Prologue

"He called it the water fall of truth, didn't he? It's the perfect place, for me to come out." Yami paused. "In other words, I am the true you. I am the real you."

"...The real me?"

"Yes, I am your precious hatred," his shadow answered. "I am the dark part of you."

...

Naruto, Chapter 493

"Why, after all we suffered...Am I holding you back?" Yami asked, tears in his eyes. "Then who the hell am I?...What...What should I do?"

"Simple," Naruto answered, putting his arms around the shadow. "You have to be become me, because you are me...Thank you for everything, but... it's enough now."

...

Naruto, Chapter 495

1

Yami

On a hill overlooking a battle between two titans, two enemies who would forever be clashing, till one of them died, stood a woman of fair stature and physical ability. Despite the heavy wind that perpetuated the area, there wasn't a shred of fabric on her body that blew with it. Almost as if she stood in her very own void, remorseless of the elements that surrounded her. Though her clothing was interesting, and her hair even more so, it was not one quality about her that made her fascinating.

No, it was how all of the physical as well as extra-physical aspects that she possessed made her look over all. It started with her hair, which was crowned by two large buns of red hair which adorned both sides of her face, like a pair of meatballs. Decorating the two buns were a set of sealing paper, which had distinct sealing kanji embedded in black ink, which glowed in the moonlight.

Below the crown of red hair was a pretty face, not too pretty, but beautiful enough to warrant a man's attention. The face itself was remarkable as it had some exotic features that made her different from many of the other girls in the area. It started with the triangle on the center of her forehead which inverted out like a pyramid and shined in the night.

Below the diamond lay a set of crystal blue eyes. framed by dark red eye lashes, the same color as her hair, and below that was a set of red lips without any lipstick. The woman did not need such intricacies, she was comfortable as she was.

If one were to look even further from that point, one would notice she wore a white kimono that did not dance along the wind, despite how heavy it was, and would also notice that the kimono was tied together by a large rectangular sash with the clan marking of the Uzumaki Clan on the back. As current, the sash was tied as if it were some kind of ribbon, or a bow, giving her a majestic look as she walked side to side on the hill.

The white kimono was another thing that glowed in the moonlight, and the woman sighed noticing that some of the men, of both her clan, the Uzumaki, and her cousin clan, the Senju, were staring again. Not at her, there were many beautiful women in their villages, but at the glowing white dress, again.

It was just so funny how it gave her position away, no matter where she was.

"Mito," someone said from behind her. "It appears the two are going to be fighting, probably for a while."

Uzumaki Mito, the woman on the hill, had to agree. She put her gaze back towards the battle at hand and watched as the man who would one day be her husband, depending on her decision today, clashed with his future mortal enemy, Uchiha Madara, a man far younger than himself.

So far Mito was not impressed, but she had to admit that Harashima was powerful.

Yet the amount of trouble he was having with the new Head of the Uchiha was astounding. Either the new head was really good, or the man was losing his edge. Somehow she doubted he was losing anything, if the large amounts of trees he pulled out of the ground were any indication.

She thought about how his techniques would actually help her country.

It wasn't like the Whirlpool Clans needed trees, they were a country by the eddy, and they, her clan, was more focused on fisheries, not agriculture.

Then again he was powerful, young, and, from what she heard, honest. It wasn't easy to find men like that in a world at war, though she knew that part of the reason was because she wasn't looking hard enough. Though, to be fair, it was hard to look for decent soul mates when they were trying to kill you half the time.

"Look, the Uchiha boy has made the first move," an old man said. Mito turned back watch the Head of the Uzumaki Clan smile. "Madara, very interesting, young, strong, and intelligent. Your cousin is going to have his hands full."

"Of course he is. Rumors say he has a secret power about him, that none other unlocked for…a while. Though, again, it is only a rumor. This battle will show if there is any real claim to those stories." Mito said this with a bit of boredom, yet with a twinge of worry. Harashima was said to be a good person. "What do you think will happen, father."

Her father sighed. "I think Harashima will win. He has the experience, and he has the leadership abilities which will let him ask for help if he ever finds himself in a bind. Not only that but the boy's brother is nearby, so if things get bad his brother will simply flood this place and we can take care of the rest. Water beats fire, and all that."

Mito nodded. "Very impressive, but that doesn't show me what he is capable of. So far I am told he can control incredible power over Wood, but I have yet to see his other abilities, the abilities that make him this so called the Most Powerful Ninja."

"Patience, you just have to watch. Wait and see, I guarantee you will not be disappointed." Her father gestured to the battlefield. "On second thought, perhaps we should come back another time. He might not be having a good day."

Mito rolled her eyes, and sighed. She looked at her old and weary father with frustration. The man was on the point of becoming senile if had to drag his only child out here in the middle of a raging battle field to see if she would accept a match up. Well, not so much a match up, as a "If you see something you like, you might ask for it."

Honestly she had to laugh at the sheer boldness of it all.

True that most clans married each other off, to other clans, to secure alliances, and if she were to marry this leader, her Clan would secure an alliance for another generation, but it still irked her that she would be the bond that kept them together. For one thing the Senju and the Uzumaki Clan were already related by blood.

Did they honestly need to marry each other just to keep that alliance stable? They were basically one clan living in two different nations, and to top it off they were the natural enemies of the Uchiha, in a way, though the Uzumaki did not have nearly as much animosity towards the doujutsu clan as the Senju, but still…

"If Harashima doesn't stop underestimating that boy, he is going to die."

