Greetings everyone! first of all, thank you for taking the time to give this story a try! and right now I need you warn you . . . I am stretching my serious legs a bit on this one so graphic displays are graphic . . . i'll stop short of lemons . . . i think . . . be nice to know what a mod thought on the topic but yeah, violence is a thing that exists and so does trauma and what not. it shouldn't be too too bad but still, you have been warned.
also, I wrote this first chapter while listening to a three hour mix of Audiomachine . . . you might notice the recommendation right below this AN . . . yeah some good stuff there, in any case, I'll occasionally recommend songs if I wrote a piece to the tune of a song rather than just listened to the song while writing but yeah.
I noticed that people smoke in Naruto and decided that they never said what they were smoking so I just came up with "Fire Leaf" on the spot as a tobacco substitute, the afflictions of Fire Leaf are well known and easily curable to those with access to shinobi medicine and techniques so it's reasonably safe for ninja to smoke and not sacrifice their breathing capabilities but it's considered impolite to smoke in front of others and it is still bad for you so yeah.
Lastly, this is the pilot for this new story . . . it's actually probably gonna sit here a while cause i'm still currently working on (as of writing this) Yadokawa Naruto (check it out if you'd like) so my updating of this story is gonna be glacial at times.
in any case, i hope you like this first chapter of The Power of Darkness, see you at the bottom.
Prologue
(Author here: I wrote this scene to the tune of "Young Blood" by Audiomachine . . . I recommend trying it out for this scene)
The Nine-Tailed Fox launched his Bijuu Bomb against Konoha, only for the attack to be absorbed by the fourth Hokage. Watching from a rooftop far from the battle was a woman, her hair flowing to her shoulder blades and forming a knife shape as it met in a point in the center of her back. The woman watched the battle with no emotion evident on her features, her dark green Kimono dress fluttering slightly in the wind around her. Many would assume the woman was a part of a daimyo's court for her formal attire alone but the fact she was standing on a pointed rooftop with the grace of a shinobi, belied that theory.
The woman stood stock still as she watched the entire battle unfold, not even flinching when the Fox's ungodly attacks came near her rooftop. It was only when the Fox was sealed into the the body of a baby boy that the woman begin to move. Her footsteps made now sound as she walked across the tiled roof despite her wooden geta sandals. When the woman arrived at the end of the rooftop, the shadows rose up around her before sinking into the ground and reemerging on another rooftop in the blink of an eye. The woman didn't even break a stride as she continued across the still intact houses, blinking from one rooftop to the next in a shroud of darkness.
Finally coming to the street she wanted, the woman blinked onto the street and began heading towards the site of the battle.
"Stop!" Called out a Konoha shinobi from behind the woman. "I can't let you go that way! It's dangerous!" The man said and yet the woman didn't react or even show recognition of his presence. The shinobi jumped in front of the woman with Kunai in hand and a frantic look on his face. "If you won't turn back I will force you!" The shinobi said as the woman approached him. The shinobi's attention on the woman meant that he didn't notice his shadow darken until tendrils of blackness reached up his legs and covered his body. The man made to scream but found himself unable to utter a sound as the dark tendrils covered his mouth and eyes. When the darkness receded there was nothing left save for a single kunai clattering to the ground, a bloody hand still clutching it.
Naruto as a young boy at the tender age of four was living on the streets after having just been kicked out of the orphanage. At this present moment Naruto was hungry and hiding in a dead end alley to escape the cold chill of winter. Thankfully this was a more mild winter and it had barely snowed. Naruto was still cold in spite of the mild weather but most importantly, he was hungry. Naruto clutched his stomach, rocking back and forward as tears fell down his face from the hunger pains he was experiencing when the darkness swelled and rose up slightly before receding and revealing a brown paper parcel in it's wake. Naruto looked around to see who had put that parcel there when his eyes locked onto a woman, her pale skin almost glowing in the light of evening.
"Eat sparingly, make that food last as long as you can" The woman said before the darkness of the alley rose up and claimed the woman as if she had never been there to begin with. Naruto looked at the spot she had been in and at the parcel before ripping it open and his tears were renewed when he was gifted the sight of a box of wrapped rice balls. Naruto ripped open one of the packages and wolfed the rice ball down and was about to reach for the second when he remembered the strange woman's words and thought better of it, he wanted to make sure the food lasted because he wasn't sure when he'd next get another meal.
"Thank you nee-chan" Naruto said quietly to the wind in the hopes that who or whatever was watching him would hear. She did.
