NARUTO

Nox Noctis Ingredior

Stand By You

"N-Naruto?" Sakura was shaking from head to toe, unable to take her eyes, not to mention her mind, off of the second Naruto that had appeared. The phantom or whatever it was that had appeared before them was nothing like the Naruto slumped on the ground in front of her and Hinata. This one wasn't Naruto at all.

It was something sick…

Something evil…

"I-It can't be…" Hinata shivered, hands held together tightly. Suddenly, she felt like she was that weak little girl again.

"WAKE UP YOU TWO!" Naruto shouted, blood spraying from his mouth as he spoke, grabbing Sakura by the ankle, while continuing to glare at his older, counterpart still walking towards them. "DON'T LOOK HIM IN THE EYES!"

Sakura and Hinata were snapped out of their reverie and averted their gaze, keeping their attention away from the young assassin's face as they were told, and instead focused on his chest. However, it did little to help with their shaking, as they could still here a metallic, raspy breathing coming from their opponent, who stopped at medium-distance fighting range from them.

"Naruto…" Sakura hissed, sweat pouring down her face. Her expression matched that of Hinata's and Naruto's, who was still wheezing from the blow to his chest. "What the hell is that thing?"

"T-There is no way that that is you," Hinata whispered over.

"Ugh…" Naruto struggled to get up, staggering into a kneeling down position on the floor, clutching the open wound in his chest. Noticing his state, Sakura quickly knelt down and began healing the wound in his back. "You remember that story… …I told you… how years ago I had to fight off my inner demons and make a choice…?" The two of them nodded in response. Naruto shrugged. "Well… that's what I would look like today if I had made the wrong choice…"

Sakura and Hinata couldn't help but stare at their opponent's feet in shock.

"T-That… would be you… today?"

"Possibly…" Naruto replied, looking up at his opponent a little bit further, analyzing his weapons and appearance. "In order to gain the Kyuubi's chakra, you must first remove all the hatred from your body… your dark side. As I was told, I let go of my hatred and cast it aside, and it allowed me to move forward. But…" Naruto's brow furrowed, his teeth bearing. "I never thought I'd see my other half again! After… letting it bubble and boil in the recesses of my mind, I never realized it would grow and get stronger! I shouldn't be this surprised, dammit!" He gripped his chest, his insides almost torn up. "I'm useless in this state! He got the drop on me…"

"So… this is our test?" Sakura mumbled as the wound she was healing on Naruto's back closed up. "We'll pretend it's someone else and just beat the snot out of him…" Gaining a bit of courage, Sakura's fists clenched, and she stood up. "Remember our training!"

Hinata shook as she looked the person in front of them over. "O-Opponent analysis; human male, age: sixteen, designation: ninja, rank: unknown, speed: unknown…"

"If it's anything like mine, then … we might be in a bit of trouble," Naruto whispered, looking over to his right.

"Weapon breakdown," Hinata began again, looking over what she can see. "Kenjutsu class; five katana, assorted ninja m-material, ANBU armor… and s-syringes used for medical purposes or poison, with finger blades welded to the finger tips…" She then looked up a bit more. "Scythe…a triple blade… and a Decapitating Carving Knife… Z-Zabuza-san's weapon…"

"Hold on… I'll break down his other weapons…" Naruto stated, looking up briefly to look his other half in the face. He was standing passively away, apparently making an analysis of the three of them as well. "Let's see, broken face mask, obviously porcelain… a Rinnegan in his left socket…" He took a closer look at the other eye hole, and was a little bit surprised at the other handicap tool he saw nestled in the shadows, "…and a Sharingan in the right eye socket; triple tomoe, fully developed and deadly… great! One off from a full set…"

Suddenly, the Dark Naruto in front of them made a rather disgusting change. The eyeball in his left socket suddenly rolled over, the Rinnegan disappearing, and being replaced with a glass like eye, veins sprouting on the left side of his face. Naruto, Sakura and Hinata blinked in surprise.

"That's a neat trick…" Sakura mumbled.

"Great… he has the Byakugan as well… terrific!" Naruto mumbled. He then cleared his throat, still tasting blood, and struggling to his feet. "L-Listen… if you two could hold… I mean… can… hold him off for a few minutes and buy me some time… I… I need to heal…"

"That's fine, Naruto-kun," Hinata took a stance, followed by Sakura, who stepped in front of her wounded teammate. "We won't hold back…"

"Watch out… because he has a Rinnegan. It's possible he can use jutsu in all the Chakra Elements too at their full power…" Naruto warned, easing his way back and lying against the tree behind him. "This place manifests spiritual and physical energies… and has combined all of them into that… do not take him lightly…"

It was with that said; the Dark Naruto in front of them took action. The Byakugan flipped over into the Rinnegan once again, a split second later, the warrior reached over onto its back and drew the Executioner's Blade, twirling it in his hand as if it were a kunai. Holding the carving blade and its katana crackling with lightning in both hands, the dark abomination charged. Blades dragging along the ground, it kicked up clouds of dust and sparks, Hinata and Sakura stepping back for a bit of space.

Sakura clenched her fist, chakra pouring into it and suddenly glowing blue. Rushing forward, she met Dark Naruto half way and took a swing. However, the Naruto look-a-like did something neither of them expected, and suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke. The smoke passed right through and around Sakura, the pink haired kunoichi shocked at the technique and double-backed. The smoke that passed through her reconstituted itself behind her and continued rushing Naruto at full speed.

