Summary: Humans are the most complex things in the world. And everyone has a wish, a secret deep in their heart. And one night, a being was born again by will of Death, one who could grant those wishes, for a price. So tell me, how much would you pay for the thing you want most?

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Chapter 1: Introduction to the Death God

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There is no fate, there is no destiny.

There is only Hitzusen.

Hitzusen: A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible and a result which can only be obtained by a single causality; all other causalities would necessarily create different results

Everything happens for a reason, but the future is up to the person.

And any future can be beholden…for a price.

From money to a soul, there is always a price for something, for living, for existing. And humans constantly give and take based on their foolish desires:

Their wealth in the material world

Their fortune in the spiritual world

And their souls in the celestial world

For wishes are the very things keeping people alive: from the simple to the unobtainable, it is the very selfish desire that humans strive forward for. Even the impossible wish can be granted. The one wish no mortal, no demon, no god can grant.

It can be granted…for a price.

How far are you willing to go for the thing you desire most?

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He looked into the mirror and just stared at himself.

He saw a small face, deep tanned skin stretched tight over high cheekbones, devoid of the chubby cheeks that should have been bestowed to a child so young. An unruly mop of dirty blonde hair hung around his face, a bit grimy from lack of washing, but still a shockingly bright shade of gold. Thin angular shoulders supported his head and wide ocean blue eyes peeking outward curiously.

He scowled and turned away, stomping his tiny bare feet on the hardwood floor of his apartment. The dirty-washed white walls were bare and the windows devoid of curtains or even potted plants. The kitchen was nearly squeaky clean, the stove never been used. The refrigerator was broken, nothing was inside. There was an old couch and a rug that served as a living room; the single bed and closet served as a bed room in the adjacent door.

The apartment was dead.

The boy scowled even more, thin lips curling back to show blunt white teeth, as he gazed scornfully at his shoddy apartment. He hated it. Hated this village…hated himself.

He looked at his hands, small but chapped and calloused, the same tanned tone as his face, and wondered. He didn't seem to look anything different from the other children. He didn't act different from the other children. He didn't think different from the other children.

So why did everyone hate him?

Why did everyone's eyes bore into him like a knife? Eyes with a mass of hatred and disgust and fear and pity that he wanted to scream and cry. Why did no one want to play with him, to smile at him, to even look at him with a kind glance?

The boy scratched at himself angrily, as if trying to tear off whatever it was that infected his skin so that others looked at him life a freak. He yowled like a animal his sharp roughly cut fingernails caused him to bleed, red seeping and dripping onto the floor.

He stared at it. It was red, just like the other kids' when they'd fallen and scraped their knee.

So then why was he so different? He just wanted to know that answer? Why couldn't he pass the exams like all the other kids? Why were people happy he failed? He'd give anything to know that answer. Anything…anything.

"Would you?"

The boy jumped and turned at the abrupt voice in the empty apartment. His eyes widened with fright as he stared at what had once been a very empty couch.

The figure that lounged there looked normal enough. Skin as pale as snow with elegant black hair cut tastefully to his shoulders, the man looked to be around his mid twenties, his eyes, a dark onyx black, twinkled with a malicious taint. He wore normal shinobi clothes, except for a fan-like symbol he'd seen on his classmate's back printed over his left chest.

The figure stood and walked toward the boy with slow easy steps, making the boy scramble backward his fright, burrowing futilely into a corner. He was no stranger to villagers making a passing blow or two at him; never did they dare try anything when the old man or the strange figures in animal masks were there. But who was to say that the boy hadn't got a mysterious bruise from "falling down" or a cut from "a mere school accident."

The man smiled, his lips curling is a disgusting sweet smile and turned to pace toward the side. It was then that the boy gasped and burrowed back, stifling a cry of horror. The left side of the man's face was horribly mutilated; the jaw seemed to have been ripped off, showing the gaping black inside of his rotting mouth, a fury of slashes adorning what was left of the skin and muscle on his cheek. His throat seemed to have been slit and a trickle of black foul blood dribbled from the wound, His eye was bloodshot and protruding, and seemed to have been slit clean in two.

