Conqueror's Valour

by Houkaru Kisaragi

If you could be feared or loved, which would you desire? Naruto never has a choice in that matter. While others are seduced by evil, he is born in it. Naruto will no longer need to prove that he is a threat, because Earth Land would soon know what he is capable of.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and Fairy Tail.

X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X

"They want nothing but to harm you! Destroy their pitiful existence!"

"Destroy everything that stands in your way!"

"Destroy those who want to hurt you!"

"Destroy those hindrance!"

"DESTROY!"

Those sinister echoes. They had been haunting him with those voice laced with malicious intents. Sometimes, they screamed at him, demanding him to succumb to their influences and let them take his body. They promised to avenge his dignity, in exchange for blood. Those vicious voices wanted to commit genocide and destroy everything.

Naruto had always been a disturbed and peculiar child, ostracized and scorned by the villagers.

His past was steeped in scandalous mystery. In all honesty, there was no official record of his existence. Bad things seemed to follow the boy. His accursed, soulless eyes cast misfortune on those who dared approach him. The baker's wife who threw him out of her store was found dead next morning, her mutilated body hung outside her house. The janitor who attacked the boy with an iron pipe was found eviscerated in an abandoned hut.

"This world is cruel. The strong eat the weak. The strong makes history! Let your rage out! Let it all out! Let us out!"

"Give the boy a break. He is doing great keeping everything together. His sanity, I mean. Really. Lad deserves a medal for not breaking down with all our voices mumbling in his brain twenty-four seven. But in all seriousness, it is up to you, my boy. This all ends when you can't take it anymore."

"You will come to your own nature. Let us devour your humanity, Naruto. This side of you is weak. It makes you feeble. We are your only source of strength. We can give you the power to conquer. Give us your consent and we will give you absolute power!"

The child slumped to the ground and clutched on his throbbing forehead. He was in a tenebrous alleyway secluded from people and the pungent stench of rot from the garbage cans stay stagnant in the humid air. Naruto clamped his ears shut, desperately suppressing his insatiable desire to seek bloodshed. "Just shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"Look what we got here? If it isn't the demon brat!"

Naruto's eyes opened wide and he surveyed his environment in frantic fright, only to be approached by three drunk men. "No! Don't get any closer! Please!"

"Yeah! Let's do the village a favour and get this demon brat off our turf!"

"I say we kill him!"

"Yeah! That's a good idea!"

"Let's kill him!"

They picked up the nearby blunt weapons from the decrepit alley and vile grins plastered on their face. The drunk men strolled in leisure towards the squirming boy, who was crawling backwards. "P-Please! Just stay away from me! I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt us? The boy sure got guts!"

"He think he can hurt us with his silly magic tricks?"

A horrendous migraine struck Naruto and he shut his eyes, much to his chagrin. Umbrage and frustration were boiling the boy's blood, fuelling him with a sudden surge of demonic power. An unquenchable fear was smothering Naruto's heart as his hands were trembling uncontrollably and sweats were forming on his temples profusely. When he opened his eyes, gone was his innocent turquoise eyes.

Sinister red eyes were illuminating from the dark, startling the drunk men in the process. They were hesitant to approach the child, especially when the malevolent aura that he emanated morphed into diabolical apparitions. His haunted crimson eyes pierced into the souls of his soon-to-be assailants. "I-I warned you… I warned you. You forced me. You… forced me!"

The drunk men were swallowing the lump of trepidation in their throat.

"W-What the hell?"

"Did you see his eyes?"

"The boy is cursed!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and let out a beastly growl. "De… De…"

The drunk men backed away, realising the impending doom that was about to befall upon them.

"DESTROY!"

An ear-piercing and distorted roar blared into the night sky. Enormous spider-web cracks embedded into the solid bricks of the surrounding buildings and the concrete ground. An unearthly tremor ripped the earth apart, opening the gateway to hell from beneath as geysers of lava erupted from the gaps of the fissure. The villagers were roused from their sleeps and screams of terror filled the entire town soon after.

