Hello everyone, I'm back! I got off work early today, so I thought I'd finish up this latest chapter and update.
Sorry about the delay, but lately I've been assaulted by odd ideas for this story, as well as others, that were so out there that they wouldn't have any place in the story. So, I've been thinking of doing a spin-off of this fic called "A Day In The Life". It will be a series of oneshots about a "normal" day in the life of each of the characters in this story, OC or otherwise.
I've been working on Shizaru's a bit as of late, and I've been revising Tamer of the Hazard, as well as starting on the next chapter of that fic.
About this chapter, I'm going to warn you all right now, it has a darker tone than any of the previous chapters, much darker. And it will feature instances of torture that are NOT for the faint of heart. You've been warned, so don't complain about how sick and twisted it is. Though most of you seem to like my brutal style of writing.
Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, and, once again, sorry about the delay!
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(Naruto's Mindscape)
It was quiet...a bit too quiet. Especially compared to what had been going on just a few minutes earlier.
Nightmare looked at Kyuubi, both of them crouched low behind the cover of a wall that looked like it had been blown apart.
"...Is he still there?" the knight whispered, fear evident in his voice.
Kyuubi held up a finger. "I can't hear him...Maybe he's gone." she poked her head out, then immediately ducked back, barely avoiding decapitation by flying Slayer body parts. "He's still there, and he's still pissed."
Ever since Naruto had been sent into a forced slumber he'd been like this. Nightmare and Kyuubi had seen everything through his eyes after he ran out of chakra, but had no idea what had happened while he had been fighting as Noctis.
Both demons had been in front of a bigscreen television; the viewing window to the outside world, as seen through Naruto's eyes. They were both sitting on a large couch, popcorn and soda sitting on a coffee table in front of them, cheering Naruto on.
Then everything had gone blank, the screen producing nothing but white noise. Then the images returned, but they showed Naruto looking up at is mother as she was standing on a wall of rapidly evaporating water, staring at the nine elemental dragons baring down on her.
Naruto's vision was suddenly blocked by a cloaked figure that grabbed a hold of his head. Then, taking control of the dragons, the figure forced them to veer off course and into Low Earth Orbit before exploding.
More of the cloaked figures appeared, along with the Sandaime Hokage. One of them started to rattle off orders to the others, and Kushina was taken away while Naruto watched his chance at revenge slip through his fingers.
He was then put into a forced sleep and ended up in his mindscape pissed off beyond all belief. At first he set out to look for Kyuubi and/or Nightmare in order to vent in the form of a fight, but both had been hiding from him, so he started to take it out on his mental defenses.
And this was where both demons found themselves, cowering behind a wall, hiding from a twelve year old! Given, this twelve year old could practically annihilate them at any moment, but he was still a child...Well, that wasn't true either.
They knew this was a very, very delicate situation. They needed to handle this just right, unless they wanted to antagonize the boy further. This was his mind, and they only had power here because he allowed it. If he truly wished to, both demons would be stripped of their power and locked away in some dark dungeon, tortured for the rest of Naruto's life by creatures that only his twisted mind could create.
Both Kyuubi and Nightmare had seen just how inventive the boy was when they watched him create his own monsters to defend his Shadow Realm home. Those monsters were beings that even Kyuubi cringed at. Things that would put the Slayers themselves to shame. They were all highly symbolic, and all represented a part of Naruto, or an event in his life. And, as such, some of them were truly terrifying things to behold.
A dark shadow suddenly loomed over the two demons, causing them to gulp and look back.
Sure enough, they were greeted by the sight of an extremely pissed off Naruto, surrounded by a malevolent purple aura, and eyes glowing red behind his mask.
"You..." he hissed, "I expect a good fight out of you two..." he then held up the head of one of the more powerful Slayers, "These creatures were very disappointing...This is what's left of the only one that was able to cut me...Out of four-hundred of them, only one was up to the task! Kyuubi...Is it a coincidence that the only one able to cut me was one of the ones I personally modified?"
Kyuubi squirmed nervously. Maybe she had made the boy too good at the art of intimidation.
"I..." her voice lost its normal tone, "I'll work on them some more...I've been meaning to do it for a while anyway, but I never got around to it."
Nightmare snorted. "Well, you weren't exactly too busy to do it, so what was stopping you? Would it have cut into your lounging time?" Kyuubi's response was a swift kick in the face, causing the male demon to curse and glare at her. "Sure, hurt me for telling the truth!"
"Quiet, you." Kyuubi turned back to Naruto, only to see the tip of the Black Soul between her eyes, also surrounded by a sickly purple aura. A low hum resonated, seemingly from within the blade itself, like it was attempting to mimic Naruto's own growl. Kyuubi could also feel the intense heat radiating from the sword, making her sweat more than she already was.
"Fight me...Both of you." Naruto hissed.
Kyuubi smiled and tried to move the sword away with her finger, but winced when it burned her. "Naruto-koi, don't be so hasty. Why don't you fight one of your Shadow Realm demons?"
"Anything worth fighting isn't complete yet." Naruto growled, he knew she was stalling.
"What about the Corpser? He gave you a good fight last time."
Nightmare just looked between Kyuubi and Naruto, interested to see how the Kitsune was going to try to bullshit her way out of this one. He knew that he should have been out of there a long time ago, but this was just too funny!
But Nightmare's amusement was short-lived, as Naruto had turned that glare on him.
