How long?

How long had he been here, drifting aimlessly through darkness, and defeated a second time...this time with ink and paper!

Damn the Pharoah! Damn Atem!

Zorc Neco's red eyes flashed in hate. He'd been so close! So close! Yet he was cheated of his genocidal goals!

If there was a way to head back to the actual Egypt during Atem's rule...this time he'd cover all bases and leave nothing to chance! But to do that, he required a cortporal body to steal control of. While he still had enough power for one hostless pass into a dimintion...huh?

Zorc caught a glimps of something. A brief spark of absloute hate and evil that made the wicked immortal smile. he could trace that spark to where it had come from. Surely the source of it would be able to be of use to him.

The large valley with the wide lake was completely destroyed. The ground was shattered with cracks, like it was torn apart by a powerful force. What was once known as the Valley of the End was now a victim that it has experienced a deadly war, it looked like a raging battlefield. The great waterfall that was joined by two giant stone statues side by side, both were staring at each other holding the same hand gesture. The figures of Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara were showing the gesture of peace and unity, the statures were carved with that specific gesture for being the founders of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Below the stone statues of the former founders were two young individuals who were in the middle of a deadly combat. They were obviously the ones responsible for causing the destruction around the valley the two were shinobis engage in a fight that most likely take their life. Both were the same age but they had different ideals and goals, which it was explained for the reason of their fight.

Naruto's eyes were currently yellow irises with horizontal pupils and had dark orange pigmentation surrounding his eyes as the yellow chakra shroud released chakra flickered around him like flames. Naruto knew this was a major risk: combinding Sage Mode and his Controlled Jinchuriki form, but it had to be this way.

Naruto glared at Sasuke as Sasuke glared back. In an instant, they both leapt and attacked. Sasuke swung at Naruto with his chokuto, which Naruto blocked with a the Dragon Blade...it took him forever to find it again on Mount Koryu, even using his clones and Sage Mode.

With a yellow flash, Naruto was in front of him. He kicked Sasuke in the side and sent him flying into the water. Naruto grabbed the Drgon Blade and dropped towards the water below. At the last second, he righted himself and stood on the water, not disturbing a drop. As soon as he landed, Sasuke leapt out of the water and stabbed Naruto in the gut.

"Any last words, Dobe?" Sasuke asked with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Yeah. Boom." Sasuke's eyes widened as "Naruto" exploded. Sasuke was sent reeling back from the explosion, but managed to stand atop the water. He looked around for Naruto, Sharingan blazing, only to see him still standing atop Hashirama's head. Sasuke bolted towards Naruto, making hand signs. As soon as he was close enough, he released the Jutsu.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he shot the enormous fireball towards Naruto, who didn't even seem to move.

When the smoke from the fire cleared, Sasuke saw a smoldering log in place of Naruto.

"You missed." a voice behind him said. Sasuke was then sent forward from being kicked in the back by Naruto. Sasuke drew his chokuto and attacked, Naruto still holding the Dragon Blade. Thus began a vicious kenjutsu match.

Sasuke moved to slice one of Naruto's arms, but Naruto parried the blow, moving to cut open Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke jumped back in time, though, only receiving a small cut across it. Sasuke tried to stab Naruto, but had to jump back as Naruto chucked one of his kunai at him. He deflected the kunai, sending it upward.

In an instant, Naruto teleported above him and came down with a rasengan in his right hand, hitting Sasuke in the shoulder blade and catching his Dragon Blade with his left hand.

"You just don't learn, do you, Bastard? Even you must know that knowing your enemy is the first step to victory." Naruto said, jumping out of the hole he crushed Sasuke into. Sasuke jumped out of the hole with a small amount of blood coming out of his mouth.

"Hurts, doesn't it? I haven't been sitting on my ass, Bastard."

Sasuke glared at Naruto, and said, "Neither have I, Dobe. Behold the power of the Uchiha!" he shouted, his eyes shifting once more. They turned pitch black in color, a red symbol with three red overlapping ellipses, and three curved points underneath them.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about you taking Itachi's eyes. So now you have an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, huh?"

Sasuke smirked. "That's right, Dobe. Still think you can beat me?"

"Do you even have to ask? Sasuke you think you stand a chance? Not even close. I can tell you're completely over-reliant on those eyes you took from Itachi, so this will be easy. After all, you can't stand on your own when it comes to earning your own strength through honest blood, sweat, and tears. Hell, without the Sharingan, you can't even fight...you forgot how to, you need those eyes as a crutch so much."

"What are you saying? I've always been without equal in terms of my power!" Sasuke snapped.

"Right," Naruto said with flat disbelief as he buffed his nails on his jacket, "THAT'S why you've always taken the easy way out by using free power-ups that've been handed to you by others. First was that Curse Seal of Heaven Orochimaru slapped on you. Then since Itachi removed it, you were all about using the Mangekyō Sharingan you got by killing your brother, and when that didn't work out, you carved the eyes out of Itachi's corpse and used them to replace your own eyes! You don't HAVE any real strength of your own! It never came from your own efforts, just an outside source that's there to make things easy for you." Naruto said.

