Chapter 59: The Sharingan Devil

Naruto wearily observed the man standing in front of him, to say he was nervous would be an understatement. Yes, he was an Anbu captain and had performed many dangerous missions, even an S- rank mission. But facing of against a Sannin in his current or any state at all?

Yeah, he maybe naive.

But he was definitely not stupid.

His heart beat was increasing rapidly, while a small bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. His eyes were still locked towards Orochimaru, never blinking, never flinching. He had to project the illusion that he was a badass motherfucker with whom Orochimaru would refrain from fighting, if he faltered even for a second.

Then the creepy bastard before him would beat his ass.

And that would be...uncomfortable.

"You're creepy..." said Naruto flatly, in response to the earlier greeting and predatory grin which Orochimaru had given him.

To his surprise the man merely smiled, and gave a fake bow of gratitude.

"I'll take that as a compliment, dear Naruto-kun" replied Orochimaru with a small chuckle, as Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Speak quickly, I have very little patience..." said Naruto coldly, trying to project his best poker face. He had a reputation of killing more than 300 Anbu and stealing a forbidden scroll right from the center of a fucking hidden village.

And even if he was nervous as fuck, he had to act like he wasn't even unnerved by standing before this man.

"That I can see, well tell me why did you betray Konoha? What is your true goal?" asked Orochimaru seriously, and frowned when the man laughed hysterically.

"(laughs) Is this what's this meeting for? Man, you're even more boring than I imagined. But as a gesture of good faith, I'll tell you why...I was bored" said Naruto sadistically, as the Kyuubi face palmed on seeing the boy's antics.

There was no way such an answer would be acceptable to Orochimaru...

"What the fuck?"

This was the Kyuubi's first reaction when instead of calling out the boy on his lie, Orochimaru smiled even more creepily than before. What were these two humans...psychos?

"You really are an interesting boy, Naruto-kun" complimented Orochimaru with a certain glee in his voice, as Naruto merely scoffed.

"Tell me something which I don't already know. My turn, what the fuck do you want from me? And what can you offer me in return?" asked Naruto slyly, greed easily visible in his eyes. Something which didn't go unnoticed by Orochimaru.

Kurama was simply stunned, was this really Naruto? It actually reminded him of Yami Naruto that had vanished ever since Sai's death, either Naruto was a badass actor who could adopt any mask...

Or...

The fox frantically looked around his cage that was situated inside Naruto's mind, and a new kind of fear ran through his heart when the sound of footsteps echoed in the dark chamber.

He was dreaming...

"What do you want? And what can you offer me in return..." asked Orochimaru in counter,

"I want power, the strength to destroy my enemies. I would not be the weak person that I was in the past, on whom people stomped everyday. I want everything..." said Naruto seriously,

"And what if I give you this power and ask you to destroy Konoha?" asked Orochimaru bluntly, and sharply observed the boy's reaction.

It was this moment that would show him what was inside the boy's heart, was he really the cold, uncaring bastard that was he portraying himself to be? Or...

Even the Sannin was confused when there was simply no reaction from the boy, he merely remained stoic.

"That's it?" asked Naruto disappointedly,

"Interesting..." thought Orochimaru, the way this boy was behaving it was as if he didn't give a rat's ass about anything.

"So, will you join me in destroying Konoha?" asked Orochimaru in satisfaction,

"Only if your offer is interesting and satisfies my personal interests. All of us are merely selfish humans, so no need to do it out of the goodness of my heart" said Naruto sarcastically

"Fair enough, you certainly are not naive like most people your age. I'll give you 10,00,000 Ryo for your services, and another 15,00,000 for the forbidden Scroll that you possess. This is besides my generosity to make you more powerful to fight against your enemies, and to give you your mother back while revealing the truth about your daughter...Rei" said Orochimaru deviously,

The Sannin was extremely pleased when a shocked look appeared on the boy's face, as his eyes widened in horror.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Kurama froze on hearing the girl's name being said, he was further mortified when Naruto's breathing stopped. Blank flashbacks started appearing in his mind, they were empty right now but Kurama could very well see where this was headed.

He had to stop it right now!

"Naruto, don't listen to him" yelled Kurama urgently,

No response.

The worried Biju called again, but was rewarded with the same response. What the hell was going on? Why was Naruto not listening to him?

"Yo..."

A wide eyed Kurama looked towards the dark areas of the mindscape, as a replica of Naruto emerged from it. He looked the same as the real Naruto, except this one had demonic red eyes.

"You..." growled Kurama angrily, and charged ahead.