Naruto levitated into mid-air and placed his fingertips on the coarse surface of a building. In an instance, azure light engulfed the structure and it was disintegrated into a mosaic of fragments. The boy clenched his fists and the crushed pieces of the buildings were reassembled into a gargantuan sphere, mangled with broken pipes and smashed concrete. He shifted his attention to the petrified drunk men, who were cowering behind the trash cans.

Evil was gleaming in Naruto's deranged eyes as a grin etched on his lips. The richness of his voice was gone, replaced by deep, gravely tone that was spoken with echoes. "There is no need for you to pray for your God, insolent mortals. He is right here. And he is all out of mercy."

With a sudden jerk of his wrist, Naruto drew out tendrils of tremendous dark energy. The drunk men started to claw at their throats and collapsed into a writhing mess. Abruptly, their bodies exploded into gruesome chunks of entrails, splattering the site with a river of blood. Naruto's malicious smirk grew wider when the local mages and armed civilians ran into the alley to investigate the commotion, only to be appalled and horrified by the macabre scene before them.

"W-We must kill this boy!"

"He is getting out of control!"

"Control?" Naruto titled his head quizzically. "You seek to control us? Your ludicrous bravado never fails to amaze us. We are the void. We are destruction incarnate. We are the harbinger of calamity! Those who oppose us will fall. Those who defy our will shall be exterminated! Our powers are incomprehensible. You cannot hope to understand the depth of our strength. You cannot kill us! Now, I shall lay judgement on the likes of you! The end is near!"

The mages and villagers gathered their courage and charged towards the boy.

X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X

The cultists who worshipped Zeref aspired to construct the Tower of Heaven, a forbidden artefact that possesses the perverse capability to resurrect the deceased. However, the infrastructure of the architecture required massive workload. Their only choice was to kidnap slaves to do their bidding so they could aid them in seeing their heinous plan comes to fruition. When they stumbled across a village in ruins, they were dumbfounded by the destruction.

What was once a bustling town prospered with vitality was now a dilapidated ghost town devoid of life. The only sign of welcoming for them was the howl of dry wind that swept past the godforsaken town that was slowly beaten by the weather. The pavement was now cracked asphalts that was barely discernible by the thick layer of flora that colonized on it. An unpleasant chill crawled up the cultists' spines as they ventured past the rows of crumbled buildings.

The cultists eventually reached the epicentre of the town, only to be baffled by a great sink hole before them. It was like the earth was punctured with a massive depression, creating a pit that led to an endless darkness. It was a hellhole in every literal sense of the word.

They found the only survivor of the ordeal. The boy was found perched on a bench with his knees tucked closed to his chests and his apathetic blue eyes staring off into space.

Every fibre of their being was screaming at them not to approach the boy. He was something else. Something dangerous and lethal. Yet they betrayed what their guts had told them and grabbed the boy like a sack of rice.

They didn't know the repercussion of their action.

X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X

"You will be living here from now on, creepy brat." That was his nickname. Creepy brat. It suited him because his glare struck fear into the deplorable hearts of the cultists. The guard hurled him into a cell and shut the heavy wooden door. "Don't bother making friends. They will all die eventually."

Naruto was impassive as the cultists left the penitentiary, their laughter reverberated throughout the hallway. A figure emerged from the shadows and the boy instinctively tensed up. To his surprise, it was a little girl with dishevelled red hair that lay on her small shoulders. Naruto was captivated by her buoyant hazel eyes; she may had looked his age, but slavery had hardened her. The girl extended her tiny hand and gave the bemused boy a smile. "Y-You must be new here. I'm Erza."

"Naruto," the boy said with a raspy voice and shook her hand.

"How did you get captured?"

Naruto shrugged.

The girl nodded in understanding. "Here, let me introduce you to others."

Naruto didn't pay any attention when he was greeted by the other slaves in the confining rodent-infested cell. After the brief exchange of formalities, the boy found a corner to settle down and fixated his impassive gaze at the cold floor. Memories of the carnage he had wrought upon the village was still fresh in his mind.

