Chapter 4
Darkness in Wave
Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331
Naruto frowned at what this mysterious man was saying but he didn't have time to think about it. He needed to figure out what this man was doing here and why he slaughtered all these bandits-,
He saw a hand going straight for his face, Naruto jumped back and quickly put some distance between them.
The man smiled.
"I see, you could sense my movement, but you can't stop it." He sighed, "How sad, I guess you're not the one that can grant me the death I desire."
Naruto frowned and made a quick handsign to dismiss the toads to prevent them getting caught up in this and revealing anything to Jiraiya if he asks.
They might not tell him where he is but they sure as hell might tell him something if he starts using anything that is out of the ordinary, for example using Sukuna.
How would he explain this compared to the Kyuubi?
Naruto frowned and saw the man smile and slowly walk to him.
Naruto went through two hand signs, created a fire ball out of his mouth, and aimed it at him.
The fireball got within inches and then vanished.
'What the hell?'
He smiled,
"Nice trick but not enough." He rushed at Naruto again and his hand stretched out to touch him.
Naruto quickly ducked under the hand but found himself within grabbing range of his other hand.
One replacement and the log took the full brunt of his touch; obliterating the log on touch and sending the splinters everywhere.
'Shit what the hell was that!?'
Naruto saw the man looking at the wooden log and then to him.
"Is that the replacement technique everyone is telling me about? Pretty basic but it looks very useful in a fight." He sighed, "Wish I could have done something similar?"
His eyes widened,
'Wait he was just using chakra there! He could learn that technique! What is he talking about!?'
The man smile while Naruto pulled out his kunai and swiftly threw it at the man.
He batted it away but Naruto saw the knife vibrate and break upon impact.
'What the hell is he doing? I don't get it, whatever that technique is, it is powerful.' Naruto frowned, 'Sukuna are you seeing this?'
"I am and it looks like your in a no win situation."
'What do you mean?'
Naruto quickly ducked under his next strike and quickly blitzed past him as he was already on top of him. But he soon felt the pressure growing behind him and saw that he was staying with him through the mad dash.
"He is using Dark Chakra."
'I thought you said that Dark Chakra works in the same dimensions as Light Chakra?'
"Yes but didn't you hear what he said? He can't use skills in Light Chakra that can only mean one thing; he has no Light Chakra alignment. Meaning most techniques related to those that use it are impossible for him."
'So your basically saying he can't use ninjutsu and alike?'
"Not from this day and age. But that is beside the point, you're in over your head with this one."
Naruto switched again and appeared behind the man and quickly went through one hand sign and soon held his hand out sending a giant gust of wind. This sent the man back a few feet but he quickly retaliated with a brutal punch to Naruto's face sending him flying backwards.
He appeared above him and threw his hand downward.
The ground is all he hit with it cracking in waves due to the impact of the move.
'No shit! Look at that what the fuck was that?'
"Don't know might be a byproduct of Dark Chakra in his body."
'Wait your saying this is possible! That he gained some kind of unique bloodline thanks to his dark chakra?'
"Possibly but I won't know for sure until I fight him so would you mind if I took over."
Naruto stood in front of man who frowned,
"Sad to say, your not strong enough."
Naruto smiled,
"Your right about that but I know someone that is."
"Who?"
He saw him close his eyes and soon strange markings started appearing on the boy's body and on his face and when his eyes opened he had red eyes and sharp fang like teeth.
"Now then," he had a deeper voice, "Shall we continue where we left off?" He picked his ear with his finger, "I don't think this will be much of a fight but I can see your dark chakra is stronger than average and if I'm guessing you might have a large amount of it on your own yes?"
The man frowned and quickly rushed to the transformed teen, he raised his hand out, and aimed for his chest.
'This is how it always ends. Someone touched by me or get close to me; they die. I have to die to stop it. To stop the pain, to stop the suffering. It is the only way-,'
"If you have a death wish take it to someone else."
His wrist was being held by the teen in front of him with his eyes blankly staring at him.
"How-,"
"It is quite simple, if your palm doesn't touch me then you can't do that little technique of yours but I on the other hand-,"
The man released spit being sent backwards into one of the tents, tearing through the other side, and hitting one of the trees with a massive thud causing it to fall over.
"Don't need to worry about that little skill of yours considering if I stop your hand there is nothing to worry about but I did notice," He rubbed his fingers on his chin, "You seem to be only using that left hand of yours for offensive means while the right one is used for defense." He smiled, "So that leads me to believe that one is a shield in a sense and the other is a sword correct?"
The man frowned and slowly rose up from the kick.
