Horrors Unleashed

The forbidden scroll of seals was both feared and coveted, though the number of people that fell in the former category was in the single digits. However, those few had a good reason to fear the scroll. It wasn't considered Konoha's most dangerous artifact because of the techniques it contained. Well, they did help in making the scroll both famous and infamous among various groups but it was not made to contain techniques. Those where added later as a distraction to its real purpose.

The scroll served, indirectly, as a prison for powerful and nigh uncontrollable beings that came into existence when the Sage of the Six Paths created the moon. In various legends those beings terrorised the locals, bringing death and destruction wherever they went.

It was a little known fact that the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju, with the help of his wife and sealing mistress, Mito Uzumaki, managed to bind those beings with a summoning contract written at the end of the scroll, thus the Horrors were banished into a pocket dimension that served as their summoning realm.

Of course, Naruto, like many others, knew nothing of this.

He had been instructed to steal the scroll by one of his teachers, Mizuki, who had told Naruto he could graduate this way. Of course, it was all a trap. Mizuki hated the blond and was planning to kill Naruto and desert the village, with the scroll in his possession. However, the traitor had underestimated Naruto, who had made it to the meeting spot several hours earlier than he was supposed to.

So here was an academy student, holding a scroll, which was said to contain techniques so powerful that whoever learned even a few would be more than a match for any Hokage. Needless to say, that was mostly bullshit spread by ignorant people who had heard about the scroll and that it was important. Still, Naruto fell for it hook, line, and sinker and opened it.

'Damn it, why does the first thing I see have to be a clone technique. I thought this thing had super cool techniques inside, not stupid clone techniques. Well, at least the seals are simple so I might as well try it later. Now, let's see what other goodies are in this thing'

Unrolling the scroll further, Naruto bypassed a bunch of techniques that didn't seem that special or were beyond his understanding. However, he stopped when he encountered a warning written in big bold letters towards the end of the scroll. He couldn't exactly understand what it was saying since many letters were faded but in Naruto's mind if there was a warning, something good was bound to be written after it.

At the end of the scroll, in somewhat faded characters was written the word "Horrors". Next to it, occupying half the space left, was the name of the Shodaime Hokage with what must have been his handprint below. Naruto traced his hand over the name and some of the dried 'ink' stuck to his finger. Looking at it for a few seconds, he realised that it was actually dried blood.

'Wow, if the Shodaime actually used this then it has to be something really good. Hell yeah, now I'll have something to use against Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan will see how strong I am!'

With that thought, Naruto wasted no time and did as the Shodaime had done. As soon as he pressed his bloody hand against the paper below his name, the scroll rolled itself back up and Naruto fell unconscious, as a sealing array burned iself around his wrist. The last thing he could remember was someone whispering about something called a summoning technique and how to use it.

By the time naruto woke up, it was already nightime. Groggily standing up, he stretched, a satisfying pop coming from his back.

"Damn, that was the weirdest dream" He muttered, "I must have been really tired from training. I just hope Mizuki-sensei gets here soon to give me my forehead protector!"

The blond definitely didn't expect Iruka to find him instead.

"You idiot! What were you thinking when you decided to steal one of Konoha's most important artifacts?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"But sensei, Mizuki told me that if I could get this scroll then I would graduate"

Iruka had been ready to continue his rant until he realised what Naruto said.

'Mizuki told him to steal the scroll? That doesn't make sense, unless...' Iruka's eyes widened.

"Naruto, get down!" Rushing forward, the chunin deflected the shuriken that was launched by his colleague, who was standing on a tree branch and had a malicious grin on his face.

"Well, well, well. I didn't expect to find you here, Iruka. It doesn't matter. Naruto, give me the scroll and you can become a shinobi, just like I promised you!"

"Don't give him the scroll. It's all a trap!" Came Iruka's desperate voice.

Naruto was extremely confused about what was happening. He made to run but a hail of kunai blocked his way.

"Oh don't leave so soon, Naruto. Don't you want to know why all the villagers hate you?" Naruto didn't like the look on Mizuki's face but he could finally get some answers.

Iruka shouted at the traitor that sharing this information was forbidden and engaged with his former colleague before being pushed back. This only made Naruto more curious about the reason behind the villagers' hate. After disengaging from the short battle with Iruka, Mizuki put on a smirk and started revealing the truth.

"You see, Naruto, the Yondaime didn't kill the Kyuubi. Killing a tailed beast is impossible. What he did was seal it inside a baby. You were that baby, Naruto. You are the Kyuubi!"