(Author here: I wrote this scene to the tune of "Prelude of Dreams" and "Blood and stone" both Audiomachine works, recommend trying them . . . oh and this scene might be distressing, hope I added a warning in the AN at the top)
Naruto ran for his life with the hoots and hollers of a group of men pursuing him around every turn. He had been found by the Hokage almost a year after he had been kicked out of the orphanage and had been given his own him to live in but it had been some time then and the now six year old Naruto was a much more known quantity in Konoha with people now knowing where he lived. That night was October tenth, his birthday and, if the men behind him had anything to say about it, his death day as well. Naruto was paying attention to his chasers when he ran headlong into a wall, he had turned down a dead end alley.
"Looks like we got the demon now lads!" one of the men called out with an almost insane grin on his face. "Nowhere to run and no robes to hide behind" he said, his voice breaking at the glee he was facing over being able to finally kill the demon. Naruto watched on in absolute terror as the twelve men each withdrew weapons, the leader of them pulling out a tanto knife and the others holding kitchen knives, table legs or wooden planks with nails driven through them.
"P-please don't do this" Naruto begged, tears welling in his eyes as he realised he might die. The reaction only garnered psychotic laughter from the leader as he threw his fist out, connecting with Naruto's face and driving him into the wall. Naruto slumped down, barely maintaining consciousness until the leader slammed his foot into Naruto's chest, causing the blonde boy to cough up blood and crumple onto the ground, a fit of coughing denoting the damage that had just been dealt to him.
"Look at that!" the man exclaimed gleefully "Not so mighty now are you KYUUBI" the man shouted, Naruto barely heard the man though and thus was unable to hear what the man called him as spots danced across his eyes. The man's eyes were wide in psychotic glee as he raised his knife high into the sky. Unlike a lot of the men that were with him, the leader was very sober, he didn't want the best night of his life ruined by being drunk. The other men however, were too plastered by their own grief and the alcohol they tried to drown it with to care about what was about to happen so instead, the cheered. The man rolled Naruto, who had recovered enough to not be coughing, onto his back and, his knife held aloft, plunged the blade into Naruto's chest. The men surrounding him and the boy cheered as Naruto screamed in pain before gurgles halted the boy's screaming and he began coughing again. The leader removed his knife from the boy and took a step back to allow his mob to finish the job when the shadows rose up behind Naruto and a woman in a dark green Kimono appeared, her features completely devoid of any emotion.
"Oi! You 'ere to 'ave some ffffun too?" Asked a man so drunk he was barely able to stand. The woman gave a quick glance to that man and the one that wore a psychotic expression before turning her gaze to Naruto who was seemingly unconscious and bleeding out quickly from his chest wound. The woman turned her attention back to the men in front of her and all of a sudden the men gasped and took steps back as twelve tendrils of pure darkness came out of the woman's back and fanned out around her like tails. Before the men could so much as utter a syllable, the tendrils shot forth and speared all twelve men through the heart, carving half-foot holes in their chests. None of the men uttered anything more as the woman withdrew her tendrils and watched as the men flopped to the ground, dead before ever meeting it. The woman then wrapped Naruto in darkness and both of them blinked out of existence.
Naruto slowly woke up, enjoying the feel of a soft bed as he opened his eyes. The first thing that Naruto noticed was that he was naked and the second thing he noticed was that his chest was covered in some kind of darkness. Naruto looked closely at the dark stuff on his chest and noticed that there was a lighter darkness inside of the stuff that was swirling around.
"You are awake" came a voice that Naruto hadn't heard for almost two years. The voice itself was quite, soft and feminine and held no emotion whatsoever without actually being cold.
"You saved me!" Naruto said in awe that someone would do that, he was so sure he was going to die in that alley. "Are you an angel? Or a god? I heard there are gods everywhere, what's your name?" Naruto fired off at a rapid pace but the woman merely stood there watching him. Naruto fidgeted a little under the woman's unblinking gaze and flinched when she walked forward and placed a hand on the black stuff on his chest. When the woman removed her hand, the black stuff went with it and Naruto saw his completely healed body underneath it. He also realised he was naked in front of this woman.
"There are clothes on the stool, I will return you when you are dress" the woman said as she turned her back and left the dark room. Naruto just now noticed that he was in a room but the walls were made of rock and curved with a concave ceiling. Getting up, Naruto saw the stool that the woman mentioned and that there was a bundle of dark green on it with a pair of dark green sandals next to the stool. The outfit was merely just a shirt, a pair of pants, some underwear and sandals but still, Naruto was immensely grateful to the mystery woman for everything she had done for him. Once dressed, Naruto turned around and began looking for the woman. He didn't need to go far before she appeared in front of him, her pale skin still seeming to glow in the darkness.