Fear. It was primal. It was the reason why he lost control. It exposed him to evil's temptation. Fear was the most valuable asset in the universe. Fear of being controlled. Fear of dying. Fear of being weak. Fear was basic and it drove its principles into the heart of the weak. Naruto knew what he had to do. If he was to be possessed again, there was no guarantee he could bounce back to reality.

He must conquer his fears, lest he be conquered.

In the midst of his muse, he didn't realise Erza had sat beside him. She spoke in a soft, melodic voice. "Hey, are you alright? You can talk to me."

Naruto raised a confused brow. "Talk to you? Why?"

"Why?" The girl giggled. "You can't bottle everything to yourself. You need to let it out. Tell me. I mean… after all, we are all cell mates."

The boy averted his gaze. "You wouldn't understand."

Erza blinked. "I see. If that's the case, how about I do the sharing first?"

Naruto shifted his attention to the bubbly girl and was mesmerised by her smile; her smile was like that of a ray of sunshine, basking others with her warmth. She had that kind of smile that made him felt happy to be alive. "I was from Rosemary Village. I was an orphan and… I don't really know my parents. The people are very nice. There was this elderly couple who always make strawberry cheesecake for the orphanage. They were good people."

Erza stifled her tears and kept her smile strong. "Everything just… died after those… those wicked people burn down our village. They murdered the people… and killed children. I was thankful to be alive. I… I also rescued this girl. I hope she is safe. I eventually ended up here, stuck in this place."

"Sometimes being alive is worse than dead." Naruto said silently.

"You're wrong." Erza placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulders. "Being alive means you are given a second chance every day. It is true that life sometimes seems meaningless. You owe yourself to find that meaning to your life. Being alive is that meaning. You have to find it, even if you die trying. I believe in destiny, Naruto. We get to talk with each other here for some reason. Perhaps we will never know what that reason is but that could be a blessing in disguise."

The boy simply let out a hollow chuckle. "Meaning to life? Blessing? You don't understand half the things I've been through."

"Maybe so. But that doesn't mean you should give up finding yourself." Erza wiped the dirt blemishes off Naruto's face and cupped his chin, swivelling his face to meet hers. "Never give up in life, Naruto."

Naruto grasped Erza's small hand and a smile tugged at his lips. "If you know the monsters house inside me, you will understand why I don't deserve to be alive."

"It doesn't matter. I believe in second chances."

"Second chances? Pfft! After that little stunt we pulled back then, there is no turning back. Welcome to the dark side, my boy."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock and his vision jarred; the voices of corruption were coming back. Nursing his forehead, the blond struggled to keep a straight look at the redhead, who had noticed his blatant discomfort. "N-Naruto, are you alright?"

"You want to control our powers? Try all you want. At the end of the day, you will fall into despair. Those who you hold precious in your heart, mark our words, we will take them away from you. Every single one of them. It is not a threat. It is a promise. You cannot fight destiny! YOU CANNOT FIGHT US!"

Irritated and furious, Naruto pinned a startled Erza on the floor with her hands above her head. The girl was visibly frightened at the boy's feral features. His eyes were nefarious crimson and his claws drew blood on her wrists. Erza moaned as she tried to pry the boy off her, but his monstrous strength prevented her to even move the slightest. "N-Naruto, please, you're hurting me."

"Bite her neck off! Consume her flesh and drink her blood! That is your nature!"

"I… I will not! That is not my nature! I will not submit to you!"

"Are you trying to convince us… or yourself?"

"Don't you get it, Naruto? Your struggles have always been futile. Can you imagine the billion random possibilities of you not existing in this universe? You have made thousands of choices, striving to ensure that this day will never come. Yet, each and every one of them led you to us. Let us tell you this. You are destined to forsake your humanity. There is never free will in the beginning. You are merely the puppet dancing in this cruel show and we are the audience."

"That is why you will submit to us."

"You can't fight city hall."

"At least you get the best seat in the house when we rip this planet apart! Now that is a pretty good silver lining, don't you think so?"

