Namikaze Naruto- The Unpredictable Shinobi

Chapter 58: Facing The Inner Demon

Naruto and Bee travelled to a lone island where Bee himself had trained to control Hachibi. It looked spiky and dangerous from the outside, as if death was lurking around it. But once went inside, there were luscious forests among hills, no sign of existence of humans living there except a couple of establishments in case Bee or Yugito wanted to train.

There were animals, giant animals, with few bosses, such as a Koala, a Gorilla, a Bear, an Armadillo, a Hippo, a Penguin... a Penguin? This place was special in itself. There was a turtle the size of a mountain, with a forest on his back. His rocky complexioned would've fooled Naruto, if she hadn't seen seen his eyes moving. Surprisingly, the turtle declared itself very small and revealed that the island itself was a giant turtle. Needless to say, Naruto was positively shocked. Killer Bee had made friends with all the animals  and they declared him as their Boss, the Top Dog.

The first test in accomplishing control over Kurama's chakra was that at the Waterfall of the Truth. Naruto was to sit on a small island at the base of the waterfall and meditate to face her inner self, her true self in her mind. The water fall would help them both confront each other as it acts like a mirror.

When Naruto opened her eyes in her mind, she looked around. There was the same waterfall in front, surrounded by the same forest, but there was no one around. She looked at herself. She was in her original female form- long hair beyond the waist. Blue battle kimono with orange designs and the Uzumaki swirl on the back, and on her sleeves, with black ANBU pants.She heard a noise and looked up at the waterfall. A dark silhouette came out from it. As light fell on the person, her eyes widened. It was herself, the blue of her attire replaced by black, the orange replaced by red. The white sclera of her eyes were black in the other Naruto. She herself had blue eyes, whereas the one from the waterfall had red eyes. Naruto's diamond seal on her forehead was blue tending to cyan, the other's diamond blue tending to purple.

Naruto asked, "Who are you?" 

"You know the answer, but I'll confirm it for you anyway. I am you, the Real you." The doppelganger smirked as she said. 

'Is my true self that dark?' Naruto thought. 

"Yes it is." The doppelganger replied aloud.

Naruto took her battle stance. "You read my thoughts. Then you should know that I must defeat you." The doppelganger laughed. "Of course I know. But you cannot defeat me. Try and see for yourself."

Naruto immediately launched with a kunai in her hand, her opponent doing the same and a clang of metal clashing was heard. They engaged in Taijutsu battle and were matched evenly, literally. Each punch and kicked from Naruto was blocked perfectly and the dark Naruto's attacks were blocked with equal ease. They jumped back and exchanged Jutsus.

Naruto's fire met water.
Water met Earth.
Earth met Lightning.
Lightning met Wind.
Wind met Fire.

Every elemental Jutsu Naruto aimed at her opponent was perfectly countered with the opposing element. Finally, both ran towards each other with a Rasengan in their right hands.As they got close enough, Naruto smirked and increased the size of her Rasengan before their attacks met. Her smirk faltered as her opponent also increased the size of her Rasengan with a smirk. Before Naruto could act, their Rasengans met and a great force enveloped them both.

Naruto was forced to open her eyes in the real world as she panted. "It did not work, I see." killer Bee stated. Naruto nodded and looked down. The rest of the day, she contemplated on the encounter with her self. It was difficult to land a proper hit someone who knows your moves too well. That was the reason she hides her true power from everyone. Moreover, the opponent was herself, dark or not, and would know her Taijutsu moves that were supposed to be unpredictable to everyone else. Once a clone was made, it would know what the original thought before it existed and would have an idea of what the original did later. But here, the opponent had known every thought throughout the battle. Forget about Taijutsu, her plan of attacks would be known to her opponent before she herself realised it.

But why was her true self so dark and filled with malice?

.

The next day, Naruto meditated before the waterfall again. The Dark Naruto appeared with an all-knowing smirk. Naruto observed her other self for a while before asking the question that had been bugging her. "Why are you dark?" The dark self laughed. "You mean, why are YOU dark? I am you , you are me. Remember?" 

"Smart alec." Naruto mumbled. "I mean, why is my true self dark?" She rephrased.

"Smart alec." The Dark Naruto repeated and chuckled. "Think on it. You might label me 'Dark'" She used index and middle fingers to quote the word 'Dark'. "You have hidden away your feelings of hate, anger, sadness, loneliness so much that you refuse to acknowledge your true self. But I do."

"That's not true. What should I have those feelings for? I have so many friends and well-wishers. Jiraiya-Sensei, Chojuro, Kurotsuchi, Gaara, Mei-sama, Ohnoki-sama, Killer Bee, Ay-sama, Tsunade Nee-san. Don't get me started on Kurama Onii-sama, Shisui Nii-san, Itachi-kun, Sandaime Jiji..."

Dark Naruto cackled, "Name as many people as you want. Lie to yourself all you want. You know what? You are a hypocrite. You tell others to not to lie to themselves. But here you are, doing the same. I am the proof of the existence of all your feelings of deep hatred and loneliness."

Truth hit Naruto like a ton of bricks. She looked down and swallowed, before slowly asking, "Why? Why do I have them?" The other Naruto rolled her eyes, "Because you are human, duh." Naruto looked up annoyed. "Stop fooling around. Why do I have them in such a large scale? Whom are they directed at?"

The Dark Naruto caught her chin in mock thinking. "Hmm... Let's see. Why do you disguise yourself?"

"Don't answer a question with another!"

"Just answer mine and you will get yours."

Naruto sighed. "Fine. For many reasons. One I am a Jinchuuriki that is not so popular in her village for a long time. Hence I have to protect my identity. Another, Mother Hima said that 'Deception is Shinobi's greatest tool'."

"Next question. Would you sacrifice yourself Konoha as Tou-san?"
"Of course! Why do you ask?"
"Do you trust Konoha?"
"I do! What kind of a question is this?"
"If you do, why haven't you told the complete truth about yourself to anybody?"

Naruto wanted to retort but didn't have any words. It was true she didn't trust anyone completely, except Kurama. She didn't tell Hiruzen the full extent of her capabilities. Shisui and Itachi had to coax out of her the fact of her gender. The rest didn't even know about it. But she told herself, it was all a part of deception, not trust.

"Like I said, deception is our best tool."

"Like I said too, Lie to yourself all you want. Even you know the truth."

All of a sudden, Dark Naruto was inches away from Naruto. "And you know even this. You can't defeat me."
And a punch from her returned Naruto to the world outside.

She opened her eyes and gasped for air.
The rest of the day was spent in self-training and contemplating on the words of her inner self. The next morning, Killer-Bee asked her if she wanted to try again. She shook her head and said, "No matter how much I try, I can't defeat my inner self now. All the facts thrown at me are too valid for me to come up with a retort."

Killer Bee paused for a moment before he held out a fist. "Bump your fists with me."