Naruto: Kurayami no Naka de Kyōmei

Naruto: A Resonance in the Dark

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or ANY crossovers that may be in this fic.

Chapter 1: A Chance to Escape

In a dark alley in the slums of Konohagakure no sato a small boy, the bane of his village, cowers against a wall. A large puddle of blood is under him and the object of his fear, a young man in a jonin vest, clearly drunk, and just as clearly enraged beyond all reason, standing over him.

"Just die already, damn demon! Why don't you just die! You killed my family, fox, now I will kill you for them and all of the others you killed seven years ago!"

The boy, confused and in pain, cries out to a shadow he has seen moving behind the jonin attacking him, "Help me, please help me! I didn't do anything!"

"DIE, KYUBI!" the jonin cries out as he swings a kunai down on the boy.

The boy closes his eyes and waits for the pain to hit him, but it never comes. Instead he hears a frightened gasp and a light chuckle. He slowly cracks open an eye to see that his tormentor's arm is held by a pale skinned man with yellow, slit pupiled, snakelike eyes and purple marks on his face.

"I think that is quite enough… time for you to die…" the snakelike man whispers just before driving a kunai into the man's kidney.

The man's mouth opens in a silent scream of agony. Silent because the snake man cuts his vocal chords a split second after the man is stabbed. He then turns to the unfazed boy. "Does violence not bother you, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto shakes his head slightly, "I receive it regularly, why should it bother me? All I want is to become a shinobi, and find a purpose in life… after that, I'm not sure."

"So, you are searching for a purpose and wish to become a shinobi to find one? Curious… I would have expected the boy's dream to be to emulate the Yondaime or some such nonsense," the snake man mumbles the last part, thinking that Naruto will not hear him.

"The Yondaime Hokage? No, I hate him. I used to look up to him, but now I just put it together. The tattoo on my stomach looks like a seal of some sort, and with what that man just called me… that bastard sealed the fox in me, right?"

The man is surprised, "You seem to be quite calm, boy. I would have thought that you would be quite… upset after hearing that…" Perhaps he will be useful to me…

"I learned a long time ago that being upset is the worst thing that one can do when in my position. So I stopped crying, I will never give up and I will never cry in sadness again. I will do whatever it takes to achieve my dream… but of course everyone in this godforsaken village is against me. The academy teachers haven't taught me anything, so the only things I have learned have been picked up from listening in on the classes I am kicked out of and observing the other students…" Naruto is quite clearly annoyed about his predicament as he is speaking.

The man appears to think for a moment before looking down on the child, "Kill him and come with me and I will train you to be a shinobi." He offers the kunai to Naruto, who takes it and, without batting an eyelash, opens the man's throat in a shower of crimson liquid that dyes his hand red.

He says a chilling line to come from a seven year old child, "Anata no chi o watashi no chi no shiharai ni." Your blood in payment for my blood. "If you help me achieve my goal, I will follow you to hell and back…?"

"Orochimaru," says the snake man.

"If you help me achieve my goal, I will follow you to hell and back, Orochimaru-sensei."

The snake sannin smirks victoriously. Perhaps this trip was worth it after all… It seems I have a new student. "Then we should leave before this body is found, Naruto-kun." The snake sannin puts a hand on the blonde boy's shoulder and makes a half ram sign before vanishing in a swirl of purple fire…

Monogatari ga hajimatte iru... Akai Hebi wa shinku no yoake totomoni jōshō suru…