AN: Someone sent me a message, asking me why Naruto isn't colder. The answer is two-fold. 1: If Naruto was instantly cold and merciless towards everyone around him, then he would be executed for being a danger to everyone around him. 2: Who the heck told you that what you have read so far is the real Naruto?
Huh, for once I actually made this AN before I wrote the chapter... Oh well.
LET'S START!
~Scene~
Five days had passed, and with that came the end of the second exam. Team 10's arrival at the tower had been fairly uneventful, no teams attempting an ambush, nor was there any teams at the other entrance of the tunnel.
Unsurprisingly, Iruka had been the one to meet them after they managed to enter the tower and decipher the words on the wall. It took Shikamaru about three seconds to figure out the meaning, and he simply told Naruto to open the troublesome scrolls. Seems like the two scrolls together formed a sort of summoning seal, something which interested Naruto immensely.
Shino had only asked him once before, and he could most likely still not answer that question. Exactly why was he so fascinated by seals? His best bet would be Kyuubi, or rather, the seal that held the being back. He had taken a look at the intricate masterpiece barely three days before the Chuunin-exams begun, and he couldn't even begin to decipher anything.
His initial goal was simply to make a storage-seal on his arm so he didn't have to carry his sword everywhere, the mere size of it being somewhat inconvenient. Of course, he got a new sword since that time, but since his new sword was not just broader, but also a lot heavier, it only made it somewhat more important for him to learn how to make a simple storage array.
After that, he was hooked. Simply by making a simple storage-seal. Altering reality, dimensional transportation and expansion of mass. All of that in one of the simplest seals known to man. The storage-seal was actually pretty dangerous in itself, something that Naruto had personal experience with, and it was not because of the furry fox known as Kyuubi.
It was an interesting feeling, having your hand torn off as a malfunctioning seal took more than the intended item. He expected it to resemble something like extreme agony, something which might break even a strong individuals mind. Personally, he felt rather detached from the whole situation, like he was outside of his own body, watching the events unfold in front of him. Oh, the pain was there, his mind just didn't register it. He remembered a dull burning, but the actual feeling, if his mind was all there, would most likely resemble something closer to the aforementioned agony.
Thankfully enough, the seal was not a total catastrophe. The catalyst was at least intact, so was the dimensional transporter, so he managed to summon back his dismembered right hand. Of course, he had to go to the hospital to have it sewn on again. They also attached the most crucial nerve-clusters and blood veins, but it still took almost two weeks, even with Kyuubi's abnormal healing, for him to regain full mobility with his hand. Then again, having gained some basic swordsmanship skills with his left arm somewhat made up for it, so he wasn't entirely defenseless if he actually lost his right arm.
Not that he planned on losing his arm. He really liked his arm, and it was going to stay attached to his body damn it!
After his hand was torn of, he had begun to wonder about just WHERE this alternate dimension was. Despite the power that a masterfully crafted seal could hold, it still didn't have the power to create a new dimension, but rather borrow bits and pieces of it. He couldn't deny that he was somewhat intrigued about the fact that dimensional transportation was possible for a human, but he really didn't want to summon himself to an alternate reality unless he had a safe and sure way to return back to the elemental countries. That's when he got an idea.
The Flying Thundergod technique.
If he somehow got his hands on that technique, and actually managed to find out how it worked, then he could safely come and go from other dimensions as he wanted.
At the moment though, that was merely a pipe-dream. It was known as one of the most intricate techniques that has ever existed, and it probably was a good reason for it. Obviously enough, the technique most likely used seals, but just what type of seals was a mystery. Even if he somehow managed to gather one of the Kunai that the fourth had used, he would most likely not manage to make heads or tails from the seals on it.
This though, was something he could find a solution for later as he watched the Sound girl, Kin her name was, beat Ino Yamanaka in their preliminary match.
Too many people had managed to get to the tower. Including his own team, there was also Team 8, the Sound Team, another Konoha team who looked almost ten years older than them, a team from sand, and at last, a team from Konoha that was probably a year older than them. He actually remembered the girl on the team, she used to be quite fanatical about weapons he could recall...
His eyes snapped over to the monitor as a Sound member, Zaku Abumi was called down to fight against one from the really old Konoha team, Misumi Tsurugi.
"Are both contestants ready?" The referee, a sickly, somewhat sleep-deprived man named Gekko Hayate asked. He got a pair of quite arrogant "Yes" as an answer, so he really had no other choice but to start the match.
"Begin!"
"Who do you think will win?" Naruto asked his team as they listened to the two guys banter back and forth.