"You're a part of this, too, Nightmare. Both of you, show me what you've got!" the mindscape began to shift and fade, turning from the dungeon-like hallways to a massive arena, complete with cheering fans in the form of Naruto clones, Slayers, and other mental defenses created by Kyuubi.
"Oh...Shit." Nightmare muttered, summoning the Evil Seed.
Kyuubi sighed and summoned her tonfa swords. If it was a fight Naruto wanted, it was a beating he was going to get.
"Very well, Naruto-koi. I'm sorry about this, but if you insist on being so irrational..." she looked into Naruto's glowing orbs with her own and smirked, "I'll just have to remind you of why I'm the Nine-tailed Demon Lord!"
Naruto grinned insanely behind his mask. "Excellent." he chuckled, then looked at Nightmare. "And you?"
Nightmare shrugged. "I haven't handed out a good beating ever since Noctis sang that coconut song, so yeah, I'm game."
Naruto's grinned widened, if that was even possible, and he chuckled darkly. "You two...are awfully cocky, aren't you?"
Kyuubi and Nightmare shared a small glance, then they both disappeared, intent in ending this with one attack each. Imagine they're surprise when Naruto blocked Nightmare's Evil Seed and caught Kyuubi with a roundhouse kick to the jaw.
"A bit too slow." Naruto delivered a fierce palm thrust to Nightmare's chestplate, causing a dent in the shape of a hand and sending him flying back.
Both demons looked on in shock, what the hell was going on?! Naruto wasn't even on a full-powered Nightmare's level, let alone Kyuubi's! But here he was, already with the upper hand within the first five seconds of the fight.
"I forgot to mention, you're both at my exact level of power right now. Neither of you can overwhelm me, nor can I do the same to you. This is a battle of skill, and that alone will decide the outcome. Come, Kyuubi, Nightmare! Come and see just how well you taught me!"
Kyuubi and Nightmare looked at each other, shrugged, then disappeared again.
Naruto chuckled and followed suit. 'This is gonna be fun!'
(Meanwhile: Uzumaki Complex, Uzu no Kuni)
The three Black Ops ANBU had dropped off Kushina at her home, and she was currently being tended to by her children.
"Mother, what happened?" Kuishiro asked, worry permeating his voice.
"You should have been able to defeat the demon easily!" Kagimi exclaimed.
Kushina hissed in pain as Houshima bandaged her ribs, seven of which were broken during the battle. "He was stronger than I anticipated...Much stronger. I think...I think he was toying with me throughout most of the battle...He didn't get serious until the end, and he almost killed me. If not for Sarutobi-kun's private ANBU squad, I would have been finished." the woman growled at the memory.
Houshima stood up after checking the bandages on last time. "That should do it. But I have to asked, how did he get through your armor? Even my scythe has a hard time cutting through that stuff."
Kushina blinked. "What do you mean? This was impact damage, he never cut through my armor."
Houshima cocked his head to the side. "You mean...you didn't notice?" his eyes widened in fear.
Kushina glared at her son. "Houshima, stop playing games. What's wrong with you?"
"It's not me...it's you." he pointed at her bandages.
Kushina looked down and gasped. Blood was leaking out of dozens of tiny cuts all over her body. Her breasts, abdomen, shoulders, arms, legs, and even her fingers were covered in small cuts!
"These cuts...they're far too clean and miniscule to have been made by a blade as large as the one he had...These were made by Wind Blades. The entire time...he could have killed me. My armor was the only thing that saved my body, but my head was vulnerable...He was toying with me." her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell over, this revelation as well as the stress the battle had put her under taking their tolls.
"MOTHER!" her three children ran to her side.
After a few seconds, Houshima stood up with a sigh. "She's fine, just banged up. She'll be back to normal in a day, two at the most." he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants and turned to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" Kagimi asked.
Houshima didn't even break stride. "The demon defeated our mother, and even she acknowledges that. It is much stronger than we gave it credit for, so we much train even harder in order to beat it." he disappeared around the corner.
Kuishiro nodded to himself and also walked towards the door. "We thought we would be ready...I guess we were wrong. We must train...we must get stronger."
Kagimi looked at her mother, who cringed in pain and seemed to be suffering from a nightmare. Oh, if she only knew.
"Kuishiro-nii...Just how strong do we have to be?"
The white-haired boy stopped. "...Until we are strong enough to take on mother...and win." he started walking again.
Kagimi gave her mother a kiss on the forehead and walked after her brother.
"Do you...Do you think we'll be strong enough by the time the Chūnin Exams begin?"
They were then joined by Houshima, who had been waiting for them on the ceiling, for some reason or another.
"I think we can do it." he piped in.
Kuishiro glanced at him. "...What do you really think?"
Houshima glanced back, then walked ahead. "We're walkin' into a Category Five shitstorm, and we ain't walkin' back out."
Kagimi looked at her brothers in shock. "What are you talking about?! How can you be so nonchalant about this?!"
Both boys shrugged. "Like I said, we're not walkin' out of this shitstorm, that's for damn sure. But that's not our job. We're here to make sure that demon doesn't walk out either."
Kuishiro nodded. "It doesn't matter if we die, as long as we take the demon with us, and free our brother's soul, our task is complete."
(Back In Konoha)
Sarutobi plopped down on his chair, letting out a huge sigh, then leaning forward and rubbing his temples.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take. How many Council Members ambushed me with demands of Naruto's head?" he asked his guest.
