Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters of Naruto© and Kingdom Hearts©, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

A god once said, "A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart." This is the story of how the strength of the hearts of a few, changed all of creation.

Prologue

Deep within the wild forest of Fire Country, a short distance from the northern gate of the mighty shinobi village, Konohagakure, a young shinobi in training's world was crumbling.

Naruto felt numb, as if a dull haze had settled over his senses. "What?" he finally managed to choke out, his tongue thick in his mouth. "You heard me," sneered his silver haired oppressor, the chūnin known as Mizuki. Naruto had spent the better part of three years with Mizuki, one of his instructors at the shinobi Academy, he had trusted the man.

However, earlier that same day the yearly qualification exams had taken place, and once more Naruto had was his last chance to become a shinobi, and he failed. Then, like a ray of hope, Mizuki had approached him, but now all Naruto knew was the searing pain of betrayal.

"You are the beast that nearly destroyed Konoha," snarled Mizuki, his normally kind and smiling visage, twisted into a hate filled glare. It was the same glare that Naruto saw on the faces of most of the villagers; the same glare that had followed him all his life, and haunted his dreams. "You've killed dozens of shinobi and civilians," Mizuki continued. "N-no," protested Naruto weakly, "I didn't, I-I haven't."

"You LIE!," roared Mizuki spittle flying, eyes wild, "Fourteen years ago, when you attacked us, the Fourth Hokage managed to seal you into your current form, but I know the truth, all the adult villagers know the truth!" A manic gleam settled into his eyes then, "You are the Nine-tailed Fox, and tonight, I will have vengeance!"

A thousand thoughts and memories swirled through Naruto's head, he didn't want to believe it, but it made so much sense. The hateful glares of adults, no matter where he went, the whispers that followed his presence; parents pulling their children away as he walked past. He finally understood the reason for all the loneliness that had characterized his childhood. Who would want to be friends with the demon that nearly destroyed your home? He felt sick.

Before either of the two could move closer, a sudden plume of smoke billowed between them. "Run!" hissed a vaguely familiar voice into Naruto's ears. Mechanically, he obeyed, his mind a thousand miles away, simply responding to a vague familiarity, taking off even deeper into the forest, the large Scroll of Forbidden Seals bumping against his back as he ran.

"What is this?" shouted Mizuki from within the smoke, his enraged voice echoing in the nearly silent wood. Channeling his chakra into his fingers, he rapidly twirled the giant shuriken resting in his right hand like a fan, blowing the smoke away just in time to see a flash of orange dart out of sight.

Naruto ran as fast as he could, determined to get as far away as possible. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes as he tried to process everything that had been revealed. Was it true, he wondered, is Mizuki right? Branches scratched at him as he dashed away from his silver haired tormentor, the bright moon providing just enough light to see. His frantic race was suddenly brought to a halt as he saw himself run past. "What?" he gasped, what in the world was going on now? The other Naruto briefly looked back and jerked his head towards a large tree, and so the real Naruto, unsure what else to do obeyed and moved towards the indicated tree.

A familiar voice rang out through the woods, "Naruto, wait!" "Naruto" stopped and a moment later, with a quiet whoosh another chūnin materialized in a swirl of leaves. This chūnin was a man of average height and build with dark brown hair, pulled tight into a short ponytail. He had dark eyes and a prominent scar ran across the bridge of his nose, and like Mizuki, he was wearing the regulation Konoha shinobi outfit. "Naruto," the man repeated, "It's me, Iruka."

He glanced around, "You need to get out of here, now" Iruka said frantically, "Mizuki is coming. I wasn't able to distract him long enough." He stretched out his hand, "Give me the Forbidden Scroll and then get to the Hokage as quickly as you can." Naruto nodded and swept the large Scroll of his back. He moved to hand it off, but at the last second he ducked, and slammed his open palm into Iruka's solar plexus with impossible strength.

Iruka wheezed as the air was suddenly forced out of his lungs, and then seemed to ripple. A moment later Mizuki was revealed, standing where Iruka had been. "How," gasped the silver haired chūnin, "How did you know I wasn't Iruka? "Naruto" smirked, and then his imaged wavered away revealing another Iruka, "Because I am the real Iruka," he replied. His gaze hardened, "What have you done Mizuki?"