"Your quite perceptive, I guess I understand why the teen would let you take over his body? Tell me you called it Dark Chakra yes? Does this mean it is the reason I can't use normal chakra moves or even use my family's bloodline?"
The man raised an eyebrow,
"Your bloodline?" He rubbed his chin further and slowly walked up to him but the man rushed.
Only to find his head pushed into the ground with the man holding his face with his right hand.
"Nice try, the kid tried that too during our meeting in his mindscape for training and it failed. How stupid do you think I am to get distracted in the middle of a fight?"
Sukuna raised his fist and slammed it into his chest causing cracks to form underneath and the man to spit out blood covering parts of Naruto's face.
"Interesting."
Sukuna jumps back and sees the man slowly get to his feet.
His raised an eyebrow, seeing the dark cloud forming over him. It starts to move over to his head and his body and soon he heard the sound of popping and him grunting.
"So you can heal?"
The man frowned,
"Yes."
Sukuna shrugged his shoulder and held his hand out forming a Rasengan in his hand.
"It astonishes me how my host was able to recreate such a powerful techniques and not realize the potential lethality of this move?"
The man rushed at Sukuna who immediately met him half way and slammed the orb into his face and soon all that could be heard was the sound of crunching bone and the gridning noise going through his skull.
The man flew backwards and hit another tree and this time went deep into the tree and slumped over for a second. He groaned, the pain was immense and he was trying to slowly remove himself from the tree.
But Sukuna sighed,
"Your power is impressive but sadly you have no control." He walked up to him and put his hand on his forehead, "Now lets see why you want to die so bad."
Sukuna found himself standing in a dark void with water at his feet and frowned,
"Great one sewer for another, I swear I can't get good housing these days." He sighed before turning to see something moving.
"So, you're the source."
The being groaned and growled before screeching making the entire area shake.
Sukuna stared at the being and yawned.
"So is that just your form of intimidation or is there an actual strategy with this move?"
The creature roared once more and it released some dark tendrils at Sukuna who just stared it down and with a swipe of his hand the tendrils faded.
"Weak, that's all you are. I mean, I get you're a thing of dark chakra but the reality is, your not that impressive on your own. Without your host your nothing."
The beast roared once more and this time took a more humanoid form of a dark being with black horns and red eyes with it growing black wings behind it. The creature showed a pair of fangs in its mouth and rushed him, but it found it couldn't move.
Looking around the creature noticed that its legs were grabbed by the water and held in place but it quickly dispersed and flew to Sukuna.
He quickly batted its attacks away and soon placed one hand on its face and the creature disappeared in a blur.
"How weak." He sighed, "Something like that is no threat to me."
The creature emerged from the darkness but he narrowed his eyes with a smile,
"I see." He caught the creature by its face and soon the creature struggled to disperse itself or free itself from his grip.
Sukuna gave it a wag of his finger,
"So sad, too easy to predict and too easy to handle. Oh well," he shrugged his shoulder, "I guess in the end you're just a parasite."
The creature screamed and was soon covered in a bright white light and soon vanished.
Sukuna turned his head slightly,
"So, what did you think kid?"
Out of the shadows came the man from before but instead of a blank expression on his face he had a shocked expression.
"H-how did you defeat Satan?"
"Satan?" Sukuna scratched the back of his head, "Kid that thing was all you."
"You lie!"
"I don't lie kid, that is for people either aiming for a goal or to numb the pain that they are feeling through the day."
The man looked,
"So that was manifested by me?"
"Sorta," Sukuna walked around him and looked around the empty space, "In truth your dark chakra created it during certain stress points in your life. Meaning that when you were in situations that caused immense stress your emotions manifested it as a way to handle the excess chakra that had built up inside of you. At the same time, it formed a more antagonistic form as a way to counter anyone that dare to 'harm you' or 'provoke you' in some way or another." He looked closer at the boy, "It is also the reason you became able to heal from some of your injuries. Thanks to the dark chakra it manifested not only your ability but also the power to heal thanks to the excess nature and your desire. Meaning you didn't want to hurt anyone or get hurt meaning you don't really want to die."
"But, then why-,"
"Why can't you use normal shit like others? Probably due to the fact you have no light chakra at all. Some kind of birth defect from generations of inbreeding or just plain luck, not sure don't really care. But there is something you should know," He walked up to him and frowned, "You have to train now to learn control. If you don't then the same problem is going to manifest again."
"But how do I-"
"Simple, Naruto, my host, he is in the process of his own journey to learn dark chakra and light chakra from me. He is advancing on the latter to the former, but he is still in the works. Stick with him and I promise he will help you learn more control over your power and who knows? You might find something worth living for."