Knowing that he was the most likely target of this dark shadow of himself, the spiky haired blonde reacted in an instant, back flipping straight up into the air and making an incredible ten story leap into the air. The Dark Naruto struck out at that last second, but instead crashed headlong into the tree that was behind Naruto, disappearing in an explosion of splinters, debris and dust.

Landing with his back pressed up against the tree he landed on, Naruto looked down from above, sweating nervously and biting back the pain coursing through his body.

"I can't be moving like this…" Naruto thought as he felt his limbs tremble. "My body is going into shock… must be that Lightning Blade technique he used…" He blinked, suddenly recognizing that technique. "Shit… would I have stolen techniques from Kakashi-sensei as well?"

Suddenly, Dark Naruto came sprinting up the side of the tree, weapons still raised as he attacked his good counter-part. Naruto was caught off guard by the phantom's speed and drew his hidden blade, preparing to defend himself. He wasn't able to react fast enough when Dark Naruto came right up to him, Executioner's Blade swinging in his direction.

But a cloud clang sounded, accompanied by a thump, when Dark Naruto suddenly received a powerful knee in the face, with his sword slammed away by a fist on its flat side. Naruto was astounded when he saw Sakura right in front of him, tackling Dark Naruto right off of the tree, and knocking him off of his charge. The smirk that formed on her face in the slow motion of her executed blow showed the dramatic change from defender to attacker.

"Don't ignore me!" she shouted before letting loose a roundhouse kick to the Dark Naruto's head, who was sent plummeting to the large mushrooms below. He crashed through the meaty trees and hit the ground hard with a loud sloshing noise to be heard. He disappeared beneath the thin layer of fog.

"Thanks for the save…" Naruto panted, earning a wink from Sakura.

"No problem…"

There was a sudden earth tremor on the tree they were mounted against, and out of the corner of their eyes, both Sakura and Naruto spotted a split in the earth where Dark Naruto had landed. It started at a large burst of dust and debris, which then shot across the ground, and then up the tree they were perched against. Both of them leapt away when Dark Naruto's clawed hand shot out and tried to skewer them. The two Genin landed on a large branch at a safe distance away, while their opponent dug his way out of the tree trunk.

"Don't take your eyes off of him… even for a second," Naruto stated, watching as his older, darker self completely crawled out then charged again, Executioner's Blade held in both hands. "I doubt this one will need less then that to take our heads off…"

The moment Dark Naruto hit the branch Naruto was crouching on and recuperating, Sakura stood attentively in front of him teammate, defending him, and watching the older version of him charging at them. However, before the phantom could reach them, Hinata got in the way, and with a quick flurry of punches, drove the older teen off who held up the sword he was holding in front of him to block her juken strikes. The hard hitting palm strikes shook the branch, and eventually pushed the evil spirit into the trunk the branch was attached to.

Hinata leapt back, taking a defensive stance, as the Dark Naruto twirled the Executioner's Blade around and took a stance as well.

In the blink of an eye, the Dark Naruto held the huge sword back and threw his clawed hand in front of him, lightning unexpectedly pouring straight out of it and heading straight for Hinata. The Hyuuga responded by leaping to the side to avoid being hit by the attack. The currents of electricity then shot for Naruto and Sakura, who also leapt off of the side of the tree as the bolt carved a nice, black gash in the branch.

Hinata didn't jump off though. No, when she evaded she kept her feet planted firmly on the tree, ran underneath the branch they were on then back over, taking on the phantom from his blind side to his right. Dark Naruto was still firing off blasts of electricity at his targets that were no longer there, till he felt the presence of the other come up on his right side, causing him to spin around. A palm strike to the chest sent him falling from the twelve story position, with Hinata pursuing, diving off to continue her attack.

She caught up to him in the dive quickly, and continued hammering punches into his chest before both of them crashed to the ground, dust shooting straight up from the increased impact. Naruto and Sakura were able to watch from their position on the ground when Hinata drove her target into the ground, both of them surprised at her willingness to fight.

Eventually, out of the dust cloud, Hinata leapt out backwards, skidding to a stop in front of her teammates, and still facing the crash site, Byakugan flaring.

"H-He's still up… be careful…" she said.

Sakura took a stance, while Naruto continued to catch his breath, hand held over his exit wound in his chest. He helped the recovery process along by concentrating chakra on the affected area, his hand glowing green with healing chakra.

Just then, the silhouette of their opponent emerged, followed by a flash and sparks. Sakura took note of this, and dived for Naruto and knocking both of them away. Hinata too, just in time to avoid a stream of fire that shot out of the cloud of smoke and began smoldering the tree behind them, but not setting it alight as it should.

The place was practically immune to damage…

The stream of fire poured out like it was being fired from a flame-gauntlet like it was fed by gasoline. The fire stuck to the tree it struck, leaving a nice fire trail in its wake.

Sakura, responding quickly, drew a kunai from her pouch laced with a dozen explosive tags. She tossed it to where she knew Dark Naruto was hiding, and when it detonated on impact, lit up like a C4 explosive strapped to fireworks. When the tags detonated, Dark Naruto leapt out of it and up into the canopy high above, landing safely a top of a branch high above. With Sakura keeping close to him, Naruto decided to help out as best as he could in his position.

Using a small amount of chakra, he formed his quick hand seal and created a handful of clones, who were also suffering chest pains where they stood.