Then he paused, looking thoughtful. "But then again...I suppose I should have expected no less from an Uchiha. It seems you're weaker since becoming Orochimaru and Madara's puppet, but then, you've always been weak willed. First following the path that your brother suggested for you and now you follow a bitter, whiped dog whose "master plan" is to rule over smoke and mirrors. What's even sadder is the fact you, by your OWN CHOICE, have cemented that the Uchiha clan legacy is nothing more than death and rebellion. Sad how the mighty have fallen. You'd think with how the Uchiha valued their pride over everything else, even the lives of others to the point where one of their own had to kill them for it, that they would have beaten it into you that Madara's idealogy was the bane of the Uchiha clan...but you've embraced it. Heh...your clan members must be spinning in their graves!"

Naruto laughed "And you...You're not an elite anything! You really think you're so special just because of your family name? Big deal. What have you personally done that's so great? Sure you were our class' Rookie of the Year back in our Academy days, but out in the real world it doesn't matter. There you were in controlled situations with no real threats to your safety. Out on actual missions there will be things you're not prepared for and there is always the risk of death. The elites are the ones who make it through and live to see another day. The elites are the survivors and the succeeders. In short, you're no better than any other shinobi that's without a kekkei genkai or clan. Without your sharingan, or the ability to pass it on, what good are you to us boy?" Naruto asked coldly, making Sasuke freeze. "The fact of the matter is boy that your sharingan is the only thing about you that made you special in the first place. Had the Uchiha not been wiped out by your brother, you would have just been another academy student. Your brother's actions were the only reason people ensured things have worked out in your favor all the time."

Sasuke felt his blood boil as Naruto continued.

"You've been told you were the best by people around you for years. But didn't you ever ask yourself why?" Naruto asked. "They only did so because you were of use to them. Or at least you were. The Leaf Village pampered you because you were the only hope for keeping the sharingan alive in the village and none other. Nothing more. But now that you can't and most likely never will, you're like everyone else you're so certain is beneath you. Face it, you're nobody now. Just another dick that went rouge!"

"DIE! Amaterasu!" Black flames shot forward towards Naruto, who simply lifted up his hand. As soon as the flames reached him, they simply vanished.

"What the…? What the hell did you do, Dobe?" Sasuke angrily shouted.

"I'm not limited to teleporting myself, Bastard. In fact, look behind you." Naruto said, vanishing. Sasuke turned around to see the black flames headed right for him. Using his Mangekyo once more, he extinguished the flames before they reached him, albeit with some effort. He got no rest, however, as Naruto once more hit him with a rasengan, this time in the stomach. Caught off guard, he was unable to defend in time, and was sent flying into the cliff.

"This is becoming repetitive. When are you going to actually fight? Or is this really all you can do?" Naruto taunted. All of a sudden, the cliffside exploded, revealing Sasuke, who was covered with a dark chakra, which formed itself to resemble a dark samurai.

"So this is the mighty Susanoo… now we're getting somewhere!" the samurai formed a bow in it's hands, and fired an arrow at Naruto, who simply used his natural speed to dodge the arrow. As soon as he dodged the first arrow, however, a second one was shot at him. Caught off guard, he managed to teleport it away. Smirking, Naruto chucked one of his kunai at Sasuke with unbelievable speed. As soon as the kunai left his hand, he began forming hand signs as fast as he could. As soon as he reached the last sign, he shouted, "Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and in a moment, one kunai became one hundred, and all of them flew towards Sasuke, who merely smirked. None of the kunai were able to penetrated the shield of chakra around him.

"Is that it?" Sasuke asked with his usual smirk.

"Not quite." was Naruto's response, as one hundred Naruto's teleported next to him, all armed with rasengans. They impacted, and Susanoo shattered under the multiple impacts. The clones vanished, and Naruto teleported to Sasuke, kicking him in the stomach, sending him back again.

"Tactics, Bastard. You can't just have good techniques. You need to know how and, more importantly, when to use them. If you keep this up, you'll kill yourself from either chakra exhaustion caused by either your own stupidity, how the Dragon Blade has effects like the Sharkskin sword that use to belong to Kisame, or more than likly, misuse of a technique. Here's a tip: think."

This served only to enrage Sasuke more.

'This is too easy...I almost feel bad...ALMOST, but that's becacuse I hate battles that are so damn easy.'

Sasuke charged at Naruto, infusing his chokuto with lightning chakra. Naruto blocked with the Dragon Blade, infused with wind chakra. Sasuke kept swinging at Naruto, trying to take Naruto's head off. He only succeeded in cutting his torso. Naruto led Sasuke back to where the kunai he threw were. He grabbed one and infused it with wind as well, and proceeded to go on the offensive. Sasuke was immediately put on the defensive. Naruto swung and stabbed in a violent dance, succeeding in hitting Sasuke several times.

