Well, thanks to the new Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep game, I've decided to throw Naruto into the mix.
Summary: Takes place at beginning of game, spans to the future of Kingdom Hearts. Eraqus found a young boy one day on his travels for Apprentices. This boy's heart was a strange one... one full of Darkness and Light... and... Two Hearts? Possible NaruxAqua
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Powerful/Dark Being Talking"
'Powerful/Dark Being Thinking'
(Translation)
The Fourth Apprentice
Chapter 1: The Rescued Child
A mob of about 30 people ran through the streets after their target, armed to the teeth with pitchforks, torches, kitchen knives... anything pointy enough to kill. They screamed bloody murder as they chased their target... an 8 year old blond boy.
The boy was running for his life. His hair was blond, but had splotches of dirt in them, and his smell hinted that he hadn't bathed in a while. His blue eyes were filled with fear and confusion. His little legs were straining themselves to their limits, having run for so long.
True, he had outran Jounin level Nin before, and this was just normal civilians, but their numbers heavily outweighed what the Jounin could pull off. He had been running now for a good hour, give or take a few minutes, and they crowed hadn't dwindled. He had glanced back once, and found that when some of the people in the crowed got too tired to chase him, others would take their place. It was like a planned out attack!
As he ran, he suddenly turned into an ally with a dead end. As he stopped at it, he turned around to find the crowed had followed him, and he was now trapped.
"Finally, we have you now Demon!" One man in the crowed yelled. "It took a long time, and a lot of Ryo, but we finally were able to trace your afternoon activities. With the hired Nin, we figured out the most possible route you would take, and tricked you into taking a wrong turn."
The blond boy swallowed loudly and closed his eyes, awaiting the pain as one of the mobsters ran forward with a broken glass bottle.
He waited for a minute, but felt nothing. He opened his eyes again and gasped when he saw the same man frozen in front of him, unmoving. He looked behind him to see others as well.
He looked around himself, being to preoccupied with the mob to realize he was now in an abyss of darkness, and the only light came from the sky, shining on the round stained glass platform he was on.
He yelped when he heard a sound from behind him and turned to see it. He watched as three lights appeared before him, and in each light was a weapon.
The first light had a shield. It was mostly green, with a tree-circled design in its center. It looked very sturdy, like it would block anything, even the most powerful of Jutsu.
The second light, and the closest to him, held a sword. Its edge looked sharpened to the finest point that not even the best Daito he'd seen were sharpened too. It had a the same three-circled design as the shield, but it was at the junction between the blade and the hilt.
And the third light held a staff. It had a green handle that stretched out to the same length as the sword. Its top had a 3D version of the three-circles.
"Power Sleeps within you..."
the boy began to twist and turn, trying to find the source of the voice.
"If you give it form... You will gain it's power... Choose wisely... Naruto..." The voice vanished after speaking this.
The boy turned to the lights again and walked up to the shield, having not heard his name being spoken.
"The power of the guardian... Unbreakable will... A shield to repel all... Is this, a power you choose...?"
Naruto hesitated, weighing his options for the moment, before he nodded. If he had this power, he could protect himself from the villagers. He still did not understand why they hurt him so much... He was a good boy, right?
He was broken from his thoughts when the shield vanished in a small beam of light and heard glass breaking. He had a small sweatdrop for a moment, before he slowly looked down to see the platform he was on vanishing. He jumped, only to have it fall. He began to swim in the air comically, only to look down and fall, letting out a scream of fear as he went, the sound getting quieter and quieter as he fell.
He looked down and found himself floating slowly to another platform, and not to his death? As he landed he looked around himself again and found little black creatures standing around him. He took a step back, then gasped as his hand was covered in light. It cleared, and he was holding the shield in his right hand.
"Do not fret... you hold the power to become the best... hold no fear in your heart... and you will have no weakness in battle..."
Naruto nodded at the voice, understanding it somehow, even if he was only 8 years old. He began to swat at the creatures, finding it relatively easy to beat them.
