The Fateful XIII

Chapter 8

Introduction to Destruction

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto! Square Enix and Masashi Kishimoto do. I also don't own that chapter title, it's named after a Sum 41 song. I thought it would fit the chapter well enough.

I do however, own the Fateful XIII, the multiple upcoming fight scenes (YES!), and my original plot within these two universes.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have a poll on my profile that I would like all readers to vote on, it will decide the next few upcoming worlds that will be featured. Just my little way of giving you some input on how this whole train ride goes. I've also got some behind-the-scenes material(so to speak) on the creation and future plans for the Fateful XIII.

It had been well over an hour since the two keybladers had set out with their ninja companions. Jiraiya and Roxas were still searching the southern sector, but so far, not even one heartless had shown itself. The forest was pretty dense, nothing compared to the one Roxas seen when he'd first gotten here, but still impressive.

That being said, he found it odd when the trees just suddenly stopped and it led to a small, circular clearing. At first glance it looked like a normal clearing, but Roxas was able to notice a few oddities.

First off, the entire clearing just looked too…perfect; too orderly. The border surrounding the treeless area looked very symmetrical; it was literally a circle clearing. Another thing he noticed was that the grass was neatly cut, and the ground was completely level. It just looked to perfect to be natural.

'The whole place just looks weird, but this is the kind of thing we're looking for right?' he thoughts to himself.

He debated whether or not it was a good idea to jump down from the tree and investigate up close. His curiosity and his common sense were waging a war in his head, and in a completely obvious outcome, his curiosity won out. He reasoned that he'd never know if there was anything good down there if he stayed up in the trees…so he jumped.

Jiraiya, who noticed the boy's movements, and had been a ninja long enough to know that being in an open clearing while in a potentially hostile zone was a very bad situation to be in, moved to try and stop him.

"Roxas, what are you doing?" he called out.

Of course he wasn't really even listening, he was preoccupied with this strange feeling he was getting from the clearing. He wasn't sure why, but he could just tell there was something coming, something was wrong here. What it was, he couldn't put his finger on. All he knew was he felt something extremely powerful nearby.

Just when he decided to turn around and meet back up with Jiraiya, a barrier rose up around the clearing, cutting the teen off from the rest of the surrounding forest. He started to bang on the field with his fists, but it wouldn't give. To make matters worse, the ground around him was immersed in blackness and Heartless clawed their way out. In a matter of seconds he was backed into a corner facing at least a hundred neo-shadows.

Roxas had faced these things a million times before, but never in these numbers. They were closing in by the second and Roxas would have to act fast if he wanted to have a chance of getting out of this. He immediately summoned his keyblade into his right hand; the Oathkeeper.

Two of the neo-shadows leaped up at him. Roxas ducked under the first one's swipe, then twirled around and slashed through the second's stomach in mid-landing. He then quickly twirled back around and decapitated the first heartless, sending the dark particles into the wind. He turned about face and glared determinedly at the mob of dark creatures.

"Is that all you got? Come on, at least make me break a sweat before I wipe you all out!"

As if they could understand his taunts, another dozen leaped at him, claws extended. In response, Roxas held out his keyblade and shouted, "Firaga!" All the attacking heartless were incinerated upon contact with his flaming shield, and their numbers were now down another twelve heartless.

"Alright, now it's my turn to go on the offensive! This is one of my favorite moves and I think I've finally nailed it; tell me what you think!"

Putting all his weight forward and pulling back his keyblade, he rushed forward and performed the Sonic Blade technique. In under a second he had slashed his way into the center of the hordes of heartless, destroying at least twenty more enemies. After the first slash, he continued with three more identical slashes, and eliminated over half the heartless in the process.

In the treetops behind the barrier, Jiraiya watched in silence as the kid fought off the small army of heartless.

'Hn; the kid's definitely talented, of course from what I can see, he's also got a sense of self-confidence that could rival Naruto. Hell, maybe in time those two could be friends; it would do the kid good to find a new rival to replace Sasuke.' The hermit thought to himself.

Backing off again, Roxas surveyed the remaining heartless. They had been significantly reduced in numbers, and seemed to be retreating back to regroup. Roxas re-entered his fighting stance; his legs wide spread for balance and his keyblade held in front of him to handle the frontal assault that was sure to be coming any second now.