Sasuke jumped away. 'What's going on? Why is the Dobe so powerful?' Sasuke smirked. He ran towards Naruto, and as soon as he was close enough, activated his Chidori Stream. Naruto didn't even flinch, however, and stabbed Sasuke in the left shoulder with the Dragon Blade. Sasuke jumped back again as the sword devoured his lightning chakra.

"How?"

"Sasuke, you've already used that on me. Every technique I know you can do, I have a countermeasure for. I trained with Kakashi to get used to fighting the Sharingan and lightning style. Unless you came up with some really powerful techniques right now on the fly, you can't win." Naruto explained. Sasuke sheathed his chokuto.

"It's time to end this, Dobe." Sasuke said, his right hand crackling with lightning. Naruto nodded and put away his kunai and held out his left hand.

"So be it." his hand begun swirling with wind chakra, which condensed to a glowing ball with small shuriken-like prongs around it. They both jumped from their respective spots and attacked.

"CHIDORI!"

"WIND STYLE: RASENGAN!"

They collided, energy swirling around them. The stalemate did not last, however, as Naruto's wind-jutsu was stronger. It blasted through the lightning chakra as well as blasting off Sasuke's arm. Sasuke was sent flying into the cliffside, screaming bloody murder. Naruto landed, panting. Sasuke's blood dripping down his torso from when it splattered on him. He slowly approached the crater Sasuke made when he landed. Seeing that Sasuke was still alive, Naruto pointed the Dragon Blade at the Uchiha's heart and prepaired to end this. While this made him sick, the mad dillusions of one clan couldn't outweigh the safety of the rest of the world. Just as he brought the Dragon Blade down to end Sasuke's life, a girl with pink hair blocked his strike using a Tanto and with a quick palm strike, Naruto was sent flying backwards until he skid to a stop on the water.

"Naruto don't hurt Sasuke!" she yelled. Naruto just stared at her. After a few more moments that stare turned into a glare.

"You...would defend him, even after everything he's done? You would still defend him Sakura?" he was practically yelling by the time he finished the sentence, he couldn't beleve this! After all this time, she was still Sasuke's loyal pet and Uchiha-worshiping whore?

Sakura was nearly in tears as she yelled back "Don't make me choose between Sasuke and the village, because I can't Naruto, I can't!" she failed to notice Sasuke rushing up behind her, his chidori once again consuming his hand.

However, just as Sasuke was about to plundge the attack through Sakura, the three all froze as the air around them turned into a black mist and they all looked around.

"Ho crap! This ain't good...Space-time transport." Naruto muttered, knowing what this was having been reverse-summoned to Myōbokuzan before and recognized the feel of being transported.

Naruto caught the sight of something zooming at Sasuke. A black shadow that all Naruto's instincts were telling him would be a nightmare

Teleporting to intercept the shadow, Naruto screamed as it forced his way into his body.

Zorc had been in several minds over the eons, but this one was by far going on his list of favorites. No light...no hope...misery and despair masked by cheerfulness. Then there was that hidden power he felt coming from this boy...while it wasn't what he'd been aiming for, there was something locked deep inside him…While Zorc wasn't sure of what it could be, it felt like another consciousness trapped within this boy's own. Whatever was the source of the power it exuded reeked with malicious intent and evil emotion.

While this hadn't been the one he was aiming for, he felt he could make this work.

Zorc paused as he found himself standing before a cage made up of torii. the former god spotted movement within it and a malnurished-looking fox with nine tails walked up to the bars.

"Hmm...interesting. So the mortal has a second soul within him. A shrivled and broken one that was stripped of it's power, but a very vile one. Shame I couldn't use this creature when I faced the vessel in that Duel Monsters card game where he defeated me. Would have made a fine blast shield." Zorc mused.

The fox snarled at the fallen, dark god, was this being calling him so weak that he could be beaten with ink on paper? "At least MY power wasn't shatted by a CARD TRICK! It took the death god to simply split my power in half!"

Zorc twitched at that, not that it was able to be seen. "You make lofty claims, but you and this human you're within would never last in the world which I've come from!"

The Nine-tails growled in fury, while the demon hated the twirp, he DID have a type of loathing respect for Naruto...and anyone out to obiliterate the hopes, dreams and goals of the Uchiha clan wasn't ALL bad in the fox's book.

"I'll have you know, unlike you, my vessel could EASILY handle a world with a dependancy on card games!"

That did it.

"IN THAT CASE, LIVE UP TO YOUR BOASTS!" Zorc bellowed. While still weakened, now that he had a proper body, he could utilize his power in bulk. Spiking his power to send it through the shadow realm, Zorc sent ripples through the darkness, creating a temprary hole to send the fox's vessel to the world of the Pharoah.

Snarling, the nine-tailed kitsuine opened his jaws and a ball of black chakra formed in front of the demon's mouth and the tailed beast ball shot out as a beam of destructive power. The blast struck Zorc and the evil god screamed as he felt himself vaporize from the attack. The demon chuckled, Naruto had left a generous amount of chakra for the fox's own use. He was more than a match for a shattered excuse of a dark god.

Still, the fox was a split-second too slow. But hey...in the shard-demon's mind that was NARUTO'S problem now!

