The portal opened up on a sunlit road with trees on both side, spilling Sora out onto the road, with Kairi falling on top of him. Donald then fell onto Kairi, with Riku falling onto Donald, and Goofy landing on top of Riku. The portal closed up after they were all safely fallen onto the ground.

"Why does this always happen?" complained Donald as the five travelers got up from underneath each other and dusted themselves off.

"Wish we had the old gummy ship," said Goofy.

"Me to," said Sora. There had to be a better way of traveling from one universe to another, one that didn't involve having ones friends falling onto you. Sora did miss the old gummy ship, the vessel that carried him and his friends to so many worlds was by now lying in pieces on the floor of Cid's garage. This didn't do much to help Sora's mood, but then he remembered that if there was anyone who could fix the gummy ship, it was Cid.

Sora and the others then noticed that they were not far from a large stone wall that obviously surrounded the village they had come to visit. They were half a mile from the open gates of the wall, so, nothing to do but move forward.

Chapter 2: Kuni, Shuriken and Keyblades

"Wow," said Kairi as they passed through the village gates, "This is a really nice place." The buildings had a rustic Japanese atmosphere with a mixture of modern and antiquated themes.

"Hard to believe that such a beautiful place is home to some of the greatest warriors ever," said Riku.

"Ninjas are people too, you know," said Sora.

(*)Konogakure(*)

The Hidden Leaf Village

"I wonder what Naruto is like?" Goofy asked.

"If he's anything like the demon locked inside of him," said Riku, "Then we're in for one wild ride."

"If we ever find him," grumbled Donald, already impatient despite how early in the day it was.

"You've found him," said a voice from behind our heroes. Sora and the others turned around to see a teenage boy about his age or so; tall with bright, spiky blond hair and dark blue eyes and whisker-like marks below his eyes. He wore an orange and black jacket with matching range pants and open-toed boots. Tied to his forehead was a headband with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"They're not from around here, that's for sure," said a girl's voice. Sora and the others turned around again to see a teenage girl about Kairi's age or so. She had pink hair and bright green eyes. She wore a red sleeveless shirt with lavender elbow guards and black gloves, as well as a lavender skirt over dark biker shirts and boots. The symbol for the village was on a red headband that served as a hair band, accenting the girl's rather wide forehead.

"They're definitely not from here," said the girl, "I'm not even sure they're Shinobi."

"We're not," said Sora.

"Well then what are you?" the boy, asked, "And why are you looking for me?"

"That depends," said Riku, "assuming you are the one we're looking for."

"Don't say anything, Naruto!" said the girl, "The less these strangers know, the better."

"Sakura!" whined the boy, Naruto, "Why'd you tell them my name!?"

"Why did you just give them my name!?" snapped the girl, Sakura.

"We come in peace," said Kairi in a placating tone, "honestly. We just want to talk to you, Naruto, that is, if you are Naruto Uzumaki."

"That's me alright," said Naruto, "And you are…?"

"I'm Sora."

"And I'm Kairi."

"Riku."

"Thu' name's Goofy."

"Donald Duck."

"Nice to meet you all," said Sakura after a round of handshakes, "But what brings you to our village?"

Just then the air was filled with several shouts and cries of terror.

"That's probably why," said Riku. From around the corner scurried at least a dozen Shadows.

"Those things again!" said Naruto as he and Sakura assumed fighting postures.

"You've dealt with Heartless before?" Kairi asked.

"Heartless?" Naruto asked, "That's what those things are called?"

"Well whatever they are," said Sakura in an angry tone as she pulled out a pair of throwing knives, kuni knives, "They're not hurting anyone on my watch!" she threw the knives at two Shadows, destroying them. A third tried to attack a nearby civilian, but it was destroyed by a shuriken throwing star that Naruto threw.

This got the attention of the remaining Shadows in the group, as well as two more groups of Shadows, and a squad of Soldiers.

"Nice to know that you're appreciated," said Riku as he, Sora and Kairi summoned their Keyblades, while Goofy and Donald pulled out their weapons.

"What kind of swords are those?" Sakura asked.

"They're Keyblades," said Sora as he slashed at and destroyed two Shadows, then sliced a Soldier into oblivion.

"Cool, huh?" Kairi asked after taking out a Shadow.

"You think that's cool?" Naruto asked as he smiled eagerly, "Check this out!" his hands moved in a complicated set of positions, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" there was a large burst of smoke, and where one Naruto stood, there now was five.

