XIII Ninja
By James the Fox
"The votes have been tallied, and... Oh, come on! Only three people? And they ALL voted for about the same thing. That makes this too easy... Oh, by the way, to all the people I told that there wouldn't be a Org. XIII member fighting Haku... Well, I can change my mind! Goodness knows Rowling's done it before!"
Sora: "NOOOOOO! Haku's gonna die! I can see it in your eyes! He's out for blood!"
"Oh, shut it. Don't make me blast you. You aren't in XIII Ninja, and I can keep you dead until the next chapter of HPGW or LS."
Shadow: "That's harsh. If you weren't a boy, I'd say you were PMSing."
Amy: "What was that?"
Shadow: "Oh no. She found me. I... gotta go."
"Huh?"
Shadow: "It was an accident, Amy! I swear! The author of that story made me do it!"
"You better not be blaming me for something. I'm not nice, but I know I've never made you do anything that got Amy ticked at you."
Amy: "You KISSED Sonic!"
"And I know I've never made you do that."
Shadow: "SAVE ME!" (Runs out of room, screaming at top of lungs. Amy follows him.)
"... Um... Okay...By the way, I warn you that this chapter contains slightly more violence than usual chapters, such as blood and gore that may disturb younger, non-teen readers. If you are such, or you don't like disturbing images of such, you might want to skip the second half of the chapter... And there's angst here too. Yay, angst! On to the Fic!"
Shadow: "AGHHH!"
"Who said you could start this party without me?" Naruto asked, a dissaproving look on his face. "Why didn't anyone wake me up before you left?" Hinata shook her head.
"RiD-sensei wanted to see what your reaction would be..."
"... Eh, fine. At least I got in on some of the action." Naruto got into a fighting stance.
Hinata's Debt: Never Again!
"You're right, Zabuza... I, RiD, can't hope to win this battle and save my team... However... If I were someone else..." Came RiD's voice. Roxas muttered something, but Naruto didn't have the time to make out what it was. Haku started to throw senbon needles at the duo, who, unable to dodge in time, were cut many times. As Hinata dodged another, she called to her brown-clothed teamate.
"Naruto-kun, do you have any plans to get us out of this?"
"No... wait... maybe if I... Fire melts ice, right?" Naruto asked as he took a senbon to the cheek, sending some more blood onto the ground.
"Yeah."
"Well, you better be careful, because it's gonna get hot in here!" Naruto said, his hair becoming longer and more spiked back. Streaks of crimson found thier place amoung Naruto's blond hair, and his eyes became green. Once again, Naruto felt the sensation of allowing another presense work with him. Two chakrams appeared in a burst of flame, floating a mere inch from Naruto's outstreached hands. He looked his friend in the eye and grinned. "Got it memorized?"
Haku threw another swarm of needles, but this time Naruto blocked a few that were coming at himself and Hinata. He spun his chakrams around in response, and the temperature started to increase.
"BURN, BABY!" Naruto roared, throwing his weapons at one of the mirrors. As it flew and spun, the weapon burst into flame, and when it returned to Naruto's hand, without a single flame with it, there was a crack in one of the mirrors on the top row. Dodging and blocking as many senbon as he could, Naruto continued smashing at the mirrors, intending to break them one by one. Hinata spent her time trying to back her teamate up, throwing kunai with exploding tags at the mirror that Naruto had weakened. Finally, after three tags and twenty eight burning chakrams, the first of the mirrors burst into mere shards.
"Yes!" Hinata exclaimed, overwelmed with joy at the accomplishment.
"Don't get cocky! We still need to smash the rest if we're going ot stop this madness!"
"It seems... that you won't quit." Haku said, remorse in his voice. "Fine... I have no choice. There is nothing left for me to do except to act as a true shinobi... and take your lives!" Almost immediatly, Naruto felt a mind dulling pain as seven senbon were lodged in the back of his left shoulder, the force of which knocking him to the ground and knocking Axel back into Naruto's heart. Another second passed and Haku was back in a mirror, gazing at Naruto with eight senbon raised, these obviously being aimed for Naruto's vital organs. "It ends here for you. I... am sorry."
Time seemed to be moving in slow motion as Haku threw the senbon.
'This is... this is it. I'm... I'm going to die.'
The senbon seemed to crawl towards the ninja, who found that he was rooted to the ground, unable to escape. His life seemed to flash before his eyes.
'I'm... sorry I couldn't help out more...'
"For your credit, at least this time the prank made the monument look a little better..."
'Iruka-sensei...'
"... I understand, but you need to have your picture taken normally, WITHOUT the facepaint."
'Old Man Hokage...'
"What have I told you about using the Darkness for such trivial matters?"
'Xemnas, Xigbar... guys...'
"Hmm... Pulling pranks, huh? Are you good at it?"
'RiD...'
"Oh, no reason... I just needed something to write on your gravestone."'Llednar...'
"Why do I train? It's to avenge my family..."
'Sasuke...'
"I hear you are on the same team as Hinata. Please... take care of my daughter.
'Old Man Hyuuga...'
"My goal is... to prove myself to anyone who has ever doubted me... and to pay back any debts I owe others."
