178 Darkness within

Not far away from the ninja academy, at the end of the village, a red building is standing proudly. This is the Hokage tower of Konoha.

Inside the office room of Hokage, an old man is smoking and reading something. His face has a tint of red as he reads the book.

By the look of his, it can be said that he likes the book and it's not something which can be read in front of children.

Suddenly a knock is heard on the closed door of the room. The old man quickly hide the book with some paper and said "come in"

As he said that the door of the room opened and a man with a mask came inside. He directly goes on his knees and looks down as he starts to report "Lord Hokage, there is news about Naruto Uzumaki."

The old man sighs and brings out a cigar pipe and starts to smoke. He was already wondering why there weren't any complaints related to Naruto yet. Now it has come.

He looked at the man and said "go on. What did he do this time?"

Anbu replied, "sir this time he didn't make any trouble." This news surprised Hokage but he didn't say anything and let the Anbu continue.

"Sir, he won against Sasuke Uchiha and won easily. He even uses the same technique as Sasuke but a stronger version." He finished.

Hokage becomes more surprised. He looked at Anbu for a few more seconds. He thought to himself 'Naruto wins against Sasuke, and that is also easily. Was he training secretly? No, then I would have got the news. Then how did he become so good so suddenly.' He took a puff of smoke and again thought 'I need to visit Naruto.'

Hokage looked at Anbu and dismissed him. After he left he again took out the book and started reading again with the same lewd face.

The same report has been passed to another man. He has bandages covering his hand and one side of his face. He also listens to the report.

"That is all Danzo-Sama," a man said kneeling in front of him.

Danzo thought for a few seconds and said "monitor him, if you see anything strange report it to me." Danzo ordered.

The man with the mad nodded and disappeared from his place.

Back to the Academy,

Naruto is sitting at the back of the classroom and waiting for the class to finish. It's already about to end.

"Okay, everyone can go home. But remember to practice in your free time." Iruka said. He looked at Naruto one more time. This time he has satisfaction and pride in his eyes when he looks at him.

He then leaves the classroom first. As he leaves all the students also start to get out of the classroom one by one.

Sasuke stands up and looks at Naruto for a second and then leaves the classroom. Sakura already starts to chase him out of the classroom.

Shikamaru and Naruto also stand up and start to go out. Shikamaru said lazily "you pulled a great stunt today. Are you practising secretly or something?"

Naruto waved his hand and said, "yeah, a few times." Naruto lied. He doesn't want to explain how he became so good suddenly.

Shikamaru nodded in understanding and didn't ask anymore. He doesn't want to put his hand in someone else's secret and he is too lazy to do that.

A few moments later,

Naruto is now on top of the Hokage stone monument. He is sitting on the Fourth Hokage's head with his leg hanging and eating Dango.

Suddenly an old man appears beside him. Naruto didn't look back or at him. As if he didn't notice him coming. He continues to look at the village from there.

The old man is none other than the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. He stands at the back smoking his tobacco and also looks at the village.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He said with his hand behind his back as he continued to look at the village.

Naruto didn't turn as he replied "yeah until you go closer and see the darkness within."

Hiruzen was shocked and surprised. He didn't expect this kind of reply from him. He was expecting his surprise and goofy reply as usual. But today he seems different.

Hiruzen looked at Naruto's back which seemed lonely and sighed. He knows how the villagers act toward him. He felt guilty that he couldn't do anything for him.

He takes a puff and asks "why did you say that Naruto? I thought you would be happy, now that you defeated Sasuke."

Naruto turns around and looks at Hiruzen in the eyes. For some reason, Hiruzen feels like all of his secrets have been seen by these 11-year-old kids in front of him. He felt a little restless.

Naruto asks back "did you come to investigate me, Grandpa?" Hiruzen again feels a little guilty and awkward, hearing him.

Hiruzen smiled and said, "no, I was happy hearing you improving and also training harder."