"Get them!" shouted the middle Naruto, which Sora assumed was the real one. All five Naruto's charged at the rampaging Heartless and began destroying them via throwing knives and stars, as well as through kicks and punches that had a lot of power behind them.

"Nice left," said Riku after watching a Naruto punch clean through the back of a lumbering Large Body.

"You should see my right," said the Naruto, but then he was one second too slow to prevent a Shadow from slashing him on his side. Then something weird happened, even weirder than normal; the clone of Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What the…?!" exclaimed a stunned Riku. This unexpected event left such an impression on Riku, he failed to see the two Soldiers scampering behind him until it was almost too late. Fortunately he recovered just in time to blast the two Soldiers, as well as four more Shadows with his Dark Aura.

"Should I be worried?" Sora asked as he, Donald and Goofy watched two more of the Naruto copies disappear after getting smashed by another Large Body.

"I don't think so," said Goofy. Sora saw whom he again assumed was the real Naruto form another six copies of himself, then another six when more Heartless appeared.

"Wow," said an impressed Donald.

"How many copies of yourself can you make?" an amazed Sora.

"At a time or all together?" the real Naruto asked, "'cause I really don't know my limit. I guess the most I've ever made in one shot was 1,000."

"A thousand Naruto's," said Goofy as he began counting on his fingers, after smashing another three Shadows with his shield of course, "I'd need another twenty hands to count that high."

"You need a lot more than that, ya big palooka!" said Donald as he swatted a Shadow aside with his staff, then cast a Thunder spell on a squad of Soldiers.

Kairi was about to stab at one Soldier, when Sakura got behind the creature and ripped it in half without breaking a sweat. Sakura then destroyed at least a dozen Shadows with only six punches; each attack completely obliterating its intended target, while the force of the punch destroyed the Heartless next to it.

"How can you be so strong?" Kairi asked after throwing a Strike Raid at a leaping Soldier.

"Looks can be deceiving," said Sakura after kicking another Soldier into oblivion, "I'll tell you all about it later."

It was a minute or so later when it seemed that the battle was over; no more fresh Heartless had appeared in the street.

"I think we've seen the last of them," said one of the Naruto's, there were still five copies alongside the original.

"Don't be so sure," said Riku, "with The Heartless, it's never really over."

As if to prove his point, a large teleportation rift appeared above the street, and from it fell several large pieces of purple metal that looked all too familiar to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Oh not this thing again!" said Donald as the metal pieces picked themselves up, revealing them to be a pair of metal legs and boots, a pair of metal arms, a helmet and armored torso, the chest plate engraved with the crest of The Heartless.

"Reminds me of Traverse Town all over again," said Goofy as the metal pieces assembled themselves into the form of a Guard Armor.

"Now what?" Naruto asked.

"Now we duck!!" exclaimed Sora as he, Kairi and Sakura barely got out of the way as the Guard Armor tried to stomp them. The giant metal Heartless them tried to smash Sakura with its left gauntlet. Sakura managed to deflect the attack with a well timed punch, but to her dismay, the counter strike sent the metal hand spinning in the air, then realigned itself with the rest of the metal creature.

"What is this thing?!" Sakura asked as she ducked under another swiping metal hand.

"It's one of the first big Heartless I faced," said Sora, "It's not indestructible, just very tough."

"Then we'll just have to be tougher!" said Naruto as he made his hand signs again, "Multi Shadow-Clone Jutsu!!" this time about fifty copies of Naruto appeared, "Attack!" shouted the real one as the assembled Naruto's charged at the Guard Armor.

The metal Heartless stomped and smashed the first ten Naruto's before they could get close, but the remaining forty managed to grab hold of the creature's limbs, weighting them down so the Guard Armor's movements were hindered.

Sakura then picked up a large piece of a nearby building that was damaged during the fighting, "Take this!!" shouted Sakura as she threw the chunk of masonry at the Guard Armor. It hit the creature in the helmet, knocking the headpiece off the rest of the body, which collapsed into its individual pieces. Several of the Naruto copies were destroyed in the crash, but most got out of the way.

But then the arms and legs began moving about on their own, smashing and stomping the majority of the surviving Naruto clones.

"I got it!" said both Sora and Kairi at the same time, but Sora was first to react. The charged at the legs of the Guard Armor, lashing out with rapid slashes and cuts with his Keyblade that resulted in their destruction.

