The source of The Heartless is just over this ridge," said Sakura as she double-checked the map. It was near midmorning, our heroes managed to catch a few hours rest in the middle of the night and were refreshed enough for the day's efforts. Sora, Naruto and the others were at the base of a large, long hill. According to the map, there was a wide clearing opposite the hill, wide enough to hold a football field.

"If we do this right," said Naruto, "we can find out what's going on over there without them knowing we're here."

"That's what being a Shinobi is all about," said Sora, "stealth and surprise, right?"

"That's the general idea," said Sasuke, "let's just get this over with."

"Well aren't you a little ray of sunshine," said Kairi.

"Don't antagonize him," said Riku, "he's no even worth the effort."

"I'm starting to dislike you Keyblade wielders," said Sasuke in a slightly annoyed tone, "the more you push my buttons, the more I'll enjoy taking my anger out on you when this whole mess with The Heartless is over."

Chapter 7: Dark Gathering, Assembly of Evil

"Just calm down, Sasuke," said Sakura, "the last thing you need right now is to let your emotions rule you."

"Don't tell me what to do!" snapped Sasuke.

"What's with you, man?" Kiba asked, "the Sasuke I knew was always so calm and collected." At this Akamaru nodded in agreement.

"I'll bet the curse mark is messing with his head," said Tenten.

"And his heart," said Shikamaru. At that Rock Lee nodded in agreement.

"There's nothing wrong with me," said Sasuke as he glared at his former companions, "I'm in complete control of myself."

"Then why do you look so afraid?" Naruto asked, "sure, you're putting up a brave front, but on the inside, you're trembling."

"You can't keep going like this, Sasuke," said Sakura, "sooner or later the curse is going to destroy you from the inside. Then you'll become that which we are fighting now, a Heartless.

"Come back with us when this is over, come back to the village. I'm sure Lady Tsunade will know how to remove the curse mark and free you from the darkness."

"No!" exclaimed Sasuke, "I need the curse mark! It's the only way I'll be strong enough to destroy Itachi!"

"Revenge will only lead you to more pain," said Riku, "just as staying in the darkness will. I should know, I spent so much time in the darkness, I nearly forgot what it was to be in the light. It's not too late, Sasuke Uchiha, you can still save yourself, otherwise you will become a Heartless, and probably a Nobody as well, and it'll be up to us to stop you before you hurt anyone."

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" Sasuke asked in a desperate tone, "I choose this path, and I fully intend to walk it to the end, even if what awaits me at the end is destruction."

"Then why are you doing it?" Naruto asked, "and don't give me that crap about settling family honor, we're way past that, and don't even think about saying anything about how I have no idea what you're going through, Sasuke. I get it, you had a fudged up childhood, so did I, and you know it."

"Let's just stop here," said Kairi, "we're all going around in circles. For now let's just focus on stopping The Heartless from destroying this world."

"Kairi's right," said Sora, "First thing's first, stopping The Heartless. Then we can worry about everything else."

"You'll get no complaints from me," said Sakura.

"Nor from me," said Sasuke, "we'll settle this later, once and for all."

"Agreed," said Naruto, "one way or another, Sasuke, we'll finish this."

"There's one crisis averted," said Riku.

"What a rotten development this is turning out to be," said Donald.

"You think we can stop Naruto and Sasuke from hurtin' each other?" Goofy asked.

"We can certainly try," said Sora, "but first we need to find out what's happening on the other side of the ridge."

Fortunately for our heroes, Donald had a spell that would allow them to see what was happening. With a hastily dug hole in the ground that was filled with water, Donald created a scrying pool that showed the clearing on the other side of the hill. It showed the large rift that was spewing Heartless into the world, as well as several ranks of advanced Heartless types.

Also there were several dozen humans, all of them looking rather villainous and vile. Some were Shinobi, while others were vagrant swordsmen, and others still looked to be members of organized crime gangs.

"Some of them look familiar," said Tenten as she pulled out a small black notebook from her pocket and began flipping through the pages, revealing brief dossiers of wanted criminals, "yes, some of these guys have prices on their heads. We'd be doing the world a favor bringing some of them in to face justice.

The image in the scrying pool now focused on Ulrik and Pete. As they talked to each other. Sitting on a rock, idly filling her nails, was Erika, but Sora and the others didn't know who she was.

"Who's that?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know," said Riku, "when I saw her earlier she didn't say her name."

"Who's the furry one?" Kiba asked.

"Oh, that's Pete," said Sora, "he's nothing to worry about."

