Thanks to my amazingly fast writing skills and my lack of a life, I am able to update stories amazingly fast. So, I bring to you this 6th Chapter of Naruto Estacado, A Fox in the Shadows. Naruto is in the heart of the Darkness, the Otherworld, after taking his own life in a church. Now he must find his way through the hellish landscape of the Otherworld and get back to the land of shinobi. So, enjoy the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the Darkness, however I do own Neru and any other OCs I may use.

Chapter 6, The Otherworld Awaits You

"Where the fuck am I?!"

"YoU sHOulD nOt bE here."

Naruto had woken up to find himself in the middle of a war. He was lying in a wooden shack at the end of a muddy trench. A soldier with a spike on his helmet was executing three other soldiers with different uniforms. Obviously they were his enemies. The weird thing is...they all had stitches covering their faces, as if they had been ripped apart and badly put back together. He wasn't even sure anyone could actually live from that, they should be dead by all standards. Each time, the spike-hat soldier would walk up to the blue-uniformed soldiers, take aim at their heads and fire. No words, no remorse, no emotion at all. Naruto stood up, realising that the Darkness had manifested itself, and wouldn't go away. He was stuck like this.

"Well, better get going…oh shit." Naruto exclaimed, realising that he had just drawn attention to himself.

"Ihn zu töten (Kill him)!"

"Bring it on, bitches!" The german soldiers took aim and fired, the bullets being deflected by Naruto's Demon Arms. Naruto took aim himself and fired a Pestilence Blast into the chest of the nearest soldier. He went down like a ton of bricks, so Naruto focused on the rest of the soldiers. After a short while, however, Naruto noticed something wrong. The number of soldiers never went down, and no more soldiers appeared from around the corner. His thoughts were broken when he felt something grab his leg. He looked down to see the upper half of a soldier holding his leg in a vice grip, trying to hinder him in any way so his comrades could finish him off. The blonde took aim and fired a shot into the half-soldier's head, leaving him dead on the ground. Then he noticed it. All the soldiers he had recently killed were getting back up, like they were undead. Which they probably were. Naruto shot another and sent a Demon Head to rip out his heart, and was surprised to see that the soldier did not get back up. "So, I gotta take their hearts to kill them? Seems easy enough." Naruto pondered, while sending a Kuro Yaiba at a group of soldiers before harvesting their cold, dead hearts.

"Für den Kaiser (For the Kaiser)!" One soldier shouted, jumping towards Naruto in an attempt to kill him. Needless to say, he got no further as he found himself impaled on a Demon Arm travelling through his heart, which then removed itself and the heart in one.

Once the soldiers were all dealt with, Naruto ran through the trench, finding his way onto no-man's-land. If the trench was bad, no-man's-land was a nightmare. Soldiers all over the place, hidden behind destroyed buildings, rocks, even fallen trees. And in the centre was a large hill, with a person on top. This person was tied to a contraption of some kind made of wood and leather, making it look like a pair of giant wings. To top it all off, the person tied to it had a long beak instead of a mouth, from which he kept screeching just like a kind of large bird.

"PeStiLeNCe…OnE oF thE fOUr…" The Darkness said from the back of his mind.

"Ugh, you again."

"YoU sHouLd knOw bY noW tHaT yOu cANt geT RiD oF mE, NaRuTo-kUn."

"Unfortunately..." Naruto responded, while walking towards a large bunker built into the side of a cliff. Inside he found more soldiers, along with a few guns. He picked up a few more pistols and put them on his belt, while picking up a rifle and slinging it over his back. "Finally, somewhere bullets actually exist."

He walked through the tunnels, finding a locked door. He crouched down and sent a Demon Head slithering along the ground and up the wall, moving through an air vent into the next room to unlock the door, using his Creeping Dark technique. Recalling his Demon Head, he took up his rifle and shot a soldier hiding around the corner in the head before stealing his heart. Managing to find his way out of the bunker, he walked out onto another field of mud and bodies, filled with craters from explosives and crashed vehicles. More soldiers ran out to stop him, but they were all cut down by his combined gunfire and use of his sword. Yet still, he was in pain. He looked around to see if one had managed to shoot him, but saw the problem. Through the clouds, the sun was shining light down onto the battlefield, burning him. He ran for cover, trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible, until he found another trench. This one, however, was filled with soldiers wearing blue uniforms. Naruto concluded that if the ones trying to kill him were the Germans, these must be the Brits.

"Ah, you must be the Yank they told us about. Anthony's waiting for you in the Village." One man told him.

"Thank you." Naruto replied, looking around the trench. He saw one man sitting in a corner curled up in a ball. After a while, he raised a gun to his temple and fired. Naruto looked behind him to see a bloodstained sign reading 'Suicide Corner'. He walked around for a while, before finding a sign the read 'The Village' pointing to a hatch in the ground, presumably leading to a sewer. Naruto lifted the hatch and climbed down into the tunnel, shooting out the lights along the ceiling. While on his journey, Naruto decided to clear up a few things.

"So, Darkness, what did you mean when you said 'one of the four'?"

