The Grass Genin narrowed his eyes up at the loudmouth blonde and duck, already calculating a counter-plan. It was annoying that the python didn't finish them off, but that could be easily corrected…
"Donald! Where've you been?!?" Sora shouted in concerned anger, waving his Keyblade at him. Donald winced at both the tone of voice and the memory it conjured up.
"You… really don't want to know…"
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted angrily, Naruto's nonchalant attitude irritating him. "You must have come here to show off by helping us, but don't get involved! Run! He's way above our level!"
"Pssch," Donald snorted dismissively, waving his hand at him. "Rubbish! He's nothing we can't handle, right, guys?" He added, giving a thumbs up to the other two. When they didn't reply immediately, he frowned slightly, looking them over again. There was something wrong about their reactions…
"Looks like you defeated that big snake…" The Genin interrupted, his elongated legs wrapped loosely round the branch like the aforementioned reptile. "Naruto-kun."
'That guy looks like a snake…' Naruto thought in disgust. 'I see. So it must have been that guy's doing.' He realised, (briefly) thinking about what happened earlier.
'There has never been a situation where things got better when he came.' Sasuke thought bitterly, his irritation provoked by the thought of getting another one of his frie- his… teammates hurt by this monster. He glanced towards Sora, clenching his teeth. 'What should I do…?'
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Naruto said loudly, goading the Genin. "Looks like you were picking on the weak, eh? Now that I, the great Uzumaki Naruto, am here, I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"
"'The Great Uzumaki Naruto'…?" Goofy asked a mortified Sakura, scratching his head in confusion. She put a hand over her eyes and shook her head, groaning in embarrassment.
"Just… don't ask… (And to think I thought his entrance was cool…)"
'Crap!' Sasuke thought, sending Naruto a death glare before glancing at the Grass Genin, who was becoming more and more irritated as the blonde shot his mouth off. 'All of us are going to get killed at this rate!' He gritted his teeth again, trying to spur his mind into action and think a way out of this mess. 'What should I do…?'
'Sasuke-kun…' Sakura thought sympathetically, having never seen him this stressed before.
An eerie quiet fell on the group, and as it grew longer, so the tension got thicker. All parties were on tenterhooks', aching to move, just waiting for someone to take the first step, if only to break the stalemate.
'Shit!' Sasuke eventually thought, clenching his fists in anger as he unwillingly decided on a plan. The only conclusion now was the one he had tried most to avoid… 'This is the only way I know of…' He de-activated his partial Sharingan and straightened up.
"Wait." He called out, drawing the Genin's attention. All eyes turned to Sasuke. He reached behind him, slipped his hand into his waist-pouch and drew out a white scroll, passing it between his hands. "I'll give you the scroll." There was a collective gasp at this, and the group looked on in confusion.
"What?" Sora blurted out incredulously, looking between Sasuke and the Genin. "After all you've done to get someone else's, you're going to give him yours?"
"Shut up." Sasuke said sharply, locking eyes with him and glaring angrily, his Sharingan flaring up for an instant. "It's not your place to say, outsider." He turned back to the Genin, ignoring the glare Sora shot at him. "Please. Take this and leave us in peace." He lifted the scroll up in plain sight.
"Hey, Sasuke! What are you doing?!?" Naruto demanded, pointing an accusing finger at him as Donald muttered in angry confusion. "What are you trying to do by giving the enemy our scroll?!?"
"You shut up as well!" He snapped, glaring at Naruto.
"I see… You're smart." The Grass Genin complimented, pushing his upper body away from the tree branch. "The only hope prey has from a predator is to hand over something else to eat to save itself." He locked eyes with Sasuke, and the others tensed again. The seconds ticked by as they tried to stare each other down.
"Take it." Sasuke said grudgingly, narrowing his eyes and lobbing the scroll towards him. It seemed to hang in the air as Sora, not wanting to see his new friends make a terrible mistake, pushed himself up off the branch and jumped, hand outstretched-
Before an orange blur leapt in, caught the scroll in mid-air, bounced off a tree and landed, crouched on the spot Sora had just left.
"You two-!" Sasuke yelled angrily at Sora and Naruto. "Don't butt in! Don't you understand the situation we're in-?!" He was cut off as Naruto span on the spot and smashed his fist heavily into Sasuke's face, knocking him off his feet.
