The Naruto Before Christmas

Chapter 11
Checkmate

The maniacal sack of bugs that was Oogie Boogie laughed in delight as his game began. Santa, Sally and Hinata were set on panel with a lever beside it. Whatever Oogie rolls, they will be that much closer to being tipped over into the boiling vat of stew below. And to make things even worse, Oogie had used some kind of weird magic to cut off Hinata's ability to use chakra. He got the news relay from his kids that she was from Naruto's world, so he had an idea of what she's capable of. As for the captives, well… let's just say Sally was angry.

"This isn't over!" she shouted to their captor. "Not by a long shot! You wait till Jack hears about this! You'll be lucky if you-"

That's when they stopped. Another voice was coming and going. It was the mayor.

"The kings of Halloween have been blown to smithereens!" he shouted sadly. "Jack and Naruto are piles of dust."

At this, both Sally's and Hinata's eyes were wide with shock.

"Ha ha ha!" Oogie shouted in joy as he rattled his dice in hand. "What was that you were saying about luck, rag doll?"

Meanwhile, far off in an outskirt graveyard, a tomb was flung open wide. Naruto and Jack, both wearing their Pumpkin King outfits with pride, ran up the steps followed by Zero.

"Come on!" Jack shouted. "We have to get to the kids'-WHOAH!" Jack had shouted the last part as Naruto picked him up upon his shoulders and started to leap off with chakra enhanced feat.

"We don't have much time Jack!" he shouted over the shock. "So we're goin' my way!"

It was only a minute later that they arrived at the house of Lock, Shock and Barrel. They stopped as Jack got off of Naruto's shoulders.

"Remind me never go you're way again," he muttered to himself. He then looked down. "Look!" he silently said as he pointed his bony finger.

Naruto looked down and frowned. Below them were the terrible trio themselves, sitting in the cage that served as an elevator, with snacks in hand as they watched through a window. Naruto then smiled as he grabbed hold of the rope, and climbed down so that he descended like a spider on its web.

As for the kids, they were definitely enjoying the show. Barrel was eating some candy bars, Lock was drinking two extra large size sodas, and Shock was enjoying some popcorn. … That was until she found the centipede amongst the kernels. Then they felt it. It was a chilling, death sentence assigning sensation Naruto had mentioned to being a 'killer intent'. They then turned slowly in fear, and caught sight of a certain blonde with demon features. He then roared like a feral beast, causing all three kids to scream and jump out of the cage. Jack then came down beside him.

"Well done!"

"Why thank you Jack."

That's when they heard the laughter coming from the window.

"Aha! Seven again! It's Oogie's turn to boogie!"

"Oh," Hinata sighed hopelessly. "If only Naruto were here."

"But he isn't ghost eyes!" Oogie reminded fiercely and happily. He then grabbed on the lever and cranked it numbering them off. "One, two, three, four, five six seven!"

Jack and Naruto frowned at the predicament and at how close their friends were to death. Oogie however, was just enjoying it like a game.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Oh, I'm feelin' weak, with hunger! One last roll of the die, ought to do it!"

Oogie then tossed the die into a skeleton's skull and the dice fell through the ribcage onto a table. He looked to see and was shocked at the sight of two ones staring dead in his face.

"What? Snake eyes?" he shouted/asked in anger. He then slammed his hand on the table, causing the dice to move to a new number. "Ah! Eleven! Looks like I've won the jackpot!"

Oogie then made his way over to the lever, as the captives' eyes were full of fear at there own deaths. He then started to crank.

"Bye bye doll face, ghost eyes, and Sandy!"

He chuckled evilly as the three screamed in utter fright. Oogie then stopped chuckling. Their voices suddenly stopped, but there were no sounds of demise following it. He then flipped the table over; just to see one Jack Skellington and one Naruto Uzamaki, both very ticked off.

"Hello Oogie," both said in an intimidating and eerily calm manner.

"J-j-jack! And Naruto! But they said you two were dead!" he said frightened as he began to back up. "That must mean you're… double dead!" he suddenly shouted as he stomped on a secret button on the roulette wheel floor. Then king cards rose up, and the swords that were parts of the picture popped out, surrounding them. The wheel began to spin, and the eight ball stirring mechanism was spinning in an opposite direction with low blades. This situation caused the two having to crouch down so as not be chopped in any way. Oogie however was a safe distance away. "Well? Come on bone man! Fox boy!"

