Warning! You will have to be up to date with the latest manga in order for a lot of this to not be OOC.

Proposal: When fighting Haku instead of the Kyuubi being released something else happens. Dark Naruto is released and a different Naruto makes his way to Konoha.

You guys remember Dark Naruto, right? From chapter 490-something of the Manga? If you do then you'll get that he's Naruto's manifestation of all his darker emotions or something. In this story, Dark Naruto tricks Naruto into somewhat releasing him. I say somewhat 'cause I'm not really sure if this can count as releasing but yeah.

If that sounds interesting to you please do read on.

Chapter 1

Naruto had to blink several times after he had woken up.

It was fairly dark where he was. Where he was, he believed, was some sort of underground sewer passage.

It was also cold and damp. And big. Looking around there were many different passages and hallways. Dozens upon dozens of possible routes stared him down.

However only one route seemed to appeal to him, compel him even.

So he followed that one.

And was led to a gigantic room with a giant set of bars to the side opposite of him. Behind those bars were two of the largest and reddest eyes he had ever seen. Attached to those ridiculously large red eyes was a large fox-like face. Actually it was more than fox-like. It was an actual giant fox's face, muzzle and all. At the site of him the muzzle opened wide to show a fairly menacing set of razor-sharp, jagged teeth.

"Well, well filthy mortal. It's about time we've met." Its voice was deep and, just like pretty much every other part of him, menacing.

"Can you guess who I am?" He didn't really have to. Scratch that, he didn't really want to.

The giant fox noted his uncomfortable silence and its massive grin got even larger.

"Say hello to the greatest demon of all. The Nine Tailed Fox Demon responsible for the deaths of countless insignificant morals: The Great Kyuubi."

It was an unsurprising development so he stayed silent.

"Why so silent? You certainly can't be mute. I would have ensured any sort of damage to your vocal chords be immediately repaired."

At that moment he glared hatefully. It was his first real reaction, though it went ignored.

"Perhaps you are far too in awe of my overwhelming presence. How unsur-"

"Shut up you asshole fox!" His shout was loud and angry, perfectly mirroring how he felt at the moment.

"How dare you speak to me this way, you insi-"

"He's got a point there you shithead fox demon. Shut the hell up." Another voice had cut the demon's roars short.

Naruto turned to face the owner of the approaching voice. It was a teenaged blonde-haired boy who looked to be his own exactly his own height. He had on orange pants similar to his own and the very same black t-shirt he was wearing at the moment along with the very same orange jacket. A forehead protector was adorned on his head and Naruto realized that the only difference between the boy and himself was the boy's eyes being a significantly darker shade of blue.

"In case you haven't realized it yet, I'm you." Oh. That explained a lot actually.

"Oh." His counterpart didn't seem put off by his and merely chuckled.

"I knew you'd say that. Know why you're here, Naruto?"

No.

"Can you remember what happened before this?"

He could remember him and Sasuke facing off against that hunter-nin. Countless senbon needles flying towards them. Sasuke jumping in the way to block an entire barrage and falling down, dead.

"That's all you need to remember." His other self said softly.

"Sasuke-that asshole-he's-"

"Dead." The other Naruto stated calmly.

He had dropped to his knees, if the sudden damp feeling on that area was anything to go by.

Sasuke was dead. The asshole died trying to save him. It was all his fault.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw his counterpart looked down on him, giving him a look that he could contribute to being a mix of pity and understanding.

"Yes. He died to save us."

That stubborn asshole. Why couldn't he have just not cared like everyone else?

"It would have been much easier that way." His counterpart agreed.

How could he face everyone else? Sakura-chan. Kakashi-sensei. How would they react to this?

"Definitely not well." The other boy waved his arm and the figure of Haruno Sakura was suddenly in between them.

"Sak-" He wasn't even given the chance to finish his exclamation as the pink-haired girl cut him off with a slap.

"How could you!" It was more of a shrill statement than a question. The girl continued angrily, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

"Sasuke-kun is dead because of you! I hate you, Naruto! I hate you, idiot demon!" Naruto didn't know what to say. He supposed the sound of his heart breaking should have been loud enough to serve as a response though. He opened his mouth to speak but didn't even get one word before his pink-haired teammate disappeared.

