Awaken

"So, this is the Kyuubi brat?" Orochimaru said. It was the second part of the chunin exams with team 7 being unlucky enough to run into him. All they knew at the moment was that he wanted Sasuke for some reason.

When he first engaged them, he sent Naruto flying with a wind jutsu. Then he started to engage Sasuke in what could barely be considered a fight. The whole time he was just toying with him. Even when Sasuke thought he had the jump on him, it would always appear to be a simple mud clone in his place.

Then, Sasuke was about to be swallowed whole by a snake Orochimaru summoned. It was only thanks to Naruto arriving just in time that he was saved. Which really irked Sasuke. Then both Sasuke and Sakura watched their blonde teammate, unknown to them, being enhanced by Kyuubi, fight back Orochimaru.

The fight didn't last though. He was still toying with them. Barely trying against Naruto and was more so studying him. It was then they watched the snake sannin use his tongue to wrap around Naruto's neck. He then lifted his jacket and shirt to see the seal that held back the Kyuubi.

'I would love to study you more Naruto-kun, but I have a schedule to keep.' Doing a few hand seals, he held his right wrist with the kanji for each element appearing on his fingers. Then, the two others of team 7 watched as the pale-skinned man shoved his hand into Naruto's gut.

"Five Elements Seal!" They heard Naruto shout in pain before passing out within Orochimaru's grip. He then tossed their teammate off to the side. Sakura tossed a few kunai to pin him by his jacket to a tree. It was a good try, but the weight from Naruto made his jacket give way and the material ripped, causing him to fall to the forest floor.

"A valiant effort, little girl, but in the end, pointless. Now, Sasuke-chan, I have a little gift for you, kukuku." They were confused about what Orochimaru meant by that, only to watch as he performed a seal with his neck extending and flying towards Sasuke. Before either could react, he sank his fangs into Sasuke's neck. The boy screeched in pain as the snake sannin retracted his neck. Sakura saw a seal appear on his neck before it pulses with energy. Sasuke's screams intensified before he passed out onto the tree branch.

"W-w-w-what did you do to him?!" Sakura asked with her eyes wide in shock. Orochimaru simply chuckled while making Sakura shiver in fear.

"I just gave him a little gift. He craves power and one day, he'll come to me for all the power he could want. Kukukukuku." Sakura watched the pale nukenin sink into the tree branch he was standing on before his presence was completely gone from the area they were in. After a minute passed, she grabbed Sasuke before hopping through the trees to find a safe place to treat him.

She would have gone to search for Naruto, but with Sasuke knocked out cold, they were sitting ducks for any other team wanting to take advantage of them. She could only pray to Kami that he was alright.

(Forest of Death- Unknown Cavern)

Naruto's body was covered in shadows. There was no light where he was. When his body fell from high above, it caved into a weak spot on the forest floor. From then, his body rolled down a rocky hill, increasing his injuries, before falling onto the flat rocky ground. The silence was everywhere. There was no sound.

Unknown to Naruto, he wasn't alone here. The surrounding area, the Darkness, flowed towards him. Sounds of multiple feet walking towards the unconscious blonde would have been heard. Glowing yellow eyes stared down at the boy. He was the first human they had seen in such a long time. One of the ones in the front brought out a weapon, a dagger with tribal markings and etches all over it. Strange runes of a language only they knew were aligned along the blade. The creature moved forward and instantly saw how the dagger reacted when near the boy. This made the creature and the rest near it giddy.

Finally, a new master was chosen. Two of the creatures moved forward and turned the boy around before ripping his jacket and shirt off to reveal his chest. They also noticed the seal on his stomach and the one Orochimaru placed over it. It was strange but wouldn't affect the ritual. The one with the dagger moved over the boy's body and held the dagger in both hands. The weapon was pulsing with power. The shadows of the area seem to draw into the blade. The runes on it glowed a dark purple, shining a dark light amongst all of those around.

Imp-like creatures surrounded the area. Each of varying sizes. The one holding the dagger was special though. It, unlike the others around it, wore an eyepatch over its left eye. It also had on a tattered robe covering most of its upper body. Words came out of its mouth, not understandable to any beyond their own kind. Then, all the creatures watch the leader stab the dagger into Naruto's chest. There was a loud gasp as Naruto's eyes opened up wide. A silent scream escaped his mouth before the dagger that was stabbing into his heart began pulsing with power. The imp over Naruto laughed before it and the others were absorbed by darkness and flowed directly into the dagger. Shadows from the cave began circling and flowing around Naruto. The dagger dissolved into energy and healed the wound on him. The entire cave began to shake with tendrils of darkness shooting out of Naruto.

