The obligatory disclaimer thingy I have to notify you of is, and I know that this must be a shocking surprise to all those who read fanfiction: I do not own Naruto.

Devil's Fire

Solitude

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle."

― Plato

The darkness made it impossible to say whether it was day or night. It could be either, he guessed. The perpetual darkness caused time to pass as a blur, leaving the one locked in the deepest level of the dungeon with little else than his thoughts. The only time he had any sort of distraction was when his meal arrived- stale bread and some goo that had to pass for food, and some lukewarm water. There were the occasional visits, of course, but those had dwindled down as well.

How long had it been?

He guessed it had been weeks since he had last seen anyone. At first he had been interrogated on a daily basis, including the futile attempts to subjugate him through illusions and other methods of brainwashing. At the time it had been incredibly annoying, some even more than just that, but the absolute loneliness he had to suffer now was perhaps even worse. If he had to choose he'd probably pick the daily visits from their version of Torture and Interrogation specialists. It's not like they were as bad as Ibiki, after all.

'Hm, I'd have to exclude the physical torture, though,' he mused lethargically, staring at the dark ceiling of his prison cell. 'Especially with all these freaking seals. While they suck at fuinjutsu, they still do manage to suppress quite a lot. Recovering from torture takes far too long. And I don't even want to think about that wretched woman.'

Still, even torture had been something he had eventually gotten used to, as far as anyone could get used to having holes drilled through your hands, nails torn out, skin peeled off, and so on. People could get strangely creative when they were ordered to inflict pain. But no matter how harshly they treated him, he had never broken. Of course it did help that they did not dare to take things too far, due to the simple reason that they feared the consequences of pushing him over the edge. They wanted to shape him into a loyal tool, not a raging demon that would attack indiscriminately.

Extraction had also proven to be a fruitless effort. Their knowledge of fuinjutsu was nowhere close to what was needed to extract what they wanted. So they had simply locked him up. While they could not gain control over the Kyuubi no Yoko, they at least ensured that Konoha would not get that power either, they had reasoned.

'Konoha…'

Vague memories of orange and the heavenly food called ramen came to mind, as well as impressions of people he had once called friends. But all that was drowned by a bitterness that made this isolation even more unbearable. The thought of his classmates, the people of Team Seven, his teachers, the old man Hokage, Ichiraku's…

'Why has no one ever even tried to find me? It's been years. You'd think they would have managed to locate me by now,' Uzumaki Naruto spat on the ground, as if he tried to get the sour taste out of his mouth.

Right after the act he regretted it. In the dry and chilly environment he only got just enough water to survive. Just as he only got minimal amounts of food. Enough to keep him alive, but only in amounts that ensured that he was constantly weakened.

'Tsk, I'd almost say that it would be better if they just finished it already. But if I died the Kyuubi would reform, and they know they don't have the ability to seal him if he gets out.'

In his first years of life, back in Konoha, they had tried so hard to deny him his existence. Not that they aimed for his life, or anything like that- though a darker corner of his mind told him that some of his 'accidents' had not truly been accidents. No, the villagers and shinobi had simply ignored him whenever possible, and gave him a cold shoulder whenever he tried to interact. And as the parents hated his gut, so did the children, even if his own generation didn't even know why he had been hated in the first place. Ironically, now he was isolated for the very same reason.

'Only this prison is tangible, in contrast to how I lived back then,' Naruto sighed. His ears twitched when he heard footsteps nearing the door of his prison cell. 'I've just had food, what could it be this time? A rookie at the T&I who thinks he can be the first to crack me?'

A key entered the lock, and with the dry sounds of creaking wood the door opened. Not that he could see who did it, being blinded by the torch which was held by his visitor.

"Ah, I'm sorry," a female voice, one that sounded quite familiar to Naruto, sounded. She put the torch in a holder on the wall, then stepping further into his prison. He heard her drag the chair towards his bed, and sighed.

"Get out…"

"No can do," she said bluntly. "And considering how you're not going anywhere either, I'm just going to stay here."

"Ha ha, very funny," Naruto scowled. "Why are you here, Temari? More empty promises? New attempts to give me false hope? I guess you guys must think I've grown desperate enough to believe them this time."

"I… they weren't, Naruto," Temari actually looked saddened. The cynical part of Naruto told him that her acting had improved, while the remnants of his naïve self wondered what she was sad about. Alas, idealism only went so far, and years of imprisonment had corroded it to nigh non-existence.

