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(...Somewhere in the Grandline...)
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Naruto Uzumaki frowned.
He was staring at an individual standing in front of him.
"Who're you?"
If it weren't for the fact that the person in front of him had black hair, had thicker shades of whisker marks on his cheeks, wore a pair of black pants, and had some strangely designed red gloves, the blond would've thought that he was looking in a mirror.
But he wasn't.
"Why don't you come closer and find out? Don't worry; unlike a certain demonic entity we both know of, I won't bite."
Naruto snorted.
"Yeah right," the blond crossed his hands over his chest, scoffing at his bizzare lookalike. "And Shikamaru isn't as lazy as everyone thinks he is. When you tell me something that isn't BS, maybe I might consider taking a step closer."
"Hmm," amusedly, the bizarre look alike mused. "Hanging out around those librarians and that girlfriend of yours seems to have made you a little bit smarter than I anticipated. I guess that's a good thing if you look at it one way."
The whisker faced blond was suddenly on the defensive.
"Hey, Robin-chan is not my girlfriend!" there was a small pink hue on Naruto's cheeks as he said that. "And don't you dare talk badmouth Olivia-kaa-chan, Saul, and Clover-Ji-san like that, they're the best eve-"
That was when the blond froze.
His mind suddenly remembered the situation he was currently going through.
"And there it is," smirking, the bizarre look alike crossed his hands over his chest. "Was wondering when you were going to remember that. You might be in here right now but doesn't mean shit to the time on the outside."
Naruto rushed to his bizarre counterpart, grabbing said counterpart by his shoulders as there was no cloths to grab him by.
"Robin, Saul, everyone! Who the hell are you? Where the hell is this place!?" He shoved the black haired doppelganger away from him. The whisker faced blond was pacing around frantically. "How the hell do I get out of here? The others need me! I need to get out of here!"
"And that got old really fast," the black haired doppelganger sighed, scratching his dark hair in annoyance while one hand rested on his hip. "Calm down blondie. Panicking isn't going to get you anywhere. And besides…"
The Naruto lookalike snapped his right index and middle fingers, prompting a dot of light to appear before it then widened into an image that showed a very scene that made Naruto's jaw unhinge in shock.
"...you see that? You don't have to worry about those bastards anymore 'cuz you already took them out."
"Wha…"
"Yeah."
And once more the lookalike snapped his fingers, prompting the image to change into a scenery that depicted a massacre - one where some sort of fox-like creature with six tails and a weirdly shaped bone armor wrapped around it as completely demolishing not one, not two, but twelve ships.
Naruto's clenched fists - both which were hanging off his sides - were visibly shaking.
"I-is that…"
"You jacked up on Kyuubi Chakra with me in the driver's seat? Yup."
The doppelganger grinned.
He relished the look Naruto was giving him as he watched the blond watch what was going on in the screen, which were the memories of the past few minutes.
"Pretty sweet huh? I especially loved it when you were about to rip off the seal keeping the fox at bay, however, I had to stop you from it because I can't have you dying on me now, or ever."
"Wha…"
The scenery on the memory switched from the rampaging ships scene to a scene that revealed a possessed Naruto with demonic red eyes walking in a zombie like manner towards a pair of familiar red slit eyes.
The scene showed as Naruto was raised up to the height of the seal by a whirlpool ladder, before the blonds fingers moved to grasp the edge of the paper containing the seal keeping the nine-tailed beast from in check and he would've done it, had he not been rushed out of there by a very familiar black haired figure.
Naruto turned his head to the side, closing his eyes with a frown.
"I remember now," the blond stated, solemnly. "Those Marine Bastards killed Old-man Clover and Olivia-kasan because they were about to reveal some sort of world shattering truth that would completely wreck the people's trust in them." He said, "And then if that wasn't enough, they decided to destroy O'hara…"
"...and that was when you decided to go all berserk fox on them with little to no restraints." the black haired doppelganger added, nodding as he too recalled all those events. "Yeah, I know. I stepped in when you literally shoved me in the driver's seat of your conscious, and it's a good thing too because without me, you'd have had no clue on how to control all that power."
Naruto stared at the man that looked like him, deciding that he'd had enough of him.
"Okay I think this has gone on long enough. Who the heck are you? I know you're not the fox 'cuz you don't give off the same vibe like he does; but that doesn't mean that you're not as crazy as he is."
"And once again the idiot shows that he's not as stupid as everyone thinks he is!" the lookalike stated, clapping his hands in a very mocking manner. "Should I tell him what he's won folks?"
The blond growled.
The black haired lookalike raised his hands in a show of surrender.
"Alright fine, fine." he stated, then he sighed. "Honestly, with all the clues I left you I thought you'd have put two and two together but it looks like there's still a part of you that's always gonna be an idiot no matter how hard you try to fight against it..." *insert pause moment here* "Well to put it simply, I'm you."
"No," with both his eyes closed, Naruto crossed his hands over his chest. "You're not me, 'cuz I'm me, and there can only be one original me; try again."
This earned a groan from the lookalike.
"Maybe if you'd just listen and not interrupt me. then I'd be able to say what I want to say." And after getting no further interruptions, thankfully, he continued. "I'm you, but I'm not what you are. Remember all those times in Konoha you've had thoughts of scorn, hate, sorrow, revenge and so on and decided to bury them before they got too out of control? That's what I am. Basically, I'm the part of you that you keep locked. I'm the part of you that wants to unleash all sorts of revenge on those whoever scorned us… get it now blondie?"