"Can't even tie his own shoes," said Kairi.

"Can this puddle do audio?" Naruto asked, "I want to know what they're saying."

"Just give me a second," said Donald. He adjusted the spell so that they could hear the baddies talking, but it was like hearing them from the other side of a wall. All the voices were muffled.

"What's the matter with this thing?" Donald asked as he adjusted the spell again. Sora and the others could hear the baddies talking more clearly, but they were all speaking in Spanish.

"Oh yeah," said Shikamaru sarcastically, "big improvement there."

"Dog gone piece of crap spell," grumbled Donald, "why won't it work?" he adjusted the spell again. Sora and the others could understand what was being said now, but the picture was distorted, like a bad antenna reception.

"Work darn you!" exclaimed Donald as he adjusted it again. Now the image was like a photo negative.

By now Donald had fully lost his temper and was throwing random adjustment spells at the scrying pool, until finally it settled into perfect clarity, like a high definition plasma screen with digital audio.

"If I could have everyone's attention, please," said Ulrik as he stood atop a large rock. The assembled baddies had been speaking among themselves, making small talk. At the sound of Ulrik speaking, the baddies stopped their conversations and paid attention to him.

"On behalf of Maleficent, the mistress of all evil," said Ulrik, "I wish to thank you all for coming here today. I understand that you all have your own agendas in this world, but I believe that what the great and terrible Maleficent has to offer will be worth your wile."

"It'd better be," said a random baddie, "I've got a serious con scam going on and I'm on a tight schedule."

"And I've got an extortion plan to finish," said another baddie.

"And we've got targets to eliminate," said a third baddie. Tenten identified this one and a few others with him as members of an assassination guild.

"What we have an offer that puts all of your plans to shame," said Ulrik, "I'm sure that by now you've all seen and heard of what The Heartless can do."

The assembled baddies nodded in agreement.

"Well imagine this," said Pete, "a whole army of Heartless, obeying your every command. They can be yours, if you'll swear allegiance to Maleficent!"

"No thank you!" said a fourth random baddie, "I was offered a similar bargain with Orochimaru. I was wise to turn him down. He tried to form an alliance of bad guys, and look what happened to him, murdered by his own protégée."

"Orochimaru may be dead in body," said a voice among the assembled baddies, "but his soul lives on."

"That voice," said a shocked Sakura, "is it…?"

"It is," said Naruto through gritted teeth, "the other traitor."

The ranks of baddies parted to allow a man wearing a dark cloak approach the front. His hood was up, covering half his face in shadows. The other half revealed a man in his mid twenties with natural gray hair tied back in a pony tail and wearing glasses.

"Kabuto?" a surprised Kiba asked.

"I knew that worm would turn up sooner or later," said Shimakaru.

Naruto noticed the confused faces of Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy, "Kabuto is…was…Orochimaru's right hand man. He infiltrated our village a few years ago. We met him during the Chûnin exam. He was posing as a Genin, when in truth he's really at Jônin level."

"He was acting as a medical ninja," said Sakura, "who also had information on hundreds of other Shinobi, including us. He befriended us, claiming to want to give us Leaf Ninjas an edge on other visiting Genin from other villages."

"But in truth he was there to gather information on all of us," said Sasuke, "including me."

"And he got what he wanted," said Naruto, "in more ways than one."

"So you're the late Orochimaru's majordomo," said Ulrik, "I assume you've come seeking new employment?"

"No," said Kabuto as he smiled, "I've come to deliver a message, from Orochimaru himself."

"Bullsh$t!!" snapped a random baddie, "Orochimaru is dead!"

"The rumors of his demise are, somewhat exaggerated," remarked Kabuto as he reached to pull the hood of his cloak down, "his body may be destroyed, but his soul lives on, in me."

He pulled his hood down, revealing the other side of his face. It was deathly white and that side of his nose was barely a slit. His eye was yellow and also silted, giving that side of his face the appearance of a snake.

Kabuto then spoke in a voice that was different from his own; velvety smooth and charming, while at the same time carrying the undertone of sudden death:

"My body is gone, destroyed when I tried to take what was mine; the body and powers of Sasuke Uchiha. The ungrateful brat rebelled against me, after all that I had done to make him more powerful than before, far more powerful than he would have been had he stayed at The Hidden Leaf village.

"He resisted me and I died, but my soul survived. Kabuto here was conveniently close at hand to serve as a host. Eventually I will have fully integrated into this body, making it my own. Kabuto doesn't mind, his loyalty has always been his best asset.

