Chapter 3

Hinata stood by a tree alone with her Byakugan activated. "What is this chakra?", she asked as she ran towards the direction she sensed the chakra coming from.

Meanwhile, Sakura and Kairi stood on a tree branch and looked around the forest.

"See anything?", Anne asked as the others landed on different branches.

"Nope. Not-"

Kairi stopped short when she saw two figures outside the forest. Sakura reached for a kunai, but Kairi stopped her when she saw the familiar orange jumpsuit and spiky brown hair.

"Hold on. It's just Naruto and Sora," Kairi said with a smile as they jumped off the branches and landed next to the two.

"Hey Sakura. Where's Hinata?", asked Naruto.

"We split up. Why'd you stop looking?", she asked.

"Look over there," Sora said pointing to a shape in the distance.

"What is that?", Namine asked.

"Those must be the ruins that Shinnou told us about," he replied.

They started walking through the ruins.

Ven noticed a figure walking towards them and halted immediately.

The others did the same thing. When the figure got closer, they recognized it immediately. It was Amaru, who was now wearing Shinnou's bandana.

"What the? Amaru? What're you doing out here?", asked Sora.

She looked up and her eyes turned dark red. They noticed this and stepped back.

"I am the Zero Tails," she said in an emotionless voice. "When conflict rages the the world and human hearts are overcome by darkness, I am born anew."

"The what now? What the h**l are you talking about?", asked Vanitas.

"Amaru! What's wrong with you?", Sora asked.

"I feed off of the darkness in human souls, rise up, and grow gathering limitless strength," she said as an image of a giant leech with a mask on appeared at where she was standing briefly before disappearing.

"So that this world will be ruled by darkness," she said in a deep, evil voice that made everyone and even Vanitas flinch slightly as a giant leech with a Koh mask replaced her and lunged towards them.

"Oh great! Just what we need!", Roxas exclaimed sarcastically.

"Guys, we gotta take this thing out, but be careful not to hurt it that much! Remember Amaru's in there!", Terra said as they summoned their Keyblades and charged towards their target.

"Let's go! Firaga!", Roxas shouted, sending a massive ball of chakra at the monstrous leech.

Meanwhile, Sakura ran to punch the Zero Tails, but it merely flicked her away and knocked her out.

"Why I oughta!", Naruto shouted as it grabbed him with it's many arms.

"Naruto!", Sora shouted as he, Vanitas, and Riku tried to pry him out of it.

"Nrgh...", Riku groaned. "Come on!"

Sora then looked up at the orange clad ninja and gasped at what he saw. Naruto's eyes had turned blood red and had slits, his hair had become spikier, and his whisker marks darkened.

"W-What the?!", Sora said.

"I sense that you have a dark power within you. Why won't you release it? Show me that power! I want it!", the Zero Tails said as it tightened it's grip on Naruto, making him scream on pain.

"HEY!", Sora growled as he and Kairi dashed towards the giant leech.

"FIRE!", they exclaimed at the same time firing two fireballs at the Zero Tails. They hit it but it recovered quickly.

"I can't rely on this power! It's too dangerous!", Naruto said. "I can't rely on something that hurt my friends!"

"Surrender your power to me. Show me the darkness in your heart!", the leech said.

"No way! I'm gonna save Amaru with my own strength!", Naruto shouted.

"That's impossible. You of all people should know it," the Zero Tails said.

"What'd you say?!"

"Sasuke, was it? You may have tried, but your light was no match for his darkness," the creature said.

"The truth is... you can't save anyone!", the Zero Tails said as it threw Naruto into a rock.

"SHUT UP!", Sora yelled as he and Riku charged at the beast and slashed at it with their Keyblades, only for it's wounds to close backup quickly.

"What the? Guys look!", Kairi said as the smoke cleared.

Naruto was now on all fours and he was surrounded by a strange red substance.

He snarled and ran towards the thing at lighting speed.

Sora, Kairi, Ven, and Vanitas joined him and slashed the evil leech at the same time.

"Weak!", said Zero Tails as it sent an arm flying towards Kairi. It punched her to the ground below and knocked her out.

"KAIRI!", the boys exclaimed in alarm. Sora snarled and faced the monstrous creature.

"You'll pay for that!", Sora yelled angrily as he dashed towards the giant leech.

"BLIZZARDGA!", he shouted firing the massive ice cube at it.

It barely fazed the beast as it turned back to Naruto and sent many arms flying into him.

"You can't do anything!", Zero Tails said, taunting Naruto even more.

At this, Naruto exploded with energy. The sudden force nearly knocked everyone off their feet.

"What the h**l?!", Lea asked as they stared at the ninja in shock.

Naruto no longer looked like a human. He now looked like some type of four tailed fox without the fur and had glowing white eyes and a white mouth.

"Naruto! What- GAH!", Sora screamed as he placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and felt a stinging pain and pulled it away.

"OW... he just burned me!", Sora said as he clutched his hand.

Naruto charged at the evil creature and slashed at one of the arms, cutting it clean off.

"Holy crap!", Riku shouted as Naruto kept ripping the arms off and grabbed the middle part of it and ripped it off. However, it fused back on with the body.

"Eugh!", Ven shouted, a little grossed out by the sight.

"Now that's just gross...", Vanitas commented.

Naruto stepped forward, ready to attack again when a glowing object fell out of him and landed on the ground.