"Quite hard to say." Shino said as he adjusted his glasses. "The Abumi boy is acting. My bugs has already checked his arms, and they are not broken at all. They were broken quite recently, but somehow he managed to get them fixed. "
"The other person is an enigma. I have no idea what his abilities are, but his chakra-reserves are quite large, easily as high as an experienced Chuunin, but I guess that is to be expected from a contestant that old."
"From what I can see from here, the Zaku kid seems to have holes in his hands, so I will guess either some kind of fire or wind technique, possibly one from each, seeing as the two elements corresponds quite well as a combination technique." Naruto couldn't help but nod in agreement from Shikamaru and Shino's words.
"So in short, Zaku should win this unless his opponent somehow manages to get in close." Naruto ended, his eyes never leaving the younger of the two contestants.
"Decapitating air-waves!" The boy yelled as he held his arm forward, a large air-blast being hurtled towards the twenty-something years old man. He barely managed to dodge, his balance somewhat jumbled from the force behind the technique.
Zaku only smirked as he pulled out his other hand from the sling, showing that Shino's testament was true.
"Extreme decapitating air-waves!" Came from the boy as he thrust both his hands forward, an air-funnel easily three times as large as the former one being emitted from his palms. Misumi could do nothing else than brace himself.
The technique hit dead on, sending him hurtling towards the wall as his body created a small crater at the impact, the wind-technique cutting up the floor and wall as it blasted towards him.
"Huh, interesting." Naruto mumbled as Zaku cut of his technique, panting a bit.
"Hmm, what is?" Shikamaru asked as he looked over the railing, his eyes widening a bit.
"He knows the hiding mole technique." Naruto couldn't keep the smirk from his face at the slightly stunned looks on his team's face.
A moment later, hands sprung up from underneath Zaku, grabbing his legs before he felt himself descend into the earth, leaving only his shocked head above ground.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" He screamed as he watched Misumi arise from the ground, a Kunai in his right hand.
"You have three seconds to give up before I end you." He said loudly, forcing Hayate to interfere.
"Winner by incapacitation, Misumi Tsurugi."
A chorus of applause came from the Konoha ninja. Shikamaru though stood in a thinking position, something Iruka noticed.
"Anything the matter Shikamaru?"
"Well, I just can't shake away the feeling that he probably let himself get hit just to give himself that chance."
"Wouldn't surprise me." Naruto inquired. "That guy has more experience using that technique than me, seeing as he instantly managed to delve into the wall."
'And that makes four matches.' Naruto thought as his eyes scanned the area. The first match was the oldest Konoha team's other black-wearing member, a man named Yoroi Akado, versus the Sand girl, Temari. She easily won the match with a wind-technique, sending him into a wall for so too smash her gigantic fan into his head, effectively insuring a major concussion.
The second battle was a bit better. Hinata Hyuuga versus Tenten, the girl from the slightly older team. The match was pretty even, Hinata not managing to get in a good hit, Tenten not managing to hit the nimble girl with her weapons. She had been forced to use her Twin Rising Dragons, which essentially was her summoning a metric-ton of weapons to send towards her target through wires.
It didn't work against Hinata though. She used Kaiten, and even though she used an incomplete version, it still got the job done of defending her against the onslaught. She quickly rushed Tenten after the rain of weapons finished and struck her arms, essentially rendering them useless, forcing the weapon lover to quit.
The third match was between Kin Tsuchi and Yamanaka Ino, and it was quite pathetic if Naruto had to say so. Kin threw her first senbon at Ino, using them as a distraction as she anticipated that the girl would be able to dodge out of the way. That did not happen as Ino didn't dodge in time, the senbon in her shoulder distracting her enough so Kin could incapacitate her by throwing a few senbons at the blonde's legs, hitting certain nerve-clusters, rendering her legs momentarily useless.
In short, it was a pretty pathetic battle.
His eyes snapped back to the screen on the wall as it announced the next contestants. Naruto grabbed Shikamaru's shoulder as he passed him.
"It's best you don't lose Shikamaru, can't let someone take away our unofficial spot as the best genin team now, can we?" He asked, only gaining an eye-roll and a troublesome as an answer. Then again, if he went by the small smirk on the lazy genius' face, then the pre-teen wasn't entirely against the idea.
'Great, I'm against a Hyuuga, and a pretty good one too if his posture says anything.' Went through Shikamaru's head as he slowly walked down the stairs, earning an annoyed glare from his opponent, Neji.
"The battle hasn't even started yet, and Shikamaru's lazy nature has already aggravated his opponent." Naruto muttered to Shino, earning a nod from him.
"Both contestants ready?" A terse nod and a lazy "yes" was his answer.
"Begin!"