The Captain of the Ninth Division rubbed his chin under his hood. "I believe it was twelve, sir, most of which were civilians. I still don't understand why you even have a Civilian Council. Or, rather, why you allow them to remain. The Civilian Council deals with things like taxes and trade, the Ninja Council deals with all things military; that was the original plan. Where did you fuck up, Old Man? Maybe when you allowed the civilians to meddle in military affairs? Or maybe when you basically handed complete control of Konoha over to the Council?"
"Enough!" Sarutobi slammed his fist down on the table, cracking the wood. "Enough...I know I screwed up, a lot, but I know there's something I can do to fix it. I just need an excuse to disband the civilian branch of the Council. Without them, things would be so much easier, and I see that now. Danzo wouldn't have nearly as much political power as he does now."
"There's a simple solution to all of your problems, you know that?" the Captain said.
The Hokage looked up. "What's that?"
"Let. Me. Kill. Danzo. He's the root of all of your problems! Him, and that private army of his. While they're nothing compared to the Nine Divisions, they have enough power to be an annoying thorn in your side. And that thorn's leaking poison, destroying everything the previous Hokages worked so hard for from the inside. They're slowly breaking you down, Sarutobi. They can't rise up and remain in the shadows at the same time, so they've got no choice but to bring you down to their level, where they have the homefield advantage.
I know you see it, I'll bet you can even feel it. That sneaking suspicion that just won't go away when you want it to, but disappears right when something bad happens. Then, after all is said and done, it pops back up again, as if to say, 'I told you so'. You need to stop being the Council's bitch, and start being a shinobi! Stop ignoring your instincts! They've kept you alive for this long, so why dismiss them now?"
Sarutobi looked at the Captain, but couldn't bring himself to look him in the eyes. "Have...Have I truly fallen so far?"
"Old Man, as of now, you're little more than a political figurehead. As it stands, you have less power over your village than every other Kage. Even 'Kumo's Coward' has more authority than you."
The old man chuckled bitterly. "You know, for the third time in my life, I have no idea what to do."
"Hm? What were the first two times?"
"I didn't know whether, or not, to kill Orochimaru when I had the chance. And...I didn't know what to do about Naruto after the sealing."
The Captain snorted. "And you made the wrong decision on both occasions. That's another source of your problems, Orochimaru. Fuckin' boy-lover seems to know no bounds when it comes to bullshit and treachery. I may hate that man with every fiber of my being, but I'll admit that he's good. Bastard could sell water to a fish, if you gave him enough time. And that's what you did, you gave him way too much time. And with the kid...I'm going to mimic that nagging little voice in the back of your head and say, 'I told you so'. Anyone with a brainstem would have known to keep something like that a secret! Did yours just take a bathroom break at that moment?
If it did, I can see what happened when it came back. It's gone for ten seconds and you manage to fuck up countless lives in one fell swoop. Naruto's; the families of the people he's been forced to kill; the members of the Council that are on Naruto's side, being forced to attend pointless meetings about the same damned thing every week; Kushina's; even your own life. You just went and fucked it all up."
The Hokage looked at the Captain strangely. "Kushina?"
"You don't know?" the Captain sighed when Sarutobi shook his head. "Figures, you seem to know everything other than what you really should. Minato never told Kushina what he was going to do with their son, he didn't want her to be under any more stress than she already was. So, under the guise of going to find Jiraiya and 'show off' his new son, he took the child to his personal workshop. As you know, we all knew of the Kyuubi's approach about fourteen hours before it came, and Minato worked his ass off to finish the seal in time. Well, he did it, and you know what happened next.
You know Kushina had suffered through a very tough life before she met Minato, and he was her entire world. Without him, she no longer had any reason to exist, but, now that she had a son, she thought she had something. But then you blabbed about Naruto's new status and shattered all of her hopes. Her husband was dead, she believed her son was dead, so now she had nothing. But, she found a new purpose: revenge against the Kyuubi. That is her sole reason for living now, and she's not going to stop until her self-appointed task is complete. If you hadn't said anything, she would never have known, and Naruto could have had a family. Granted, she may have found out by now, but she would have at least seen that her son was still her family."
Sarutobi's eyes widened, then he smashed his head on the table and groaned. "Oh, Kami-sama, how could I have messed up this badly?! Where did I go wrong? When did I become so stupid?!" he looked up at the Captain. "How do you know all of this?"
The man snorted and tapped his temple under his hood. "Remember my bloodline? I can absorb anyone's memories upon contact with their head, as long as their mental defenses are down or weakened. When you went to visit Kushina in the hospital, she was completely exhausted, so her mental defenses were severely weakened. I simply absorbed her memories when you weren't looking. It's my job to know what everyone around me is thinking, even you. And I have even more of her memories, since I stopped her eight years ago when she tried to kill Naruto while she was here to negotiate trade with the newly rejuvenated Uzu no Kuni. What I'm about to tell you isn't pretty, not at all, but it will give you a better understanding of why Kushina is what she is today.
As you know, Kushina stayed in Konoha for two weeks after the sealing, only leaving the hospital for the Yondaime's funeral. After those two weeks she was healed, but wasn't at a hundred percent, or even eighty. She packed up and left, but she was followed by one Uchiha Fugaku. As you may, or may not, know, Fugaku was always unfaithful to his wife, going out and having sex with other women on a nightly basis, sometimes while his wife was still in the house. It just so happened that Kushina had been a target of his for a few years, but he didn't want to risk angering Minato, so he waited. When the Yondaime died, he struck.