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura felt the darkness around them shake and they felt themselves seem to start sinking into the darkness around them as they all blacked out...

Groaning, the first thing that the blond haired shinobi realized as his eyes fluttered open was that he wasn't dead. Otherwise he wouldn't still feel sore from his battle with Sasuke. The second was that he was in the alliy some kind of city, but the buildings were all glass, metal and concreat and seemed to reach the sky.

Where was he?

Suddenly, Naruto whipped around, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. It wasn't shinobi training, but instinct that told him someone was behind him.

The ninja met gazes with a tanned muscular but pulsating man with dirty blonde hair, red eyes, and a jewel embedded to his forehead. His clothing consisted of a black cape attached to spiked padding which were held by strings, along with gray shoulder pads, black pants and a sky-blue pyramid with an odd-looking eye symbol on it hanging around his neck.

Naruto didn't know what it was about this guy, but it set him on edge.

Anubis frowned, while the Pyramid of Light he wore was co-created by himself, the fact was that it was still just a failed attempt by Aknadin to recreate the Millennium Puzzle for his son, Seto, to give him a power on a par with Pharaoh Atem, so that he might defeat him and assume the throne. Not truly being a Millennium Item, he planned on offering the soul of a ka-user to boost its power. Not to mention that the blast from the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon's shining Nova had nearly killed him and would have succeeded in doing so had he not been immortal.

He'd sensed a massive power and felt it was worth looking into, only to find a mortal. What a disapointment. He felt he should have known better than to get his hopes up. Flashing A pulse of energy from the artifact , he sent the blond crashing into a wall with enough force to break his spine.

Snorting in contempt, he turned around only for

Rising from Naruto's body was the Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

The god stared. That black dragon was his Ba...his very soul freed from his body! This was bad! A Ka spirit-monster was one thing, but a Ba creature was far more problematic. What was more, if this human was dead, his soul-beast wouldn't even exist if the human were dead. So how...?

The dragon opened it's jaws and a fireball shot out from withing the Red-Eye's body and exited its maw and flew at Anubis.

The mortal-appearing being felt something knock him out of the way as the burning projectile struck were he had been, and when it had burnt itself out, he was shocked at the two things his picked up from the spot.

A scorched egyptian headdress and the smell of burnt cat fur.

No...Anubis couldn't accept this! This mortal had...!

Outraged, Anubis enveloped himself in tar-like slime and forming an armored jackle-like monster that stood on its hind legs, possessed bladed wings, and an axe like blade on top of its head, and the Pyramid of Light's's jewel in the center of its chest.

Anbuis snarled as he ramed the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, impiling it. The dragon screamed as the massive blade went through it's body. Anubis opened his jaws and a stream of black fire envloped the soul-monster. The lord of the dead froze when he felt a pair of claws grab onto the axe blade and push off it. As Anubis halted his attack, he was shocked to see the dragon still there, albit injured.

Shcking the ebony creature off and slamming a claw on it, Anubis started to crush the beast slowly. Only for it to roar and launch a fireball that struck where Pyramid of Light's's jewel in the center of his chest. The attack sent Anubis back as what was serving as the core of his power at the moment to maintane this form.

Roaring in pain and rage, the egyptian lord of the dead bat the dragon away. But it twisted his body and dug it's claws into the ground while flairing its wings open to create drag.

The dragon's form started flickering before it roared again and returned to the boy's body. The dragon was too injured to stay outside his body for much longer since it was injured. Anubis blinked... so the mortal was still alive. That was worthy of renown in and of itself. Being a death god, he could tell when one had passed away, and therefore he knew the mortal still lived. He reached for the boy's neck, aiming to strangle the unconcious human. He'd cost the jackle something too important to him. But he paused as he felt something enter the Pyramid of Light he wore around his neck and faltered a second, then he grinned, standing with his hands moving back to his sides.

He understood.

This one had earned his wrath. Still...who better than someone with this strong a fire in him to serve as her welcoming-opponet once he found a sutable vessel for her now-bodyless spirit?

Naruto groaned as his eyes opened and he found himself in a strange bedroom of some kind. Lavished with an assortment of beautiful lavender and silver colors.

''Aah...you've awakened my boy.''

Naruto turned to face the speaker. Like the room the man was also dressed in a lavish sort of way. A red business suit over some frilly looking clothing. His hair was silver, and done in a rather effeminate looking hairstyle.

''Where am I? How did I get here?''

''My guards found you passed out on one of my properties. At first glance I knew something was unusual about you."

"Well thanks for that I guess...Who are you by the way?''

"Oh?" the man seemed surprised then smiled. "Well then, allow me to introduce myself. I am Pegasus, Maxamillion Pegasus. The creator of Duel Monsters.''

''Of what?'' Naruto asked.

''You've never heard of Duel Monsters?''

''Repeated said phrase in surprise isn't going to have me suddenly know what it is.''

''Why you're certainly a rather feisty brat.''

''Yeah well you have to be to live the life I live. So what's with these Duel Monsters you're so proud of?''