"Like what you see little boy?" asked the man with his hideous half-smile and chuckled quietly, "Do I disgust you, demon? Do you see what has been done to me?"

Naruto heaved and threw up on the floor, the bitter smell of bile and the dry heaving of his sore throat making his eyes water as he stared in undisguised fright.

The man…thing drew closer and closer, its foul death-tainted breath skimming his skin so much he felt like he had to wipe it off. He whimpered, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the terrible sight.

"Do you know what I'm going to do to you…Uzumaki Naruto?"

The man chuckled, blood seeping from his ghastly wounds all the more as his eye, sliced as it was, seemed to stare at him with ten times the hatred he received from the people in town. He felt like screaming, crying, anything but this!

"I'm going to kill you."

The boy shrieked as he felt something ice cold enter his heart, it wrenched and twisted as his eyesight blurred and his tongue twisted with agony. The cold was so icy it burned, and he felt as if his body was not his own, as if someone else was moving his hands, was using his voice to shriek to the high heavens.

Suddenly, a dark growling voice, like gravel scratching on pavement, rumbled,

"No one touches my vessel!"

He heard a shriek, high and keening, too wretched to be his own. As of someone being devoured alive, of someone's soul being damned to the ninth ring of hell. He felt a hand on his throat, tight and unyielding as a voice, the creature's, voice hissed into his ear with its very last breath,

"May darkness claim your soul, may the demons devour your fortune, and the animals tear you body apart. May you suffer all the atrocities of the world. May you never be happy, Kyuubi no Yoko, Uzumaki Naruto. Remember the name of Uchiha and may you be damned forever"

Abruptly as it started, the iciness vanished into oblivion and a wave of heat enveloped him in arms of warmth. Shuddering from exhaustion, his voice gone from his prolonged screaming and his hands and arms still raw with scratches, he felt himself fall deeper into the comforting warm.

"I have not come so far as to perish such a fate!"

It was so easy to close his eyes, to sink into the heated bliss. His eyes grew heavier as the light grew smaller, smaller, gone.

"No, no, no! I shall not be claimed this way!"

Slowly, but surely, his breathing slowed from the panicky mess to a deep rhythmic sighing. Slowly, slowly, then gently gone.

Uzumaki Naruto died that night.

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"Where am I?"

Uzumaki Naruto opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness. There were no floors, no ceiling, no walls, no door, just empty black space. He should have shuddered, but he felt as if he'd been shot with a tranquilizer, he was numb to everything. He stared at himself. He still had the numerous scratches from which he'd furiously clawed at himself and the front of his old too-large T-shirt was stained with his vomit, Gently, he touched his neck to feel tender patches of what seemed good enough to be fingerprints around his throat. Yet he felt no pain, no cold, nothing.

"Where am I"

"We are in the world between the mortal world and the heavenly world: We are in the spiritual realm. All thanks to your pathetic inability to defend yourself you insignificant piece of human flesh! I nearly died from mere possession! By a human ghost! The shame of it all!"

Naruto turned around and suddenly contorted in fear of the giant monstrosity that was before him, it's snout inches from his own face, dangerous white fangs ready to tear open his skin. It was at least three times bigger than the Hokage Mountains themselves and crimson fur encased its entire body, nine long slender tails extended proudly and malevolently over their heads. Sharp canines snapped at him as long lethal looking claws strained to get themselves buried into his body, but none surpassed its eyes. The blood-red malice filled eyes that was filled with so much hatred, death, despair, venom, and utter chaos that the thing seemed mad beyond existence, so much so that if he could, Naruto would have retched again.

"You…you are…you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

"What else would be the stuff of your nightmares you wretched human piece of carcass?"

"You…you…you are supposed to be dead!"

The Kyuubi seemed to find that amusing as a deep rumbling gurgled from its scarlet chest, the sound so utterly guttural that it made Naruto cringe,

"You'd wish that wouldn't you little mortal? You'd wish that I was in Shinigami's stomach suffering eternal damnation like your fool of a sire. But I am not, I am alive and if I could, I'd tear your body, mind, and soul to the dust of the spiritual plane!"