"But I won't be content with this. I will have Sasuke and his Sharingan Eye. And if siding with this Maleficent and her Heartless will bring Sasuke to me that much sooner, then so be it."

"Well that's one you conned into joining us," said Erika idly.

"Quiet you," muttered Ulrik. He then spoke in a more pleasant tone, "I'm sure that you'll find our terms of allegiance most satisfactory, Lord Orochimaru. Even more so, I believe that Maleficent would be gracious enough to provide you with a more suitable, albeit temporary host, so as not to burden you with the loss of a loyal subordinate."

"A tempting bargain," said Orochimaru, "I will consider it."

"I suggest you all consider it," said Ulrik to the assembled baddies.

"This is a one time offer," said Pete, "better think fast, 'cause this deal won't last much longer!"

"I knew that scaly bastard wouldn't stay dead!" said Sasuke. He pounded his fist to the ground in frustration, "I should have made sure he was gone for good!"

"I take it this is a bad thing," said Kairi.

"You'd better believe it," said Sakura.

"During the Chunin exam," said Naruto, "Orichimaru launched an attack against the village. Several Leaf Shinobi died, including Old Man 3rd Hokage. He died fighting Orochimaru."

"And now apparently Orochimaru is back from the dead," said Kiba through gritted teeth, while Akamaru growled angrily.

"What do we do?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know," said Sasuke in an anxious tone, as if this were really bothering him, really. "I need to think," he held his hand to his forehead, "I need to think…I can't think straight!"

"I'll be it's his inner darkness that's messin' with his mind," said Goofy.

"You may be right," said Riku.

"Just cool it a bit, Sasuke," said Shikamaru, "I'll think of something, like I always have to." He squatted next to the scrying pool and placed his hands in a manner that had the fingertips of both hands touching.

"He always does this when he's thinking," said Rock Lee, "I've seen Shikamaru do this when contemplating a chess move, or whenever he's in a tight spot that requires a mental breakthrough."

"Okay," said Shikamaru, "it's clear that Kabuto and Orochimaru are indeed in the same body, which leaves them at a disadvantage. As far as I can tell, because his soul isn't fully integrated into Kabuto's body, Orochimaru can't use all of his jutsus, nor can Kabuto use all of his abilities. The two of them, while Kabuto is willing to give himself fully to his master, they're not really working together where it really counts."

"So we'll have the advantage with them," said Naruto, "what about all the other baddies?"

"That'll take a bit longer to figure out," said Shikamaru, "there's not much more I can tell from these guys without studying them a bit. Plus the fact that there's more new types of Heartless than we've already seen."

"We'll take care of The Heartless," said Sora, while Donald, Goofy, Riku and Kairi nodded in agreement.

"And leave that Ulrik guy to me," said Riku, "we have unfinished business."

"And I'll take care of that girl," said Kairi, indicating Erika, "something about her, something so vile I just want to get rid of her."

"And we'll take care of old Pete," said Goofy.

"Yeah!" said Donald.

"And we'll handle the baddies," said Sakura, while Tenten, Rock Lee, Kiba and Akamaru nodded in agreement.

"And I'll get Kabuto," said Naruto, "not for revenge, no, I'm not going to kill him or Orochimaru. I'm just going to tie them up and drag them back to the village to face justice."

"What about Sasuke?" Kairi asked. The rouge Shinobi still looked like he was trying to think straight, but his inner darkness was still in the way.

"He'll be no more than ten paces from me," said Sakura, "I mean it. Sasuke, you're not running away after this. You may think that there was nothing between us, but you're wrong. I'm going to save you, believe it."

"That's my catchphrase!" complained Naruto. This caused everyone to laugh, even Sasuke chuckled a bit.

"Alright then," said Shikamaru, "here's what I've got; Sora, you and your friends will attack from the center. On my signal, you go over the hill and start slaying Heartless. Your overall objective is the source of The Heartless, while catching that Ulrik guy and that girl with him, as well as that big oaf Pete.

"Sakura, you'll take Sasuke and Tenten around to the left, while Rock Lee, Kiba, Akamaru and myself will go around to the right. Our job is to take out the enemy baddies. Kill them only if there's no real chance of taking them alive.

"As for you, Naruto, you'll be with everyone."

"Right," said Naruto, "I think sixty Clones should be enough, so there'll be twenty with all three groups. And I could always make more of me."

"Wait a second," said Tenten, "it looks like there's someone else coming."

The scrying pool showed that two more figures were approaching the meeting area; two men wearing black robes, or were they smocks? Or ponchos? Sora couldn't tell. The assembled baddies looked at the new comers and parted, forming a wide corridor that the two strangers approached Ulrik and Pete.

