Ch1: Gone

Authors Note: Hello this is HalfwayFallen here. This will be my first story, I hope you guys and gals like it . Please leave a review, I could use any critique to help make a better story.

Summary: Naruto is neglected by his parents for his sister because she has the kyuubi sealed inside of her (yeah I know, Naruto being neglected stories are somewhat common, but it give's a good start off point because of the drama and character development it gives right off the bat and later on.) and runs away.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Demon/Large summon's speech"

'Demon/Large summon's thoughts'

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Skullgirls, that honor goes to Masashi Kishimoto & Reverge Labs/ Lab Zero Games.

Now onto the story!

"Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters."

― Stephen King, The Shining

Loneliness. that is what would best describe this scene. A young blond child around the age of 7 was curled up in a ball on an old and damaged bed, crying. The young boy was shrouded in darkness in his nearly barren room.

The boy is Naruto Namikaze. Son of Minato and Kushina Namikaze. Twin brother of Naruko and Natsume Namikaze. Though Naruto did not feel part of said family.

Ever since he was 5, his parents started to train his sisters in the ninja's art. However, they'd only train his sisters, whenever he asked to join he'd be disregarded. Told that his sisters needed the training more because they each held a part of the kyuubi. Naruko holding the yin half, Natsume the yang half. That they needed the training to control the beast's power. They'd reassure him that he'd be trained later on when he joins the academy.

Though in all honesty, Naruto believed he needed it more. His sisters weren't hunted down by a mob and beaten everytime he was alone, which was almost always when he left the house. His sisters were treated like royalty, the future hope of konoha, their saviors.

All for holding the two halves of the kyuubi. While he was seen as the demon's second coming because he held the body of the kyuubi inside me, people thought their was still some part of the Kyuubi's conscience in its body and was fearful of him. It didn't help that his eyes would flash red when angered, or that he had pronounced whisker marks. The siblings were treated like polar opposites, they were loved and cherished, while he was hated and feared.

The worst part is his parents wouldn't believe him when he was assaulted. Each time it'd happened a medic-nin would heal him enough where there'd be no signs of the beating he'd taken. Eveyrtime he'd tell them what had happned, they'd go talk to the villagers who had been at the scene. And everytime they'd be lied to, the villagers who'd attacked him getting off scott free. And each time he'd be grounded to his room.

It's enough for one to feel like breaking down. To just snap. The loneliness, hatred, despair, suffering. It can cause one to go

'Insane.' A distorted stated.

"Wha.. who's their!?" Naruto yelled out startled. Jumping out of the bed quickly he looked around the room frantically. After a few seconds of looking around he realized he was the only one in the room. Naruto was about to calm down and think he was just hearing things until..

'Pffft, you don't have to be so jump.' The distorted voice said, with an humored tone.

"Who...Who's their? Where are you!?" Naruto yelled out, scared that a villager somehow had gotten

'Keep it down dumbass. I'm in your head.' The voice said, sounding annoyed at the boy's noise.

"Wha..What?" Naruto stuttered out. Not understanding what's going on.

'I'm..in...your...head. Also just think you're responce, you look like your crazy...oh wait, you are." The voice drolled on.

"What!? You're in my head? Oh god... you're not the Kyuubi are you." Naruto asked, both fearing his father had screwed up the sealing, giving him a part of the kyuubi's soul. He was also disregarding the voice avice on thinking his responce.

'Wha..no, I'm not the Kyuubi dipshit. Also use...your...fucking...thoughts.' The voice answered, the voice starting to sound annoyed.

'Oh, sorry. If you're not the Kyuubi then who are you?' Naruto thought, wondering why their was a secondary voice in his head.

'Why, I'm you.' the voice said in a jovial tune.

'...What.' was the only thing Naruto could think to say.

'I'm you. Or atleast a part of you.'

'A...a part of me?'

'Yes a part of you.' The voice confirmed.

"I..I got to tell tou-san about this." Naruto muttered in a scared tone.

