AN: Surprise, surprise! Another new idea that's been on the back burner for a while, so I decided to hell with it, let's see how it could do! I'm back again, this time with a crossover between Naruto and Bleach. Inspiration came to me for this one because of how the ending to the Bleach manga was handled. While I understand Kubo was rushed, I can't help but feel that improvements could be made here and there to the overall story, and this is my attempt at it. As always, no flames!

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto or Bleach! All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo respectively!

Chapter 1: A Second Chance

"You only survived our last encounter because of my passing whim," Sasuke commented dryly as he flashed in front of the blonde Jinchuuriki below him, one hand on his shoulder and the other on his chokuto. "And now you shall die because of my passing whim." Sharingan blazed in the Uchiha's eyes furiously as his gaze shifted sharply to his right, catching Sai in a Genjutsu just as he was rushing in to help his teammate.

"A person who can't even save one friend is undeserving of the title Hokage…" Naruto's eyes hardened as he accepted his fate. "Isn't that right, Sasuke?"

"… Hn." Was all the Uchiha responded with before pulling his chokuto free of its sheathe.

"Sasuke-kun, no!" Sakura blurted out as she dashed into her love's guard to try and save Naruto.

"You're in the way." Sasuke barely acknowledged her presence as he in one fluid motion cut the pinkette down while rounding upon Yamato with a Lightning Chakra-infused roundhouse kick and ended with the tip of his sword pressed firmly against Naruto's back.

"Do it." Naruto challenged his "friend". "Kill me, if that's what you want."

"Why so eager to die, dobe?" Sasuke asked, digging the tip of the blade deeper into his rival's back.

"I'm not eager at all." The blonde shook his head. "I just want to see if you have the guts to do what you couldn't three years ago. I want to see if your passing whim will be enough to justify my blood being on your hands."

"You think I won't do it?" Sasuke scowled. "Take a look around you. My replacement's down for the count, Kakashi's replacement is out cold and Sakura's also out cold and bleeding to death." He glared hatefully at the Jinchuuriki's back. "I've done all of this and you still think that I can be saved?!" He raged. "What's wrong with you, huh?!"

"Call me an idiot if you want, but I still believe you can be saved." Naruto craned his head back to stare at his friend. "Can you still be saved?"

Cold.

Sharp, cold steel was what he felt run through his back and out of his chest in excruciating slow motion. Sasuke had buried his chokuto deep into Naruto to the hilt. With widened eyes and a choked gasp, Naruto glanced down to the blade protruding out of his chest and made to weakly grab it before the Uchiha sharply twisted the blade and tore it out while kicking him unceremoniously to the ground.

Blood dripped from the Kusanagi to the paved ground, staining it with the crimson of a fallen hero and his murderer stood victoriously over his most recent victim with an impassive glare.

"Let the darkness be your answer, dobe." Sasuke spat. "I'll not suffer your interruptions any longer. Now surrender to the cold embrace of the Shinigami."

"Sa…" Naruto was barely able to gasp out. "Sas… uke…"

As his vision began to go black, all Naruto could do was stare blankly at the retreating back of his "best friend" until he disappeared once again.

'F-Fox!' He desperately called out to his tenant. 'Help me!'

"And why would I do that?" Kurama smirked victoriously. "You die, I get released and I'm home free after a few years of reconstructing myself. This is a win-win for me, gaki." He then lazily yawned and curled up inside his now fading seal. "Now, be a good Ningen (Human) and die already."

'Damn you!' Naruto inwardly raged at his tenant while outwardly trying desperately to stand up, but as soon as he tried, he just fell once again.

The darkness was encroaching faster now, it was becoming colder and colder. With his last breath, he cursed the name of Uchiha Sasuke and finally succumbed to the dark.

Uzumaki Naruto…

… was dead?

The afterlife looked strangely like the World of the Living, suspiciously so. Was ne not dead after all? Was he in limbo? Was he in Hell?!

"Huh?" Naruto suddenly found his nerve and looked down at his chest, finding a severed chain attached to the center of his chest, with the other end of the severed chain connected to…

"… HOLY SHIT!" He blurted out and backpedaled quickly away from what he was standing right beside. Yes, he had just seen his own corpse.

"So, I really am dead, then…" He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Well…" He took a look around to confirm that he was still in the World of the Living. "This sucks."

"Yes, you mortals do indeed 'suck' as you say." Came a voice from beside him.

"… Huh?" With a turn of the head to the right, Naruto practically turned as white as a ghost… ironic, considering he is a ghost.

Beside him stood, or rather floated, the ethereal form of the Shinigami, who was baring his fang-like teeth in a feral smile, tanto gripped firmly between his jaws.

"What's wrong, little mortal?" Chided the Shinigami. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I AM a ghost!" Naruto blurted without thinking, then immediately slapped a hand over his own mouth once his own thought process caught up to what he just said.