"Sure they were, I'm still stuck in this shithole," he chuckled mirthlessly. "So fuck off. I'm not in the mood."

"You've become quite rude."

"Imprisonment tends to make your social skills quite rusty. You should try it. Just stay in this room for two years, with some occasional torture, and you'll be just as cheerful as I am," his sarcasm almost seemed to literally slap her in the face, as he saw her cringe.

"It's three, Naruto. Well, almost three. Three years," she sighed. "It feels like it's been lifetime though… those chunin exams where we first met."

He stared coldly at her. Her teal eyes looked away, unable to meet his icy blue ones. Now that he looked closer at her, he noticed how tired the blonde looked. Still, he could not find himself caring much about that. Even if she was one of the only people who had bothered to visit him with seemingly no ulterior motives, he still felt bitter. Mostly due to his own foolishness, and this made it even worse.

He still had vivid memories of the hope he had carefully hidden, when she had approached him not too long after he had been thrown in this hellhole. How Gaara had changed his views thanks to him, how she was grateful to have her little brother back, how she and Gaara tried to convince her father, the Kazekage, to free him. Or to at least give him a little more leeway than he had now. Yes, he had fallen for those promises like a fool.

Sadly, nothing ever came out of it. It had been the last time Naruto had felt any hopes of getting out of this place, and they had died out with the passing of time. Not that he hated her, mind you, but he could not feel anything positive either. To him, she was just like everyone else, and he felt nothing. Or at least, that was what he wanted to believe.

Looking at her, he noticed how her sandy blonde hair was carefully gathered in her usual four consecutive pigtails. She wore a short-sleeved, black kimono that reached down to her legs, with slits along the side and a more revealing neckline. Definitely not ugly, he noted, even if she was one of his enemies. While her choice of clothing had almost completely changed since he had last seen her- had it been weeks or months?- he noticed she had kept the red sash that was tied around her waist. The fingerless black gloves were new, though, and her hitai-ate had moved from her neck to her forehead.

'What's with the clothes?' Naruto was a bit weary, almost wondering if he had grown paranoid due to his solitude. 'Could it be that she's sent her to convince me to serve Konoha? Torture didn't work and brainwashing was ineffective too, so now they'd resort to seduction again?

He snorted, for the first time since… he couldn't say how long it had been since he had felt amused.

Unaware of his line of thinking, Temari frowned when she heard him snort. "What?" she asked. At first she thought she had screwed up by mentioning the Chunin Exams, as this had been the event where everything had gone wrong for him.

"Why don't you just say what you want from me?"

"I… we… ugh," she groaned, frustrated and searching for the right words. This had seemed so much easier when she had been rehearsing the conversation in her head, prior going to his jail. "We never wanted this to happen. Gaara and I, we tried to get you out. But father didn't want to cooperate. The elders didn't want it either."

"This bullshit again? Try something new, Temari," Naruto sighed.

"It's not a lie!" she glared at him. "It took us time, but we finally… well, we finally managed to find a way to convince Father," her glare had vanished while she spoke, morphing into an expression of guilt that confused Naruto thoroughly.

-Z-

He rather did not come down here, but in this matter he had little choice. He couldn't afford to be absent, no matter how badly he rather stayed at his home. His stoic face remained unreadable for those gathered in the room, with one major exception. Unfortunately the man he hated most also knew him very well, and had made a point out of recognizing his each and every expression.

Some would argue that it would be natural for a father to know his son so well, but this case was different. This was the one man who could control him, who could stop him in case he lost control. And even though he had not lost control during these past three years, not even once, the man still was very wary of his son.

He had fair skin and short spiky red hair. His green eyes, lacking distinctive pupils, stared into the room with a deceptive calmness. Aside from the Kazekage, none could see that Sabaku no Gaara was anxious. That, in turn, made Rasa nervous, though he hid that well. Behind the veil he wore no one could see his expression anyway. It did not change the fact that Rasa still could not fully understand why his son had changed so much. In truth, even Gaara wondered how that one encounter could have left him changed so profoundly.

"My existence will not be extinguished!" Gaara remembered himself shouting, the first time he had ever been defeated. Even three years later he still remembered perfectly well how afraid he had been. Afraid that someone existed who could fight him on equal grounds, without petty tricks, and actually take him down while fighting him head-on. Someone who, in spite of the injuries and exhaustion, still refused to go down.