Mito turned to see a familiar face. This was the man who had brought her here along with her father. She had to admit he was formidable looking. Tall, silver haired, scarred, and decked out in armor. The brother of the Leader of the Senju of the Forest, and the supposed strongest Water User in the nation.

Mito had a bit of respect for this one, considering how he was no Uzumaki, but he managed to make them look like amateurs, despite being born in a country where Fie Element was most common.

"Those black flames look formidable," her father said, scratching his long gray beard. Mito nodded her head. "How would you deal with them? They don't seem to be affected by water."

Mito took a moment to think about it. "Seal it." She looked to the Senju Leader's younger brother. "Well?"

The young man looked startled that she would direct a question to him, considering how it was her father who asked the question, but he gave a response. "I…don't think I would be much use. Perhaps I would call my brother and he would bury it with Earth?"

The old man beside her and sighed. "Young people today, think elements will fix everything."

Mito had to agree."Those flames look like they can burn anything, I do not think burying it is going to work. The flames will only spread. In fact, we should probably move if we do not want to get consumed."

With that the woman teleported from the top of the hill they were standing on, to a different location. She looked around her, noticing that the Uchiha and Senju who were having their fight below were ignoring the black flames, as if it were a normal occurrence. She smiled internally thinking that her future husband, not that she would outright admit it, had a fair amount of discipline among his troops.

It was then that things started to get strange. This wasn't the first time she had overlooked a fight during the night, but it was certainly the first time she had been in one where it was this windy. The wind continued to pick up and many of the ninja standing near the edge of the cliff had to hang on lest they got blown away from the sheer pressurized air.

Mito turned to see her father fall into the ground, embedding himself halfway in order to latch on. She turned to see the brother of the Senju Leader run down the hill to aid his brother. Wind had the powerful effect of making fire based attacks stronger and she respected that. Turning back to her original position she looked at the sky to see clouds part, revealing the giant moon.

Her father shouted something, but she couldn't hear it due to the wind and she covered her eyes as the shards of shrapnel from the earth started to fly into the sky. Making a sealed barrier she managed to protect herself from the shrapnel but many of her clan weren't so lucky. She could have sworn one of her cousins was hit by the sharp pieces, and wondered if she should go and help him out.

Looking to see that he was just hit, and not injured, she decided to focus on the gust of powerful wind coming from the sky and was surprised to see a small portal appear in the night. She assumed it was a portal since it glowed, and something else too. She was a Seal Master, so she knew what dimensions looked like, and this looked like one she had never seen before.

The clouds started to swirl around the eye of the portal and someone whistled to shoot the dimension down.

Mito scoffed at the sheer stupidity of whoever came up with that plan, and teleported to a location closer to the crack in the sky, hoping to get near whatever was coming out.

She had a fascination for the strange, and this was by far one of the strangest things she had ever encountered. Her father followed her and she laughed when he almost slipped on something, while trying to keep in pace with her. Sealing allowed her to travel much faster than what was deemed necessary, and even if her father was a good seal master, he had very little on her.

Then the crack started to do something that even she did not anticipate, it started to spin like a cyclone, forcing everything around it to be sucked in.

Mito grabbed onto her father and kept them on the earth, as clouds and shinobi flew into the sky. She saw something below try and strike down the portal, when she realized that the Senju Leader was sending out tendrils of wood to seal it.

She had heard of the Wood Style Sealing, but she had never seen it firsthand. Whatever it was, it would have to be powerful to seal down a literal crack in the sky, and she watched in anticipation, hoping that the man would not disappoint. He didn't of course, because some of the effects of the crack in the sky fell away, but not before the sealing tendrils of wood started to become engulfed in black flames.

Mito realized that the young Uchiha Head, Madara, had used this situation to his advantage. Instead of worrying about the rift in space, he focused on trying to kill his enemy, a wise move, and he was probably going to succeed if the Senju leader didn't spend more time trying to worry about himself, than the people around him.

On an off note she had to admit that she liked that quality about him.

"Something is coming out," her father wheezed. "Oh dear, this is not going to pretty."

It wasn't.

Whatever came out , came out with a vengeance as powerful Wind Chakra shook the area and engulfed and hurled everyone away. Bolts of ice and fire sprung from both sides of the battlefield, trying to block the powerful cutting gust that tore away at the Earth. Mito made an even more powerful shied around herself and her father, hoping that it would hold, but hoping more to see the person, or thing, that was going to come out.

What she didn't expect was for that person inside the rift in space to be flung down like a canon, right into the ground.

The impact made a horrible noise that Mito felt sorry for whoever was in that transportation jutsu.

Whatever the attackers plan was for making such a grand entrance, it had failed, and failed horribly. She turned to her father who had his head shaking.

"Idiot." He looked at the person, who was hard to see, buried under the rubble."Complete, and utter idiot."

The Seal Mistress had to agree.

"Should someone help him?" Then seeing the annoyed expression on her bearded father she shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

Of course that suggestion felt hollow when a large beam of black fire came on top of the body buried in the earth. She saw her future, if not potential, husband try to shield whoever was in the rubble with his wood jutsu, but he wasn't helping much, since the wood he used was also consumed under black flames.

Mito considered teleporting into the arena to take the person out of the rubble, but was held back by her father.

"Just wait and see." He looked back at the field. "We don't know anything about the dimension traveler, if that is what he is, for all we know he might be evil."