"You should give up." Neji began. "Clan-heir or not, you are still fated to lose."
"I would if I could," The pineapple headed genin said, his annoyed voice laced with a minute amount of amusement. "But if I did that, then Naruto would kill me." He couldn't keep the smirk from his face at the somewhat surprised look on the Hyuuga's face.
Damn, Naruto was rubbing off on him.
"Then you are a bigger loser than expected, seeing as the worst dead-last ever is stronger than you."
The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as Shikamaru lost control of his killer intent, shocking Team 8 at the intensity behind it.
'Oh no, he just insulted not just Naruto, but also Shikamaru.' Came Iruka's dismayed thoughts, knowing that the boy would be lucky if he came out from the battle intact. Despite what one might think, Team 10 is a knit-together group. Sure, Naruto often tested Shikamaru's patience with his goads and cynical remarks, but there was no real malice behind their words or actions.
"You think you can beat me? Then come at me, fate's bitch." Shikamaru sneered at the Hyuuga, his glare revealing that he would inflict untold pain upon the arrogant fool before him.
Neji bristled at the insults as he rushed towards Shikamaru, ignoring the one-handed seal the boy formed.
As Neji thrust his hand forward, Shikamaru did something unexpected. A moment before it hit him, he grabbed the teen's wrist, the small moment of hesitation was all he needed as he grabbed Neji's face with his other hand, emitting a scream of agony from the fate obsessed fool.
"Isn't that the short-circuit technique? Why is it so strong?" Shino mumbled, barely loud enough for Iruka to hear.
"The technique was originally a method of torture, being used to fry a person's nerve-system, but it was later modified to a kidnapping technique meant to temporary paralyze and knock out one's target... Just where did he learn to weave the electrical chakra in such a way?" He asked himself as he watched Neji lie on the floor, foam leaving his mouth as a satisfied Shikamaru gained victory.
"Not bad Shikamaru." Naruto congratulated the lazy genius, earning an appreciative nod. "You left him alive though."
"Yeah. For one, I really do not wanna deal with any political stuff, and second, who is to say he came out of this without any lasting injuries?" He ignored the surprised look on his teachers face as he propped his arm on the railing, leaning his head on the hand.
"Nice."
"Yeah... By the way, you're up." The team's eyes snapped towards the monitor.
"Dosu Kinuta... Interesting." He couldn't keep the smirk from his face as he leaped over the railing, the mummified Sound ninja already waiting for him.
"Are the two contestants ready?"
"Of course." Dosu said while Naruto only summoned a dagger as his answer. He decided that since the last one disintegrated, he would get a new one. Hopefully this one wouldn't get destroyed simply by stabbing someone.
"Begin!"
Nothing happened. The two boys stood still, staring at each other, trying to gauge their opponents strength. Naruto didn't complain about the stare-off. He made a one-handed seal, three earth-clones rising from the floor standing in a triangular formation in front of him.
'This might be a problem.' Dosu thought as he cursed himself for not rushing the boy. Smoke filled his vision as Naruto threw smoke-pellets at his feet, barely managing to dodge a dagger, getting a scrape on his arm from another one as he dodged to slow. He jumped out of the smokescreen as the four Naruto's attacked him.
"Sonic boom!" He yelled, smashing his melody arm on the floor, a shock wave emitting from his position, destroying two of the clones. The last clone tried to hit him from behind, but its attack missed, earning a face-shattering punch.
He barely managed to dodge a slash from the last Naruto, and he continued to dodge feverishly out of the way, getting a few nicks from the rapid slashed from the blonde. He blocked the dagger with his melody arm before grabbing the blonde's neck with his other arm, smashing a knee in his chest. He followed it with a smash to the blondes sternum with his melody arm, the sound waves turning the internal organs into mush.
His small sense of victory evaporated however when the blonde turned into dirt, leaving him alone on the arena floor.
'Not above me, not around me... beneath!' He barely jumped out of the way as a great-sword was thrust from the ground where he previously stood. He would have breathed a sigh of relief if he didn't have to dodge another sword. No matter where he ran to, another sword seemed to rise from the ground.
'Damn his clones!' With that thought, he jumped in the air, focusing a lot of chakra in his arm to smash into the ground. Naruto wouldn't let that happen though as he flew out of the ground, his sword ready to swing once he got in range.
"NO!" Dosu screamed as he watched the blonde swing at him. Instinctively, he smashed his metallic weapon into Naruto's sword, a loud clang was heard throughout the room as Dosu's weapon barely held up to Naruto's sword.
That sound was all he needed though.
"Vibrating sound drill!"
