Chapter 1-Shadowed Return

They say death is the next stage of life. That it is a natural part of us and the Universe as a whole. I can see that to some extent. I really do. If the death of a person were in fact one of natural causes. Mine...was not!

(Konoha-16 Years after Kyuubi's Attack)

It was raining heavily in Konoha. It was an angry rain. An angry storm. The Heavens themselves lashed out village with lightning and thunder to further show its displeasure of the events transpiring below. For within the village, in the place where the execution square was located, a beaten, bloodied body with blonde hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks was forced to his knees. In front of him was Shimura Danzo, wearing the Hokage's robes, and had a smirk on his face at seeing the Jinchuriki before him in such a position.

"Uzumaki Naruto, for your crimes against Konoha, and being a threat to the village as a whole...I sentence you to death by burning using Fire Jutsus. Anything you would like to say before I give the order to kill you?" replied Danzo with Naruto looking up at him and scowled.

"Yeah. I do, but I doubt you would let me say them because deep down you're a fucking coward," replied Naruto before he was struck in the face with Danzo's cane.

"You will respect me brat. Even before your death, I won't allow such disrespect," said Danzo with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Respect? You demand respect, yet don't give it where respect is due. Such a hypocrite. Of course, what would you expect from someone who won't get his hands dirty directly? From someone who would sacrifice everyone around, but himself at the moment of truth when the call is made. Some patriot you are," remarked Naruto before he was hit again by Danzo again with much greater force.

"Enough! Burn him before he says something that displeases me further," replied Danzo before giving the order for the ANBU to perform the hand signs.

Behind and all around them, the crowd watched with anticipation. With glee. With joy! They were finally going to see the demon brat die. For them, it was a long time coming, and not a moment too soon in their minds. They had been calling for this day since the time of the Sandaime Hokage, the Gondaime Hokage, and only now with the Rokudaime did they get their wish.

"You think this will end me Danzo? Well you better pray that it does. You better pray to Kami and the Shinigami that they can keep my spirit locked away. Because if they can't, I will do everything in my power to come back to Konoha, and see to it this place burns to the ground!" stated Naruto with Danzo glancing at him with that bandaged face.

"Unlike my Hokage predecessors, I believe when you die, you will stay dead, and spirits have no power over the world of the living," remarked Danzo with Naruto smirking at him.

"Is that why you constantly fear your own death? You might as well be afraid of your own shadow," mocked Naruto with a chuckle despite the pain it caused.

"Kill him," commanded Danzo coldly while the five ANBU on the stage launched the Fire Jutsu at the blonde.

'Hinata-chan, I'm sorry. I won't be there for you like I wanted. At least I was able to get you out of Konoha and somewhere safe with our baby before those fucking Elders could catch you. To think, I would live just long enough to be a Father. Still, that doesn't mean I won't find a way to protect you, our child, and get revenge on Konoha for this betrayal. I will come back one way or another. I promise,' thought Naruto while the fire came closer to him didn't once close his eyes prior to it making contact with him.

As it did come closer to him, Naruto thought about how the people of Konoha turned on him so easily on the new Hokage's command. Not just the usual people either. But those Naruto knew like Anko, Ibiki, Iruka, the Clan Heads, the Jounin senseis, and the Rookies sans Hinata.

He had been in a secret relationship with her until today. They had even married in secret only a few months upon his return to Konoha after his three year training trip with the so called Great Toad Sage Jiraiya. Great Toad Sage his currently bleeding hole in his foot. The pervert didn't teach him shit! All the man ever did was peep on women and give him some minor stuff to do any Genin could do with the proper instructor. Not that Naruto cared since he snuck away too and found his own teachers while leaving a Shadow Clone to stick behind to fool the old pervert. When they came back, Jiraiya boasted how he was the perfect teacher to Naruto, which the blonde crushed by stating peeping on women in hot springs, and going to brothels was not training.

It was funny seeing the man's reputation crumble while the women around him beat the living shit out of his body.