"ThAt crEAtUrE wAs PeStiLenCe, onE oF tHe fOuR hOrSeMeN oF tHe aPoCaLypSe."

"So where are the other three?"

"i'M aFrAiD I dOn'T kNoW wHeRe DeAtH, FaMinE anD wAr ArE."

"Well, that's helpful." Naruto exclaimed sarcastically. Naruto found a ladder leading up to a door, which he climbed and walked out through. He found himself in a small settlement, with seemingly no people apart from the soldiers. "Pretty pointless to have a village here…"

"It's young Estacado! Best get into the church, eh? He's waiting for you in the church." A man with a moustache told him.

"iT's A LiE, nAruTO."

The blonde jinchuuriki walked around the village, looking for an entrance to the church. Going over to the other side, he found a door leading into the basement of the church, with a cross painted on it. Naruto opened the door and walked into a room filled with hospital beds carrying people in various stages of dismemberment. One man even had no limbs, just a torso with a head on top. At the end of the room stood a man wearing the same blue uniform, yet with no stitches on his face. Said face was eerily familiar, despite never having seen it before.

"Naruto? Naruto! Holy shit, are you a sight for sore eyes! Listen kid, I know there are a lot of things you're not gonna understand but you gotta trust me. Now you've arrived, I think we're gonna find out what's happening here." Said the man.

"Do I know you?"

"My name is Tony Estacado. Okay this is gonna sound weird but I guess that I'm your great grandfather."

"What the hell is this place?"

"Don't you see it? Everything happened here, Naruto, this is where it all began! That's why I'm back in this goddamn nightmare war, it's why we all are. I brought this Darkness into our family. This is all my fault."

"What do you know about the Darkness? Do you know why it chose me?"

"I don't know…It needs a host, I guess. I messed up, Naruto. I brought it into the family. I didn't realise it would do this to us."

"The Darkness…what the hell is it?"

"The Darkness is a living thing, it's some kind of a creature, old as time. It passes down from generation to generation, making itself known when the firstborn male finds himself in grave danger."

"Why did it bring me here?"

"It needs its human host to stay alive. Somehow you broke the rules, Naruto , you died before your time. The Darkness has to keep you here while it puts you back together. It won't allow you to die."

"How do I stop this…and how do I get out?"

"Listen, there might be a way to control it. I found out that a long time ago one of the human hosts forged two special weapons that were used to control the Darkness. Promise me Naruto that you'll go find them. You got learn how to control this thing before it's too late."

'So, the items that the Darkness and Kyuubi talked about were weapons. That sounds fun.'

Naruto turned and walked out of the church, heading towards a door in the wall, which had 'The Hills' painted on the wall beside it. He heard Anthony shout back to him as he left.

"Don't listen to the Darkness, Naruto, it'll lie to protect itself!"

"DoN't bELiEve hIm." Naruto continued walking towards the door, the Darkness trying to persuade him otherwise. "gO No fUrTheR, NaRuTo." Naruto ignored him and walked through the door into a tunnel that lead to another sewer system, with a large bell covering one exit. Naruto used a Demon Arm to grab the bell and throw it into the opposite wall, making parts crumble and fall off. Naruto walked through the exit into a large open space. He looked out into the field, and quickly summarised his situation.

"Oh, shit."

The Otherworld, The Hills…

"How the fuck am I supposed to get through here with all these damn zombies?!" Naruto shouted, seeing a field practically full of them.

"Why don't you just use me? I could take care of these in a second." Kyuubi offered.

"Are you sure? You remember that you have to rip out their hearts, right?"

"You think the Kyuubi no Youko is scared of eating a few hearts? Naruto-kun, you're underestimating me."

"Whatever, just try not to destroy my body." Naruto said as he relinquished control of his body, letting the fox take over. In Kyuubi's control, Naruto's body sprouted a chakra tail which immediately merged with the Darkness to create the same orange energy as at the bridge. Kyuubi-Naruto blurred out of existence as he tore through the barren landscape of the Hills, and that's not the only thing he tore through. His claws allowed him to rip the zombies into pieces, while not slowing down once. Once all of the zombies were defeated, and their hearts devoured, Kyuubi gave control back to Naruto, the orange energy and the chakra tail disappearing. "Hm, I gotta hand it to you, Kyuubi. You get the job done.

"You expected anything less?"

Naruto walked along a path lit with burning torches on either side of it. Nearing the end, he saw another wooden statuesque pillar like Pestilence's, this time however had three people tied up so they were upside down.

"Well, I guess we found out what happened to the other three horsemen." Naruto said, looking at the pillar, when he heard a voice coming from the person on the bottom of it.

"Do you know the word of hope?"

Naruto knelt down, putting his mouth near the man's ear and whispered.

"Neru."

"Use the weapons wisely, or the Darkness will consume your soul."Naruto reached towards the man's waist and pulled out two very odd guns. One had a leather-wrapped handle, with lots of demonic ornaments and a 6 round magazine. The other had a wooden handle, a large amount of wire on the top and 5 barrels. Neither looked like anything made by humans, which was fitting.

"Oh yeah, time to kick some ass."