"Sorry… I can't do much…"

"That's alright… lead on," Sakura stated.

"Here…" Naruto reached into his trench coat and pulled out two brass knuckles. He tossed them over to his friend. "You may need these…"

"Oh… awesome," Sakura exclaimed, slipping one of them on. When she did, she pumped chakra into it, the blue energy sheathing into more of a boxing glove shape. She grinned down at him, and he smirked back, seeing the look of delight reflected in her eyes.

"Consider it an early birthday present…"

The clones dashed forward and sprinted up the tree, quickly followed by Hinata.

The clones ran loops around the trunks and came around at the Dark Naruto on all sides, who drew the Executioner's Blade and swung around and at them in all directions. He took out two in one swing, moving back to block the strikes of the next incoming. Hinata leapt up onto the tree a second later and charged, palms glowing with pure blue chakra as she let it out on the phantom.

Giant sword met palms strikes as Dark Naruto took on Hinata head to head, and managed to drive her back with every well timed strike. He eventually hit an opening and kicked out at the Hyuuga, sending her tumbling back along the branch before she fell over its side, dangling at a dangerous twenty stories above the ground.

The Dark Naruto walked up to where the girl desperately clung on to, bringing his blade around and holding it down at her, aiming to slice off her fingers. Hinata looked up at him, fear instantly shooting across her face as she gazed in the shadowy face, the purple Rinnegan and the red glow of the Sharingan becoming easily visible. The phantom breathed in that spine chilling, raspy inhale and exhale, before bringing the sword around to cut her.

But just before it could, the phantom got distracted, and spun around and swung out at a Naruto clone coming down from above. The clone met the same fate as the others and exploded as the attack passed straight through it. This gave Hinata the second she needed.

Reaching over, she grabbed the evil Naruto by the ankle and with one mighty pull, threw him over. The adult Naruto was startled but not disoriented enough to continue the fall, and managed to grab onto the branch, at the same time Hinata hoisted herself up.

With great effort, she dropped to a crouch and spun kick just as Dark Naruto attempted to haul up. It received a full on kick to the face and was sent falling once again.

However, instead of falling completely, it suddenly dissipated into a cloud of black smoke, which traveled upwind and reappeared on a tree branch across from Hinata. Executioner's Blade still in hand, it then pulled up its free hand and held its gauntlet out, a crossbow making its appearance. It unfolded from its wrist guard and spread itself open, cranking back to deliver full torque. Hinata took a stance in response, waiting for the shot.

But just before Dark Naruto could fire, a kunai thrown from Sakura down below struck him in the wrist and sent his arm straight up, where the crossbow misfired and sent an arrow laced with explosive tags straight up into the canopy. It detonated safely above, sending just a few twigs and burnt branches down to where Naruto and Sakura were crouching below.

Staggering from the kunai lodged in his wrist, Dark Naruto silently reached over and ripped the weapon from his flesh. The blank expression he wore indicated he wasn't affected at all by the pain, and looked as though he was still toying. However, as he staggered, two hands shot out of the tree branch he was standing on and held him.

Distracted for just a split second, the masked phantom became aware of a shadow out of the corner of his eye and looked up. He was just in time to see Sakura kick off of the tree trunk of the branch he was standing on and fly straight at him, brass knuckles worn and glowing hot blue with chakra.

"EAT THIS!" Sakura roared and slammed a powerful blow across Dark Naruto's face, but instead hit the flat side of the Executioner's Blade when he held up to block. Unfortunately for him, upon impact of the fist, the blade split clean in two, and the punch drove straight into his chest instead, knocking him staggering back.

One half of the Executioner's Blade fell straight to the ground, and impaled the soil several feet away from Naruto, who was watching the fight unfold high above him.

Staggering to a stop, Dark Naruto glanced down at his now blunt sword and, after analyzing it for a second, glared up at Sakura, who was grinning behind bared fists, ready for action.

"Awww… did I break your favorite toy?" she mocked, grinning. "Kami… sensei must be rubbing off on me…"

Uninterested in his weapon, Dark Naruto tossed it aside, and instead, drew one of his katana. Spinning it in his hand, he then crouched low and lunged at her, blade crackling with electricity. Sakura blocked the first few slashes with her chakra inflamed fists, then a kunai, but the bladed weapon quickly split on an attempted parry and she leapt back to avoid being skewered. But the kunoichi didn't get far when her back met the tree, and Dark Naruto held the blade up for a finishing stab.

However, before he had the chance, Hinata charged at Dark Naruto from behind, who easily noticed her from the Byakugan sitting on the other side of his Rinnegan, and he spun around, slashing at her instead. Hinata, drew a kunai and quickly blocked it, but got knocked back all the same. She retreated as Dark Naruto lashed out at her, both of them exchanging blows between blades, sparks flying. Eventually, he struck at her with an upward slash and knocked her flying back a significant way, her kunai and arm numb with electricity crackling around it. The phantom charged at her, bringing around the triple bladed scythe, aiming to finish her.

He struck out, and slammed the middle blade straight through her side. But the look of shock on the Hyuuga's face disappeared upon getting impaled and was quickly replaced by a cloud of white smoke. When it dissipated, a log was instead found to be impaled on Dark Naruto's scythe, and the phantom looked down at it in mid-thought, for only a moment. He then drew his attention back to Sakura and glared at her, pumping chakra into the scythe he held in his right hand, flames suddenly engulfing it.

