The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle.
Love can ignite the stars."
Hatred…Pain…Loneliness…words he had known all too well through his life. These three words summed up all of the feelings that were swallowing his pure heart. Naruto, the dobe, the pariah, the outcast; that's all he was to the people of Magnolia, to Fairy Tail.
Sure he had special people he cared about, but deep down he wondered if they truly did care. Makarov was his mentor, yet he seemed uninterested in teaching Naruto anything useful. Mirajane was a bad case of one-sided infatuation that ended in nothing but a deeper pit of loneliness that engulfed him.
His own mind had been by the warped power that Z had given him, taken the kind and gentle soul and given rise to a tormented and despair filled one. It had been a simple trade in retrospect, he was given new eyes, and all he had to was use them, and the debt would be repaid. If only it was that easy, he used his eyes to remove the mage's soul from his body, and grant him a fast painless death. But something had gone wrong, after removing the man's soul he absorbed all of his memories and his magic. He learned alot from the man's memories, his name had been Zeref, but he had once went by the name of Sasuke Uchiha, a broken man who had descended into the territory of insane and powerful, the loss of all of his friends had broken the man, his urge to make the world feel his despair led him to abandon all he had once stood for. He had learned that the man's best friends name had been Naruto too and he had the same spiky hair, just in a different color, that was wierd he had mused. It had seemed that Zeref/Sasuke had come to meet his end at the representation of the man that had once been his best friend. A noble end for a fallen soul he muses, somewhere in the back of his head a small voice whispered to him that his would not be as merciful. He ignored it.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
He could no longer be at Fairy Tail something was brewing, and he didnt like the vibes he was getting from people at the guild. Laxus and Mirajane had been more antagonizing then usual, but this time for some reason Erza Scarlet had joined in which was wierd, given how at one time she had defended him from them. She had merely told him, that as a member of Fairy Tail he would have to start pulling his weight soon.
His anger had skyrocketed, did she think he was incapable of pulling his own weight? He finally had the power to defend and protect fairy tail, he would show them, that he was someone special too, with powers beyond comprehending. Their next mission he would ask to go on it, Natsu would back him up, he chuckled darkly
Natsu always backs me up. The part of him that was still the same as the gentle child he had once been had always been glad for his friend, but now he realized the use that such a friend had. With it he would open new doors.
o0o0o
"Natsu and Gray, I need your help with something, also, as much as I am going to regret this mistake. Naruto you need to come too, your name was specified in the report. " Erza Scarlet said with a dismayed look on her face, she knew with Naruto here their chances of finishing the mission had gone down alot. But for some reason she had heard his name whispered by one of those Eisenwald crones. If naruto really was in danger from Eisenwald, well then she and all of Fairy Tail would come to their nakama's aid.
"Oh you need me?" Naruto asked them from the bar.
"Yes Naruto, we need you, I will explain everything while were in the train."
"K", with that he jumped down from he where he was seating, and began to walk out of the building.
o0o
Lucy Heartfilia was unsure of what to think when she had first set eyes upon Naruto Namikaze, while he was the rumored deadlast of Fairy Tail, when she had first set eyes on him, her instincts told her to run as far away from him as possible. There was a power inside that boy, a primordial terror that told her to run as fast she could. But then she remembered what Erza and Gray had told her, he was the dead last of Fairy Tail, he couldn't use magic and his hand to hand was horrible too.
But then he held out his hand, and with a smile like the sun itself he cheerfully introduced himself, maybe he wasn't so bad Lucy thought.
o0o0o
Gray had always been weary of Naruto Namikaze, something about him always screamed danger to him, and as such he had kept his distance from him, but he had noticed there were alot of things they shared, they were both orphans now, and both had the burden of being alone, but Gray was never truly alone, his family and Ul were still with him, in spirit, and he also had the flame brain and all of his other friends at Fairy Tail. But who did Naruto have at Fairy Tail that truly cared for him besides of Master and Natsu. There was no way someone could always be alone and retain his cheerful personality, but lately Naruto had began to grow, whenever he was near him, gray could sense magic struggling to keep itself inside of his body, as if his power was always increasing. When you combine that and his lonely nature, Gray sometimes wondered if this is what happened to Zeref, what drove him mad in the first place. Gray kept his distance from Naruto, not because of the fact that he saw him as weak, but rather out of concern for who Naruto could become, his unwillingness to be near him when it all went to shit.
0o0o
Naruto was concerned, lately hes been feeling another presence in his mind, it spoke to him at night, it made him dance on the fine line between sanity and insanity, whispered of the powers he would be bestowed if he only gave in. The power over all things, he would become a being of supreme power, his eyes would guide the world to a new era of peace and prosperity. The council would be abolished and he would establish an empire, that would last thousands of year, and the only price was; everything. There had been a time when he would have said no power was worth giving up everything for, but now he doesn't know. The dreams were tearing at him, there was nothing to keep him in the light, he knew it, and he was pretty sure Gray knew it too. They were the same, except Gray had something worth fighting for. The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars."