Only to be replaced with his jounin sensei, staring at him with his single accusatory eye.

"To fail a teammate in such a way," said Kakashi, his voice full of disgust, "Sasuke shouldn't have been the one to die."

Once again the figure disappeared before Naruto was given the chance to speak.

This time it was two figures that appeared. It was Iruka and the Old Man. Neither sad a word this time, instead content to simply shake their heads with a mixture of disgust and disappoint.

Something in his chest was starting to twist at that point. Even them...

"Even them." The figures disappeared and once again he stared into the darker eyes of his other self.

"Don't you see Naruto? They're all the same. They're all just like those bastard villagers." Though he didn't think it possible, his counterpart's already acidic tone grew even more hateful at the mention of the Konoha villagers.

"It was always just us." His other self went on. For some reasons the words he said really spoke to him. "From the beginning all you really had was me."

He believed him. At this point the boy staring him down was the only person he could believe.

"It was just us in the beginning and it's going to be us again." The other boy placed his hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.

"Don't worry Naruto. You don't have to go through any of this anymore."

"W-Who are you?"

"I told you I'm you." The other boy gave him a twisted grin. "I'm all of that hate that you've been putting aside all of these years. I'm the one who shouldered your pain while we hoped that one day; maybe, just maybe, we'd be accepted by the bastards that rejected us."

It didn't work.

"No it didn't. That's why it's time for plan B. Come back to me Naruto. It's no longer just going to be you out there. It's going to be us."

The other boy grabbed him close and hugged him tightly.

"Just sleep, Naruto. It's all over now."

So he slept.

Naruto looked to the place where his Dark Self had been standing moments earlier. His counterpart was gone now. The other boy had gone inside of him and he could easily feel that his counterpart had become a part of him. His body suddenly didn't feel like just his own. He had felt something that he hadn't really ever felt before. Undying and constant hate. Hate towards every single person he had ever met in his entire life.

"You tricked me." He said aloud.

I suppose I did, a small voice in his mind said back.

"You were tricking me the entire time. You knew those weren't going to be anyone's reactions."

No. They probably wouldn't have acted in such ways, the voice admitted.

"You just wanted to be let out. But you didn't want to keep me in the way I did to you. So you made the two of us one again. You knew it would change me and you knew it would change you, but you had no other choice." Understanding dawned upon him, though it felt like he had this information the entire time.

That's all correct, he heard the voice say.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you to all this."

It's okay, the voice said.

"It's not. But there's no real us arguing is there? I guess it's time to show the world the real Uzumaki Naruto!" He attempted to make tone falsely cheerful but knew there was no practical use in trying to fool himself. He then turned his attention to the third member of the room they were in, who had been waiting silently during their little exchange.

"When I get out I'm going to need your power to kill that hunter-nin." The Dark Naruto in him told him what was the only course of action they could take at this point.

Kyuubi grinned maliciously.

"Ask and you shall receive."

He closed his eyes. When he opened them he was once again standing over Sasuke's dead body, staring down the porcelain mask of the fake hunter-nin who had killed his friend.

"I'm sorry to have killed your friend." The hunter-nin said in what he was most likely only imagining was an empathetic tone. Real ninja weren't empathetic. "Was he precious to you?"

What the hell kind of question was that? "Of course."

"Comrades die every day in the world of the shinobi. It's a heartless but true fact. Leave this place and bury your friend. Don't continue on this mindless trail or you will follow in his footsteps." Was he serious? Judging by his tone the answer was yes, but Naruto found it surreal that his enemy would give him the opportunity to run away after killing his teammate.

Not that he'd ever take it anyways.

"You know," he said loud enough for the enemy nin to hear, "B-before ten minutes ago I would have been completely unable to kill you. Now..."

He paused as he finally felt Kyuubi's chakra making its way through his system. Through the reflection of the mirrors he could see his eyes had changed into the color red.

"...Now I'm not gonna stop even if you scream." Then he moved, blaringly fast.

Far too blaringly fast for the hunter-nin to dodge, of course. He expected nothing less from the malevolent and dark chakra that was wildly flaring in and around him. The feeling of making contact with the mirror that held him was a good feeling. It mixed well with the adrenaline pumping through his system.