As for Naruto being with Hinata, it hadn't been easy to sneak away to see each other when in their secret relationship, or to even get to their wedding destination. Jiraiya being his usual spying self was always keeping an eye on Naruto regardless if the boy was in Konoha or not! Pure invasion of the blonde's privacy all for the "good of Konoha", which was bullshit no matter how you spin it. Fortunately for Naruto that is, the "client" for this intended wedding was an old dear friend of Naruto's, and the Spring Daimyo was ever so happy to make such a thing happen.

Sadly, Jiraiya in an act of betrayal, decided to snoop around after seeing the two being too chummy to be considered "just friends", and blew the whistle on purpose. Again, it was all for the "good of Konoha" in the Sannin's opinion, but Naruto suspected he did it because he was just an asshole like that when it came to his Godson's happiness.

He did push the blonde into a ravine just to make him use Kyuubi's chakra once. If that doesn't make you an asshole, what does?!

Naturally, the Hyuuga Elders were not happy about this, and moved to have the marriage annulled on the ground it went against their clan laws. Unfortunately for the Elders, one can't simply have said marriage annulled if the one performing the sacred ceremony was a Daimyo and/or the marriage was backed by a Daimyo.

In another act of betrayal, Tsunade actually tried to convince Naruto to divorce Hinata on the grounds that they were "too young", or "Iwa or Kumo will target her now" because of her connection to him. How he was basically painting a big fat target on her back simply by being near him. It didn't help that Kurenai had stomped up to his home, got in his face, and threatened to castrate him if he didn't let her student go from their marriage.

Again, Naruto had told them all to fuck off. Hinata herself had gotten Kurenai to back off by warning her old sensei that if she threatened her husband again, the Hyuuga would be sure to destroy the woman's ability to reproduce.

When vocal convincing didn't work, Tsunade decided to test the very strength of their marriage by sending them both on separate missions. Both went far away from the village in different directions of the world. Another part of the plan was when one of them just happened to be in the village, the other was not, and they never had any time for each other. To make them become frustrated, angry, say hurtful things to each other, and then finally...divorce!

Or so the powers that be thought would happen.

In truth, Naruto would make sure his route on any mission outside the village took him straight to Hinata when she was out of the village too. The two spent as much time as possible together and Konoha was never the wiser. They swore that nothing would stop them from having a life together no matter what Konoha threw at them.

And then Hinata became pregnant. Something she couldn't keep hidden in Konoha for long. Not when the Hyuuga used their damn fucking eyes to see into her belly every chance they got to see if life was conceived in it.

The first attempt on Hinata's life following the discovery of the pregnancy started about two weeks after the Hyuuga Clan found out. They came to the couple's house and tried to specifically aim their Gentle Fist at her to kill the child within Hinata. They wanted to end any chance of the woman being a Mother now or ever again. Fortunately, Naruto was coming back from a mission early at the time when that was happening, and he saw what the bastards were trying to do.

Naturally, it pissed him off something fierce, and he proceeded to butcher the Hyuuga Clan members trying to destroy Hinata's life. It didn't help that some ANBU were in the area watching the whole event and didn't step in until after Naruto showed up. Of course by the time the ANBU decided actually do something, the Hyuuga Clan members were already dead, torn to pieces, and Naruto himself was standing in front of his wife in a protective manner.

Naturally, the people of Konoha weren't happy. Namely the Hyuuga Clan. They called for his death. Saying he had no business killing members of the clan. Naruto countered saying they tried to kill his wife, if not their unborn child, and were on Uzumaki Clan property illegally. After much debate, Tsunade had no choice, but to side with Naruto on this matter, and could only warn him not to do anything like this again.

Can you believe it! The woman acted like HE was in the wrong!

Not surprising, Naruto found out Tsunade did not approve of the boy being with Hinata simply because she felt the girl would make him soft. That he would shirk his duties to Konoha by being in love and such things had no business being apart of a Hokage's life if he wanted the hat someday.

As if she was one to talk!

Jiraiya and her would constantly try to separate the two with missions. They would even go so far to try hiring men (for Hinata) and women (for Naruto) to seduce the two into being unfaithful to the other. Hell, Kurenai had even tried her hand in getting Naruto to cheat on Hinata with herself if only to use it as ammo to get the two of them to break up in the future.

Naruto's response to Kurenai's attempt was to get the Hell out his house or he would do something very painful to her female organs in a way that no man would touch her.