As for Sally, Santa and Hinata, they had opened up the stockades they were transported into. Somehow Naruto was able to use the replacement jutsu, causing them to be sent in there, and the boys took their positions. Speaking of which, the boys were divinely leaping about the spinning swords. Oogie 'ooh!'-ed in fake fright as he pulled and overhead pulley. This caused the cards to recede and allowed the boys to walk straight. They didn't see the slot machine cowboys approaching with loaded guns.

"Fire!" Oogie shouted. That was the entire cue Naruto needed. Jack stopped walking and allowed the wheel to move him away; whereas for Naruto had leaped into the air, and on top of the guns, jumping from one to the other as they went off. Oogie stopped in confusion, then his eyes went wide. He stopped too long, and now was heading directly for the line of fire. He turned and began to run, but wasn't fast enough to make any progress. He then leaped forward and was lucky to hit another button with his hand. He drew back his hand as he got up, but a small line of light from it caught Naruto's eyes. Was that a… was that a thread?

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted in fright. He turned around just in time to jump. A saw was swinging its way, slicing off the arms of the machines, and Naruto used the beam that it was attached to as momentum. He swung off, landing near Oogie. Said villain turned around to see Jack. He was trapped. He then stomped down on another button, and the panel sprung Oogie into the air. He landed aboard the eight ball machine as it started to rise.

"So long boys!" he shouted with a wave as he rose higher for his escape. Then he felt a tug. He looked down to see the angry kings, both pulling on a string. A string, that was attached to him! It was his seam!

"How dare you treat our friends so shamefully?" Jack asked angrily as they both yanked on the string.

Just like that, part of his arm opened up and started to spill out bugs like blood. He gasped in fear as the kings swung the string into the machine, quickly removing the rest of the string and his entire burlap body as well. Now he was just a figure of himself made out of countless bugs, all of which started to spill into the stew below.

"No!" he shouted as figure started to diminish. "Now look at what you've done! My bugs! My bugs!"

Oogie continued to scream the last part over and over as his voice heightened with each shout. As the bugs spilled into the stew, all the witness's faces spoke their shock. Sally and Santa were plain shocked at the sight of this. Hinata also was shocked, and couldn't help but think of how Shino would react at the sight of this. As for Jack and Naruto, their expressions were unchanged. They always knew this would happen. Then a little tiny blue bug that was lucky enough to evade the water scurried across the floor.

"My bugs!" it continuously shouted in a high pitched voice. "My buuuuuuuuuuuu-oh!" it squeaked as a black boot stomped on it. Santa then was crushing it into the ground as Jack came up with his hat.

"Forgive Mr. Claws. I'm afraid we made a terrible mess of your holiday."

Santa was a speck happier as he snatched the hat out of the bone hand. "Bumpy sleigh ride boys? The next time you two get the urge to take over someone else's holiday, I'd listen to them!" he spoke as he pointed to Sally and Hinata who were slightly surprised at the 'jolly old elf's' anger. "They're the only ones who make any sense in this insane asylum. Skeletons, bug men…" he mumbled as he began to walk off.

"I just hope there's still time!" Naruto shouted after him in concern.

"To save Christmas?" Santa clarified. "Of course there is! I'm Santa Claus!" And with that, he put his finger to his nose and flew up the overhead tube leaving a trail of shiny sparkles. … … Ooh! Shiny!

Naruto and Jack just stood there with their mouths open. Was it because of Santa just done? Was it that the full effects of their efforts came to full realization to them? No. It was because they realized that they got his name wrong. Sally and Hinata then walked up behind the boys.

"He'll fix things Jack," Sally comforted. "He knows what to do."

Jack then realized something as he turned to her. "How did you get down here Sally?"

Then Sally began to blush and fiddle with her hands as she- wait. She can blush? "Well I- I was trying to, well I wanted to, to,"

"To help me," Jack softly finished.

"I couldn't let you just…"

"Sally, I can't believe I never realized that you…"

Jack left it dangling as the two came closer. As for Hinata, she was watching this with starry eyes. This was like a soap opera that was about to reach the moment that the country was waiting for. As for Naruto, he had every kind of recording device available on and running as he smiled at the thought that he was actually going to win that $100 bet he made with the werewolf. That's when a spotlight came on and shone on them.

"Jack! Naruto!" the mayor cried in excitement.