And so Pegasus told his story. About his wife and the God Cards. About Duel Monster, the Thousand-Years items, and a bunch of other things Naruto couldn't fully bring himself to buy just yet.

''Wow...that was...something. But I get the feeling you want something from me, right?''

'Correct. 'I wish to ask you a favor. I wish to have a positive champion to reflect Industrial Illusions' image. A friendly and kind Duel Monsters player who will bring positive press to my company. That's where you come in...''

''So I more or less go recruit for kids to play this card game based off ancient magical duels of death and monsters? Meh! Wouldn't be the strangest or most outlandish thing I did.'' Naruto said.

''Sure my boy...So will you take up the offer?"

''I guess...'' The blond said scratching the back of his head. ''But only if some of these card ideas are one of a kind. I don't mind some being mass produced, but there are some I'd like to stay unique.''

''I propose an idea...A starter creation of ten of these cards. The rest of your deck you can build out of any of the cards in my collection, except the restricted collection of course. I'll keep charter of your progress and with each duel you win I'll give you access to each new card.''

"Alright... I'll take you up on that proposition. and I'll keep you updated on the cards I make if they're mass production-types." Naruto said with a nod, shaking Pegasus' hand.

As Naruto stood, he was unsteady, and his chakra felt agitated for some reason. 'What's wrong with me?' the Leaf ninja meantally wondered.

Naruto, being unaware of anything his soul did in the form of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, didn't know that he still hadn't fully recovered from the damage done to his soul yet. While Nine-tails was healing him, it would be a while until he was able to use any techniques like summoning and reverse-summoning that allow the users to manipulate the space–time continuum by manipulating a specific point of space to warp anything targeted into a dimensional void and teleport it to another location instantaneously, he couldn't use those skills to get back to his own world.

Pegasus beconed him to follow the man, and Naruto, lacking any idea of what was going on and knowing if he had to start somewhere, it would have to be with this guy, followed.

Naruto felt proud of his deck: A Red-Eyes Black Dragon deck with some supports added to it to make it even more formidable.

[MONSTERS]
Red-Eyes Black Dragon X 3
Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon X 3
Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon X3
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon X3
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon X 3
Red-Eyes Wyvern X 3
Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon X 3
Black Skull Dragon X 3
Meteor Black Dragon x3
Red-Eyes Black Chick X3
Meteor Dragon X3
Summoned Skull X3
Jinzo
Lord of Dragons
Mysterious Puppeteer
Attachment Dragon
Spear Dragon
Hunter Dragon
Mirage Dragon
Curse of Dragon
Revival Jam
Plasma Eel
Lava Golem
Baby Dragon
Time Wizard
Thousand Dragon
Cave Dragon
Crawling Dragon
Troop Dragon
Celtic Guardian
Mystic Swordsman,
Serpent Night Dragon
Dragonic Knight
Alligator's Sword
Vampire Lord
Armed Samurai - Ben Kei

[SPELLS]
Graceful Charity
Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword
Inferno Fire Blast
Gravekeeper's Servant
Graceful Dice
Mystical Space Typhoon
Dragon Treasure
Dragon Nails
Polimerization X 3
Ante
Monster Reborn X 3
Pot of Greed
Jar of Greed
My Body as a Shield
Mist Body
United We Stand
Scapegoat
Swords of Revealing Light
Swords of Concealing Light
Dragon Heart
Dragon's Gunfire
Sebek's Blessing
Spring of Rebirth
Impact Revive
Mask of the Accursed
Ring of Magnetism
Masked Doll
Ground Collapse X2
De-Fusion
Mirage of Nightmare X3
Emergany ProvisionsX3
Ookazi X3

[TRAPS]
Red-Eyes Burn
Red-Eyes Spirit
Skull Invitation
Mirror Wall
Gorgon's Eye
Bad Reaction to Simochi
Metalmorph
Skull Dice
Negate Attack
Magic Cylinder
Call of the Haunted
Jar of Greed
Light of Intervention
Mirror Force
Dimension Wall
Raigeki Break
Offensive Guard
Imperial Order
Life Absorbing Machine
Goblin Fan
Solemn Wishes
Martyr Curse
Mask of Restrict
Crush Card Virus
Gravity Bind

[RITUALS]
Dark Dragon Ritual
Red-Eyes Transmigration

[RITUAL MONSTERS]
Knight of Dark Dragons
Lord of the Red

While Naruto didn't really know how to play the game yet, there was just something that he felt whenever he played, touched, looked at, or even thought about the Red-Eyes Black Dragon series of cards that just felt...perfectly right. Like the dragons were a part of him that he'd been missing and finally found. He shuffled through his deck and focused on the Red-Eyes series cards.

Pegasus chuckled. He knew enough to tell that the boy didn't want the deck, the deck wanted him. He supposed that once you had to deal with the Millinum Items enough, you got good at telling these sort of things. Besides, it was very hard to argue with any of the Red-Eyes type duel spirits. It wasn't very sane to annoy a bunch of fire-breathing dragons, after all.