After following Kushina until she was near the border, he attacked her, knocked her out, dragged her to a cave, and raped her repeatedly. After that, he left her in that cave, covered in sweat and his fluids, and weeping uncontrollably. Well, this was when she was stumbled upon by a scouting party from the then-allied forces of Iwa and Kumo. They were seeking shelter from the storm that night and found the cave, and Kushina. She was raped by each of them as well, eight in all. They were going to kill her, but something happened. Kushina had no memory of it, so all I got was darkness, then she woke up and was surrounded by mutilated bodies, some of which appeared to have been partially eaten.
She ran all the way to Whirlpool, then collapsed right in front of the gates. She found out two months later that she was pregnant with triplets. She wanted to get rid of them, but, in some odd lapse in judgment, she kept them. When they were born, one female and two males, they somehow all had traits from her rapists. The girl was an Uchiha, while one boy had an unnaturally high Earth alignment, and the other had a Lightning alignment so strong that his body carried a constant charge of some two-thousand volts from the time he was a year old.
Apparently, since the age of two, she's been training them to kill Naruto. When I absorbed her memories the last time, her children were four, and were already stronger than most academy students. The girl had unlocked the first level of her Sharingan, one boy had just mastered the Earth Release: Earth Spike, and the last had increased the charge is body carried from two-thousand the five-thousand volts. I can only imagine how much they've progressed in the last eight years. As for her condition, I can only conclude that the sheer about of mental and physical shock she suffered through has made her demented, deranged...insane." the Captain finished and looked at the Hokage.
Said man had his head bowed, tears flowing down his cheeks. This was his fault, all his fault. But he could fix it now. He knew what he had to do, but he had to wait. Now wasn't the time.
"Captain..." he dried his eyes and looked up at the man before him.
The Captain arose from his seat, a devious smirk hidden beneath his black mask. "I'll be awaiting your orders, Hokage-sama." he then disappeared, just as suddenly as he had appeared before.
Sarutobi's eyes hardened, it was time to get serious. It was time to take charge and remind the entire village, no, the entirety of the Shinobi Nations of just why he was the Sandaime Hokage; why he was known as the God of Shinobi!
'Something's coming...Something...monumental...Something...terr ible.' he gazed out of the window, looking out onto the horizon. Images began to flash before his eyes. A massive army appeared on the horizon, monsters and demons, of all shapes and sizes, making up its ranks. They charged, meeting Konoha's own forces head-on, and slaughtering them within minutes.
The demons wouldn't die! Everytime one was struck down it just rose up and attacked again. Huge, twelve-foot tall, massively muscled behemoths broke through the lines, leaving gaping holes in the ranks for the rest to follow, and proceeded to destroy the village. The battle was lost, but, as if to add insult to injury, armored, vaguely human warriors came down from the sky atop of backs of great winged beasts.
These bat/lizard hybrid creatures each opened their immense maws and began to rain fire down on what remained of Konoha. Fireball upon fireball cascaded down on the ruins of the village until it was little more than a stupendous crater, filled to the brim with molten rock and burning debris.
And, through it all, Sarutobi was forced to watch, having been captured and detained by the creature that used to be Danzo. It seemed as though he had made some kind of deal with a demon. In return for immortality and untold power in the form of a demon, he was to bring them Naruto. For what purpose, neither knew, but who was Danzo to question orders from his new master?
"Do you see it, Hokage-sama?"Danzo cackled in his new demonic voice.
Sarutobi bowed his head in shame and sorrow. "I should have killed you when I had the chance..." he muttered, more to himself than anything.
But Danzo heard him and smirked. He wrapped one of his grotesque tentacles around the Sandaime's neck and hoisted him into the air with incredible ease.
"Yes, you should have. But it's much too late to mourn over passed-up opportunities, and now is not the time for you to grow a backbone..." he grinned, revealing his new rows of jagged fangs. "It will just give me something else to tear out of you!" he raised the huge scythe-like blade that made up his right arm and prepared to deliver the deathblow. But he was halted by a horrible howl of pain from one of the larger demons of the army. "What the hell?!" Danzo flung Sarutobi to the side.
The old man looked up and saw a sight that, normally, would cause him to cower in fear, but now could not be a more welcome sight. One of the giant monsters was on the ground, surrounded by the bodies of other demons, being torn apart by an enormous onigumo. Its horrid wails of agony seemed to only spur the larger demon on, making it tear into its prey with renewed vigor.
The flying beasts began to drop from the sky in a rain of blood, limbs, wings and heads. The riders faired no better, as none came down in less than four pieces. Sarutobi looked up and beheld an awesome sight. The winged demons were being completely dominated by hundreds of dragons and massive ravens.
And there, on the horizon behind the demonic army, was another army, also made of demons. But these creatures were even more twisted than the ones before them. Humanoid monsters with machetes for limbs; flying mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth; all manner of skeletons and zombies, all dressed in dirty and tattered ninja garbs, holding swords, spears, and giant shuriken; and large beasts, somewhat like the demons that had broken through the ranks of Konoha's army like they were simply toppling a line of children's dolls, made up the frontlines.
These demons were led by ten other figures, but that wasn't what was really grabbing everyone's attention. That was the multitude of figures standing atop the heads of the three largest beings in the area.