Keyblade technique: Ars Arcanum

Sora then jumped up and hit both arms once, landed on the ground, then fired off several energy bolts from his Keyblade, each bolt hitting the arms until they blew up.

Keyblade technique: Ragnarök

But that still left the head and torso; the helmet realigning itself with the midsection and the two pieces rose back into the air.

"Careful!" shouted Sora, "it can still do a lot of damage!" Sure enough, the torso of the Guard Armor fell on several of the Naruto copies, destroying them. Less than a dozen of the copies were left, and these were in turn destroyed when they tried a counterattack that resulted in them getting squashed flat.

"Then we'll just have to do more damage to it!" said the real Naruto. He and one more copy were about twenty feet behind Sora; the real Naruto holding out his left hand while the copy was doing something with his hands. Sora watched as a swirling sphere of blue energy formed between the hands of the Naruto's; energy that, Sora assumed, The King called Chakra.

"What are they doing there?" Riku asked.

"Something really cool," said Sakura.

By now the sphere of Chakra was the size of a baseball. The two Naruto's then charged headlong at the Guard Armor, which promptly fell on them. But when the metal torso reared back up, everyone, except Sakura, was surprised to see two slightly splintered logs embedded in it's chest plate above and below the Heartless crest.

"What just happened?" Kairi asked.

"Must have been a trick or somethin'," said Goofy.

"A Substitution Jutsu to be exact," said Sakura.

"But where did they go?" Donald asked.

"Right here!!" shouted both Naruto's as they emerged from a concealed position right in front of the Guard Armor. The metal Heartless had no time to react as the two Naruto's ran at it; the real Naruto jumped onto the shoulders of the copy, then jumped higher, the copy disappearing afterwards.

"Rasengan!!" shouted Naruto as he slammed the sphere of Chakra onto the Heartless crest of the Guard Armor. He then fell back and landed on both feet as the Chakra sphere tore its way inside the metal creature, then detonated with a blue flash.

"Is it over?" Naruto asked, for the torso piece still hovered above the ground

"Almost," said Sora.

The torso hovered for a few seconds more before falling to the ground, then vanished in a puff of black smoke, and from that smoke, emerged a red crystalline heart that soared up to the heavens.

"Now it's over," said Sora.

"Okay," said Sakura, "I'll be the first to admit it; that was one wild battle." She then noticed that Naruto and Sora were looking at her, "what? What is it?"

"You've got red on you," said Naruto as he pointed at Sakura's left shoulder, which liked to be bleeding pretty bad.

"Oh," said Sakura as she noticed the cut.

"That looks like it hurts a lot," said a concerned Kairi as she walked next to Sakura. The cut didn't look that deep, but it was wide enough to be bleeding profusely.

"It does," said Sakura, "but one of the things about being a Shinobi is dealing with pain. Don't worry about me, I've got this."

"I insist that I help," said Kairi. She placed her hand on Sakura's arm, below the cut. A bright white light shone from Kairi's hand; the light then passed to Sakura's shoulder. Within seconds the cut was completely healed.

"You're a healer?" a surprised Sakura asked.

"I guess so," said Kairi, "I only found out I had this power a few weeks ago. I'm not all that good at it though; I can handle small wounds at will, but I'm still having trouble with bigger injuries." Kairi had been able to control her new power to a small degree since she, Sora and Riku had been at home. It used to be that her magic would exert itself instinctively, which still does most of the time, but she's trying.

"It takes time to become an accomplished healer," said Sakura, "believe me, I know, and my Sensei can back me up on this."

"Oh yeah," said Naruto, "Granny Tsunade can back you up on a lot of things, Sakura."

"You know, Naruto," said Sakura in an annoyed tone, "One of these days, Lady Tsunade is gonna break your head open. You really shouldn't be so casual with the Hokage."

"Your teacher is the leader of the village?" Sora asked.

"That's right," said Sakura as she smiled with pride, "And I'll be happy to take you to her."

"That'd be perfect," said Riku, "We've got a lot to talk about."

It was then that Sora, Riku and Kairi all had the same feeling that something bad was about to happen. This was another aspect of their emerging powers, that they could sense when one of them would sense that the others were in danger.

"Riku, Kairi," said Sora in a slightly nervous, but ready for action manner.

"I sense it to," said Riku, while Kairi nodded in agreement.