For a moment nothing happened, then Naruto clasped his arm over right ear as a gasp left him, blood pouring from the ear. The clones acted instantly, grabbing Naruto before getting him away from the now dangerous opponent.
"KILL HIM!" Naruto screamed at the other clones he had as they too rose from the ground. The boy might have stood against four clones who only wielded daggers, but he stood no chance against over ten clones who wielded the dark-orange wearing boy's favorite weapon.
Naruto watched through blurry eyes as Dosu managed to dodge one sword before he got his right arm cut of by another sword. He barely managed to scream out in pain before his legs was cut off. He didn't even manage to fall to the ground before two swords pierced his chest, smashing him into the floor hard enough to crack it.
A stunned silence followed the somewhat brutal death of the Sound genin. It was quickly followed by cries of outrage from the other two Sound genins. Shikamaru and Shino rushed to his side to balance him as Hayate pronounced him the winner.
"You okay Naruto?" Shikamaru, who was to his right asked.
"What?" Naruto fired back, a small amount of dread filling both him and his team-mates as he barely managed to hear anything from that ear.
"He used sound-vibrations as a weapon... This is not good, he might have permanently damaged your right ear, possibly even the part of your ear that holds your balance." Shino, who was at Naruto's left side mumbled, somehow making the blonde paler than what he currently was.
"That fucking shit." He whispered, barely managing to restrain himself from butchering the corpse even further than his clones already had.
"Let's move you to the medics, maybe they can fix your ear." Shikamaru said loud enough for Naruto to hear, a somewhat defeated nod his only answer. He sighed as he pressed his right hand towards Naruto's ear, trying to block out as much sound as possible from damaging it even further. Kind of an awkward position, but they really didn't care at that point.
'I'll destroy every one of you!'
Naruto shook his head before looking around, uncertainty clear on his face.
"Shikamaru, who said that?"
The boy couldn't help but give Naruto an unsure look, worry beginning to seep through the shadow-user.
"No one said anything Naruto... Maybe it was your ear acting up?" He knew from the pensive look on his pale companions face that it was probably not the case.
"Maybe... I, I do not know. Just let me rest."
It was clear to him now. No one had said it, at least from outside his body. The voice sounded nothing like Angmar, so that left only one opinion.
'I think it's time we meet.'
~Scene~
"So you finally grace me with your presence."
'This place is a shit-hole.' Went through the boy's mind, which was ironic when one thought about it, since that is exactly where Naruto found himself. A steady dripping of water was heard in the distance as the massive rust and water-filled room loomed before him. The walls and ceiling looked like it was barely holding itself up, and the water was so murky that he couldn't see the floor which was barely a foot under water, if even that.
"It's not my fault that I was never taught how to enter the seal, fox." The boy said as he stared upon the massive cage in front of him, bars as thick as him, and an intricate design on the sides he honestly had to say he liked. In the middle of it all was the seal, acting as the lock to the cage-door.
The massive fox forced a sneer on his face as he stared upon the creator of the tailed beasts... Well, all tailed beast except for him. He was not a chakra-construct like the other beasts, and he had lived far longer than anyone would fathom. Heck, he didn't even remember half of his life.
"Neglect or not, I would at least expect some sort of talent from my container, something I am hard-pressed in seeing right now." May his love have mercy upon him in the next life, but until he saw any form of resistance towards the wretched kings influence, then he couldn't show any sort of camaraderie towards the boy.
"Even the greatest potential can be ruined by never learning the basics Kyuubi." The fox really knew how to get under his skin, but that was something to expect since it had lived inside of him his entire life.
"The only potential you have is as a liar. I wonder what your friends would say if they saw the real you? I wonder if they know that your entire personality is basically one big charade?" He felt sick as he forced a wicked grin across his face. This boy was nothing like his love, nothing like the man that had won him over... But he was still his descendant... He couldn't decide if what he did was the right thing to do or not.
The massive entity couldn't just see it, but he could also feel it in the air. The entire atmosphere around the boy shifted, filling with dread and corruption. Just how far had the boy actually fallen?
"The longer they are left unknowing, the better. It's just to bad that I can't corrupt them as easily as others, but they are slowly coming along... Well, at least one of them are." The Kyuubi shivered at the cold tone the boy's voice had. It was simply wrong for such a coldness to be in a child's voice.
"I have to wonder though, why do you care? Aren't you simply a mass-murdering beast hell-bent on escaping that damned prison of yours, or is it something else? I actually expected more insults and death-threats when I first came here."
"My intentions are for me to know, and you to never find out... I must ask though, who am I talking to? Are you Naruto, or are you that wretched king?" He already knew the answer. The human he talked to was Naruto, but he had to know if the boy himself realized his changes. It was simply... unnatural to accept such drastic changes with so little resistance.
