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Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 1: Treacherous Light

It was dark outside in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha. In this darkness, very few people stirred at this hour. However, in a ratty apartment that had definitely seen better days, one boy was still awake and staring at the moon for a moment before leaving with a bunch of scrolls and supplies. He wore torn clothes, barely a step up from rags, all dirtied to the point were the normally bright orange color was now faded and gray looking. The boy had blonde hair that also seemed faded and darker then it should. His face was bruised around his signature whisker marks on his cheeks and his bright blue eyes were dimmed. The child in question was the village pariah, Naruto Uzumaki.

Though he was only five years old, he had gone through more then most people five times his age. To put it simply, his life was hell. For reasons the five year old did not know, everyone in the village seemed to hate him unconditionally. Everywhere he went people gazed at him with hateful eyes and spoke with malice filled words. During the day on the streets, he was often beaten and spit upon by villagers and sometimes shinobi as well. Whenever he tried to make friends with other children, either their parents would take them away, yell at him, or the children themselves would drive him away. He couldn't understand why people did what they did, though he desperately wanted to understand. He could count the people who showed him kindness on one hand, Old man Hokage, Iruka sensei, old man Teuchi, and his daughter Ayame who was a little older then him. Other then those four, everyone else was cruel to him.

At the academy he was considered dead last because he wasn't good at ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu. However, that wasn't completely his fault. Despite working harder then many other students, no one was willing to show him anything or correct any of his mistakes when he practiced. Other than Iruka, none of the instructors could bare to look at him, much less explain things to him. He was lucky if they didn't yell at him and embarrass him in class for asking a question. Outside the academy, people treated him like dirt. Restaurants and shops, with the exception of Ichiraku Raman, always over charged him. The saddest part of all was the fact that he was used to this treatment, he expected it to happen day after day.

That was why the boy preferred the night to day. At night, there was next to no one outside, allowing him to go where he pleased without the worry of being mobbed or harassed. At night, he was free to train and do what he wanted. The darkness hid him away from the hateful glares, the piercing words, and cold loneliness. He could run and jump and do whatever he liked. The darkness was his friend. In the moonlight, his prison became his home. Each night he always had a strange urge to run away from the village, to the eastern horizon. The boy didn't know why he wanted to, but he knew he couldn't lest some of the village ninja hunt him down. In any case, this particular night was one that would change everything.

On the other end of the village, danger for the boy was stirring. Five years ago a massive nine-tailed demon fox called Kyuubi had attacked and destroyed their village, killing many civilians and ninja. There had been no way to stop the damned creature, only slow it down so that their leader at the time, the Fourth Hokage, could seal away the beast in a child, Naruto Uzumaki. It angered everyone to no end that the thing that had taken away their loved ones and destroyed their homes was still alive. Even worse was the fact that the Third Hokage made a law that the child would not be harmed or that anyone who knows of Kyuubi to speak of it to the younger generation. This situation enraged everyone, not only was their greatest enemy alive and at its weakest, but it was right there and easy to kill, yet they couldn't under penalty of death. Even worse was the fact that they could not warn their children of the danger this thing posed under the same threat. Tonight it would end. Tonight they would kill the demon, damn the consequences to hell. They would not let some soft hearted fool stop their justice.

In the forest, where the boy in question was training by himself, he stopped. Something was wrong, his danger sense that he had developed in his short life was acting up. A massive amount of killing intent was focused in his general direction. The boy had felt it many times around shinobi, so he knew what it meant. 'Someone's coming. They're really mad at me again! Why are they mad? What did I ever do to them? Why? Why? Why?' the child repeated over in his mind as he looked towards where the feeling was coming from. He could see it in the distance through the forest, torches. It was a mob, larger then any one he had seen before. Deep within him, a powerful instinct rose up. It was telling, nay screaming at him, to run away to the east. Unlike before, where the boy had wanted to stay in his village around those few who actually cared about him, this time the instinct won out and he turned and ran, instinctively heading east, though why that direction he had no idea.

Naruto ran tirelessly away from the sounds of the people out to kill him and the lights they carried in order to find him. His stamina had always been much higher then other peoples, but now under threat of death, he felt no exhaustion what so ever. A constant flow of energy fed into him as he ran faster and faster. Whether it came from fear or adrenaline or something from deep within him he didn't know, and didn't really care at this point. The blonde haired boy could hear something whispering in the back of his subconscious, telling him to keep going, to reach a place whose image was blurry in his mind, a place he had never seen before. This voice hadn't lied to him before, so he had no reason not to trust it.

The shinobi chased the boy as quickly as possible, but it was turning out to be much more difficult then they realized. Due to the boy playing pranks on the villagers, many shinobi had chased the demon and found him hard to catch due to his unnatural stamina. Now however, his stamina seemed to be limitless and even stranger was the fact that the boy was getting faster. They didn't understand how this was possible, but they didn't care at the moment. All they wanted was to catch the boy, and have their well deserved justice. He would not escape them.

Naruto continued to run through the woods effortlessly in the night. The forest passed him by in a dark blur as his mind was working equally as fast. 'What's going on? Why are they doing this to me? What did I ever do to them? Why's all this happening?' the child screamed in his mind as he ran. Without realizing it, he changed direction and headed to a large cave that he didn't even realize was there to hide. The shinobi followed him with the villagers close behind.

