Last time, on Darkness of the Heart…

Now aware of his father's curse—as well as his identity—Naruto made a deal with the Darkness in his heart, possibly extending his life. Because of the Sandaime's secrecy regarding the Kuragari no Kokoro, as well as who Naruto's father was, Naruto's faith in him is severely shaken.

Chapter Four: Fury

Watching from a distance as Iruka, Anko, and Hiruzen appeared shocked beyond belief at Naruto's behavior, he couldn't help but smile.

Naruto was still mostly in control and would never hurt his family, but for the moment, Alastor had enough influence for both him and Naruto to get a kick out of playing mind games with them.

Leaping to the ground from his perch on the wall, Naruto hit the ground with a dull thud, but showed no sign of the impact whatsoever.

The first thing Naruto planned on doing was to get some fucking lunch. However, he knew that if he went to Ichiraku's, the old man and his daughter would start asking questions he didn't feel like answering.

So, God willing, Naruto'd get something other than ramen. (Note: when I put ['d] at th end of a proper noun (ex.: "Naruto'd"), I am using it as a contraction for "Naruto would". I am not turning "Naruto" into a verb.)

But the question was, what the hell would he get? It's not like he'd ever gone to any oer restaraunts, and just as he didn't have anything other than ramen at home. Mulling it over a moment, he flipped a coin. "Heads, I'll look around myself; tails, I'll ask the first person I know."

Tossing the piece of silver into the air, it turned end over end repeatedly until Naruto grabbed it out of the air and slapped it onto the back of his hand.

"Tails."

Putting the coin back in his pocket, Naruto leapt onto a nearby wall, looking for someone he recognized—and preferably who wouldn't bother to ask any damned questions.

Spying a pineapple-shaped mop, he grinned. "Perfect."

With a discharge of chakra to each of his hands and feet, Naruto rocketed towards the building behind Shikamaru, then dropped to the street below.

Quickly moving in on his target, Naruto snuck up behind him and asked, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Eyeing the drastically changed, formerly orange-clad ninja, the super-intellectual shadow master dryly replied, "Naruto, you just did."

Laughing at the sarcasm, Naruto continued, "Okay then. Barring further questions about whether or not I may actually ask said questions, may I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing. What did you want to know?"

"Are there any good places to eat around here—I'm not really in the mood for ramen today."

Nearly having a coronary (actually suffering a heart attack would've been too troublesome), Shikamaru said, "Yeah, there's a called Hanuman's just down the block. Three story building, black-and-green neon sign, giant monkey poster—you can't miss it."

Slapping the lazy Nara on the back, Naruto said, "Great. Oh, and could you please not tell anybody about my, um… transformation?"

Raising an eyebrow, Shikamaru asked, "Like Ino?"

"Especially Ino."

"Meh. Telling anybody would be too damned troublesome."

"I owe you one, bud." With that, Naruto disappeared seemingly in a flash of dark energy.

Putting thoughts about the change in his friend out of his mind, Shikamaru pondered if it might possibly have had something to do with the Kyuubi.

"Ah well. Doesn't really concern me anyway."

______

Stepping into the door of the establishment, Naruto looked at the sign indicating he should seat himself, and did so at a corner booth and surveyed the place to pass the time before a waitress came and gave him a menu.

There were a lot of square tables with four chairs per table, and a number of booths along the walls. (Basically, it looks a lot like the inside of a Hooters restaraunt. If you've never been to one, you need to remedy that problem immediately. As in, stop reading this, find your keys, wallet, and checkbook (or another person with said materials), turn off your computer, get in the car, and go to your nearest Hooters! Personally, I recommend the buffalo shrimp…)

"You look like your new here. What can I do for you?"

Eyeing the waitress, Naruto observed that she had naturally crimson eyes, and a rather beautiful face framed by her sky blue hair. Apparently, there wasn't a uniform here, since she was wearing faded jeans and a green tank top. The name tag on her shirt identified her as Teresa Jennifer Gray.

With a grin, Naruto said, "Quite a few things, actually, but I don't think that's what you had in mind… unless I'm wrong?"

Blushing three shades of red, she said, "No, sir, you're correct. My mind was most certainly not in the gutter."

"Very well then, Miss Gray, I'll try to keep mine out of said gutter as well. As for my order, I've never been here, so I don't know what you serve."