"W-where are we?" Naruto asked and still he received nothing from the woman.
"When you return, try to enroll in the academy, become a shinobi to defend yourself in future situations" the woman said to the boy and he just nodded, quietened by the woman's lack of answers. The woman walked towards Naruto and was about to put her hand on his shoulder when the boy in question lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her. Naruto, having buried himself in his embrace, did not see the woman's eyes widen a mere fraction as the only indication of her surprise but the woman put her arms around the boy as well, despite her having schooled her features into the emotionless mask she had been wearing up till then.
"Thank you nee-chan" Naruto said as he broke their hug and the woman nodded before placing a hand on the boy's shoulder and the darkness engulfed Naruto.
Naruto was faced with the strangest sensation. The darkness felt like water in that it flowed around him and, he broke the 'surface' of the darkness like he had been swimming in a river but instead found himself in the alley he had been attacked in. there were still bloodstains in some places but most of it had been cleaned up, not that Naruto knew why there were bloodstains there in the first place.
Naruto noticed that the sun was just starting to rise and realised he had been wherever he had been overnight as he made his way into the Hokage tower and towards the Hokage's office.
"Hey oji-san!" Naruto called out cheerfully as he opened the door and walked in to see the old man with heavy bags under his eyes raise his head so fast Naruto was sure he heard something pop. before Naruto could react and before the Hokage could even utter a word, an ANBU agent appeared by Naruto with a kunai in hand. The ANBU's arm was stopped a mere hair's breadth from slitting Naruto's throat by the hand of the Hokage himself.
"When I need your intervention, I. will. Signal." Sarutobi growled low and guttural causing the ANBU to recoil in shock as nobody had ever heard the old Professor speak that way. "Now Naruto, where have you been!? I've been so worried!" Sarutobi said, releasing the ANBU's hand and addressing Naruto. The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, not noticing the small dribble of blood from a wound that had already closed running down his neck.
"This woman rescued me from some men that were trying to kill me and she took me somewhere" Naruto said before frowning as he tried to think.
"And who exactly was it that took you? Did she say her name?" Sarutobi asked the boy, noticing the frown.
"No . . . when I asked she would just stay silent" Naruto said, he thought it was strange but he didn't really care since the woman had saved his life twice now. "And it's not the first time she saved me either!" the boy stated enthusiastically, forcing Sarutobi to quirk an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" the old man asked, moving to sit behind his desk again, struggling to ignore the weariness of the lack of sleep he had been experiencing recently.
"She gave me food when I was living on the street!" Naruto said, smiling his megawatt smile. Sarutobi merely sighed and allowed a small smile to appear on his face.
"And where did she take you?" he asked, already knowing Naruto wouldn't be able to answer.
"I don't know . . . the walls were all curved and stuff . . . so was the roof too and the walls were all rock" Naruto said, trying to explain everything he had seen. Sarutobi took this information in with minor apprehension as he immediately ran through the suspects that would have a base like that in the vicinity. "But it's okay right? I was only gone a few hours" Naruto said and Sarutobi raised his head to look at the boy.
"My boy . . . you have been gone for an entire week" the old kage said quietly, pulling his pipe out, putting some leaf in it and lighting it. Naruto's eyes were wide and his mouth hung open as he took in this information. "You sure you can't tell me anything else? Anything at all?" the man asked softly and Naruto shook his head. "I need more than that Naruto but I know you don't remember so I'm going to have someone who specialises in this to come in and see if he can find anything else out for us" Sarutobi said. "Don't worry Naruto, I don't think you are lying but sometimes, especially after a traumatic experience, we forget things" he said and the boy nodded mutely.
"So what were you able to find out Inoichi-san" Sarutobi asked as a blond haired man left the hospital room Naruto was in. Sarutobi had Naruto checked in just to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary and the medics gave him some startling news that the boy was almost fully recovered from what looked like a stab wound over his chest as well as several broken ribs.
Inoichi for his part merely sat down on a nearby chair, sighed and put his head in his hands for a few seconds.
"I need to speak to Shikaku" Inoichi said, taking his head out of his hands and looking Sarutobi in the eyes.
"Why? What happened?" The old kage asked, worried by what he had been told by the doctor.