"ENOUGH! I will not let you control me any longer! I will rather die than to let you monsters hurt anybody!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Naruto. The day will come when you bear witness to our ascension. And when that day comes, hell will be on earth. Trust us on this, Naruto. We may have wanted judgement day to fall upon humanity, but we won't be the one who start it. You will be the one to jumpstart apocalypse for us. We are talking about the fiery sky, Red Ocean and global extinction."

The wicked red suddenly faded into a mortified blue as Naruto backed away from Erza and shook his head in dismay. "S-Stay away from me. I don't want to hurt anybody."

Massaging her sore wrist, Erza climbed to her feet and leaned against the wall. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm doing my hardest not to come over there and dig your heart out with my bare hands. So stay away from me… if you know what's best for you." Naruto shut his glowing eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. "Leave me alone."

Reluctantly, the girl limped back to her group.

X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X
(Two weeks later…)

"Did you hear, Erza? Jellal from the next block tried to escape. I heard he got beaten to half-dead and was thrown into 'there'."

Erza and her cell mates gasped. 'There' simply meant solitary confinement where the cultists would deliver their harshest punishment on those who infuriated them. "Are you sure about that Sho?"

"Certain. I heard it from those… rotten scumbags." Sho exhaled a seething breath as he clenched his fists.

"Hey, keep your voice down." Wally chided. "You ain't want those wankers to hear us."

Erza caught a glimpse of Naruto in her peripheral view and sighed. "Do you guys think we should include Naruto into our plans?"

Sho merely scoffed. "Tsk, don't bother. That creepy guy might ruin our plan. Let's just leave him out of this. Or did you forget he tried to kill you when you talked to him the day he arrived? He is mentally unstable."

"Yeah, I'mma have to agree with Sho on this one." Wally crossed his hands. "I heard him talking to himself just a few days ago. That guy is not just creepy. He's looney, ye know?"

"If you really want to badmouth people, at least keep your volume down."

Erza and her group jolted in fright as Naruto mysteriously appeared behind them. Upon thorough scrutiny, the redhead was flabbergasted by the boy's distinctive heterochromia eyes. His right eye retained the compassionate blue that she first saw him. His left eye however had a demonic black sclera adorned with red pupils. The others wouldn't discern it because they never really bother to interact with him. Only Erza spotted the drastic difference.

Millianna hid behind Erza and pointed an accusing finger at a rather emotionless Naruto. "I-Is he a ghost?"

Wally nodded. "Guy caught us in a jump-scare."

Readying himself in a sloppy fighting stance, Sho gritted his teeth. "What do you want?"

The enigmatic boy's smothering aura made even Simon, who was the hulk amongst his peers, jumpy.

"I know what you guys were about to do." Naruto raised a finger to silence any further questions. "And don't worry. I won't stop you. In fact, I encourage it. Hell, I will give you a hand. Truth is, without me, your plan will fail. Your little rebellion will be demolished before you can even make it out of this prison."

"Oh yeah?" Sho waved a threatening fist at the blond. "What makes you-"

"Sho!" Erza interjected. "Hear him out."

Naruto smirked and flailed his hands dramatically as he elaborated, "Thank you, Erza-chan. As I was saying. Your plan will never work. Why? Simple. You may have rallied half of the prisoners, but all of them are malnourished. Do you guys even have the strength to hold a weapon? Let's say Operation: Prison Break is successful, what's next? What's Plan B if things go south? Your whole plan is betting on your meagre attempt to ambush and scare the guards. That means if they retaliate, your allies will turn tail and run."

Erza scratched her scalp in contemplation. Those were legit points; she had not planned that far ahead. It was tedious enough to convince the begrudging prisoners to join their insurgence. She had thought to improvise when shit hits the fan.

"You also left out the most critical point. This is where your plan will go downhill like this." Naruto snapped his fingers abruptly, causing the group who was paying avid attention to flinch.

