In life, the road to darkness is a journey, not a light switch.
- Lex Luthor
The Allure of Darkness
Naruto snaked his way through the dense crowd with both hands burrowed deep into his pockets. His eyes were tired – heck he even felt like his eyelids were tired – but he still had just enough strength to lift them up to scan the village surroundings. The village was remarkably different at night. It bustled with a different type of life – the nightlife. Businesses lined each side of the street, content to simply serve their customers and make them happy. Restaurants bathed customers in warm yellow lights to set a more mellow mood and small knick-knack shops seemed to employ warm lights to better advertise their products. There was even a faint smell of grilled meat in the air, possibly from that barbeque restaurant Choji liked. It was a relaxing atmosphere all in all, so relaxing that Naruto almost forgot about his present troubles. Almost. That is until he was greeted by a deep raspy voice resonating in the corridors of his mind. There was a small chuckle followed by a noticeable pause and then the voice came like a purr in the night. "Naruto Uzumaki turning down ramen and a date with his precious Sakura-chan, all in one day. I guess Hell must've frozen over recently."
Great. Just what he needed. Something else to sour the day for him, as if it wasn't already crappy enough. Any chance he had at cheering up disappeared after hearing the fox's comment and all he could find the strength to do was mumble. "Just leave me alone."
"Ah, I see you've still got some attitude left. Nice."
Naruto decided not to respond and instead kept trudging along. Maybe the fox would leave him alone that way.
"So, you're just going to ignore me? Not very good manners."
Naruto raised a hand to massage his temple. "You know, I just wanted to be alone for a bit. You think you can do that, huh? Maybe just shut up. For, like, three seconds!"
"Ok, 1,2,3." the fox replied with a sickening chuckle. "I'm back."
Naruto shut both eyes to take a moment then opened them after he had cooled off a bit. "I hate you," he whispered, reaching for his apartment door.
"Hate me?" the fox laughed. "Hating me is the same as hating yourself! We're both jumbled up in here, remember?"
Naruto remained silent and stepped inside, deciding to ignore the overgrown orange hairball. The fox might have said something else, but Naruto didn't hear it. He just fell into a daze of sorts. With a toss, his apartment key slid onto his coffee table then he started his lazy trek towards his bedroom.
The door let out a high-pitched squeak as he pulled it open and upon examining the room, he noticed that everything was just like it usually was. There was his unmade bed with the sheets tossed randomly to the side, his alarm clock with its broken alarm, his frog-shaped wallet spilling out some pocket change, and the smell of instant ramen cooked into the walls. Everything being in its proper place was actually a plus since other kids would sometimes break into his house and mess with stuff for no good reason. He always told himself that they were just stupid, or maybe misguided. Yep. Just a bunch of stupid misguided kids.
"Pffft!" the fox laughed. "Misguided? Really kid? What about all of those grown men who don't let you eat at their restaurants, are they misguided too?"
"Shut up."
"Heh heh heh. It's the truth though."
"No, it's not."
"Stop lying to yourself."
"I never lie to myself."
"Ha…Liar. That's another lie right there. You should be careful about that. The strongest lies are the lies you tell yourself you know."
Naruto let out a steadying breath as both eyes involuntarily looked towards the ceiling. "Thank you, O wise one," he mumbled, walking over to his bed.
"You're very welcome. If you want, there's more advice where that came from."
Naruto raised both hands to his head, sweeping them across his face dramatically as he plopped down onto the bed. "Can you please just shut up…"
"Truth hurts doesn't it?"
Naruto's eyes fell shut on their own. "The only thing that hurts is having to hear your ashy voice when I'm already having a bad day."
"Haha, that's nice, I like it. But you're still not fooling me. I know that you can't seriously believe all of those villagers are just 'misguided', as you put it. That would just make you even more of a naive fool than I took you for."
"Guess I'm a naive fool then."
"Ehhh, I'm not buying it. You should actually take my disbelief as a compliment. It means I don't think you're stupid enough to actually believe what you just said."
"What do you want me to do? Say I'm honored?"
