Naruto made his way home, but the entire trip still felt like a dream, as if he was not there. The events of what had occurred in the office of the Third still remained a feeling off emptiness, long after Mizuki had been taken away to the Torture and Interrogation Department.

He had passed, the goggles he now held in his hands while in place, his headband was around his forehead. The shiny metallic frame of the forehead protector was fresh as it ever was, but the blonde, even despite the very happiness, now donning the headband that designated him as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, could not help as Mizuki and Iruka's words crossed his mind and remained there, ingrained within him.

The glares remained solidly on him, scorn and derisive mocking in their tones. A few villagers took to their wrath of mistreatment by kicking him out of stores and even denying him access. Naruto, even if it hurt, decided he would revel in the attention. Any and every form he could get at the very least, even if it was filled with hate and anger and disgust, the blonde decided it didn't matter, as long as they paid attention to him. They ignored him by any other means, so he took to anything, even pranks, as it meant they would give him it that he craved desperately.

The blonde had finally arrived at his slow trek to his home. With the key, he unlocked it and entered his home. Then, it hit him. It hit him so suddenly that why he was the worst at the Academy. It hit him so suddenly even outside the Academy why he had been the worst. It hit him after all the events that had taken place earlier.

A large part of it had been his own fault. Instead of focusing on his lessons, the blonde instead decided to joke around. Instead of asking questions when the instructors advised students to, he took to sleeping or slacking off and making the entire class laugh, because he still craved it. Instead of writing down notes, he took to drawing pictures or fooling around. Instead of studying, he had taken to going over pranks even a day before the exams. If he had put as much effort into his pranks as focusing on his studies, perhaps, he realized, perhaps he wouldn't have received the worst scores. It wouldn't add fuel to the fire that the villagers, who had already despised him, give them more to laugh, mock, or even taunt him for.

And it had not just been his studies, it had also been his life outside the very Academy. The spar with Sasuke came back at him, and he realized what he had been doing wrong that even he himself realized.

He had been training, yes. But it was only after he realized that very fact at some point, that before it, all of it went back to his pranks. Because he wanted acknowledgment and craved for the villager's attention, he had neglected everything. Everything he had neglected… His studies, his career as a shinobi… He even stunted his own dream of becoming Hokage.

The First, Hashirama, had been known for his Wood Style, and he was considered part of the Senju Clan, one of the founding Clans of the Hidden Leaf. The Second, Tobirama, had pushed for the innovation of Water Style, and he had been the founder of the Academy and Shinobi ranks. The Third, gramps and old man, was known as the Professor, and he had been known for his many techniques and Jutsus under his arsenal. The Fourth, Minato Namikaze, was known as the Yellow Flash and a veteran of the Third Shinobi War, defending the Leaf from the Stone, from the thousands of Stone shinobi.

All of them had one thing in common: They had never slacked off. Their careers had been built upon knowledge, understanding, and cultivation of their abilities when they were shinobi before Hokage. He recalled when the old man himself told him of how a Hokage ruled the village, the stories of himself under even the First and Second, and the career of even the Fourth.

Naruto, in polar opposite, did not do that.

How… How foolish had he could've been?! A creeping of guilt and anger at himself formed within as he stared at the inside of his apartment home, as if it was a proof of how badly he ruined his own dream. The unwashed dishes and dirty clothes… It felt as if it had been a sign of how badly he neglected his own career.

Even Iruka, even Iruka who he once thought of as a brother and perhaps even a father, scolded him for all the times for what he did in the Academy. Even Iruka, who in the end, hated him.

The anger reached higher and higher. The taunts of his failures at the Academy, even from other students mocked and ridiculed, adding along to the grief and sorrow, Naruto dug his nails into his palms until he drew blood. With the surge of anger and hatred at himself and at the villagers, he threw his own goggles against the wall hard. It cracked before hitting the ground. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he realized that the villagers had been right about one thing: he was a failure. It had been entirely him as to why he performed so terribly at the Academy. He had put in effort after, starting to focus, but also still formulated pranks. It had been him. As much as he could blame Iruka and Mizuki, even if he wanted to, they had not been the sole cause. Even training constantly with Sasuke and his family he did not realize it until now, until now that the graduation exam did the chain reaction of Mizuki deceiving him to take the scroll, that it was solely on him.

It had been him.

He desired Hokage above all else, but his efforts had been little to none before. Even before his dream had been decided, which had been his goal above all else, he had already been sabotaging his own career. It had been him, and him alone.

Self loathing filled his head at his utter foolishness and actions. His own mind swam with all he had done.

Naruto tossed his headband aside, as if even despite his graduation, it had hardly mattered as he realized how much he had already damaged his own dream. He had merely assumed as Hokage, with the old man receiving much attention and recognition, that his pranks would have merely been a part of it as well. He would receive all the attention from the entire village, and when his dream was obtained, it would grant him undeniable attention.