"You forgot those cultists know magic. Now the million jewels question comes. Do you guys know magic?" Naruto folded his arms, as if disclosing something sagacious as he sat cross-legs. The children started whispering amongst themselves, realising the complications and faults of their scheme. A proverbial light bulb lit up in Erza's mind and she pointed a finger at an elderly man resting at the corner of the cell. "Grandpa Rob knows magic!"

Naruto snorted. "Yeah. Does that wrinkly bag of old bones look like he can fight a horde of homicidal cultist hell-bent on reviving some god-knows-who?"

The children sweat-dropped and their shoulders fell.

A gleam of unwavering conviction shone in Naruto's eyes as an impish grin curled at his lips. "This is where I come into play."

Wally arched a sceptical brow. "What's your role in all this?"

The boy's grin stretched to an ominous degree. "That's not the question you're supposed to ask."

"So what's the correct question to ask?"

Naruto chuckled as his voice was dripped with mischief. "Are you ready?"

Erza and her group blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Aiming his palm at the sturdy concrete wall, Naruto recited an incoherent chant under his breath and subsequently a black magical pentagon with the emblem of a mighty dragon materialised on the wall. The children were astonished in disbelief when the supposedly indestructible wall was pulverised into nothingness, leaving them a clear view of freedom to admire. "I will stir a scene. No doubt the alarm will go off after I announce myself to those shit-stains as public enemy number one. You guys can either escape or free the others. I don't really care, actually."

Wrestling himself to a standing position, Naruto slotted his hands into his pockets and ambled in jaunty steps out of the cell, whistling a tune while he was at it. Erza and her gang were still gaping in awestruck at the nonchalant blond who had just liberated them with his ungodly powers. "Time is clicking. Get moving."

Regaining her composure, Erza stood up and declared aloud. "Naruto has paved a way for us! Let's free the slaves and find freedom!"

X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X
(Flashback)

"I want to negotiate."

"Negotiate? Ah, you are finally ready! That's good, my boy. That's very good!"

"You know there is no other choice. There is never a choice."

"Help us understand this though. You are willing to submit to us? Why?"

"I never said I will submit to you bastards."

"Watch the tone."

"The answer is yes! I give you guys a free ride, but under my conditions."

"YOU LISTEN TO US, YOU INCORRIGIBLE MAGGOT. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO WE ARE? OUR REIGN BROUGHT UPON MILLENNIUM OF HORROR IN A COSMIC SCALE. WE COULD EAT THE ENTIRE SOLAR SYSTEM FOR BREAKFAST IF WE WANTED TO."

"You think you have the right to demand conditions from us?"

"That is my leverage! You need my consent to use me as your vessel. You can choose to be some talking menaces inside my brain for the next century or you agree to my terms. Because like it or not, without my consent, you guys are nothing!"

"The boy is serious, huh?"

"You heard me."

"Then, pray tell, what are these conditions of yours that could possibly incite such ridiculous bravado?"

X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X

Naruto yawned aloud and dug his ear with his pinkie. Rolling his eyes with irritation, the aloof blond sneered condescendingly at the cultists who were launching a haphazard barrage of fiery projectiles at him. Shielded by black thread of transcendental energy that repelled any offending assault, the noxious smokes and scorching embers were unable to harm him. "Are you guys done?"

"W-What are you?"

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly in response and scratched his temple. "I'm not sure myself, really. Hey, you guys like magic tricks? I like magic tricks. Here, let me show ya some."

Channelling his ungodly powers, Naruto stormed the ground with his foot and a terrible rumble with many magnitudes louder than thunder roared into existence. The earth crusts were smashed and lifted telekinetically into the air. Gargantuan rubbles were suspended in the sky, blotting out the sun with its inconceivable numbers. Naruto hoisted his hand, as if getting ready to hurl a javelin. "Ready or not, here I come!"

The cultists were a whimpering mess as they stared in trepidation at the incomprehensible sight before them.

"H-He's a monster!"

