"Oh man, my head." Naruto said weakly while standing up. "What hit me?"
'Be careful Naruto, this place is dangerous.' Kurama said. 'There's a strange force in the air, keep your guard up.'
"That's just great. Hold on a second, this is the Yasogami gymnasium." Naruto said suddenly.
The room Naruto was in had a basketball court, a few bleachers for the occasional game, and other sports equipment scattered around the room.
'This isn't the real thing.' Kurama said. 'Wait, someone's in here.'
The moment Kurama said that, Naruto tensed his muscles and started focusing his chakra. "Who's there?"
"What the, Naruto do you have any idea what's going on?" Kanji asked from behind him.
Upon hearing his friend's voice, Naruto relaxed slightly. "I'm not sure, the last thing I remember is meeting Yu and then we jumped inside a television."
"A television, I don't know what you're talking about but if sempai trusts you then I definitely…" Kanji started to say before stopping.
'Keep your focus Naruto, something is trying to manipulate your mind.' Kurama said suddenly. 'This is similar to a genjutsu.'
Right, thanks for the warning partner, Naruto thought.
"What is the monster doing here, tired of terrorizing your village so now you want to destroy the town we worked so hard to fix?" Kanji asked cruelly. "I should save everyone a lot of trouble and take you down right now."
'Naruto, I think it's time I mention that your friends all have a strange power' Kurama said. 'This guy is dangerous.'
What do you mean, he's strong but I don't think he can threaten us, Naruto thought calmly.
"Put down that fox, Take Mikazuchi." Kanji said before a blue glow surrounded him and a black humanoid figure with a skeleton painted on it wielding a lighting bolt as a weapon floated above him.
"Oh, that just might make a difference." Naruto said nervously.
The moment he said that the creature behind Kanji swung its lightning bolt like a club and tried to smash Naruto's head in, only for him to jump out of the way and have it crash into the ground.
"You're fast, but sooner or later you're going to have to fight me head on." Kanji said. "Ziody.."
"Just what do you two think you're doing?" asked a female voice. "This is a school, and that is far from appropriate behavior."
What the, who's that, Naruto thought before glancing over and seeing a girl around his age with a silver ponytail and red eyes in a Yasogami high uniform.
'I have no idea, but your friend is clearly not in his right mind.' Kurama said. 'We can't afford to have her get hurt, you'll need to use my power.'
"Stay out of this, I'm taking care of a monster." Kanji said. "You don't even deserve to be called a human being, all you are is the cage for the demon."
"You're wrong Kanji, something is messing up your head." Naruto said. "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
With those words, three clones of Naruto appeared in a cloud of smoke and one of them jumped in front of the girl. "Stay behind me, I'll make sure you don't get hurt."
"What are you talking about, how did you do that?" the girl asked.
"That's a long story, I'll explain after this." the clone said. "Trust me, I'll make sure everything ends up ok."
Those eyes, he really intends to stop this, the girl thought. "Alright, but after this is over we're putting a stop to this P1 Grand Prix stuff you understand?"
"No problem, that's my plan." Naruto said confidently. "Alright, let's go Kurama."
The moment Naruto called his name, the nine tailed fox appeared above him in all its glory.
"Well, it looks like you can manifest the demon in here." Kanji said angrily. "That still won't help you."
"Naruto, this place is affecting both of us." Kurama said. "We need to take him down quickly, I'll lend you some of my chakra."
"Right, I'll use that and take him down in one blow." Naruto said calmly.
"Not so fast, Ziodyne." Kanji said with a smirk just before a bolt of lightning struck Kurama, sending him crashing into the ground. "You won't be doing anything like that monster, you deserve to be treated like a monster I'm just doing the world a favor getting rid of you and that pathetic demon fox."
"What are you talking about, the only fox I see is the one above him." the girl said. "Isn't that just some kind of rule for this dumb tournament?"
"You don't have any idea, that's his persona." Kanji said as Take Mikazuchi began walking towards Kurama. "This place lets your inner most emotions and doubts come to the surface and once you've faced them you get the power to fight, or in this case take care of a worthless monster."