Apparently he also had fire chakra he could apply to his weapon. Speaking of which, was glowing white hot.

He charged at Sakura, who, seeing the oncoming threat took the best course of action and ran for it, but not before tossing a kunai laced with an explosive tag on the branch before leaving over the side. When it detonated, the explosion engulfed Dark Naruto and the entire branch, sending a smoke cloud everywhere as Sakura vacated to the tree across. She grinned and pumped a fist out in front of her when she turned back to admire her handiwork.

"How'd you like that… eh?"

Dark Naruto suddenly came flying straight for her out of the ash hot cloud like the Grim Reaper on steroids, an inflamed Scythe spinning around his body before slicing out at the kunoichi in his sights when he covered a distance of over a hundred meters in less then a second. Sakura leapt out of the way just as he impacted the tree, apparently going straight through it, as the pink haired kunoichi descended over the blast of debris, looking back in shock.

"Impossible! I blinded him…"

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted from below as she landed on another, lower hanging branch. "He has the Rinnegan and Byakugan! Nothing you do can blind him! The best you can do is attack from a blind spot!"

When Sakura landed, she crouched and looked up to where Dark Naruto was high above. Just as she was getting settled on the idea that he was still up there, a sudden flash of electricity caught her attention, and out of pure instinct, she jumped. She just managed to do so in time to avoid a massive lightning dragon that shot out of the tree. The techniques designated Kirin shot through the air in 1/1000th of a second, and the explosion when it struck the tree Sakura was once standing on was so immense, it sent her plummeting to the ground far below, where Naruto was able to catch her, and quickly shield her from the hot blast of debris to follow.

In a matter of seconds, it was over and Naruto, covered in dust and splinters, relinquished Sakura, whom he cradled in his arms. He looked over his shoulder at the tree through the cloud of smoke, which had a massive burn mark in its side, before smiling down at Sakura.

"You okay?"

"Yeah…" Sakura exclaimed. But then her expression changed to one of terror when she saw a towering silhouette land behind Naruto. "N-No…"

Naruto reacted faster this time and, carefully dropping Sakura, spun around and drew a kunai, blocking a blow from above when a scythe came straight down on top of him. Pumping wind chakra into his blade, he held off against the fire sheath of the triple bladed scythe as he kept it from slicing straight through him. With great effort Naruto bit and held his position through gritted teeth, his hand singing from being so close to the heat.

Dark Naruto passively continued to put pressure on his target, who was literally already on his knees, holding the attack back. He was so close to bringing the menacing blades down completely, and just as he was about to open up with his free hand to impale the boy with his syringes, there was a flutter on the wind, causing the phantom to glance over to his left momentarily, where the silhouette of Hinata suddenly swooped down from the canopy above.

With a mighty yell of effort, the Hyuuga sent a chakra powered kick straight up into the scythe.

The kick was strong enough to knock the weapon off of Naruto and send it spinning out of Dark Naruto's grip, where it flew up into the trees above, and impaled itself against a tree trunk.

Hinata followed through with her kick, with a swift jab to the tall phantom, who staggered back from receiving the blow after watching his second best weapon fly from his grip. Then, when Hinata lunged again, the phantom responded in haste, leaping back and away, heading straight up into the trees above, and taking refuge on a giant mushroom about fifteen stories above them.

'You will not hurt my teammates!" Hinata shouted, taking another, different fighting stance to her usual one. It was a stance Naruto recognized as the one he taught her, and smiled.

"Thanks Hinata…"

The girl smiled at being thanked and blushed slightly, but that quickly disappeared when she refocused on the Dark Phantom above.

The tall, ghost of a ninja tilted his head as he glared down at the small group below. After quick thinking, it decided on the next best course of action. Holding both its hands in front of it, a gust of wind picked up as a tremendous amount of chakra began gathering around it, as noted by the blue streaks of wind rotating in the space around it. Hinata quickly noticed this through her Byakugan, followed by Sakura and Naruto.

"W-What the?" Sakura spoke.

"There's a tremendous amount of chakra gathering around his chest…" Hinata warned.

Naruto blinked, attempting to figure out what technique was coming their way. It was when the Dark Naruto above slapped its hands together into a Tiger seal did the others below realize what was coming next.

"Tiger Seal!" Hinata shouted.

"Fire style… GET DOWN!" Naruto shouted, grabbing Sakura by the arm and pulling her behind him as he pushed himself up to his feet.

After flying through a succession of hand seals, Dark Naruto inhaled a deep, raspy breath of air, the chakra around him gathering and bubbling in his lungs, before being let out in one mighty gust. It was in that instant, it actually spoke its first words, which sounded nothing like Naruto at all.

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!" his voice boomed in a raspy, deep, slightly metallic voice. When it exhaled, fire shot out of its lungs, which twisted and formed into the shape of a dragons head, the ash gathering around it giving it a more definitive look. With an explosion of force, the Fire Dragon then rocketed straight down to the forest floor, right on top of the three Genin, its mouth gaping wide open as it struck.

In that split second, Naruto got Sakura and Hinata behind him and stood right in front of the technique, throwing both his arms out. The attack crashed full on into him first, before proceeding to roast everything around and behind him.

Dark Naruto continued feeding fuel to the fire as the hot, blow torch of a fire continued to pour from his lips. It soon intensified, the fire escaping his lips turning hot white, with the fire down below growing bigger and bigger, smoke bellowing up into the canopy as the ground was sterilized.