Mizuki scoffed, "Nothing important." "I see," answered Iruka quietly, "T&I and the Hokage would probably disagree with you." "They'll never know if you're dead," screeched Mizuki dropping all pretenses. In a puff of smoke his giant shuriken was back in his hands, and he raced forward. The two chūnin met with a screech of metal, a kunai in Iruka's hands appearing in an eye blink. The two shinobi clashed again and again, Iruka more skilled than Mizuki, but the sheer size of the shuriken providing an advantage in reach. Then the flow of the battle shifted abruptly when Mizuki flared his chakra. The shuriken spun like a buzz saw and knocked Iruka's kunai away, Mizuki seized the opening and drop kicked Iruka in the chest, sending the older man sailing into a tree. "Why are you trying to stop me Iruka?" Mizuki demanded. "That monster killed your parents; I know you hate him as much as I do."

Naruto, the real one, hidden behind the tree, suddenly felt as cold as ice. Iruka was the closest thing he had to a loved one, and he'd had no idea that the Nine Tails had killed his parents. "You're right," Iruka answered flatly, but audibly. In that moment, Naruto felt his heart start to break, and tears swelled again. He wanted to run away, but he felt paralyzed, unable to move away, and was forced to hear the rest of the conversation.

"I do hate the nine -tails for what it did," Iruka said as he pulled himself up. "But Naruto is not the Fox!" he shouted, making sure he was heard. "He is the beast's jailer, our protector, and one of my most precious people!" With those words hope blossomed in Naruto's heart. It felt like he was filled with light as he contemplated Iruka's words, "I'm one of his precious people," he wondered. This time the tears fell, but now they were ones of joy. He quickly wiped them away, filled with a newfound determination.

Mizuki scowled at Iruka's declaration, "Then it looks like I really do have to kill you," he growled. His shuriken began its high-speed rotation as he channeled his chakra. Then before he could prepare the next stage something blindsided him and sent him flying off his feet. "Don't you dare try to hurt Iruka-sensei!" roared Naruto. Mizuki sprang to his feet with a wordless snarl. "I'm going to crush you." Naruto declared boldly as he stared down his enemy. "You and what army, demon?" retorted Mizuki, "In that body you can't beat me!"

"Try this army," Naruto shot back, as he raised his hand in a cross shaped hand sign, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU," he screamed, his voice echoing in the night as he poured as much chakra as he was able into the technique. In the blink of an eye more than a hundred identical clones of the blond youth materialized, each with a matching glare that promised pain. Mizuki blanched at the one man army, and whispered, "Shit." A wave of orange fell upon the chūnin a moment later.

A few minutes later Naruto, the real one, released the technique and his clones vanished in puffs of rapidly dispelling smoke. A wave of exhaustion hit him like a train, and he sank to his knees. Across the clearing lay Mizuki, still alive somehow, but fully unconscious, badly bruised, bleeding, sporting several broken bones. To give the chūnin credit, he'd destroyed over a dozen clones before being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Iruka drew near a moment later, "Naruto" he said softly placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Are you ok?" Naruto wrapped his arms around Iruka's waist. "Did you mean it?" he asked shakily. "Do you really not hate me, even though I am the fox?"

Iruka's expression softened, "Naruto, you are not the Nine-tails," he said firmly, "You're an annoying, stubborn, ramen-obsessed pain in my neck, and my friend." Naruto let out a shuddering breath, "Thank you," he said quietly as he pulled himself to his feet. "We need to go to the Hokage," Iruka finally said, "Too much has happened tonight."

An unfamiliar voice rang out, "You are correct chūnin Umino." From the shadows materialized six shinobi, each sporting a bone-white porcelain mask that totally hid their visages. Naruto and Iruka tensed at their appearance, it was hard not to, the newcomers were the ANBU 3, everyone knew of the shinobi elite. "The Hokage wants to see you immediately," one of the ANBU said, though it was difficult to tell who had spoken exactly. Naruto and Iruka nodded in consent as three of the ANBU approached, "Be still," Naruto's escort said tonelessly as he placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, while one went to Iruka, and the third hauled up Mizuki in a fireman's carry. A moment later the woods were empty as the ANBU and their charges melted into the shadows.

A few minutes later

Naruto and Iruka stood before the door to the office of the single most powerful shinobi in the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage, and supreme military leader of the Konoha. Naruto sagged against the wall trying to get his head to stop spinning, he hated being a shushin passenger, and it always made him feel sick. "Breathe deep," muttered Iruka quietly as he did the same, "It helps." When the world finally stopped spinning, Iruka squared his shoulders and knocked twice firmly. "Enter!" boomed the Hokage's voice almost immediately.

They trudged in a met the blank face of the aged Hokage, smoking a pipe as he stared at them from behind his desk. "Hey Old," Naruto began quietly before stopping, "Lord Hokage," he said quietly as he bowed and Iruka did the same. "You've caused a lot of trouble tonight," rumbled Hiruzen, his voice gravely from years of smoking. "I need every single detail of what you did and why, before I can decide what will happen next."

