Senju's Heir

Chapter 22

~~Naruto~~

Naruto opened his eyes, slowly and with a justified sense of fear, and dread. He wasn't surprised to see darkness before him; a darkness framed in an endless, colorless fog. It was a haunting reminder that the world after was nothing more than just that; nothing.

Feeling optimistic even when obviously dead, Naruto moved his head about with groggy and emotionless eyes, only to see more darkness with every turn of his neck.

...

In a snap, Naruto was standing on top of the darkness, the endless drop still present under his equally black sandals. Everything surrounding him was completely white now, a stark contrast to what he just saw below.

The blond swallowed not knowing what this meant.

"You're not dead,"

Naruto stopped his staring and adjusted his eyes hearing his own voice. He gasped and life reentered his eyes seeing a version of himself barely six feet across.

He was a perfect copy. He had the same hair, the same clothes -scarf included-, and somehow, the same leaves that usually guarded him.

The other him smiled, "Or is it we?"

"Who...?-" Naruto stopped, feeling his voice small and hard to use. "Who are you...? I'm not using any clones, so... what...? How...?!"

"I'm you," the other Naruto responded, his Dark eyes, the only difference they shared, squinting in amusement. "I'm everything you are. Your true feelings, your grudge. The hatred, the darkness inside of you."

"Hatred...?" Naruto scowled as he pouted. "I don't have hatred... let alone darkness of all things."

Dark Naruto grinned, "You really enjoy playing blind..." He chuckled to himself seeing the blond narrow his eyes back. "You're basically staring at a mirror, dumbass. You can't hide anything from me. Konoha made us, only I'm the result of being hated and hating back. Even if you won't admit it, believe me, I will... You moralless pricks can all go fuck yourselves for all I care."

Naruto stared back for a second as he reflected on his darkest chapters as a child. He recalled the way Konoha used to ignore his existence like he were nothing more than a pest among them; a pawn serving as a sacrifice, as he was now aware of. It ended up traumatizing him. As a result, he sought acknowledgement to the point of obsession...

...

Naruto protected them, and they hated him for it, giving life... to 'him'. A self-defense mechanism his humanity created to keep him from losing his own mind. It was pitiful in a way.

"Why are you here? What is this place?" Naruto questioned, deciding to ignore his other self's crass words. "Last thing I remember is feeling craaazy strong... Then I lost control literally seconds into whatever the hell that was."

"That," the other blond began, already a bit annoyed. "Was what Orochimaru told us we had. Weren't you listening? It's what we inherited from Hashirama-jiji... If you had payed attention to the man trying to kill us, you might have heard him telling us about it. As for your earlier questions: I'm here to warn you. And this place? Hell, I have no idea... But we aren't dead. Of that I'm sure. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. And you," he pointed down. "Well... you'd probably be down there."

"Down..." Naruto swallowed as his eyes once more found the pit under him, seeing it was infinite in size. He felt like he could fall at any moment. "Ok... So are you like, applying for the job of 'tiny voice in my head' or something? Or is this just a one time thing? 'Cause Kyūbi's already got that job and I happen to think one voice is enough."