Naruto stared up at Kyuubi with a look that basically screamed 'Are you a retard?'. A moment later he got a thoughtful expression, as if pondering the question.
"That's actually an interesting question you asked, but I have to wonder why you care? Wouldn't you be happy if I was Angmar, seeing as he is a much more corrupted being than me?"
"That is of no concern for you, just answer my question." He knew the boy was fishing for information, something that he could hold as a sort of leverage against him. Then the boy did something he didn't expect.
He chuckled.
"I would love to say that I am Angmar, but I am all Naruto... Well, at least for the most part." He chuckled again, this time much darker than before.
Kyuubi almost sighed in relief before the last part of the sentence hit him
"What do you mean 'for the most part'?"
Again that hollow laughter. Kyuubi couldn't help but feel sick when he heard it, and that damn wound that the man left behind was beginning to act up.
"You are inside of me, and yet you don't know? I expected more from you if I have to be honest... Oh well, I guess it can't hurt answering you. After all, there is no way for you to attack me, am I right Balrog?"
'What?' How did the boy know his name? Did that man tell him? No, it does not fit his personality. He was a secretive being, never liking to tell anyone anything at all.
"You look surprised. I must be honest, getting Angmar to speak was difficult, much harder than the old man..." Here his demeanor changed, somehow becoming darker as he scowled at the fox.
"He's purged from my body, and I know you did it. I felt it the moment it happened almost two weeks ago. You have no idea how weak I felt back then!" His chakra flared around him as he spoke, shaking the entire room as Kyuubi had to force himself to not cower in fear.
"You took away the best thing that had ever happened to me! I couldn't let that happen, I wouldn't let that happen! So I absorbed what was left of him, making him a part of me, making me more like him! I will not let go of him that easily."
"You... DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE? YOU HAVE DOOMED THIS WORLD!"
"I DO NOT CARE! THIS WORLD MAY ROT FOR ALL I CARE, YOU CAN'T UNDO WHAT I HAVE DONE ANYWAY!"
Balrog closed his eyes in defeat, knowing that what the boy said was true...
Well, almost true.
"You... You have turned into nothing more than a hell-spawn... I will not stand you tarnishing my master's name like this!"
"Heh, and how are you going to stop me?"
Naruto's smirk of satisfaction fell as Kyuubi chuckled. A hollow, forced chuckle that held no humor, but a sense of victory was still clear in it.
"Now now, it will be no fun if I simply tell you now, will it? You'll have to wait like everybody else."
'Wait? What is he planning... Is he planning to trick me? Well, then I simply never come back here, so it's probably not that... Possess me? Impossible, the fourth wasn't stupid enough to make a seal that allows the prisoner to possess the host...'
"I have to be honest, without Angmar here I feel a bit... lost... Whatever. Do what you want, I'm leaving."
He turned around and began to walk towards the corridor in which he came from, an annoyed frown on his face as their first meeting was... dis-satisfactory. Right before he left, something crossed his mind.
"Say, Kyuubi. What happened to your hand?"
He didn't see how Kyuubi winced slightly at the question, the wound flaring up again at just being mentioned.
"What do you think? This is the hand that crushed that wretched man that you managed to drain just a sliver of power from. To bad you didn't gain anything important, eh?" He tried to taunt the kid with a smirk as the boy turned around, realization slowly forming on Naruto's face.
"You... You crushed him? He stabbed you right before he died, didn't he? He stabbed you... Hehehe, hehehehehe." He couldn't hold in his laughter anymore, the mere fact that Kyuubi was stupid enough to attack Angmar directly was just to indescribable to him.
"What are you laughing at?" He couldn't help the rising fear that bubbled forth in his chest. "STOP LAUGHING AND ANSWER ME!"
He suddenly wished the boy didn't cease his laughing, for the smug smile on his face was ten times worse.
"Now now, it will be no fun if I simply tell you now, will it? You'll have to wait like everybody else." He teased, using the same words that the entity had used against him mere minutes ago.
He suddenly turned around and entered the corridor, his form slowly fading to view as his last words was heard.
"In time Kyuubi. In time you will be mine to command, and I will enjoy it immensely." Then a hollow laughter filled the air, then silence.
"No..." Why didn't he think about that? "It... It can't be." He thought he was stabbed by the sword of that man... But if the Witch-king's heir's reaction was anything to go by...
"The balance has been disrupted. A Maia of light has to be chosen now... Gods, please... Choose someone that can stop this child. Choose someone that can stop my master's tainted heir."
"Do not let his name be tarnished anymore..."