Naruto nodded once, "As you know today was the Academy's graduation test, but I failed again because I can't do that stupid Basic Clone jutsu." He swallowed the lump in his throat, "Since it was my third time failing, I was desperate, and I was afraid I might be kicked out permanently." After classes got out, Mizuki pulled me aside and told me that he and Iruka-sensei had antici, anticipet….had expected me to fail again."

The boy sighed before continuing, "He told me that they had set up a makeup test for me, all I had to do was grab a scroll from the tower, learn a technique from it, and then get to the end point by midnight tonight." Hiruzen took a drag on his pipe, "How did you know where to get the scroll?" he asked.

Naruto fished out a folded up square of paper. "Here," he answered handing it over, "It's a map of the tower, with the room's security code." Alarmed, Hiruzen picked up the paper, instantly knowing the major information leak it represented. "Did you know that it was the Scroll of Forbidden Seals when you took it?" he demanded. Naruto vehemently shook his head; "No!" he denied firmly, "I really thought it was all just a test." "I grabbed the scroll and high tailed it out of there as quickly as I could."

"What happened next?" questioned Hiruzen. "I got to the meeting point early, so I decided to work on the next part, and picked a technique to learn," the blond answered truthfully. "Which one?" sighed Hiruzen. "Shadow Clone jutsu," answered Naruto sheepishly, "It had the least hand signs. Hiruzen huffed, "All the techniques in that scroll are either dangerous or village secrets, Naruto," he said firmly. "Were you not the least bit suspicious?"

Naruto looked aside, somewhat ashamed, "I wasn't really thinking about that," he answered truthfully. Iruka fought the urge to face palm right then. "I was so afraid of failing that I only really cared about passing, and I honestly had no reason to suspect Mizuki of anything, he was one of the fairer teachers."

Hiuzen's mouth thinned, but he said nothing, motioning for Naruto to continue. "Anyway, after a lot of practice, I finally managed to get the technique down, and shortly after that, Mizuki arrived." He took a shuddering breath to calm himself before continuing, "Shortly after that, Mizuki told me what I am."

Hiruzen froze, "What?' he said after a moment spent collecting himself.

"Mizuki told me fourteen years ago I attacked the village, and that the Fourth Hokage sealed me into this human form." Naruto answered quietly. Iruka nearly choked, but before he could speak or protest, the Third held up his hand. "Mizuki, like many others in the village is mistaken," he said firmly. "You are not the nine-tails sealed in human form; you are what are known as a jinchūriki." Naruto blinked at the unfamiliar term, "Jin what?"

"A jinchūriki is a person who has one of the nine bijū sealed within them," the Hokage replied. "The bijū are immortal beings, masses of sentient chakra, they can't be killed, and so your soul acts as a prison to keep the creature locked away." "Oh," Naruto blinked, he suddenly looked like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, "So I really am not the fox, like at all?" "No," answered Hiruzen firmly, as well as Iruka.

Naruto hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "Why me?" he asked softly, "Why was I chosen?" A look of deep pain crossed Hiruzen's face, "I'm so sorry, but as an orphaned child you were the best choice." Naruto glanced up, confusion evident on his face, "The nine-tails is the strongest of the bijū," the Third explained, "The only vessel that could contain his power safely was the soul of a newborn child then. "Your status as a jinchūriki has been an S-class secret since that day," Hiruzen continued. "It was treason for Mizuki to reveal it to you like that." Naruto flinched, "Why?" "Were you ever going to tell me?" He couldn't keep the emotion from his voice.

Hiruzen simply nodded, "I planned on telling you myself when you became a genin, I wanted you to have as normal a life as possible. It is to my shame that I failed," and a moment Hiruzen looked aged well beyond his years. "I will never be able to make that up to you, I'm sorry."

It's ok Lord Hokage," Naruto whispered after a long moment of silence, "What's done is done." Now it was Hiruzen's turn to feel the guilt and tension life from his shoulders. He indulged a small smile briefly before schooling himself. "Now that you know the truth, you and I are the only people authorized to inform people of your status, and I will always try to ask for your permission." Naruto nodded, "Thank you, Lord Hokage," he answered. "Now what else happened tonight?" the Third asked.

After finishing his report Naruto remained quiet, still smiling as Iruka explained how someone called Kakashi had told him that Naruto had been involved in an unspecified incident with the tower, and had pointed him in the direction of the woods to the north. He also went over the confrontation with Mizuki, and highlighted how Naruto had successfully used the Shadow Clone technique to subdue the traitor.