A huge raven, easily ten times the size of the largest seen before, with four glowing, crimson eyes and a beak full of sharp teeth.
A dragon with two large, curved horns sprouting from either side of its head, and another large spike at the back of its head. Its massive, purple-tinged wings, topped with three large claws, spread out wide enough to have been able encompass all of Konoha.
And the beast in the center was all too familiar to both Sarutobi and Danzo. It was a monstrous fox with unnaturally long ears and nine tails waving angrily being it.
Both Sarutobi and Danzo felt a familiar presence behind them. They turned and saw him; Naruto. He was obviously older, taller, and much stronger. He wore a different mask, one that looked to be able to separate into two parts. The most distinct feature about the new mask was the downright evil grin it sported, made of sharp, interlocking fangs.
His head was bowed, the top half of his mask shadowed by black and blonde bangs, but the three elemental kanji could be seen glowing brightly.
"Danzo..." the man growled out, then looked up, the eyes of his mask glowing an intense red. "Are you happy with your new self? I hope you're very attached to that body. It will make it all the more painful when I tear you to pieces." he held out his hand and, in a swirl of black fire, the Black Soul appeared in his palm. "Let Ojii-san go, this is between us."
Danzo grinned and smacked the former Hokage away. "You think you can take me, boy?! What a joke! I'll beat you into submission and drag you back to the Master!"
Naruto snorted. "The only challenge in this battle will be deciding whether to send you back in a body bag...or a bucket!" both demons lunged.
And then, just as they were about to clash, the vision ended just as suddenly as it had appeared.
Sarutobi shook his head to clear the cobwebs, then looked back to the horizon, finding it free of demons. He walked over, shakily, and plopped down in his chair, his heart and mind racing.
"That...That was much too vivid and precise to be something random. It was a premonition; a vision of something that will come to pass in the future. I can't let that happen." he leaned back and placed a wrinkled hand on his face. "Danzo must die." he looked over to the shadowed corner of his office. "You have your orders, Captain. I expect you to carry them out flawlessly."
The Captain of the Ninth Division walked out of the shadows, grinning like a madman behind his mask. "When do I strike?"
"Whenever you see fit, just get the job done. Though, I expect to never have to deal with that man after this day, do you understand?"
The Captain kneeled before the Sandaime's desk. "Certainly, Hokage-sama." he chuckled briefly. "It's good to have you back, sir." then he was gone once again.
The Hokage smirked to himself. "It's good to be back, Captain." the God of Shinobi had returned to Konoha, and this time he wasn't going anywhere.
Mihoshi walked through the door seconds later, carrying a scroll, and looking sort of distraught. "Hokage-sama!" she practically screamed.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Th-This letter just suddenly appeared on my desk..." she placed scroll on the desk with shaking hands.
"Probably an ANBU in a rush, no big deal." the Sandaime dismissed it.
"But, Hokage-sama, when I tried to pick it up the first time...it shocked me." THAT caught the man's attention.
"Are you certain? Maybe it was just static from your chair. I did advise you against getting that wool monstrosity."
"Sarutobi..." she was serious, she only used his name when she was. "That was almost two minutes ago...and my hand is still numb."
The aged man's eyes widened and he grabbed the scroll. Flipping it over, he saw something that confirmed his suspicions: the official seal of the Yondaime Raikage.
(Cavern of Corruption)
Shizaru kneeled in front of Arcarian's stone, awaiting the task he was called there to carry out.
"Shizaru! The time is now! The perfect opportunity has finally arisen, and now you must provide the final push! The hanyou will be mine! I assume you know what to do?"
The other demon nodded. "Of course, Master."
"Excellent! Now go, and do NOT fail me! If you do, I will strip you of your powers and cast you back into The Pit!"
Shizaru gulped and nodded, then sank into his shadow and left.
(Naruto's Mindscape)
Naruto lay sprawled on the floor, his mask cracked and broken, his head bleeding, his ribs and arms broken, and his head at an odd angle. But he was laughing nonetheless.
Nightmare was sitting against a wall near him, in much the same condition. Dents and gashes all over his armor and the Evil Seed cut in two, but he was also laughing.
The only one standing was Kyuubi, and she was on the verge of collapsing.
The battle had been intense, one for the ages. Naruto had been trained very well by both demons, and was by no means a pushover, even for them. He had even managed to take out Nightmare, and had forced Kyuubi into a stalemate for nearly an hour. But even he ran out of gas at some point, and was overcome when Kyuubi got her second wind. But it had worked, Naruto had worked out most of his anger, and no longer wished to get medieval on the asses of everyone in a five mile radius.
After a good half and hour of laying on the ground, Naruto sat up, fully healed. This was his mind, after all, so he could heal as fast as he wished.
He hopped to his feet and dusted his pants off. "Well," he turned to Kyuubi, who had finally fallen to her knees, "that was fun, wouldn't ya' say?"
Kyuubi glared at the boy and simply hissed in reply, Nightmare groaned in pain.
"Hey, don't get mad at me. You both underestimated me, and that's why I was able to get in so many hits. Even after all the battles you've seen me go through, and all of the opponents that underestimated me and died, you still did it! You have no one to blame but yourselves." he looked around at the destruction their battle had wrought.
The arena was pretty much totaled, dotted with craters and scarred by huge gashes in the floor and walls. The clones that had made up the audience had been killed by stray attacks, and some direct attacks to shut them up.