In a sense it was no surprise to Gaara that his father had never managed to break the indomitable will of Uzumaki Naruto. And yet… Gaara knew better than anyone how much they had made his fellow jinchuriki suffer.

"The pain of being alone is not an easy one to bear… your feelings… why is it that I can understand your pain? But… I have people who are precious to me now… I won't let you hurt those people. If you try to kill them, I will stop you."

Those words of loneliness and the importance of those he cared about, something about Naruto's words had reverberated in Gaara's soul. They had changed him fundamentally. The boy who had always sought for a reason to exist, without ever having a reason to be strong, now met someone who should have been weaker than him. By all accounts the other jinchuriki should have been stronger, though, but his lack of training left his abilities as a shinobi practically crippled. Gaara, by contrast, had been trained to become the perfect weapon from the moment he first learned to walk.

Why had anyone gone so far for other peoples' sake? It was a question that left Gaara completely baffled at the time. Not Naruto, though.

"They saved me from the hell of being alone. They acknowledged my existence… that's why they're all important to me."

For a moment Gaara closed his eyes, and in his mind he saw how the blooded Uzumaki had crawled towards him. He saw that something in the eyes of the blond, that willpower that made Gaara understand why Naruto had been able to go so far. Why he had been able to beat Gaara, even if his training had been inferior.

Love.

That had been why Uzumaki Naruto was stronger. That was what Gaara had lacked. In fact, it was also something which Naruto had lacked, but he had struggled to attain it. The love of friends, of people who replaced the positions that parents or siblings should have had in his empty life. Gaara had always had siblings, an older brother and sister who always had kept a bit of distance between themselves and him. When younger, he remembered Temari secretly visiting him, singing him songs and such. Or Kankuro fooling around with his stuffed toy. That wasn't what their father had wanted, though. Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage, wanted Gaara to become the perfect weapon. Not a human who could be swayed by a weakness such as emotions, but a tool.

Gaara remembered that day well. The final round of the Chunin Exams had been a day of victory for Sunagakure, a day when they had struck a harsh blow in the heart of their rival village. Gaara remembered how he had sensed how one of Orochimaru's underlings had intercepted the approaching Uchiha, shortly before Temari and Kankuro had caught up with him.

At the time he had not known in what state Konoha would be left. He knew that Orochimaru of the Sannin would engage the Sandaime Hokage, while the Kazekage and his strongest jonin would take down the gathered elite of Konoha. The invading troops from Sunagakure and Otogakure would overrun Konoha's defenses, and Gaara had been forced to make a decision he had second-guessed ever since.

He had chosen to take Naruto with them, to have Temari carry the other jinchuriki after she knocked him out. Even if Gaara had not fully comprehended that Naruto had been a jinchuriki at the time, he knew that Naruto had a monster sealed within him as well, and that Naruto was familiar to what he had suffered.

'Naruto, that day I acknowledged you as a precious person,' Gaara recalled. 'That you were someone who acknowledged me, understood me, and drove away my solitude. I wonder… how much will you hate me, for my choice? Because of my desire to keep you out of the invasion, because of my fear that one of Orochimaru's men would exploit your weakened condition, I dragged you to Sunagakure. And look at how Father treated you…'

Just when he wondered whether his sister would manage to convince Naruto to cooperate with their plan, he saw her enter the room. In her wake… Gaara clenched his fists, and let out an involuntary growl when he saw the person he considered to be his friend.

In a colorless rag that barely managed to act as pants, Uzumaki Naruto unsteadily walked into the room, following Temari. She still held his hand, apparently supporting the famished Uzumaki.

"So much for your promise to treat him in a civilized way," Gaara glared at his father. The guards stepped forward, fearing that Gaara would act against his father. Rasa simply lifted a hand to stop them.

"His life could have been better if he had been more cooperative," Rasa looked back at Gaara. The Kazekage kept his calm, but Gaara could see the unease in the man's eyes.

'He is getting more and more afraid of my growing strength,' Gaara took no small amount of satisfaction in that realization. Perhaps that had been why Rasa had agreed to what he and Temari had proposed. Though, knowing his father, Gaara still expected his father to hold some sort of ace up his sleeve. "Then you should have allowed me to meet him."

"We've had this conversation before," Rasa shot back, slightly irritated.