The mirror easily broke under the pressure of his chakra-intensified fist and less than a second later he held the hunter-nin's neck in his right hand. Before the enemy shinobi could move his arm he was swung around and thrown back into another mirror which, just like the previous one, easily shattered upon the impact and placed him in an area far beyond his mirror-house. The hunter-nin struggled to get up far away from the safety of his mirrors. Naruto was upon him in an instant and helped him to get up.

He was far from finished, of course.

As soon as the hunter-nin was able to stand up straight he received a fist to the stomach. Then another one. Then a roundhouse kick that once again knocked him back, temporarily free from Naruto's reach, panting and on his knees. That didn't last long at all and Naruto was once again upon his enemy in no time.

This time the other ninja attempted to block but found his arm quickly buckling under the force of the fist which attacked it, leaving him completely open for the next fist which found its way to his face, or more accurately his mask, which much like the mirrors easily shattered under the pressure. Not sparing a second, Naruto delivered another roundhouse kick which mirrored the one that he had done earlier and watched as the ninja who had killed Sasuke flew back in the same tossed rag-doll fashion he had done several times before.

This time he walked slowly to the struggling ninja that lying on his back. The fight itself had gone on long enough. It was time to finish him. The flowing red chakra around him only agreed.

Yes. Finish him quick, it said. Or rather, Kyuubi monster was most likely touching itself at the thought of its first kill in such a long time.

As he stepped in front of the unmasked hunter-nin, who struggled to get to his feet, he allowed himself a look as to his face and was surprised at what he saw.

He knew him.

Or rather somewhat knew him. It really wasn't that practical to assume to know somebody after merely a single meeting. He had met the other boy during his training to prepare for the current attack they were facing. The boy had been nice and urged him to do his best in training. He had also given him some amazing advice- to never forget about his precious people, though he was somewhat unsure of that advice at the moment.

The boy, Haku if he remembered correctly, evidently noticed the recognition in his eyes and, standing up fully, he smiled the same smile he had seen the other day he met him.

"Are you going to kill me now?"

Yes, he heard Kyuubi say.

"I was going to." Naruto admitted. "Every single fibre of my being is screaming for you death." Every single fibre that was Kyuubi.

"Then shouldn't you do it? I did kill your friend after all." That was true. "And I am the enemy ninja. It's only right that you kill me."

"I guess you're right." Naruto said, though he still did not move. Haku had still not lost his smile.

"In the world of shinobi people die all the time. In the future you will do many more kills; there's no way to avoid it. It's better to start now than make a mistake that would kill you later." Those words weren't very assuring. "I'd rather you killed me now. I'm useless and weak; not the kind of tool that is worthy for Zabuza-sama. I have no purpose."

He wants it. You have his consent. Do it.

"Are-are you sure?" The old him wouldn't have done it. Dark Naruto wouldn't have hesitated. What was he going to do?

Haku nodded, the very same smile never leaving his face.

So Naruto reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out one of the three he had remaining, Haku's smile of approval constantly there. The kunai felt oddly light in his hand, most likely due to the adrenaline Kyuubi was pumping throughout his system.

Finish her.

"Shut up you stupid fox." He murmured under his breath, elating a look of confusion from the long haired boy in front of him.

"N-never mind. Do you have any last words?" He somewhat hoped that it would be 'no'.

He dropped his smile momentarily and seemed to think for a bit. The small scrunching of his mouth and nose making it seem as if he was contemplating something. Finally the smile returned and he spoke:

"I'm actually really a girl." Haku admitted with a smile. Naruto's thoughts went briefly back to the day in the forest when she had said something that was the exact opposite. His thoughts were broken by the Kyuubi's shouts for blood.

Then he moved, the kunai moving as a blur with his hands.

Before it pierced her heart he saw her eyes widen for a fraction of a second and her mouth open slightly for a moment. Perhaps she was having second thoughts? The thought made Naruto sick to his stomach but he found himself unable to stop the blade as it ran through her chest and, if the slight amount of pulsating he felt was not imagined, her heart as well.

Blood had flown everywhere.

Some onto his face. Some onto Haku's.

Mostly on his arm. And her chest.

"Za...Zabuza-sama..." She choked out. Evidently these were her final words. "I...I'm sorry...that I...failed...you..."

