XIII Ninja
By James the Fox
Voldemort: "..." (is laying on the ground, bloodily mutilated.)
Shadow: "..."
"..."
Harry: "... Is Voldemort dead?"
Link: "Can I poke him with my sword?"
"... No and... eh, sure, why not?"
Sora: "You sure that's a good idea?"
"Nope."
Sora: "And you're still letting him go through with it?"
"Yep."
Sora: "... I don't know why I bother with you."
"Because I control you here."
Sora: "Oh, yeah. You gonna start the story, or are we gonna talk about the laws of Fanfic physics more?"
"Oh, yeah! Chapter, Start!"
Naruto growled as he sat on the roof of a house a good 3 miles from the place he was staying. That boy, Inari... that boy, although he lost his father, at least he wasn't hated by almost everyone in his village... Yet, he had the nerve to tell the blond that he had it worse than him! Sure, Naruto had Organization XIII from the begining, but even they couldn't replace the prescence of a real, true family. Where a mother could hold him close and shelter him from the hate of the village, Larxene could only give him reassuring words. Where a Father would physically be there for him, defending the boy from those who might hurt him, Xemnas could only be with him in spirit. He was thankful for those spirits existing within him, of course, but both he and they knew that there was always going to be something missing... At least Inari had had a whole family, if only for a short while...
"You alright, Naruto?" The Jinchuriki turned around, seeing RiD smiling at him.
"..." The silver-haired Jounin sat next to Naruto, looking up at the night sky.
"Does it hurt?"
"What?"
"Your heart. Does it hurt, when you think about all the things you've never had the chance to have?"
"... Yeah." He hated to admit such weakness, but it was true.
"You're not the only one who'll never have something, no matter how much they desire it."
"Huh?"
"... A long time ago, when I was just a kid, I met this girl. She was beautiful, and I knew, even then, 'she was the one for me, the love of my life. However, I soon realized that she was also in love, with my closest friend. In a futile effort to impress her, I tried to make myself better than my friend. Even after it was obvious who was stronger, faster, and better overall than him, I found that she still loved him. It was only after I fought my childhood friend that I realized why it was that she cared for him.
"It wasn't his strength, or his smarts. It was the way that he let his heart guide him, no matter where it sent him, and his willingness to protect those he cared for, even against... against impossible odds.
"It was about four years after that that they married. I was happy for them, and I accepted that I never had a chance of getting her. As such, I watched them live happily for three years." The sound of water hit the ground, and Naruto that his sensei was crying.
"What happened then, RiD-sensei?"
"Then... They were murdered. Killed by the worst kind of criminals. I left after that, unable to stay in such a place, filled with bittersweet memories as it was. I eventually arrived in Konoha, where they so kindly made me into a shinobi, complete with a team. Once again, I met a woman I loved, this time the leader of the squad I joined after passing the Chunin Exams... once again, she was in love with another. Once again, I lost her to horrible people. It was at her funeral that I gave up any illusions of me being with my one true love, burying them with her." RiD looked down on the village.
"... You never had a hope of it, just like I never had a family."
"... Yeah."
"... I'm... going to bed. This whole day has been tiring."
"You do that." Naruto got up and jumped down to ground level. Before he left, though, he looked up to his teacher.
"Hey, RiD-Sensei."
"Yeah?"
"...Thanks, but don't bury that dream just yet. You're not quite dead yet. You may still meet someone." He grinned and walked down the street. As RiD watched him go, he saw the silhoette of another boy pasted over him. as brown hair overlapped the blond, RiD smiled, shking his head clear of unwanted memories.
"... That kid..."
Battle on the Bridge! RiD's True Power Revealed!
Naruto woke the next day, taking note that his team wasn't still in bed. He looked about, wondering where they were. He looked at the clock and stared in shock.
"9:39!? But, that means they left without me!" Naruto growled. He got dressed, planning how he was going to force an explanation from RiD when he got to the bridge, but was suddenly stopped by a scream from downstairs. "That's... That's Tsunami!" He rushed down just in time to see Inari get knocked down by one of two thugs. One of them had thier sword out and held it against Tsunami's neck, threatening to slit it. Naruto grinned as the boy took up the crossbow that was nearby, distracting the thugs long enough for Naruto to use a corridor of darkness to get behind the fools without them noticing. He hit one in the back of the head, rendering him unconcious, then with a well aimed blow, freed Tsunami from the other, a final attack knocking her captor out.
"Wow..." Inari said in shock. How did Naruto get past them without anyone seeing? Naruto, however, didn't seem to have time for questions, and had already dissapeared.
Hinata couldn't help but smirk in a way similar to how her cousin usually did when he was looking down on his opponent. Haku, the Ninja she had been facing, looked as though he could no longer fight.
"It's time to end this," Hinata said, getting back into a fighting stance. Llednar, stating that he would protect Tazuna, grinned at the development. Meanwhile, RiD and Zabuza paused mid-fight at this new development, Zabato clashing against saber. RiD grinned.