Alas, the Biju was sent sailing away by the iron bars of his cage as the new entity before him laughed hysterically.

"Oh you stupid beast, don't do any more retarded shit. You know , you can't get out of this little cage..." chided Dark Naruto, and received the full blown blood thirsty glare of the nine tailed fox.

Most humans would have died right there, but this person laughed.

"You're messing with him..." accused Kurama, making the entity scoff.

"Ignorant fool, I am Naruto's subconscious. His inner self, and I am not the one messing with him...he's the one who's calling me" answered Dark Naruto with an arrogant smirk etched across his face.

"Impossible..."

"Whatever, you can't deny the truth. And I know what you did..."

There were hardly any moments in his entire existence which made the giant nine tailed fox, the strongest Biju of the world cower in fear. And this was one of them...

"Yes, you know what you did. Bad for you, I know it too..." said Dark Naruto proudly,

"H-how?" asked a terrified Kyuubi, as Dark Naruto tapped his own forehead.

"You can wipe out a person's conscious mind with the help of Mangekyo sharingan and various other ninja arts. But you can never wipe out his subconscious, it's the most sacred place that stores everything. You can even call it the soul of a human, the ultimate and most dangerous part of a person. I am that part, your highness..." explained Dark Naruto, and gave a fake, mocking bow to the Biju.

"T-this...can't...be...happening. You're not real, Naruto banished you on that night..." argued the Kyuubi desperately,

"Correction: He didn't need me that night. And I'm very much real, the only drawback of being the subconscious is that I have to follow Naruto's wishes and right now he is calling for me, to know the truth. He's recalling each and every memory..." said Dark Naruto smartly,

"You think it's that cut and dry? You know what happened and you want to tell him?" asked Kurama incredulously,

"Yup"

"He could snap, he could disappear, he could-"

"Don't you get it? I want that to happen, all of you keep on lying to him. Pretend to be his friend, while betraying him at every chance. He's so fucked up that he's becoming a hypocrite and is simply getting caught in the same mess again and again. I'm gonna change that..." promised Dark Naruto, determination shining in his cold eyes.

"I'll stop you..."

"You can try, bitch" challenged Dark Naruto,

And for the first time, the most powerful Biju found himself to be utterly helpless.

"Rei..."

Orochimaru couldn't help but smirk on seeing the helpless expression on the boy's face. People like Naruto had a great weakness, they desired family above everything else. As only those who had felt the pain of that loneliness, could understand the importance of family.

Even he had known this pain in the past, as such he could claim he understand this part of the boy's nature.

"You don't know who she was..." said Orochimaru calmly,

"I...don't...remember..." said Naruto slowly, he had heard that name somewhere but just couldn't remember who it was.

"Of course, she was among the countless Anbu you killed during your betrayal, when you stole the forbidden Scroll..." stated Orochimaru seriously, and if previously the boy was shocked.

Then now he was mortified.

"I, No...you're lying" said Naruto desperately, there was no way he would kill his own child.

It was simply not possible...

A picture was tossed straight towards him, as he shakily caught it. And when the boy looked at it, his eyes widened in horror as there in front of his eyes was the image of a blonde girl dressed in Anbu uniform. She had the same facial structure, same eyes, same nose, same lips...it was as if she was a bloody clone made from him.

"My sources inside the village came upon this information, when I ordered them to verify whether you killed the Anbu for real. I was not disappointed, when this claim was proved. In those documents her death was covered up, her name was changed along with everything. After searching for a few weeks all around Konoha, I was finally able to find out where she was buried..." explained Orochimaru briefly,

"How do you know this? All of this could just be lies..." said Naruto defensively, although his heart was breaking with every proof being presented before him.

"It's simple, years ago a commander within the Anbu forces contacted me and asked me to create a super soldier. I was actually given a donor's DNA, blood samples and some other scientific stuff. At that time, I didn't know who they were from, and the source paid quite a heavy fee not to inquire into this further, and simply create this soldier..." explained Orochimaru mysteriously, effectively hiding the parts that it was Danzo and how they had partnered up with each other in the past for mutual interests.

Had he known that Danzo was trying to make a clone daughter of Naruto Uzumaki, then instead of giving it to Root he would have kept her- the contract be damned.

But at that time, he was on the run and his pursuers were catching up to him and destroying valuable research laboratories in their pursuit. Decades of knowledge was getting destroyed, and he had bitterly agreed to this contract while in return Danzo had not only paid a heavy fee, but also reduced the heat on him to some extent.

Allowing him to go further into hiding...