"Nah, I just want you to acknowledge the facts. These villagers hate you, and if there's one thing I've learned in my many years, it's that history is the best way to predict future behavior. If they hate you now, then they're always gonna hate you."
A feeling that could only be described as boiling rage coursed through Naruto's veins before he jolted upright on his bed. Closing his eyes in a split moment of concentration, he opened them to find himself exactly where he intended to be – in the fox's chamber. The darkness of the chamber was thick and seemed to choke the air, same as always. But through the darkness and into that cursed chamber, Naruto could see the darkened silhouette of the fox. Blood red eyes peered back at him and a twisted grin could be faintly seen revealing rows of sharp canines. In the past, he had felt fear at the sight, but now it was something else entirely.
"Not when I'm Hokage!" he retorted, eyes flashing with rage.
After that statement, Naruto heard the loudest cackle of laughter he had ever heard from the fox in his life and watched as the fox threw his head back in ecstasy. "Hokage?!" Another fit of laughter followed. "You'll be lucky to make it to Chūnin!"
Pausing then swallowing a bit at the fox's reaction, Naruto replied, "What are you talking about?"
"Kid, they only promote one ninja each exam, and I highly doubt they'll pass you anytime soon. How much formal training did you have before the academy? Uhhh, Zero. The best Sensei you've ever had is Jiraiya and he's running off being a pervert half the time. If you still think you've got a chance at being Hokage, you're way more of a fool than I took you for."
"W-well, I'm just about as strong as Sasuke is now," he stammered. "So I like my chances."
"Yeah, you're right," the fox acknowledged, nodding. "You might even be stronger than him at the moment...but despite that fact, everyone still treats you the same, don't they? Interesting, isn't it?"
Naruto stood staring at the fox for a few moments, then turned away with furrowed eyebrows. "I'm done listening to you."
"Aw, come on. Don't run away." the fox whined sarcastically, grinning in glee. "You know, on second thought, maybe you should!"
He quickly stalked up to the edge of the cage, revealing mounds of orange fur in the process. "Come on," he purred. "I know you've considered it before. Just pack up your things and leave."
"Yeah, leave and go where?" Naruto replied, his voice slightly shaky. "Some other village where people will hate me? No thanks, I've got enough problems as it is."
"Who said anything about going to another village? That won't solve any of your problems."
"What you need," the fox continued while wagging a finger. "Is someone who can help you tap into your true potential."
"And who's that?"
The fox's bloodshot eyes narrowed, and his mouth formed a disturbing grin that Naruto couldn't bring himself to trust.
"You can't be serious…"
"Why not?" the fox responded. "I've learned a great deal in my time on this earth, all valuable lessons that I could pass on to you."
"I'm not listening to this," Naruto said, scoffing into his shoulder.
"Think about it." the fox said, an aggressive undertone lining his voice. "Not only would you have someone training you full-time, but you'd have the added bonus of access to my power. In the past, you've had to wrestle me for my power in dire situations, imagine if I gave it to you willingly."
"Stop it," Naruto said, two fingers moving up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Nooo…" the fox purred, grinning a grin that screamed ill intent. "I will not be ignored, boy! People have taught you to fear my power, I could teach you to control it, wield it, maybe even master it!"
"I'm not hearing this," he said, using his hands to cover both ears.
"You could leave and train somewhere far from here! Become stronger than they could possibly imagine!"
"Stop!"
The cry echoed off the walls of Naruto's mind and slowly faded until there was nothing left but bone-chilling silence. A few moments later, the fox took a very calm step back from the iron bars and said, "Or you could stay here and roll the dice. Who knows, maybe you'll even make Chūnin one day."
As the fox's last statement reached Naruto's ears, he found that his body had gone rigid, paralyzed by the small part of him wondering about the truth in the fox's words. It was a while until he started to regain the functionality in his limbs. Each finger twitched gently as the blood began to circulate again. As the feeling returned to his hands, he turned them over to look into his palms. After a while, he balled them up into angry fists. Traitors. They couldn't block out any of the fox's cutting words, nor could they lessen the impact they had.