"Yes. I get that a lot. But what would that make you lots? Humans?" Naruto thrust his hand forward and stifled his sadistic snickers. "I had fun. Now it is time to end everything. Make peace with your demons and thank me for allowing you to die so beautifully! Tensai Ryuusei!" (Heavenly Disaster Meteor)

The belt of colossal boulders levitating in the sky descended like a shower of asteroids upon the hapless cultists. The collision invoked monstrous earthquakes that shattered the island and its rumbling shockwaves ruptured the planet's tectonic plates. Naruto let out a beastly growl before a vast enchanted magical circle illuminated a bright azure on the crash site.

"I shall be the judge of this world! The Exodus has made its verdict! All creation is unworthy of their existence! There must be destruction. There must be chaos. I shall eliminate and erase the unworthy. Be gone!" A cornucopia of black orbs of potent energy gathered around the demonic magical circle as Naruto recited his chant. "Magatsukami no Gekirin: Uchu no Hakai!" (Evil God of Calamity's Imperial Wrath: Destruction of the Universe)

Naruto guffawed aloud in a deranged fashion as he spread his hands wide to welcome destruction. A series of catastrophic explosions erupted and pillars of red flames shot up to the sky, as if burning heaven with its unholy fire. Flashes of vibrant violet broke out before the disaster spread across the sea, threatening to engorge and obliterate the surrounding landscape. The massive explosions were unstoppable as it reduced everything in its vicinity into nothingness.

Erza, who managed to crawl out of the collapsing penitentiary, witnessed a horror she had never seen before. The earth-breaking explosions had morphed into a great beast of hell, melting the ocean and devouring mountains in an insurmountable wave of hellfire. Standing before her was Naruto, who was chortling with mad glee. "N-Naruto…"

It was as if Naruto had heard her, despite the deafening roar of the myriad of explosions booming in the background. The blond looked back, his psychotic grin still tugged at his lips as he snapped his fingers. Instantly, the explosions stopped.

Just like that.

Erza and her gang gaped incredulously at the blond, who started approaching them with his hands inside his pockets. They were rooted to the ground in sheer terror as the advancing menace were eyeing them predatorily. Every step he took sent shivers up their spines. "Yo, I see that you guys have managed to escape."

"S-Stay away from us!" Sho shrieked.

"Sho!" Erza reprimanded.

Naruto waved a dismissive hand. "It's okay. I'm not mad. In fact, I understand where he is coming from. I mean… my usual reaction to human's suffering is to pop out a chair and dig in some caramel popcorn! Seeing him so terrified makes me feel accomplished, ye know? Any who, you guys are free to leave this island. The ship is just right behind the island."

"What about ya, mate?" Wally queried.

"I got some unfinished business to settle."

The slaves nodded hastily and scurried their way towards their destination, except a hesitant Erza who was still pondering if she should leave.

Naruto gave a mock cough, stopping the unnerved prisoners in their track. "I didn't say I will allow all of you to leave."

"You can't stop us!" Simon exclaimed, albeit in fear.

"Oh, no. Stopping you will be child's play. If I wanted to stop you, I would just send you to your graves. No. I'm not gonna stop you. I have no interest in weaklings like you." Naruto pointed a finger at a boy with unkempt black hair in the crowd. "You have a name?"

"M-Macbeth."

He then shifted his attention to a girl with cropped-short amethyst-coloured hair, who visibly jumped in consternation when his finger pointed at her. "What about you?"

"S-S… Sorano." The girl muttered weakly.

"I will take these two with me. And of course…" An impish smile curled at Naruto's lips as he caressed Erza's cheek. "My dearest Erza-chan."

X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X.o.X
Please let me know how well the chapter went. Just spare yourself 1 minute to post a review. Much appreciated.

Pairings remained undecided:
1.) NarutoXErza
2.) NarutoXSorano
3.) NarutoXMirajane
4.) NarutoXCana
5.) NarutoXLucy
6.) NarutoXKyoka
7.) NarutoXSayla
8.) NarutoXIkaruga
9.) NarutoXUltear
10.) NarutoXKagura
11.) NarutoXHarem

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