Naruto watched as her breaths seemed to get more and more forced. She gave four more chokes before she stopped breathing. Her eyes had a glassy, unfocused look to them. Her skin was pale and cold to the touch. He slowly pulled back the kunai and gently placed her to the ground.

The mist had started to clear for some reason or the other at this point. He briefly chanced a glance at the other direction to see Kakashi in a similar situation with Zabuza that he himself had been in. The silver-haired jounin had his actual arm piercing directly through other man's chest. He quickly turned his attention to his own kill however. Haku's hair had lost its bun and rested all around the prone figure in a wild sort of fashion. The moonlight shone onto her face and gave her pale face a bit of a glow.

She looked strangely beautiful in his opinion.

It was all very sickening.

The fact that the Kyuubi was endlessly giving howls of appreciation and contentment only added to the nostalgic feeling.

"Sasuke-kun!" He heard Sakura yell and stiffened. It was time for another sickening scene.

Giving her own last glance he gradually turned away from the prone figure of Haku and walked toward the crouched over one of Sakura over Sasuke. It was time to see if Dark Naruto's original prediction was right or not. By the time he reached her she was sobbing against the Uchiha's fallen body. He reached out slowly for her shoulder but stopped at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Sakura..." Sasuke grunted, causing the pink-haired kunoichi to lift her head and gasp loudly. "You're heavy. Get off me."

Naruto suddenly felt a wave of relief wash through him as Sakura ignored the other boy's wishes and leapt upon him still crying but only thankfully this time.

Relief that was fairly short-lived however due to the sound of clapping and a snide weasel-y voice which echoed across the bridge.

"Well, well. Isn't this a sight," a short mousy man in a business suit said from across the other side of the bridge. An entire platoon of what had to be at least forty men stood behind him. He walked up to the dead body of Zabuza and poked him with his cane.

"I've got to thank you all for taking care of these two for me. I was going to have them killed anyways, but you saved me time."

"Gatou." He could hear Tazuna whisper fearfully. The soft whisper was like an echo on the otherwise silent bridge.

"My thanks to you all and condolences that you'll unfortunately have to join them." His voice was snide and arrogant.

Naruto and his two teammates turned their heads to their sensei questioningly. He noticed and turned his own head towards them.

"Naruto, Sakura. I'm sorry to put you two to this, but I think I'll need some backup." The jounin himself looked to be in terrible condition, his wounds from Zabuza easily visible and his breath slightly jagged.

Naruto didn't even need to think about it before he made his decision. "Take care of Sasuke." He said to Sakura before he walked up beside Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei. It's okay, just rest." He didn't even have to look to know that the jounin had a confused look on his face. It wouldn't have made a difference either; Kakashi wore a mask.

You want my power again, don't you?

He wouldn't spare anyone he told it.

Good, Kyuubi said, with no doubt a large grin on its face.

He noticed somewhat uncomfortably that everybody's eyes were on him as the flowing red chakra burst around him. It swished and swirled around him, and suddenly the air felt so much thicker. The same feeling he had when he had fought Haku had returned and he could feel the adrenaline pumping throughout his body. He placed a kunai on each hand and crouched down slightly, attempting to breath at a normal pace. It was no use; he was far too excited.

When he moved, it was carnage.

The first to fall was a boy in his late teens, perhaps three or four years older than himself, by a stab wound similar to the one that Haku took with her to her grave. He quickly pulled it out and swiped at man close by who had gone for his blade. He didn't even have time to notice any of the next ones as he had set himself in some sort of a trance. He slashed and stabbed at whoever he saw, never giving anyone time to put up any sort of a counterattack. They fell easily and after what had to have been perhaps the first ten men to die they seemed to decide to just run.

Those were the ones he targeted from that point.

More and more fell as he went on with his massacre. Most screamed. Some pleaded for their lives. A good amount was not given the chance to do either. He didn't know how much time passed by before they were all gone. Time didn't really matter for him during his rampage.

In the end he stood panting in middle of a giant mass of dead bodies, the smell of blood practically oozing into the air around them. He could practically taste it.

The Kyuubi was laughing the same way he did after he had killed Haku.