0o0o0o
"So, your here to help us, mister?" A small brown haired child with wide brown eyes asked Naruto. She was dressed in rags, probably from one of the small orphanages.
"Yes I am sweetie, soon everything will be okay"
A radiant smile lit her face, as the happiness that was hope overcame her body, she believed in this blonde hero, that he would be the one to liberate them.
"Naruto we can come back for these guys later, Eisenwald is close by."
The little girl reached up to grab his hand "Will you come back mister?"
Naruto reached down and ruffled her dirty brown hair "I promise." He then gave the child a last pad on the head.
0o0o
They were just heading back through the town when I smelt it, most of the group did too, the smell of burning and blood, the stench was sickening Natsu's nose as he began to dry heave.
They all ran forward trying to get to the scene first, but Naruto was running faster than them, and soon, it followed like the night follows the day. Naruto's desperate scream cut through the night.
There in the middle of the village was the entire village in flames, all of the survivors had been dragged out of their tents and were being sheperded away from the flames, but lying there her brown eyes looking unmoving forward. She was dead..
0o0o
The inside of the house had been turned into a makeshift prison cell, the bare bodies of various young men and women hanging lifelessly, shackled against the walls. One corpse in particular made the eyes of the four original members of the team widen as it was the body of the young teen who had tried to escape. Bruises, stab, bite and slash wounds littered her body along with various bodily fluids, her throat slashed as her eyes hung open with dead orbs resting inside of them, it was a scene of absolute horror.
"How pitiful... If only you had followed your instincts and engaged when your first arrived. Perhaps you may have been able to prevent such a tragedy." The voice said, before a dark chuckle could be heard.
Lucy and Happy begam to retch at the scene of brutality, Asuma and Kakashi moved to place their thumbs on the underside of their sternum, resting it against their diaphragm to slow the sharp intakes of air that they were beginning to take in. Quickly moving out of the building, they were about to leave through the window when the sound of the door opening made them freeze.
"Man, they had all the fun. Leaving me with cleaning up. Heh, least I got a few of them before they croaked." An exhausted and lecherous voice suddenly spoke as the door opened up.
s a heavyset man entered the building, his eyes widened at the sight of the group. Quickly taking a deep intake of breath, the shout that was about to escape his throat turned into nothing but a garbled grunt of pain as Naruto buried his fist into his abdomen. Ripping his arm back, he swung the other and smashed his left fist into the temple of the man as he lurched over, sending him stumbling to the ground as he leaned against the wall for support.
"But instead, you followed the orders of a human who you knew had the power to aid you." The voice said as its dark chuckles grew louder inside of Naruto's mind, his only objective being the death of those who took over the village.
Ignoring the people behind him, Naruto grabbed the head of the portly man and, in an act of sheer brutality, began smashing it against the wall with the ferociousness of an enraged beast. Soon the sickening sound of bone snapping and being crushed filled the air as blood and chunks of flesh and bits of bone splattered onto Naruto, which didn't seem to impede the execution of the man in his hand.
"The deaths of these humans are no doubt on your hands. The same hands that supposedly hold the power of a God." The voice continued, as Naruto's eyes began to flash between purple and red, the very ground lifting up due to the power Naruto was exerting.
It wasn't until Gray took hold of his shoulders did he stop, but not before reaching back and slamming the head of the now deceased man into the wall once more, a louder and much more sickening crunch echoing as he man's skull collapsed on itself, the corpse sliding down the wall with a wet noise resounding before crumpling onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
Turning around, the group flinched in fright when they saw his bloody visage, his eye terrifyingly calm. Lucy and Happy having never seen such a brutal act of murder, had snapped their eyes shut after the first few seconds while the other stood frozen. Ignoring them and the fact he was painted crimson, Naruto ripped himself free from Gray's hold and moved towards the door.
Hearing footsteps on the opposite side of it, he narrowed his eye and bid his time. As the sound of people approaching grew louder, he tensed as he gathered magic to his leg before lashing out and sending the door careening into the same group from before, knocking those in the ground unconscious from the force of the flying door. They didn't stay unconscious for long as Naruto slammed his fists into the frontal bone of their skulls, a sickening crunch echoing about.
"Haha! Yes! Show no mercy! Let no one live!" The voice inside of Naruto's mind chuckled darkly, amusement clearly evident in its voice.
Taking advantage of the stunned states of the group, he moved towards the lady that was closest to him before spinning on his foot and shattering her jaw with the heel of his left foot. The sudden eruption of pain making her eyes snap wide open, she turned around to clutch the shattered mass of bone only to lose all feeling in her lower body as Naruto buried his fist into her lumbar vertebrae, sending her crumpling to the ground in a paralyzed heap.