After a long stretch of silence, puffing away on his pipe, Hiruzen finally spoke. "In many countries, your most of actions would have constituted treason," he said blandly. Naruto blanched, recognizing the seriousness of the situation. "However, I genuinely believe that you were deceived, and choose to believe that you simply were following the orders of a trusted superior officer, so just this once I will not hold you accountable."

A large smile bloomed on his face, and Naruto was about to shout his thanks, but Iruka firmly elbowed him. Hiruzen skillfully hid a smirk, and continued, "In addition, in recognition of your service to the village in apprehending a traitor, and due to a successful execution of a high level technique, I hereby grant you a field promotion to the rank of genin." This time Iruka couldn't stem Naruto's enthusiastic whoop of joy, "Thanks Old man!"

"Naruto!" hissed the chūnin, "Be respectful." Naruto at least had the decency to look chagrined, "Right," he said far more quietly, standing at attention. Hiruzen nodded in appreciation, "Now Naruto, you must understand this," he stressed. "Something like this cannot happen again."

He reached into a drawer in his desk and withdrew a shinobi headband, embossed with the stylized leaf symbol of Konoha. "Take this, and wear it with pride," instructed the Hokage, in his most formal tone, "May to will of fire burn bright in you." Naruto saluted, "Yes sir," he declared enthusiastically, and once more he felt filled with light. "Dismissed."

As Naruto and Iruka walked away, a hard look entered Hiruzen's eyes, he had a traitor to interrogate personally, and then execute.

Even Later that Night

Naruto stared at the ceiling of his single bedroom apartment, his eyes seeing nothing. His mind however, was racing. The knowledge he had gained tonight changed everything. Who was he? For so long all he had ever wanted was the acknowledgement, approval, or even, in his loneliest moments, just the attention of the villagers, but now? Could he ever get that acknowledgement he wondered?

Even though he objectively knew he wasn't the fox, he wasn't sure some people would ever be able to see him as a person. These questions and several like it were still on his mind as he finally drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Elsewhere

His eyes opened when he felt a warm current of air pass over his skin, there was nothing around him, just a black void broken only by a point of bright light that he instinctively knew he was approaching. He could tell he was falling, but it felt odd, like he was drifting through water, like a stone settling to the bottom of a pool. The strangest part was that this empty place felt familiar, and he felt no fear.

As he drifted closer to the point of light, his eyes slowly adjusted, to the dim light and he saw that it was emanating from a large platform of some kind, a single empty oasis in the abyss. It wasn't long before he could see the details on the surface of the platform, and it almost took his breath away. A huge stained-glass mural covered the surface, a portrait of a young man resting against a tree. It's beauty was beyond words.

Then, with a start, Naruto realized that the young man in the picture was himself. He drifted closer and closer to the platform in the silent abyss before finally landing softly.

He looked around, but as far as he could tell, nothing else existed in this place aside from the platform. "Where am I?" he wondered aloud, and his voice sounded too loud in this silent place, but it did not echo.

"Ah," came an unexpected reply from behind, and Naruto nearly jumped out of his own skin. "So you finally have come to see me." Naruto whirled around, and promptly reeled back in surprise. He was looking at himself. He blinked then looked more carefully, something was off.

It took him a second, before he finally pinned it down, this Other Naruto had eyes that glowed yellow, and something just felt wrong about him, he felt dangerous. "Who are you?" the original warily demanded, disconcerted by his doppelganger.

The yellow-eyed Naruto chuckled, "I'm you," he responded, "Or at least part of you." Original Naruto's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously. "

You hate them," answered the yellow-eyed one dodging the question, "Don't you?" and Original Naruto flinched, on some deep instinctual level he knew exactly what his copy was referring to. "You hate the villagers, and their whispers, the stares, the way they treated you, the boy that is literally their savior." "That's not true!" protested the original Naruto.

"It's ok," said the other Naruto soothingly, "That hatred is why I exist after all," and drew closer to the original. "All your anger, your hurt and pain, the sorrow and loneliness," he tapped his other's chest right on the heart. "It's all in here," he said quietly, "It's all in me." "I am your Darkness."

Original Naruto stood his ground, despite his discomfort. The being in front of him, his dark reflection, he knew, he just knew, wasn't lying, and it was almost terrifying, "What do you want?" he asked warily, "Why am I here?"

Suddenly the Dark-Naruto grabbed the original's jacket, "Use me!" he or it hissed, the yellow glow of his eyes brightening. "Surrender yourself to my power, and I will make you stronger than you can imagine!"

Naruto frowned, "Get real," he growled and stepped back firmly, breaking free. "You could show them all," retorted Dark-Naruto, who thankfully didn't draw closer "Make them see your power, your strength and acknowledge you and you alone, not that damn Fox!"