'You really shouldn't do that.' the voice said in a monotone like.

'And why shouldn't I?' Naruto asked disbelievingly.

'Because, I'm the only one that cares about you. And if you talk to the blonde bastard, he'll lock you up forever in a madhouse.' The voice stated simply, like he was talking about the wheather.

'N..No he wouldn't do that. Tou-san loves me.' Naruto defended, but also terrified at the prospect of being locked up in an insane asylum.

'No? Are you certain? I mean really what has he done to show his love, or your mother, or your sisters?' The voice asked in demented glee.

'No...they love me I'm sure of it' Naruto said with certainty.

'Oh really. Did our 'parents' show their love by neglecting us? How about only training our 'dear' sisters to defend themselves but not us? Oooo how about how they let us be beaten by the villagers, I mean after so many times of telling them they'd atleast give us a bodyguard or look into it more. And our sisters, where to start? How about how they rub it in our faces that mommy and daddy train them, that they love them more. Or how about how Natsume likes to push us around, acting all superior. Ooo I feel the love." The voices cheerfulness of it's voice contrast with the darkness of his words.

'Sh..shut up! Shut up shutupshut up shut up.' Naruto chanted in his head. Each time the voice listed his families transactions with him, his confidence broke more and more. Not wanting to hear the voices words anymore.

'Stup being such a baby. I'm the only one that cares about you, face it.'

'No...no, that's not true.' Naruto denied.

'It is. You think anyone but me loves you, don't kid yourself. The villagers hate you, heck your constantly beaten by them. Our godparents Jiraya and Tsunade focus solely on our sisters. That hyuuga girl you saved from bullies ran away from you, without even saying a thank you. Your self proclaimed rival, the Uchiha girl sees you nothing as a pest. Any other child is too scared to go anywhere near you." It listed on.

'someone...someeones got to.." Naruto tried saying, hoping to think of anyone, anything he could say with absolute certainty loved him.

'Stop being delusional' it cut him off. 'just accept that the only one who will ever love you is yourself. No one cares about us.' It stated bluntly

'...' Naruto couldn't respond.

The voice was about to start speaking again, to hammer in it's point. Until it felt two certain chakra signatures down in the dining room. It locked on to the two signatures, seeing that they were talking. By focusing more he read their mouths and realized what they were talking about. A dastardly idea sprouted in the voices mind.

'If you don't believe me,' it said, catching Naruto's attention. 'how about listening on mommy and daddy's conversation downstairs. I'm sure you'll see then' It stated in a persuasive tone.

Naruto didn't answer. He just stood up, now noticing he had somehow gotten to his knees. He left his room to go to the dining room. Hoping that whatever he heard would prove the voice wrong. When he reached the dining room door he noticed that the door was slightly ajared, pouring light into the dark hallways. He leaned towards the ajared, close enough to listen on the conversation, and seeing his parents with one eye.

"But Minato-kun, Naruto is the eldest. Being clanheir is his birthright." Kushina said in a shocked tone.

Naruto was confused why they were discussing his birthright.

Minato just waved his hand to the side like the answer was simple. " I know, but honey Natsumi or Naruko would make a better heir than Naruto."

'What.' Naruto wasn't sure he heard correctly.

" They are both exceedingly stronger than Naruto, they know more about the politics of being a clanhead, and they each are friends with the other clan heads' children. Kushina-chan, It'll be fine. We'll announce it on their birthday in two months. After the party we'll sit him down and explain it to him. I'm sure he'll understand. And if we love him as we have, everything will be the same." Minato explained.

'Heh, I believe the words i'm looking for is "I told you so"' The voice said in a smug tone.

Naruto was silent not believing what he was hearing, surely his mother wou

"Alright" Kushina's words cut off Naruto's train of thought. "If you're sure, I guess I'm fine with this."

