.Welcome to my first attempt at real Naruto fanfiction. I rather enjoy most of the other alternate Naruto fanfics out there, especially the more dark ones, and decided to try my hand at one a little more original. If this prolouge peeks your interest even a little, I would be most happy to hear a review from you. This fanfic, however, was originally intended only for my brothers, so perhaps you will enjoy it as well.
.Disclaimer: In no way do I own Naruto or anything associated with it. This fanfic is based off the manga storyline only, and is also subject to any small changes made by me as well.
Shades of Gray
Chapter 0: Letting Out the Damned
"Idiot! Idiot! This was never a good idea! Stupid kid, the man was up to nothing good from the start! Do you hear me?!"
Down in the depths of what appeared to be a sewer, a gigantic animal rammed against a cell's gates. Its canines were clenched together and its feral red eyes were narrowed in intense concentration. Nine long tails sailed out from behind it. Two perceptive ears twitched in irritation. The fur bristled in fury. The nine-tailed fox, the greatest demon ever to walk the earth, was now shut off from the rest of the world, and also from its holder.
The fox took steps back to the edge of the cell where the murky walls brushed against its tails. It lowered its head while growling. "Good for nothing kid..." Once again, the demon fox threw itself against the cage walls. Nothing happened except for a small rustling of the small paper placed in the middle of the gate, bearing the simple word of 'seal.'
The paper reminded the fox instantly of the source of his current predicament. Written in blood, it had once flowed from the captor who had sealed the demon inside a babe twelve years ago. The fox demon, or the Kyuubi as was its given name, remembered that day well. There was the young man with yellow hair, the greatest warrior of his village, sacrificing his very life for the sake of all the people under him. Kyuubi had faced the man when he had but stepped foot inside the village, and its freedom from then on was severed.
'Now I must watch as this twelve year old boy falls to his eventual ruin,' the demon muttered darkly. 'Considering both our souls are connected, I will die along with him. And I was starting to become attached to him too...'
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"Naruto! Listen to me! Take the Forbidden Scroll and run," Iruka, Chuunin sensei of the Konoha Ninja Academy, yelled at his pupil.
Across from him, a boy's surprised eyes widened considerably. His hands gripped a large scroll, almost as big as he was. Blond hair, spiky and prone to waving carelessly in the increasing bouts of wind, contrasted against his fair skin and bright blue eyes. Tiny whisker imprints on his cheeks gave him a slightly inhuman impression. Coupled with his bright orange and blue jumpsuit, he was quite a unique boy.
"What are you talking about, Iruka-sensei," Naruto slightly backed away in confusion. "I came to the forest just so I could show you the new technique I learned. Mizuki-sensei said you would make me a shinobi if I pulled it off successfully."
Iruka shook his head. "Naruto, Mizuki tricked you. Stealing that scroll is absolutely forbidden. The only reason he would have said such a thing is to make you give it to him without the trouble of him stealing it from the Hokage instead."
There was a small amount of silence. Naruto seemed to be struggling against this accusation, his mind torn between so many things. He clenched his free hand against his orange jacket in rising fear.
It was then that the villain Mizuki finally made his appearance.
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Kyuubi could feel every single bout of unpleasantness, strike of fear, and pang of misery that his host possessed. It flowed into the soul in different layers of mist, seeping through the bottom of the demon's cage. Already slight tremors were rocking the sewer, sending chunks of cement from the ceiling raining down into the water below. The fox dug its clawed paws into the ground sharply as it rode the earthquake out and readied itself for another one.
"I knew someday it would come to this," Kyuubi admitted sadly. How many times already had the brat named Naruto come so close to dying in the past? Quite a few, and each predicament shook the soul, each harder than the last. But what the fox demon feared was something else besides the boy finally losing his mind. There, outside the cell, was a thin mirror. Several cracks had already grazed its surface. With each tremor, the mirror had come dangerously close to toppling over onto the cement ground.
Kyuubi stared at it forlornly. He had a vague idea of what the mirror served inside the soul. Once, when the child was but a mere babe, the mirror had been chained to the wall with numerous locks. Each held it firmly in place, keeping back whatever was contained in its unending depths. But, as each breakdown and murder attempt went by in Naruto's life, one lock or chain was broken from the mirror. Now it was as it was currently, free to fall and break, freeing whatever was held inside.
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"Naruto, I have a secret to tell you. Would you like to know," Mizuki asked sweetly to a fearful and confused child, his only protector an already wounded Iruka.
"Mizuki, you can't! It's forbidden," Iruka yelled in shock.
Mizuki sneered and ignored the man he had formerly worked under as a teaching assistant. "I know why all the villagers in Konohagakure shun you. I know why the children laugh and put you down. I know why you never had a friend or even the love of a family." Below him, Naruto's eyes widened.
"Shut up, Mizuki," Iruka yelled.
Naruto looked fearfully between both of his teachers, his fists clenched. "I want to know!," he shouted at the white-haired traitor.