"Those creatures are called Heartless... regular Humans who have lost their hearts and have had them gone astray... they only exist to make more of themselves..."
Naruto nodded and watched as stairs appeared in front of him. He sighed, happy that he didn't have to fall again and began to walk up them.
As he neared the end he saw a few people appear.
One was a girl with blue hair. She looked about his age, and didn't have more than a blue tee-shirt on and white shorts. She had a bright smile on her face.
The next was a boy that looked to be a very small child, barely over 2 years of age. His hair was brown, and his eyes a shade of blue that of which Naruto had only seen on himself, and the, admittedly, pretty girl next to him.
And the third and final boy was the same age as him. Naruto recognized him instantly. The boys hair was black, and spiky, but not as much as Naruto's and the brown haired kids. His eyes were coal black, just the same as his hair.
Naruto growled at him. "Sasuke-teme!" He pointed. He paused when the voice spoke, cutting off anything he was about to say.
"These are the people that will make a difference in your life... some more than others... though when you meet them... they may look much different... but its always good to have something to branch from..." The people vanished and Naruto was left alone on the platform again.
"Now... it is time you walked through the door to your new adventure... but first, you must unlock your new powers... though they have form, they still sleep... call upon them through instinct... they shall answer the call..."
Naruto tried to understand, he really did, but the harder the thought, the harder it was...
He thought back to a few lessons he had taken from Sarutobi-jiji. Meditation calmed the mind, and a calm mind lead to a better life... or something along those lines.
So, the little 8-year old sat on the ground, hands in his crossed leg's lap, and closed his eyes in concentration. He was sitting there for a few good minutes before he felt something... He began to think it was his Chakra, but he'd called on it once before, and this felt nothing like it...
His hand suddenly flew out from his body, extending fully, and gripping something in the air tightly. There was a flash in his hand, and it cleared to show a new weapon, and a strange one at that...
The first was a regular looking key. It's hilt was black and its blade was white. The teeth at the tip of the blade formed what seemed to be a crown. It had the same strange three-circled design as a key chain at the bottom, also white. (The Fourth Apprentice: Kingdom Key-T)
He stood up after admiring them and looked back up, expecting the voice to speak again. He was not let down.
"Now that your power is awakened, it is time to walk through the door..."
Naruto nodded as a door appeared across from him. He looked at the key-like weapons in his hands and watched as they vanished, and the same energy he felt with them out was also put away, but now he knew how to bring it out.
He closed his hands into fists and nodded. Then walked through the door, ready for a new life...
.::8 Years Later - Land of Departure::.
Naruto rolled in his sleep as he laid in his bed. He sat up suddenly and blinked away any sleepiness still in his system.
That same dream... he remembered that one part of his past. And, just as he stepped out of that door of light after gaining his Keyblade, he would wake up and it would be morning...
He got out of his bed, still in his pajamas from last night. He grabbed a pair of shorts, a shirt, and other clothing from his closet, his tooth brush, and a towel. Then proceed to walk out the door to his room and too the bathroom.
As he neared it, he began to reach his tired hand out to the knob, and the second he touched it, a voice yelled at him.
"Namikaze Naruto! Don't you dare turn that knob!" The feminine voice yelled, waking Naruto up enough to make him jump away from the door. He gulped and apologized quickly, then began to fast walk toward the other bathroom.
He got in it, opened it after making sure no one was in it, and slammed the door shut, by now his face was bright red, and eyes wide.
This happened almost two or three times every week. Aqua always had the bathroom first, before all of the guys in the house. And he had learned that the hard way when he first got here four years ago.
It had started out just like today, but Aqua and Naruto didn't know the other was there, and Naruto simply walked in, somehow silent enough for him to get in, strip his clothes off, and open the shower curtain to find a naked Aqua taking a shower. They stared at each other for a few seconds, before they screamed... well Naruto screamed because she had screamed out 'HENTAIIII!' and proceed to beat him into an inch of his life, all the while, red faced and blood leaking from his nose.