The man looked down and frowned,
"All I ever wanted was something or someone to accept me and want me."
"Then give Naruto a chance I'm sure he would be happy for you to tag along with him on this journey." He deadpanned, "Even though I don't know where this journey is going to lead or end."
The man sweatdropped and frowned,
"Is it really okay?"
Sukuna groaned,
"Cry me a fucking river, yes it is fine. Just talk to him, he'll help you with control and then you can learn to harness your darkness better over time. You just have to be patient otherwise the same shit is going to happen." He stared at him, "Plus who knows you might find what you are looking for?"
The man looked down at the water and stared at his reflection. People didn't want to be around him between his pointy ears and his sour deposition. Worse, his powers were too dangerous and it could lead to him killing someone when he didn't mean to. At this point, he wasn't sure but he knew one thing; nothing ventured, nothing gained.
"Okay I'll try."
Sukuna nodded his head and sighed,
"Alright when we leave Naruto is going to be in control again talk to him and hopefully you can square shit away."
The man nodded and soon they exited his mindscape.
Back in the real world, Naruto's body lost its tattoos and his eyes returned to their normal shade of blue.
"Huh, so that was fun."
The man frowned,
"Yes." He bowed, "I'm sorry for the trouble."
Naruto waved his hand,
"No worries, you were strong that is for sure. I hate to admit it but you caught me off guard quite a few times. Not only that but your skills are top notch it be nice to have a sparring partner of your caliber around."
The man coughed, hiding his smile,
"Sure."
Naruto laughed but frowned at the surrounding,
"Well might as well get started on the clean up last thing we need is random people stumbling on these bodies."
The man nodded and they began their clean up knowing it was going to be a bit of an afternoon and longer with him having to explain the man's presence to the family.
He hoped it didn't get blown out of proportion.
Konoha
Tsuande was sitting at her desk annoyed.
Ever since she found out she was tricked by the council and how they were basically responsible for one of the biggest form of treason, she was having nothing but more headaches left and right.
First was the elders, their meeting was nothing more than a glorified mess.
Flash Back
Homura, Koharu, and Danzo gathered in the Hokage's office, frowning at the current leader and Jiraiya glaring at the three.
"Why have you summoned us Tsunade?"
The woman growled at Danzo,
"That is Hokage-sama; respect the title or get out."
Danzo nodded his head,
"Apologizes I was just dealing with some matters related to security and have been up to my neck in issues with spies from Orochimaru."
"Yes." Homura sighed while taking his glasses off and pinching his brow, "It seems that every day we find more and more spies in the village and learn more about some of his attempts to perform sabotage in the village." He growled, "Not to mention the level of treason in the village is staggering."
Koharu nodded her head. She too was furious, too angry to speak.
"Well then what about the rest of your pets?"
The elders frowned with Homura putting his glasses back on,
"What are you talking about Tsunade?"
She frowned and asked,
"Did you know what they did to Naruto?"
The three frowned.
While initially the three were against Hiruzen's idea of raising Naruto in the village and keeping him free and loving, they had somewhat come around to the idea. Even Danzo who would never tell Hiruzen this even in the after life but he did come around to his idea. Naruto's loyalty was absolute he would do anything to protect Konoha and its people. Hiruzen had shown him that one must find their own path and while his time in the academy was not great he knew it was not his fault entirely.
The teachers there were corrupt and hating him for the Kyuubi not realizing the importance he played in the village. Shortly after his graduation he had 'removed' several teachers through some information he learned about them and even had some imprisoned.
Everyone except for Iruka who at least attempted to fix the mess but the damage was done so he left the man alone. At least he proved he was loyal to the village and the people rather than his own ego and selfish ideals.
Danzo contrary to what many thought; he did want the best for Naruto and wanted him ready for anything as he feared for the What Ifs on the horizon. The unknown always terrified him and while he did admit that his idea of turning Naruto into something like his ROOT was a bad idea he couldn't deny that this was not the best result either.
Then he heard about some kind of mission that he was sent out on with some Chunin but for the life of him he couldn't find a name for this team or Naruto and feared this was about that mess and something happened to him.
If so then they not only lost the Kyuubi, but they lost the son of the Fourth and his wife who he knew had secrets only Naruto could access and without him they are lost forever. Worse even, without Naruto or an Uzumaki child to hold the Nine Tails there wasn't a way to seal it and the village would be doom in an instant.
It was days llike this he regretted the actions he took with the Uchiha Clan. While he did want to remove Shisui for his eyes it was not for the reason people thought it was.