"Don't think so highly of your student now, huh?" He sneered.
"Hmhmhm..." The mist nin laughed.
"What are you laughing about?"
"Can't you see? It isn't over, not by a long shot." He gestured with his head to where Haku had just formed a seal.
"Makyo Hyo Sho!" Instantly, several mirrors surrounded Hinata, forming a dome around the Hyuuga Heir. She instantly went into a defensive stance, ready for whatever Haku, who had just entered one of the mirrors, would send at her. However, there was nothing that could prepare her for the rain of needles that came at her from all sides.
"Agh!" Hinata fell to the ground, sporting several cuts along the face, wrists, and ankles, and hiding several more under her now-slightly torn jacket. She growled, cursing her inability to learn her clan's 8 Trigrams Heavenly Spin. She looked about, hoping to see an opening, but to no avail.
"It's useless." Haku sighed in a scolding way. "Even if you can se all about you and see the attack coming, you cannot move fast enough to dodge. You are helpless."
Unable to block, she could do nothing but try to protect her vital organs from the next swarm of needles. She hit the ground again, getting up and seeing that her jacket was ripped badly. Eye's narrowing, she unzipped it, tossing the now-useless piec of clothing away. Undrneath her jacket was a black shirt with a fishnet shirt under it. Her arms were covered with cuts caused by her opponent's needles. She sighed.
"And that was my favorite jacket..." she mourned, trying for a litle comedy.
"If you give up now, I won't kill you." Haku said.
"... Sorry, but I'm not going to let you win." Hinata said, settling back into Gentle Fist Style. "My father doesn't tolerate such cowardly weakness." She mumured.
"... So be it." The ninja was about to strike, but suddenly, a pulse of darkness appeared beside Hinata, and Naruto appeared, a dissaproving look on his face.
"Who said you could start this party without me?"
Meanwhile, RiD lunged at Zabuza, saber landing a glancing blow on his right side. Zabuza countered with his Zabato, neatly cutting RiD in half, only to find that it wasn't RiD. Instead, there was a chunk of hardened cement where the Ninja had been.
"Behind you!" RiD roared, slicing at Zabuza's back, only to be countered at the last second. RiD jumped back. From the sounds of battle ahead of him, Hinata and Naruto were in trouble. Llednar was also having trouble facing several water clones and protecting Tazuna at the same time...
"Hmhmhm... I'm afraid your little Genin team is in trouble, and you can't do anything about it, RiD!"
RiD considered his options. His ninja skills weren't at the level that he could beat Zabuza and save all of his team. He couldn't hope to save everyone as he was now... but then again...
"... You're right, Zabuza... I, RiD, can't hope to win this battle and save my team... However... If I were someone else..."
A good distance away, Naruto heard that, and Roxas' eyes widened at the familiar phrase.
"No... It... It couldn't be... It just couldn't..."
RiD grabbed at his bandages, pulling them away. The Sun-bathed tan skin revealed itself, and several genjustu dissapeared, leaving RiD's hair to two inches past his shoulders. The green eyes darkened slightly. RiD grinned, shifting his saber from his right hand to his left.
"I've spent six years running, hiding from who I truely am. I dared not use my full power, for fear of my enemies... But no more. You dared to threaten the people I care about, the children under my charge. You've left me no choice. No more running. I am RiD no more. From now on, you may know me and fear me by my true name..." The familiar pulse of dark energy occured, revealing the old weapon, Way to the Dawn. He settled into a daul-weapon version of his old fighting stance, Saber in a vertical orientation while his Keyblade was behind it, pointing towards Zabuza.
"Riku."
"This is it. No more running away. Now, it's time you see what a grave mistake you've made in angering me. Your time has come, Zabuza!"
Next time on XIII Ninja: Rebirth in Darkness: Riku Returns!
"Yes! It's time for the serious kill-people frenzy. Booyah!"
Naruto: "You've been waiting for this since you started, haven't you?"
"Yep."
Link: (Is poking Voldemort with his sword.) "125 pokes, 126 pokes, 127 pokes, 128 pokes."
Neji: "There. You've just poked each of Voldemort's Chakra Points."
Link: "Cool..."
Neji: "..."
Link: "..."
Sora: "..."
Shadow: "..."
Link: "... Let's do it again. 1 poke, 2 pokes, 3 pokes..."
"... OK... Next chapter is more fighting on the bridge, specifically Riku's side of the battle. I plan to put Hinata and Naruto's battle in the chapter after that. I also fixed a silly error in Chapter 1 that I noticed. I forgo a part of a flash back that I had wanted. It's insignificant, but I wanted to fix it... In unrelated news, I'm listening to the Ruroni Kenshin opening theme, Sobakasu. It's catchy."
Shadow: "Didn't want to know."
"See ya next chapter."