His thoughts were interrupted by a strange hissing sound coming from outside. The strange hiss rang through the walls of the apartment, jerking him back to the real world unapologetically. Tiredly, he raised a hand to massage his neck as he got up to investigate. "Always something," he grumbled.
As he neared the door, the hissing sound stopped and was replaced by a rapid back and forth clicking sound. A low growl escaped his throat and his fists clenched as he reached for his front door shaking with renewed anger. Now he knew what it was.
"You jerks!" he yelled, yanking his front door open.
The trio of masked genin looked like they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
"Oh, shoot!" one of them exclaimed. "He's home!" The three cut tail and ran away in a flurry with one of them taking a small tumble as he leaped from the doorstep.
"That's what you get you turd!" Naruto yelled as the clumsy schoolboy recovered from his unscheduled appointment with the ground.
After the group had disappeared into the village, Naruto's eyes darted across the ground, spotting an abandoned spray paint can. Fresh blue paint lined the spray tip and one glance at his door revealed that the group had already done a little spraying before he caught them.
A low growl escaped his throat as he snatched up the can, chucking it in the direction they had run off in. "And take this with you!" he yelled. The can flew less than thirty feet and landed on the ground with a clank, rolling sideways for a bit before coming to a stop.
Turning away, he walked back into the apartment and slammed the door shut behind him, muscles tensing uncontrollably. An empty ramen cup was unfortunate enough to be left lying on the ground and quickly met his foot as he kicked it across the room with a frustrated yell. "Why is there always something?! I thought stupid pranks like this stopped at the academy!" His chest rose and fell in between words. "If it isn't trouble with the team, it's dealing with those jerks!"
"Yep," the fox laughed. "And if it isn't having to deal with those jerks, it's having to deal with meee!"
The fox's laughter reverberated in Naruto's mind, but there was no laughter on Naruto's part. He just stood there, shaking. A moment later, he turned towards his room with a snarl, snatching up any item unfortunate enough to be in his reach. Without warning, his alarm clock was chucked across the room and sent crashing into the wall. A distinct lightning-shaped crack split the frame, and a piece of the silver bell was sent splintering off at some odd angle skywards. Good.
His frog-shaped wallet was the next victim; a sweaty, paint-stained palm reaching out and grabbing it furiously. The wallet turned into a green blur as a baseball toss sent it speeding towards the wall and crashing into it with a clank. The green pouch fell to the wooden floor dramatically, freeing up various currencies to roll about. Books, scrolls, clothes; all violently thrown in an attempt to bury the pain. But it wouldn't go away. Tears soon wet the sides of his cheeks as every throw grew more erratic than the last.
Why isn't it helping…
"That's not gonna change anything." the fox said in between throws.
"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, tightening his grip on the next object in his rampage. It was only after throwing it that he realized what it was. The picture of Team 7 spun towards the wall and hit it with a decided crack before falling face down on the floor.
Concern slowly replaced the rage in Naruto's eyes as he stood frozen. With a frantic step forward, he quickly made his way over to the downed item, repeated echoes of "No," leaving his lips. All he could do was hope it wasn't broken, but as he flipped the picture around in his hands, he saw that the damage had already been done. A spiderweb-like crack started at the bottom corner of the frame and ran up the entirety of the picture. Kakashi and Sakura were unevenly split by the fracture while he and Sasuke stood resolutely on different sides. Still wet eyes squinted to examine the damage as he ran a finger along the cracks that had formed. It was ruined. The picture stared back at him mockingly. His so-called family was broken.
Slowly, his body came to rest on the floor next to his bed with both arms curling around his knees weakly. Deep crinkles formed around his eyes as he tried to squeeze them shut, eventually grimacing in an attempt to stop the tears; but he couldn't, not this time. It was then that he felt that heavy feeling weighing down his chest again. That heavy sense of despair he couldn't escape as a child. That pain that was always trying to claw its way into his soul. By the end of the night, he wondered if it would have its way. Both arms wrapped around his form a bit tighter as the thought haunted his very being. The tears fell not long after, each one carrying the weight of a thousand sorrows. He wanted so desperately to act like everything was ok, like the day hadn't happened, like his life hadn't happened; but it did, and there came a point where he could no longer ignore the pain.