"What?!" Sakura gasped in shock.
"Wh-what the heck did you do that for?!?" Sora grunted furiously, landing heavily on his stomach on a branch as Donald and Goofy made their way over to help him. Sasuke flipped over, hand-springing off a branch before he landed, hand to his face and feeling very, very pissed off.
"Why you-!" He growled angrily. "Why did you do that?!?" Naruto stood, head bowed, catching his breath. He lifted his head up, teeth gritted as he panted.
"Yeah, where do you get off punching him like that?" Donald said angrily, shaking his wand at him as Goofy pulled Sora to his feet. "Now's not the time to be fighting each other!"
"I… forgot the password, so I can't make sure of this, but…" He glanced up at him. "You're a fake Sasuke, aren't you?"
"Naruto, what…" Sakura asked incredulously. "What are you saying?"
"You idiot!" Sasuke growled, clenching his fists. "I'm the real one!"
"Liar." Naruto panted.
The Grass Genin looked on amusedly, an evil smile spreading over his lips. 'He's not as stupid as he looks…'
"The idiot and coward I see in front of me right now can't be the Sasuke I know." He jabbed his finger at the Genin. "I don't know how strong he is, but there is no guarantee that he'll let us go, even if we hand over our scroll!" He bared his fist at Sasuke, and there was a hint of a plea in his voice as he continued. "You're the one who is scared, the one who doesn't understand the situation." Sasuke's eyes widened, and he felt his stomach drop as he realised his words were true.
"Naruto-kun…" The Genin laughed mirthlessly, getting to his feet. He looked round. "You're correct!" He tasted the air once again with his tongue, grinning madly. The others gasped in terror as they realised as well, staring at the Genin.
"I just have to kill all of you to take the scroll…" he explained coldly, unfastening his sleeve and pulling it back to reveal a decorative tattoo on his forearm. He raised his thumb to his mouth, nicked it to draw blood and smeared a line of blood from elbow to wrist over the black marks. Naruto, sick of being toyed with, withdrew a kunai from his pouch and sprinted towards him.
"Don't mess with us!" He yelled angrily.
"Stop!" Sasuke yelled, realising the danger too late. "Run, Naruto!" He glanced towards the others. "Get out of here!"
"Damn it!" Naruto shot back as he forcibly ignored him, taking a leap into the air. "I've lost faith in you, Sasuke!"
"Naruto, wait!" Sora cried, leaping after him as he saw the Genin's smirk. He'd been against too many villains not to recognise that smirk.
"Summoning Move." The Genin whispered, moving his hands in a flurry of seals. The air around him grew thicker, and a strong wind blew through the still air, slowing Naruto's decent. Thick branches snapped and splintered as something large burst out from the centre of the tree, the Grass Genin perched on its forehead. A pitch black snake, twice as large as any they'd ever seen, with a red heart-shaped symbol on its forehead, loomed up over him before slamming its upper body down on the spot he'd just jumped from, sending shards of timber flying through the air. Without warning, its tail swung up and lashed towards him, and Naruto crossed his arms, tensing to take the blow-
"AEROGA!" Sora yelled, ramming shoulder first into Naruto's stomach and jabbing the Keyblade upwards. A ball of condensed air shot up around them in time to take the brunt of the reptile's attack, but they still grunted in pain as they slammed into another tree-trunk, the ball of air carving a deep dent into the wood, sending splinters into the air. It collapsed under the strain, sending the occupants tumbling head-over-heels down the bark before landing in an ungainly heap in the crook of a branch.
"Thanks…" Naruto grunted, rubbing his stomach in pain. "But… warn me next time, okay?" Sora grinned back, wincing in pain.
"Sure thing."
"Cute." The Genin laughed, staring down at the pair. "What cute prey…"
"Who're you calling 'cute', you snake-obsessed freak?" Sora yelled bravely, standing up and bringing the Keyblade up to guard. The Genin's smile widened, letting out a small laugh, and clicked his fingers.
Without warning, the snake's tail slashed through the air from the side towards the pair. Sora raised the Keyblade in guard, but it suddenly shifted course, swung underneath the branch and shot upwards, smashing through the branch right where Naruto was sitting, sending him hurtling upwards through the air and tossing Sora away like a leaf in the wind, slamming him into a tree-trunk.