He attempted to make his way out of the bloody mass, stepping over the bloody body of Gatou. He wasn't really sure when he had killed the short man and diverted his eyes from the man and the gash on his neck. He looked up and looked into the eyes of each of his fellow members of Team 7.

Sakura looked panicky at the sudden eye contact and immediately looked away. She had a fearful expression and she tightly clutched Sasuke, who had seemed to go numb based on his lack of response at the physical contact. He looked more confused than scared. When Naruto looked into his eyes he saw something entirely different from what he had expected. Not fear or disgust. It was more like-

Jealousy? He didn't know what there was to be jealous about and assumed it was his own imagination which showed him such a thing.

He didn't bother looking at Kakashi or Tazuna. He didn't want to know what was going on in their minds.

He was standing in the middle of a sea of dead bodies. Off the corner of his right eye he saw some moaning survivors. Severed limbs were everywhere, fingers especially for some reason. He was soaked from nearly head to toe in blood. His favourite orange jacket was bloody and torn.

It was all very sickening.

Sakura looked down at the sleeping blond in front of her. Kakashi-sensei had tasked her with the job of taking care of him while he and Sasuke-kun took care of Tazuna and his fellow workers as they finished the final steps of their construction of the bridge that her team had nearly died for. The bridge that Sasuke-kun had nearly died for.

The bridge that Naruto killed for, a part of her mind said.

She chose to ignore it as she stared down uncomfortably at the sleeping blond. She really wished Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei would get back as soon as possible.

It had scared her when the blond ninja had suddenly started using that red chakra and went on that killing spree on Gatou's cronies. He had cut down every single one of them and ensured every single one of their deaths leaving behind a sea of blood and dead bodies. She had come fairly close to puking. The way he moved madly around them, stabbing and slicing, the blood red chakra flowing behind his every step.

The blood red chakra.

When she and Sasuke-kun had asked Kakashi-sensei about it he had said that it was Naruto's secret to tell. They had both tried to press on but he had sternly pushed them back, warning them solidly to never mention it to him again, saying that it was never his secret to share.

She had started to consider pressing it again when he got back later when she felt something at her legs wiggle.

It was Naruto. He had started to wake up.

Suddenly panic overtook her as she contemplated running away and hiding. She breathed in and out several times in order to calm her nerves and gather up all her courage. Naruto wouldn't attack her, would he? She hoped not as he pulled himself up from his slumber and rubbed one of his eyes. Then he noticed her and stared blankly. The blank stare stayed for several minutes (along with uncomfortable silence) before she broke them both.

"H-hello." She said timidly. She couldn't help her tone. Everything about Naruto just scared her at this point.

"Hello." His voice was as blank as his stare.

"So, h-how are you feeling?"

He blinked, before sighing and leaning back.

"I knew you'd react like this." He muttered. He knew? What was that supposed to mean?

"What's that supposed to mean?" She voiced her thoughts. Why'd she have to be such a vocal girl? Didn't she like having a mouth?

He gave her a solid stare.

"Look at you. You're shaking. You're stuttering, which I know for a fact you don't do around anyone except for Sasuke-kun, and I highly doubt you're doing it the same way to me as you do to him." He said the last part a little bitterly, she noticed with a wince. Hopefully not bitterly enough to kill her?

"You're scared of me. Scared of the monster." His bitter tone was ever-present. "Uzumaki Naruto: Konoha's very own demon."

"Naruto, I'm-" Not scared of you, she wanted to say. But she couldn't. She was.

"He was right about you." He? Who was he? "I can't trust you. I can't trust anyone." Oh, never mind. It was time for some damage-control.

"Naruto, wait." He didn't seem to notice.

"All of you, just when I needed you guys."

"Naruto-" He cut her off again, not seeming to hear.

"I knew I wasn't wanted. I-"

"Naruto, you idiot! Shut up!" It was her turn to interrupt him and she noted with a bit inner satisfaction as he winced at the shrillness of her voice. She had her attention though. That was all that mattered.

"I just wanted to say-" What did she want to say? She didn't really have much of a plan at this point so she just decided to do this by heart and say what came to mind. "I just wanted to say that I-I'm not scared of you." He looked surprised at this, if a little disbelieving, so she went on: "I'm scared of what you did out there. You just murdered that entire gang of people. I know they were trying to kill us and I understand that you were trying to defend us-Kakashi-sensei gave me and Sasuke-kun this lecture earlier-but it's just that the way you did it. With that weird, scary chakra." She shuddered for a moment at the thought of the malevolent feeling that it seemed to ooze.