Is this what I'm meant to be?
If the coming night was any indication of the answer to that question, the universe had a good sense of humor. The words had barely left his lips when a stroke of moonlight passed through the curtain, slowly painting the room in dim grayscale. It was unclear whether he felt anything while watching his room transform into a shadow of its former self, but if he did, he didn't show it. He simply sat there, motionless. The only thing to ever affect the slightest change in his features was when he noticed how at home Kakashi's hair looked. All a matter of perspective.
A small part of him wanted to turn on the lights, to chase away the darkness; but he ignored it and sat there. He would much rather stop these stupid tears instead, but he knew better. He had learned long ago that trying to stop the tears just made it worse – much worse. But still, with how long the tears had been falling he wondered would there ever be an end? He got his answer after about half an hour or so, but by that time he didn't care to stop anymore. The spot at the feet of his bed was comfortable by now, so he decided to stay there, eventually losing track of time in the process. The time for supper came and past, but he didn't feel like moving, so he didn't. If he was honest, he could probably sit there until morning with no problem and just sleep the night away. The idea was tempting but he cursed himself for knowing that it wouldn't change anything.
His eyes slowly scanned the recently upturned room, bringing a small frown to his face as he realized he'd probably have to clean it all up eventually. What time was it anyway? His eyes skitted the floor looking for his alarm clock, but upon spotting it, he realized it was broken, stuck with the ticker trying to flick past the time it had been when it crashed into the wall. Great. Just great…
Sighing, he looked towards the broken picture lying on his floor and gently lifted it to his eyes. When he finally spoke, his voice was dry and tired. "Bet you think I'm a wimp, don't you, fox?"
There was a dragging silence before an overly long yawn was heard from the confines of the fox's chamber. Finding a comfortable spot to rest his head on his paws, he smacked his lips three times then replied, "No, just stupid."
Naruto huffed although his face barely changed from its hardened expression. "Figures," he replied. "At least I can always count on you to speak your mind. Makes talking to you a whole lot more interesting."
"Thought you didn't like hearing me talk. Something about my ashy voice."
"Yeah, I did say that didn't I." He gave a lifeless shrug and continued, "Guess talking to you is better than not talking to anybody. And you're a bit easier to talk to since we're both," - he waved a hand absentmindedly - "Jumbled up in here, as you put it."
"Yeah," the fox replied. "Guess that makes sense."
A few moments later, Naruto glanced around his upturned room. He felt tired suddenly. Or maybe he had been feeling that way all night. He was too confused to remember anymore. Looking back down into his lap, he whispered, "I'm sitting in the middle of my room, in the middle of the night, talking to a giant orange fox... I must be losing my mind."
"Half the people in this village are." the fox said in a matter-of-factly tone. "Just look at your team."
"Yeah…I guess you're right."
The following silence was drawn out, but strangely comfortable; much like the silence one enjoys when going out into an open field. It was peaceful, mellow, quiet.
"Hey, Fox?"
"What?"
There was a brief pause, then Naruto asked the question that had been haunting him for a good portion of the night. "Do you really think I'll never become Hokage?"
Silence preceded the answer and it left Naruto feeling empty inside. Almost like he didn't have anything of substance left in him, just dry bones and bare flesh. A part of him wished it was fear of the answer that had seized his soul, but he wasn't afraid of the answer, he was afraid that he already knew it.
"No." the fox replied bluntly. "From my experience, a Hokage is usually elected by the people because they trust that person."
Naruto's eyes narrowed, creasing the skin in between his eyebrows. "And they hate me."
"Yeah." the fox replied, pausing. "But the Hokage is also usually the strongest ninja around as well, so leaving and getting stronger couldn't hurt your chances. Maybe when they see you're stronger, they'll come around."
"You really think so?" Naruto asked, although there wasn't much life left in his voice.
"Maybe."
There was a noticeable pause as Naruto considered the proposition, but after a while, he just shook his head disapprovingly. "It's a nice thought, fox, but we'd be caught before we made it past the wall."
"Not if we did things my way."
"And what's your way?"