However it raised an even more dangerous question, how did a Root super soldier end up under Hiruzen's Anbu army. Granted he had no contact with Danzo and his organization since the past few years, and those sneaky bastards always stayed hidden.

But there was simply no trace of any Root activity, either Danzo was planning something big; or something else was going on here.

He had directed his best spies to find out the truth, it was only a matter of time before this mystery was unveiled.

"Even Anbu's death have to be documented for record purposes, the Anbu you killed that day were made to follow the same paperwork protocol and I found her fake records. Everything about her story was altered and she was effectively buried in the abandoned Uchiha clan territory. Her remains can be found here...the moment I looked at her face and at your picture in the bingo book, I discovered the truth" admitted Orochimaru honestly,

The Sannin had to admit the cover up operation was simply ingenious. Hiruzen had gone to great lengths to cover up Rei's root past and connection to Naruto, but in this process of creating a fake identity he had left an invisible proof of his deception, which Orochimaru had easily caught since he was her creator.

After all, no scientist worth their salt could ever forget their own creation.

And hiding the girl's body in the abandoned Uchiha clan territory, where nobody ever lived or visited was also quite smart.

Seeing the boy trembling satisfied him immensely. If Naruto was even half the child of Uzumaki Kushina and Minato Namikaze, then right now he would be drowning in a sea of guilt and sorrow. Just like his father...

It was quite fascinating to watch humans, the more they progressed the more they remained the same. No matter how much the boy denied it, he was the offspring of that couple. Everything about him was a mixture of those two...

His looks, his behavior, his fighting talent, strong body and chakra.

Taking all of these factors into account, and if his prediction was right then it would be best to leave this area right now. He had dropped the bait, now the target had to approach him.

Orochimaru very well knew how brash, hot headed the people from the Uzumaki clan were.

Emotional idiots...

That was the term through which he recognized them, and the anger that would erupt in this boy would burn anything that came in his path. And by all means, he didn't want to be the one to face the brunt of the boy's mad rage. He had once seen Kushina going crazy, and let's say it had not ended well for many people...

Better to leave the emotionally unstable Jinchuuriki alone for now...

"Now you know the truth. If you wish to join me, then come to this place. Then we shall discuss in detail the terms of our partnership, it's upto you now Naruto-kun" offered Orochimaru slyly, and tossed a paper slip near the boy's feet in which the location was mentioned.

Giving him one last glance, the Sannin vanished from the area with a quick shunshin.

(Few Minutes Later)

Naruto collapsed on the ground, and clutched his head as a devastating pain started arising inside his head. The more he tried to remember this girl, the severe the pain would get. It was as if there was this invisible wall that was stopping him...

He tried harder.

Again

Again

Again

Again

By now the pain had increased to unbearable levels as if his entire mind was set on fire, while being electrocuted at the same time.

And then it suddenly stopped, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a blank white plain.

Looking around he came face to face with a very familiar entity that was looking at him sympathetically. The person standing before him walked forward and knelt before him...

It was none other than his alter ego who seemed quite sad on seeing his current state.

"Remember...the truth"

The Mangekyo sharingan was activated in the eyes of Dark Naruto, and the entire plain started displaying flashbacks. Naruto found himself staring at memories of his assault at the Root base.

Seeing Sai beside him, alive and fighting made him sad but he soon replaced that feeling as he wanted to know what the hell was going on.

As he continued the massacre, he found his past self explaining the story of Rei's existence, and then it happened.

"Stop it, Captain Naruto!"

"How could you, Captain? I looked up to you, I admired you. Danzo-sama told me so many things about you...you were my hero!"

"I'm proud of you, Rei"

Flashes of their fight in the Root base, their little conversation and her feelings towards him were revealed to him. The happy and sad memories coming back to him with full force, as the Mangekyo of his alter ego showed him the truth.

Naruto saw his past self bringing her unconscious form outside the Root base, and his talk with the Anbu commander. About how he wanted Hiruzen and Konoha to protect her, to keep her safe.

"And remember...the betrayal" said Dark Naruto harshly,

And the scene changed again to find his past self sitting beside Itachi having a casual conversation, until the Uchiha's mangekyo activated.

(Flashback: Few Weeks Ago)

Naruto found himself standing near Kurama's cage, the unconscious form of his past self lay motionless on the floor; completely immobilized due to the genjutsu casted on him. He also found Itachi standing near the cage, looking at the furious nine tailed fox that was glaring at him.

"How dare you, Uchiha..." growled Kurama furiously, and scratched his giant nails at his cage.

For his part, Itachi remained stoic without displaying any emotion on his face.