This also affected the world above ground. The earth shook causing a momentary pause for those taking the chunin exams and those who were watching over it. It didn't last, however. The shaking stopped and left many wary for whatever it could mean. Back in the cavern with Naruto, his entire body was covered in a cacoon of dark tendrils. The cacoon was pulsating with dark energy. Changing the boy inside for the better to wield a power that hasn't been seen in eternity.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

"Urk! What... what is happening..." The Kyuubi stated out loud. It could feel a large portion of its chakra being taken and used. It had thought that the seal that Orochimaru placed over the one that the Yondaime made was supposed to block and disrupt the flow of its chakra to its host. But then it felt that dark energy forcibly enters the boy's body. It began changing everything and even dissolved the seal that the snake sannin placed on him. The main seal that kept it locked in here was still intact but was being used to feed his chakra to something else besides the brat.

"Easy. I'm strengthening the bond between all of us." An unknown male voice spoke out. Kyuubi tilted his head up and saw a man standing there on the other side of the cage. Standing roughly at six feet in height, he had a chiseled face with angular cheekbones. His hair was a pitch-black that flowed down just a little bit past his shoulders. His body was thin, but Kyuubi could see the muscular frame that was hidden under the black suit the man wore. His eyes are what drew the most attention. The sclera was black as the void and his iris were glowing a fiendish yellow.

"You know, Kyuubi, I gotta say, your chakra is delicious. I've only had four tails worth of your power and I feel The Darkness growing back in strength already."

"Enough! Who are you?! What do you want with my vessel?!" Kyuubi shouted toward the unknown man while he simply chuckled. For whatever reason, Kyuubi was getting warning signals about this man, this being before it. Didn't help that he was still taking another tails' worth of his chakra from it.

"I rather not explain things twice, so let's wait a moment for the kid to show up." The man said with Kyuubi feeling its patience running thin before settling down. It seemed that the draining of his chakra was over for now. As they waited there, Kyuubi took the liberty to see what exactly was happening to the boy he was sealed in. Besides its own chakra and the boy's, he could feel a whole new source of power circling throughout Naruto's body. It wasn't going through his pathways but instead just running through his entire body with no restriction. Changing his physique forever. Kyuubi could tell that the boy's body was being fixed of the many problems it had. Malnutrition was the main problem, as well as the slight brain damage received from one bad night when he was younger and the occasional pounding he got from that useless pink teammate of his.

It wasn't long for them to hear the pitter-patter of movement. Kyuubi watched the man turn around to see their vessel step forward into the room. Kyuubi could already tell that there was something different with the boy. He had a different aura to him. It seems that the changes were already working on his mental state. As he stepped forward, they watched him stop just a foot away from the mysterious man who was apparently the cause for everything happening right now to him.

Naruto stared at the two within his mind. Kyuubi seemed weaker at the moment and this strange man standing before was radiating a dark power that, surprisingly, didn't terrify him. "Good, we're all here. Allow me to introduce myself. Jackie Estacado or The Darkness." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the strange name and title. "Yeah, I understand. I could go on about myself and what I represent but that would take too much time. All you need to know about me is that you've been chosen to be my next host and possible successor." Jackie said while whispering the last part to himself.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What the hell do you mean 'New host'? I already have to deal with Kyuubi being inside me, so why should I have you with me as well?" Naruto questioned the man. For whatever reason, he felt a lot calmer right now. He felt like he should be freaking out a bit more, but it seemed he was capable of thinking better right now. And right now he wanted a damn good reason why he should even accept responsibility for having this guy also sealed him. Was he even sealed in him? If he wasn't, then this could be dangerous.

"What do you offer to the brat? As he is, he is pretty pathetic with nothing to his name besides one jutsu that he can spam and brawler fighting skills. He can at least adapt to a situation pretty well, but beyond that he's worthless." Kyuubi spoke up with Naruto glaring at him for pointing out everything he knew was wrong with himself. It wasn't his fault he had piss poor control. Well, maybe it was a little. Skipping out on those lessons from Iruka-sensei probably didn't help him in that department. But beyond that, he didn't have a proper teacher to teach him a better way to fight! Kakashi was an alright sensei but he barely taught them much beyond working on their teamwork and then showing them an exercise for climbing a tree. Something he suspected should have been taught to them much earlier on!