The rest of the group finally snapping out of their stupor, they moved to engage Naruto only to be intercepted by Gray. Lashing out with his right arm, he caught the jaw of one of the men who tried to take Naruto's back. The remaining man instantly fell onto his rear as Naruto and Genma turned to face him, getting onto his knees and begging for his life.
"Please! Please don't kill me! I never wanted to be a part of all of this! I swear! I have a family! A wife and three kids! I didn't want to do anything to those girls but if I didn't, my family would have had the same done to them!" The man sobbed out, pleading for his life as Naruto approached him.
"Such a pathetic creature. When one kills, they should always be expecting to be killed in the process. Humans truly are pitiful creatures." The voice said, a strange irritation and amusement present in it.
Seeing Naruto move towards him, Gray quickly moved to intercept him, but stopped when Naruto put a hand on the his shoulder, seemingly believing his story. Feeling the gentle touch, the man quickly raised his head to thank whoever it was but his words of thanks quickly died when a hellish crimson pupil was staring into his terrified brown ones. Before he could scream Naruto smashed his knee into his face, crushing the fragile cartilage of his nose. As his head snapped back Naruto reeled his leg back before connecting a brutal kick to his exposed neckline, the resounding snap making Gray wince once again.
As he dropped to the ground, Naruto turned to the quivering women who he paralyzed. Moving towards her, he was about to bring his foot up to end her life when Genma roughly grabbed him by shoulders, stopping him from ending the life of the now defenseless woman. Turning around, Gray froze in fear at the sight of his hellish eye, a sense of mortality filling him as Naruto's gaze lingered on him. Summoning his courage, he banished the fear from his heart and proceeded to interrogate Naruto about what had just happened.
"What the hell was that! You could have jeopardized the mission Naruto! Acting rashly like that will only get you and your team killed!" Erza hissed at Naruto, his eyes burning with anger that seemed to contrast his normally laidback personality.
"I understand that you're angry and disgusted about what you saw but don't use that as an excuse to act on your own. I get that, I wanted to do the same but we needed to take care of your sisters first, they were beginning to hyperventilate." Erza said in an angry tone, Naruto clearly uninterested in what he had to say.
"Naruto, are you even listening to me?" Genma said in a barely controlled tone, the rest of the team moving to them as the situation began to crank up in intensity.
"Damn it, what did I say about acting rationally Naruto!" Gray shouted in an angry tone, clearly panicking at what had just happened.
"This isn't the time guys, we need to move before they get suspicious." Natsu quickly said, taking Lucy by the shoulders to steady her.
"We'll finish this later." Erza said as she stared sternly at Naruto, clearly conveying her dismay at her actions as he led the way to a seemingly abandoned building.
"Tsk, this is getting bad." Gray said as he followed Erza and Natsu, leaving Naruto behind.
"Such insolence..." The voice in Naruto's head said, Naruto lifting his leg before dropping his heel onto the neck of the woman writhing below him, the sound of her cervical vertebrae snapping echoing.
Once he was finished, he moved to the building that the others had entered, clearly not looking forward to what nonsense they had to say about his actions. As expected, he was met with disappointed and terrified stares when he walked through the window. Leaning against the wall, he kept his eye trained on the entrance of the house, the missing door no doubt an indicator to whomever found it that something was going on.
"Naruto, mind tell us what that was all about." Gray asked, though it was voiced as more of an order then anything else.
"Our mission is to eliminate them. I did just that." Naruto said, turning to face them, his crimson eye replaced with cool blue once more though it was colder then ice.
He faced away from them, walking away from them towards the door, as his eyes
"Do you know what this world needs?"
They didn't say anything, paying 100% attention to what he was saying.
"This world needs something, something that is powerful, something to be afraid of."
He turned to look back at them, his rinnegan shining powerfully as pieces of the house began to break apart.
Hahaha! Yes! This is what I wish to see! Do not be afraid! They are weak, you are strong! Kill them! Kill them all!
"This world needs a KAMI, I WILL BECOME A NEW KAMI, I WILL BE THE ONE TO CHANGE THIS WORLD."
"All of my life, I have seen what despair could be, she comes in many forms but if theres something I learned, a lesson I had wished I had learned earlier…...Pain is inevitable, but suffering. Suffering is optional."
"Will you stand with me? Or Against me?"
Erza, Natsu, Gray, Lucy happy got up, and got into defensive stances. As Natsu lit his hands on fire. "I dont know whats gotten into you Naruto, but Im gonna beat some sense into you!"
Naruto looked over at him uninterested, his eyes shining with malicious power, as the ground started to rise as he began to pour out his magical power.
"My hands are stained with blood, Natsu. But if you truly wish to fight, I will await you with open arms….after all we are family?"
Natsu looked over at his long time friend and clinched his fists in frustration, what was going on with Naruto? What had turned his friend, into this?