But that is a story for another time.
Tsunade pulled out a sheet and showed the Elders and they frowned.
Everyone was looking into this mysterious group that was supposed to have taken Naruto on a mission but no one could make a name or face of that group. Something they were suspicious of.
"What does this have to do with us Hokage-sama?"
Tsunade growled,
"Did you know that the Civilian Council went out of their way to frame me as the person that banished Naruto from the village and sent him off!?"
Homura's eyes widened, Koharu gasped, and Danzo, he gripped his cane.
"Hokage-sama we would never!"
"Then tell me why would this happen under your watch!"
Danzo growled,
"If you haven't noticed what I said earlier we have all been swamped since the invasion and the Uchiha's attempt to flee! At this point, we can't be everywhere at once and as you know most of our shinobi have their own agendas and actions same as the council!"
Koharu nodded,
"Yes you signed off on this information!"
"I didn't someone used my stamp and forged my signature."
Homura looked at the document and frowned,
"She is right."
Danzo turned to his colleague,
"What do you mean?"
"The document is fake for sure as I know the hand writing. I have seen it on the civilan council. This man has connections to the Fire Capital meaning that most likely he is solely responsible for this mess."
The group frowned with Jiraiya growled.
"Well that doesn't change our situation. Naruto is gone; we have no idea where he is and worse, if our allies find out-,"
Danzo's eye widened.
"We would be in serious trouble."
Danzo was no fool; Naruto had made them many powerful allies through the last few year.
Wave for trading, Spring for their trading, some other minor countries and even Taki having renewed faith in them along with Hot Springs country.
They couldn't afford the scandal between all of this and their renewed dealings with Suna.
Naruto's allies would turn down their trade agreements, allies would withdraw their support, and this would bring more trouble financially to their country and worse; bring their lord down from his palace.
While the old Fire Daimyo wouldn't bother with dirting his hands with things and saw it as beneath him, that is not the case of his successor who was his son. While young the man was feared through their kingdom as someone rebuilding their nation and their policies.
He already executed nobles that tried exploiting him and using his name as a means to further their standings.
Overall; if he finds out about this failure, the Hokage's screw up, and their lack of knowing, this could mean their termination via hanging.
Or worse.
Danzo knew that this was really bad.
Homura and Koharu were pale so he knew that they knew the same thing he did; if they didn't find Naruto things would get worse for them in the long run.
"I suggest we bring the council together." Homura pushed his glasses up, "We need to find out where they sent him and get him back as soon as possible while also clearing up the misunderstanding of what happened?"
Jiraiya sighed,
"Wish it were that simple but they'll never admit to a single thing. Even if we try to force the issue they can bring the lord down and pin everything on us due to the documents and alike. We would be the ones in most trouble."
"If we do nothing then we are still going to have to answer our lord!"
Jiraiya nodded,
"I know that Koharu, but at this point we are stuck unless we can produce evidence of treason with them other than speculation."
Danzo frowned, he agreed with this statement and knew that time was of the essence.
"If you wouldn't mind," the room turned to him, "I can try and find the evidence we need. That way we can convey the council and solve the issue immediately. We need something to prove their treason is real through other actions and thus pass doubt on them if the lord was to come to Konoha."
Tsunade nodded and Jiraiya raised an eyebrow,
"How do you propose to pull that off?"
The man sighed,
"If you are willing I can have those that are still with ROOT training to come out and help. I swear on the Will of Fire and the beliefs of my late sensei, they will find this information for us and bring it to us to help undo this mistake."
Tsunade growled,
"Not like we have a choice, but fine. But the minute you try some stupid shit-,"
Danzo shook his head,
"Contrary what you may think; I will put Konoha first before my own ambition. So please, let me get started on this and so we can find the boy."
The two Sannin nodded their head and Danzo quickly excused himself to find remnants of his ROOT to help deal with this very personal matter.
Flash Back End
Following this meeting; Danzo had found tons of evidence they could use and even witness testimonies they can use but the problem was getting their lord to come down without sparking up rumors.
The minute their lord showed up and their ninja headed out, there was no doubt word will get out to their allies and enemies and this was going to lead to more trouble. But she was confident that they could settle this matter quickly.
'Brat wherever you are please, be safe.'
A poof a smoke appeared on her desk and she saw two toads,
"Tsunade-chan, please summon Jiraiya here we must speak to him."
The woman stared at the toads and headed out of the office to find her teammate, who was most likely in his favorite spot right now: his student and wife's graves.
She wondered what did he do to piss off the toad elders now?
Little did she know things were about to get a whole lot more hectic.
Chapter end