"Naruto/ Sora!" The others cried respectively.
Naruto grunted loudly as he smashed though branch after branch, each hit nearly shattering his spine, before a very old and very thick branch stopped him in his tracks, bringing him to a sudden stop. He cried out in pain as several shots of blood flew out from his mouth.
Drrrumphhhh…
Donald, stood at the sidelines, feeling pained for being unable to do anything useful, felt an electric shiver run down his spine, making him gasp in shock.
'…What was that?' He thought fearfully, tightening his grip on his wand as he look upwards towards Naruto. He had never felt anything that magically strong before, not even around the supernatural Genie …
Gravity eventually caught hold of Naruto's limp body, and fell slowly back to earth. Sora pulled himself to his feet and looked upwards, gasping for breath.
"Eat him for now." The Genin said calmly to the Heartless Snake. The snake seemed to smile greedily as it moved its head underneath Naruto's fall, waiting to swallow him whole.
The intense magical pulse Donald had felt shook the air again, strong enough for Sasuke to feel. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise as he watched Naruto come closer to the awaiting snake.
Naruto opened his now slitted and blood red eyes.
Wide awake and seemingly reinvigorated, he flipped in mid-air, drawing back his leg as he let out a loud cry of anger. He slammed his foot heavily into the snake's nose, which, to everyone's astonishment, made its whole body quiver as its head was knocked back by the sheer force of the blow. The Genin's eyes widened in surprise as he felt his Summon recoil from his strike. He looked up at Naruto, studying him closely and surveying his differently coloured eyes.
'Is this the kid…?' He pondered, narrowing his eyes at him. Naruto landed on all fours next to Sora, who recoiled slightly, staring at Naruto in shock.
"N-Naruto…?" He asked warily, stretching a hand out to tap him on the shoulder. Naruto whipped his head round, growling and teeth bared, and Sora quickly drew his hand back. "Naruto! What… What's happened to you?" he asked anxiously. Naruto ignored him and looked back to the snake, growling fiercely at it before springing off the branch. "He… He didn't even recognise me…" Sora realised.
Naruto leapt from branch to branch, gaining speed, before lunging at the snake and grabbing its tongue in his hands, digging his fingers into its flesh. The Genin vanished from sight as Naruto dragged the snake's head with him, landing on a branch. He growled as he yanked on the tongue sharply, pulling the snake faster towards him. As soon as it got in range, he shot his hands out, digging his fingers into its nose and twisted on the spot, putting his shoulder to its scaly flesh and, yelling loudly, heaved it over his shoulder in a flip, forcing the surprised snake to lift into the air, its body streaming like a comet, before smashing it heavily into a group of enormous trees with a tremendous crash and cloud of splinters.
'A-Amazing!' Sakura thought in astonishment. 'Naruto's gone berserk! But… Why is he so strong?'
"Gawrsh…" Goofy gasped in amazement, staring at the proportionally tiny figure of Naruto silhouetted in front of the cloud of sawdust. "That's almost as strong as Hercules…"
"Stronger!" Donald corrected, staring open-mouthed at the heavily panting figure.
'That's… Naruto? How the hell did he do that?' Sasuke thought, his teeth gritted, taken-aback by the strength of his teammate. He was distracted from his thoughts by an evil laugh, and his eyes widened as the snake emerged from the cloud of splinters, completely unharmed by its collision with the trees, with the Genin once again perched on top of its head.
"A nice display of strength, there." The Genin admitted, folding his arms. "But it will take a lot more than brute force to overcome this creature." Naruto's gaze shot up to him, and he growled fiercely before leaping at him, fist drawn back in anger.
"Naruto, wait!" Sora yelled, running along a tree branch towards him. "You can't beat a Heartless like that! C'mon, guys! Let's get that thing!" He added, calling back to Donald and Goofy.
The Genin smirked as Naruto leapt towards him.
Naruto's eyes widened as the Genin lifted his hand up and blew, sending a blast of destructive fire straight at him. Naruto yelled as it struck him, blowing him back through several more branches before slamming to a stop against a tree trunk.