Mito snorted. "Evil? Really father? Evil."

Her father shrugged. "Hey, you never know. One of these days we might get a demon, you know, a real one."

"Tell me that when you actually see one, and I am not talking about those stupid Chakra beasts."

With that she teleported to the ground and swiftly cut through the ranks of fighting men.

So far no one was attacking her, probably because she didn't carry the Senju Clan seal, and instead ignored her to go after their real enemies. Mito was grateful, if slightly annoyed, that they didn't attack just because she was a woman.

Still, it allowed her to get near the buried flaming rubble, where the person was probably buried, to take a look at her him, or her, though she had a feeling that it was a him since only men were this stupid.

"Sealing Arts: Fire Imprison." With that the black flames were sealed into a pocket dimension within her sealing paper, and would probably be usable another time.

But before she could take another step, a large explosion sent her flying through the air, and into the arms of her father.

"See, I told him." Mito scowled, but was silenced by his next words. "Trust me, I know these things. You didn't sense it, but I did. That person, whatever it is, is not done yet. Not by a long shot."

Which was proven true when a large explosion came from the rubble, sending people flying into the air.

The Leaders of the two head clans looked at the scene with a bit of worry and confusion. Mito understood why, she could feel it too, feel the sadness, the hate, the power, the rage.

But most of all she could feel the pure utter loneliness come from behind the misty ash.

"And here he comes," her father said. "That's it. Now we'll see if this boy is all bark."

Slowly, as if powered by some kind of magic a boy limped out.

Mito held in her breath at his appearance. He was truly frightening, yet frighteningly young. He couldn't be more than sixteen.

His thin frame, short stature, hungry look, and slight build meant that he had yet to fully mature. Not only that but he looked completely and totally lost. Instead of assessing the situation like a professional he just looked at the battle field around him in sheer surprise.

Then to make matters worse he widened his eyes, showing his complete and total inexperience, and also revealed something very much hated in the Senju Clan: a doujutsu.

Or at least it looked like an eye technique since it was nowhere near what a normal set of eyes should look. Where his eyes should have had whites, it was black. Where his pupils should have been black, it was white. This was further exacerbated by the fact that he had strange sets of whiskers on his cheeks.

Along with his mane of spiky blond hair, and slightly boyish face, he looked very peculiar. The Senju and the Uchiha mostly had people with black hair, black eyes. The way he looked was completely alien to their appearance, and the fact that he only wore a set of orange and black jumpsuit made her think that.. he was begging to be killed.

Of course she wasn't the only one who thought this, in fact someone behind the boy screamed and sent a large throwing start at his back, only for the star to be sliced in half when he the boy immediately spun around and created some kind of vortex in his hand.

Mito looked at it carefully and noticed that the vortex seemed to be made of wind.

Before another attack could resume the boy did something even more bizarre and turned completely and totally green. For an instant she wondered what kind of purpose turning green would do, but then felt a lot of Chakra being sucked out of the very grass around her.

Astonished by this she followed the trail of powerful Natural Chakra and noticed that it was gathering around him. She wasn't the only one who felt this, and wasn't the only one who was worried by this as well, since the Senju Leader created a giant tendril and sent it around him.

Of course the boy didn't just sit still and let the man capture him, no, he coiled his muscles on his feet and sprung into the air like some kind of frog. Mito looked on appreciatively, she had never seen someone jump that high before, and the fact that he was creating a whole set of clones, and jump off each one was even more impressive.

Hundreds of throwing stars were sent into the air, but the boy kept creating more clones, leaping off them, and just rising higher and higher. Pretty soon she couldn't even see him and thought he must have went into space, when suddenly her father grabbed her shoulder and propelled them both out of the mountain side.

Just in time to see a small ball that looked like a cross between a circular vortex and a spiral hit the ground and create an explosion that tore apart everything in its path. She watched on in sheer utter horror as the powerful Jutsu obliterated the landscape as if it were made of butter, and promised herself never to get in that attacks path.

Someone jumped beside her and to her surprise she saw the man who may, or may not, become her husband breath in heavily. "I was almost killed by that." He looked concerned for her. "Are you alright, Mito-dono"

Dono? Well that surprised her. He had respect for women as well? That she did not expect. Her assessment of him was getting higher. "I am perfectly fine." She looked up at the sky. "But I am not sure if we will be if he does another one like that."

"No shit," someone muttered. She laughed lightly seeing the Senju Leader's brother covered in dust. "Not funny. I had to do an area wide mist shield to block out the wind element."

"Wind?" she asked. "That was wind?"

"Afraid so," the silver haired teen said. "Get ready, here he comes."

And boy, did the boy come. The Uchiha Clan was the first to react, instead of fighting off their long time enemy they did a group fire summon, and unleashed a giant dragon made of flame at him. They had to because of what the strange eyed boy carried on his hand.

The largest bloody ball of wind they had ever seen.

"Yami Sage Arts: Gargantuan Rasengan!"

Yami? What kind of idiot names their jutsu Yami? Well, it could work if the jutsu in question looked like utter darkness, but all she saw was a giant spinning ball that would probably crush everyone on the ground to death if they didn't leave.

Nothing dark about that, sure it was bad, but certainly not evil.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and knew that she needed to do a mass teleportation.