"Sense what?" Naruto asked as he and Sakura each drew out another kuni knife. The two Shinobi then looked up, "Duck!!"

"Yes?" Donald asked, just in time to be pulled to the ground by Riku, while Sora and Kairi tackled Goofy. A fraction of a second later several black shuriken slashed through he air just where the five travelers stood. The throwing stars stuck in the ground barely an inch from Sora's face.

"Where'd those come from!?" Sakura asked, for she and Naruto had seen the throwing stars coming towards Sora and his friends, but didn't see exactly where they were thrown from or who threw them.

"There!!" shouted Naruto as he pointed to the roof of a building, where a dark shape had jumped out of sight a second before.

"Now what?" Donald asked.

"Probably an enemy Shinobi," said Sakura as she and Naruto took up defensive postures again, "look sharp!"

More shuriken came down at them. Sora and the others managed to dodge them barely and made it to cover. But then more of the black throwing stars flew at them from behind. Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy managed to get out of the way, but one of the shuriken hit Kairi in the shoulder, forcing her to the ground.

"Kairi!!" shouted Sora as he tried to run to her, but Riku stopped him.

"Don't!" Riku said, "you might get hit as well."

"But…Kairi," said Sora.

"She's fine," said Naruto, "Sakura's got her." True enough, Sakura had helped Kairi to her feet and they both had taken cover behind a stack of firewood.

It was then that the dark shape jumped down from the rooftops and landed in the street in front of Sora. It resembled a Neo Shadow that was more strongly built, a bit taller and with slightly longer limbs. The big difference was that this Heartless wore a black ninja outfit and had the crest of The Heartless on a forehead protector. Strapped to its back was a black sword.

"Where do they come up with these things?" Donald asked.

"Maybe this Heartless was a ninja before," said Goofy.

"You're probably right," said Riku.

Just then the new type of Heartless, which Sora and the others would later call Oniwanban, began throwing black shuriken at Sora and Riku at an incredible rate. It seemed to have no limit as to the amount of throwing stars it could carry.

Riku and Sora managed to block most of the black shuriken with their Keyblades, but a few got past their defenses, scratching them a few times. But then one shuriken hit Riku in the leg, causing him to lose his balance and drop his Keyblade.

Donald and Goofy rushed in to help, but the Oniwanban threw a pair of black pellets at them. The pellets released large clouds of black smoke that left Donald and Goofy coughing and unable to see.

"How exasperating!" said Donald between bouts of coughs.

With only Naruto and Sora left standing, the Oniwanban attacked Sora first, drawing its black sword and aiming to stab Sora in the heart.

Sora blocked the lethal blade and tried to counterattack, but the creature kept up its attack. It was all Sora could do to keep up with it.

But then Naruto came running at the Oniwanban and kicked it in the head, sending it flying down the street towards three waiting Shadow Clones, who then kicked as one and sent the creature up into the air, where one more Clone, (or was it really the real one, Sora didn't know) kicked the Oniwanban in the head again, sending it slamming to the ground.

"Uzumaki Combination!!" shouted the real Naruto.

By now the smoke had cleared, allowing Donald and Goofy to see what was going on, while Riku was back on his feet again.

Yet to everyone's angst, the Oniwanban was also starting to get back up again.

"Oh for crying out loud!" said a thoroughly irked Naruto, "what's up with these things!?"

"Maybe they're…whatchamacallit…industrial," said Goofy.

"That's indestructible," said Donald in a slightly annoyed tone.

By now Riku was back in full fighting condition, and before the Heartless could attack, Riku chopped its head off with his Keyblade. The severed head and the rest of the body dissolved into black smoke, while from that smoke a small red crystal heart emerged and faded away as it rose into the air.

"Indestructible my eye," said Riku.

"You feelin' alright, Riku?" Goofy asked.

"I'll live," said Riku. The cut on his leg he received from the black Shuriken had stopped bleeding and wasn't that deep, but there were other dangers that Riku didn't take into account for.

"You really should get that looked at," said Naruto, "those shuriken could be poisoned."

"Well I feel fine," said Riku, though he was beginning to feel nervous at the mention that he could have been poisoned.

"Well fortunately we have at out disposal one of the best healers in Konogakure," said Naruto, "Hey! Sakura! You've got a patient!"

"I'm a little busy right now, Naruto," said Sakura, "he'll have to get in line." Sakura was sitting behind Kairi, her hands placed above where Kairi got hit with a black shuriken. From what Sora saw, Sakura's hands were glowing bright blue, and the energy from this glow was healing Kairi's cut.