"See?" "They're alive!" "Just like we said!" Barrel, Lock and Shock each said respectively. The mayor then sent down a ladder from above the window that was used earlier.

"Grab ahold boys!"

"Oh man!" Naruto cried silently. "It was so close! So close!"

Hinata just giggled at Naruto's disappointment.

"Well, let's go Naruto," Jack said in relief. His eye sockets then widened as he noticed something. "Naruto, what are you doing with that tape recorder?"

Kyuubi continued to gasp for air as his back went up against the wall. At the start, he had all nine tails of his demon chakra, but now he was down to the remainder of his one tail. He could barely dodge the blades as the fight increased. As for Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba, they were already released and standing at the side, just trying to keep up with everything. The being known as Sai La disengaged his blades, seeing as how the demon was now too weak to fight.

"You know," he began, his voice that of a male kid's, "When this whole thing started, I had a pretty good idea that this was going to happen. But, what I don't get is why. Why would the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, sink so low in such circumstances? You're a demon for crying out loud! You could've just gone on a slaughter run instead of starting to torture these two. What's the deal?"

"Why?" asked the strained voice of the demon. "Because. I've been stuck in the kit's head for all of his life. And I've seen the things this village has done to him. I've seen the pain they caused that was so terrible; not even a demon can compare. I've felt his pain, his despair, and it sickens me. But what made it worse was that he would never want to take revenge. Despite everything this village has done to him, he won't raise a finger against it. So I decided why not do it for him. As for his so-called 'teammates', they caused the most pain. So I wanted to return that pain back to them tenfold." Kyuubi then cast his face down as all the painful memories came flowing back in. he then narrowed his eyes and raised to face Sai La. "But that doesn't mean I'll give up here. Konoha will pay by my hands soon enough."

And with that, Kyuubi disappeared in a puff of red smoke. Sai La sighed in disappointment when the smoke cleared. 'He'll make good on his word, I know that. He'll just recover before making his move again. … Great. I'll have to get Naruto to get goin' soon. He'll need the training now more than ever.'

Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see a confused Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba.

"You mind tellin' us what's goin on?" Kiba asked incredulously. Sasuke and Sakura however had already pieced the ends together but still needed a few blanks filled.

'Marvelous!' Sai La thought. 'I always loved doing this!'

Sai La then reached into one of his sleeves and pulled out what appeared to be a metal bar, about the size of a frankfurter. One half then slid up; on one side a small slit to show a red light, and on the other side there were three dials.

"If I may have your attention please," Sai said as he held it up with the light facing away. "I cannot give you the answers, but this can. This is a standard class neuralizer. Picked it up a few years ago from some friends. These change the electron impulses in one's brain, and in particular the ones for memory. This will rewrite your memory to know absolutely everything you need to know of the situations that you have discovered."

Now, granted Kiba bought it, but Sasuke and Sakura are not idiots. They began to move to leave, when they noticed that they couldn't move their legs. In fact, they couldn't even move at all!

"And everything you need to know is absolutely nothing."

Sai then raised the neuralizer to wipe their memory when Kiba was able to speak.

"Just, who are you? Really?"

" 'Really?'" Sai repeated. "I'm just a figment of your imagination."

The light then flashed, and just like that the three fell to the floor unconscious. He then closed the device and tucked it back into his sleeve. "Man what a gullible breed."

Now let's see… Sai then waved his hand, and the also unconscious bodies of the Konohamaru corps appeared by the ninjas. Thankfully, when Kyuubi was defeated, the kids had returned to normal and won't remember a thing. And so with everything done, he waved his hand again, and pools of darkness transported them all to their respective beds.

Merry Christmas indeed.

Date of Update: 12/24/06
Merry Christmas!

All right, here's how it goes.

First, Lucifer's Follower, (You do know that Lucifer is the devil's original name right?) I had no idea what you meant about the Kyuubi. Did you mean his intentions for his plan? If so I hope this clears it up.

Secondly, Cre A Tor00x, I'm sorry but, WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S GETTING BETTER?!? WHERE DID I GO WRONG? LET ME KNOW PRONTO! THAT WAY I'LL BE AWARE FOR THE SEQUEL!

Finally, this is the last chance for people to send world ideas in reviews! They will only be accepted in reviews! So send them in now! When the next chapter is up, that's it! No more! So hurry!

The Unknown Alias' status: Signed out.