The environment slowly melted away, shifting into its original dungeon form. Nightmare stalked off to be alone somewhere, possibly to brood and plot ways to get revenge on Naruto, and Kyuubi went to her chambers to sleep, leaving Naruto alone and bored.
He looked to the left, "..." he looked to the right, "..." then stared down the corridor before him, "...What to do, what to do, what to do..." he then walked into the shadowed tunnel, constantly muttering the same three words to himself.
(Outside World, Hospital Room)
Naruto's physical body lay on bed in his personal hospital room, still recuperating from the battle with Kushina. He had no way of knowing about the shadow that was creeping its way across the floor, from the corner, towards him. His cloak began to get agitated, but was quickly silenced by an unknown force.
Shizaru arose from the shadow and towered above Naruto's unmoving body.
He took a moment to gaze at his uncovered face. "Almost identical..." he muttered, then he spied something out of place and tilted the boy's head to the side to see the mark Kyuubi had given him.
He smirked under his hood. "Such a sly fox you are, Kyuubi-sama. Too bad you'll never be able to outsmart Lord Arcarian." he used his finger to open Naruto's mouth, then leaned down, dissolved into black dust, and flew into it. He needed to get into Naruto's mind without causing him pain, lest he wake up and make the process much more difficult.
(Mindscape)
Naruto stiffened as he felt someone infiltrate his mind. "Son of a bitch!" he ran towards the source of the disturbance. Along the way he met up with both Kyuubi and Nightmare, who had entire platoons of Slayers and Manglers following them.
The came to the corridor in which the intruder had obviously gone down, if the dead Slayers were anything to go by. Kyuubi revived them and had them join the rest, then followed Naruto into the darkness.
Naruto cursed, he knew exactly where they were. This was the tunnel that led to The Door.
Within minutes they arrived had their fears confirmed. A figure clad in all black was standing before the Door. The slight movement of the hood indicated that it was looking at them. Then something strange happened. With a wave of its hand, Naruto's mental defenses disappeared and his two tenants were suddenly chained to a wall.
Naruto growled. "What have you done?!"
The figure looked at him. "I have taken over your mind."
"How?!"
"It is an ability given to me by Lord Arcarian. Be glad that I decided to visit you personally. Another power of mine is the ability to control the mind of any Namikaze, but said mind will most likely be shattered when I leave. This way, your mind remains relatively unaffected by my presence here. That is, unless I will it."
"How can you do this? Who the hell are you?!" Naruto demanded, unsheathing the Black Soul.
"I go by many names. The Darkness; The Harbinger; The Dark Angel. In the old days, I was known as 'Shadow Claw'...But, my original name is Shizaru...Namikaze Shizaru, founder of the Namikaze clan, and Archdemon General of Arcarian's army." he gave a short, mocking bow.
"Why do you show your face here?!" Kyuubi roared as she struggled against her bonds.
"You should know that fighting is no use. I control the boy, which means I control your fate now. I've stripped you of your power for the moment, and the same goes for you, too, Nightmare-san. As for why I'm here...Well, actions speak louder than words." he grinned evilly under his hood as he looked at Naruto and placed his hand on the handle of the Door. "Welcome to Hell's Army, boy!" the tore the door off its hinges, then vanished into thin air, leaving Naruto's mind.
Naruto's eyes widened in fear and he fell to his knees as realization hit him. The worst of his memories were now free to terrorize him, and they were looking to make up for lost time.
They immediately assaulted him and he fell to the ground screaming like a banshee that was being eaten alive by ants.
His entire world flashed from bad memories to worse memories, saving the most horrid for the finale.
He saw himself at four, being beaten in a dark alley by three men. Most of the bones in his body were broken, and he was suffering from massive internal bleeding, but the drunkards weren't done yet. He was found the next morning nearly dead, and leaking blood and semen from his rectum.
The memory flashed again, back to a time when he was still in the orphanage. He had been sleeping when he felt something crawling on his leg. Instinctively, he smacked it, then awoke with a scream at the intense burning pain that followed. Ripping off the covers, he discovered that his bed was covered in small, yellowish-brown scorpions. Later, after a long stay in the hospital, he would be told that they were a species called Leiurus quinquestriatus, more commonly known as the "Deathstalker". Apparently, they had been put imported from Suna for the specific purpose as assassinating Naruto.
But that wasn't what made this memory bad. It was the fact that the person who had put them there was the only person Naruto thought was his friend, a woman named Miako Akagi he had met while wandering the village. That marked the first time he had felt the pain of betrayal, as well as the extreme arachnophobia he had as a young child. Aside from spiders and scorpions, he had also been terrified of crabs and lobsters, seeing them as nothing but super-sized scorpions.
The memory flashed once again, this time displaying his worst memory to date.
He saw himself at six years old, running through the streets of Konoha, ignoring everything and everyone, happy as a clam. He was holding a small box, cradling it in his arms like it was the rarest gem in the world.
He ran up to a young woman with light brown hair and tugged on her pant leg to get her attention. The woman looked down and smiled at him.
"Hey, Naru-chan! What's up?" she crouched down and ruffled the little boy's hair.
"Yuki-chan, Yuki-chan, I finally saved up enough to get you a birthday present!" he held up the box, smiling like he had just been told he was going to be the Godaime Hokage.