Needless to say... that first week they couldn't look at each other without almost exploding from the heat in their faces... and Naruto didn't really feel like having another 'Training' session with her again... he shivered but then he had to admit... the first time was totally worth it... all those curves... damn...
He almost began to drool, but caught himself and proceeded to take his shower, after locking the door...
.::Later – Training Hall::.
Naruto let out a short yelp as he dodged Aqua's slightly more than vicious cut, and he couldn't help but notice it was slightly low... as in... slightly below his belt...?
He blocked her next strike with his Keyblade, Kingdom Key-T. As to why he wasn't using his other
Keyblade, well that had two reasons.
The first was that it was a rule they had come up with after the first fight they had. As Naruto was a rare dual wielder of the Keyblade, he was only permitted to use the second Keyblade, when he was fighting two-on-one with Terra and Aqua fighting him. Though from time to time Ventus joined as well. Then he really had to go all out. And even when he pulled out all of his magical power to increase his abilities, he only just barely won.
When he fought with one Keyblade, it seemed to limit the amount of energy he could use at once, meeting he was only at half power with one Keyblade, and that brought him down to just above Aqua's level of magic skill, Terra's power, and greatly outweighing Ventus' speed. Naruto always seemed to have an attribute with speed and magic. Going as far as to make a technique for his speed called Shunpo (Flash Step) which let him travel at speeds no eye could track, but at the moment, it took way to much Magical Power to use it.
His Keyblades seemed to also have a spell integrated in them somehow, and he had dubbed the attacks Sendou Hasai.(Deadly Shredder). The attack was fired from the blades as a highly compact and dense, crescent like slash of magic. Of course, at the moment the attack could only be fired a total of three times before he was completely drained of energy.
He ducked and glared at Terra who snickered at him form the sidelines, smart enough not to get in this fight and be on the end of the same beating. Ventus was right next to him, but he wasn't holding back at all, and just outright laughed at Naruto when Aqua swung a little low below his belt...
"Damn it Ventus!" Naruto screamed as he went from side to side, doging Aqua's swings. "If you... Don't stop.. Laughing... Right this... second, I'm... going to... BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YA!" He yelled as he swung and knocked Aqua's Keyblade from her hand. He smiled in victory before he realized that the Keyblade was no ordinary weapon.
He jumped back away from the girl just in time as her Keyblade flashed back to her hand with a beam of light, and swung at him.
He landed, and held his Keyblade in front of him with one hand, the other configuring up a spell, his Aero Spell creating a ball of wind in his hand. He quickly cast it too the ground, and blew the approaching Aqua away from him. She landed with a thud, and with a Keyblade pointed at her neck, Naruto stood above her.
"Yield!" he called. He placed his foot on her wrist lightly, but strong enough to hold it down and the Keyblade with it. She grunted, here eyes still furious. Damn! How could she be so mad from him almost making that mistake again?!
She nodded, a defeated look in her eyes. However, when he removed his foot to help her up, he was introduced to her leg, in a place where the word 'gentle' wasn't always appreciated...
Admits the pain and haziness, he could see Ventus rolling on the ground, and Terra having trouble standing, having to actually lean on his Keyblade so as not to fall over like his young friend.
Oh... they were dead... Just as soon as he could stand...
.::Days Later – Court Room::.
The trio of apprentices stood before two masters.
One was their own master, Master Eraqus. A humble and proud man, he was leaning towards the 'elderly' part of his life, but when mentioned, denied it outright, tried to display his 'youthfulness', and in the process, hurt himself and needed to sit down until his strength returned...
All in all? A hilarious sight.
...What, Naruto couldn't enjoy the small things in life...? Even when it was old men being embarrassed and never learning a lesson?
