Harvester of Sorrow

Seeds of Revenge

"Come."

It was a voice filled with power, one that made you almost mesmerized into compliance.

"Come here, child."

The source of the voice was a man robed completely in black, and his face was hidden. His words… they were commanding, but also gentle, more beckoning.

Dark flames accompanied by a chilling sound: someone had joined him. And if Naruto hadn't known better, then the newcomer would have appeared through a gateway forged from shadows.

Shorter than the first person, this newcomer was a woman, and she asked, "Oh come now darling, surely you don't want us to leave you all alone in the big, bad world out there? I mean, isn't it better to be with someone – even total strangers – than to be with no one at all?"

Naruto was eight and a half years old, but he was neither stupid nor naïve – he'd had that last sliced and diced clear out of him over the last couple of years.

He hadn't moved an inch since the man had first spoken; he'd been trying to gauge how much of a threat the stranger(s) posed. The woman clearly admitted that they'd never met before – or that he hadn't met them, at any rate. On top of that, she seemed to be insinuating that he was better off with a man and a woman he'd likely never seen before than he was minding his own business.

Granted, the last person who'd taken an interest in him had literally saved him from a mental oblivion worse than death, so maybe these two could be trusted….

No, trust had to be earned, not granted. And so far, these two had done absolutely nothing to earn it.

At the same time, however, the last thing he wanted was to provoke these two into attacking him. After all, knowing nothing about what they may have been capable of, provocation was equivalent to suicide in these kinds of situations.

Deciding to try and get some information out of them before making a choice, he asked, "If I go along with you two, then what's in it for me? And at that rate, what do you stand to gain?"

The response he would never have expected was the one he got: the man laughed at him. It was chilling to the bone, but at the same time overflowing with mirth. After reducing his outburst to mere chuckles, the tall stranger said – apparently more to himself than to his companion or to Naruto – "He's a shrewd one, eh? Ever better: just a lesson he's already learned."

Then, properly composing himself, the man replied, "We stand to gain a trustworthy and competent ally, whereas we can teach you the various methods of combat. Imagine it: in less than a decade, you could be a force to be reckoned with, even by the standards of this planet's elite warriors. But where are my manners? We know you, and yet you've never met us before tonight. My name is Marluxia, the Graceful Assassin. My companion is named Larxene, the Savage Nymph. We seek to remake the worlds – not in our image or for power, but because there are simply a number of things that we consider to be wrong and wish to correct. Our motives could be interpreted in any number of ways, but that is the truth of it."

Interested by Marluxia's seeming transparency, Naruto asked, "And just what kind of wrongs do you wish to correct, Marluxia and Larxene?"

This time it was the Savage Nymph who answered: "Let's use this world as an example, shall we? Marluxia and I were just waltzing around not too long ago, when we heard this most disturbing piece of gossip. You see, apparently this little kid was just doing his own thing when some jackass tried to gouge the poor little guy's right eye out of its socket! Just between you and me, I've never really been one for kids, but even I tend to have issues with this kind of thing. Now imagine if someone, and I don't know who it could be, but SOMEONE decided that they were fed up with ignorant fools trying to cut up little boys and set out to fix the problem. They'd probably start by making an example out of the bastard that did it. Then, they'd promise the poor tyke to help him out, make sure he can take care of himself, and let him remedy the situation however he felt he needed to. And all they'd probably ask in exchange would be for a little help here and there, just tying up some loose ends from time to time. Now I don't know about you, Naruto, but I'd take that deal."

Naruto wasn't sure why, but he liked these two. Their… hypothetical methodology seriously agreed with him, and he said to them: "Okay then, you two, let's make a deal. You help me clean up this shitstain of a town – and maybe even the entire planet – and help me attain the power to keep it clean, and I'll help you out when you need me… but only within reason. I'm not jumping off of any cliffs or going on suicide missions."

Lowering his hood, Marluxia revealed that he had somewhat long, spiky pink hair. He answered, "I would expect nothing less from one as… disillusioned with the locals as you are. You might have been wondering about why both of our names have an "X" in them. It is because we are… crossed out of society, so to speak. We have defected from an organization full of such people. If you wish, you may follow the trend and rearrange your name with an X. It is entirely your call, and most of us are completely different people from who we were before induction."

Changing the name to an X-anagram? Not the most original idea, but it created some interesting possibilities.

Deciding to go with something that would sound at least somewhat intimidating, the lad declared, "Then for as long as I'm your apprentice, call me Turanox."

Larxene lowered her hood and smiled like a predator. Turanox, eh? The first part of it sounds a bit like "Tyrant". He probably did that on purpose, too. Turanox, I like you already.

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Such is the origin of the man who the Worlds would come to fear as Turanox, the Harvester of Sorrow.

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There you have it, my version of the classic Naruto/Kingdom Hearts crossover. You'll notice quickly, however, that this is significantly darker than the majority of these fics. I'm not quite doing an OrganizationXIII!Naruto, nor do I plan to have him losing his heart any time soon. Observe also that I'm having Naruto/Turanox join up with my favorite pair of traitors, Marluxia and Larxene. This is for a number of reasons.

1) I don't think I've ever seen a Naruto influenced by ONLY these particular two. So far, he always either joins up with Sora and the gang, or if he joins , he gets trained by all of them and is capable of pwning them all at once within a few short years – which even I will admit is pretty unrealistic.

2) It gives me a chance to really, REALLY screw up the KH timeline, especially where Days and Re:Chain are concerned. I could have Kairi and Naminé remain separate entities, have Xion absorb Roxas instead of the other way around… who knows? The possibilities are endless. I might also have characters from Birth by Sleep make appearances – almost certainly Aqua and Terra, and I might bring in Vanitas as a side villain.

3) Naruto getting trained only by Marluxia and Larxene after their betrayal is much more believable than being trained by the entire Organization. There's just no reason or excuse to be given that much power all at once, even if you have to trade blood, sweat, and tears for it.

Pairing options: Naruto/OC, Naruto/Xion, Naruto/Yuffie, or MAYBE Naruto/Aqua. Up for grabs: YOU DECIDE!!!! (P.S.: that means vote in reviews.)