Blushing again at the (hopefully) unintended innuendo, she said, "Well, we serve just about everything short of ramen and alcohol. There is a bar on the second floor, but I'd have to see ID stating you're 15 before I let you up there. And please, call me TJ. Everyone else does."

"Okay then, 'TJ'. Hand me a menu, and if you need to check up on anyone else, do so. I'd like a few minutes to survey my options."

Suddenly seeing the headband, TJ made a mental note to keep aware of it as she said, "Sure thing, Mister…"

Sighing, Naruto said, "My last name is Namikaze. I have two first names, which I can explain to you later, if you wish."

Nodding, TJ went to attend to other customers while Naruto looked at his available choices.

Hanuman's really did have everything—local dishes, Chinese, Italian, so on and so forth.

They also had a variety of soft drinks available.

When TJ came back a few minutes later, she asked, "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes, I think I'll try… Mountain Dew to drink, and what would you suggest for the main course?"

Tapping her chin with a pencil, TJ asked, "Do you have any allergies?"

"None."

"On a scale of 1-5, how high is your tolerance for spicy foods?"

"It depends, but usually around three."

"You like seafood?"

"Never tried any."

"Well in that case, I suggest you try either the buffalo shrimp we just imported, or the makisushi."

Smiling, Naruto said, "I'll have the makizushi, then."

Telling him that the order would be ready in a few minutes, TJ turned to get the kitchen crew in gear.

After that, TJ came back and sat at the booth with him. "So you were going to tell me about your two first names?"

Sighing, Naruto said, "As you can tell by my headband, I'm a shinobi—right now I'm still a genin, but that'll change soon enough. At any rate, I have a kind of… split personality that causes my body to change depending on who's in control. Right now, we're… sharing, so now, and when I'm in total control, my name is Naruto. But when he's in total control, my name is Alastor."

"Hrm."

With that, TJ started telling Naruto a bit about herself while he ate, and before either of them knew it, they'd become good friends. Suddenly Naruto asked, "How old are you?"

Eyeing the boy, she replied, "Seventeen. Why?"

His face adorned with a sardonic smile, Naruto said, "Because I've been trying to see Watchmen, but they won't let me in by myself, and I can't get anyone I know to take me."

With a grin, she asked, "Naruto… are you asking me out?"

Waving it away, he said, "Nah—you're not my type. I'm just trying to use an available resource to get what I want."

Laughing, Teresa continued the inside joke to be: "Okay, I'll do it on one condition. I take you to see Watchmen, and you help me take over the world. Deal?"

Shaking her hand, Naruto said, "Deal."

_____

That night, Naruto went to his apartment for what he had decided would be the last time—starting tomorrow, he would go to his father's house and move all of his stuff over there.

The Darkness had receded for now, and Naruto remembered how, ironically, he already knew where to go.

His mother had lived until Naruto turned eight, but until then, they had gone to the Fourth Hokage's house every week to clean it. Whenever Naruto had asked why, Kushina said, "He was one of my closest friends. I at least owe him this much."

Four years ago, Kushina Uzumaki died on a B-rank mission that should've been easy-peasy. But there hadn't been enough intel—she was ambushed, and was killed.

Naruto had found out about it on his eighth birthday.

Shaking away the morbid thoughts, Naruto undressed, showered, and contemplated the wonders of makisushi as he went to sleep.

_____

The next morning, Naruto underwent his daily routine, ate some ramen for breakfast (making a mental note to get something else from then on), and as he had the day off, it was a perfect 'moving day'.

Absentmindedly reaching for the jar where his mother had kept the keys to the Namikaze Place (as he had called it), Naruto suddenly realized that it was empty.

The keys weren't there, but a very faint chakra signature was. Something he'd found out last night was that even without using the curse, his senses were still higher than normal.

This chakra felt a little like the old man's…

And then he remembered that he hadn't even checked it since his graduation—Naruto had been so busy dealing with his team and missions that he hadn't had the chance.

"Only three people can get into my apartment—Mother saw to that. Since I wouldn't steal my own keys, and Iruka-sensei doesn't even know about them, that just leaves—"

Eyes widening in fury, Naruto became Corrupted once more—this time, though, cause he was so enraged that he wanted the Darkness—it was much better for 'negotiation'.