Naruto was frozen from the shock. He didn't want to believe it but what Mizuki said explained everything. Why everyone hated him, why people called him a demon behind his back, why he healed so quickly and why he never got sick. Mizuki decided to pour some salt in the wound before killing the blond.

"But that's not all. Did you know that Iruka's parents died during the attack? That's right, you killed them, you are responsible for their deaths and Iruka hates you for it! Now die, demon!" Naruto saw the Fuma Shuriken coming towards him but he couldn't move. He was too shocked by what Mizuki had revealed. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain but it never came. Instead he felt someone moving in front of him and heard Iruka grunting in pain.

He slowly opened his eyes and realised that his teacher had protected him.

"Iruka-sensei, why did you protect me?"

Iruka smiled and placed a hand on Naruto's head.

"It's a teacher's duty to protect their students. I won't lie to you Naruto, at first I hated you like everyone else but I realised that you are just a lonely kid, looking for acknowledgement. I was the same when I was your age, always doing pranks to grab everyone's attention. Part of what Mizuki told you is true, the Yondaime did seal the Kyuubi inside you but that doesn't make you a demon. Don't ever think that you are the Kyuubi. You're its prison and a hero"

Mizuki's laughter could be heard.

"Very nice speech, Iruka. Too bad it's not going to save your lives"

That's when Naruto snapped out of his shock and decided that Mizuki could not go unpunished for hurting his teacher. As he moved towards Mizuki, the traitor smirked, thinking that Naruto was giving up. The blond didn't notice, as a set of hand seals were recited within his head. Deciding to follow his instincts, Naruto went through the seals and called out the technique as he slammed his arm on the ground

"Summoning"

A deep purple mist settled over the area and all sound were muffled. In front of him Naruto could see a worm like, purple creature, hovering above the ground. It's body was quite long, ending in a thin tail. The front of its body was easily twice as thick as a tree trunk. It had two extremely long, bony arms with three claws at the end. Its flesh seemed to be in the process of melting off, giving it a slimy appearance. Two holes at either side of its head seemed to serve as its eyes. Between those eyes a monstrous looking mouth opened, lined with several long teeth.

Naruto stumbled back, suddenly feeling very cold. A cloak of red chakra enveloped him and he could hear what could only be Kyuubi's voice inside his head.

"You stupid child! Do you have any idea what you unleashed?"

Naruto couldn't find the strength to answer. However, the creature did move away from him as soon as Kyuubi's chakra appeared and instead floated towards the closest other human, Mizuki, with its eyes now pulsing white.

Unable to see anything in the mist, Mizuki noticed the white glowing eyes too late. Before he even realised what was going on the life was sucked out of his body and he fell to the forest floor. Nothing but a rotting, emaciated corpse was left. Soon after, the mist cleared, as the Horror could not get to the other two humans in the area due to Kyuubi's chakra and was sent back to its summoning realm.

Naruto could only stare in terror and disgust at Mizuki's corpse. However, he quickly fell unconscious due to exhaustion. Iruka was fairing better thanks to his shinobi experience but even he was feeling a little sick. Placing Naruto over his shoulder and picking up the scroll, he left for the Hokage tower, not wanting to spend any more time in the area. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't terrified by what he had seen.

There would be no mention of what truly happened. Naruto would later make a promise to himself and Kyuubi that he would only use the technique if his life was in danger. Kyuubi would also promise that if there was a need to use the technique, he would provide Naruto with the necessary chakra to keep the Horror away. When questioned about what this 'Horror' was, Kyuubi changed the subject and told Naruto to never ask again.

The official story was that Mizuki had escaped after being defeated by Naruto and Iruka. When the body was found, it was assumed that it was a missing person. Thankfully for Naruto and Iruka, the body could not be identified and its brain had turned to mush.

Even though neither mentioned it, both would be plagued by nightmares for months after the event. Naruto, having seen the creature from a short distance and having felt its effects would even wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Sometimes, his nightmares would torment him even while he was awake, either seeing Mizuki's body at the edge of his vision or the Horror right in front of him.

All in all, Naruto had an important lesson engraved in his mind.

Some things are forbidden for a reason.

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AN: This will probably stay a oneshot, though I might explore the idea further at a laer time and show some of the life threatening situations where Naruto would use this as a last resort, accompanied by Konoha's reactions and stuff. Hell, if a lot of people ask for it, I might even write a fully detailed story about this.

If you couldn't tell, Naruto summoned an erchius ghost, which is a creature in the game Starbound. Spooky little bastards gave me a heart attack the first time I saw them.

Since the ghost is the only thing from the game featured in this fanfic, I won't put this down as a crossover.

I hope you enjoyed.