Chapter 18: I'll Face Myself
Naruto was going to Dumbledore's office for one specific request and this specific request is the most important, for he is going to learn to control the Nine Tails power. A few days ago, he was summoned to the Howling Forest for some reason and the reason was that they had found a place where he could learn to master Kurama's power and they're going to help him. But the wolves and the dragons aren't the only ones that will help him, as last night the Sage of Six Paths visited him in his dream. From his conversation with the Sage, he is going to send in someone to help him learn how to control the Nine Tails and obtain his power. The blond opens the door to see that Snape was about to leave the office. Snape saw the boy, but didn't say a thing as he moved past Naruto, who raised an eyebrow. "Ah Naruto, what brings you to my office?" Dumbledore asked.
"Dumbledore, I found a place where I can learn to control the Nine Tails. I came here to request a week off for some training, that is if you could allow me?" Naruto asked. Dumbledore nodded, "Very well, you'll be excused for the entire week. Good luck on your training." Naruto nodded, but before he left, he had this to say. "This is goodbye, isn't it?" Naruto asked, as he had a serious look. Dumbledore sighed, figuring that the boy knows what is going to happen given that he had filled him in on the information from Draco Malfoy. "I'm afraid it is Naruto, my time is running short due to the curse and it won't be too long before Voldemort takes control of the wizarding world. Naruto…I need you to promise me that you will keep Harry and yourself safe by the time I'm gone, as me and Harry will start our Horcrux journey. When I die, I want you and Harry to continue the search for the Horcruxes as I have faith that you two will accomplish this," Dumbledore stated. "I won't let you down Dumbledore. Before I leave…I just want to thank you for everything, from giving me a chance at this school to believing in me. In a way, I saw you as a grandfather," Naruto said, sounding grateful. Dumbledore smiled and nodded, "And I saw you as a grandson, so once again take care Naruto." The two shook hands, before Naruto left the office. As he left, the blond produced a single teardrop knowing full well he can't stop what will come.
Thirty Minutes Later
Naruto was dressed in a white short sleeved button up shirt with a brown sleeveless turtleneck shirt underneath. He also wore black anbu pants that are wrapped in bandages on the knees, black combat boots, a metallic gray pauldron on his left shoulder engraved with the Uzumaki clan symbol, a short red cape with black flames on the bottom attached on the left side of his back, metal plated fingerless gloves, and metal arm guards. As he finished packing some of his stuff in a duffel bag, he strapped his gunblade on his back and stored some of his ninja tools in a utility pouch, before putting on his headband. He goes outside to see that Harry, Ron, and Hermione came by to the cabin. "Are you going somewhere Naruto?" Harry asked, noticing that Naruto was dressed differently along with him carrying a duffel bag. The blond nodded, "Yeah I'm going to the summoning realm, as I'm finally going to learn how to control the Nine Tails," he explained. "How long are you going to be gone for?" Hermione asked. "About a week, as someone is going to help me with my training," the blond said. "Well then we wish you all the best," Ron said. Soon the four did a group hug, before Naruto left for the summoning realm.
The Howling Forest
Naruto arrives to see that Thorn and Quetzalcoatl were waiting for him, as they were the ones to greet him first. "Hey guys, I'm ready to start my training," Naruto said. "Before we begin the training, there is someone we would like you to meet and he is a jinchuriki like you though he is rather…eccentric," Thorn stated, looking rather annoyed. Naruto raised an eyebrow, before asking them who he is going to meet. Both summons lead Naruto to this person, who seems to be in the area, even though from what he learned about the stranger, he's an outsider. Soon Naruto meets the person his two summons along with Hagoromo mentioned and lets just say the blond was taken aback. The stranger was an older muscular black man with combed pale blond hair and a goatee. On his right shoulder, he sports a tattoo of the kanji that stands for iron, whereas on his left cheek, he has a tattoo of a bull's horn. Now the man dons oval-shaped sunglasses and wears a white variation of the hidden cloud village headband. He even wears the uniform of a Kumogakure shinobi, though he has a red rope belt and a white scarf on his neck. But what was interesting about the man was the fact that he has a giant sword behind his back wrapped in bandages. "Yo! Yo! What up, it's your boy Killer Bee! Eight Tails Jinchuriki!" Killer Bee rapped.