He had been wrong, to his foolish beliefs.

Far too emotionally exhausted and drained after all the revelation, with the Konoha night skies shining above him, Naruto could barely approach his bed, tossing his entire body on it. The blonde cried himself silently to sleep.

For a moment, there was nothing.

Drip drip drip… The droplets sounded out clear in his ears to him and Naruto groggily awoke, the noise incessant and annoying.

Naruto blinked and looked around, then his heart gripped in terror and confusion as he realized that he was no longer in his room, but instead, a different place. Not in the safety and comfort of his own home, he was in a sewer of some sorts, where water rushed around his feet.

Where… Where am I?!

Panic began to settle into his gut as Naruto realized that it was no longer his home, and especially, not a place he recognized ever.

Naruto scrambled backwards, his feet splashing water as he glanced around, trying but failing to recognize the place as his mind was rushing with thoughts at what this place could possibly mean, how he got to it, and what could he even do now. The blonde continued to walk backwards at a quick pace, before he felt his back hit something hard and he turned around to see what it was.

A cage?

That could only be the apt description for what it was. Naruto was standing in front of a gigantic monolith of a cage that made him look like an ant in comparison. From both sides, the large bars were parallel to each other as they stood tall and strong. Interconnecting in the middle, Naruto looked up to see a sheet of paper in the middle. His eyes furrowed to read the symbol on the paper.

Seal…?

Naruto could only look up in confusion and bafflement. Seal? Seal for what? The cage in front of him in the middle of the sewer meant something. It was designed to seal something at least what he gathered from the kanji symbol but seal what?

Naruto didn't know. In the emptiness of the sewer with nothing but the sound of dripping water, then a voice, a deep voice like gravel that grated against his nerves.

"So… My little shitstain of a host has finally come to grace his worthless presence?"

The voice rumbled in mocking laughter, and Naruto flinched in terror as from the darkness behind the very cage, a malevolent wide grin that would surely give children nightmares emerged, and the canine's wide and darkened lips pulled back unnaturally. A pair of gleaming crimson slits stared in a derisive look of mockery and scorn.

A part of Naruto wanted to run. He wanted to flee but he could not. All he could do was stare up at the nightmarish visage of terror.

"Heh. Nothing to say? Of course. You, humans, are all alike. You try and pretend, cowering behind bravado, and think your shinobi can face anything, but true demons? You're all the same."

Though Naruto felt the pinnacle of fear right now, there was also something in him that was also forming. It had been in the very tone, one that disregarded him, taking on the very same nature that all the villagers took when they spoke in hushed voices.

Annoyance and anger.

And so Naruto felt that same feeling right now in response, directed at the massive being before him.

"Who the hell are you?!"

At first, there was nothing, then, the voice rumbled in laughter once more. It howled in ecstasy at Naruto's very demand and question, and, even despite the fact it could smell the fear wafting off of him, standing up to him despite the fact it could very much chew him up and spit him out.

"HAHAHAHA!" The laughter was as unnatural as its smile, and Naruto saw the glaves of teeth and its open mouth, saliva dripping out of its open canines. "So even despite a worm like yourself standing up to me, I can still feel your fear!"

"Hmph! Very well… Take a guess for what I am. It shouldn't even be that hard unless you're as stupid as you were in that school you called Academy."

Naruto glowered at the insult of him, as his mind worked to guess what the being before him was. It did not take long though, the old man's words rang back to him, and the kanji for seal above.

"You're… You're the Nine Tails!"

The voice howled. "Ding ding ding! An award goes for the idiotic shitstain!"

Naruto was in the presence of the being who destroyed the village itself and who fought and faced the Fourth Hokage, the very being that forced the Fourth to give up his own life against the very force of nature itself, and the monster that ended lives.

For a moment Naruto was still in disbelief. How could he react in any other way? It was the demon, the beast and monster itself, just mere feet away, that even so was only held back behind the cage, towering over him. Only the cage right now, and the very seal on it, prevented a sure and gruesome death.

The beast itself roared as it smacked its own face against the cage. Naruto yelped in terror as he scrambled back. From then, the blonde could fully make out the terrifying image of teeth and slit for eyes. Furred ears long and slanted, along with a large furry face. The slitted eyes stared down at him.

The fox scoffed, "You're so lucky right now that I'm behind this damn cage and seal. How utterly lucky right now that not even I can break this seal your precious Fourth Hokage crafted and used on me. I despise you humans, him included, but I can at least respect that he had that power and was willing to fight me to the bitter end without any fear. It's only a shame the rest of you are cowardly and pathetic." The nine large tails behind his back swished around in a show.

Naruto looked up at the towering giant.