"Wait a minute, you said that people who come here face their inner thoughts and then get the power to fight, that works for me." Naruto said with a grin. "I've done that already."
Suddenly one of Naruto's clones appeared next to Kanji with a blue sphere in his hand.
What the, what is that, the girl thought in amazement.
"Rasengan." Naruto said slamming the sphere into Kanji's chest just before he went flying into the bleachers.
Suddenly a monitor dropped from the ceiling and a blue and red bear with a hat and cane appeared on the screen.
"That was quite the impressive performance, but who exactly are you?" the bear asked.
"Why don't you tell me your name first." Naruto said.
"Me, I'm General Teddie the host of the P1 Grand Prix." General Teddie said with a grin. "So now that you know me, why don't you be beary kind and introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to end this tournament before anyone gets hurt." Naruto said confidently.
"You must not have gotten the memo about the rules, only the winner of each match may proceed onwards, and if you win the whole tournament you'll get the special something I have waiting for you." General Teddie said. "Plus since I'm such a nice bear, you can move through the tournament with your little friend and she won't even have to raise a finger."
"Hey, listen you overgrown stuffed animal." the girl said angrily. "Stop this fighting tournament already."
"It's simple, if you want it to end then you'll have to win." General Teddie said.
With those words, the monitor turned off and rose back into the ceiling.
"Oh man, my head." Kanji said weakly. "What hit me?"
"That was me, sorry about that Kanji." Naruto said.
"Hold on, you said we were in the TV right?" Kanji asked. "Did I do anything weird or unbelievable?"
"If you're talking about the guy swinging around a bolt of lightning then yeah you did." the girl said. "What was that?"
"It's a power that me and my friends have, I guess you have something like that too Naruto." Kanji said weakly. "You mind if I ask what it is?"
'Naruto, you noticed it didn't you, the fight ended and that mysterious force vanished.' Kurama said calmly. 'It must have blocked his memories.'
Yeah, but how much can I tell him realistically, Naruto thought.
'There's clearly more to this place than we know, but we shouldn't reveal everything.' Kurama said. 'As little as possible would be ideal.'
Right, I'll leave it at the training with Octopops, Naruto thought. "Well basically I had a power since I was born and a while ago I went to get some special training to master it." he said.
"That makes sense, good to hear." Kanji said. "Still, we should keep moving and find the others."
"Actually, we fought and I won so only…" Naruto started before turning to the girl. "I forgot to ask, what's your name?"
"My name, it's…" the girl started before freezing. "Hey, what's wrong with me?"
"Are you alright, it's ok if you can't remember." Naruto said. "It might just be because of this tournament."
"I guess, but it's just scary to not even know who you are." the girl said.
"Well do you know anything?" Kanji asked. "I mean it might help us figure the rest out."
"Yeah, I'm the student council president." the girl said.
"Alright then, miss president." Naruto said. "We'll get to the bottom of this no matter what."
"Right, I'll trust you Naruto." the girl said with a smile. "Just make sure you stop this stupid tournament."
"Right, I'll be back soon Kanji." Naruto said. "Just leave it to me."
"Hold on, Naruto you need to be careful." Kanji said. "Don't forget that sempai is here and he's probably fighting too. I don't know how strong you are but you won't be able to beat him."
"Maybe, but the only way we'll find out is if I run into him." Naruto said confidently before running out of the gym with miss president.
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"Man, you're as strong as ever partner." Yosuke said weakly. "I feel sorry for whoever runs into you."
"That's true, but I'm more worried about Rise and Teddie." Yu said sheathing his katana. "Something is really wrong."
"Yeah, but you heard him." Yosuke said. "I can't go any further so make sure that you get to the bottom of this."
"Right, no problem partner." Yu said calmly.
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"So you're telling me that in Inaba people can travel into the television and they have powers comparable to ours inside it?" Tsunade asked. "You realize this sounds completely impossible correct?"
"I know, but I'm serious." Naruto said. "There are things we just can't believe unless we see them and this is one of them."