Just as the fire was reaching its hottest, as it poured down on top of them, Sakura and Hinata, who were surprised that they themselves were still conscious, were continuing to shelter from the storm of fire. However, the shocking part wasn't the fact they were still alive. What shocked them even more was when they looked up, they saw that Naruto was still standing in front of them, hands thrown out as he blocked the fire and kept it from engulfing his teammates. Through the bellowing flames and cinders, Sakura and Hinata saw that Naruto had coated his entire body in his wind element chakra, forcing the fire to thin out and go around him.

Growling behind his own strength, Naruto stepped back, and slapped his hands together into Bird Seal, followed by a Hare, Horse, Ram, Snake, and then Bird again.

"Wind Release: Dragon versus Tiger!"

The flames whipping around on the ground suddenly exploded apart when a huge gust of wind bellowed out of Naruto's lips and surrounded them like a tornado, sucking away the air needed for the fire and effectively extinguishing it. Dark Naruto above blinked in shock and leant back, watching as his fires were effectively extinguished by the miniature tornado shooting out of Naruto's mouth, before it suddenly took shape into that of a Dragon-Tiger, and roared straight up towards the phantom perched on his branch.

Soundlessly, the man raised his right hand up to face the Rage of Wind charging him down, and extended his fingers towards it.

"Shinra Tensei!"

A pulse of gravitation force shot out of his hand and bellowed straight into the Dragon-Tiger, dissipating and effectively stopping it in its tracks. Within seconds, the shockwave echoed straight down towards Naruto and the others, and when it hit the ground, a loud bang ricocheted in all directions, staggering the three Genin, who held their arms in front of them to block the wave of energy. The ringing in their ears that followed died out soon after.

Staggering back and falling to his knees, Naruto panted heavily, his chakra half gone from the technique he just used. Sakura held him by the shoulders while Hinata stood at their defense.

They were all badly burnt, clothes singed, burns marks here and there, and covered in ash, you name it. Naruto coughed a bit before glancing back at Sakura as she began healing him using Mystical Palm Technique.

"Well… I'm almost out of ideas…" he spoke up.

"What the hell was that he just used?"

"Don't know…" Naruto replied, looking up. "Some kind of shockwave…"

Hinata blinked, suddenly seeing their opponent crouch low then leap straight up into the air and directly over them high above. As it flew over head with its head pointed down towards them, it formed a quick series of hand seals, all three Genin alerted to the next incoming attacks.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" Dark Naruto spoke, in taking air and, placing his fingers over his lips, fired off a barrage of huge fire balls straight down at the group. They weren't the regular, small fire balls. No…

These were gargantuan, miniature Great Fire Ball Techniques fired simultaneously down at them.

Hinata reacted quickly and, standing in between Naruto and Sakura, pivoted on the spot, using her chakra to boost her spin. In a matter of second, she was spinning at the velocity of a tornado, a chakra sheath of wind surrounding all three of them.

"Rotation!" Hinata shouted as she initiated her Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin.

The fireballs struck the space around and right on top of the group, the fireballs detonating one after the other as it struck. The damage the attacks had on impact was astounding, debris, rubble and splinters flying everywhere, as heat bellowed out, around and engulfed the three Genin. Dark Naruto landed on a branch opposite his previous position, and watched as his attacks took effect, the last of explosions dying off, and soon dissipating to reveal a scorched ground far below.

Looking through the smoke, the tall phantom then unexpectedly spotted his three adversaries huddled up against the side of a tree directly in his sights, Hinata still standing in front of the group with Sakura healing her other teammate. They were a bit singed this time, but didn't suffer any serious damage.

Hinata's defense had saved them.

The Hyuuga breathed out and glanced behind her at the other two.

"H-How long?"

"Not good…" Sakura stated, running her hands over and around Naruto's back. "His chakra and muscles are still disrupted by the electricity. His wound may be healed up on the back, but the exit wound is still open. The burns and excessive use of chakra aren't helping much…"

Naruto retched a bit and spat out more blood, giving inclination that he was still in no condition for combat. Hinata nodded her head before looking back up at their opponent.

"I'll hold him off then…"

"No… wait," Naruto spoke up, looking up at his teammates. "Listen… we can't be taking him on head to head much longer. The longer this goes on, the stronger he gets! If that shockwave was one of his pinnacle techniques, then I'd hate to see what's coming up next!"

Sakura furrowed her brow, and glared up at the figure standing high above.

"Then… what should we do?"

"Just give me a second… I'll figure something out…"

However, they didn't have more then a second, when the Dark Naruto above moved into a new series of hand seals one after the other, before finishing with his palms locked together behind him in a Dragon seal.

"Water Release…"

"Not good!" Naruto shouted.

"His c-chakra is sky rocketing!" Hinata yelled, backing up defensively. At that moment, Naruto, quick as ever, grabbed both Sakura in a lock and then Hinata by the back of her jacket.

"…Great Shark Missile Technique!"

All of a sudden, pillars of water shot up and around the silhouette of a shinobi, as if a giant wave of water was gathering in the canopy above. Sucking all of the nutrients and water out of the air and trees, the phantom utilized all of the moisture it could, and compressed it into a powerful technique, even larger then what it is supposed to be. A split second later, the wall of water forming behind and around the dark ninja, formed into that of a humungous shark, mouth agape with serrated teeth as it roared straight down towards the trio far below. In a matter of seconds, the wave of water and the giant shark were upon them, and Naruto had but a second to make his move.