"The boy was attacked by a group of twelve men . . . he was almost dead when a mystery woman intervened . . . stabbed in the chest by a knife, a Tanto I think" Inoichi said, his eyes glazing over for a second as he pulled the memories up. "The woman appeared out of nowhere and used some kind of shadow jutsu that looked suspiciously like Shikaku's shadow stitching jutsu to kill all twelve men simultaneously" he said and Sarutobi closed his eyes at the news. "The rest was him in a dark room that looked like it was underground . . . the design suggested it was deep underground, it could even be under the alley he was in when attack but it would be too deep for us to find . . . the woman used some kind of shadow teleportation jutsu to get Naruto out of it" Inoichi said and Sarutobi opened his eyes again.
"This is turning out to be troublesome" Sarutobi said while Inoichi snickered at the joke. "How is he mentally?" the old kage asked.
"I'd be telling you the boy would need heavy treatment and may even be a lost cause . . . but there is no significant psychological trauma that I could detect . . . I find that odd" Inoichi replied and the two shared a look before going off to meet Shikaku.
"It's not a shadow jutsu" Shikaku said, Inoichi's hands already returning to his sides
"What do you mean? It looked exactly like your shadow stitching jutsu!" Inoichi said in reply to his friend's words.
"At first glance it might look like that woman is controlling shadows but she wasn't . . . I have no idea what that was she used but it was not shadow . . . it almost looked like some kind of chakra" Shikaku said, what he didn't say is that the woman was eerily familiar to him and he knew exactly where she'd be from if he was correct. Sarutobi was looking at him with an intense gaze, it seemed like the old kage had caught on to the fact that there was something unsaid.
"What is it Shikaku-kun" Sarutobi said quietly, using a suffix to remind Shikaku of his place.
"It might be nothing" he said and both Sarutobi and Inoichi narrowed their eyes "or it could be everything" Shikaku continued cryptically. Sarutobi sighed as he realised he wasn't going to get anything more out of the Nara. out of the three men in that room however, Shikaku was the only one to notice a shadow darken in a far corner of the room they were in.
Naruto was standing in a forest clearing, throwing Kunai at a tree. He had been in the academy for two years now but his throwing technique was still abysmal at best. Naruto grunted in frustration as he threw a shuriken and watched as it went off into the distance behind the tree.
"Use your wrist" came the quiet voice of Naruto's mysterious guardian. Naruto jumped and turned around to face the woman in question who was standing on a tree branch above him.
"W-what?" Naruto asked, shocked that he was seeing the woman again.
"Use your wrist" She said again. "Throw the tools with your wrist, not your arm" she explained. Naruto turned around again and held up a shuriken to throw it, taking the woman's words into account as he swept his arm forward. This time however, his flicked his wrist at just the right time and watched in astonishment as the shuriken went reasonably close to where he wanted it. His aim was still horrible but it was much better than consistently missing. Naruto turned around to thank the woman but realised she was gone. He sighed and let out a small smile.
"Thank you nee-chan" he said quietly, sure that the woman wouldn't hear him but saying it anyway. She heard.
At the age of ten, Naruto was yet again running for his life on his birthday, only this time, he was able to escape using Ninja techniques, leaping onto rooftops and running faster than the civilians could catch him. At some point the darkness swallowed Naruto and he found himself in the room he was in four years ago when the woman saved him from the group of men.
"Err, nee-chan?" Naruto called out and the woman appeared in front of him, a stick with a small flame on the end in her hand. The woman placed the stick on the inside of a lamp and held it there until the paper lamp lit up before repeating the process on two more lamps scattered around the room.
"Do you want to know the reason the village hates you?" the woman asked in her quiet voice before pointing to a low table and a seiza cushion. Naruto was floored by that question and with almost no hesitation at all, sat on the cushion and waited for the woman. The woman gracefully glided over to the cushion and gracefully lowered herself until she was sitting on her knees, her kimono dress not crinkled in the slightest. Somehow a pot of tea appeared on the table along with two cups and Naruto watched as the woman gracefully poured two cups of tea.
"Why does the village hate me?" Naruto asked, sure the woman was going to ignore him and she did as she continued to pour the tea until two cups of steaming tea were in front of them.
"Because ten years ago the fourth hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of you" The woman said as she picked up her tea and took a sip. Naruto was about to pick up his own cup when he heard the woman and was frozen in shock.
"T-that . . . no . . . that can't be right" Naruto whispered, his eyes wide and unblinking as he sat there.
"It is, the Fox was sealed into you on the day of your birth" The woman said, her cup hitting the table with barely a sound. "The reason the villagers hate you in particular is because they have gotten the notion you ARE the Fox . . . a mistake on their part perpetrated by the third Hokage himself" the woman said, her eyes lowering from Naruto to the tea. "After all, why would the most powerful man in the village keep an eye on a random orphan" she said before picking up her cup of tea and taking another small sip of it, closing her eyes to enjoy the brew.
