death and decay found the young ninja's nostrils. As he surveyed the scene in front of him he took out a small, circular tin, opened it and put some of the menthol scented paste that was inside on the skin under his nose to block out the smell.

There were bodies everywhere. Most hung from the walls. The ones on the floor lay in piles of their own entrails, which had spilled out from wounds obviously made by some sharp implement. A large number of them still had their eyes wide open as they had been in their moment of death. Sasuke glared at the sight before him in disgust. "That sick, son of a b...." he was cut off as her heard Sakura's blood curdling scream. He bolted away from the ghastly scene in the room he had found and ran toward the sound with dread.

He ran as hard as he could. Something in Sakura's scream had made him afraid of what it meant. His shoes made very little sound as he ran from door to door, looking for her. He was nearly impaled by a pointed wooden pole when he opened one door. Another door lead to a second chamber of horrors like he had found earlier. He quickly shut that one and pushed on. "Dammit!," he thought in anger and exhaustion. "Where the hell is she?!"

He went down a flight of stone stairs and made a sharp right when he thought he heard the sounds of someone retching. His lungs felt like they were on fire by the time he found Sakura. Hinata was there too. And apparently she had been the one throwing up, as she was on her hands and knees, a pool of vomit on the floor in front of her.

"Sakura! What is it?!" Sasuke asked as he took the last few steps needed to reach her position. Sakura was shaking badly. Her eyes were impossibly wide with shock as she stared through an open door in front of her. "Sakura..." he said as he touched her shoulder. The pink haired konnichi didn't respond. "Saku...ra...." he barely got out as he saw what had caused his friend to scream.

The room the door lead to was pitch black, except for a hanging lamp in the center that illuminated a small table. What was on that table nearly caused Sasuke to scream as well. "Na...Naruto....?"

At the mention of Naruto's name Sakura fell to her knees and began crying loudly. Hinata sat back up from her 'mess' and started to hyperventilate, bits of sobs being heard in between her desperate gasps for air.

It was nearly thirty seconds before Sasuke could will his legs to move. He walked slowly, as if in a trance, toward the table. "This can't be right," he thought. "It's got to be a nightmare." He stopped about a foot from his destination. His breath caught in his throat as he stood there, staring at the mess in front of him.

The usually spiked, blonde hair was matted to his head with sweat and speckled with blood. The blue eyes were closed. The orange jacket and black t-shirt lay on the floor. The blood was absolutely everywhere. From his collarbone to his waistline...he had been cut open. His muscles in that area were all visible, owing to the fact that his skin on both sides of the cut had been peeled back like an open magazine.

Finally, Sasuke's vision came to rest on his brother's right arm...and the mark of the Uchiha clan...smeared with blood. This was all it took for Sasuke to lose it. He dropped to the floor, threw back his head and screamed....

And screamed....

And screamed........



Please don't kill me. backs away from angry glares