Using the shadows to blend, Naruto, Hinata and Sakura suddenly vanished into thin air, as the giant shark collided with the ground and exploded with the force of a thousand paper bombs going off. The blast shot a pillar of water straight up to the ceiling of the canopy, with the Dark Naruto watching closely from above as his technique carved a new crater at the foot of the trees. Moments later, the shockwaves and blasts of water ended, and the water settled into a small pond at ground zero.

A moment later, Naruto, Sakura and Hinata tumbled out of the shadows of the tree across from Dark Naruto, with all three of them collapsing a top of the large branch.

Panting heavily, Naruto rolled over onto his back and looked up, with Sakura and Hinata also feeling a bit queasy from the sudden jump. The two of them looked down at Naruto as he started chuckling, both in pain and in delight.

"W-What… what the heck did you just do?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"Did you like it?" Naruto replied, glancing up at his friends, a grin on his face. "It was a new kind of teleport. It requires the user to blend completely in with the light or shadows…" He held up his coat by the scruff. "Why do you think I wore this?"

Sakura grinned, but then refocused attention on their opponent across the way, who was now looking kind of impatient by the glare he was giving them.

"But how do we deal with that one?"

"I have an idea…" Naruto sat up. "We just have to wait for the next opportune moment…"

Of course, true his consistent pattern of attacks, Dark Naruto was relentless in his next one. Forming a single ram seal, he then slapped his hand against the side of the tree trunk of the branch he was standing on, digging his syringes into the wood and injecting a form of fluid into it. Using this to aid him in performing his next technique, Dark Naruto then took aim at his opponents across the way and formed one, chakra gathering hand seal, while his other hand took control.

"Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!" the Dark Naruto hissed. Naruto caught onto this and his eyes widened in shock.

"Shit! Wood too?"

Suddenly, Dark Naruto stuck his free hand out, but instead of having his hand transform into wood at the cellular level, the tree next to him sprouted a hand to mirror his, and in a matter of seconds, a huge stump followed by an onslaught of branches grew out and shot towards the trio of Genin. The branches forked out, and spread out even more before charging down the tree to incase them and most likely, crush them. Naruto, Sakura and Hinata responded in kind, all three of them leaping out of the way in all different directions to avoid being impaled simultaneously.

However, because they scattered, it meant that Dark Naruto could focus on only one of them. He went after Sakura. Throwing his free, clawed hand forward, he extended all of his fingers, and unexpectedly fired his entire forearm. It rocketed through the air, metal threads still connecting it to its host as it honed in on its pink haired target. It curved through the air and hooked up at her, the hidden blade from its gauntlet drawn.

Sakura caught it out of the corner of her eye as she sailed through the air when she dodged to avoid the wood attack, and turned her attention to it. She sent a roundhouse kick through the air and kicked out at the hand, knocking it away. It swiftly retracted back into Dark Naruto's arm, who was now flying through the air straight at her, another katana drawn.

The pink haired kunoichi reacted quickly to the shinobi flying at her, reaching back into her pouch and drawing a cluster of shuriken between her fingers. She threw them at her opponent, the barrage of stars battering the phantom one after the other, but ultimately being deflected by his superior armor.

Sakura barely had enough time to flip through the air to avoid being struck down, which effectively saved her as Dark Naruto flew towards the tree on the far side. Landing against its side, he looked up to where his target had gone, spotting the kunoichi landing against the side of another tree as far away from his as possible.

Standing up straight, Dark Naruto held his syringe lined hand towards the tree and, concentrating chakra around the point, quickly clenched it into his fist. Sakura felt a ripple of chakra echo out from her feet, which prompted her to quickly move from that very spot.

She barely made it when a massive explosion suddenly ripped apart the tree she was standing on, fire bellowing out everywhere. She threw herself at a nearby branch and clung on for dear life, her skin singed but not badly burnt as she watched the debris, splinters and remains of the tree trunk fall to the ground far below. However, it wasn't over yet.

Throwing out his other, clawed hand, Dark Naruto launched a series of chakra threads for the falling debris, and caught them in a web of chakra lines. Controlling them like a puppet, the chunks of wood came back together, and in a fashion derivative of telekinesis, the branches and pieces of the tree trunk formed in a giant puppet. It wasn't hell structured, but it held its place where it levitated.

Pulling it over Dark Naruto crashed it against the tree, Sakura nearly falling from the branch when it collided and shook the very foundations of the tree. The puppet began clawing its way over to her, quickly and unhindered by the fact that it was slowly falling apart.

Just as it was upon her like a spider on a fly, Hinata suddenly came to her aid and, taking careful aim with her hands, began slashing her palms through the air one after the other.

Chakra needles shot through the air one after the other. Thanks to her Byakugan, it allowed her to systematically slice the elephant sized puppet apart, as well as cut the chakra threads holding it together. Eventually, just as it was coming at them with a loose punch meant to crush her, its arm fell to pieces. Seconds later, the behemoth collapsed and descended in pieces to the forest floor. Hinata huffed from the effort before coming to help pull Sakura back up.

"Nice shooting, Hinata," Sakura exclaimed, patting her friend on the shoulder.

"I-It's okay… Sakura…" the Hyuuga replied.

Once again, the pair refocused attention on the Dark Naruto across the way, who had relinquished his grip on manipulating the forest debris to his advantage.