At first, it didn't make sense to Naruto why Tsunade, or Jiraiya would go so far to ruin his relationship with his wife. Weren't they entitled to some happiness? Weren't they entitled to being in love? Having a family?

According to Tsunade and Jiraiya? Apparently not if you were the village Jinchuriki from what Naruto learned in a secret meeting between the two when discussing. Mito only got her happiness in life while the Kyuubi Jinchuriki due to being the Shodaime's wife and of course no one knew she was even the Kyuubi Jinchuriki from the start. Not to mention, the Uzumaki Clan was supporting her from the shadows so if things did get crazy, she could come back home, and leave Konoha behind.

Kushina was the same way with having Mito's support in Konoha just before the elderly Uzumaki woman died and the Uzumaki Clan fell during the Second Shinobi War. But even Kushina had felt some of the oppressive force of Konoha when those rising up in power through the ranks of Konoha learned of her secret. Of course by that point where all the players had power, the Yondaime Hokage had taken his seat, and no one dared try to challenge his decision in wanting to keep Kushina's status as the Kyuubi Jinchuriki a secret from the village.

But when he and his wife died? Everything changed.

The Sandaime Hokage felt the adult population should know the truth. Why not? They were smart right? Wrong! Jiraiya of course didn't want anything to do with Naruto as the boy grew up. Why? It would cramp his bachelor and perverted style! He wanted to peep on women for his research. He wanted to go to brothels and get laid by hot women. You can't do that changing a baby's diapers or raising the baby 24/7 much less training the baby when it grew up. Letting the village handle Naruto while growing up was his plan. When the boy was old enough, Jiraiya would show up, use his fame as a ninja to get the Uzumaki's attention, and soon enough...have the runt eating out of the palm his hand.

Tsunade's excuse? She was just miserable. The loss of her lover Dan. Her little brother Nawaki. Minato. Kushina. The woman just couldn't stand the idea of someone else being truly happy. Or rather happier then herself. The fact Naruto was the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and it was proven via an autopsy done by Tsunade that Kushina was slain by the Kyuubi didn't help the Sannin's view of the boy.

And it wasn't just him. Shizune was a victim in her own right. Constantly at Tsunade's side like a puppy on a leash. Always there to deal with debt collectors and then later on being the woman's assistant when the Senju became the Hokage. Always dealing with paperwork and the never-ending flow of bureaucracy. Shizune was admittedly quite the attractive woman and could have had a boyfriend if she wanted to...provided Tsunade didn't interfere while say it was for the younger woman's own good.

And then, to make matters even worse, Pein from the Akatsuki showed up with Konan attacked Konoha.

They were defeated of course. Pein died by Naruto's hands. Konan retreated back to Ame where the Akatsuki was secretly located. Konoha was safe thanks to Naruto despite the destruction caused in the end of the fighting. You would think the people would change their tune about Naruto since he saved Konoha from total destruction, right? Wrong! They were still being assholes and were still giving him along with Hinata a hard time simply because the Akatsuki were attacking Konoha for him.

Tsunade was in a coma. A temporary coma, but one nonetheless. Jiraiya was alive, but he only had one arm, and needed a prosthetic for a replacement limb. He had planned to go to Ame to investigate the leader of the Akatsuki on a hunch on who it actually was. But Naruto's actions since coming back to the village and Hinata own in terms of being the blonde's wife while carrying his child had delayed him on multiple occasions.

It was during this moment in time, Danzo became the new temporary Rokudaime Hokage after speaking to the Fire Daimyo about Tsunade's replacement until she woke up. Of course by that point, Naruto knew the writing on the wall. So did Hinata. If they stayed any longer, their lives, and the life of the unborn child she carried would suffer to no end.

It also didn't help that the Elder Toad had Jiraiya come before him and foretold of a dark prophecy that the Toad Sage assumed was in connection to Naruto. So with that in mind, Danzo used this ammunition to order the arrest of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, and his wife so they could use the baby to seal Kyuubi into him or her.