"Naruto, I said it sounds impossible." Tsunade said. "I never said I didn't believe you."
"Right, well there's a lot more to it than that." Labrys said. "That was when they showed up."
"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked quickly. "Who showed up?"
"It's not what you're thinking." Naruto said. "There weren't any other ninja, it was a group called the Shadow Operatives, I guess you could call them anbu for shadows."
"I see, continue Naruto." Tsunade said calmly.
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"Oh, do you mind if I ask you something miss president." Naruto said calmly.
"Sure, what is it Naruto?" the girl asked.
"Well it's just you didn't seem surprised by the whole situation, I mean Kanji and I mentioned we were inside a television but you didn't seem surprised about it." Naruto said.
"Well with what I've already seen something strange is clearly going on." the girl said. "I don't know if I agree with it being a TV, but the only way to find out is to get to that General Teddie and make him tell us what's going on."
'Naruto, there's something off about her.' Kurama said. 'I can't put my finger on it but she's related to everything that's going on somehow.'
Are you sure, she seems to be as much a victim as everyone else, Naruto thought. "You're right, but these walls are starting to get annoying." he said.
"You can say that again, but they aren't blocking me." the girl said. "You think it's because you're fighting and I'm not?"
Suddenly Naruto froze and put his hand to his lips indicating quiet and glanced around a corner only to see a blond figure run down a side hallway.
"What's going on?" the girl asked quietly.
"My friends and I aren't the only ones here." Naruto whispered. "We need to be very careful."
'Naruto, be extremely careful, someone incredibly powerful is through that door.' Kurama said quickly. 'Whatever you do, make sure you avoid getting hit, it will end badly.'
Right, well at least we must be getting closer to the end, Naruto thought.
'Don't underestimate the person behind that door, you could very easily die in here.' Kurama said bluntly.
In that case I might need to borrow your chakra that way this time, Naruto thought.
'No, only use that if there's no other option, I'm gathering us nature energy but it's going to take some time, you'll be on your own for a few more minutes.' Kurama said calmly.
Right, that should be enough, Naruto thought. "Let's keep going, the sooner we get through this the better." he said turning to the girl with a smile "After all we can't have the students getting hurt can we miss president?"
"You're right about that Naruto." the girl said with a smile.
The moment she said that, Naruto opened the door in front of them revealing a normal empty classroom.
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"It appears it's even more difficult to get in touch with the others than I thought." said a redheaded woman in a white fur coat. "Still, this world is clearly influencing my powers."
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"Labrys correct?" Tsunade asked. "I need to take care of something at the moment, would it be possible for the two of you to come back and continue your report later this afternoon?"
"Sure, we can do that." Labrys said. "Is that ok with you Naruto?"
"Sure, do you want to get something to eat while we wait?" Naruto asked with a smile.
"That sounds fine, I'll let you two know when you should come back." Tsunade said with a smirk before pulling out a file.
"Lady Tsunade, I thought I heard Naruto's voice." Sakura said walking into the room. "Naruto, you're back, so was the mission a success?"
"Yeah, it was a success." Naruto said with a grin.
"Oh, and who are you?" Sakura asked turning to Labrys.
"My name is Fifth Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Labrys." Labrys said calmly. "Though I just go by Labrys."
"I see, well it's nice to meet you Labrys." Sakura said. "Are those real?"
"Yeah, oh do you mind if I open a window for a second?" Labrys asked.
"It's fine, but do you mind if I ask why?" Tsunade asked calmly.
"I thought I should show you guys something." Labrys said opening the window before shooting her fist out of the window on a chain.
"That's unbelievable, Naruto do you think she should talk to Tenten?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know, maybe." Naruto said. "Well anyway we were about to get some ramen, do you want to come Sakura?"
"I'm alright, you two enjoy yourselves." Sakura said calmly.
"If you say so, see you later Sakura." Naruto said.
(Naruto and Labrys are continuing to explain the events of the P1 Grand Prix, and Sakura has met Labrys. Next chapter Naruto will explain more about the village and a few familiar faces will make an appearance. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)