Eventually figuring that being a puppeteer to the environment wasn't going to affect the outcome of the battle in any way, the phantom then opted for his next move. Gripping the side of his mask, Dark Naruto glared fiercely up towards Sakura and Hinata. Beneath the shadows of the eyehole, the pair of kunoichi was unable to witness the Sharingan suddenly morph into its next stage.

The tomoes formed a three pronged shuriken beneath the mask, indicating that it had reached the Mangekyo Sharingan state. As blood dripped out of the newly formed Sharingan, the shadow of Naruto then fired off its next technique at them.

"AMATERASU!"

Black flames suddenly streamed through the air and whipped towards Sakura and Hinata. The pair of them jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the gushing black fire, which scored the side of the tree and continued to do so as it continued pouring out.

Eventually Dark Naruto ceased, and turned to lock onto them once again. Keeping his hand against the side of his mask, he concentrated chakra around his eye again. As more blood continued to pour out, the Mangekyo Sharingan then morphed again, transforming into a more elaborate, three pronged shuriken, with its curves becoming sharper and more prominent.

Landing a top of another branch, Hinata drew a cluster of Shuriken and threw it in the Dark Naruto's direction. When it looked as if they would hit, the phantom's body suddenly disappeared when it got sucked into a black hole, before reappearing on a branch much higher up. When it did, it then relocked onto Hinata's position, and fired another ripple of chakra from its eye in her direction. The Hyuuga leapt away in time as the tree branch she was standing on was ripped from its host and sucked into another dimension.

As Dark Naruto focused attention on attacking Hinata, it didn't notice Sakura sprinting around the entire circumference of the formation of trees around the sacred grounds in the opposite direction in which Hinata was going. Sprinting a full pace, she cuffed one of her brass knuckles in her right hand and, pumping chakra into it, came right down upon the phantom Naruto from above. The attacker had no idea of the attack coming at him till he felt a massive blow shake his head as he was whammed across the face and sent flying off of the branch.

"SHANNARO!" Sakura roared as her fist hit a home run for her.

The body of Dark Naruto flew as if it were boneless through the air, whipping round in circles in an almost inhuman manner, before crashing into a tree across the way and falling from it right after impact.

"HIT HIM NOW, HINATA!" Naruto shouted, crouched on the ground far below, holding his right hand out and gathering chakra in it.

Hinata did as told, and leaping from her branch, formed a stance in mid-flight as she flew straight down towards the descending phantom.

The familiar stance of her family could be seen in her pose, and the moment she reached her target, began her assault with a swift palm strike.

"Eight Trigrams: Thirty Two Palms!" she shouted.

Her palm strike connected heavily, swiftly followed by two, then four, then eight, then sixteen and so on. Hinata's palm strikes came in like rain, battering Dark Naruto's body with thirty two painful hits, blocking off his chakra network. Within seconds, the Hyuuga ended her attack, spinning round through the air and bringing both hands down in a finishing hit. The loud crack as bones broke could be heard throughout the forest as Dark Naruto's body was sent falling at a higher velocity.

Racing both Hinata and her opponent down to ground level, Sakura hit level zero first and, throwing herself across the area, flew straight towards Dark Naruto's body as it fell towards her after meeting Hinata's assault face to face. Carefully timing herself and taking aim, Sakura thrust a finishing punch straight across her target's face, effectively shattering the mask with the blow and sending the phantom on a one way trip towards the other side of the battlefield.

It was here Naruto was waiting with the final attack…

Rasengan spinning in hand, the blonde stepped forward, and met the Dark Naruto's front with his own. He threw his right hand forward, blue orb of energy whipping through the air as it struck its target full on.

"RASENGAN!" he roared, driving home his last attack.

Seconds after impact, as the hurricane force winds whipped around them, Dark Naruto's body was flung away with the force of a tornado, as the blonde's attack exploded with such force it split the ground on its execution. In a flash of light, the phantom Naruto was flung towards the trees on the opposite side of the field, and with a loud shockwave as his body broke the sound barrier, collided with the trees and shattered them.

Out of the smoke and dust to follow, Naruto collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, and looked up in time to see his two teammates looking towards the impact zone where Dark Naruto unintentionally lodged himself in after its flight. The masked phantom was sitting in the side of the tree limply, body mangled and unresponsive.

The ordeal was finally over…

Chakra almost gone, Naruto was helped to his feet by Hinata, who helped limp carry him over to where Dark Naruto sat in the tree. The three of them looked the body over, getting a better look at its face and the state the mangled corpse was in.

The face of Dark Naruto behind the mask held a multitude of scars. There were none from the battle that just transpired, but there were crisscrosses of permanent scars all over his right side, with metal stitches holding the whole face together. There was also a Sharingan still blazing in the right eye, and the left one with its Rinnegan still intact.

Sakura shook her head at the sight. "I still… can't believe it…"

"That my Dark Side became such a monster," Naruto shrugged. "I can't believe it either…"

"With the assortment of weapons he had… he should have creamed us…"

"It was mostly an illusion," Naruto replied, taking in a deep breath of air and looking his dead counterpart over. "Same strength as me, a little bit slower… but uses a whole bunch of doejutsu and weapons as handicap to increase his fighting prowess. Since it was mostly composed of machine by the looks of it… it didn't move very well. Regardless…on my own…I wouldn't have stood a chance…"

"B-But…" Hinata began, looking at both Naruto and her fellow kunoichi. "W-What did this test mean? What was the point to it?"