"Listen to me, Kyuubi. I need your co-operation in wiping out Rei's memories from his mind..." said Itachi honestly,

"(scoffs) Over my dead body..." replied Kurama harshly, making the older Uchiha sigh. This was going to be a long ordeal.

"This comes directly from the top. The Hokage does not want to make Naruto any more unstable than he already is, even you know that he is broken. How will he react when he knows that his only daughter died by his own hands in an accident?" asked Itachi seriously, making the fox flinch.

"Even then, this is wrong..." said Kurama furiously,

"He'll snap, Kyuubi. Naruto is not like me, he has too many burdens on his shoulder. Too much emotional trauma, it has not been very long since the Root massacre. He is still recovering from his previous partner's death and still blames himself for that, you have seen it. If he succumbs to his inner darkness..." suggested Itachi gravely,

He let that threat hang, and waited for the fox to contemplate the consequences. Kurama still remembered how close Naruto's alter ego had arrived in overriding the boy's will, and making him go berserk. If not for Sai's sacrifice, the entire leaf village would have been destroyed that day.

But Sai was not here anymore, he was buried deep down in a grave. The fox doubted Nono had the power the subdue Naruto, or even bring him back to reality if he snapped.

Rei was very important to Naruto, she was the closest person in terms of his blood family. And he cared about her deeply...

"He's in a critical stage of this mission, if he loses his stability then everything is over. He'll die..." warned Itachi,

"But-"

"Even if he lives somehow, he'll just be a dead man walking. The burden of killing his own blood will haunt him forever, the friend you care so much about will be gone. A miserable life, but you can change all that. Let him forget she ever existed, and everything goes back to normal" offered Itachi stoically,

The ferocious fox slammed one of his paws on the steel bars of his cage in frustration, as a tired sigh escaped from his mouth.

"Do it..."

Naruto watched as the procedure of memory destruction was completed by Itachi, while his friend vanished into the darker corners of his cage. And then everything went black...

(Flashback End)

Dark Naruto saw his original trembling on the ground, his hands were shaking as his terrified eyes looked at them. The tears in his eyes had dried up, replaced by a horrified look that showed how terrified Naruto was in this current moment.

"It...was...me...it's...my...fault...that...Rei...died" confessed Naruto in a broken voice

"Hn, so you finally got it" commented Dark Naruto distastefully,

Naruto looked at his other self, the only one who had showed him the truth. The one who remained faithful to him, and revealed such a treachery done to him.

"You'll just sit there, blame yourself. And keep on blaming yourself forever...but it won't change anything" said Dark Naruto harshly,

Naruto had to avert his eyes, as the person standing before him was spot on with his analysis. After all, he did blame himself for Rei's death- for failing to protect her.

"You never change, Naruto. It's all your fault..." chided Dark Naruto,

The alter ego walked around the broken boy and frowned when the person never even looked up to meet his eyes. Was he this much hurt with the revelation?

"It's obvious, isn't it? Whose fault it is that things ended up like this? Was it an accident? Fate? Or Coincidence?" asked Dark Naruto sternly,

He saw the boy's fists clenching tightly, as a few tears fell from his eyes. So, he did get the point...

"All of this is simply a combination of the mistakes made one after another. And who was the one who made those mistakes?" questioned the alter ego seriously,

Grabbing the boy by his hair roughly, the subconscious form lifted him up to look him straight in the eye.

"It was you..."

Dark Naruto could not help but like the boy's silence, it was for the first time that Naruto didn't have any arguments to counter the accusations laid on him. No sense of high morals, no beliefs, as the world had finally crashed down on him.

"Every person is responsible for the shit that happens in his life, one way or another. Get this through your thick skull, your life was already a piece of shit due to being a Jinchuuriki. But the reason you're in even more shit which is given the glorious name of 'Operation Ghost', because you're the dumbest, ignorant fool ever born in this world. An idiot who never understood the ways of the world and got tricked by people over and over again..." scolded Dark Naruto furiously,

"It all started by Konoha tricking you for years, then Hiruzen tricked you by making you loyal to the village. Then Danzo tricked you by creating Rei, getting Shin killed along with the rest of your friends. And the irony is that you unconsciously tricked yourself by agreeing to this mission from where there is no going back, so naive. You didn't even know that there was no light at the end of the line...

...the only reason you're even dealing with this entire Operation, with the Root massacre was because Hiruzen fucked up. He let a monster like Danzo run things easily, he didn't stop the civilians who abused you for years and only intervened when things got physical. That Kage failed to kill his own student out of sympathy and emotions, which ultimately led to all of this mess.