Naruto had no intention of his child being used in such a manner. It was bad enough that it happened to him, but to do such a thing to his child, and no doubt deny Hinata her right to raising him or her was not something he was willing to tolerate. So they fled. Well, Hinata had to flee because she wasn't truly tied down like he was due to the stupid Toad Contract allowing Jiraiya to reverse summon him at any point in time. If Naruto went with her now, he would just be yanked back to Konoha, and taken away from her before he could say "instant ramen" on a sugar rush.

Hence why he made an army of several thousand Shadow Clones and got his wife the Hell out of Konoha while dealing with Danzo in his position of power.

The old war hawk had not been pleased with him. Not in the slightest. He knew Naruto would not fight for Konoha willingly. No amount of influence from his Sharingan hidden behind his bandages would influence the boy. The Uzumaki Clan were a stubborn bunch. Always had been. Naruto refused to tell Danzo where Hinata had gone and ordered the T&I department to rip the information out of him. To hold nothing back.

And they didn't.

They tore into his flesh. Something Anko seemed to enjoy quite a bit despite the fact she was suppose to be like him. The more he resisted her methods of talking through pain of the flesh only turned the woman on more. Anko kept cutting into his flesh, stabbing, slicing, breaking bones, and all that stuff. Hell, she even let Kurenai have a shot at him with the woman's Genjutsu unleashing everything painful he went through growing up all the way up to Anko's time ripping apart his flesh.

Two Yamanaka tried their hands at him. One was named Fu and the other was Inoichi. Ino's dad. Neither had looks of concern for him. Not surprising with the former, but the latter was a bit surprising. Still, their double invasion of his mind did nothing to his mind, except pissed him off something fierce.

Both were admitted to the hospital after Naruto beat the stuffing out of them in his mind with the attacks on them mentally projecting onto their physical bodies.

It wasn't long before Ibiki came to the forefront to take a crack at him. Being the Head of the T&I dept. made many believe he was the only one to break the Jinchuriki. But Naruto had plenty of motivation to resist and all he did when Ibiki was done with him was just laugh at the scarred man's attempts before asking if this was his best shot?

Angry and frustrated by Naruto's resistance, Danzo decided to cut his losses on the issue, and just kill the blonde brat in a public execution to further strength his support from the people. He knew it was risky given it would means the loss of the village weapon. But the fact remained his Jinchuriki was broken and a broken weapon had no business being around if it could not be remade. He also knew because of what the Yondaime Hokage did, once the brat died, the Kyuubi would die too. No reforming. No coming back. End of story.

And it wasn't like Naruto had the only Biju around. Sure the boy had the strongest Biju, but not the only one in existence. All Danzo needed was to get one of the other Jinchuriki in his grasp and recondition him or her to be a loyal weapon and tool of Konoha. If not, they could extract the Biju and reseal it into someone else to start from scratch.

And there was always the chance his Root or Jiraiya's spy network would find Hinata or her child in the years to come. It was only a matter of time before they did and made the girl or boy a possible Jinchuriki in the future.

As Danzo looked into the fire that was burning Uzumaki Naruto alive, the man expected the brat to scream out in pain. To cry out in agony while the crowd cheered. To see the boy suffer with regret in not kneeling to his betters and superiors like he should have done from the start.

Instead, all Danzo got was laughter. Laughter from dying boy, who even now was looking at him through the fire with glowing red eyes.

It actually made Danzo feel a small sliver of fear at seeing such an eerie sight.

And he wasn't the only one. The crowd's cheering had died down among the raging storm above them for the sound of laughter coming from the one they were cheering would die. It was actually ruining the mood of the crowd and making the Shinobi around them very uncomfortable.

"You think I am forever gone. You think I am forever dead. But death holds no power over an Uzumaki. I will return. I will come back. When the time is right Konoha and all who live in it will BUUUUURRRRN!" exclaimed Naruto in a demonic voice before he laughed while the storm above escalated and the wind seemed to swoop in and hit the boy hard enough for his ash like body to be scattered to the winds.

The laughter echoing throughout Konoha and the storm itself did not let up. If anything, the storm got increasingly worse.

But that was a long time ago. For me anyway. I found my death led my spirit to a path of light beyond what I had ever known. Maybe I was reincarnated. Who knows. The point is that Uzumaki Naruto was dead. I was remade. Remolded into a being of light against the darkness. And for a time, I did my job well.