It was only then that Naruto realized the hundreds of slender black chains keeping the Kyuubi merely inches of destroying him. They looped around each tail and his torso like a mosaic of metal, tight round each limb so that the beast could barely move a muscle. The blonde child sighed a little in relief; there was a small bit of sanity in his situation. Kyuubi could not kill him. His confidence rising, Naruto mustered up his voice in his throat and managed to squeak,

"But…but…the Yondaime destroyed you! He killed you twelve years ago on my birthday!"

Kyuubi howled in utter rage, its eyes of crimson blood shining with unredeemed hatred as his hackles rose and his jaws snapped pointlessly in the air, the fangs nearly grazing the skin on the boy's whiskered cheeks. Naruto shrieked and scrambled a tiny bit further, rubbing at the piece of flesh that was his cheek that had almost been in the Kyuubi's belly.

"NEVER! NEVER DARE TO MENTION THAT MORTAL PIECE OF FILTH IN M Y PRESENCE! WHEN I SEE HIM AGAIN, BE IT IN ANOTHER LIFE OR IN THE SHINIGAMI'S STOMACH ITSELF! I WILL TEAR THAT MORTAL SOUL TO SHREDS! HE WILL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE FOR REINCARNATION!"

"That is, Kyuubi, if I see it fit that you meet again."

The Kyuubi's sudden rage did not vanish, but diminished quite sufficiently and even a tinge of fear entered its senses as it, to the best of its ability, bowed slightly to something behind Naruto, who was still trembling on the floor.

"Shinigami-sama"

Naruto turned slowly and gave a cry of horror at the figure behind him. He almost preferred the Kyuubi to the thing that was the Death God. Grotesquely misshapen and disproportioned arms hung loosely at the sides of the plain white blood-splattered robes that he wore, a gigantic kodachi hung at his waist loosely next to his enormous bulging belly. The face was like the oni masks Naruto had once seen in the rare chance he'd sneaked to the Kyuubi festival: fierce ugly features mangled his face and large lower fangs point skyward. White stringy hairs hung from its head and were tangled round the massive ox-like horns that protruded from its forehead. The eyes were a stark empty black and white, holding nothing of value, barren as the desert.

Naruto could only stutter and shudder, trembling like a leaf as he whimpered away from the horrible monsters that surrounded him.

"So this is your vessel Kyuubi, the son of the human who summoned me to seal you away."

"Indeed, he is, the foul little scrap of garbage."

Blank black and white eyes studied the boy as he never ceased to tremble, the utter fear infecting his heart like a plague.

"Do I frighten you mortal? Do you look upon my features and tremble in fear?"

Naruto did not answer.

With his misshapen features, the Death God gave what seemed to be a smirk and was suddenly incompased in a greenish glow. His massive size shrank and his features aligned and grew proportionate until what seemed like a human male stood in front of Naruto. He was at least twice the child's height and had skin the color of paper: dull and lifeless. Hair the color of fallen snow pooled around his shoulders and lay like a curtain around him. A slim elegant looking hand flicked away strands of hair, the skin so transparent it seemed Naruto was looking at a humanoid skeleton. The Shinigami smiled without warmth, pointed teeth glinting in an unknown light. His eyes however had not changed one bit, still as devoid of any spark as the deep depths of the sea.

"Does this serve to ease your fears, vessel of Kyuubi?"

Naruto nodded hesitantly and managed the set himself onto his feet. Truth be told, though he still felt his heart wildly in his chest and his feet wobbling a bit, the sight of a human figure he could relate to gave a shot of calm through his hysterical persona.

Naruto's brow furrowed as he suddenly comprehended what had been said.

"What do you mean vessel of Kyuubi? I'm not some sort of pot! And you said son of the human, do you mean my father? Did you know my father…Shinigami-sama?"

Kyuubi uttered yet another growl, but chocked on it at a steely glance from his superior. The Shinigami gave Naruto what seemed to be the best he could attempt at a benevolent look, but managed to morph it into something condescending and rather haughty.

"I knew every person that has ever existed and shall know those who are yet to come. For I am Death Vessel of Kyuubi, and no one escapes Death. Your father was what you mortals classified as a hero; I admit I give him my approval. No mortal to date has given up his life as to seal a demon so securely inside a human vessel."