"But I suppose now is the time I finally meet the obnoxious and pathetic shitstain of a host I'm sealed into by the damnable Fourth." The vicious snarl turned up into a haunting smile. "So greetings, fleshbag."

"You're…" Naruto could finally scrape by words together. "You're the Nine Tailed Fox!"

"I do believe that is what you called me earlier, dumbass."

"Where…" Naruto opened his mouth to ask, but instantly realized how foolish it was to do so, the answer was instantly provided to him by his own thoughts. "Why…"

"Why are you here? Why are you here now?"

There was no answer as the tenant and beast itself stared each other down, but then, the fox guffawed. "Hah! You ask why did I appear to you now? I suppose since I did force you here out of your own volition I can give you an answer. So… tell me. How did it feel to be called a monster by those pathetic disgraces of your own beloved home village?"

Naruto's blood turned cold. "What… What are you talking about?!"

"Stupid brat. That instructor of yours Mizuki called me you. I am you. The one that destroyed your home village. I am the one who killed the lives of many within your home. Have you forgotten what those other villagers called you? Have you forgotten what they have thrown, kicked, or even screamed at you for?"

The conversation of Mizuki came back to him. Naruto's eyes widened before it narrowed and glared at the fox, fear forgotten in place of righteous anger at the being who now he realized was responsible for his hellish life. "It-it was you! You're the reason why they hate me! You're the reason why people avoid me!" Anger and hatred began to bubble to the surface. "It was you!"

The being of destruction and death howled in joy. "About time! Saw your pathetic display with both of those teachers of yours. It was entertaining to watch you fail. It was entertaining to watch you reconsider your thoughts on that teacher of yours you thought cared for you. It was entertainment to doubt that Uchiha brat and his family for believing they would even give a shit about you!"

Naruto's eyes widened further at his admittance of the insidious doubts in his head, forming out of his own volition and feelings that were buried within. Suddenly, all those years back that he had doubts about the villagers, even the old man, Sasuke, and his family.

"You… It was you!" Naruto had never felt such anger and hate before. While it had been directed at the villagers for treating him badly, it was now also directed at the fox, because it was all him. It was all him that he was made to suffer for the crimes committed by not him, but the beast within. It was the beast as to the reason why many glared, mocked, taunted, pushed and shoved, or kicked out or even sold subpar products or overpriced goods when shopping. Everything he was made to suffer, for reasons back then he did not understand, was due to the demon that was before him, from within him. Now, with Mizuki's revelation, Iruka's death, and the old man's truth on the subject matter, did Naruto finally understand.

And he directed it at the beast within that made his life so and was the cause of it all.

"You… you did this! You did this!" Naruto screamed at the beast, anger and hate now replacing fear. "They hate me because of you! Because of you!"

The beast mocked, "Indeed! Watching you cry like the little baby you are because life isn't fair was fucking hilarious! It brought me the most entertainment when they kicked you out!"

He was a true monster who had zero empathy and remorse, and for that, Naruto despised him more than ever. While Naruto felt bitterness growing from within at the villagers because they had blamed him for being the demon, Naruto felt it directed even more at the demon within him, because the demon was the cause of everything he had been forced to go through.

Naruto wanted to scream. He wanted the demon to go away, to simply leave and never come back to haunt him anymore, for he was the cause of his pain.

"But alas, that is the true hypocrisy of humanity. And my father, the Sage, believes that humans should be treated with reverence and respect after all they did over the centuries? What a joke." The sadistic humor from the fox vanished, replaced by a cold disgust that was in common with the villagers.

Naruto continued to glare up at the demon. He didn't know what he was talking about and frankly, did not care to. The blonde was beyond caring and so his own disgust at the demon in his body matched its own.

"They hate me because of you, you damn fox!"

The slitted eyes turned back down at him as if it remembered that he was there. "Indeed. And? In fact…" The eyes narrowed viciously. "If it bothers you that much that they despise you, why not return the favor back?"

Naruto took a step back. "What?"

"Oh, don't pretend that I'm the cause for all your little problems you insipid turd. They're the ones who blame you for me. I'm the one inside of you. I know every bit about your problems. Including your pathetic little dream of Hokage. Including your time with your pranks at the Monument and the Uchiha brat and his family. I know every single thing. Why bother with their respect anymore?"

What was he saying? Naruto returned a gaze back up at the beast. But he did know. "Why does that matter to you?"

"You must've mistaken me. I couldn't care less about you or anyone else." The beast chuckled mockingly. "But respect? What does that serve? What purpose does that make? Does it remove all they have done to you? There's no one else in the village that will ever acknowledge you."

"Th-that's not true! The old man respects me! So do Teuchi and Ayame!"