Harashima, ever the samurai, not much a ninja, decided to be the valiant one and charged towards the boy falling on the ground with a sphere of doom. She rolled her eyes thinking how stupid such an action was. Clearly the boy was absolutely terrified to go on a one to one battle so he was trying to scare them away.

She could accept that, she certainly wouldn't want to fight anyone here. Not that she couldn't win, it's just that they were dangerous and many were considered to be the best at what they did. Her clan wasn't nomadic, not so much like the Senju, so they didn't get into as many fights. The Uchiha were not nomadic, or at least from her knowledge, but they lived in an area of constant war.

Whatever this boy was doing trying to challenge the two clans, it was utter suicide. She wondered if he would even make it out of this alive after the stunt he just pulled, sure no one died, and some were even backing away, but if he showed any bouts of weakness these wolves would likely tear him apart.

Much like what Uchiha Madara is about to do when his hands started to make seals that Mito could only recognize as a grand summoning. Whatever the Clan leader was trying to take control of, it was certainly not a contract beast.

The giant outline of a fox that started to appear on the horizon of the portal he unleashed was proof enough. Mito teleported further back ,and watched in amusement at the shocked expression on Harashima's face.

Now he had someone who could control the strongest of the tailed beast to deal with, along with this demon like boy.

Part of her hoped that he would go after the much older, much more formidable Uchiha Clan head, but for some reason she had a feeling that he was going to take care of the boy first. If he couldn't capture him, Harashima would probably kill him.

She wasn't sure she liked that idea, but it was probably better than not doing anything.

The outline of whatever Madara had summoned transformed into the shape of a nine tailed fox, complete with jaws, legs, arms, and tails. A beam of powerful black energy came out of the fox's mouth and it was hurled at the giant ball in the boy's hand.

The boy didn't let go of the giant ball and just glowed an ugly shade of green.

Though she couldn't get a good read on him, she could tell that the boy looked horribly tired because of the shaking body of his. She hoped that he would at least unleash that ball at the Uchiha head, if only to amuse her slightly, since the fox didn't seem to be doing anything to stop the ball on his hand.

"Did you see that?" her father whispered in her ear. "That ball, it's like some kind of shield, but it's also an attack."

She nodded. "I have eyes father." Those blue eyes of hers narrowed. "What do you think will happen when he drops that ball?"

"Oh," her father grinned, it looked strange on his old face. "That! Now that is what I want to see!" Then he started coughing, and the woman put her long arms around his shoulders and brought him close to her chest.

Just then, her cousin, Senju Toka, landed beside her. "I've evacuated the rest of the Clan" The other woman looked at the sight of her father in sadness. "Perhaps you should remove uncle?"

Mito nodded and let her father lean on her. With a swift jutsu they were out of the field and into an outside camp. She dropped off the old man, and teleported back to the original battlefield. Whatever the outcome of this fight, it would be interesting, and she would not miss it.

When she got back she saw her cousin looking at the battle without her.

As the redhead turned to see what got the taller woman so afraid, she started to understand. The entire area was a giant crater. Nothing was left, not even the earth. There was even water pumping into the air, as if the boy had broke through enough layers of the earth to hit well.

As far as she knew, there weren't any Jutsu that could have that kind of impact.

"Where is the boy?" she asked. Toka didn't answer. "Toka?"

Toka turned to her, and looked grim. It took a lot to make Toka look grim.

Toka was a woman even taller than her first cousin, Harashima, with a haircut that covered half her face. If Mito could say one thing about Toka's hair, it was plain. It was the plainest shade of brown she had ever seen.

This was a point that more/less annoyed her dear cousin, though, to be fair, her red hair wasn't any better. That hair style made her look a lot darker than she really was, and the fact that she had dark eyes that matched her hair color didn't help.

Her skin was pale, paler than herself even, giving her the appearance of someone who didn't go out very much. This was contrast to what was really in her true nature, since the Senju Clan was constantly outside.

Not only that but the armor she wore certainly did not make her look like a happy camper, especially with the sword attached to her back, and attached to her waist. Mito had never seen the other woman use the blades, but she had to admit they looked intimidating.

The taller woman knelt down and touched the earth. Mito could see her concentrating, trying to locate something. Then she pointed at some spot in the ground and Mito watched in fascination as hundreds of tiny spiked roots came out like some kind of horrendous creature and wrapped itself around the boy.

The boy continued to glow the same shade of green and in an instant he was out of the binds. Though that didn't last long as a set of chains from Uchiha Madara came into his path.

The chains did a much better job containing him, probably because it wasn't affected by his strange green Chakra, and the boy looked to be thinking hard about how to break them. Especially with the giant fox that was towering over him.

Of course the fox was kept busy by a set of trees that were wrapping around the beast's legs, pinning it to the ground. It's mouth was open, and the large blasts of black photons, were certainly not helping it in the friendly creature department.

"Are you going to get involved?" Mito asked. "You can probably put this in Harashima-dono's favor."

Toka looked even more grim.

"My role is support, not attack." She sighed. "I leave my post and a Uchiha sneaks by, what'll happen to Harashima?"

Mito nodded. Her cousin had a point. This battle was tricky at best with both the Uchiha and Senju Clan fighting off in another area, and the scouts watching for anyone to come back.

Fighting wars were hard enough without someone dropping bombs every which way. Whatever persons decided to hire the clans did not think things through, considering how the land was completely destroyed, currently.