Behind the door Naruto stood up slowly, walking slowly away from the door he walked towards his room. The pain of the knife in the back he recieved from his parents had deeply hurt Naruto. The one thing he had dreamed of, something he was sure would've given him some hope of getting some attention was snatched away right in front of him. The laughter of the 'other' him didn't make the situation any better. 'love him as we have? What love? And he didn't want things to stay the same, he wanted things to get better.

When he reached his room, he simply layed down on his bed, looking at his ceiling.

After awhile Naruto broke his silence. 'So other me, do you have a plan?'

' A plan? Now why would you ask that" It asked in obviously fake confusion.

Naruto scowled. 'Don't play with me. Do you have a plan to leave?'

'Well, I have thought of a few things. Oh, and you can call me Yami.' it answered, sounding like it had one of the biggest most demented smile.

Over the two months till Naruto's birthday they started to plan their escape. They would gradually steal money from the compounds vault, small enough to not be noticed. He would sneak in at night and make copies of jutsu's and training technique's from Minato's studies. He had made copies of the tree walking technique, water walking technique, Rasengan, Kage bunshin, The Hiraishin a scroll on Kushina's chakra chain technique if he ever showed the ability to use it, Fuinjutsu and various other scrolls.

He had also joined the Academy, and was unsurprised to see his parents go back on their words to train him saying that it was crucial for their training to stay on track. It didn't matter. Naruto would always leave the academy right when it ended and carefully reach an abandoned training ground to train. He found out that he could make at least 5 shadow clones at a time. Not alot, but still amazing for someone his age. He learned from the scrolls that whatever his clones learned, it would be transfered to him when they dispeled. This helped him to learn 5X more quickly than before. Though his clones mainly focused on chakra control and wind manipulation training, which he learned was his main affinity when he used the affinity testing paper, while he focused on physical training.

With all the planning the day of the escape came quickly. _

It was now the day of the escape. The time to make his move, nothing to stop him. No friends, everything thought through. He even thought of when his parents would eventually notice his absent, and get Jiraiya to use his vast spy network to find him. The answer to that is quite simple, he had to leave the Elemental Nations entirely. Naruto had heard of a adventurous noble funding an expedition in the Land of Tea to find new land. While all expeditions before have ended in failure and everyone dead, it was still his best shot at escaping. And if he were to die, well he'd likely be killed by a villager eventually anyways if he stayed.

Naruto waited in his room until the festivities began. In that time he packed and sealed away all essential supplies, food, water, money, kunai, shurikens, ninja wire, scrolls, sleeping roll, and more.

When the festivities began Naruto came downstairs. He just went into a corner of the room and read up on a scroll on wind techniques henged to look like a comic book. All the clan head had came with their families. Throughout the party I was mostly ignored, my sisters being the center of attention since it was 'their' birthday. Though I did notice a hyuuga girl staring at me from time to time, she was likely watching me because I scared at her.

After a few hours Naruko and Natsume sat on a banner saying "Happy birthday Naruko and Natsume." they were surrounded by presidents, while I got none.

Naruto felt a small pang of sadness 'Ouch.' Being forgotten still hurt. Though he quickly ignored it.

As the twin sisters were starting to open present Jiraiya and Tsunade came forward. Jiraiya offered Natsumi the toad contract to become a toad summoner, while Tsunade offered Naruko the slug contract. 'Ouch.' another pang had hit Naruto. Neither had offered Naruto to sign the contract, they were HIS godparents too.

After the sisters were done opening presents Minato had announced that Natsumi and Naruko were going to be co-clanheirs. Everyone present cheered for the duo, no questions asked. I took that as my time to leave, but as I left a saw Narumi send me a smug look. A look that said "I'm better than you." her smug look pissed me off. Though now I had an excuse to go to my room. If anyone noticed me leave they'd assume I was just sad at loosing my birthright.