Jackie laughed at this, a motion that made Naruto glared at him as well. "Trust me, I know his faults already. The dagger that was stabbed into his heart had already begun the process of merging us. Allowing me access to his memories. But there's a reason you're so piss poor at most of your skills. Beyond the abnormal brain damage to a kid as young as you, I found a seal at the back of your neck. A place you wouldn't have detected or known about unless someone pointed it out to you." Hearing this made Naruto stop his glaring and had his eyes widen. There was some other seal on him? And he didn't know about it? How long had that been there?!

"Once my power began circling through your body, it began fixing and removing any abnormalities it found. The seal the snake shoved onto your gut that disrupted your chakra flow was removed almost instantly. Probably because it was just placed on you. The seal on the back of your neck though took a while. Turns out, that little thing was messing with your mind's processing functions." This was a surprise to Naruto and Kyuubi. Kyuubi never felt the seal on the boy, meaning it was most likely placed on him sometime after it was sealed into Naruto. Doing so would make it so that the seal would be accustomed to his body as he grew, making it almost natural to be there. It wouldn't register as something not meant to be there if he had it on him since birth or sometime after it.

Naruto wasn't sure how to comprehend this. Besides being extremely pissed off that someone placed something like that on him. Like it was some way to keep him under control. He also wondered how did no one notice it before? And if they did, why did no one bring it to his attention? There were too many questions at the moment. He still needed to finish the chunin exams. Which brings him back to his first question.

"What benefit do I get from having you in me?" Naruto asked while his face held a seriousness that was uncommon for him in the past. Jackie smirked and raised his hands at his sides. A dark cloud began covering the entire place. Soon, both warden and prisoner saw imp creatures of varying sizes come out of the Darkness. Snake, or Hydra, creatures slithered around. Some were as big as the snake summon that Orochimaru summoned. There were a couple even coming out from Jackie's back like tentacles. Both of them then saw Jackie's body morph with armor covering his entire being and two leather bat-like wings sprouting from his back, lifting him into the air.

"I'll give you a power that not even the Uchiha and Senju clan combined could compete against." Naruto watched as each imp-like creature gain a weapon from the darkness that surrounded them. Each of varying sizes and some that he has never seen before. Some of the imps even grew larger in size and became more humanoid with monstrous features. "All you need to do is accept my power." Jackie landed in front of Naruto with his hand outstretched. "And together, we will kill everyone that will get in our way" Naruto stared at his hand for a moment before looking up into Jackie's eyes. His resolved steeled and he placed his hand into Jackie's. The deal was struck and Naruto could feel the power flowing from Jackie into him. He could hear Jackie laughing with the dark powers he wielding spreading around his mindscape, changing it to fit the new change Naruto would be going through.

"Awaken then, Naruto,"

Outside of his mindscape and back with the cacoon that had inclosed around the blonde genin. The ground began shaking again with the cacoon cracking open. A hand punched through the cracks and began pulling the body attached to it out. Within the dark cavern, Naruto's body changed. He was no longer a shrimp amongst his peers. He now stood at 5'6", taller than his classmate Shino. His body lost most of the baby fat that was there and leaned up. Muscle mass that should have been there at his age grew in and more. The whisker marks on his face got bolder and his hair grew longer. The clothing he wore had changed as well. He now had on a short-sleeve chainmail shirt, over that was a sleeveless muscle shirt that was black in color with an Orange kanji over the heart that read Choas. Over both was a dark blue jacket that had the kanji for Darkness on the back in a ruby color. He now wore combat shorts that showed off his toned legs. He still wore ninja sandals like before but they were black now. The cloth for his headband was now a darker blue, almost black, color. Stepping out of the shattered cacoon, Naruto stood tall and opened his eyes. They were the same as Jackie's but with a slit pupil.

"And Embrace The Darkness."

[Alright. A bit shorter than I usually do but I like it this way. I was debating heavily with myself on what I should do about this. Since, originally, I was going to do it were both the Darkness and Angelus fight over Naruto and try to take his body to be their host. Then they would awaken a bloodline (Rinnegan) and he would end up using its power to make both submit and steal their powers for himself. The more I thought about how to do this, the more I just didn't like the idea. So, instead, I just went with a different route for how the Darkness will take Naruto as its host. Also, if you noticed, Jackie is the Darkness in this. How? Find out later in the future. Hope you enjoyed this little thing and expect future updates for this later on. Please take your time to go to my profile and vote on the poll I have up there. I usually have one up there at all times since I'm always interested in what you guys would like to see happen. Also, please support me by donating to my Ko-fi page. Just type in Ko-fi jangoman (just remove the space)

Jangoman signing out]