Until I met him. Until I met the Dark Lord Morgoth. Maybe it was his unique presence which overpowered mine. Maybe it was the fact his words and actions that reminded me of the past I once had. Maybe it was simply my own desires and promises for revenge against my old world. Again, who knows? What I did know, was I could no longer serve anyone but this man, this God among all other entities, and pledge my service to him.

And in time I made a name for myself. Many names in fact.

Mairon

Annatar

Artano

Gorthaur the Cruel

The Enemy

The Dark Power

The Great Eye

The Necromancer

The Lord of the Ring

The Sorcerer

The Black Hand

The Nameless Enemy

Thauron

Thû

Sauron the Great

Sauron the Deceiver

Oh yes. I went by many names. And the titles! I had so many of them.

Abhorred

Necromancer

Dark Lord

Lord of Mordor

Lord of Gifts

Lord of Barad-dûr

Lord of the Earth

Lord of the Rings

When Morgoth fell, I took on the title of Dark Lord. I waged war in his name. I brought the kingdoms of Men, Elves, and Dwarfs to their knees. Many assumed my powers were all magic based. They were right for the most part. Most of it was. But not entirely.

The Ring of Power was said to have inscriptions on it that were in a form of elvish. Ha! The fools only knew just how wrong they were. Or rather half right they were in terms of what it was they were seeing. Yes it was a form of writing, but any idiot with enough time and patients studying the language of elves can put such a thing on a magical ring. In truth, the inscription written in the language of elves was of my own design where it would hide the Fuinjutsu mixed into it to prevent anyone from destroying it.

When I finished my forging of this Ring of Power, I poured all my pain, my suffering, my own cruelty, and imprinting my very soul into the ring. I made sure this One Ring would be the supreme ring over all rings connected to magic. That for all other rings made for the Elves, Dwarves, and Men of Middle Earth, I would hold the one ring that would rule them all.

I had seen enough of Middle Earth to know the darkness in the hearts of Men. I had seen it as Uzumaki Naruto and I saw it here too. I believed if I could control their spirits and the Wills of these people, I would become everything Morgoth had been during his time, and claim Middle Earth for myself.

Before I set my sights on my own world to crush my enemies, who no doubt forgot about me.

Sadly, my enemies within Middle Earth had other plans.

A last alliance of men and elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the very slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth. Victory was near, but the power of the ring could not be undone. It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword. And Sauron, enemy of the free peoples of Middle-Earth, was defeated. The Ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted. And the ring of power has a will of its own. It betrayed Isildur, to his death. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, the ring ensnared a new bearer. The ring came to the creature Gollum, who took it deep into the tunnels under the Misty Mountains, and there it consumed him. The ring gave to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years it poisoned his mind; and in the gloom of Gollum's cave, it waited. Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear, and the Ring of Power perceived. Its time had now come. It abandoned Gollum. But then something happened that the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable. A Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, of the Shire. For the time will soon come when Hobbits will shape the fortunes of all...

Ah yes. The Hobbit. Curious little thing he was when finding the Ring of Power. To think my precious would go to him for a time. And right under the nose of Wizards, Elves, the Dwarves, and Men. No one suspected the Ring of Power, MY Ring of Power was in their grasp the entire time. Ha! What blind naive fools.

What enemy? Gandalf, the Enemy is defeated. Sauron is vanquished. He can never regain his full strength.

But Saruman the White was wrong. I was gathering strength since my defeat. My past knowledge of absorbing nature chakra helped sustaining my now formless state while I took up residence in Dol Guldur. Powerful spells kept the ancient texts and knowledge there from being accessed by any living entity. Done by the forces of light of the White Council of old to ensure no Dark Lord like Morgoth or even myself could rise again using such sorcery.

They should have tried harder.

They speak of a Necromancer living in Dol Guldur, a sorcerer who could summon the dead.

They failed to take into account of the dark spirits of the dead. Namely mine! I broke through those spells and bathed myself in ancient magical knowledge for the next 400 hundred years. Slowly regaining my strength. Slowly bidding my time. Gathering agents in secret to do as I commanded of them. Orcs. Men. Even the Dwarfs were my servants though they never knew it was me.