Yuki looked at the boy in shock. "N-Naruto...You didn't have to do this, you know just spending time with you is good enough for me." she made the mistake of looking into the boy's eyes. "Oh...Alright, I'll take it, but only because you're too cute for my own good!" she took the box, opened it, then gasped at the contents. "Naru-chan..." she pulled out a silver necklace.
She could tell just by the weight and feel that it was real silver, and she marveled at its beauty. A twenty-four inch chain connected to a gorgeous winged dragon, which was curled around a yin-yang symbol. Inscribed on the wings of the great beast, in kanji, were the words, "In my world of darkness" on the right wing, and, "You are my light." on the left.
Yuki bowed her head, her eyes hidden by bangs. "Naruto...I can't accept this."
Naruto's mood was instantly damped. "Aww, why not? The old man at the weapons shop even threw in the rubies for free!"
Yuki looked at the necklace again and, sure enough, the dragon's eyes were small crimson jewels that almost seemed to glow, even in the shade. A lone tear fell from her eye before she enveloped Naruto in a tight embrace.
"I don't deserve you, Naruto." she sobbed.
Naruto returned the hug as best he could. "Don't say that, Yuki-chan. I'm the one that is undeserving." tears began to well up in his own eyes. "Demons are never worthy of kindness." before he could even blink Yuki slapped him across the face and grabbed his shoulders.
"Don't you ever talk about yourself that way again! EVER!" she then hugged him again.
Naruto smiled, ignoring his stinging cheek and the nagging voice in the back of his head, and enjoyed the first loving embrace of his life.
The memory flashed, and it was night now. Naruto was being carried, atop pitchforks impaled into his arms and legs, by an angry mob of villagers to a secluded spot in the slums of Konoha. The farming implements were suddenly ripped from his body and he was thrown to the ground in front of a large, burnt, wooden pole, which was surrounded by firewood.
Before the six year old could even register what was going on, he was tied to the pole with razorwire. He tried to struggle, but only succeeded in causing himself intense pain, much to the pleasure of the mob.
Villagers and shinobi alike took turns stabbing and beating the child with anything they could lay their hands on. At one point a sharpened stick was rammed through his left eye. While pulling it out, with slow twisting motions, the eye was tugged free of the socket, along with a portion of the optic nerve. Blood poured from the hole like a waterfall, and Naruto's screams were quickly silenced by a kunai ripping his neck open.
He should have died from blood loss, shock, and severe body trauma hours ago, but that was the reason the mob was here now. They figured that since he was birthed in the fires of hell, this would be a fitting way to send him back. Let him stew on the irony of the situation.
Naruto was fading fast. He barely see out of his one intact eye, he was dizzy from blood loss, and his brain was swelling at an alarming rate, causing a headache the likes of which even the tortured souls in the bowels of hell didn't experience.
He was then smacked by a Jōnin that had walked up to him, dislocating his jaw.
"Oh no," the Jōnin sneered, "we can't have you passing out on us, demon. You're going to be awake for every second of it!" he popped the boys jaw back into place. "Any last words?"
Naruto stared beyond the man at a pile of ashes at the base of the firewood, or, more specifically, at the blackened skull at the top of said pile. He watched as a woman with bubblegum-pink hair walked over to the pile and reached inside. His eye widened in horror when she pulled out a necklace with a silver dragon at the end of it.
"Ooh, I'll bet my daughter will love this!" the woman said, then gave Naruto an evil smirk before depositing the necklace in her pocket.
"Yuki-chan..." he began to sob and scream, renewing his struggles against the razorwire. It eventually sliced through his wrists, causing him to go lethargic again because of blood loss.
The Jōnin looked at the ashes and smirked. "Yeah, we got her earlier. I'm kinda surprised to see you mourning the loss of your whore." he wiped one of Naruto's tears away with his finger, then licked it off. "Hmm, real tears, that's a nice touch." he grabbed Naruto's head and smashed it back against the pole until he heard the satisfying crack of a shattered skull. "But we won't fall for your tricks, Kitsune." he hissed, giving the boy's head one last smash for good measure.
Naruto was in a universe of pain, but not from his body, or even his shattered skull, the pain he was feeling now was all in his heart. He had never felt anything like this before. It hundreds of times worse than every beating and insult he had ever received combined. It was like there was some kind of monster inside of him that was clawing at his heart, tearing it apart and devouring it bit by agonizing bit. Consuming the organ until there was nothing left but a hollow void that nothing would ever fill. Like a black hole sucking in all emotion and feeling, then obliterating it. The seeds of Darkness were planted once again, for the first time in five millennia.
There was a moment in which nothing existed for Naruto anymore. There was no pain, there was no suffering, there was no anger, no hate, no love, no sorrow. He wasn't even sure he existed anymore. It was just...nothing. Like a physical projection of his heart, of his very soul. An eerie feeling of peace overtook him, the peace of nothingness. The peace of no worries, no obligations, no pain. The peace of no longer existing. It was something he would know only once, for that brief period of time.
The pain suddenly returned and his world of non-existence was shattered, and replaced by a man with red eyes, and the all-consuming flames of hell. He didn't react at first, not truly registering what was happening. But then he tilted his head back and let out a scream that would've made even the devil himself flinch.
A lone ANBU appeared before the mob, ordering them to disperse, then turned and tried to put out the flames. But, as soon as he turned is back, he was swiftly knocked out and carried away by the same man who'd lit the fire.