Sure enough, the last few dozen heartless all jumped him at the same time to which he responded to by jumping straight back at them, readying his keyblade to slash through the first heartless he could find.

Jiraiya meanwhile, threw a kunai with a modified paper bomb into the air and detonated it. The sky was suddenly filled with a giant glowing symbol of a phoenix that was visible for miles.

On the northern end of the forest, the phoenix was still visible, if less noticeable. Despite that though, it didn't stop Hikari from seeing it through the leaves. Realizing Hikari was no longer following him, Naruto backtracked to the branch she was staring into the sky on.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Does that mean anything to you?" she asked, pointing at the flaming symbol.

"Oh! That's Jiraiya sensei's signal, they must have found something!"

Hikari's eyes lit up, "Finally; I've been waiting to see if all this training had paid off!"

"Come on, they might need help!" he called, already a few branches down.

"Right behind you!"

After some mid-air dodging and weaving, along with more than a few violent slashes, only a handful of heartless were left standing from the hundred or so that had attacked only around three minutes ago. They seemed to get the message that their strategy -or lack there of- wasn't working for them. Roxas was readying for another assault when the heartless just retreated, and the barrier dropped.

"Huh? What's that all about?"

This wasn't like the heartless at all, they didn't usually retreat.

'That's weird, I've only seen heartless run away when there's…something stronger nearby,' he thought frantically.

"H-hey, uh… Mr. Jiraiya, I think something big is on the way!" The toad sage had already made his way down to the ground and was making his way to his younger partner.

The sage gave him a skeptical look, "What makes you say that?"

Roxas immediately went into something he liked to call his, 'heartless expert' mode, "The heartless just retreated, and they only do that when there's something else stronger in the area, or if someone calls them back. Heartless have about the same amount of intelligence as a dog, they run on mostly instinct, so for them to actually retreat means there's something nasty on the way, or whatever's controlling them is here. Either way, things are probably going to start heating up pretty soon."

Jiraiya was about to respond when he was cut off by the sound of a lone applause. They both looked up to see a figure standing on a high branch leaning against its trunk, still slowly clapping. Roxas was close enough to take in some details of the new arrival.

He was clad in a black, sleeveless trench-coat that reached down to his ankles with a hood that was currently up, obscuring his face, and no undershirt. He also had a pair of tattered and ripped black jeans and a dark red belt looping around, along with a pair of deep purple shoes. Roxas also noticed he had a necklace around his neck that seemed to be in the shape of the old heartless emblem. It was the 'old' heartless emblem because for years now the emblem heartless that had been used by both the Organization and Maleficent, had been extinct.

(A/N: Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, heartless are split into two factions; emblem and pureblood heartless. The emblem heartless are basically all heartless except for shadows, neo-shadows, possessors, and darksides.)

The newcomer leaped and slowly levitated downward, softening the impact down to the equivalent of a soft step once his feet contacted the ground. He made a few light steps forward but stopped a good distance away and stared him down. Roxas couldn't actually see his eyes, but he could tell, just like when he first met the Fateful members, that they were locked on him.

"Very impressive Roxas, that was an extremely informative display," he said calmly and slowly.

"W-who are you, how do you know my name?" asked Roxas nervously. He couldn't explain why, but this guy utterly and completely terrified him out of his mind, it was insane. Staring into the shadows that veiled his face seemed like he was looking into an endless, dark void; like the person in front of him was the very essence of every fear he'd ever had in his life.

He just calmly ignored him and kept talking, "I see you've already made friends with Xelskyr and his pitiful band of Nobodies…such a shame. You have such talent you know."

"Hey, I asked you a question, who are you?" he asked again with fake confidence.

Seemingly able to read his mind, he easily retorted, "Oh please, don't act brave and heroic around me. You're completely terrified, it's as plain as day. You're right to fear me though; if I wanted to I could annihilate you both with hardly any effort at all, but I won't of course."

Every sentence sent a colder chill up the young brunettes' spine and he just barely managed to choke out another question.

"W-why not?" he asked, the fear much more evident in his voice now.

"A number of reasons, though boredom is, and always will be, the most prominent. I've been bored for quiet some time and I needed something to do to stave it off, and the only person who's been capable of that is Xelskyr. He's not exactly what you call a party person though, so I had to…bait him out," he said in his constant monotone voice.