A low chuckle escaped the fox's throat as he straightened up in his cage. "Come in here," he said.
Naruto shut his eyes and opened them standing in front of the iron prison he was growing more and more accustomed to seeing. Through the darkness, he could see the fox leaning forward. "First," he purred, tails slowly wagging in the background. "I have to know if you're in or out."
"I can't be undecided?"
"Nope." the fox replied, rows of canines showing as he grinned from ear to ear.
Naruto lifted his head up to look into the fox's eyes as the storm began to brew within himself. Could he really risk everything he had in Konoha to run off in the vague hope of getting stronger? The thought seemed crazy but strangely alluring. It was a new adventure. No pesky villagers. No annoying genin. No one to tell him what he should do. Just him…and the fox – couldn't forget that important bit of information.
"Look," the fox said, leaning forward a bit more. "Just ask yourself this: When you're old and gray, do you want to look back and think about what could've been if you had taken a chance, or…" His lips parted, revealing a sly grin. "Do you want to say you had the guts to partner with the Nine-Tailed Fox."
Naruto remained silent as he lowered his gaze down into the murky water splashing up the sides of his feet. His reflection moved with the ripples in the water and stared back at him. He hoped it would have an answer – that it would tell him what to do – but it didn't. It was just as clueless as he was, and he was left not knowing what to think. But maybe that was the problem. He thought about things too much. He was no Shikamaru, it was about time he stopped pretending to be one. Thinking was overrated anyway. Lifting his eyes from the water, he shook his head and said, "We're not gonna get two miles, fox."
"Are. You. In?"
Deep blue met blood red as the desperate young boy and the cunning old fox stared at each other – Naruto standing with arms crossed, the fox sitting on his back paws. The iron bars separating the two seemed to fade into the background as they stared; unblinking, unmoving, and just a tad bit untrusting.
Naruto was the first to blink as he turned away. "Alright," he shrugged. "Let's see what you got."
The fox grinned showing his jagged rows of teeth once more. "Very good." he purred.
"Alright, stop being so creepy," Naruto replied, finding the fox's face quite disturbing to look at. "What's in it for you?"
"Who, me?" the fox asked, making an innocent face as he raised a paw to his chest.
"Yeah, you."
Tilting his head upwards, the fox scratched his chin. "Well, if I'm honest, there isn't really much in it for me. I'm just an old fox…but if I can help Konoha lose its precious Jinchūriki, I would feel a lot better."
"Jinchūriki?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, Jin-chū-ri-ki." the fox replied. "That's what people who have Tailed Beasts living in them are called. That's why everyone hates you, why they can't trust you. Because you've got me."
"Well, thanks, you've really brightened up my life."
"Hey, don't blame me, Kid. I didn't ask to get trapped in here."
"Trapped? What're you talking about?"
The fox paused briefly, then gave a low chuckle that shook the chamber as he leaned forward. "Kid, do you really think you were just born with me?"
Naruto's eyes widened ever so slightly as he stepped closer to the iron bars. "What are you talking about?"
Another grin crept onto the fox's lips. "We have a lot of questions, don't we?"
"Do you have answers?"
"Maybe…" the fox said, grinning and giving a slight shrug. "But don't worry, they'll be answered in time."
"I want an answer now."
"Well, too bad." the fox said, tilting his head. "If I told you everything up front, you'd probably toss me to the side as soon as you didn't need me anymore."
"Believe it or not, I'm not like you. I don't just use people."
"Neither do I." the fox chuckled. "I just protect my own interests, which is something you should also learn to do."
Scoffing, Naruto turned away. "Fine," he muttered. "But eventually, you're going to tell me what you know."
"Of course." the fox said, rubbing his nose. "A deal's a deal. But for now, we have to get ready."
"Get ready for what?"
"Tonight," the fox grinned. "We make our move."
Author's Note
PLEASE leave a review on this story if you're enjoying it. It's more encouraging than you know and I really enjoy reading them (however short or long they may be). Constructive criticism is also welcome, and you can even PM it to me if you don't want to feel like you're flaming the story lol. In any case, be sure to drop a follow and a favorite if you enjoy my work!