"The only few in the pitiful village." Naruto swore he could've heard something else the beast mutter about the old man that sounded like "And if only you knew about the former…" but Naruto remained adamant and bold in front of the beast, and did not understand what he was talking about.

"Sasuke and his parents also acknowledge me! They're good as well!" Naruto was sure that the beast was manipulating him, to make him hate Sasuke and his parents and the old man and the owners. After all that Sasuke and his parents had done for him, he refused to let the beast tarnish their name and commitment.

The beast laughed, "The Uchiha brat and his parents… Sure. I'll give you that then. But what about the rest of the village? They're just the select few out of the many who will never respect you. You are the shitstain under their boots. To the rest of the village, you're nothing to them. But go on then, keep vying for something that will never happen. It'll be all the more humiliating to watch you fail." A narrowed slit looked down on him. "Or perhaps you already decided? Perhaps you already decided respect isn't worth a damn thing?"

Naruto could not meet the gaze of the demon.

"But I do think you're interesting, even as pathetic as you are." A chuckle emanated once more. "Let me offer you this then. You can carry on with your wretched life. But one day… one day you'll come begging to me for power, my chakra. And once you'll have a taste of it, you'll come back to me begging for more and more, until you become solely reliant on me." A claw jabbed out of the many bars of the cage. "Until you become Hokage, I wonder? Or not. Watching you fail is entertainment is fine regardless."

Naruto stared, aghast at the twisted offer at what the demon was referring to. It was a trick. He was sure of it, but what the Nine Tails was perverted and twisted, and Naruto was unsure, unsure of what to even say to the offer.

"Anyway, get out of my sight before I digest you."

And before Naruto could contemplate the offer any further, the beast opened his mouth, and then with an earth-shattering roar, the entire vicinity shook, and Naruto knew no more.

Gasping, Naruto awoke from the nightmares of the demon inside him. Looking around, Naruto found himself no longer in the sewage cage of the Nine Tails but in his apartment room. The sun of morning shone brightly through his open windows and the interior of his bedroom, lighting it up to begin yet another day.

He was back in his room. The birds chirped for another day, and Naruto stared at his blankets.

Had it been a dream? But it felt so real… He doubted that it could have been such. It felt so real and the terrifying image of the Nine Tails felt real…

Naruto had no time to contemplate further, for his alarm clock rang, signaling another day before the Academy began once more.

So yeah, Naruto is already taking a radically different path than in Canon. Remember, this is a slow descent, as Naruto won't be entirely dark off the bat. He still retains some of Canon but with serious self reflection. For inspiration, it is based off lord of the land and fire's Naruto from his story, The Paths We Choose, as I feel that is a Dark Naruto done correctly, and not the Sasuke 2.0's most other stories take that is over bloated and make Naruto dark without any actual look into his character and how he slowly takes that route instead. Naruto's pretty much more self loathing at himself with only a decent amount of growing hatred at the village and Kurama because Kurama was pretty much the cause for his childhood. He's somewhat like Sasuke in Canon who after discovering the truth about Itachi blamed himself for some time before actually holding the village accountable and turning his hatred towards them. Sasuke didn't become a villain until after he had joined the Akatsuki and attacked Bee. Before then, he, or otherwise Hebi Sasuke, was pretty much an anti heroic neutral party who simply wanted Naruto and Konoha to leave him alone. Remember that Naruto is also still a child compared to Sasuke who was a teen, but both hold some self loathing for themselves for their own reasons, and Kurama just admitted he didn't care about Naruto's life at all, so it's logical hold accountable at someone that you know caused you pain.

Naruto also meets Kurama early on and is going to receive training from him though this is reluctantly given how much both despise each other. And no, he won't be overpowered off the bat. No fucking KCM or any of the broken shit from the Fourth War. For one, Kurama still is going to use and hate him, akin to what I'm reaching for in The Paths We Choose story. Not saying I'm not a fan of Kurama being good and all, but in the case of this story where it's going to stick by Canon for a bit before branching off and how Naruto discovered why Konoha hates him, Kurama is largely going to be a dark force who uses Naruto for his own gain since even in Canon he didn't consider Naruto a friend at all until the Fourth War and even then, it took a large amount of convincing on his part. I am planning for him to work with Naruto down the line into a twisted form of friendship, but for now, he's going to be purely selfish in his own needs.

Also just want to point this out, most of this story will involve a large part of training and development. For god's sake when the Fourth War Arc sucked ass, a large part of the story will focus on ninjas being actual ninjas. Not the ridiculously broken shit from the end of the series and from other Dark Naruto stories. If you're going to use the anime series about shinobi in a crossover or just the story itself, then fucking make it about them instead of the broken ass shit: let your shinobi be shinobi before actually raising stakes!

Yes, power creep is going to be a thing but not until later. Most of it is going to involve actual strategy before the power gap increases.