"S-so you're the one w-who's been responsible for all these heartless?"

He laughed a little, mostly to himself, but it was within earshot of Roxas.

"Yes, I suppose I've unleashed my heartless on more than a few worlds as of late. As I said before though, I had to bait out Xelskyr; he wasn't willing to play my game on his own, so I merely forced his hand. If a few meaningless lives had to be taken to draw him out, then so be it."

"Is that all this is to you?" a voice shouted from behind Roxas.

The boy turned his head and saw Jiraiya with a hardened face and cold eyes staring down the shrouded figure.

"Is that all this whole thing is to you, nothing but a game to be played, reset, and started over?" he shouted again.

The figure simply laughed softly again, his voice staying low and calm even though he was obviously amused with their discomfort.

"It is true that I consider this a game, in fact, this is a game if you think about it. However, when playing a game, is there not always an objective, hmm? Make no mistake, this is not a senseless slaughter, I do have a goal to achieve, but what fun would it be if I achieved it without really earning it? Then, of course, I thought who better to play against than my old friend Xelskyr," he explained calmly, laughing a little more after his sentence was finished. "Of course, you Roxas, are just icing on the cake."

"So what is your goal?" asked Jiraiya, who had taken over questioning since Roxas seemed all but incapacitated at the moment.

"If I told you…well, that would take away from the fun of the game. You see, I won't kill you because I want to see if you can figure out just what I'm trying to do. Then, if you're clever enough, you might even try and stop me, though I seriously doubt you'll get that far," he mused.

"I am quite interested in you though, Roxas. You show a surprising amount of talent and skill for someone your age, and somehow I get the feeling that those heartless didn't do you justice. I'd be honored if you would meet me in Radiant Garden in one week so I may truly measure your skills."

"W-why Radiant Garden, and why in one week?" he spat out nervously.

"Because, Radiant Garden has an abundance of space, along with the sentimental value regarding the heartless; and I want to give you time to train and prepare. To add extra incentive, if you agree to this little exam, I'll remove the heartless from this world completely," he offered.

"If I r-refuse?"

"I suppose I could massacre this world and everyone in it, but I believe I'm a bit more creative than that," he said as he slightly stroked his chin.

Then he suddenly snapped his fingers, "Ah, I know; there is always your younger sister."

It was at that moment Roxas lost all control and blindly charged the stranger with the Oathkeeper ready to slash him to pieces. As he closed in and swung the blade, his swing was suddenly stopped. There was no clank of another sword, no squish of his blade contacting with his flesh, it was just stopped. Then he realized why.

The figure before him caught the blade in mid-slash with his bare hand. As far as Roxas could tell, he hadn't even moved at all save for the arm he had used to defend himself. Then with one jerk of his arm…he broke the blade in half. There was no fragmentation, no shards in the air; it was a clean, even break.

"Naughty, naughty; we can't have you playing around with such a dangerous weapon; you could have hurt someone," he taunted as he pressed the severed blade against Roxas' neck.

"Don't worry, it'll repair itself given some time, but for now, I can't have you attacking me," he said slyly.

Unknown to both the figure and Roxas, Jiraiya had both his hands behind his back performing a series of hand-signs. He would have to time this perfectly to avoid harming Roxas as he attacked their new adversary.

'Just a few…more…seconds,' he thought to himself tensely.

"Roxas jump!" he shouted.

The boy didn't need to be told twice, he jumped up and back, away from the stranger, and the upper half of his keyblade.

"Doton: Yomi Numa!" he shouted. (A/N: Earth Style: Dark Swamp)

Suddenly the ground beneath the dark stranger transformed into a murky goop that instantly swallowed him up and pulled him down underneath. Jiraiya smirked; whoever that person was, he was now slowly suffocating under his Dark Swamp Jutsu. Roxas looked in shock and awe at the pool of gooey slop, and then at Jiraiya.

It was quiet for a few seconds as Roxas continued to stare at the swamp, then the silence was broken as a huge bubble appeared in the center of the pool. In continued to grow until it simply became too large and exploded, and with it came a massive surge of pure dark energy. The entirety of the muck was sprayed into the air and splattered all over the surrounding area. It was sent too high up in the air for either Roxas or Jiraiya to be hit with the goo, but a small sprinkle of the stuff made its way onto their clothes.