Naruto frowned, looking down at the ground in careful thought and consideration.

"I think… this battle was designed to really test our bonds," Naruto said, looking up at the others. "Mia wanted us to come here… and face something that we didn't expect… something we feared the most… and something that we might have to face in the future." The blonde looked between Hinata and Sakura as he continued to formulate his answer. "She wanted to see if we could not only work together and test our will to protect each other… but force us to make the most impossible decision…" Naruto smirked and nodded towards his dark counterpart. "In reality… that abomination is me, whether it is good or bad, it doesn't matter. It tested me to see if I could really face myself, and it tested you two, to see whether or not you will be able to stop me… if I was to ever or even fall from myself… from who I am now…"

Sakura and Hinata saw what their teammate had come to, and in unison, the two of them nodded in agreement.

Deciding to let the whole ordeal go, yet take with them what they had learned and experienced from tonight, Sakura and Hinata, together, helped walk Naruto out of this chamber of trees, and back into the Forest of Death. They left the battlefield behind, the weapons used and the body in its place to rot…


Early Morning…

Outside of Training Ground 44…

Mia smiled when she saw the three Genin return, stepping out of the shadows of the forest, and walk shoulder to shoulder towards the fence. Standing up from where she was sitting, under the shallow light of the sun rising over the horizon, the red headed Sage raised a hand and ripped open the fence as she had done before, and allowed Naruto, Sakura and Hinata to limp back through, before closing it up behind them.

"They made it…" she smiled, nodding when the whole battered team came up to her. Of course, they couldn't admit that they looked worse, but they all felt like shit at the same time.

"Had fun?" Mia asked.

"Screw you," were the first words to fly out of Sakura's lips. The Sage of Six Paths grinned happily and gave her the thumbs up.

"Yosh! That's the spirit!"

"In spite of the fact that you threw us into that hell…" Naruto began with a rather disgruntled look on his face; he then smiled up at his friend, and nodded his head at her. "I have to admit… it was… interesting…"

"Interesting you say?" the Sage exclaimed. She smirked at them and, holding her free hand over their heads, closed her eyes and began sensing each one of them individually. The three battered, bruised, burnt, and thoroughly exhausted Genin looked at her curiously as she went over them. A smile replaced her frown and she opened her eyes, looking down at them with the most certain look she has ever had. "You guys have been though a lot. But… you passed your trial… magnificently!"

She then took her staff, and tapped each one of them on their shoulders.

"You three… are good together, as both a team, and… you know…" Mia grinned and shrugged suggestively. "It may be considered bigamy, but you three are perfect for each other!"

All three of them sweat dropped, before all of them effectively collapsed to the ground, groaning in distress and mock anguish. It was right after that they all fell over onto their backs and began staring up towards the sky. Mia laughed and crouched down in front of them, looking them in the faces to see if they were okay. However, she got quite a surprise when she found that all three of them had fallen asleep. Or… well… passed out…

The red head smiled and let them lie, planning to sit with them to make sure they were okay…

Of course, the three Genin, after everything they had been through that night, fell asleep with smiles on all their faces.

They were happy to be together…

TO BE CONTINUED


Naruto's Techniques:

Soaring Dragon Strike (Naruto taijutsu combination)

Shadow Clone Technique

Naruto Rengan (Naruto Uzumaki Barrage)

Rasengan

Rasen-Rengan (primitive version)

Wind Release: Gale Palm

Wind Release: Rising Dragon

Wind Release: Dragon versus Tiger

Flash Step/Teleport

Flying Thunder God Technique

Hiding like a Mole Technique

Stealth (teleportation through use of shadows or light)

Sakura's Techniques:

Mystical Palm Technique (Healing Technique)

Cherry Blossom Impact

Cherry Blossom Clone

Maiden Shockwave

Painful Sky Leg (Sakura Axe Kick)

Ninja Art: Blanket Fire Storm (genjutsu-ninjutsu combination)

Chakra Scalpel

Hinata's Techniques:

Gentle Fist

Wind Dance (Improved Gentle Fist)

Eight Trigrams – Thirty Two Palms

Rotation (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin)

Chakra Needle Technique


Author's Note:

You can expect that after this ordeal, Naruto, Sakura and Hinata will change even more. If you suspect that, then you are correct. Naruto of course will lighten up even more, what with the weight lifted off of his shoulders, and start bonding with the other girls more. I wanted to have Sakura and Hinata to have a bigger part in this chapter, so that Naruto didn't hog all of the glory. It's more for character development and stuff, and equal share in battles, with Naruto being beaten for once and having Sakura and Hinata fight off a force more powerful then both of them.

The Dark Naruto, I believe, didn't play as big a part in canon then I would have liked. When they introduced him, it made me think that Naruto would have made an awesome villain in the series, way better then Sasuke or Madara. My Naruto doesn't mope about like Sasuke, and is nowhere near as Emo as Sasuke in this story, since Naruto makes an effort to make friends and associates a lot with the others. (it was just his other side that kept popping up that made him feel and look cold). The real emo side of him or whatever was left of it appeared in the manifestation of Dark Naruto, combined with all his unhealed battlescars, and weapons he stole from friends and enemies, all put together around a bottle of hatred, malice and cold, calculative ruthlessness. After defeating him, Naruto in this story will become a bit more like the one in canon, but still be skilled and strong, like he is supposed to be.