"No use running demon! This time we'll make sure you die!" one of the shinobi called out.

"Come out kitsune and we'll end this quick!" another taunted as they entered the cave.

Back in Konoha, the Sandaime Hokage was angry. Angry at the villagers for their idiocy in blaming and torturing an innocent boy, angry at the ninja who wanted to murder a child for something that wasn't his fault, and angry at himself for not doing more for the child that was the Yondaime's legacy. He turned to Kakashi Hatake, one of his top Jonin and tracking ninjas. "Kakashi, I want you to take a squad of Jonin and find Naruto immediately." The masked ninja nodded and disappeared. The Hokage then turned to Ibiki Morino, one of his top investigators and interrogators. "Ibiki, I want you to launch a full investigation. I want to know who was a part of this and whether or not it was planned."

"What should I do with those that I find sir?" he asked in all serious. Ibiki had seen his share of pain and torture and usually wasn't bothered by it. But inflicting that kind of treatment to the extent these people were to one little kid really pushed his buttons.

The old Hokage sighed. He didn't want to do this, but he had been turning a blind eye to Naruto's mistreatment for some time now. No more. He would not let an innocent child suffer due to his negligence. "Arrest them and take them into custody. They've earned a private session with you. I wish it hadn't come to this," he commented more to himself then to anyone.

Naruto continued to run deeper into the cave, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and the bioluminescence given off by some strange fungus. The catacombs were like a labyrinth, yet the boy knew these caves, he knew them well despite having never been down here before. The scared boy didn't ponder this as he ran for his life. The instinct driving him was getting stronger, directing him to some place. He turned down one path and came to … a door? It was large and wooden, like what one would find in a western-style medieval castle. On it was a strange burning red rune that seemed to shine brighter as he approached. It even seemed to give off a type of warmth that reverberated throughout his being, but not unpleasantly. 'What is this doing here?' he wondered to himself. However, before he could think on this, the echo of the hunter-nin behind jump-started his fear again, and he quickly opened the door and shut it, bolting it behind him.

The two shinobi that were acting as trackers for the main mob came to the door soon after the child closed it. "The brat's in here," the first one said as he approached the door. However, the red rune on the door reacted to his presence, and immediately the shinobi was burned by angry red-colored energy. He jumped back, his eyes blazing as he looked at his charred arm. "Damn it, that demon must've put up a barrier or something!" he cursed.

The other shinobi scowled. "Then we'll just bust the door down!" he cried as he started a string of hand seals.

Naruto was confused and frantic at this point. 'Why did I come here, it's a dead end!' he thought as he looked around the room. It was a storage room of some type that looked like it hadn't been used in years. It was then something spiked up inside his mind. FIND IT. FIND THE KEY. 'What was that? What key?' he thought as a surge of burning chakra from where he didn't know prompted him to do as it said. He searched the room for any kind of key, but found nothing but charred books and broken items that he had no clue what they had once been. The sounds of the ninja blasting at the door with ninjutsu hastened his attempts. He searched until he found a small box underneath some rubble. He opened it to find … a kunai? It looked like a kunai, yet it wasn't. This one was made of pure crystal and out lined with black marble. Strange black runes covered its surface and the handle was wrapped in red cloth similar to silk, yet it was also like fur. 'What kind of kunai is this?' he wondered as he stared at the object.

However, before the boy could dwell on this further, the red chakra from before reemerged, this time seemingly ten times stronger. Naruto cried out in pain as the chakra forcibly made its way through his body and into the strange kunai. The markings on the kunai started to glow an ominous blood-red as the crystal was seemingly filled with fire. The chakra was intense as it seemed to reform itself inside the kunai and then be emitted in front of the boy. It formed a strange circle of energy in front. After the surge of chakra died down, the boy was physically and mentally drained. Not having much of a choice, he sort of fell into the circle causing him to disappear. The circle dissipated leaving no trace of the boy or the strange kunai.

DARK TOME: Items

Keys of the Dark: A key of the dark is a rare and valuable item. These items allow the user to transport themselves from one realm or world to another. However, a key of the dark can only bridge two specific worlds just as a door can only connect two specific rooms. The location the user ends up in either world is usually random unless there is an anchor of some sort attuned to the key in that world. It is important to note that keys are difficult to make and require a decent amount of energy to activate. As a result normal humans and creatures unable to manipulate energy cannot use them. Humans trained to use their chakra, or any other energy source from their body, for example would be able to. Also, keys of the dark don't necessarily have to be keys. They can be any item of any size, usually small items like a ring, watch, knife, etc. for ease of use and transport. Some keys can also be attuned to a certain type of energy or even a certain blood line. WARNING: Keys of the dark should be used with caution. Near constant use or using too much power may result in the key being damaged or destroyed. Damaged keys should NOT be used as they may result in landing the user in limbo rather then their destination of choice or possibly having the user killed while going through an unstable portal.

AN: I know it's a little short for a first chapter but I'll try to make the next one longer. Expect a DARK TOME entry at the end of the chapter usually; they'll be good reference later.