"(Those eyes…)" The Genin whispered to himself, staring at the figure down below fell on al fours and caught his breath. "(I am sure of it now… This is getting interesting…)"
"RAGNAROK!" The Genin spun around in time to expertly dodge several frantic slashes from the Keyblade as Sora jumped at him from above. Sora pointed the blade forwards and pulled back his arm as glowing orange energy collected and grew at the tip as he hovered in mid-air. The Genin quickly clicked his fingers, and the snake lifted his tail in time to block several missiles of energy Sora shot at him, causing it to whimper in pain.
"We're not afraid of you! THUNDAGA!" The Genin's hair crackled with static, and he back-flipped in time to avoid being struck by several bolts of lightning, which jabbed into the snake's skull like wasp-stings, causing it to shake its head and hiss in annoyance. The Genin quickly span round and swung his foot up in a roundhouse kick, smashing Donald in the stomach in mid-air as he jumped at him, sending him flying through the air, squawking in pain.
"Don't you hurt them!" Goofy yelled angrily, landing on the snake's head and running at the Genin, swing his shield. The Genin leant back slightly to avoid the wild swing, before striking out at him with several snake-jabs, which clanged loudly against the hastily lifted shield, actually hammering several dents into the Moogle-crafted metal. The Genin dropped to all fours, swinging his leg round and knocking Goofy off his feet. He quickly sprang up and grabbed Goofy's heels, twisting round and throwing him at the barely recovering Donald, so the much larger Goofy crashed into him, slamming him into the tree trunk again, knocking Goofy out and pinning Donald against the bark.
"Donald! Goofy!" Sora yelled in concern, before looking back at the Genin. "I told you NOT TO HURT MY FRIENDS!" He yelled, grabbing the Keyblade in both hands and running full pelt along the back of the snake towards him. The Genin reached into his pocket and threw several shuriken at him, but they were knocked away with a single swipe, and before he knew it, Sora had reached him, yelling; "ARS ARCANUM!" The Keyblade glowed brightly, and the Genin, even with all his speed, was forced to go on the defensive, blocking each slash in the flurry of powerful swipes with his counter-jabs. When the onslaught let up slightly, he straightened his arms out and grabbed Sora's wrist before he could pull back. He yanked sharply, pulling Sora forward before smashing him in the face with his elbow, knocking him head-over-heels down the snake's face. Sora, thought slightly dazed, switched his grip on the Keyblade and stabbed it into the snake's skin, clinging on as it slowed his decent, causing the unfortunate Heartless-hybrid to hiss in pain as it carved out a deep gash in its face, making it flinch violently, almost dislodging the pair. A little blood trickling from his nose, Sora pulled the weapon out and leapt out of the way of the snake's vengeful snapping jaws. He landed in the crook of a branch, panting heavily.
"(Is that the best you can do…?)" A silky voice crooned in his ear to his surprise, and Sora felt the cold tickle of a kunai tip against the skin below his ear. Sora froze in place, too tired and too scared to move. "(I must admit, it's been a while since I had to move like that, so you should feel proud for that.)" Sora slowly moved his terrified gaze to look into the face of the Genin. "(Anything to say before you die…?)" He asked mockingly, his smirk widened evilly as he stared right back at him. Sora looked panic stricken, glancing round frantically, before his eyes suddenly widened, and a small smile spread over his face with an expression of quiet confidence.
"Yeah…" He looked him defiantly in his face, grinning. "AEROGA!"
The Genin growled in angry surprise as a bubble of wind wrenched his arm away and pushed him back a step, just enough for Sora to jump away from him, towards where Donald and Goofy lay.
"(Little pest.)" The Genin snorted, vanishing from sight before landing on top of the snake again and glancing towards the Keyblade Wielder, who'd reached his friends and was desperately trying to wake them. "(I've wasted enough time on you. Time for my real objective…)" He glanced back up and spotted Sasuke, who had been making his way down to Naruto with Sakura.
"You're next, Sasuke-kun." He called out, stopping Sasuke in his tracks. "How will you fight?" He clicked his fingers, and the snake struck out at him, its head speeding to intercept him.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled in fear.
Sasuke, paralyzed by fear, could only watch as the gigantic, pitch-black python plunged through the air towards him.
The snake slammed into the figure, and a cloud of debris flew into the air and clouded the impact zone…