The item stopped glowing and was revealed to be a tag that said something in Japanese.

Naruto's eyes widened and he turned back into his normal self, surprising the group. "Naruto!", Sora exclaimed, relieved to see his friend back to normal.

"Pervy Sage...", the blonde ninja muttered as he picked the tag up. "That's right... I promised that I was gonna bring Sasuke back with my own strength!"

At those words, Amaru appeared within the Zero Tails and was looking down with her eyes closed.

"AMARU!", Sora and Naruto exclaimed, running towards the Zero Tails, who didn't even attack them.

"Come on! Snap out of it, girl! Open your eyes!", Sora said.

Roxas, Donald, Ven, Vanitas, and Lea's jaws dropped. "GIRL?!", they exclaimed. "Did I miss something?", asked Donald.

"Weren't you Old Man Shinnou's apprentice?", Naruto asked.

"Didn't he always teach you to save lives? He said he was proud of you, Amaru!", Sora shouted.

Amaru opened her eyes. "Doctor Shinnou...", the girl said as the Zero Tails disappeared and she passed out, but was quickly caught by Sora.

"Gotcha!", the brunet said.

A few minutes later, the fog disappeared. The group had gotten into relaxing positions, despite what had happened just minutes ago. Anne rose an eyebrow as she looked at Amaru, who stirred a little. "Hey guys! She's waking up!", she called, gaining their attention. Amaru then sat up with a gasp. Ventus grinned widely. "Hey Amaru! Glad to see you're-"

Amaru then broke down crying. "I... I'm sorry... I... I didn't mean to...", she said.

"Amaru. You OK?", Sora, who was now holding Kairi, asked.

"You did real good. We're glad to have you back with us," Naruto, who was holding Sakura in his arms, said. "I bet Old Man Shinno would've said the same thing."

Amaru wiped away a few tears. "You're right," she said.

After a minute, Vanitas spoke up.

"So you've been a girl this whole time?", he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Don't get any ideas, Vanitas," Ven told his 'brother'.

"And what do you mean by that?!", the black haired version of Sora exclaimed. Sora rolled his eyes. Just then, Kairi and Sakura stirred awake.

"Hey Kairi," said Sora. "You OK?"

After a few seconds, Kairi suddenly screamed and slapped him, sending him flying back a few feet as Amaru cringed.

"Ouch...", Vanitas muttered.

"Why... did... you... hit me... like that, Kairi?", Sora asked painfully with some smoke coming from the slap mark. Kairi gasped, realizing what she had done, and quickly ran to Sora's side.

"Sorry, Sora. It was a reflex! You just freaked me out a little bit with with that look!", the red head said.

Sakura then opened her eyes to find Naruto holding her. The blonde smiled. "Hey Sakura, are you alright?"

Sakura responded with a scream and slapped him, sending him flying right next to Sora.

Once she calmed down, she asked, "Wait. What happened?"

The two boys sat up.

"Uh, no idea. But it looks like we-"

Naruto was cut off when the ground began to shake.

"Maybe it's not over at all!", Sakura said.

"Wait. What if Hinata and the villagers are in there?", asked Roxas.

"Sakura, take Amaru back to the village. Terra, Aqua, Donald, Goofy, Xion, Kairi, Lea, Namine, Anne, you go with them. You leave Hinata and the others to me, Sora, Ven, Riku, Roxas, and Vanitas!", Naruto said.

"WHAT?!", Anne screamed, obviously not pleased with the plan. "But-!"

"Anne, remember, you're still a rookie," Riku reminded.

"But you know how good I am in combat! I can-"

Sora cut her off. "Anne, listen to him. These guys are just too dangerous for you to handle," he said. Anne stared at him for a brief second before she sighed in defeat. "Alright, you win this time...", she muttered.

Sora then looked at the others. "Let's get to it!"

"Right. Amaru, come on," Sakura said. Amaru looked down. "Huh? What's the matter? I'll carry you on my back," said Sakura. "Hurry now, Amaru!"

"No!", she yelled.

They looked at her in surprise.

"I have to honor Doctor Shinnou's teachings! I have to save them!", she said with a look of determination.

"Sorry Amaru, but we can't leave you here in your condition," Sakura said.

"I totally understand. Follow us!", Sora said as he, Riku, Roxas, Ven, Vanitas, and Naruto ran towards the stairs.

"Alright!", Amaru said quickly catching up to them.

"Guys! You can't just-!", Kairi shouted.

"Relax! We'll watch out for Amaru no matter what!", Sora called over his shoulder as they hopped off some rocks and disappeared into the ruins.

"GUYS!", Kairi and Sakura yelled. Kairi then slumped over in defeat.

"That's Sora for ya. Once he's got his mind made up, you can't talk him outta it," Kairi said with a faint smile as they turned around and began running back but immediately stopped when the ground began trembling even more.

"What the? The forest is moving?!", Lea yelled as many statues and towers came bursting out of the ground. Suddenly, the ruins floated up into the sky, now making it look like some type of fortress.

Inside, the seven desperately tried to stay on their feet.

"Whoa!", Amaru exclaimed as Sora and Naruto tried to help her stand straight without falling themselves.

"Ugh... I'm think I'm gonna be sick!", Ventus muttered, using the wall as support.

Outside...

The gang watched in shock as the gigantic fortress flew over them.

"SORAAAA!"

"NARUTOOOO!"