Naruto started walking back towards the village, but found more zombies in his path. Instead of letting Kyuubi take over, he grinned and held up his new weapons, the Darkness Guns. He fired the left one, sending a bolt of electricity into the body of a nearby zombie, imploding his heart and defeating the need to devour it. Then he fired the right one, which sent a shockwave crashing into a whole group of zombies who then flew into the air from the force of the blast. Naruto smirked, and let off a barrage from the guns, quickly decimating the army of zombies. With that taken care of, Naruto continued his leisurely stroll to the village, back through the door in the wall and into the church. Upon arriving he discovered Anthony was not in the infirmary, but in a room further underground.

"Naruto...what the…you found them?"

"Yeah, I got them. What now?"

"The Brits have been fighting for centuries to get to those hills, but you're the one who made it! Alright, here's what else I know. There's this thing. The Darkness keeps it heavily fortified. A cannon outside an old castle."

"A cannon? How do I get to it?"

"There's an underground sewer system that leads to the cannon. Krauts, strange things crawlin' every damn where. I think the Darkness put them there for a reason. The only way is through the catacombs, right down here," Anthony said, then turned to his men. "Steady your rifles! Keep your eyes peeled, first thing that moves, shoot it dead. Okay Naruto, get going and move as fast as you can! Don't look back! Get going!" Naruto climbed down into the sewer, pulling out the Darkness Guns.

"tHiS iS a miStAKe."

"Oh shut it, nobody asked you."

The Sewers…

Naruto continued running, never looking back or slowing down. He jumped down into a lower pipe and ran through that one. He soon found himself in some kind of boiler room, with several Krauts shooting at him from raised platforms. Naruto took aim and fired a shot of electricity at a soldier, catching him in the head while a Demon Head flew forwards to take his heart. He sent a Demon Arm forwards to impale another, who was quickly thrown into a third man, taking out both. Naruto walked towards a large steel door, which unfortunately was locked.

"nO esCaPE fRoM mY dReaM."

Naruto looked around for a lever of some kind, but to no avail. He did, however, find a ladder which he began to climb up to a higher level. More soldiers tried to stop him, while Naruto just chuckled.

"Is this it? IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!" Naruto shouted, annoyed at having no challenge. He walked through a door, hoping to find the exit of this nightmare. "Oh for fuck's sake, what is it with these people and sewers?!" Naruto complained about his new scenery. He continued walking, finding no resistance in the disgusting tunnels, nothing but another ladder. "Okay, this is just pissing me off." Shooting out more lights, he now stood in a shadowed corridor, two different directions to head in. He decided to head left, noticing movement behind a door at the end of the hall. The door opened, revealing two more Krauts who alternated between firing at him and hiding behind the door frame. Naruto simply sent his Creeping Dark to rip their throats and hearts out. And, lo and behold, there was another ladder. Naruto didn't even bother complaining. At the top of the ladder was a thick door, leading to another door through which Naruto burst, hoping to find the outside.

"OH FUCKING HELL, WHY WON'T THIS END?!"

Naruto ran up the stairs, taking down soldiers as he went, not stopping once. He simply ran. He ran through a small attic-like room and, finally, outside. What stood there could only be described as monstrous.

An enormous train, with blood and rust covering it. A large cannon adorned its top, aiming at the gates to the village.

"wAr. yOuR giFt. YoUR heRitAge. YouR buRdEN."

Naruto sprinted towards the rear of the train, firing shockwaves and lightning indiscriminately, hoping that some will actually hit their mark. With everything taken care of outside, Naruto jumped onto the small platform on the back of the train before bursting through yet another door. He put away his guns and picked up his sword, making black energy fly. Bodies were cut down left, right and centre. Naruto didn't care anymore, he just wanted them to die. Running around a room at the front of the train, he found himself at the foot of yet more stairs. "This is just to piss me off, isn't it? I'm glad I live in an apartment." He found a door leading outside, which looked quite out of place so far up. He walked through it and stood upon a metal walkway which ran along the side of the train. Walking up hopefully his last set of stairs, Naruto jumped down the hatch at the front of the train and into the train's control room. One limbless soldier was propped up on a crate in the corner, his skeletal face issuing insults and orders in German, but it sounded like he didn't want Naruto to touch the controls.

"Tough luck, pal."

Naruto walked over to the control panel, and looked at it. There were numerous dials, levers, switches and buttons, as if it were some kind of puzzle to find the right one. Naruto opted for pressing a large glowing red button in the centre of the panel, hoping it was the right one. Luckily, it was. As soon as Naruto had pressed the button, the train started to move, turning to face the opposite direction; the Darkness' Castle. It began to move forward, sending Naruto into darkness.

"i fIxEd yOur bRoKen hEaD bAll. YoU haVe paSSeD mY TesT. nO MorE drEaMInG."

Phew, I really hate the Otherworld. There's not really much dialogue except for when Naruto's in the village, and then it's only two people the entire time. Plus, the continued killing zombies and running up stairs gets kinda repetitive and annoying. So, next time Naruto will be back in the World of Shinobi, where there'll be a bit of a surprise. Until next time, Auf Wiedersehen!