For a moment Naruto stared at his dark copy and wondered. Was that really what he wanted, deep down? In his heart of hearts, he acknowledged that the hatred and resentment of the villagers did exist, and the offer of power was temping, oh so tempting, but something held him back. For a long time, he stood there, staring at the dark reflection of himself and thought about his life.

After an indeterminate amount of time passed, he reached his answer. With Iruka's words of friendship and love echoed in his mind, and he decided he wouldn't give into his own hatred. "No," he said finally aloud. "I will not give into you."

Dark-Naruto scowled and hissed in fury, and in the blink of an eye, a solid tendril of shadow shot out of his hand, wrapping around the orginal Naruto, "Give in to me!" he roared in fury." His eyes burning like miniature suns.

"Never," bellowed back the original. "I don't care if some of the villagers hate me, if some of them will always choose to see me as the Fox, I will protect them anyway, I choose to have hope!"

A blazing pillar of white light erupted from the stained glass mural, fully enshrouding the Original Naruto disintegrating the dark copy's shadowy tendril instantly. A few seconds later, the pillar of light began to fade, and a portion of that intense began to coalesce around the Original's right hand. A moment later something heavy dropped into his palm, and he reflexively gripped it. Whatever it was, it felt comfortable in his hand, like it was made for his specific grip. When the pillar of light fully dimmed back to what it once was, Naruto found himself transfixed by the weapon in his hands.

Whatever the hell it was, it looked like a giant key. In his hand he held a leather wrapped handle that was surrounded by a green guard. The "blade" was essentially a solid slab of metal, with a smaller square shaped wedge jutting out perpendicular to the center slab. The square section had portions cut out, like "teeth" giving it the appearance of an old fashioned type of door key. "What is this?" Original Naruto breathed in wonder.

"So," sneered the Dark-Naruto, "You've manifested a keyblade, have you? "A keyblade?" murmured the original Naruto, somewhat distracted. "Guess this means you've chosen the Light," Dark-Naruto, growled, and there was an odd emphasis on the word light.

"Then I'll show you the power of Darkness!"

Naruto looked up sensing the danger, and saw his double manifest a near identical weapon of his own, but while the original's was made of real solid metal, Dark-Naruto's seemed to be made of pure shadow.

"Don't be afraid," an unknown, but soothing male's voice whispered in Naruto's ear, "It will be ok." Dark-Naruto rushed forward, swinging his shadow weapon with a grunt of exertion. Naruto reflexively brought his own blade to bear, and parried the blow. It was bizarre, he could tell that his own keyblade was fully solid, and should have been quite heavy, but it felt light enough to swing one handed. He shoved his arm forward and pushed his dark counterpart away.

Dark Naruto recovered swiftly and attacked with an overhead blow, which Naruto was forced to block with two hands. Over and over the two clashed, the screech of metal harshly ringing out in the abyss. He could not tell for how long the fought, but eventually their blades locked together once more, and they stood face to face.

"This is going nowhere," Dark-Naruto grunted, "You've made your choice.

The two sprange apart, when suddenly the Voice from before whispered, in Naruto's ears "Your Darkness can't consume you, if you do not want it to," Naruto nearly gasped alound as the answer finally came to him, he knew what to do.

Dark- Naruto came rushing in with a shout, but Original Naruto didn't react, even when the shadowy blade actually pierced his chest, in fact he felt no pain. Stunned his Dark counterpart froze, when suddenly Naruto moved forward, the shadow weapon unfazed, until he reached out and embraced his copy in a hug.

"It's ok," he whispered into Dark-Naruto's ears, "I forgive them." Dark Naruto stumbled back, and tears sprang into those burning yellow eyes, "Why?" he whispered, and "They don't deserve it, they still hate you, and you still need me."

"I know,"Original Naruto answered simply, "But it's still my choice, I forgive them." Dark Naruto started intently at his Other, searching for something for a long moment, before the shadow weapon faded from existence. "Thank you for everything," Naruto whispered, "It's going to be all right." The dark reflection nodded, before quietly, without fanafare, fading away.

"Well done young wielder," the unknown Voice boomed in the void, no longer whispering. "You have proven yourself worthy of the Light."

"Who are you?" called Naruto looking around seeing no one, "Where are you?" "My name is Iron Will," the voice answered." "When the time is right, call my name and I will appear!" Before Naruto could ask any more questions the mural began glowing, brighter and brighter, until it was blinding, and suddenly he knew no more.

If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment, favorite it if you really loved it, or if you hated it for some reason, send me some constructive criticism. This is the first story I've worked on for a while. For the time being I will try to have weekly updates.

See you next time