"But no one ever fought with any demon in Konoha except…the Yondaime."

"Dear Inari-sama above, does Shinigami-sama have to spell it out for you, you filthy little monkey? Your father, that bastard who should rot in the ninth circle of Hell, was the Yondaime Hokage who dared to seal me within his own son and sacrifice his soul into Shinigami-sama's stomach."

"You…but…that's impossible! My father...Yondaime? No, no, no! The Yondaime was supposed to be an awesome good guy! Why would he leave me in…"

"The pathetic refuge of garbage and filth that you call Konohagakure? Because he was a fool thrice over to believe in the so called goodness of the human heart? Pah, you filthy mortals stinking up all three dimensions with your greed."

The Shinigami interrupted their banter with a slight humorless chuckle, lightly stroking one of Naruto's scarred cheeks, making him shiver in utter loathing at the cold clammy touch of death.

"And yet Kyuubi, what would the world be without greed? There would be no drive, no reason for human beings to exist. They gain what they want, then throw it away and persue something new, polluting the spiritual world with their remains."

Turning his back to the menacing nine-tailed fox, the Shinigami settled his paper-white hand on Naruto's shoulder and pointed into the darkness, through the ink black smoke that gushed from seemingly nowhere.

"Look there, what do you see?"

Naruto, ignoring the stomach-clenching feeling of the hand on his shoulder with a great effort, squinted his almond-shaped eyes into the inky darkness. He caught glimpses of human figures in the distance, drifting pointlessly through the forest of smoke. He saw flashes of horrible creatures, looking into the depths of the spirit world and seeing the many demons and parasites that lay within its depths.

"I see…many things Shinigami-sama."

"Indeed. The black smoke that surrounds us are mortal refuse: their lies, betrayals, malice, shame, addiction, madness, and anything else that spouts from their heart's desires. The figures you see in the distance are the souls of people who are beyond redemption. Mortals need a purpose in life and when that purpose is snatched away from them, their souls are tormented by the uselessness of their fragile lives. The creatures you see are the scum of the spirit world: parasites who latch themselves onto humans for sustenance. They go so far as to devour human souls to keep themselves in existence."

"Human…souls?"

"Yes, they latch themselves onto anything they can: greed, vanity, wrath, envy, and let it fester until their prey is too sunk into their own madness to comprehend their predicament. The spirit who came after you, the one who was the soul of an Uchiha, came after you because of your blood. Your blood is an irresistible source of sustenance for these parasites.

"But…I thought the man…spirit…came to get revenge on me for Kyuubi."

"Of course he did. You are a source of hatred for him, a physical manifestation of his death to him. However, if his soul were to somehow survive being devoured by Kyuubi, even he would not be able to deny the luscious scent of your blood. You who are able to see those of the spirit world. "

"See…spirits?"

"I do admit that your abilities have developed much later than others, but your blood cannot be denied. Perhaps you had someone in your family with spiritual powers, but you have strong blood running through your veins, one that is irresistible to those that lurk in the depths of the spirit world. See how even now they come toward you?"

Indeed, as the Death God had been speaking, the creatures, those that Naruto had only heard of in folk tales that were in a book he had read once had come toward him. A snake-like creature with the ripped scarred face of the human woman with a blood caked mouth drew so close, he could smell it's rancid breath.

"Ah, soooo sweet. The scent of a human. Come, let me feed on your blood, let me tear you apart!"

Naruto whimpered a bit, but could not move for the Death God's hand on his shoulder. The Shinigami himself, gave a sinister smile on his handsome, but fear-inducing face as he whispered,

"You dare defy me?"

In an instant, a clawed paper-colored hand shot out and tossed the snake-like spirit behind them and into the gaping jaws of Kyuubi, who munched on his meal with relish, making most of the other spirits in the realm tremble.

"You dare interrupt my conversation with my chosen one and dare try to go against me? Out of my sight you wretched scum of the plains before I cast you into the jaws of the fox-king!"

