Wielder of the Crimson Princess

Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Bleach and all related characters belong to Tite Kubo

Chapter 12: Old Enemy, new love

Naruto did not go into further detail on what happened to his arm and when Kushina asked what had happened again he simply changed the subject.

"Thanks for taking care of her Kushina, I might let you do it again some time." Was all Naruto said to Kushina as he took Yachiru home. At this point Yoruichi, Soifon, and Uryu walked up to the gate.

"What happened to Naruto's arm?" Kushina asked.

"Sasuke Uchiha went rogue during the Exams. Naruto tried to stop him and that bastard cut his arm off." Yoruichi said darkly as showed her I.D. guards. Kushina was about to ask about the specifics, until she saw a casket being carried through the gates with the Hokage's hat on top of it.

"Sasuke betrayed Konoha to join with Orochimaru. The old man was fighting with that snake bastard and sealed away his jutsu, but gave up his life to do it." Yoruichi said as she wiped a couple of tears from her golden eyes and headed into the village.

Naruto looked at the interior his apartment, surprised to see it had been cleaned. He assumed Kushina must have done it while he was gone. He sat Yachiru down on the couch, a hard task to do with only one arm, and then sat down next to her with a tired sigh.

"So how was Granny's?" The blond asked in a cheerful tone, but Yachiru didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on Naruto's arm, or lack thereof.

"Daddy, where'd your arm go?" Yachiru asked in a quiet voice. Naruto looked down at her frightened eyes and put on the best smile he could muster on the moment.

"I just had an accident, nothing to worry about." Naruto said as he patted Yachiru's head. The little girl laughed as Naruto then asked,

"So were you a good girl for Granny?" The little pinkette nodded her head furiously as she said,

"Yeah! Granny's really nice! She played games with me, and she read me stories, and she..." Naruto had stopped listening after a minute and just looked at his daughter. He had missed her a lot during the month he was away and worried about her everyday. He was glad to hear that Kushina treated her well and that Yachiru had another person in her life to love her, but there was slight anger at Kushina. The way Yachiru described what she did for her while he was away made it sound like she would have been a great mother, provided she was around to be one. Naruto pushed those thoughts away and resumed listening to Yachiru list all the things she had done at Kushina's.

"And she even showed me how to use charka!" The little pinkette finished. Naruto raised an eyebrow at Kushina teaching Yachiru about chakra, but laughed at her pronunciation and said,

"I think you mean 'chakra' baby." Naruto then remembered the promise he made Yachiru and said,

"Let's go see about getting some chocolate ramen!" Yachiru beat him to the door, eager for what she thought would be the best meal of her life.

It was 10:00 at night. Half cleaned dishes with the remains of chocolate sauce and a couple of noodles sat in the sink. Yachiru slept peacefully in her room, her full stomach helping with that. Naruto on the other hand tossed and turned in his bed. He groaned and growled in his sleep, a clear sign he was having a nightmare

Naruto stared down the Uchiha and gripped the hilt of his zanpakuto tightly. He saw the blood on Sasuke's sword and then noticed Sakura's body behind the Uchiha.

"I've just attained a power far beyond what you can imagine and all I had to do was kill the person closest to me." Sasuke chuckled darkly, as Naruto glared from under the brim of his hat.

"We might not of been on the same team Sasuke. Hell we weren't even friends, but I could tell she loved you." Naruto said with an edge in his voice. Sasuke merely scoffed and replied,

"Love? What good is love when I can have power?" Naruto simply shook his head. It was clear the Uchiha was a lost cause at this point. Naruto swung his sword and said,

"Scream, Benihime." And sent forth a red blast of energy. Sasuke dodged and charged forward with his sword, which was now covered with electricity. Naruto blocked with Benihime. Sasuke broke away and made several more slashes, which Naruto blocked easily. Sasuke quickly jumped back and did several hand signs before shouting,

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" And shot a large blast of flame from his mouth at the blond swordsman.

"Scream, Benihime!" Naruto yelled as a crimson shield blocked the flames.

"Shred, Benihime!" The blond yelled as he sent forth crimson blasts from his shield. Sasuke quickly used a substitution jutsu and avoided the assault.

"Guess it's time to start fighting seriously." The Uchiha said as he sheathed his sword. He did a couple of hand signs and shouted,

"Chidori!" And charged at Naruto with a hand full of lightning. Naruto moved out of the way, but Sasuke quickly unsheathed his sword and sliced Naruto's left arm off at the bicep. The blond roared in pain as he kicked the Uchiha in the head. Naruto quickly stuck Benihime in a left over fire from Sasuke's fireball and then stuck the hot metal on the stump of his arm to cauterize it. Sasuke got up and smirked at the blond.

"Well, it looks like you're at a disadvantage." The traitorous Uchiha said with a cocky smirk. Naruto glared, but gave a fox-like smile despite his pain, and said,

"I got one more trick up my sleeve." Naruto then twirled his sword with his hand, then suddenly stopped and shouted,

"BANKAI!" And an explosion of chakra erupted. Sasuke wondered what that was supposed to do as he tried to find Naruto inside the dust cloud. Suddenly a red streak shot out and grabbed the Uchiha. Whatever had grabbed him was extremely hot and burned his skin badly. He screamed in agony, but was then slammed into the ground. He looked up to see nine blood red fox tails that were covered with flaming red chakra. He traced the source of them to the hilt of Naruto's sword. He then saw Naruto himself, his eyes blood red and slitted and his whisker marks were larger than before.

"Ready to die Sasuke?" Naruto said, showing that he also now possessed fangs. Naruto sent forth one of the tails and smacked Sasuke across the left side of his face, giving him third degree burns and severely damaging his left eye. However, before Naruto could do anything further, he was stabbed in the back by an unknown assailant.

"I can't have you kill Sasuke before I'm ready for him." Naruto heard someone whisper as he then passed out.

Naruto shot up from his bed in a sweat, breathing heavily. Seeing that he was home he calmed down. He unconsciously felt the stump on his arm. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:00 in the morning. He sighed and got out of bed to prepare for the Hokage's funeral which was in three hours. He would have gone back to sleep, but he knew he'd have the same nightmare again. Before he did anything else he looked in on Yachiru, seeing her small form asleep. He then saw the small sword Yachiru had used in his defense against Shiro Kurosaki on the wall on the opposite side of her bed. He knew it had to be a zanpakuto, even though it seemed that she hadn't made a connection to it yet.

"I hope you never have to go through this Yachiru. I have a feeling you'll want to be a ninja, but I really hope I'm wrong." Naruto whispered as he then shut the door.

The funeral was a sight to behold. Every ninja that was in Konoha at the time was there, which numbered in the hundreds, and the civilians numbered in the hundred thousands. It was even raining, causing many to believe that the heavens themselves were in mourning. Eulogies were given, flowers placed next to a picture of the Third, and tears were shed. Soon the only people left were Naruto, Yachiru, and Yoruichi. The were-cat walked up to him and said,

"I'm sorry Naruto, I knew you two were really close." Naruto nodded and said,

"Yeah. The man was like a grandfather to me for most of my life. I didn't trust him like I did when I found out he was keeping my mother being alive a secret, but now I understand he was just trying not to hurt me with the truth."

Things stayed quiet for a few minutes, not even Yachiru said anything as she was too sad at the old man's passing.

"I know this might not be the right time, but I was wondering if you wanted to go get some ramen with me sometime? Alone?" Naruto just looked at her curiously for a moment, before a ghost of a smile formed on his face.

"I'd like that."

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