"Indeed," the jinchuriki of the Ichibi remained impassive. "I remember you saying that it was unwise to let me near the person who had managed to defeat me. I remember that you refused to accept that I was no longer the same person I was before I met him. And yet… here I am."

"You were the one who made this proposition."

"I was," Gaara turned away, rather looking at Naruto than his increasingly annoyed father. There had been times that this annoyance would have caused Gaara to go on a murderous rampage, but times had changed. "I knew you would be stubborn, and waste this chance."

"Her life still depends on his choice."

"I know, Father. But I know him better than you do," Gaara could pointed out that his father's crude way in dealing with the other jinchuriki would only prove that point, but chose not to. Pointless arguments with the man who ultimately still held the power to decide on Naruto's wellbeing would only be counterproductive. "Greetings, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Gaara," the tired-looking Uzumaki did not bow or incline his head, in no way did he show any emotion other than a perfect apathy. "You here to finish the job?"

-Z-

Three years without proper physical exercise had definitely not been without consequences. Just walking up the stupid stairs had reduced him to a panting mess, one who silently cursed the already aching muscles in his legs. It was rather preposterous, he had once been inexhaustible, and now he was… pathetic was the only word he could think of that adequately described him as he was now.

'This nonsense better be worth it,' Naruto grumbled inwardly. 'Why she'd be so damn shifty about her dad wanting to make a deal with me makes the whole thing suspicious, though. Oh well, if this is my execution it would be fine too.'

Part of him wanted to like his fellow blonde. She offered him a hand, trying to support him when she saw how weakened he was from the little walk out of his prison to here. He begrudgingly accepted the help, knowing that if he didn't support himself like he did now- one hand was placed on the wall next to him- he would quickly fall over.

Like he concluded earlier: pathetic.

"We're almost there," she promised.

He kept him mouth shut and soldiered on. If this was going to be his death he'd at least try to keep some dignity. As such Temari guided him to a large room. In the back of the room was a man with white robes and a blue hat that signified his position: the Yondaime Kazekage, Rasa. Surrounding the man were four guards, masked with the typical cloths in front of their faces, rather than Konoha's Anbu that wore masks. Standing separately was a familiar face, one which Naruto had not seen in three years. He knew, however, that this was the person responsible for his imprisonment. Or, as Temari had claimed, the person who had tried to get him out of a warzone.

Gaara got in some kind of argument the moment Naruto entered the room, though Naruto was too tired to really pay attention. Something about his treatment. He could feel Temari tense up the moment the Kazekage's voice sounded more annoyed, making him wonder what this was all about. Could it be that her stories had been true, that Gaara had really tried to get him out of jail? 'No,' he decided. 'It's just another charade. Another attempt to break what little is left of my sanity.'

"Greetings, Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara's gravelly voice now directed at him.

"Gaara," Naruto felt empty, tired, and rather wished they just stated what they wanted from him. As long as he would breathe he would not be their weapon, so they would be better off if they just killed him. "You here to finish the job?"

After blinking once, the only sign of surprise that could be seen on Gaara's impassive face, the jinchuriki of the Ichibi shook his head. "As long as I live, you will not be executed by Sunagakure," his earnest voice caused one of the Anbu to draw a blade.

"Seems like they don't all think that way," Naruto smirked wryly. "So… what's so important that I had to come up here? Not that I don't like getting out of my prison cell for a change, but you guys know by now that I'm not going to bend the knee."

"Swearing your allegiance would be a wise move," the Kazekage interjected with a deceptively calm voice. The unspoken threat left Naruto indifferent, though. He had gotten worse threats. And many of those threats had been followed through as well. Suna's torturers were nothing if not thorough.

"After the shit you guys did? Fuck you," Naruto flipped the man off. Part of him hoped he'd be rewarded with death, and he instinctively stepped aside and let go of Temari. If they were going to attack him, he would not drag along the one person who had treated him nicely- even if he thought it had all been a lie.

"Yes, my men inflicted a lot of pain… to you," the Kazekage's mirth shortly paused the Uzumaki, enough for Temari to grab his arm and keep him from falling face-down. The leader of Sunagakure gestured one of his guards, who walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry," Temari whispered, confusing Naruto even more. That confusion turned to unbridled rage when the Anbu returned with a second prisoner in tow.