Naruto set his deck in the arm-mounted device, a duel disk he learned it was called. But as soon as he did so, than he had to turn away. The duel disk was enveloped in pitch-black light with a blood-red outline. When it faded, Naruto gapped.

His duel disk had changed to resemble the head of the Red-Eyes Black dragon!

The part of the duel disk the displyed his life points was the dragon's eye, while the part that he placed his cards on had become the Red-Eye's wing. The deck area was the dragon's open mouth.

"Wha...? What the heck?" Naruto yelped. Pegasus hummed...so the Red-Eyes Black Dragons were connected to this boy in some way? Being no stranger to Shadow Games, Duel Spirits, and of course the Millennium Items, Maximillion knew this had to be significant.

"Well...that was unusual." the man said, getting Naruto's attention "But that aside, I think it time you learned to play the game."

A few days later, Naruto was rushing through the streets of Domino City as he rushed to the building he was suppose to get to...cursing his new boss all the while.

"Damn Maximillion Pegasus, telling me to go here! "it'll help with keeping your end of our agreement" he says...Ass never mentioned having to go to school! I'm a practial ability type! No way that paperwork and test scores work for me!"

Apparently this world had gone through two devastating world wars of their own, though. This human world had advanced computer systems that allowed people from different sides of the globe to communicate, and phones that could fit into a person's pocket even! Naruto had a hard time absorbing it all. It was a hard pill to swallow knowing that the most advanced wireless radios used by ANBU in Konoha were considered obsolete almost a decade ago in this world. He took it all in stride nevertheless.

He still couldn't believe several things. One, someone had built an academy that was dedicated to teaching a children's card game. Two, that people could actually take classes and earn credentials in said children's card game. Three, that said card game was popular enough to have it's own channel and had a major grip on the economy of this world. Pegasus had taught him the basics, he would have taught the blond more, but Naruto had insited that he was going to learn how to stand on his own legs as far as learning this.

Of course he was going to be keeping the fact that he was chosen to be the Industrial Illusions champion to himself, as well as the fact that he was also in the Development and Testing section of the company.

Naruto looked at the time before noticing it was almost time for the enrolment exam to start. Naruto decided to resort to his skill in Parkour, in order to get over there by hopping onto the rooftops and then hopped to one of the telophone poles connecting the wires and smirked while running along an electrical wire to a building across from him. Leaping from rooftops and wires, it took hardly any time at all to spot the building he was looking for. Naruto grinned as slide down an electrical wire while keeping his balance. The people present had their jaws agape as he dropped down, keeping himself from injury with a quick roll before a man in a suit spoke to him.

"Are you here for the Duel Academy test?" the man asked. Naruto grinned.

"Hell yeah man! Sign me up!" the blond said, "Name's Naruto Uzumaki."

"Ugh, there is just no one worthy of me here!" muttered a black haired teen wearing a royal jacket over his clothes.

His counterpart rolled her eyes at his words. "Jeez Chaz," the girl said, "Quit whining. There's tons of potential out there today. Have you seen Zane?"

"He's at the top floor, where else?" Chazz said with a shrug before grinning at the girl, "Don't you want to stay here with me, Alexis?"

"I'll pretend you didn't just say that..."Alexis said before turning and walking away. As she headed towards the upstairs, a blond boy ran into her, knocking her over.

"My bad!" the teen said with an apologetic smile before helping her to her feet.

a He was dressed in a open black coat with a white interior and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and had a orange spiral on the back, a white button-up shirt with the top three buttons undone, black pants, a orange sash acting as a belt, a black cloth headband with an orange spiral on it and a pair of red and black sneakers. His blond spikes stuck up around the top, but the edges were hanging around his head, the strange whisker marks around his cheeks, and his lean but muscular build told her he worked out fervently.

Naruto looked at the girl he'd knocked over. She was a blond whose hair was sporadically arranged, with a large portion trailing the upper part of the nape of her neck and endowed with an incredible bust. She was dressed in a white primary top with royal blue trimming as the secondary color with a matching blue miniskirt, wore fingerless gloves, and royal blue boots.

Naruto had to say, she was pretty cute. Yet the look in her eyes was what caught his attention, she had the fire of a warrior in them, and it suited her.

That was when he noticed the duel disk on her arm "You're a duelist?"

She nodded "Yes, I'm Alexis Rhodes." she said as he helped her stand and she brushed her clothes off.

"Naruto Uzumaki, pleasure to meet you." he told her with a smile. "So...up for a match while I wait to get called for my evaluation test to start...I've just started playing and you know what they say, practice makes perfect. I do know a few good moves so far, though."

Alexis nodded and the boy pulled out his own duel disk and strapped it onto his arm. Alexis took note of the theme and designe of his duel disk.

"Got a thing for the Red-Eyes Black Dragons, huh?" she asked, grinning.

Naruto shrugged "What can I say, the Red-Eyes series cards just feel...right...with me. That make sense?"

Alexis nodded to him, most duelists were highly fond of their cards, and there was usually a monster of some sort that just seemed to fit the duelist in question. Like Seto Kaiba and the Blue-eyes White Dragons or Yugi Moto with the Dark Magican.