Naruto was surprised, as the wolves and dragons sweatdropped. "Uh…ok…well then my name is Naruto Uzumaki, Nine Tails Jinchuriki," he rapped back, though he's cringing from what he just did. "Wait, how did you even get here?" Naruto asked, as Killer Bee began to think. "Well then, let's see…"
Flashback
Killer Bee was just in the land of iron, the samurai country in Naruto's universe. He had just fought Kisame Hoshigaki with the help of his brother, Ay the Fourth Raikage. After beating the Akatsuki member and taking his sword, he and his brother along with some of the Kumo shinobi were about to head home, when all of a sudden a white light came blinding the others. After the light was gone, Killer Bee had vanished somewhere. But he wasn't just anywhere, he was in the other plane of existence, as he is face to face with the Sage of Six Paths. "Who are you fool, ya fool?" Killer Bee rapped. In his mindscape, Gyuki the Eight Tails, was watching this and was shocked that his creator was there and was the one who brought them here.
"Quiet Bee! Can't you see who you are talking to?!" Gyuki reprimanded. Bee was surprised and asked the beast who he was talking to, when Hagoromo chuckled. "It's alright Gyuki, he doesn't know who I am so he is bound to act this way," he said. The Sage of Six Paths explains who he is and why he has brought Bee here. Needless to say both Killer Bee and Gyuki were shocked that the Nine Tails and his jinchuriki are in another world along with the One Tails and his Jinchuriki. "Your task is to train the Nine Tails jinchuriki on how to obtain the tailed beast's power. So I will summon you there and I wish you good luck," Hagoromo explained. Gyuki nodded and before Killer Bee could ask anymore, Hagoromo transported them to Naruto's world or rather the summoning world.
Flashback End
"So that's how you are here?" Naruto asked. "Damn straight fool, ya fool! But anyways Gyuki wants to speak to ya!" Bee stated. "Are you sure about this?" Naruto asked. "Positive!" Killer Bee grinned. Naruto nodded, "Ok then, put him on." Gyuki comes over to speak to Naruto, "Hello Naruto, it's me Gyuki. Thanks for putting up with Kurama, I know it hasn't been easy," he said. "Fuck off, Gyuki!" Kurama yelled, feeling insulted. "Kurama's alright once I got to know him well enough and I don't blame him for being stuck in my life. So anyways, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Naruto asked.
"If you're serious about using Kurama's chakra then you have my full support along with Shukaku's if we ever do meet him again after learning about what you did to him during your fourth year in this world. Anyways, in order to fully use your Tailed Beast's chakra, you'll need to conquer your inner darkness before you can face off against the Tailed Beast. Even though you and Kurama already trust each other, I have a feeling Kurama wants you to prove yourself that you are worthy enough to use this power as he isn't going to give it to you that easily," Gyuki explained. Naruto nods, "Got it, thank you Gyuki."
Gyuki nods and wishes him luck, before Killer Bee comes back in control. "Alright fool, are ya ready to begin?" Bee asked. "More than ready, let's do this!" Naruto stated, confident with himself. Thorn leads the two to a waterfall that has a little platform in the center. "The key to finding your inner darkness is to meditate. Close your eyes and block out any distractions. Concentrate on finding your inner darkness and you will see it face to face," Thorn explained. Naruto needs and proceeds to walk to the little platform, before sitting in a lotus position. He closes his eyes and blocks out every distraction, until he hears a dark voice that sounds almost like him. Naruto opens his eyes to see that it was him, except something was off, it was almost as if he was coldly smiling and his eyes were red with black scleras.
"So…we finally meet?" Shadow Naruto spoke. "Are you…me?" Naruto asked, just to be sure. "Yes, I am a shadow…the true self…" the shadow stated. "I am your darkness and hatred. I have been with you since the very day we were born. Don't you fucking deny it, you despised the villagers for everything they've done to you and don't get me started about what the people in this new world have done to you. It was just like back home, the ostracization when they thought you and Harry were the ones to open the Chamber of Secrets, when you and Harry were somehow entered into the Triwizard Tournament despite having no interest in joining, and most importantly when they thought of you and Harry for being the boys who lie when you actually did see Voldemort and Menma. Yet somehow they are now treating you and Harry as if you two were the messiahs of this world. Do you really think you can just forgive them along with the villagers even if they got on their hands and knees and apologized?" Shadow Naruto asked.
Naruto thought about what his shadow said, as it did raise an interesting question. "To be honest, I can never fully forgive them as the damage is already done. It'll take me many years to learn to forgive the village as they never knew the truth of what really happened the night I was born. I get it, they were angry as they lost their loved ones, their livelihoods, etc. Sure that doesn't give them the right to take their anger out on me, but I understood why they felt this way. As for the people here, they were afraid of me and Harry because they didn't know the truth. I was upset, but people fear what they don't understand, so you can't really blame them. Luckily I was surrounded by people who supported me and that's why I never turned into what they fear the most," Naruto said.