And not a second too late, as the entire area was then thrown into absolute chaos. Gale-force winds blew through out of nowhere, carrying off some of villagers, who were then sliced to pieces by invisible blades. The fire that burned the child was turned into a swirling vortex that rose to become a massive pillar that seemed to roar like a demonic beast, mimicking the rage and sorrow felt by the one at the center. Fireballs erupted from the apex of the pillar and rained down on the mob, roasting most of the villagers and any ninjas that weren't quick enough to escape.
Those who hadn't escaped, or were still in the process of dying, were then grabbed and torn apart by tentacles that seemed to spawn from their own shadows. Others who tried to run were literally sucked into the ground, into their shadows, then spat back out in a fountain of blood. And yet others were grabbed and dragged into the darkness of nearby houses, never to be seen again.
Then, all at once, it all stopped. The shadows stopped slaughtering people, the wind became almost completely still, and time itself seemed to freeze. No one moved, no one could move. But it was just the calm before the true storm. The pillar of fire collapsed on itself, then blew outwards, creating a monstrous wave of fire, incinerating all in its path.
The memories finally ended when the combined efforts of Kyuubi and Nightmare allowed them to place the door back and weld it shut. But the damage was done, and Naruto would never be the same again. Both demons looked at the twitching, muttering mess that Naruto had become, then at each other. They picked the boy up and took him to Kyuubi's chamber, where she put him on the bed and cradled his head in her lap.
Nightmare looked at Kyuubi. "This is gonna be bad, isn't it?"
Kyuubi sighed and looked at the other demon. "You have No. Fucking. Idea."
Neither of them heard Naruto's silent mumblings.
"Kill...Kill them all...Kiiilllll..."
(Outside World, Hospital Room)
Naruto had been awake for the past three hours, but, at the same time, he wasn't awake. He was in a state of semi-consciousness often attributed to patients suffering from severe mental trauma. A waking coma, if you will. He would still move and speak, but he wouldn't register anything, or respond to the presence of the doctors and nurses that had rushed to his room when they heard his unholy screams.
After the doctors had left, feeling that this was something they couldn't help with until they knew exactly what was going on, Naruto sat up in his bed, mask off, staring at the floor, and muttering to himself.
"Kill them all...Kill...Kiiiilllll...Kiiiiillll them aaaaalllll..." he clenched his fists until he cut his palms and blood bubbled up between his fingers.
"Do you want me to kill them?" Naruto heard a deep, rumbling voice inside of his head and stiffened.
"...Yeeessss..." the traumatized youth hissed out.
"Then relinquish control to me, Naruto. Allow me to take over, and I will free you from your torment...No, our torment. We are one and the same, you and I, but there is one major difference between us. You don't have what it takes to kill the roots of our little tree of problems, but I do. Give me control, and I'll make everything alright again." the voice said in an oddly soothing tone.
Naruto didn't even think about his answers. The voice said it would kill them all because he couldn't.
"...I allow you...complete control." he stiffened again as dark tendrils slowly overtook his now dull blue eyes.
A cruel smirk made its way to his face. "Sleep now, little one, forget all of your problems in your eternal slumber. Noctis will take care of everything...and everyone."
He rose an eyebrow when the door to his room opened. "Oh? It seems I have a guest."
A boy around Naruto's age, who looked too much like an Uchiha for anyone's comfort, walked in.
"Namikaze Naruto?" he smiled, but anyone could see it was an awkward, hollow smile, devoid on any kind of emotion. "I've been sent here to give you an invitation." he tossed a letter towards the other boy.
"Naruto" caught the letter, which had one word written on it; ROOT. He looked at the boy, who smiled again and turned to leave, only to have the door slam shut in his face.
The letter in Noctis' hand turned black and caught fire, burning to ashes in his grip, and he smirked evilly.
"You made a mistake coming here, little puppet." he rose to his feet and stalked towards the now terrified ROOT member, the sounds of bones cracking and altering their own shapes accompanied his every step. "A big fucking mistake." with only a demonic growl as a warning, he lunged at the other boy.
More screams echoed throughout the hospital, but anyone who cared about him just thought it was Naruto having another fit, and looked on in pity and cursed their own uselessness.
XXXX
And there it is.
I told you all it would be a lot darker than other chapters, and would feature violent torture.
Shizaru's true identity has finally been revealed! I'm surprised more people didn't guess that he was the Namikaze founder, but oh well. I've also put in more on Kushina's past and why her mental state is the way it is. I'm curious to see if you'll all still hate her as much as you do now. I don't know why, but I think this will be amusing.
Noctis has made his return, and is planning to raise hell with his own special brand of ass-kickery. Just how big is the can of whoop-ass he's going to open? You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out!
Oh, and a virtual cookie to anyone who can tell me who that dragon was, and what game he comes from. Shouldn't be too hard. He will obviously appear later in the story, and plays a vital role. He will also have three other forms, also based on games.
And one last thing. I want you all to look forward to chapter twenty-eight. I'm going to put a little surprise in there, something you've all been dying for. I don't want to give too much away, but, as my friend, Atrumfides, would say, it's going to be EPIC!
Speaking of him, you should swing by and read the story I co-wrote with him, No Rest for the Innocent. It's a fun little piece of literature, and some of the characters in it just might appear in this story, so watch out for them.
As always, if you have any questions about the story, or just writing in general, don't hesitate to ask.
Until next time, my loyal readers!
Jason Out!