'Hinata...'
A blur of back cloth, pale skin, and dark hair suddenly appeared in front of Naruto, standing between him and the needles that would have proved to be his death.
'Hinata?'
The needles struck true, knocking the hieress of the Hyuuga clan to the ground. The instruments of death were embeded in her chest, neck, and shoulders. Naruto managed at last to find the strength to stand, and ran to his comrade.
"HINATA!"
He picked her up, looking into her now-dulling eyes.
"N-Naruto... you're... not hurt... right?"
"Yeah..."
"... I'm glad."
"But... why? Why did you do this?"
"I..." The girl seemed about to say something. Haku watched from a distance, able to know without hearing them what those unspoken words were. "...I owed you... for that time six years ago..."
"What... Oh, yeah. But... I didn't want you to do this! We were supposed to come back from this, the both of us! You were going to show your dad that Justu you were working on!"
"Naruto... thank you... I..." Her eyes closed, and her heart grinded to a halt.
"Hinata... no... you... you're... dead..." He looked at Haku, who was stil watching.
"Is this the first time you've lost someone precious to you?" The Ninja asked. When the gentle query was made, something inside Naruto snapped. Organization XIII noticed something strange going on beneath their feet.
"The Kyuubi's chakra levels... they're... increasing..." Vexen said, perplexed by the thought.
"It's his emotions... Naruto's despair is being converted into dark energy..." Zexion muttered, his thoughts racing. "... and the Kyuubi is consuming it, making it into Chakra! At this rate..."
Xemnas finished for him. "There's no way we'd be able to contain this much! No way!" The chkra came out like a raging river, knocking the members of Organization XIII into the blissful abyss of unconsisousness...
Back in the real world, Naruto's eyes seemed to flicker between blue and red.
"And you..." he murmured to said missing ninja. "You... YOU... YOU!" They boy's eyes finally decided on the color red, and the whisker marks on his face grew in thickness, becoming more jagged. Naruto's claws appeared in a flash of dark energy and red chakra, and the mist that had rolled in started to be absorbed into them, making Naruto stronger. The bandages unwrapped themselves, burning away because of the red chakra, revealing that Naruto's hands had become more bestial, fur growing where the bandages had been. The claws revealed themselves to be attached to Naruto's furry hands, and the amount of red chakra being released from them seemed to increase every second. The boy roared.
"Good, because you have so many reasons to be afraid that I-" Riku was cut off, the eyes that had inexplicably turned yellow returning to the blue-green his old friends had love as a roar came from the place where Naruto, Hinata, and Haku had been fighting.
"YOU! YOU KILLED HER... I'LL DESTROY YOU!" And the two ninja, as well as Llednar and Tazuna, could only stare through the mist that seemed to be absorbed into a single, crimson-glowing core of dark energy...
"Who... what ARE you?" Haku asked.
Another roar was all the reply he got. Naruto rushed at the mirror, obliterating it only moments after Haku escaped. He threw senbon behind him, hitting Naruto in the back, only for it to dissolve in the darkness along with the rest of the senbon that had been in him. He glared at Haku, a single roar being all it took to destroy the mirror he was in, along with every other mirror.
"There's nowhere left for you to run..."
"How could you... What are you?" Haku asked again. Fear gripping every corner of his body.
"I... AM YOUR ESCORT TO THE DEEP DARKNESS!" With another roar, Naruto lunged onto the missing nin, claws sinking into Haku's chest, yet drawing no blood. Naruto seemed to be fanatically searching for something for a few seconds, then roared in triumph as he found purchase and pulled. When he ripped his claw out of Hku's chest, RiD could only stare at what Naruto had found.
"A... a heart..." The claws held a translucent red heart-shaped light, pulsing with the timing of a heartbeat. Naruto looked into it, as if pondering something. He glanced at Hinata, then back to the heart.
"She's... she's not dead..." The still Kyuubi-powered boy mutered, the roaring fury gone for the moment. He couldn't see the details, but he knew, just as certainly as Haku had, that Hyuuga Hinata still lived.
He was suddenly sent out of his reverie by the sounds of several men climbing onto the bridge. He placed the heart, unharmed, on the ground, and faced the group of thugs led by none other than Gato, who was sporting a broken arm.
"Well, well, well! Look at what it's come to!" The tycoon laughed. "I can see that you never stood a chance. You're not half the demon you claime to be!" He walked up to Hinata's 'corpse.' "Too bad about this little girl, though. From what I've overheard and what my spies told me, her eyes are supposed to be worth a fortune!" The short man kicked the girl, sending her limp body rolling a few feet. "Ah, well. Maybe I'll be able to salvage them later!" He was about to grab her when he heard a threatening growl. He looked at Naruto.
"Well, what kind of monstosity do we have here? A little brat with furry hands and unclipped fingernails? Were you some kind of pet to this girl?" Naruto growled at the man's insinuation.
"You won't touch her. I won't let you!" Gato laughed.
"Who's gonna stop me? You? As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, you and your friends aren't gonna be alive after this. You see... I've decided that Zabuza here is costing me too much money, so I hired these guys to kill him and you. Course, they cost something too, so feel free to kill a few of them off before you bite the big one!" He laughed as he went into the crowd.