When I got to my room I grabbed all of my supplies and climbed out the window. I knew I had a lot of time. With all of the partying, fireworks, and alcohol I had around noon tomorrow till' they notice my dissapearance. He made towards the village gates making use of every back alley and shadow. Starting a "fox hunt" wouldn't be very beneficials. When he reached the gate he hid close to the guard station. Looking inside Naruto could see them drinking alcohol on the job, good, this would make escaping easier. As the guards were distracted with one of them making a joke Naruto spiked the drinks. In a few seconds the guards were out cold. Naruto then bolted out the gates.

'Good job, now if you run full speed we'll reach the Land of tea before noon, then all you'll need to do is sneak on board the voyaging ship and were all clear.' Yami spoke eagerly.

'Your sure we'll make it? It's a pretty long trip, I'm not sure I can last that long non-stop running.'

'Don't worry so much, we have reserve chakra to help with that.'

'Really? how?'

'Why it's the Kyuubi's body, It'd be put to good use helping us escape.'

'Wait...What?' Naruto said shocked by the revalation.

'Don't worry, just focus on running.' Yami spoke reassuringly.

And so Naruto just continued running. Eventually he reached tea city, barely making it on before it set sail. He had dumped a barrel of fruit and hid in the container. He was soon carried below deck.

After a few weeks of hiding below deck, surviving off stolen supplies and bottled water something happened. The ship was rocking immensely, everything was flying around crashing into the walls. Wondering hat the hell was going on Naruto went above deck. What he saw looked like an act of god. The ship was in the middle of a monstrous tsunami. Waves as high as the hokage monument were all around the ship. the skys were blacked out, only with the occasional sign of lightning. This was the reason no one survived. Naruto simplified his terror in 1 word.

"Fuck." He simply said.

Then one of the gigantium waves crashed into the ship. The ship and all of it's occupants sank under the waves. As Naruto was sinking into the depths of the water, he realized he was going to die.

'So...this is how I die.'

'Nope' Yami chimed in, ' were not dying yet!' Soon Yami started using the Kyuubi's chakra from it's body and start manipulating the air bubbles around me to form a sphere of oxygen. Oxygen started to fill up Naruto's lungs again, wheezing from the suffocation of the sea.

"That...that was to close for comfort." he wheezed out.

The bubble of oxygen was flowing with the underwater currents of the sea away from the tsunami and the Elmental Nations. When they were a safe distance away from the tsunami the bubble rose above sea level.

It Was a long time before Naruto had found land. Days, weeks, months? He wasn't sure. Though he knew it was a miracle that he'd survived so long at sea. Sure he had food and water sealed away, it was also thanks to the chakra from the kyuubi's body yami supplied that Naruto could survive the cold nights and most storms.

Naruto eventually washed up on a sandy beach. After having some time to recover from such an ordeal he started to explore the area he was in. After awhile Naruto came upon a ghost town, multiple buildings having caved in. It looked like the town was attacked, but no signs of any dead bodies. Not really caring Naruto weant into the nearest building looking for either anyone or for some food.

The building was a saloon, looking as destroyed as the town was. Though at the bar counter layed a slightly worn Newspaper. Naruto quickly went to the counter and turned to the headlines.

Canopy Kingdom News! 8/04/05

Skullgirl Rampage!

Queen Nancy Renoir, the latest skullgirl goes on a rampage on the canopy, gigan, and chess kingdoms.

Sources say's she may attack the seaside town of Kisaragi soon. And then the town of Balsim.

Warning: Everyone please evacuate to the capital of our dear country.

With the newly acquired information, Naruto had only one question left.

"What the hell is a skullgirl?" He wondered aloud.

"Well the only way to find out," He then looked around the Newspaper to see where the town named Balsim is located and walked out the building and onto the road out of town, "is to see it for myself." he finished walking off to the skullgirl.

HF: So, your thoughts? I think I'll make this story a harem one, though I'm not completely sure on some characters for it, I am certain of a few. If anyone dislikes the lack of action going on, this is just the intro, so fighting will come soon. And please leave a review, I'd like to hear any critique to make a better story.