"Well as far as the turn order should go...Ladies first, I insist." Naruto said, giving Alexis a smile.

She returned it in kind to her fellow blond "Thank you, I hope you're as good a duelist as you are at being a gentlemen."

Naruto activated his Red-Eyes duel disk and something in him felt his Red-Eyes Black Dragons all pulse, egear for the comming battle. It made him smile to himself, always egear to please and use their potential as much as they could...he respected that. After all, he was the same way.

"Ready mailady?" Naruto asked.

"DUEL!"

Just as they were about to start, a feminine looking teacher wearing a frilly Obelisk Blue jacket grabbed a microphone and spoke into it "Mr. Uzumaik! Report to the dueling field! Your evaluation tester has just been approved!"

"Wha...? Approved? Now?" He sighed and turned the the girl "Well...dang...suppose I could ask for a rain check on dueling you?"

Alexis nodded her head with a small smile before walking towards the top floor and stopped next to a boy with a dark aqua blue hair color and dressed in a royal blue jacket who had his arms crossed and his eyes locked on a teal haired boy with glasses.

"Hello Alexis," the boy said with an icy tone. Alexis leaned over the railing and followed his gaze.

"Zane, why are you glaring at your brother?" she asked. Zane's eyes flickered over to her for the briefest of moments before he looked back at his brother.

"He passed the written exam, barely won that duel of his," Zane said, "He'll be lucky if he makes in Slifer Red."

"That's...kind of cold,"Alexis muttered before looking down at the blond she almost got the chance to duel with "Who is this guy?" Alexis asked quietly. Zane pulled his PDA out and looked through the files of all DA hopefuls.

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki," the Obelisk Blue elite said stoically, "His grades suck...no information on his dueling skills. Must be a underground duelist..."

"Hmm...Well, hopefully he doesn't suck, he told me he was just starting out. But he might know how to use that deck of his better than most usual rookies." Alexis said "He seems...What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Unique," Zane said with a small smirk. His words continued in his mind, 'Which is exactly what this school needs. Show me what you can do, Mr. Uzumaki.'

Hello Mr. Uzumaki," Dr. Crowler said as he stood opposite of the blond and attached his modified duel disk to his chest. As Naruto stood he blinked as he activated his duel disk.

"What's that supposed to be?" he asked, not recognizing the odd device.

"How DARE you!" Crowler shouted, a tick of annoyance appearing on his head, "This duel disk is designed for dueling elites! It is said that Seito Kaiba uses this very type of duel disk!"

Naruto bit his lip to hold a snicker back before holding his left arm out, "Sure Freaky, whatever you say..."

"My name is Crowler you twerp!" the feminine man shouted.

"Sorry, Mr.–"

"It's DOCTOR Crowler!"

"Well excuse me..." Naruto grumbled before activating his duel disk, "Let's start already!"

"Gladly you cretin," mumbled Dr. Crowler. He activated his own duel disk and their life points flashed to life. Crowler smirked as he drew his hand. He waved to Naruto and said, "Make your move, boy. I haven't got all day to play with pretenders."

"I'll show you pretenders, Freaky," muttered the blond before he drew a card from his deck and smiled slightly at what was in his first hand. "I'll start with three Red-Eyes Wyvern in defense mode with Graceful Charity."

As Naruto drew three new cards from his deck and discarded two of the ones in his hand, the creatures appeared on Naruto's field. The ATK/DEF read 1800/1600 to the viewers. "And I'm not done, I'll tribute two of my Wyverns to call out the Summoned Skull I just drew."

The forms of two of the Wyverns were enveloped in a ball of golden light and when it faded, in their place was a tall monster with tattered, bat-like wings, downward pointing horns, and lacked any skin to cover its muscle and bone. Its ATK/DEF was 2500/1200.

"Now I'll activate the effect of those two Wyvern: By removing them from play, I can special summon a Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the Graveyard, and guess what cards Graceful Charity made me ditch?"

What seemed to be the Wyverns' ghosts appeared on either side of Summoned Skull and appeared on the feild. The two etheral monsters started, going faster and faster until a pair od pitch-black twisters had formed. The twisters were suddenly torn apart as a massive wings burst from them and where the had once stood were now a pair of large black dragons with burning red eyes.

"Now I'll settle things for this turn by playing Polimerization, fusing one Red-eyes with Summoned Skull to create the Black Skull Dragon!"

Alexis gasped while Zane raised an eyebrow, a nine-star monster with over three-thousand attack points so soon, talk about putting pressure on Crowler.

"Zane...you're sure this guy's an underground duelest?" Alexis asked incredulously. Had that guy lied to her when he said he was just starting out as a duelist?

Zane nodded "Must be. Underground, under the radar. If he wasn't, there would have been talk about a Red-Eyes user this good...he knows how to pressure his opponets almost as well as Seto Kiba and his Blue-Eyes Whit Dragons with how he pulled off summoning those Red-eyes monsters of his. You were right about one thing Alexis...this years' academy hopefuls are full of potential."