"You've the gall to speak to me in such a manner, whelp." The Shinigami seemed amused. "I like you."

"Is that why you've come to collect me personally, Shinigami-sama?" Naruto asked, this time being just a bit more polite.

"No." The Shinigami shook his head. "I'm not to be the one to take you, young one. That honor goes to someone else."

"Someone… else?" The blonde asked quizzically, brow furrowed. "But you're THE Shinigami, the God of Death himself!"

"For this dimension, yes, and normally, all souls within this dimension belong to me…" The Shinigami glanced down to his young guest. "But you're a special case. It doesn't happen often, if at all, but sometimes people from your family tree gets picked up by…" He stopped himself with a dark chuckle. "Well, you'll find out eventually, young mortal."

"And I'm assuming I won't find out who they are until they come for me?"

"Precisely." The Shinigami nodded. "Until then, with your Inga no Kusari (Chain of Fate) broken, you're free to wander this world as you see fit… but I wouldn't. My advice would be to stay within your home village for the time being while you wait for them to come get you."

"And how long would that be?" Naruto asked the now disappearing form of the Shinigami.

"Within a day or two." The Shinigami then shrugged. "Probably."

"PROBABLY?!" Naruto blurted once again, but to no avail, as the Shinigami had completely disappeared. "Dammit…" He huffed, only looking down at his chain after he calmed down once again. "Chain of Fate, huh? Well, at least I know what this thing is now, for whatever good that'll do me."

"No…" He heard someone gasp out, and realized that Yamato had just woken up. "Naruto! Sakura!" He called out to his underlings while checking on the pinkette first.

"Sorry, Yamato-taichou (Captain Yamato)." Naruto apologized, knowing full well that he couldn't be heard. "Forgive this useless Genin for wanting to save his friend…"

"Naruto!" Yamato called out to Naruto's corpse. He didn't want to believe it, and Naruto could see the look of denial on the Jounin's face. "Naruto!" He called out again, this time shaking the blonde's body gently.

"I'm not getting up." Naruto shook his head with a sad smile. "I'm already dead."

All he did was look on as Sakura stepped up after stopping her own bleeding in an attempt to heal his own wounds.

"You better not die on me, dammit!" He noted the ghost of a tear forming within the pinkette's eyes. "You promised me we'd bring Sasuke-kun back! And you always keep your promises, so don't die you little blonde idiot!"

Minutes ticked by as Naruto wordlessly watched his teammate unsuccessfully try to bring him back until finally the green glow around her hands stopped and she froze. With her hands still upon his chest, she balled them into fists just as her shoulders began to shake. The unfallen tears finally spilled over in a torrent of despair. Despite her efforts, she couldn't hold it in and a sob escaped her, followed quickly by an anguished scream and her collapsing onto his chest, the waterworks fully opened. The blonde she had come to know as a friend, the one who she knew she could fully lean on for support, her brother… was dead. Killed by the very one they were fighting to save.

He had had enough. Lowering himself to one knee, he gently ran his right hand through her pink hair, hoping that he'd be able to at least show her that he was still around before whoever was coming to get him showed up.

Suddenly, Sakura's head shot up. Bloodshot eyes frantically darted from one place to another. Something had just touched her, but she couldn't see what had done it. And then there was some unknown knocking sound, of which it sounded like a stone being knocked against another stone, except it was rhythmic…

'Morse code!' Sakura came to an inward realization as she focused on the code and began to mentally decipher it, but it was not her that relayed the message.

"Don't cry, Sakura-chan." Yamato recounted aloud the code that was being relayed to them. "I'm still here for the moment. I don't know how long I can keep this up, but I couldn't just die like that without letting you know that there's an afterlife, could I?"

"N-Naruto…" Sakura sniffled.

"Don't mourn for me, Sakura-chan…" Naruto voiced his own code as he continued. "Don't allow my death to become a crutch. Keep pushing forward and keep smiling. I couldn't keep my promise, but I'm sure that you'll be able to bring Sasuke back. Keep training, keep getting stronger and knock some sense back into that idiot. I'll be with you every step of the way."

He knew that last part was a lie, but he didn't care. He wanted, no needed Sakura to believe that she was carrying on his will… and in a sense, she was, but something told him that he wouldn't be around to see the outcome of the events that were set in motion because of his death.

"That's a good thing you just did." Came another unknown voice. "Giving her the hope and drive needed to carry on whatever you two were trying to accomplish."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked as he stood from his crouched position and turned to find that the voice belonged to a young-looking man with long white flowing hair, yet looked slightly on the sickly side, and was wearing a black kosode and matching hakama pants over a white shitagi, white tabi socks and waraji sandals with the entire ensemble being topped off by a long-sleeved white haori and a katana on his left hip.