"Naruto, do you find it strange why Iruka-sensei refused to pass your graduation exam performance, even though you have already failed two times already? After all, I saw only improvement in your test, but Iruka-sensei could only find fault. There is a reason for that."
"A reason...," Naruto whispered. The boy took a bewildered look at his wounded sensei.
Iruka shook his head savagely. "No, Mizuki, what I said was beyond valid! Only someone who truly cares for another can point out his faults without error!"
"But you held him back from the one thing that he truly desired," Mizuki smirked, grasping his fist together in front of him. "Would someone who cared be able to ruthlessly smash another's dreams?! To rip him apart from the only future he might have had available to him?! You forbid him from passing the Genin exam not because you cared about him, but because of what he was! The demon fox that destroyed the village and killed your parents!!" Mizuki shot his finger out at Iruka in accusation.
Naruto looked back at the suffering Iruka, frightened. "What does he mean, Iruka-sensei? Is it true? Am I a demon? Do you hate me?" It did not take long for the once bright blue eyes to start filling up with tears of pain.
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A sudden wave of doubt and pain knocked the fox right off his feet. Kyuubi yipped in surprise as he was slammed into the wall behind him. The sound of the mirror rocking on the wall was the only thing the demon was concerned about, though.
"You know of Konoha's history, don't you, Naruto," Mizuki asked the boy. "Did not Iruka-sensei teach it to you, making sure you knew it forwards and backwards?" He smiled down at the teacher in a demurring gaze. "The strongest demon of all, the nine-tailed fox, assualted the village of Konohagakure twelve years ago. Many strong and talented shinobi were lost, including both of Iruka's parents. The Yondaime, in his final hour, trapped the demon inside a human child."
Naruto's eyes widened as he began to realize the identity of said human child.
"As such, Naruto, you have become the walking reincarnation of that very fox demon! This is why your beloved Iruka-sensei hates you so! You killed his family! You killed his hopes and dreams! You killed the ones he loved and strived to protect! You, Uzumaki Naruto, are a walking abomination!"
"No," Iruka screamed out. "That's not true!"
But the teacher's scream fell on deaf ears. Naruto had already vanished, with the scroll in tow.
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"Iruka-sensei, is it true? Is it true you hate me?"
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Another earthquake rocked the sewer cell. Kyuubi howled in his displeasure.
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"The villagers always called me demon child. They abused me, kicked me, hit me, even stabbed me in the chest. Each time I almost died."
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The mirror began to shake rapidly. It was not just responding to the recent earthquakes, but now subtle, now increasing, tremors that were zipping across the walls. It tipped back and forth, from the right to the left, then back, coming perilously close to falling off into certain oblivion.
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Naruto stared up at the trees above him, dark and gloomy. Sometimes they allowed bright sun to shine down on his sorrow, blanketing him instantly in warmth and protection. Sadly, however, only darkness filtered through. The blue eyes clenched shut in pain and more tears came to the surface. Beside him, the large scroll that was supposed to be his future lay forgotten. Swirling thoughts of doom only assaulted him instead.
"Somehow, fate never wanted me to die. I was always so close, and yet at the last second when I was about to slip, something held me back..."
He slipped his hand into the pouch at his waist, bearing the seal of what he once imagined to be the proud Uzumaki clan. Once upon a time, Naruto wanted that swirl to be a symbol of power, hope, and respect. He wanted it to grace the halls of the main manor of Konoha where the Hokage lived, the strongest and most respected shinobi of the whole village. He had once let Iruka know his dream, to be Hokage. The teacher had only laughed at him, and now he had held back Naruto's only hope of becoming a ninja.
His hand retrieved a hidden kunia. It had been sharpened the night beforehand. It was the weapon of the the ninja, which Naruto had hoped to once wield under different circumstances. Now, the metal was only dead weight in his hand.
Naruto could feel the heartbeat of his trembling heart deep inside of him as he rose the kunai to his throat. He pressed it very close to the flesh, enough to let loose a single trickle of blood. It was now or never. Do or die. Misery or instant release.
"I just want to die now."
In one fluid motion, the boy ran the kunai against his throat.
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Something harder and more disturbing than the tremors began to fill the soul chambers. Kyuubi realized it instantly, already having been subjected to the warning signs time after time in his twelve years of trapped existence. His vessel had chosen to die. Even now Kyubbi could feel his own self start to bubble with pain, snapping to and fro as the cord of life began to snap.
Like an instinctive reaction, Kyuubi let loose the full extent of his healing chakra. If the boy died, he died. The fox never wanted to allow that to happen, even though he was already bound to a mortal's lifespan.
In his concentration, the mirror finally shifted and fell to the floor. There was a loud crash, hurling thousands of pieces of glass like bullets across the sewer. Several even managed to graze the poor fox's bristling fur.
A hollow shadow rose above the confusion, and snapped straight into the mind of one who had already died.