Shadow Naruto was getting angry, "But that doesn't mean you should forgive them all! They are the ones responsible for all the pain that was caused!" Naruto nodded, "I know, just because I forgive them, doesn't mean bygones will be bygones." Shadow Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What could you possibly mean?" he asked. "Well even if I forgave them, I won't tolerate their foolishness any more. I have the means to take retribution if they choose to retaliate and I place little trust on them, so if they want my full forgiveness, they need to redeem themselves or else the consequences will be severe," Naruto explained calmly. "But that doesn't change the question as to why you would forgive them at all?! Even if you do forgive them, what will happen to me?! Will you just leave me to rot in your subconscious, alone and forgotten like always?!" Shadow Naruto yelled.
Naruto looked at his shadow, as he realized even the shadow felt emotions just like him. He soon walked to his shadow and grabbed his hand. "What the hell are you doing?!" the shadow asked. "You said that if you go back into my consciousness you will disappear and be forgotten, is that correct?" Naruto asked calmly. "Yeah, but what the hell does that-"
Naruto smacks his shadow in the head, before bringing him in a hug. "You're not going back into my subconscious to be forgotten because you're staying with me. I'm no expert in philosophy, but we're like Yin and Yang. You can't live without me and I can't live without you," Naruto stated. The shadow was silent, as he was surprised that his other half didn't reject him. "Well, what do you say?" Naruto asked. "To think my other self would be the one to knock some sense towards me. Heh, it feels…rather good," the shadow said. Soon the shadow begins to vanish, but before he fully vanishes, the shadow smiles at Naruto one last time indicating that they finally made peace. Naruto wakes up, as he feels a warm feeling wash over him, which indicates that he has finally overcome his own darkness. "Yo, you finally did it!" Killer Bee shouted, sounding impressed. "Yeah…yeah I did," Naruto said, sounding more confident knowing he is ready. "Alright then, it's time you face the Nine Tails and obtain his power," Killer Bee stated. Naruto nods and proceeds to go into his mindscape.
Inside Naruto's Mindscape
Naruto walks to where Kurama resides, as he sees Kurama is there waiting for him. "So you finally faced your true self?" he asked. Naruto nods, as Kurama smirks, figuring his host is finally ready to earn this power. "Well then Naruto, show me what you got," Kurama ordered. Naruto smirks as he opens the seal as the gate opens, with Kurama rushing at him ready to test Naruto. It was a battle between man and beast, as Naruto faced his tailed beast. Kurama swipes at Naruto with his tail, but the boy dodges as he creates waves of clones. Soon Naruto gets into his sage mode form and punches Kurama in the face. He didn't stop however as he prepared his family's adamantine chain jutsu to restrain the beast. Kurama struggles of course, as a horde of Naruto clones rush at Kurama using the Rasengan. The fox breaks free, but is toppled to the floor and before he could swat away some of the Naruto clones, he was too late as the clones shoved a giant Rasengan barrage at his face, blowing him back. The blond finishes the fight by creating a giant Rasenshuriken and throwing it at Kurama, putting the beast down for the count.
Naruto was huffing and panting, as his clones poofed away given that he may have used too much of his chakra for the fight. Kurama gets back up and walks close to Naruto, who seemed pretty apprehensive and worried that a second round was inbound. But to his surprise, Kurama smiled as he wasn't going to hit him. "You have passed my test, you have proven to me that you are worthy of my power," Kurama stated, sounding proud of his host. Naruto smiled, "Kurama…do you trust me?" he asked. "Kid, you're the second human aside from my father whom I trust…do you trust me?" Kurama asked. "With every single amount of chakra in my body," the blond said, as he grinned.
Kurama grinned and stuck his fist out, "Bump fists with me, Naruto." Naruto nodded and bumped his fist with Kurama as he was told. The blond felt power surging inside him, as a white light engulfed everything. "Naruto…my power is yours to use," Kurama said. Naruto thanks him and soon he returns to the real world. The wolves and dragons stare in awe at Naruto, while Killer Bee was looking proud of his fellow jinchuriki for overcoming his darkness and bonding with the Nine Tails. Naruto stands up as his form completely changes. His pupils became slitted, his whisker markings on his face became thicker resembling the three trigram, but most importantly the chakra shroud was upgraded to resemble a full length haori.
"Well guys what do you think?" Naruto asked. "It's like looking at a phoenix," Brutus said, staring in awe. "Most impressive Naruto, you have managed to get Kurama's chakra. But let's see what it would do if you were to combine sage mode," Thorn stated. So Naruto goes into sage mode and there were differences as his eyes seemed to have changed with the black markings that surrounded his eyes blending in along with the sage mode eyes crossing over with the fox eyes. "Nice, very nice. So what will you call this form?" Killer Bee asked. Naruto smirked, "I'll call this…Kurama mode."
Note: so I saw one of the comments about the chapter regarding how Naruto should've done the apparitions test, so I decided to change up that detail and made him take the test and pass it. Anyways hope you like this chapter and feel free to review