When they got closer, Sora could see that the black robes had red markings on them.

"Those are the clothes that The Akatsuki wear!" said Sakura.

"Makes sense that they would want to be involved with The Heartless," said Shikamaru.

"But which ones are they?" Naruto asked, "from what I heard, there's like nine of them, or there were. Me managed to take out a few of them not too long ago."

"It can't be," said Sasuke in a strained tone as he watched the two Akatsuki get closer, "can it? Can he really be here?"

As they got closer, Sora could tell the features of the two Akatsuki members. One was really tall, over 6ft, with spiky blue hair and blue skin. He had a very narrow nose and black eyes and a very wide grin full of sharpened teeth. Gill-like marks were on his neck, giving the man the appearance of a shark. Strapped to his back was a large sword wrapped in cloth.

But it was the other man who had Sasuke's full attention. The other Akatsuki had black hair that was a little longer than Sasuke's. His face had natural creases beneath his eyes, eyes that were red with black marks around the irises.

"Kisame and Itachi," said Naruto, "I know them anywhere. They're the Akatsuki who's been trying to catch me and old 9-Tails.

"Then that's…" Kairi asked.

"My brother," said Sasuke through gritted teeth, "he's here, my brother."

"Easy, Sasuke," said Sakura in a calming tone, "we need to stick with the plan."

"So it's true," said Itachi in the scrying pool, "you are alive, Orochimaru, more or less."

"I should have known that you would come, Itachi," said Orochimaru, "and your shark-faced friend."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't destroy you right here and now, traitor!" snapped Kisame.

"Orochimaru was part of the Akatsuki," said Sakura, "before going out on his own."

"The fact that I have information," said Orochimaru, "and that while most of my followers believe me to be dead, I have a few loyal ones, like Kabuto here, who are aware of my predicament and will act in the event I die again before I fully integrate into my new body. I promise you this, Kisame, kill me here and every hidden village in the world will know how to find every member of The Akatsuki. Wouldn't that throw a wrench into the works of your leader, Pain."

"Our leader has taken into account anything you can throw at us," said Itachi, "but that is not why we're here," he addressed the assembled baddies, "my associates in The Akatsuki have a message for all of you; stay away from The Heartless. If you know what's good for you, do not get involved at all, otherwise you'll just end up as one of them."

"Wait a second," said Pete angrily, "I thought you was the guys that Maleficent was expectin'. She said you were the ones who would being that Naruto kid and that Sasuke kid to her."

"Your mistress thought wrong," said Kisame. He grinned, showing off his shark-like teeth, "All the tailed-demons will belong to us, most especially the one in Naruto Uzumaki, the 9-tailed Fox."

"And Sasuke would never join you," said Itachi, "so long as he's hung up about me." he addressed the assembled human baddies, "our leader, Pain, he has declared The Heartless as enemies of this world. Side with them and you become an enemy of The Akatsuki. So hear my words and hear them well."

"Why should we listen to The Akatsuki?" a random baddie asked, "they're nothing more than a band of traitors."

"But at least we're smart traitors," said Kisame, "to side with The Heartless is to court ones own self-destruction."

"What reason do you have in delivering this warning?" Orochimaru asked.

"You should know that more than anyone else, old friend," said Itachi, "The Akatsuki wish to rule the world, and we can't rule the world if it's covered in darkness, and everyone has been turned into Heartless."

"Not everyone will be turned into Heartless," said Ulrik, "some will retain their sense of self, their humanity, while commanding armies of the creatures."

"Or they'll be the ones being commanded," said Itachi, "by the likes of you and your mistress. I've heard tales of Maleficent, and I find her one not to be trusted."

"Well your sources are wrong!" exclaimed Pete.

"It looks like they could be at it for a while," said Sora as he and the others watched Pete and Ulrik bicker with Itachi and Kisame, while Kabuto/Orochimaru watched from the sidelines.

"Well how's this for an unexpected twist," said Naruto, "three sets of enemies in one place."

"Orochimaru, The Akatsuki and The Heartless," said Kiba, "what are odds?"

"Yes, what are the odds," said Rock Lee as he grinned eagerly, "how fortunate are we to have the opportunity to destroy such threats to our world? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity we have here. For the glory of Guy-Sensei, for The Hidden Leaf Village, and for the whole world, we shall triumph!!"

"You really are insane!" said Kiba, "you're crazy and you have a death wish!" at this Akamaru nodded in agreement.