"Y-you're wrong!" Naruto said though his conviction was noticeably less than it normally would have been.
"What is your dream?" The woman asked Naruto and the boy replied with no hesitation
"To be the greatest hokage! So that the people stop treating me like a demon and start respecting me!" Naruto said, the conviction back in his voice.
"It doesn't work like that" The woman said, taking another sip of her tea.
"W-what do you mean?" Asked Naruto, afraid to know the answer.
"In order to become Hokage, you must already be respected . . . the Hokage is expected to give his life in defence of his village but he is also expected to send his shinobi to their deaths and sacrifice anything to preserve his village . . . even a young boy who holds a demon in him" The woman said, locking eyes with Naruto. "He needed to ensure you would do what he told you" she said and Naruto could almost feel his life shattering like a glass pane. It was at that point that Naruto noticed the woman sitting there, looking at him and if he looked close enough he could almost imagine he saw concern in her eyes. He remembered that she was there when he was alone on the streets to give him food and she was there when the villagers tried to kill him.
"That can't be right" Naruto said, his voice barely a whisper as tears welled up in his eyes and fell down his cheeks.
"I doubt the Hokage likes it any more than you do . . . but when it comes down to it . . . what's one little boy compared to the entire village of Konohagakure?" the woman asked and Naruto lowered his head. "The village doesn't love you . . . there are people here that might and some that likely do but most hate you with such a passion, they'd sooner kill you" Naruto began sobbing until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Raising his head and revealing his already puffy eyes with tears streaming down them, he saw actual concern in the woman's own eyes. "Come with me Naruto" she said softly and Naruto's eyes widened and he thought about it for a little while before looking at the woman with longing. He wanted to but he wasn't sure. "Take some time to figure it out . . . and the clock has just clicked over into the next day so congratulations on surviving another birthday, may you survive many more" the woman said softly causing Naruto to giggle wetly. Both Naruto and the woman got up from the table and the woman brought Naruto into a hug. Again, Naruto was too busy enjoying the contact to realise that the woman had an almost unnoticeable smile on her face.
"Naruto-kun!" Called out the soft voice of Hinata as she caught up with the blond boy. She had seen him wandering the streets and saw the look on his face and decided to finally swallow her fear and talk to the boy. They had ended up on the Hokage monument by the time Hinata had caught up. "N-Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" Hinata asked softly, blushing madly as she fiddled with her fingers and refusing to meet Naruto's gaze.
"Ahh nothing . . . I think I'm leaving" he said softly, turning to face the village he had lived in for ten years. Hinata's head snapped up and she gave Naruto a shocked look.
"W-what?" the girl asked, stunned by the blonde's admission.
"The village hates me . . . people try to kill me on my birthday every year and sometimes other times of the year too . . ." he said with a forlorn smile. "I can't stay here any longer" Hinata could hear the sadness in the boy's voice and realised he wasn't leaving, he was running away.
"I-I-I don't hate you" Hinata stuttered as she took a hesitant half-step forward, the sun slowly sinking on the horizon and drenching the two children in golden light. Naruto turned back to look at Hinata and walked up to her. Hinata was unable to move or do anything at all as Naruto's cerulean blue eyes locked her own in place. Naruto moved forward and hugged the girl who blushed madly at the contact before hesitantly returning the embrace.
"Thanks Hinata . . . it's nice to hear that but I'm still leaving" Naruto said softly into the girl's ear. Hinata was unable to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks as Naruto pulled back from her. "We may never meet again but I'm glad I met you" he said before turning around and walking off. The last Hinata saw of the smiling blonde burst of sunshine vanished as the darkness rose up and claimed him.
"Goodbye Naruto" Hinata whispered into thin air "Thank you for all you have done for me" she said before turning around and heading home
well, we are at the end of this pilot chapter . . . it's 03:44 . . . that's pretty late . . . sun'll be up in an hour and a quarter . . . yikes . . . well, with that delightful thought, i would just like to mention that as of writing this chapter, I have literally no idea on what or even if there is gonna be a pairing at all but you can be sure that when I do decide, it's not gonna be straight forward and I'm not gonna tell you straight off the bat . . . probably not gonna be Hinata though . . . much as i like a nice cute little naruhina, this isn't gonna be like that . . . leave suggestions but exclude those who are 18 or older at the time of the pre-timeskip (so the first naruto show) unless it's Hana . . . she might be in the running . . . not sure, you'll see why later but those two will be like water and oil.
in any case, please tell me what you liked, disliked, what you thought could use improvement and what you'd like to see more of. take care.