...in the end, you're nothing more than a henchmen trying to cover up a foolish old man's mistakes. It's really true, war means old men talking and young men dying" explained Dark Naruto bemusedly,

He tapped his index finger a few times on Naruto's forehead, as his broken counterpart just stared at him with dead eyes. His will to live, his beliefs destroyed with one treachery after another.

"You think it's better to hurt yourself than to hurt others, you're too good, too selfless. Which is why you're going through all of this...if you had lived for yourself, been a little more conscious about your own dreams, wishes, ambitions instead of being a obedient soldier then none of this would have happened. Despite being a captain you chose to be nothing but a pawn..." said Dark Naruto disappointedly,

The real Naruto simply averted his eyes from the piercing gaze of his counterpart, every word he said hurt terribly. But he could never deny that all of it was true, Rei's death and this treachery being a live proof of this mess.

He was shocked when his subconscious form showed him the horrible treatment given to Gaara the same way. The flashes of Sasuke losing his entire clan due to Konoha and Danzo, and in the end his own lifeless body beside Orochimaru's body signifying the end of Operation Ghost.

While the people of Konoha and Fire nation went on with their lives, as he vanished from history. The people close to him being saddened by his death, but that was the end of it.

"You see? This is the end you have chosen for yourself..."

"Don't-"

"Why are you crying? You chose to hurt yourself for people who don't care about your feelings. So nice and wonderful person, you are. But you know, real heroes like you, Shin, Sai, Rei will always be cursed in the world. While people like Danzo, Hiruzen, our parents will be cherished as heroes and worshiped forever. That is the justice of this world..." said Dark Naruto sadly,

Naruto's shoulders slumped in defeat due to relentless attacks that made him aware of the true reality. Those words hurt so much, but were so true as well.

"Kaa-chan...Tou-san...why did you leave me alone in this hell?" asked Naruto tearfully, as his alter ego wiped the falling tears off his cheeks.

"You wish they had chosen you over the fucked up world. But they couldn't or didn't, whatever it maybe it doesn't change that you're all alone now..." said Dark Naruto sympathetically,

"I wish they had lived for me..." said Naruto sadly,

"Even if it meant destroying Konoha?" asked Dark Naruto seriously,

"YES!" yelled the devastated boy

"Even if it meant letting every person in the village die?"

"Even if it meant that!"was Naruto's tearful reply

He was silenced when his subconscious form enveloped him in a warm hug, taking away the never ending pain that was burning in his heart. And for the first time he felt the pain lessen a little.

"That is the meaning of life in this world, where you have to devour others. Our parents couldn't do that, and so did you. In order to prove yourself better than them, you did the same thing. But that's not kindness, that's weakness of yours. Can you still continue to be on the side of getting hurt?" asked Dark Naruto seriously,

"No"

"Can you allow such injustices and treachery be done to you again and again?"

"Never!"

"Do you have the strength to stop it?"

"Yes"

The alter ego tentatively looked at Naruto for answer, but the boy still had his hair covering his eyes. However the silence and the determination that was in Naruto's eyes had satisfied him.

"So, do you accept me?" asked Dark Naruto seriously,

"No"

SLASH

Dark Naruto coughed up a lot of blood from his mouth, as Naruto stabbed his right hand clearly through the entity's heart. The large hole in Dark Naruto's chest only made him smile, as he started getting absorbed within Naruto himself.

He looked at the boy, only to find a soul terrifying, chilling gaze.

"I will surpass you..." promised Naruto darkly,

The alter ego merely smiled as he started to get absorbed within Naruto's body, putting his hand on the boy's cheeks he decided to ask a final question before he was absorbed within the boy.

"So you admit that you were wrong?" asked Dark Naruto silently, and was rewarded a ferocious glare.

"I'm not the one who's wrong, what's wrong...is this fucked up world!" replied Naruto angrily, hatred burning in his eyes.

Dark Naruto merely smiled before vanishing from the empty plane...

"That will do, brother"

Kurama had attentively stared as Naruto and his alter ego stood several meters away from his cage. Both the entity's were silent and stiff as rocks, it was as if their bodies were here while their souls were in some other mindscape.

And then he saw the dark ego vanishing, and Naruto's entire body glowing brightly. Damn it, why did the boy have his back turned towards him?

"I remember her..."

The fox took a step back in fear when Naruto's cold, murderous voice echoed through the empty mindscape. A monstrous amount of pressure descended upon the area, as the boy turned to face his partner. His dark Mangekyo sharingan eyes pierced straight through the fox...

"I remember everything..."