He was knocked out of his thoughts when his master cleared his throat, gaining their attention. He stood straight and true, looking all the Master he was. "Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery." He declared, eyes hard and unforgiving, but if one looked close enough, they would see a large amount of pride in his students.
"Not one, or two, but three, three, of the Keyblade's chosen stand here today as candidates, but this is neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy. Not a test of wills, but a test of the heart. Both of you may prevail, or neither. But I am sure our guest, Master Xehanort," he paused to look towards the older man who bowed his head.
He was an old looking man for sure, but neither of the tree apprentices dared to claim that he was weak to add to it. Their own Master was getting on in years, but he could still fight like a Master could. Besides, the feeling he gave off set Naruto on full alert. And the way he had cast a glance to Ventus earlier already put the man on his 'Bad Juju Vibes List'.
"...did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the mark." Eraqus continued, catching their attention again. "I trust you are ready." He finished, all three of them giving nods and a loud 'Hai, Master'.
Eraqus nodded, and summoned his Keyblade, holding the weapon out. "Then, let the examination begin!" He exclaimed as his Keyblade shown with light. Not a moment earlier, Orbs of light magic were spiraling around the three.
And with an unseen gesture from Xehanort, the orbs were surrounded by dark magic, increasing their power and speed greatly. And while the three powerful apprentices could handle the orbs themselves, Ventus had somehow found his way into the fight, and was fighting along side them.
It wasn't long before the orbs were gone, and the Apprentices were back in their places. Eraqus nodded to them, and to Ventus as well to the sides. "That was unexpected." He started. "However, it was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold. Which brings us to your next trial." Here he paused and pointed to Aqua, Naruto and Terra. "Aqua, Terra, and Naruto. You will now face each other in a 'Free For All' battle. Remember, there are no winners. Only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed. Begin!"
With the last words, Aqua and Terra both summoned their Keyblades. They pointed at Naruto, giving each other a nod to agree to take out the strongest first, or at least tire him out while tiring out the other.
Naruto sweat dropped, and glanced to Master Eraqus, one of his hand waving in their direction, a pleading look in his eyes. Luckily, his Master nodded to him, and he grinned happily.
However, Aqua and Terra, did not grin. In fact, they paled. Quite a bit. Even Ventus began to turn a bit white, and moved a bit closer to the Masters so as to stay out of the crossfire.
Naruto held out both of his hands, and in dual flashes of light, both of his Keyblades were visible. The silver and black colors of Kingdom Key Twilight glinting off of the sun, and the same from the Feinir Keyblade. Both blades were lowered to his side, and he soon took his stance with them. Both Keyblades were held out to his sides, and every now and then, his left handed Keyblade would spin in a circle to keep feeling in his wrist. (Roxas' Dual Wield stance)
It wasn't long before Terra and Aqua both began to attack. Terra focusing on close range combat, and Aqua offering support with Magic. Even some Buff Magic, increasing their own powers. He was happy that she hadn't learned Debuff Magic yet.
However, even with the Buff Magic cast on both of them, it only helped a small amount. Naruto was no pushover when it came to magic either, and for every Buff Magic Aqua cast, he had already sent an attack spell her way to get her while she concentrated.
Even for those spells that got threw, Terra was still weaker than a Dual Wielding Naruto. He was also a very slow character, relying more on his Tank like attributes to win fights. And while Aqua was fast, she wasn't as much as a worry at the moment. She might have been if she attacked him Physically, but for the moment, he was ok.
… Well, unfortunately for him, they had many spars. And due to that, the same strategy was used a lot. It was inevitable that they would figure out a way to combat him.
For no sooner had Aqua used all of her Buff Spells on both her and Terra, she was attacking as well, not casting Fire or Thunder from a distance.
Now he was on edge. Constantly dodging and shoving away one of his friends so he could fight another.
It was on one of these times, that Terra's hand lit up with Dark Fire. But, before he could use it, he noticed what he was doing, and quickly quelled it.