"It's bad enough that all those criminals and Heartless are there," said Shikamaru, "The Heartless alone made the mission a B+ class mission, and all those baddies upgraded it to A class. With Orochimaru and The Akatsuki here, the mission might as well be upgraded again to S class, maybe further, to X class."

"It'd be suicide to attack them," said Tenten, "we need to fall back and call for help from The Village."

"But we are the help," said Sakura, "Tenten, you, me, Naruto, Shikamaru, Lee, Kiba and Akamaru, we're the only ones who were available to help Sora and his friends."

"She's right," said Kairi, "we're in this on our own."

"But we can still win," said Sora, "we didn't come all this way just to give up when the odds are stacked against us."

"That's right!" said Donald, while Goofy agreed with a "yep!"

"We still have the element of surprise," said Riku, "we can still win, somehow."

"You're right," said Shikamaru, "we still have a good plan, or at least a adequate plan. I just need to rethink it a bit."

"What can you tell us about those two Akatsuki?" Riku asked.

"The blue one," said Tenten, "Kisame, he's got a sword that can absorb chakra-based attacks, and can also sap chakra from your body. But in your case, it probably works on magic as well."

"If it comes to it," said Rock Lee, "a sword on sword battle may end in his favor. Kisame was one of the 7 Legendary Swordsmen of The Mist, a very powerful team, before he betrayed his village."

"But he does use Water-Style Jutsus," said Sakura, "and Water is weak against Lightning."

"A couple Thunder spells could do it," said Sora.

"But he's got a sword that could absorb magic," said Donald.

"That's why you both will have to attack him," said Shikamaru, "while Kisame is absorbing one spell, the other will have to get behind and blast him before he notices you. Another may have to distract him."

"And as for Itachi," said Naruto, "like Sasuke, Itachi has the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai, The Sharingan Eye. He can read you like a book."

"I think he'll find this book has a few surprises of her own," said Kairi.

"There's more," said Naruto, "if you end up fighting Itachi, whatever you do, don't look him in the eyes. He's got a Jutsu called Mangekyo Sharingan. It'll put you in a Genjutsu and force you to relive your worst nightmares, over and over again. If the illusions don't scare you to death, he'll kill you himself while you're just standing there trapped in your own mind."

"Is there a defense against his Mangekyo Sharingan?" Riku asked,

"Yeah," said Naruto in a sarcastic done, "don't look him in the eyes! I just said that!"

"If he does capture you with the illusion," said Shikamaru, "you can break out of it, if your strength of will is strong enough. If not, a good punch to the face can snap you back to reality."

"Well that's comforting," said Sora.

"Wait a second," said Sakura, "where's Sasuke?"

Sora and the others looked around and realized that Sasuke wasn't with them.

"He wouldn't," said Naruto, "he's not that crazy, he wouldn't!"

"ITACHI!!!" shouted Sasuke as he stood at the top of the ridge, catching the attention of every Villain, baddie and Heartless there. Sasuke then jumped down to the other side of the hill.

"He would," said Naruto in an exasperated tone.

"Well, there goes the plan," said Shikamaru as everyone rushed to get to the top of the ridge, "of course, somebody had to ruin it, what a drag."

"It was a good plan," said Kiba, "you did your best."

"And now we'll have to do our very best if we want to get through this alive," said Tenten.

"I shall give my all!" said Rock Lee.

"And so will we," said Sora.

They got to the top of the ridge and saw Sasuke fighting his way through the baddies and Heartless, all in an enraged attempt to reach Itachi.

"Remember," said Naruto, "don't look Itachi in the eyes."

"Right," said Kairi, "I'll be sure to keep focus on his nose, so I can break it."

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Rock Lee, "let's go!!" With that they all charged down the hill into the throng below.

The end of chapter 7.

Donald: Well how's this for a fine 'how do you do?'

Shikamaru: Just when things look like they're going your way, what a drag

Riku: There's not much that isn't a drag for you, isn't there?

Shikamaru: I'm a complicated person

Sakura: We've got other things to worry about

Sora: Like sealing up the source of Heartless

Kiba: And rounding up all these baddies

Naruto: Not to mention Orochimaru and The Akatsuki. One wants to kill me, the other wants to steal the demon, then kill me

Sakura: I'm talking about Sasuke. He's about to lose himself to the darkness

Riku: Leave him to me, I think I can drag him away from the darkness, assuming there's anything left to grab onto

Naruto: Next chapter, 'Revelation of the Heart.'

Goofy: Be sure to leave plenty of them there reasons

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