Naruto nodded and turned back and started eating his Dango. He suddenly asked, "Gramps, why didn't you do anything when news of nine tails came out?"

Hiruzen's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Naruto's back and narrowed his eyes as he asked "what do you mean, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't reply to him. Hiruzen walked a little closer and sighed as he said "I try my hardest to control it. But somehow I couldn't control it."

Hiruzen now wants to know why he is asking this, and moreover, how did he know about this.

Naruto again Asked, "what if it was Konohamaru instead of me, what would you have done then?"

Hiruzen paused and looked at Naruto. He feels sorrow, guilt, surprise and many more. He now has no excuse to give Naruto.

"I.." Hiruzen couldn't come out with anything. Naruto asks "should I really fight for someone who never gives me anything except pain and suffering? Is the village worthy enough for me to stay?"

Now Hiruzen becomes serious. He feels guilty for Naruto but he can't let him go stray and do something to the village. It may cause another Orchimaru incident.

He was about to explain things and convince him when Naruto said "you don't need to explain anything, Gramps. I have already made up my mind."

Hiruzen becomes serious and is about to knock him out before thinking about this. But then suddenly everything around him pauses.

The air, Earth, movement of insects, and even his body is no different, except for his thinking process. Naruto turned around and said "with my current power I would never win against someone like you. But I have good subordinates."

Agares suddenly come out of his shadow and stand beside him. Naruto has already checked everything around him. There was only one Anbu with Hiruzen and he had already taken care of it.

Naruto stands up and looks at Hiruzen whose body is frozen but has terrified eyes. Naruto looked at him expressionlessly and said "you are a failure of a Hokage. You act as you care for others or maybe you do care for others, but you can't deny the fact that most of the worst things happen in the village because you let it happen."

Naruto looked at the village and said "when I look at this village all I can think is, a fool made a larger playground for his next generation, where people like you can toy with the life of others."

Naruto turned around and walked towards him and said "Do you know Ninjas are Strong, faster and also have larger stamina but one thing they lack is a strong defence. And those with strong defence are always at the top of the shinobi world's food chain."

He touched Hiruzen's chest and said "goodbye Gramps. I will continue the first will, I will toy with their life for sure. Don't worry you won't be there alone, for too long."

He controls the blood inside Hiruzen's heart with his water control and stops his heartbeat.

Hiruzen doesn't know where Naruto get those strange black monsters, but he knows that he has created a greater monster.

So he stops resisting and looks at Naruto with horror. He looked at Naruto with red eyes. All of his previous acts of guilt, pity and sorrow are nowhere to be seen.

But soon his eyes lost their lustre and his breathing also stopped.

Naruto looked at the body expressionlessly and said "I won't kill indiscriminately but those guilty will be punished."

"Arises" Naruto ordered. In the next second black smoke starts to come out of Hiruzen's body and takes the form of a human-like Shadow soldier.

When it's completely formed it immediately kneels in front of Naruto and says "My king, what are your orders?"

Naruto looked at the dead body and put it inside his inventory. He has a plan for it. He then looks at the Shadow kneeling in front of him and asks "can you use body transformation Jutsu?"

The shadow nodded his head. Naruto sighed in relief. Though he has asked Yuki and she said it can, he was still worried about it.

~Flashback~

Naruto was walking toward the Academy and talking with Yuki in his mind.

"Yuki, if I make someone my shadow from this world, can they use Jutsu?"

[Yes, they can. Every Shadow you awaken will be using the power of their specific world]

"How can they, I don't have chakra in other worlds?"

[Your energy can bend into any kind of energy. So when you revive a Shadow they can use their specific world power as they are basically getting their original energies]

"Then why can't I use skills I learn in one world to another?"

[But you can use the better version of it as they are from the system]

He didn't argue with her. He is already happy that he has a system and that he can have powers. Moreover, he can travel to worlds that others can only dream of.

~Flashback end~