Dragged along by the man was a girl in a plain brown dress. A dress filled with bloodstains. The girl was bruised and held her arm as if it was broken. Her pink hair was a mess, with spots of dried up blood that had only been washed out roughly. Her green eyes were filled with tears when she saw him, muttering something incoherent- Naruto guessed that it was his name.

"As you can see, Uzumaki Naruto," the Kazekage gloated. "We caught ourselves a little spy. It took a surprising amount of time to break her, but we eventually got everything out of her."

"Bastards," Naruto growled. Faster than he could blink two Anbu had moved in, slamming him to the ground.

"Enough," Gaara's voice was loud enough to silence even Temari's protests. Even the two Anbu looked insecurely from their master to the man's son. "Tell him about the deal, Father. It's no use to prolong this, just because you are frustrated that you could not get Naruto to serve you."

"What deal could I want with you filthy animals?" Naruto spat.

"Do you wish that girl to die?" the Kazekage asked, though everyone in the room saw how he twitched when Gaara talked to him like that. The man had been moments away from attacking his son. Even Naruto, who tried to get back on his feet, had seen it. "We could keep torturing her. And… she's a fine looking young lady, if those bruises and cuts are gone. Sunagakure could always need more children."

The Uzumaki cringed. Konoha had abandoned him, he tried to tell himself. But even he did not believe that anymore, not after seeing the look in Sakura's eyes. The idea that she would have to endure the same treatment he had infuriated him, and the suggestion that they could just use her for breeding purposes…

'That bastard is going to pay. Even if I have to sell my fucking soul to the Shinigami itself, I'm going to make him suffer for this,' Naruto vowed. "Or?"

"Or you could serve as Suna's jinchuriki. As long as you remain faithful, the girl will live. She won't suffer as long as you obey, and if you prove yourself to be able to keep your word, we might even give her some more lenience," the Kazekage chuckled. "My village could use someone with your power, boy. And you don't want your old teammate to suffer and die because of your stubbornness, do you?"

"…no," Naruto swallowed all the insults and threat that he had in mind, swallowed his pride, and bowed his head slightly. "You have my word, as long as you keep your end of the bargain. But I promise you one thing," he glared up at the man. "If Sakura is mistreated in any way, I'll break the seal myself. The Kyuubi would be happy to turn your entire fucked up village into a crater."

"Idle threats," the Kazekage huffed.

"What do you think the Kyuubi has been trying to convince me to do for the past three years?" Naruto's eyes turned red. "It would actually be easy for me to just destroy the seal… but I won't. I never go back on my word, even if it is one given to scum like you… Kazekage-sama," he added mockingly.

"Very well, Uzumaki Naruto," the man rose from his seat and walked towards the defiant jinchuriki. A thin cloud of gold dust followed in the man's wake. "I will not forget your words. But do not forget who controls this game, boy." With one flick of his finger the dust gathered around Naruto's right hand, forming a dense golden ring on his index finger. "Temari, get this brat out of my sight. As part of your deal, he will stay at your side."

"Yes, Father," Temari bowed.

"You know what will be expected of you," he glared at his daughter. "Do not fail me. I will not be embarrassed in front of the council again."

Author's notes:

A word of warning is probably fair. While working on Pareidolia, I had this annoying idea stuck in my head. Unable to escape… well, I wrote it out, and before I knew what happened I had written four more chapters as well. The bugger just seemed to write themselves, all in the course of a few days. Unfortunately I ran out of inspiration. And time… So, I'll publish what I have, after some editing, and perhaps in due time I'll find the time to continue the story. Or find someone to adopt it. It isn't the ideal solution, but I felt like it was a waste to just delete what I had worked on.

Having gained experience from writing other stories, I know that I have to warn some of you that this story is fanfiction. This means that my story will deviate from canon, therefore will contain some AU/original elements. Additionally, it will imply that characters might behave differently due to the different experiences they go through. My friendly advice to anyone who just wants a rehash of the manga: reread the manga, and do not waste your time on this story- or any form of fanfiction for that matter.

Beyond that, this story is rated 'M' for some very good reasons. This is not going to be some kind of happy-go-lucky story in a universe filled with butterflies and unicorns. Naruto isn't going to be some kind of evil scumbag, mind you, but he will be far darker than his manga counterpart. This is a logical consequence of the stuff he experiences, as shinobi are, in my view, not people who fight with fluffy pillows and rubber duckies.

-Ziltoid-