They didn't even notice it however, as both their eyes were locked on a familiar dark figure calmly walking out of the now vacant pool of muck.

"Sneaky, very sneaky; that was a unique attack to say the least, but at the same time, it was quite annoying. I'm afraid you'll just have to leave," he said, even now keeping his calm and collected tone.

He slowly raised his hand and pointed his index finger at Jiraiya. A concentrated blast of dark energy shout forward, trained on Jiraiya's head. The sage quickly sidestepped and vanished from sight, as the blast collided with one of the trees behind him and completely obliterated it.

Though his movements were too fast for Roxas to keep track of, the stranger could easily see Jiraiya darting around and behind him.

"Annoying old man," he muttered under his breath.

As he whispered that to himself, Jiraiya re-appeared behind him and had a Rasengan in his right hand. In response, the stranger rammed back his elbow as Jiraiya closed in, impacting his chest and blowing the sage back into the tree behind him. For a moment both Roxas and his combatant thought Jiraiya was down, but that thought was proven wrong when 'Jiraiya' exploded in a plume of pinkish smoke. At the same instance, the real Jiraiya came out from underground in front of his opponent, also with a Rasengan in his hand.

Before he could do anything to counter, Jiraiya rammed the spinning ball of charka into the strangers chin, using the Rasengan in an uppercut attack. Roxas couldn't really see what was going on because the amount of dust and dirt being kicked up obstructed his view. As the cloud died down though, he saw that the dark figure was still in the same place he was when Jiraiya attack him, but his face was forced upward, suggesting the attack had at least a minimal effect.

Jiraiya however, could see in detail what his attack had done as a whole. The area in which his attack collided had torn the skin and the entire area was raw, but there was no blood or obvious serious injury. He also noticed that the attack had blown back his hood, and his face was now partially visible, just enough to see a small smirk growing.

"That looks fun," he said sarcastically, "can I play?"

His right fist started to pulsate with dark energies and it glowed a deep purple mixed with black. Jiraiya moved to dodge backwards but by the time he had, the glowing fist had already plowed into his stomach. The silver haired sage shot backwards into -and blew straight through- several trees before skidding to a halt a good distance outside the perimeter of the clearing. The stranger took the time to put his hood back up and Roxas never got a good look at his face.

Just as the stranger took a step forward, a high pitched whistling noise filled the air and grew louder. He raised his left hand up and diverted a kunai off its path that was originally meant for his head. Instead it flew past him and into another of the surrounding trees before exploding and taking out most of the trunk.

"Hey there ya jerk! How about you try taking me on?" yelled a voice from the same direction as the kunai came from.

He turned to see a blond shinobi in a black and orange jacket and pants, as well as sporting a similar but simpler headband as his last opponent. To his right, there was a pale blue-grey haired girl ran over and kneeled down next to Roxas.

"Who, may I ask, are you?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"The names' Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage and ninja extraordinaire!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

An amused smirk formed on his shrouded face, "Hmph, perhaps this will provide some temporary amusement; very well Mr. Uzumaki…you have the first move."

Figures...the second I leave that idiot alone he runs into an insane antagonist. Now, I'm sure there's a lot of questions in your head right now. Something like, "How does this guy know Xelskyr?", "Who is he?" or, "What are his real motives, or is he really just that insane?", or "Where did he get those powers and how can he control the heartless?" As much as I'd love to answer your questions, I can't, that would take away all the fun! You'll find out eventually though, don't worry.

On Another Note: YEA! Naruto and the big bad guy are gonna duke it out one-on-one! Naruto's going to be pulling out all the stops next chapter in the battle, and you know what that means right? It means I'm talking about the almighty tailed forms. That's right, demon chakra is coming into play here people, the awesomeness can't be stopped!

As always, I'm desperate for reviews, or any other kind of feedback. The more feedback I get, the more motivated I'll be to write chapters, which means I'll be able to keep up my daily updates. At this point though, it looks like update times are going to be slightly slower soon, I'm running out of pre-written material. You don't have to worry about me abandoning the story or anything though, I wouldn't dream of killing this thing off.