They never knew I sent the Smaug to Erebor. That my shadowy spirit appeared before the sleeping dragon one night. Whispering into the creature's mind about the vast treasure under the mountain. The sheer size of the gold, the jewels, and diamonds that had been mined by the dwarfs all living there. I whispered into Smaug's ear about how he could bathe in gold. I even whispered how he could be the King under the Mountain by being in possession of the Arkenstone. The King's Jewel. A jewel of incredible power. One I too wished to acquire if only to have its energies poor into the Ring of Power. Making me stronger. Making me more powerful the longer the two of them were close by.

Hence the dwarves seeking to reclaim the lonely mountain played into my plans.

I once more manipulated events to get the dwarves, who once lived in Erebor, or wanted to live there would seek each other out. To put them in a position where it was do or die for them in removing the dragon from the mountain. My army of Orcs attacked Moria to force the numbers of the dwarves to dwindle. To reduce the numbers of the Dwarf King's bloodline down to a trickle. To bring them despair and pain. I knew their minds better then they knew themselves. Like those of Men, the dwarves could be corrupted through greed, and desire for all things gold deep beneath the world as we all knew it.

So I whispered to them. I spoke into the hearts and minds of my enemies as a shadow. A nightmare in a dream. Whispers of what could be or might not be if the dragon within the lonely mountain was allowed to live there.

Naturally, my words hit quite the sore spot for Thorin. Being the Grandson of the King under the Mountain casts a great big shadow over him. My influence on him wasn't any grand thing. The dwarf himself had the desire to take the mountain back, but lacked the needed...motivation.

I mentioned the prophecy that was foretold and how Thorin could make the prophecy come true.

So simple. So easy.

In the end, the fool began to start a quest. A quest that was what I wanted, but also forced my enemies to suspect my nearly invisible hand was at work. The foolish White Wizard that was Saruman of the White Council was blinded by his own arrogance in the belief I could not recover my full strength.

Gandalf was not so sure. He was not so blind as Saruman. The signs of my return were clear to him.

Are we, are we at peace? Trolls have come down from the mountains, they are raiding villages, destroying farms. Orcs have attacked us on the road!

It was a shame no one listened to him until it was nearly too late. I was slightly impressed when he forced my hand. Sadly for him, I was not without my power, and I showed him what it meant to cross me.

There is no light, Wizard...that can defeat darkness.

I showed him what I looked like through the darkness. The fire that coursed through my spiritual body. The rage in my soul. The fury building up with each passing second, ready to explode, and consume all in its path.

I made him speak my name in fear and even...in respect.

Sauron.

Sadly, I underestimated the Gray Wizard in the belief he wouldn't have sent for aid prior to confronting me. The rest of the White Council arrived and like the Gray Wizard, they also challenged my power, and those of my servants.

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky. Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone. Nine for mortal men doomed to die.

I almost brought them to their knees.

You cannot fight the shadow. Even now you fade. One light alone in the darkness.

I showed them my power and made them tremble!

It has begun. The East will fall. So shall the Kingdom of Angmar rise. The time of the Elves is over. The Age of the Orc has come.

I suspect the High Elf Galadriel took my words and actions a bit personally.

You have no power here, servant of Mordor. You are nameless, faceless, formless! Go back to the void from whence you came!

They had their victory. Banishing me from the fortress to my back in Mordor. A minor annoyance. My power did not dwindle from the High Elf's power challenging my own and deep down she knew it. Combined, the White Council at full strength could have eventually defeated me, but they were trusting fools in the end. One of them fighting me all alone.

My Lord Saruman, he must be hunted down and destroyed, once and for all.

Without the Ring of Power, Sauron can never again hold dominion over Middle Earth. Go now. Leave Sauron to me.

He challenged me for sixty years. For those sixty years, our two minds did battle, and in the end...mine won out. I could have killed the White Wizard. Cast him down. Broke his mind. Made him look like a drooling old fool rather then a powerful wizard in the arts of magic. But why would I do that? When his own power could be useful to me in my war against the kingdoms of Elves, Dwarves, and Men?

Sauron has regained much of his former strength. He cannot yet take physical form, but his spirit has lost none of its potency. Concealed within his fortress, the lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf: a great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame.