"Oh!" The man exclaimed, then sheepishly smiled. "Ukitake Jushiro, Captain of the Thirteenth Division of the Gotei 13."

"… Huh?" Was Naruto's very intelligent reply.

"I'm the one responsible for bringing you to the Soul Society." He said simply.

"… Where?" Again a very intelligent reply.

"Your afterlife." Another simple answer, which this time gained a look of realization from the young Shinobi.

"So, you're the one Shinigami-sama said would be coming for me?" He asked. "He said you'd be here within a day or two, not immediately."

"He likes to exaggerate." Ukitake chuckled, then clapped his hands together. "So, are you ready?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded, taking one last fleeting glimpse back at Sakura before taking in a deep breath. "Let's go."

"Hold still." Ukitake advised as he unsheathed his katana, which did nothing to still Naruto's nerves. "When you wake up, you may not remember anything. Crossing into the Soul Society means wiping your slate completely clean. You die here only to be reborn there for a new life. So, the next time we meet, you won't recognize me."

"A new life, huh?" Naruto mused with a smile. "Sounds good."

"And I look forward to seeing how you turn out." Ukitake also smiled as he lifted his katana up and pointed its hilt at the blonde's forehead, where it began to glow. "See you on the other side, Otsutsuki-sama."

"Otsutsuki?" Naruto asked, but just as the question left his mouth, Ukitake had pressed the glowing hilt against his forehead, making a veil of pure white light obscure his vision.

It was a moment of euphoria. For those short moments, he felt better than he had ever felt before, but most importantly, he felt a strange sense of peace fill his entire being that disappeared only when the glow also disappeared. He suddenly found himself standing within a rather spacious room which had wood floors and a sliding door on the far side of the room. When he took his first step forward, he noticed that the floors were dusty from disuse.

He quickly made his way over to the sliding door and promptly slid it open, revealing a sweeping view of a large courtyard, as well as the small forest that sat behind it. Winding through the courtyard was a small flowing river that had a bridge over it at scattered intervals and along the banks of the river there were flowers of various kinds and colors. Other than the natural beauty of the place, there was a surprisingly sparse amount of human influence, probably an effect of the disuse of this large manor.

Stepping out and onto the wooden walkway, Naruto decided to follow it to see where he'd end up, all the while marveling at the aforementioned courtyard. Eventually after a long walk, he found himself standing in front of what he suspected to be the front entrance to the manor… along with a company of strangely dressed men and women, led by a bespectacled man with brown hair and some sort of wooden plate fashioned onto his left shoulder and a katana tied to his left hip.

"Apologies for the intrusion, my Lord." The man with the glasses began as he bowed at the waist. "But I have been instructed to bring you before the Captain-Commander."

"Captain-Commander?" Naruto asked. "Who's that? What is this place? Who are you… who am I?"

"All of your questions shall be answered in mere moments, if you'll follow us." The man coolly answered. "But as to who I am, my name is Aizen Sosuke, Lieutenant of the Fifth Division."

"… Very well, Aizen." Naruto nodded after a brief moment of consideration. "Please, take me to see this so called Captain-Commander."

The walk itself was rather uneventful. The group of people had surrounded him and he had always been by Aizen's side. Along the way, more of the black-clad people would stop and look on in curiosity while others would simply make way for the group as they ascended a flight of stairs and into a building marked with the Kanji for 'One'.

"This is as far as we take you." Aizen finally said after a trip in silence. "You'll find the Captain-Commander inside."

"Thank you for the escort." Naruto thanked the bespectacled man with a polite bow.

"It was an honor to have done so, Otsutsuki-sama." Aizen returned the bow with a smile, then promptly turned on his heel and began walking away, his compatriots in tow.

After taking in a hesitant breath, Naruto worked up the nerve to open the doors he was brought to. After doing so, he walked into the rather spacious hall and spied an old man standing at the opposite end, long white beard, a glaring scar upon his bald head and grasping upon a wooden walking stick. As he approached, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind was screaming at him to be respectful… there was something about this old man that instinctually scared him, though he had no idea why.

"So, you are Asura's replacement…" The old man hummed thoughtfully. "I can see why. You are positively thrumming with untapped power, boy."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked as he approached the old man. "Who's Asura? And who am I?"

"Your name, youngster, is Otsutsuki Naruto, successor to your predecessor, Otsutsuki Asura." The old man patiently answered. "And I am Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13. Welcome to the Soul Society." His previously squinted eyed opened minutely to glare at the blonde.

"Otsutsuki?" Naruto once again asked.

"Your clan name." Yamamoto clarified. "As of now, you're the Clan Head of the Otsutsuki clan, one of our Four Noble Families, and probably one of the oldest remaining families from the olden days." To Naruto, he seemed to slip into a bit of a nostalgia trip. "I knew the founder of your clan. Ahh… Hagoromo was a steadfast ally and a brother to me."