It wasn't long before all three were tired. Just as they were about to go at it again, Eraqus stopped them. When they returned to their positions, sweaty and tired, Eraqus spoke once more.
"We have deliberated and reached a decision," Master Eraqus said as he stood once again from his sitting position, Master Xehanort standing behind him. "Terra, Naruto, Aqua, you all performed commendably. However, only Aqua and Naruto have shown the Mark of Mastery. Terra, you failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check." he spoke, referring to a moment in the middle of the fight.
Aqua and Naruto both sent glances toward Terra, who had his head down out of disappointment. They were about to offer condolences, when Eraqus spoke up again. They had missed part of his speech. "Naruto, Aqua. As Masters, you are entitled to certain knowledge only known to us of rank. Please remain while both Terra and Ventus are excused."
With the order given, Terra immediately took off for his room. Ventus no doubt following him...
.::Later – Courtyard::.
Naruto found himself chasing after Aqua as she reached the Courtyard. He was there in time to see Ventus take off, and Aqua given a mission to follow.
However, when he offered to go as well, he was stopped.
"Naruto." Eraqus began, eyes searching around him, before resting on Naruto. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to travel with Aqua and Terra. Now, before you question me, I have another mission for you, and you alone." He paused here, and Naruto nodded. He was sure that Aqua and Terra could handle themselves, and Aqua was more than capable of getting Ventus back on her own, or with Terra as well.
Eraqus continued. "I am worried about Master Xehanort. Lately he has been acting strange. Just the other day, I believe I heard him talking to a shadow, and that worries me greatly." He confessed, but soon, shook his head and locked eyes with Naruto again. "But that is not why I have stopped you. I have stopped you, to give you a 'Keybearer Recruiter' Mission."
Naruto tilted his head to the right slightly. An act that Aqua had often called cute when preformed. And something that Terra and Ventus constantly teased the two about. "Master?"
Eraqus continued again, still solid as stone. "It is a special mission given only to Keyblade Masters. The mission is simple. You are to go to new worlds, and look for those you deem worthy of the Keyblade. As you know, Keybearers are in short supply, and I feel that something dark is on the horizon." He paused here, and then, continued again, as if coming out of a thought. "Naruto, I'll allow you the privilege to chose which worlds you visit, and I will not force you to change your decision on any Keybearers you make. You are your own Master now, and you are responsible enough to take care of yourself."
"However, I do ask one favor of you. My old friend, Yen-Sid, as I have mentioned before, is a retired master. He called me not long ago, just after you and Aqua left the courtroom, and asked a favor of me. I want you to stop by his castle, he said something about new garments for our Keybearers, and wished to send a Master over to test them out."
Naruto nodded. "Hai Master. I will not let you down." Eraqus nodded to the boy, and soon, was watching as he, too, left this world for Yen-Sid's own...
.::Yen-Sid's Tower::.
Naruto sighed as he landed in the strange world. A colorful ocean like substance was bellow him for as far as his eyes could see. The tower wasn't hard to find, there was only one patch of land in this world with a large building on it...
It wasn't long before he had entered, and gone up the stairs. When he had reached them, he was surprised to see the legendary wizard himself sitting at his desk like he had nothing else to do. He grinned when he saw him, and waved his hand in a 'come in' motion.
Naruto did just that, standing before the man and bowing. "Master Yen-Sid. It's an honor." He stood straight again. He opened his mouth to introduce himself, when he was halted by Yen-Sid's hand.
The old Master lowered it, and smirked. "I know of who you are, Namikaze Naruto. Master Eraqus has called here some time after you had left his castle, and informed me that you have agreed to a favor of sorts?" He questioned, and smirked again when he got a nod from the boy.
He was about to continue, when a strange being suddenly popped into the room.
It was strange. It's skin was silvery, and metallic looking. It was dressed in a strange assortment of pink clothing. The most prominent being the Pink hat that seemed to cover it's eyes.