"It was scary. If you did it again then I'd be scared, but right now, I'm definitely not scared of you." She finished, internally admiring her little monologue.

However it didn't have the effect that she had intended and Naruto simply returned to that blank stare he had given her earlier.

"I'm going back to bed." He said plainly and turned away from her.

She kind of wanted to swat him at that moment.

When Naruto had awoken next he had found Sasuke staring down at him.

"Hello." The young Uchiha said.

"Hello." The young blond returned.

"Sakura and Kakashi left with Tazuna and his family to go eat out. It's a celebratory dinner." Sasuke figured he'd be the one to break the ice.

"Why are you here?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Somebody had to be left behind to watch you. I wasn't really that hungry so I volunteered." He didn't want to admit that he had secretly been hoping thatNaruto would wake up and he would get a chance to speak with him. He wanted to ask all the questions that Kakashi had refused to answer.

"Oh." Was Naruto's lacklustre response.

"What was that red chakra at the bridge." He blurted out. The other boy didn't look surprised at the outburst, only blinking.

"S-class secret." It was his turn to blink.

"Don't joke around, Naruto. Tell me."

"I'm not lying." The blond said defensively. "Though I could tell you if I wanted, I guess. You just can't tell anyone else, under the penalty of death." Was he joking? "Quit giving me that look, you asshole. I told you, I'm not joking."

"Don't call me an asshole, dumbass. Tell me then." Naruto looked slightly uncomfortable at the idea. "I'd rather not. For now at least. I'll tell you when we get back to Konoha, okay? I need to ask the Old Man if it's okay, alright?" Sasuke relented at this. He was curious but he supposed he could have a little patience.

Another topic came to his mind.

"You took out that hunter-nin didn't you? How the hell did you do what I couldn't, even with my sharingan?" He felt a fair bit of jealousy at the fact that he had failed where Naruto had succeeded.

"Uhh...It goes back to the S-class secret." The blond said somewhat apologetically.

"You're explaining everything when we get back to Konoha." Naruto shrugged in response before giving a bit a scrutinizing stare.

"Aren't you scared of me or something? Or maybe disgusted with the way I killed so many of those men out there?"

What kind of stupid question was that?

"What kind of stupid question is that?" They were ninja. What was this idiot getting at? And he was definitely not scared of Naruto.

The idiot looked far too surprised at this response. Did Naruto expect him to say he was scared of him?

Before either of them could press on they were interrupted by another voice.

"Well, well Naruto. Good to see you awake and up." Kakashi's cheerful voice rang across the room.

"The food at the restaurant was delicious. We've actually brought back some for you, Sasuke. Sakura's right downstairs with it, waiting for you. Why don't you go ahead and taste some of it?" He could take a hint. Grunting, he left the room, giving one last glance to its blond occupant.

Naruto felt slightly disappointed at Sasuke's sudden departure. He had wanted to press on about the boy's lack of reaction to his question. However Kakashi stood in front of him, practically demanding his attention. Though he looked cheerful and carefree, Naruto could tell there was some serious thinking going on in his head. And he was most likely the reason for all that mental exertion.

Didn't he feel special.

"Naruto," Kakashi said in the serious tone he very rarely used, "What is your relation with the Kyuubi?"

What the hell kind of question was that?

"I'm its jailor. He's my prisoner."

"What you used yesterday, the red chakra: that was its chakra wasn't it?" He nodded at his sensei. "Are you able to call it forth by force?"

"Uhh. Kinda. I had to ask for it actually." He admitted. He didn't want to give too much information away but frankly it would probably have been suspicious otherwise.

"You can speak with it?" He said surprisingly. Shit. This was bad. He defiinetely did not want this leaked.

"It can speak. I can't speak to it." He hastily added, hoping he came off more as embarrassed or something as opposed to suspicious. He hoped he came off as anything as opposed to suspicious.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows.