The Eye of Sauron.

He is gathering all evil to him. Very soon he will summon an army great enough to launch an assault upon Middle-Earth.

And Saruman would be key to that army.

You did not seriously think that a Hobbit could contend with the will of Sauron? There are none who can. Against the power of Mordor there can be no victory. We must join with him, Gandalf. We must join with Sauron. It would be wise, my friend.

Tell me, 'friend', when did Saruman the wise abandon reason for madness?!

And thus began Saruman's intentions in aiding me in my war against the kingdoms of Middle Earth.

The power of Isengard is at your command, Sauron, Lord of the Earth.

And it was here, that I gave Saruman one simple command.

Build me army. Worthy Mordor.

And in that Saruman was successful. The so called White Wizard had his mind opened to the powers of darkness and through my assistance...created new breed of Orc.

Do you know how the Orcs first came into being? They were elves once, taken by the dark powers, tortured and mutilated. A ruined and terrible form of life. Now... perfected. My fighting Uruk-Hai.

I had brought the war to Men on two fronts thanks to Saruman. He had his army march to slaughter Rohan while I moved my own from Mordor to gates of Gondor. I nearly won and would have won if not for underestimating the strength of Men when given the right push by the right people.

Namely the one who would claim the throne of Gondor and be its King.

But what I underestimated the most was the strength and friendship of Hobbits.

It was through them that I failed. It was through them my power was lost for all time.

Or so I assumed.

As it turns out...loyalty to Morgoth after all this time still has some value.

"Welcome my old servant," said the powerful voice of Morgoth.

"Master," whispered Sauron in a shadowy blob like mass that could not take form.

"You have failed in conquering Middle Earth," commented Morgoth from his position in being bound by chains, stained in dark blood that somehow made even the darkness around them seem bright.

"Forgive me Master. I tried," replied Sauron humbly before his Master.

"That you did. I have watched you from the abyss. You tried time and again. In many cases, you nearly succeeded. But you underestimated the power of the light. The light of the Elves. The light within dwarves. You even underestimated the light within Men," commented Morgoth while Sauron's mass bowed where it could in shame.

"I will not let this stop me. I will rise again. Somehow. Some way. I will rise!" stated Sauron with Morgoth letting out a chuckle.

"Perhaps you will. But not here. Not in Middle Earth," replied Morgoth while his one hand bound in chains glowed with power.

"Master?" questioned Sauron in surprise.

"Do you think me a blind man or a fool my servant? I know what your soul screams for. I know what your spirit desires," replied Morgoth before images appeared in the darkness showing Sauron his past life.

A life as Uzumaki Naruto.

"You knew?" questioned Sauron with Morgoth nodding.

"I saw your past. I saw your pain. I saw your promise of revenge upon those who had betrayed you. I opened your mind to those things Sauron. In return, you joined me in the belief that my vast wealth of knowledge, and power in the magical arts would give you a means of returning to the world that believes you to be dead. You knew serving the light would never give you what you seek my loyal servant. As such, I am more then willing to grant your wish. A reward for your many years of loyal service to me long after my supposed death," replied Morgoth with Sauron feeling a sense of...elation at this news.

"I am not worthy of this generous offer my Lord," replied Sauron while Morgoth used more of his power to rip open the portal to the Elemental Countries.

"Now go my servant. I release you from my service. Your Will is now your own. Your ambitions are now your own. Take the knowledge and wisdom you have learned over the long ages and go forth. Go forth and seize your destiny!" commanded Morgoth with Sauron nodding and his form entered the portal before closing.

With Sauron gone, Morgoth smirked behind his helmeted form. His actions in helping his loyal lieutenant was not one of generosity. Far from it. Morgoth knew his loyal lieutenant was powerful in his own right. In fact, Sauron was worthy of the title Dark Lord, and was shown for being a Master in working through the shadows.

Ironic considering he was once a servant of the light at one point before Morgoth used his magic to secretly open Sauron's mind to the past. Such a skilled young man he had been back as Uzumaki Naruto. Truly a great entity to behold for one so young.