Like a child, it curiously began to look around the room, and finally landed on the startled duo of Masters. It seemed to 'smile' as it weaved its way threw the air toward Naruto, and began to float around him. He was about to summon his Keyblade and ward the creature off, when Yen-Sid made a noise.
"Now, now, what is this strange being?" He asked. The creature just continued to poke Naruto, and explore him.
Naruto made a face, and tried to ignore it. "Master?" He asked. The man just observed. He glanced at Naruto, and then back to the creature. He sat straight in his chair, and looked at Naruto. "I'm afraid I've never seen a creature like this before. Strange indeed. I would love to do research on it..."
He looked between it and Naruto again, and grinned. "Master Naruto." He called, getting a stiff 'Hai' from him. "As I cannot study this creature here, and it seems attached to you, I would like for you to travel with it. Record it's movements, activities, everything. Tell me what it is that this creature does. Maybe we can find something out about it."
He raised his eyebrows slightly in amusement when it began to pull on Naruto's cheeks with its... 'fingers'?
Naruto grabbed the creature, and found that it wasn't warm, or cool to the touch, just a normal temperature, and pried it's hand off of him. It was soon just standing at his side, watching him, seemingly with big eyes.
Naruto sent Yen-Sid a look, but nodded slowly anyway. "Umm... alright... Master." he paused, to glance at it, then back to the retired master. "Now, about that favor."
Yen-Sid smirked again, and waved to a door located to his left. "Threw that door are three good faeries. If you explain the situation to them, they will give you the garments requested."
Naruto nodded, and thanked the master. And as he walked to the door, true to the Master's thoughts, the pink 'Dancer' followed him all the way there. And after a few questions from the Faeries, he was soon in his new clothing.
Well... clothing probably wasn't the right word for it. It was only a simple necklace. It had a crown like shape to it, and was golden in color. And for some reason, he couldn't get the damn creature to stop playing with it.
He narrowed his eyes at the faeries as they tried not to laugh at the Keyblade Master before them, with a Nobody on his back, playing with the necklace.
"Now," One fairy started. "this necklace is only a prototype, but we have put as much work into it as possible. While you ware the necklace, you will have access to a great power. What they are? You will have to figure them out for yourselves." She finished.
Naruto nodded, glad the Dancer had finished playing with the accessory, and was standing calmly by his side. He thanked them quickly, and left.
After a few parting words of thanks from the Master, he was off to his first world...
.::?::.
Naruto sighed as he landed with the strange being next to him. He sent it a glance, and stopped, watching it. It seemed to tilt it's head in confusion.
"Well.." Naruto began, crossing his arms. "I can't very well call you 'creature' and 'it' for our partnership, eh?" He asked, and seemed to get an indifferent shrug from it as it twitched. Naruto gave it a look. "Well, because you look like one, and act like one, I think I'll just stick with calling you 'Dancer'. That sound good?"
The creature, now Dancer, nodded and began to look around. It vanished when someone walked by them, a strange trio. And Naruto chose not to call out to Dancer. He was sure she was still nearby... at least... he thought it was a she...?
One had a green sweater of sorts, brown hair, was female and seemed hyper. The second one was about the same height as the first, also female, and had a red sweater on instead. The last was a tall male with silver hair and gray eyes.
He sighed, and walked up to them. "Excuse me?" He called, gaining their confused attention. He cut straight to the trace. "I'm sorry, I seem to have wandered into a part of town I don't recognize. I'm new here you see. Do you think you could tell me where we are?" He asked politely, coming up with a cover up story.
The green sweater-ed one turned around and smiled brightly at him.
"Why, your in Downtown, Inaba."
.::End::.
A/n: Well, there's the first chapter. Naruto's become a Master, and landed in his first world. And what's this? A Nobody is traveling with him? Strange indeed...
Well, I hope you liked it all. From here on out, Naruto will be facing enemies, finding allies, and the occasional Absent Silhouette maybe...?