She could see a few barnyards turned over and the dead remains of a few sheep. Uzumaki Mito knew very well what it was like to see starvation, and she was certain that the people who would return to this land would starve, or move.

The only real option was to move though, and the place they were likely to move was probably the Uchiha lands, they did take care of them after all.

"What is he doing?" Toka asked her. Mito turned to see the boy, who looked almost dead. "Why is he just slashing his arms and pounding his hands on the ground."

"…I think he is trying to summon something," Mito said. She looked at the scene carefully. "Yes, most definitely he is trying to get something here. Something big from what I gather."

"It's not working," Toka said, smiling. "He's dead."

"Not sure about that…"

Of course she couldn't deny that in the next moment, when the beast that the Senju Lord was holding at bay snapped out of the spiraling blocks of wood, and came charging at the boy who was hastily trying to summon another giant ball.

Fortunately the boy managed to jump into the air and avoid that. Mito turned to see Toka look at the boy, look at him with intrigue as he continued to travel into the sky. Probably the first time the grim woman had ever seen something like that.

"I don't think they should let him get too high up," Toka said. Mito had to agree. "He's going to make another one of those giant wind comets."

And he did. Only this time it came in the dozens.

One thing Mito had to note before she got Toka out of there, before the mountains around them turned to dust, was that the boy was going to change things.

She just knew it.

"Wake up." A voice in the dark spoke to him gently. "If you don't we will have to be forceful."

The boy in question didn't like the sound of forceful, it didn't sound like anything good, and he should know about things that didn't feel good. He never felt good, not a single day in his life. Or at least not one that he could remember. But then he wasn't exactly a real person, so he had some leeway when it came to that end.

Slowly he opened his eyes and groaned when he felt that one of them was swollen shut. Turning around he got one of his hands to touch it and knew instantly that he had a bruise there. Perfect, this was just what he needed. He looked around the place and realized that it was a prison.

He laughed bitterly realizing that he had escaped one prison, only to arrive at a new one.

"I don't see how this is funny." A soft womanly voice spoke to him in the dark and he looked past it and saw something step out. "You almost died."

Oh, don't I know it. "I was supposed to." That much was true. The moment the real Uzumaki had given him that hug, that was when his existence should have been no more. "I wasn't looking to make it out alive."

The womanly voice was still in the shadow, but it asked a question that brought fourth memories, painful ones.

"Do you remember what happened?" The boy gave no answer. "Do you remember anything at all?

Oh, that he did. Immediately his mind was creating the image of that room where he fought the Real Uzumaki Naruto, the boy surrounded by light, the boy with a heart of gold, a boy who shined brighter than the greatest star.

He could see him so clearly, see his happy face appear on the edge of his mind.

See him telling him, Yami, that he would win, that he would conquer.

Yami sighed as the battle between the two of them came to grips, with him creating the same things he did, and him, the Real Uzumaki Naruto, winning at the very end by showing him something he had never seen before.

Love.

The boy in the prison clenched his fist at the memory.

He wouldn't cry, not here, not in this darkness, not for this woman to see.

He would not let the fact that he lost to Uzumaki Naruto bring him down. He had tried his best, he had tried to save the Real Uzumaki Naruto, and he had failed. Now the Real Naruto would go on living his life, thinking that the villagers really did care, that all his pain was for nothing.

What did he have to do to make Naruto realize that in the end they would betray him, that Sasuke was evil, that his only real hope for a better life was to escape? Yami wasn't sure, Yami had tried his best. He had begged the Real Naruto on his hand and knees, and the boy had spat it all back in his face. The Real Boy had wrapped his arms, wrapped in light, around his frame and gave him a hug.

What killed Yami was that after the Real Naruto gave him that hug, he had told him thanks, he had told him that without him, Yami, he would never have came so far. Yami wanted to scream to him that the boy still needed him, that Yami could still help, but the Real Naruto had shaken his head and said good bye.

Yami growled and slammed his fists on the wall, breaking a few chunks of brick. His eyes were closed and his sharp teeth were grit hard. Memories of all the painful memories that the Real Naruto werekept bottled up were inside of him.

Everything dark, every evil intent, every painful memory, that was Yami. Yami was the darkness, Yami was the one who had to suffer while Naruto lived in the light. He kept the boy from feeling all he hatred he had in his heart, and the thanks Yami got in the end was a swift goodbye.

Yami slowly felt something from inside of his eyes, and sniffed with his nostrils, trying to force them back. It didn't work of course, and one sob managed to escape from him.

The person outside of the bar tapped it once and Yami turned to face the person.

"What do you want!" he shouted. "Can't you see I am busy?"

Then a light shined on the person and Yami stopped crying. Instead he looked on in awe because in front of him was something he had never seen, in flesh, before: a woman.

From his kneeling position he judged that she was somewhere in her late twenties, and perhaps even older. She was taller, but not much taller than him. If he took a guess it would have to be somewhere between Kakashi and Jiraya. Her red hair was tied up in a set of buns similar to what Tenten wore, and she carried herself with grace, well as graceful as possible with a strange set of Kimonos around her.

Her eyes were deep blue, similar to his own, and her face was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, but it could just be that he had never seen a real girl before.

It made him feel so ugly seeing her, seeing her so perfect while he was still shaking from all the pain he had gone through. First from being rejected by the Real Naruto, and then fighting a suicidal battle with both the Senju and Uchiha leader.

If the girl realized what he was going through, she certainly didn't show it. Though girl might have been pushing it considering how she was a full grown woman, something that the Real Naruto never really had experience with.