"I-I can hear its mutters." He said softly. This was the truth at least, so it was easier to say. "At times, I can hear it telling me to kill. When I asked for its chakra at the bridge it told me to kill every single one of them." He really didn't want to go on at this point.

Kakashi saw that and Naruto could see him giving him a small smile through his mask.

"Don't worry about it Naruto. You did good out there." The jounin stood up and turned to leave. "Try to get some more sleep. We set out in a couple of days. The bridge should be finished by then."With those final words, Kakashi left and for the first time since the battle, Naruto found himself the sole occupant of the room, many thoughts circulating through his mind.

So he closed his eyes. When he open them he was back in the sewer passageways. He didn't take the Kyuubi passage though, instead opting for the passageway across from it. Seconds after the choice he found himself staring himself down.

"Hello." Dark Naruto said to him.

"Hello." He said in return.

"What brings you here?" His other self asked him curiously.

"Didn't we fuse or something?" He asked, ignoring the question. He wasn't really sure of the answer.

"Consider me an afterimage. I'm not the real deal, but I'm better than nothing." His Dark Self explained.

Good enough.

"So what really brings you here?" What did bring him here?

"I guess I just wanted to talk." He found himself admitting an answer he didn't even know he knew.

"Talking to yourself isn't healthy." Cheeky little bastard.

"You said it was just us. That all we really had was ourselves, and that nobody else cared." For a second an angry look came to his face, but it was gone just as quick as it showed.

"It is just us."

"No. It was."

Dark Naruto seemed to reel a bit at that. He just continued.

"Sakura. We thought she'd just hate me, if given the opportunity. We thought that after the stunt we pulled on the bridge she would completely fear us. We thought that she wouldn't want to be our friend anymore or even come near us out of that fear."

"She is afraid of us."

"No. Not in the way you're trying to make it sound. Either way, she does not hate us. I can tell that for a fact."

"Don't forget what she's done to us all these years though. Those put-downs. Rejections. Insults. Being placed second to her precious Sasuke-kun. Have you really forgotten what she's done to us?"

"That's right. What she has done to us. Everything you base your opinions on is what's happened in the past! You just can't just let go of things like that, can you? What if she's trying to change?" He was getting a bit angry at this point, having sacrificed much of his individuality for his Dark Self's beliefs.

"They never change."

"Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. It doesn't matter. I'm still going to try." Dark Naruto gave him a disbelieving glare.

"You're going to go back to how you were earlier? You're going to go back to the old Naruto who let other people's opinions matter so much and worked so hard for them and not him?"

"That Naruto's gone now." He admitted. He could feel it inside of him; it was impossible to just 'split apart'.

"Frankly I don't know what kind of Naruto I'm going to be. I don't know if I trust any of them. And I don't know if I want to."

His Dark Self giving him a look he couldn't interpret. Confusion, maybe?

"If that's what you wish. I chose to have both of us out there and I'll stand by my decision." Dark Naruto gave an evil grin. "We'll see who's ideals will win."

He laughed at that. He really wasn't sure what else he could've done at that point.

Another thought hit him though.

"You spent the last ten years in her right? With just the Kyuubi for company?" It was one of the memories he had gained when they had come together.

"That's right."

"That must've sucked. Weren't you scared or something? Why did you talk to him so often?" He only somewhat knew the answer to that. The bastard fox was the only one Dark Naruto could talk to.

His answer was something entirely different however as Dark Naruto gave one of his twisted grins.

"I'm basically all your dark, terrible emotions that you've thrown away over the years up until that day on the bridge. Hatred, lust, greed. Why wouldn't I get along with him?"

It was an uncomfortable thing to hear. Plus he didn't need to know he was repressing lust.

"So how'd you stay sane?" Oh god. That asshole better not say what he thought he was going to say.

His Dark Self only continued to grin.

"Who says I did?"

Well, goddamit.

A/N: Well now we have Gray!Naruto.

He's got Dark Naruto's emotions and memories of being trapped inside of Naruto's mind as well as Canon!Naruto's normal memories. With mixed feelings and an entirely different personality what's he going to do next?

By the way, the reason I made Haku a female was because I have yet to see a Naruto fic where Haku is introduced as a female and still dies. It was kind of a joke between me and myself (and nobody else because I have no friends ;-;)

Also: Lusty!Naruto for the win.