"Well..." Riku remarked. "This is an interesting turn of events."
"Yeah... It seems I no longer work for Gato. We have no quarrel," Zabuza agreed. "Tell ya what, as a token of my regret... I'll kill all of these fools and Gato for you! It should be ea-"
"No." Zabuza turned to Naruto, who had growled the word. " He sent you here and insulted Hinata, one of the first friends I've ever had. The fool is mine."
"Are you nuts, kid? You're just a Genin. You couldn't take these punks! Leave it to m-" A hand on his shoulder stoped him. Zabuza turned to Riku.
"Naruto... Are you sure you can survive this encounter?" Naruto grinned, revealing enlarged canines.
"I don't know, and I don't care... These idiots are getting on my nerves, and I intend to destroy all of them. Besides, Zabuza still has someone to return to... Haku would be heartbroken to learn that his only friend died here. Zabuza... His heart sits there, waiting to be returned to his body. Go, restore him. I..." the chakra flowing from his claws pulsed. "Still have Chakra to siphon off!"
"... I see. Go for it, kid." Riku grinned, as Naruto rushed toward the mob.
"WHAT ARE YA WAITING FOR! KILL 'EM!" Gato called, and the mob charged, only to be stopped by intense waves of killer intent flowing off the boy... no, demon, rushing on all fours towards them.
It was a massacre. Naruto rushed into the mob, slicing apart those who dared atack him, both physically and spiritually. Blood flew everwhere and hearts flew to the sky, barely getting one yard into the air before being torn to ribbons by the monster that had torn them from their bodies.
Llednar watched this, his usually stoic face filled with horror. He emptied his stomach at the sight of Naruto tearing a man limb from limb before cutting another's head off.
'What... what is this? The look on his face, the chakra levels he's unleashing... it's not human! How is Naruto pulling this off?' He thought, considering everything he knew about Naruto. Eventually, he came to an answer...
When the last of the thugs had been taken out, Naruto turned his attention to Gato, who was running to the boat he had used to get to the bridge. The man was only inches away before a fox tail burst from a portal of darknes right under the man's feet, wrapping itself around the foolish mortal. Naruto waked calmly to the man, savoring the moment.
"Thought you could get away, did you, after doing what you've done? I hate to be the bearer of bad news," the demon spit in Gato's face, pulling back a claw. Naruto plunged his claws into Gato's chest, blood splatering everywhere as he pull both the physical and spiritual hearts from the gaping hole, all without disconnecting them from his body. "But that's not happening. No... I'm going to kill you." He slowly closed his grip on the hearts, causing the man to silently scream out in agony. Slowly but surely, the man's heartbeats faded, and his eyes dulled. Naruto then broke both hearts, promising that the man would go through horrors worse than death. Dead, but not truely dead...
"ughn..." The small voice banished the demon back into Naruto's heart, the boy became fuly aware of his surroundings. He stared at the blood and gore everywhere, before looking to see Hinata's waking form.her eyes were open, he knew, but she had not seen the carnage he caused yet. The carnage he had made... his fault... his fault...
"YOU are the Kyuubi no Kitsune."
Naruto had never really thought about those words since that night, and now... Now he could see what Mizuki had meant... Was all of this a lie? All he was on the outside, was that a lie? who knew how many people he had just killed, and he had enjoyed every second of it... His heart in turmoil, Naruto opened a portal of darkness and warped away from the gruesome sight.
As Naruto bounded through the trees, past the mob of townsfolk obviously going in the opposite direction as he, to help in the already finished battle. He mentally called out for his friends, Organization XIII, but could not hear an answer.
'Did I kill them with that power? Oh please, no... please be alive... please, respond! Xemnas! Xigbar! Xaldin!...' And so as he called their names again and again, the feeling of hopelessness grew more and more with every unanswered plea. He wanted to hear Xemnas scold him for using his powers for selfish goals, for Xigbar to praise him for said use of darkness. He missed Vexen and Zexion giving him ideas for strategies and Lexaus and Saix arm wrestling while Xaldin watched and laughed. He wished to hear Axel and Roxas talking together about the world around them, showing rare moments of insight, and to hear Demyx practicing new songs on his Sitar while Marluxia held his hands over his ears. He desired to hear Larxene, the closest thing he had to a mother, telling him to eat something other than Ramen for a change. And now he needed, more than anything, to hear them tell him it'll be alright...
Next Time on XIII Ninja: Confrontation! Of Keyblades and Chasers!
"Yep, no speech to talk about the contents of the next Chapter. And yes, I put a cliffie at the end. Not quite as evil of a cliffie as I planned (I was gonna end the chapter at the same point that last chapter ended (just as Naruto went demon.). Instead, I decided I'd continue and create a less... action-y cliffhanger. Gave me a chance to put in some angst! Woo!"
Sora: "You didn't kill Haku! Good job! I knew you had the resraint!"
"... I could still change my mind. I could. Really. I could simply click the Export button and alter the chapter, if you annoyed me enough."
Sora: "..."
"Good boy! Next chaper will answer a few questions and raise a really important question or two! Cool! See ya then!"