"Are you done?" she asked him, her eyes still shifting on him. "Because I have a few questions."

Yami opened his mouth, then closed it. He wasn't sure how to answer her.

He certainly didn't know who she was and if she was going to do interrogation. he certainly wouldn't just give away information without a fight, that wasn't his way. He may have been the part of Naruto that was ejected, but he was still himself.

He still had his pride, though if it was a pride of an evil being, he wasn't sure.

"I see we are going to have a difficult time with this," she mumbled. Her lips quirked into a small smile. "Fair enough, perhaps I should start off with simple things, like telling you where you are."

The boy thought that was fair. "I…I'd like that."

The woman stretched her hands out and a puff of smoke came out. Within an instant a chair was summoned next to her and she took a seat. It was a stool so she was still high and still very much taller than him.

He frowned, he hated being short.

"Can you at least tell me your name?" she asked.

"Yami," he said without hesitation. "Yami Naruto."

Silence.

"…Yami Naruto?" she asked again, blinking once. "Is this some kind of joke?"

The boy shrugged. "You asked for a name, I gave it. We don't chose our names, right?"

The woman nodded reluctantly and proceeded to the next question. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Date of birth?"

Yami didn't answer.

"Clan?"

"Don't have one," he said, with another shrug. "Most people just call me Naruto, but it would be more accurate to just call me Yami."

She nodded, Yami thought that sounded fair. "What is your affiliation?"

"Excuse me?"

"What Clan or Group do you work for?" she repeated, this time with some annoyance.

Yam thought about this.

As far as he recalled he didn't work for anyone, heck he was still a Genin, or at least his real self was.

What was he exactly? Who did he work for? Did he even work for anyone? These work question that he wasn't sure he could answer without lying.

She had a feeling this person was good at stopping lies.

"Don't work for anyone, don't have an affiliation." He paused. "I think."

The woman narrowed her eyes slight, but smiled. "I see." Yami thought she had a nice smile, though he had only ever seen one person smile at him, and that person killed him, rejected him, and denied his existence.

"Do you want something to drink?"

The questions were trivial at best, but Yami knew that the answers were probably giving away some very valuable information. From the way she was asking them he wondered if this person was really out to hurt him, she could easily have tried torturing, but she was going for the gentle approach.

Considering how many strange seals adorned her kimono he figured she was some kind of Seal Mistress.

She explained to him that they were in the Country of Whirl Pool, in a remote village among the coast. Yami wondered why she would give away this kind of information, but figured that she didn't fear him as much as she should.

Of course it was possible that, by the description of what their craft was, they had likely sealed him. A quick check on his stomach proved just that, as it seemed that he would not be able to use his vast chakra.

Still, he liked the way the woman talked about the place.

It seemed like a wonderful place to live, based on what she said.

Out in the open ocean, with the sea and currents battering the shores. It must have been beautiful, a place of beaches. Pure and utter freedom, something he had never experienced before. He started to feel a bit jealous of all this since he was stuck in some dank prison, while the woman got to take a look at the place as she chose.

But then she wasn't a prisoner, so she had the right. Eventually, she asked him something that surprised him, truly shocked him even. "Would you like to go out?" she said. "Not for long, but just to take a look?"

His answer was obvious.

She blind folded him as they stepped out but he didn't feel as frightened as he should have originally, in fact he felt safe as the woman guided him through the tunnels and into the sun. Or at least he thought they were tunnels since he heard the sound of running water over top.

Meaning that the prison was located underneath the sea.

When she opened his blind fold the first thing he saw was her face, again. She was even more majestic than she was in that prison. She wasn't pale, that was probably not possibly when one lived near a harbor, but she wasn't dark like him either.

She had her flaws, but over all she was a woman. A real live woman, and a beautiful real live woman at that.

Yami was no expert in beauty, he wasn't a pervert, but he knew immediately that this person could turn heads.

His first reaction when he felt something in his guts was to stomp down that feeling. That feeling to crush down whatever he felt was helped by his appearance. He looked completely and totally destroyed. His clothes were ripped, there were cuts all over himself, and he smelled horrible.

He looked back at the woman's blue eyes and saw the same thought in her mind.

She directed him to go to a nearby pool and he washed himself, while his hands were tied together by a seat of seals.

It was odd having cuffs that were invisible on his flesh, but at least he didn't have to see them. The woman had crated them apparently from just a seat of ink and paper. Yami was starting to think this person was even better than Jiraya.

As he washed himself in the pool he heard something and turned to face another woman, only this one did not look so friend. The woman wore armor, with the crest of the Senju Clan on the color. Yami, unlike Naruto, was not stupid. He immediately guessed what was going on, and he shouted for his keeper.

"Would you cut that out?" the woman said, pulling up her brown hair her over her left eye. "I just want to talk."

"While wearing swords?" Yami asked, sounding skeptical. "Not sure how I feel about that."

The woman looked at him blankly.

Unlike Mito this one looked unfriendly. Dark hair, dark eyes, pale dead looking skin, and white armor. No, not someone he felt like he should associate with. But at least she didn't make him feel as ugly as Mito did.

He gave her somewhat of a benefit of the doubt. "I got some time, but you might want to turn around."

"Why?" she asked.

"Underneath this water, I am not wearing pants."

The Senju woman scowled and let Yami put on some pants.

When he was done she sat by a nearby rock.