"Kairi!" said Sora as he rushed over, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Sora," said Kairi, "or I will be really soon. I think I can learn a thing or to from Sakura here."

"You're not so bad yourself," said Sakura as she finished up her work, "it looks like you're a natural Healer, like me. But where you're doing it without actually thinking, I had to learn it the hard way, big time. There, all done." The cut was completely healed with no sigh of any scaring.

"Well maybe we can learn from each other," said Kairi. It was clear that the two girls were becoming fast friends.

While Sakura healed Riku, with Kairi watching, Naruto and Sora were talking.

"These things, these Heartless," said Naruto, "why are they attacking out village? What did we do to them?"

"It's noting you did," said Sora, "it's just what Heartless do. They were ordinary people once, until their hearts, their spirits, were consumed by darkness. What was left was an empty shell that had only the instinctive urge to seek out other hearts and turn them into more Heartless."

"Heartless also seek out the hears of worlds to they can plunge those worlds into darkness," said Riku, "that's another reason why The Heartless are here; to destroy your world and create more of them."

"And they also want you, Naruto," said Kairi, "they want to make you into one of them. Heartless also seek out really strong people who possesses incredibly strong hearts. If such people are consumed by darkness, then the resulting Heartless will be incredibly powerful in turn."

"But why me?" Naruto asked, "I'm a great ninja, more than great. My dream is to be the best, to one day be Hokage of the village, then everyone will respect me. But I don't see why these Heartless want me? I'm not dark, I'm good."

"We know you are," said Sora, "but it's more than your heart that The Heartless want."

"It's the other thing inside you that they want," said Riku, "or, at least, the one controlling them wants it."

"The demon," said Sakura in a quiet tone, "The 9-Tailed Fox."

"Just what I needed," said an annoyed Naruto, "another group of baddies after the demon."

"Who else is after the 9-Taield Fox?" Kairi asked.

"It's a long story," said Naruto.

"We'll explain along the way," said Sakura, "I think it would be best if you were to talk with the Hokage."

"Yeah," said Naruto in a brighter tone, "Granny Tsunade will know what to do."

"I've told you not to call Tsunade-Sensei that!!" exclaimed Sakura angrily, "how many times do I have to tell you, Naruto!?!"

"When you got it, you got it," said Naruto as he eagerly grinned.

"You really are a hopeless knucklehead," sighed Sakura.

"You get the feeling that we're in over our heads?" Sora asked as he, Kairi, Riku, Donald and Goofy followed Naruto and Sakura through the village.

"We've been over our heads since the darkness first came to our world," said Riku, while Kairi nodded in agreement.

Unknown to our heroes, they were being watched from afar. Perched atop the village walls were Pete and Ulrik, each looking at our heroes through binoculars.

"I don't see what the big deal is about the blond kid," said Pete, "sure, he's strong, but is he really the kind to have a really evil demon inside him?"

"Your lack of perspective is astounding," said Ulrik, "I fail to understand why Maleficent ordered you to accompany me at the last minute."

"The boss lady said I'm to help you," said Pete.

"I highly doubt I'll be in need of assistance," said Ulrik, "especially from you. But since you're here, I'll explain the situation with Naruto Uzumaki:

"The demon has only a miniscule influence on its host. Naruto's pure heart will make him a target for our forces, but not just yet. If we were to attack with just Heartless, especially with the Keyblade Wielders at hand, then we would surely lose."

"Well what do you want to do?" Pete asked.

"Maleficent said that there were dark souls on this world that we can make use of," said Ulrik, "so, let's go make some allies." With that they left the walls.

The end of chapter 2.

Sora: That new type of Heartless was really tough.

Riku: Makes you wonder what they'll throw at us next.

Kairi: I'm more curious as to meeting the Hokage.

Sakura: You'll like Tsunade-Sensei, she taught me everything I know about Healing.

Naruto: That's not all she taught you.

Sakura: Just what are you implying, Naruto?

Naruto: Well where else did you get your monstrous strength?

Sakura: (very angry) Naruto!!! (punches Naruto in face)

Naruto: (whining) Sakura!

Riku: you're right, Sora, we're in over our heads.

Kairi: Next chapter…Hidden Leaf Heroes

Goofy: Be sure to leave lots of resumes!

Donald: That's 'reviews,' yah big palooka!