The young Uzumaki settled on the ground in Konoha's nearby forest. Tired from continuous running and being assimilated by his unforseen inquisitivness and curiosity, he simply had to settle down for a bit and look inside. Look inside at the thing that would supposedly grant him the rank of a genin. A ninja. Somebody worth of respect.

Naruto calmed down, and opened the great scroll of supposedly no great importance. Frankly, thanks to his low skills in jutsu, he seemed capable of learning just one...

--

Naruto continued practicing while waiting for his sensei, Mizuki, with the great prize. What he didn't notice though was that his 'sensei' was already waiting for him nearby.

'Your annihilation is imminent, demon... For all the people that were lost on that day, suffer you will!'

With that, Mizuki shot off the branch and launched his onslaught on Naruto. The Uzumaki, still deep into his thinking processes he failed to notice the incoming great shuriken in time.

"Aaaaah!" A yell that was heard even far away escaped Naruto's throat. Although he escaped imminent death, his leg didn't escape at all. He was unable to move the entire lower part, presumably because his muscles were torn apart and his bones might be broken.

Naruto fell on the ground hard, unable to supress his fall. Sensing only the harsh pain in his right leg, he was nearly oblivious to the outside world for a moment. He looked up, only to see Mizuki looking down at him.

"S-sensei?" He whispered with a voice bathed in fear.

"Are you afraid Naruto?" Mizuki asked. "You should be." He added without giving Naruto time to respond.

Naruto's eyes widened, showing his blue orbs in their full glory. His mouth opened wide and silent tears travelling from his eyes onto his cheeks. He was in shock. He was never in shock when somebody betrayed him... never. It always happened. But Mizuki, the one man along with Iruka that actually looked trustful... betrayed him. He was thrown onto the dirt, once again.

His attempt to shift his position, or move away was halted with a sword. Mizuki, a seasoned swordsman made a shallow gash on Naruto's belly with unforseen swiftness.

Naruto cried out in pain. His nerves overcoming his senses, he fully collapsed on the ground. Helpless. Unable to move out of pain and fear.

Another strike came. Now he felt only the faint cool of the blade protruding from his chest.

Mizuki smirked. This was easy as expected. Kyuusaisha would be pleased.

Naruto nervously looked around. He felt the blade in his chest no more. He felt nothing. Only cold. Terrible chills ran through him as he felt his heart getting slower... slower and slower. Nobody would save him now. Nobody loved him. Nobody would come to his rescue. Not even the old man.

And now he realised it. He hated them. He hated them all. Even though he said to himself, that he would never give in to his hate, there was no other way, no other philosophy to accept.

'Revenge is foolish. I am a fool... one day, I will show you... What I'm worth...'

With that, he moved no more. His eyes slowly closed and he felt himself enveloped with a warm, red light. He knew it. He was dead.

--

Seeing the end of Naruto's attempts to make some sort of movement, Mizuki took his sword out of Naruto's chest. He kicked the corpse once more, for his own satisfaction, and turned around to search for the Scroll of Sealing. He was just a few steps from his prize when he felt the faint signature of... Iruka.

Smiling he turned around, only to see shocked Iruka next to Naruto's dead body.

Iruka glanced at Mizuki, who's lower part of the body was covered in blood. Naruto's... He noticed the faint smile that adorned his face.

"Mizuki... what is this?" He yelled at the chuunin with unsupressed anger.

"What is this? What a foolish question, my friend. I am the hero of this day. I have slain the demon that cursed our village!" He shouted, cheerily, with a sinister laugh.

"Naruto was no demon! You will pay for this!" Iruka was fast to take out a kunai and attempt to charge at Mizuki. But Mizuki was faster, and Iruka's kunai was no match for his sharp katana.

The slash was so hard, that Iruka lost his grip on the kunai. The only thing he felt was immense pain... and the absence of a hand. He screamed in pain. Realising his imminent doom, he fell on his knees.

// meanwhile

Naruto, enveloped in the warm, red light seemed to fly for ages. Was he dead? Was he a spirit travelling to join Kami and the souls of all others on the other plane? Was his destination... the hell and the fearsome Shinigami? He didn't know.

Suddenly, it all stopped. He stopped flying upwards, and fell for some centimetres, landing in a quiet 'thud' on something, that was supposedly the ground. Everything was still red. Only red. There was nothing else to see than himself and red color.

Everything started shifting violently. He closed his eyes in fear, not wanting to see whatever was there.

He then felt a faint breeze travel around this cheeks. He opened his eyes and looked around.

He was on a grassy plain, adorned with a few leaf trees. It was sunny. It was beautiful... was this the afterlife?

"Welcome, Uzumaki Naruto..." He heard a seasoned, but still beautiful female voice. He turned around to the source.

"I am Alexstrasza. The Life-Binder."