Instantly, the spirits drew back and scurried back into the black sludge of a mist. The Shinigami turned and fixed his empty gaze onto the trembling and utterly human blonde boy.

"In the physical world, you have been dead for 2 days. Your body has yet to be buried. I can send you back, but there is a price you must pay. Will you pay it for the sake of yourself?"

Naruto forced himself to stop trembling.

"Ah…so I am dead…what is the price Shinigami-sama?"

"2 souls. One for each day you have been dead. If you go back, two people will die…good or bad, innocent of guilty, two souls will die so you shall live again. Will you still pay the price?"

The small boy bit his lip and fingered the edge of his shirt. He didn't want to die, he didn't know what would happen if he died. He wanted to become a shinobi. Be recognized, respected. He wanted to live. But…was it worth it?

The Shinigami watched with interest at the boy in front of him, one of his eyes glancing at Kyuubi, whose own crimson eyes glazed with eager greed at the boy.

"Do you want to live?"

"…yes."

"Even if it means death for two others?"

"…yes."

The Death God laughed.

",..You are a human through and through. But you interest me, so I shall grant you a deal. I shall give you a gift, a burden, and it shall be yours to see fit to use. It exchange, you will get me the souls of two individuals whom you shall know by my mark on their forehead. Do not fail me…my human."

"Wait..what deal? What gift?"

But in an instant, all faded into darkness, nothingness as the grating voice of death whispered into his ear, "Know this Uzumaki Naruto, you and I are bound by the ties of fate. Hitsuzen: it is no accident that you died and that you sacrificed to live again."

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The Sandaime rushed into the hospital, his robes flapping behind him as he dashed into room 313, as he'd been informed by a frightened desk nurse.

The door slammed open as a small, rather tiny, figure sat upright in the white sheets reserved for those getting ready for burial. Sarutobi stared in disbelief as the former corpse of the Kyuubi vessel turned toward him. Subtle changes had been made, but it was still Uzumaki Naruto.

But his eyes, still a cerulean blue, were older, wiser, harsher than before.

The tanned face, still youthful and plumb-cheeked, seemed tired and almost lined with wrinkles, as if a great burden was on his shoulders.

Tracks of tears could be seen down marked cheeks, the former hair-thin markings now nearly the size of Inuzuka tribal tattoos, showing all just who this boy was.

"….Naruto?"

And all Sarutobi could do is remain motionless as the former corpse looked over and smiled. Even his smile, though the same mischievous grin, seemed to lack sincerity.

"Naruto, how are you-"

"…Alive? I don't know Jii-chan. I don't know. But…but…I'm alive now. And two people are dead…because of me…"

"Naruto, I don't understand."

"Me neither Jii-chan, but that's what happened. That's what Shinigami-sama told me."

"Shinigami! Naruto…what…how?"

Suddenly, the small blonde boy convulsed, as if seized by the throat and shaken violently. Sarutobi rushed over, grabbing the frantically waving hands to keep the boy from hurting himself, but drew in a gasp as the boy's blue eyes rolled far back until only the whites were shown and the Kyuubi vessel spoke in a grating empty voice surely not of the human world.

"Sarutobi, consider this my payment for my summoning 12 years ago to seal away Kyuubi. This boy is mine. No one will touch him. He shall not be a shinobi, not yours nor the Leaf's. Remember this or there shall be consequences."

The voice disappated and Naruto collapsed in the elderly Hokage's arms, screaming as blood started to pour down his back, the carving of the sign of Death on his back.

Sarutobi shuddered and called for the nurses. What had been done? What was to be done?

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Author's Note: This took me forever! But so glad it's done! Ok, but basically, as you can probably tell, the only reason I made this a xxxHolic crossover is because I will be incorporating a lot of Holic themes and ideas with this new version of Naruto. Warning: NARUTO WILL BE VERY VERY OOC. I do not plan for him to be the hyperactive ninja we all adore. He probably will be like Yuko, only with a few major differences, or at least that's what I hope. No idea for pairing, might not even have any. But I hope people enjoy this story because its been haunting me for a while. I liked this idea and have many plans for it!

Please review to tell me what you think!

Ja Ne!

Ichi_Alice