"Hagoromo?" At this point, Naruto felt like a parrot playing Twenty Questions.

"The founder of your clan… technically speaking." Yamamoto once again clarified. "After his and Hamura's spat with their Mother, Hagoromo went on to re-found the Otsutsuki clan, not only in your previous world, but here as well. That was after he joined me in my crusade against the Quincy." Yamamoto then hummed. "Get comfortable boy, it seems I have a lot to explain."

What seemed like hours passed as Yamamoto explained the history of the Otsutsuki clan, of course glossing over the subject of the Quincy. As Naruto understood it, in recognition of Hagoromo's service to the Soul Society, Yamamoto made the Otsutsuki the first of the Four Noble Houses, alongside the Kuchiki, the Shihouin and one other family who's been lost to history. Asura was the next to inherit the Soul Society branch of the family, while his brother Indra was to lead the family as it existed in another dimension of the World of the Living, and this was when the conflict between the brothers began.

Each time Asura would be called back to fight his brother and each time he would take up arms faithfully, abandoning his post in the Soul Society and his clan to fight his estranged brother. This went on for a number of centuries, until finally, Asura had had enough and crossed over into the World of the Living's afterlife to be with the rest of his family, thus leaving Naruto his successor. Truth be told, there were still things that Naruto had no idea what was going on, but he suspected he'd get the full SITREP sooner or later.

"So…" Naruto attempted to collect his thoughts. "I'm now in charge of a family that's been on the verge of oblivion for a long time, as there have been no legitimate heirs borne of Asura, and the members of the family have all but abandoned the clan to join other clans?"

"Indeed." Yamamoto nodded. "You have quite the task ahead of you, young'un."

"Understatement of the century…" Naruto sighed wearily as he ran a hand down his face. He had no idea how he'd even start to rebuild the Otsutsuki clan into a respectable one, worthy of the influence it had as one of the Four Noble Houses. "I have my work cut out for me, it seems."

"There's also something else, young one." Yamamoto creaked his eyes open once again. "For you to better understand your new home, and as a show of might to the rest of the Noble Houses, you might wish to consider enrolling into the Shin'o Academy."

"Me?" Naruto gawked. "Become a Shinigami?"

"You have the aptitude for it." Yamamoto nodded. "And as I stated earlier, you're thrumming with untapped potential. You'd do well as a Shinigami, boy, and it'd lend even more credibility to your claim on the Otsutsuki throne."

"How would I even begin to enroll?" Naruto asked. "I still have such little knowledge on how things work around here."

"I'll front your entrance fee and waive the exam." Yamamoto stated as an oppressive feeling then filled the room. "But that shall be the only aid I give you. It's up to you to live up to the lofty expectations set upon you, it's up to you to prove that my faith has not been misplaced… and it's up to you to not make a fool out of me by failing."

"This is my only chance." Naruto nodded, a figurative fire lit within his cerulean eyes. "I'll give it everything I have!"

"That's what I like to hear." Yamamoto closed his eyes and nodded. "Now, you have my leave to go. Get used to the Otsutsuki Manor, acclimate yourself to your new life here in Soul Society. I'll have you enrolled within the week."

"Yes, sir!" Naruto snapped off a salute as he turned and walked away.

As he exited the building, he couldn't help but smile. He already had a good thing going and he had a chance at the Shin'o Academy. He wasn't sure if he'd be an ideal student, but he'd be damned if he didn't try!

Uzumaki Naruto had a second chance. He had a second chance at life itself, this time with an influential name behind him and a chance at proper training. Question was could he live up to his new name? Could he bring honor and fame back to the dying name of Otsutsuki? He'd try his hardest, that's for sure, and if he was good at one thing, it was spreading his name around.

Uzumaki Naruto… was home.

AN: Done! So, how was it? What did you guys think? Will Naruto succeed in bringing the Otsutsuki name back from the brink? Will he bring honor back to his name? Only time will tell!

First off, how was the integration of the Otsutsuki clan into the story? I'll admit, that I need to extrapolate on it a bit more, which will happen as time goes on, so don't worry, more information will be released. But as of right now, how do you guys feel about it?

Secondly, I have genuinely no idea who Naruto should be paired with. Bleach has a metric ton of girls to choose from and I'm honestly lost on who to choose. Being that Naruto's the head of one of the Four Noble Houses, my gut is telling me either Yoruichi or Rukia, but at the same time I'm also partial to Nel as a possibility just because of the scandal it would cause. Regardless, give me some good, solid opinions for your chosen girl and keep in mind that this probably won't be a harem unless some good points are brought to bear in favor of a harem.

This is ZeroDivisionRaijin, signing off!