"If diplomacy doesn't work, then I'm going to use democracy..."

______

The Third's receptionist said, "Sir, Hokage-sama is busy, you can't see him now. Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

As shegot in Naruto's way, attempting to dissuade him a third time, Naruto threw her aside and said, "You're in my way, woman!"

Then, kicking open the door to Hiruzen's office, Naruto demanded, "I WANT SOME FUCKING ANSWERS!! NOW!!!"

Nearly having a heart attack at Naruto's brashness and disrespect (even for him), Hiruzen asked, "What kind of answers?"

Throwing the desk by a wall, Naruto said, "DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!!!"

Then, in a much darker tone, he said, "Listen you geriatric bastard, I had the keys to the Namikaze Manor up until last month, and your chakra signature was in my apartment! I know I have't invited you to my place since I graduated, so that means that you essentially broke into my apartment and stole from me. Breaking and entering is a crime, even for the Hokage, and unless you tell me what I want to know, I WILL press charges."

Narrowing his eyes, Sarutobi said, "And what are the odds of me getting convicted, even if I were to stack the trial against myself?"

"Too small to worry about, but the accusation alone would hurt your political image. I know this, and so do you. You're going to give me back the keys to my father's home—no, my home, tell me WHY the fucking hell you took them in the first place, and divulge any other little secrets pertaining to me."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and he continued, "Whenever Mom would start talking about my dad, she could only tell me that he was a powerful shinobi and that his name was Minato. After that, she'd always start choking up—she said that she was overcome with emotion, but I don't buy it anymore."

So, activating his stolen Sharingan to achieve a bit more of a dramatic effect, Naruto demanded, "So why did you steal my keys, why did you lie to me about my father, why didn't you tell me about the curse, what else are you hiding, and what the fuck did you do to my mother?!"

Shocked at the harshness in the boy's tone, he noted that when Naruto had been in control of the curse, the eyes had looked much the same color as the Shukaku's. Now, however, they were much darker, and the sclera was a medium gray.

Naruto listened as Hiruzen told him of Minato's various enemies—both domestic, and abroad—and explained that he'd taken the keys because he didn't know if Naruto had planned on moving to the Manor.

Dropping the old man, the sclera darkened slightly as he said, "Either you're lying to me, or you really are that pathetic. Of course I'm fucking moving into my father's house—why the hell wouldn't I? And all of these—excuses, flimsy excuses! I can't believe I ever trusted you."

Suddenly appearing on the outside wall, he continued, "I almost decided to stop fighting because of you."

__________

Next time, on Darkness of the Heart:

A redhead yelled, "Damnit Jirobo, let go of me!"

"Do as she says, Gaijin."

As the fat man called Jirobo turned, he shouted, "Don't make me laugh, you shrimp!"

A wave of sickening darkness flooded the alley, and as Naruto crouched low with Death in his eyes, he asked, "So then… still think I'm not a threat?"

__________

Well now, Naruto just raged at the Hokage, he's really pissed, and we get to watch the repurcussions of this. Who's in the wrong here? Is it Naruto for nearly going ballistic on Sarutobi? Or the Hokage for keeping the truth from Naruto about his parentage? Tell me what you think!

Furthermore, I would've updated this on April 15, but I couldn't get enough privacy to do so.

The fics I'm putting most of my energy into are "Manhunter", "Fox-Carnage", this one, and "Heart of Ice".

Right now, most—if not everything else—is pretty much to help combat the wicked fiend we all know and loathe: Writer's Block.

The upcoming works I'll be using to keep my creative juices flowing are as follows (you can pick which one I'll do first):

The Modern League: An LXG fanfic, semi-movieverse. Col. Nick Fury decides that to deal with the increasing threats to humanity—mad scientists, supervillains, etc.—he needs to create a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Dante, Hellboy, Agent 86, Selene, and Rorschach.

White Rose: A Naruto/FFVII x-over, in which Yuffie appears in the Narutoverse and winds up adopting Naruto when he's five.

A Demon Amongst Monsters: A Naruto/Claymore crossover, in which the Narutoverse evolves into the Claymore universe. Naruto, immortal due to the Kyuubi, adapts and becomes a Yoma hunter.

Wherever I May Roam: A Naruto/Highlander fusion fanfic.