"You almost killed my cousin, Senju Harashima. That last stunt destroyed our contact with the Land of Fire Daimyo."

"Did it?" Yami asked, sounding annoyed. "You mean the Nine tails summon destroying mountains would not have?"

The armored woman sighed. "Well, you and that Madara brat."

She got off the rock and pulled off her armor, revealing a surprisingly muscular figure. Yami crushed that feeling he had in him, lust was a powerful enemy. Just because he was created out of everything evil that was Uzumaki Naruto, didn't mean that he should have evil intentions.

Yami averted his eyes away from the black fabric that clung to her.

"If you are here to blame me," he said, "then do that and get out of here. Or, better yet, come and beat me up while I am in that prison."

The woman did not look happy at his suggestion. "I would prefer not to beat up some kid."

Yami didn't like being referred to as some kid. "This kid can kick your ass from here to fire country and back."

The woman did rise to the bait.

"Keep telling yourself that," she answered, her face glowering, "just know that you're not making an friends acting like a brat."

She got up and walked away.

Yami didn't bother looking at her behind, girls were something that were not allowed to him. Or at least he wasn't designed to love, period.

"Are you done?" his jailor called. "I just saw Toka leave."

"Yes," Yami yelled. "I'll be out in a minute."

The two walked side by side the rest of the trip through the village. Naruto was surprised to see a number of strange looking people.

Most of the occupants in the village looked to have red hair and slightly sun kissed skin. In Konoha almost everyone had black hair and pale skin, but here there was hardly anyone who looked like that.

What was stranger still was that the entire village seemed to be composed of just one clan.

Everywhere he looked there were towers with the spiral mark of some clan, when asked what clan it was he was surprised to hear that it was the Uzumaki.

Yami wondered for a moment if the name Uzumaki had any relation to his last name, but shrugged it off. Many people were called Uzumaki, as a last name, and it didn't mean that they were part of any clan. One of the most common names In the nation, along with Nara, Honda, and Hyuuga, was Uzumaki.

It was stupid to think that just because he was named Uzumaki, he was a descendent of this Clan.

If he were, wouldn't Jiraya have told him?

He put those thoughts away, learned more about the people who lived here, and learned to really like their company.

The people were very friendly and they didn't glare at him wherever he went. He felt kind of guilty that he almost blew up everyone here, but then realized that it was the Senju that he should have been worried about.

What surprised him was that there were many members of the Senju clan in the village.

When Naruto asked Mito about that, he got a puzzled look from the woman.

"We are blood related, different heads, different customs, but we are branched clans." She gave him a puzzled eye brow. "You really didn't know?"

Yami shook his head.

"I don't know anything about this place," he answered. "I don't think I belong."

The woman looked like she wanted to ask further, but Yami cut her off and ran to a nearby pool where some kids were playing a game of marbles. Yami bent down and took his turn, and was surprised at how bad he was.

Some of the redheaded children there laughed at him, and Yami frowned.

Giving a few of them a glare.

Nor surprisingly many of the little brats opted to run, judging by how strange his eyes were.

Yami felt both proud, and upset that he gave off such a scary appearance. It wasn't his fault that his eyes looked the way they did. And it wasn't like it was any kind of doujutsu. As far as he knew it worked like Naruto's eyes, only on a stranger level since he could see Chakra better.

"You are somewhat scary looking," the woman said, laughing gently. "You actually made them run."

"Didn't mean to," Yami answered. "Got a bit angry."

"You have a temper?"

"Yeah, a really big one." He dropped the marbles on his hands and looked over to a group of Senju looking at him with worry. "Are they ever going to stop watching me?"

"Perhaps," the woman said. "Perhaps not, should they be?"

"Probably," Yami shrugged. "I am unstable."

"Why?" she asked, her long lashes making him uncomfortable.

Because I don't know if I have the Kyubi inside of me or not. "No reason."

At some point during the tour, storm clouds gathered in the sky and the two of them had to duck near a local tree to escape the elements.

The harsh rain shot down onto the wooden houses of the village and made gentle pitter patter noises around the two. The kimono wearing jailor looked on at the rain in wonder, while Naruto felt a bit gloomy being here. It reminded him a lot of the place he used to live in.

Uzumaki Naruto's mindscape was always raining, every time he cried it would rain.

At some point the woman grabbed his hand, and the two of them ran down the rainy streets and into a large compound. Yami noticed that it resembled something similar to the Uchiha Compound, only instead of being made of wood it was made of rocks. He wondered if it was because there were many large rocks in the beach, and guessed that to be the case.

Inside the compound was nothing short of interesting.

Seals, scrolls, and a whole host of maps littered every inch of the floor. If he expected to find a prim and proper lady's quarters he was dead wrong. What he got was exactly the opposite and he didn't regret it one bit.

It felt so human, more homely and less heaven sent.

"We are here," the redhead said. Yami frowned, he liked spending time wither her. "Time to meet my father." She patted him on the shoulder.

Yami, if possible, looked even more flustered. It was awkward having someone touch him, only one other person had ever done that, and Yami was still shocked at his turn of events as of late.

"Just walk through this door," the woman said, smiling at him. "And all will be explained."

Gritting his teeth, and clenching his fist Yami walked past the women, and into the room.

The leader of the rag tag village in Whirl Pool country, was an old man, Yami noted. What surprised him was the similarities he had to the redhead who had brought him here. Both were fairly tall people, and both wore roughly the same type of clothing. The long sleeved kimono design was pretty strange in his opinion, but Yami didn't question it.