Only to be betrayed. The fools of his village. Killing him all because he wouldn't play by their ridiculous rules. How could anyone have troops with no emotions. No feeling. No sense of understanding. Drones were all well and good to have at times, but an army of them with another drone for a commander who also can't think for himself, and has to wait for the main leader to give the final order was just foolish. That world was filled with chaos. Nothing to stabilize it. Sauron or rather Uzumaki Naruto could make such stabilization possible and rule over it as the Dark Lord that Morgoth knew he could be if given the chance.

Morgoth would one day rule over Middle Earth. His former servant would one day rule over the Elemental Countries.

By doing this, Morgoth was also assured that his former servant never made a move to betray him in the future should he have the chance.

(Realm of the Elemental Countries-5 Years since Naruto's Execution)

The shadowy mass of Sauron/Naruto hit the ground hard. Though considering his form was just a mass of shapeless darkness, it didn't hurt the former Kyuubi Jinchuriki in the slightest. At the moment, he was weak. He had no body to cal his own. No power to command except what was nature to sustain himself. No Ring of Power. His precious destroyed in the fire of Mount Doom in the land of Mordor. But he would not fret on the issue now. First, he needed to know if his wife was safe? If his child was safe? Naruto (or was it still Sauron?) used his mastery over chakra sensory and could sense as much with what connection he had with this world at the moment. Those two things were the most important right now.

Gazing around, the formless entity that was Sauron/Naruto could sense this place was in some way familiar to him. He could feel the power of this place and the souls that were all here. Each of them in a state of perpetual agony. Calling upon his knowledge of all things related to the spirits of the dead, Naruto felt out with his limited power, and in an instant felt the connection here was due to the souls lingering were of the Uzumaki Clan.

Meaning he was on the island of Uzu. He was residing in the birthplace of the Uzumaki Clan. The birthplace of his Mother. An ancient place with ancient knowledge. As his time being Uzumaki Naruto, the former Dark Lord of Middle Earth learned all about his clan by raiding the outdated text books the Academy tried to get rid of in terms of history. How the Uzumaki Clan were Masters of Fuinjutsu. How they were feared by many and were the only ones who could hold the Kyuubi in them due to the amount of chakra in their bodies being huge!

He also learned the Uzumaki Clan were said to be the cousin clan of the Senju. Meaning Naruto and Tsunade were cousins in a sense. Distant cousins of sorts. It didn't help his view of her considering the woman's own Grandmother was Uzumaki Mito. If anything, it made Naruto more furious with the woman for betraying him and denouncing him all this time.

She was no better then the Uchiha Clan.

"I will have my revenge. I will bring the Elemental Countries to their knees. All will bow before me! All will bow before my wife! All will bow before my child!" said Sauron while his hatred for Konoha grew once more.

Gazing around the ruins of his clan's homeland, the former Dark Lord realized one simple truth before setting out to get his revenge.

He had work to do.

And Naruto/Sauron had a feeling the souls and spirits of his old kinsmen were more then willing to help. He may not have Kurama anymore. He may not have the chakra of the Biju himself, but that was just a minor bump in the road. He had been through worse and with nothing for centuries before today and came back to bring the realms of Elves, Men, and Dwarves to their knees. He had corrupted the most powerful on the White Council and matched the other in near equal strength before even regaining all of his power.

He was a survivor. His spirit endured Hell. By the time Naruto/Sauron got through with the Elemental Countries...the only symbol worth a damn among all others would be his own burning eye!

(A/N: YAY! Another new story. This chapter was a bit difficult to do on my end in terms of writing, but I hope the next one will be better. I wanted it where Naruto was Sauron, but I didn't know how to really make it happen the way I wanted despite all the qualities the two have if you look at the movies. Powerful spirit. Connection with others giving him strength. The big eye made of fire! Looks a lot like Kurama's eye, doesn't it? Not to mention the whole being a body of fire when combating Gandalf in the Desolation of Smaug. I thought that was badass. For those of you who are wondering who Morgoth is? This guy was basically Sauron's Master and was considered to be THE biggest badass if a Dark Lord Middle Earth ever had with Sauron being his loyal Lieutenant. I figured if anyone could get Naruto back to the Elemental Countries, it would be him. So...there you go. Until next time...PEACE!)