"Yeah, I get it." staring at his lookalike, Naruto couldn't help but wear an expression of mocking disbelief. "You're just a pale imitation of the original; a fake, wanting nothing more than a chance to get the spotlight."
"I'm as every bit as real as you are, idiot." the lookalike stated, rolling his eyes. "And it's because you don't want to admit and accept the fact that I'm real that your overall performance outside is half of what it should be. Locking me in here only does more harm than good, even more so now than ever considering the fact that I've access to knowledge that you didn't even know you had."
The blonde narrowed his eyes.
'Knowledge I didn't know I have?'
He wasn't sure whether he should or should not believe this poor imitation of him - if that's what this… thing actually is - however, it did spark up a few points that took him back to the times he spent in Konoha right before he appeared here in this world, following that Baka-Jiraiya's stupid excuse for training.
"I can tell." the lookalike grinned, crossing his hands over his chest. "You're starting to see things from my point of view. Maybe you need a little kickstarter to help you remember... like for instance: this."
And suddenly, Naruto's pupils dilated.
"Old man… it hurts; the pain… please make it go away."
"I'm sorry Naruto, please just endure it for a little longer and I promise, it'll be over before you know it."
They were within one of the Hidden Leaf Village's Secret Labs. The Third Hokage was standing tall with hard eyes as he watched the form in front of him wriggle in agony while it was being pierced by over half a dozen syringes within a test tube filled with an unknown transparent liquid; and he was within the presence of two others.
"Orochimaru, are you sure your experiments will get us the results we'll need?"
"Come now Sensei, that's not what I said and you know it."
Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin and one of the three students of the Sandaime Hokage, he was one of the two with Hiruzen Sarutobi and this was his, Orochimaru's, lab meaning that the Snake Sannin was the one experimenting on the child, as per the request of one of the Advisers of the Hokage.
"I said we might get results but not the one we expect."
"Then make sure you give us the results we need. I didn't waste valuable resources only to get nothing in return."
That was from Danzo, the second person within the Sandaime's presence; one of the Hokage's three advisers, and the one who suggested the experiment to be performed on their subject for their village to be one step closer towards being the 'Absolute strongest in the Elemental Nations'; oh, and he was also the one who helped provide many of the samples for their current experiment.
Orochimaru gave Danzo dismissive wave off.
"Yes, yes, I know about your little hunt and I appreciate it." he, the Snake Sannin, said, as he watched his work happen with a calculating gaze. "Now can you both please leave? I'll be able to work better without the distractions."
Naruto closed his eyes as he remembered that.
One minute he was busy recovering from a 'fox hunt' and then the next, instead of finding himself waking up in a hospital with the old man standing beside him to cheer him up like he usually did, he found himself waking up in some test tube with some weird pale man giving him a strange look. When he saw the old man appear out of the shadows looking up at him he asked what was going on but instead of giving him the answer he wanted, the old man just said "he was sorry" and then after that, all he could remember... was pain.
"In the end, Orochimaru was kicked out of the village and your memory of the events were wiped out by some member of Ino's Clan." The black haired lookalike stated, watching as various emotions ran rampant in Naruto's mind. "The Experiment was a failure, or so they thought, however I digress… do you know that Mind Wipe Jutsu has been used on you in more instances than you can count? I can help you recover those missing memories."
"What," the blond sighed. "What do you want?"
The black haired lookalike walked up to Naruto.
"What I want is for us to be whole again. Keeping me locked up isn't doing you any good because I represent at least half of what we could be." He, the lookalike stated. "And besides did you know that Orochimaru's experiments did produce some results? Merge with me, and I promise, you won't be weak again."
It was a tempting offer, Naruto thought, frowning. He did have some gaps in his memory that he'd like to find out about and he didn't like to be weak. However, there were some things more important at the moment than finding out if Orochimaru's experiments gave results. He wanted to find out what happened to Robin; was she okay? Did those World Government bastards get her? What the heck was he doing in here when there are more important things to be worried about?
The blond turned around, prompting a look of surprise from his black haired lookalike.
"Look… there's way too many things going up in my mind to make a decision right now. It's not that I'm against your offer, let me just think about it for a few days and then you'll get an answer."
"Fine." the lookalike growled. "But don't be surprised if you won't get the same generous offer you were offered today; this is me being nice. I'd like it if you didn't make me wait to give us what we both need."
And instead of answering, Naruto walked away from the black haired lookalike before eventually disappearing from his subconscious realm leaving the lookalike to scowl angrily at his not being able to get what he wanted.
"I thought your plan was going to work."
"Give it time furball, and it will."
The lookalike smirked.
'Because no one knows you better than yourself.'
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(...This story takes place during the timeline of the O'hara incident. Naruto appeared one year before the Marines attacked; and when they did, one year after he'd arrived - following Jiraiya's failure at teaching Naruto the summoning Jutsu - he went berserk, similar to when he went Berserk against Pein and just like that, he'd appeared in his mindscape. That's where the chapter takes place, Naruto's mindscape. And rather than speak with Minato, he's speaking with his negative emotions manifested into a human form. Hope I get good reviews for this story...)
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