"You are probably wondering what I want with you?" The old man asked. He looked tired. "And you would be correct that it is about how you got here."

Yami nodded.

That was exactly what was on his mind. He took a seat on the floor and waited for the woman to take a seat as well, and noted that she sat next to her father. Interesting, so she had respect for him, her elder, something that Uzumaki Naruto lacked.

"Do you have any questions before I begin?" the old man asked. Yami shook his head. "Good."

The old man started explaining about what happened after he had create the mass of clones and destroyed the mount side with his giant spheres of destruction. The Senju, Uchiha, and Uzumaki were scattered around the field and were looking for their leaders.

They were of course found, but among the group was also found Yami, himself.

The body of Yami was fought over by the Senju and Uchiha, clearly someone with his power needed to be studied, and both factions nearly died trying to get him. Fortunately it was Mito who managed to sneak him out of the chaos and back into Whirlpool. The old asked Naruto to say thank you to a girl named Senju Toka, and Yami groaned when he realized that it was the girl who he previously insulted.

The clan had no idea what to do with him and many were thinking of just killing him, considering how much power he had. It was this meeting that was going to determine his fate, right here, right now. So Yami would have to make a decision if he wants to live.

"So tell me, why should I not slay you, right here?" the old man asked. "I need a reason."

Yami thought about it.

He had knowledge of the future, and he was pretty sure that Whirlpool did not survive the Shinobi Wars. The fact that there was no whirlpool country in his map said so, and the fact that he had never heard of a clan called Uzumaki was further evidence.

Of course he couldn't just tell the leader that.

He sighed and thought about what to say.

"I…don't have anywhere to go." He paused. "So I need a place to live."

"Don't we all," the old man said dryly, stroking his long grey beard. "But why should I not kill you? You almost killed the fiancée of my daughter, Mito."

That got a surprised look from Yami, and he turned to face a slightly blushing Mito. It irked him that the woman was taken, but at least he got her name. Mito. Uzumaki Mito. He almost chuckled thinking how it fit her so well.

Immediately, Yami shook his head, again getting rid of that painful feeling in his heart.

"There is more," Yami said. "I am strong…and I can teach you things that you don't know."

"Like that ball?"

"No, I can't teach you that," Yami said. "In the wrong hands, it could be disastrous."

"I think in your hands it is already disastrous."

The old man had a point and Yami turned to see Mito laugh, she gestured to him to continue. Yami didn't know what her game was, but she seemed to be on his side, somewhat.

"I..I.." This was something he wasn't sure he should say, but then he forced it out. "I want to join your clan."

That was it.

He had made his offer.

The old man raised his eyebrows.

"Interesting offer, I must say." He stood up, showing just how tall he was. He must have been nearly as big as Harashima, even if he wasn't nearly as muscular. "But I still need a better reason. Tell me why I should believe you will remain loyal?"

"Because I don't have a choice," Yami said. "Because You have already sealed me."

And then the old man smiled. It was the smile of a winner, the smile of someone who had another trapped.

"Very good." He gestured to his daughter. "You were right about this one, he is perceptive."

"You would have to be, to escape a battle between those two Clan heads," she said, smiling. "But even I didn't expect that he would have figured out the extra seals we have on him."

"So we have a budding seal apprentice on our hands," the old man finished. "Not bad."

"Not bad at all," his daughter finished for him. Her blue eyes lit up and Yami felt uncomfortable."You don't have to hide with us, this isn't the first time someone has tried travelling through the nations using rifts in space."

Rifts in space? Yami had no idea what that meant.

"Come now," the old man said, "Tell us, how you managed to pull that off. Did you summon yourself? Summon a part of yourself? Destroyed the particle around you?"

"You are in safe hands in this place, this is the Sanctuary of Seal Masters." Mito touched his hand, making him feel uncomfortable, again. "So tell us, how you did it."

Yami's mouth gaped open.

This was going to be a lot harder to explain then he thought. Quickly he thought up something, any lie that could get him out of this situation. "Actually I…"

Disclaimer: The Naruto series is owned by Kishimoto and his affiliates. Shounen Jump also has a piece of the franchise, as well as Tv Tokyo. Me? I am just a guy with a typewriter. So, no, I do not own Naruto series.

Notes From Author: I've always wanted to write a Shinobi Clan era fic, but there just wasn't enough information to write a decent one. Now that it was revealed that the Uzumaki was a clan as powerful as the top tier ones, I had to write something. As you can tell this fic was inspired by the recent Naruto chapter, and I do hope you have read it, before reading this one. It would be kind of sad otherwise. I haven't gotten a beta yet, so there is bound to be mistakes in this chapter. I will take care of that another time. For now I hope you enjoyed this fic. I spent almost 2 days trying to finish it, and even now I am not so sure how I did. Yami, as you have guessed, is Dark Naruto. He was a product of Naruto's hatred, and possibly the Kyubi. Honestly, I am not sure. I just go by what the manga has. We might found out what he is exactly later, but I like him. He is way more realistic than Uzumaki Naruto, and even if they are the same person, I kinda find him to be more hardcore. That is why I have made him the main character in this fic.

Thanks for reading guys, if you think I should continue, send me a review! I'd love to hear what you think of this story. I don't even know if it is good or not.

-Giant Cleaver signing out