Alexis could only nod at that, first that Jaden Yuki kid, now this guy? Sure stunk to be in Crowler's position right now.

Crowler backed up slightly before reminding himself it was only a card. the teacher grinned as a card shot into his hand. He looked through his hand before grinning and holding a card up, "I activate Confiscation! With the sacrifice of 1000 life points, I can look at your hand and send one card to the graveyard."

As the feminine man's life points dropped to 3000, the doctor grinned. Naruto shrugged before his hand appeared on the screen to their left. Crowler examined the cards and said, "Remove Monster Reborn from your hand!"

'Figures', Naruto thought with a falter in his grin as he did what he was told. A strategist he was not and ha may have been new to Duel Monsters, but anyone who could play the game could tell you how important a Monster Reborn could be to a duel.

"And now for my next move," Crowler said, putting two cards face down in the Magic/Trap slots of his duel disk, "I place two cards face down. Now I activate Heavy Storm! This card destroys all magic and trap cards on the field!"

Naruto looked across the field to see Crowler's face-downs turn up to reveal two Statue of the Wicked cards. Two statue tokens appear on Crowler's monster field and Naruto mentally smacked his head against the wall.

"Now that that's done with," Crowler said with a smug grin, "I sacrifice my two tokens to summon Ancient Gear Soldier in attack mode!"

A giant mechanical being appeared with a groan. Its ATK/DEF read 3000/3000 It looked down at Naruto with soulless eyes and Naruto narrowed his own narrowing in challenge, his grin widening.

"Bring it on!" Naruto cried defiantly.

"Attack!" he shouted to the mechanical being. The soldier raised its fist and launched its fist like a rocket at the remaining Red-Eyes Wyvern. The steel fist shot at a high speed and smashed the Wyvern just as it looked back at Naruto. Naruto growled before glaring back up at the machine user.

"You'll pay for that! Nobody harms any of my Red-Eyes and gets away with it!" the blond snarled, his eyes flashing to blood red with a vertical slit pupil as his life point meter dropped.

"I now end my turn," Crowler said smugly.

"Go make out with your boyfriend, after all, nobody sane is that feminine-looking when they're a guy unless they're queer!" Naruto cried back, earning a fuming Crowler and a round of laughs "My move!"

Naruto drew a card and grinned "I play the spell Pot of Greed! So I'll take two from my deck and I think I'll activate the ones I just drew: Red-Eyes Transmigration! Now by offering up my Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field and the Celtic Guardian in my hand, I'm able to summon Lord of the Red!"

Naruto's remaining Red-Eyes Black Dragon shrank and lunged at Naruto as it turned into light and enveloped him as he walked forward onto the field himself and stood next to his Black Skull Dragon, when it vanished, Naruto was now clad in a suit of armor that resembled a Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

Naruto rotated his shoulders and sighed blissfully"Ah...Now I feel so much better."

"Now time to pay you back for what you did to my Red-Eyes Wyvern! Black Skull, melt down Ancient Gear Soldier!" Naruto shouted as the Black Skull Dragon opened its jaws and a ball of molten flames shot out of the dragon's mouth and impacted with the giant metal creature. Crowler screamed as his life points dropped to 2666.

"Not done yet!" Naruto shouted and dashed forward and slammed his fist into the doctor's face, causing his life points to drop to 2266.

As Naruto jumped back and away to stand next to his Black Skull Dragon, Crowler nursed his new black eye.

"YOU FILTHY CREATEN! HOW DARE YOU MAR MY BEAUTY?" Crowler shouted in outrage.

"I knew it...I'm facing Captain Queer! I can't deal with this...why hasn't this guy been fired? No sane parent would let a guy like this near their kids!" Naruto said.

Crowler growed like a dog at that "How dare you? I summon Ancient Gear Soldier in defense mode with one card face down!" A mechanical being that looked like a smaller version of his golem with a primitive looking cannon attached to one arm appeared with a groan, its ATK/DEF was 1300/1300.

"Hm...scard of me and my dragons so you're playing defense until you get something that can save your butt, eh?" Naruto said as he drew a card, "I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your face down card, then I'll attack you're Ancient Gear Soldier myself as Lord of the Red!"

A typhoon appered out of nowhere and Naruto lept into the eye of the storm without hesitation. As the vortex blew through the Ancient Gear Soldier seemingly taking the monster with it and whipped up Crowler's face down card and vanished, taking the card with it, Naruto was seen as the winds died down, his fist where the Ancient Gear Soldier's face had been.

"And I've still got one move left!" Naruto grinned viciously as Crowler paled. Naruto lept back and landed on his feet perfectly, standing atop the Black Skull Dragon's head. Naruto raised his hand his fingers and snapped his fingers, as the action, the Black Skull opened it's mouth and a torent of fire launched forward and enveloped the teacher as his life points struck zero.

As the holograms vanished, Naruto fell to the ground and landed evenly and lightly on his feet as though it it was as natural as breathing to him.

"And I assume I'm in the Academy?" he asked, grinning.

Crowler stood and walked towards the blonde with his hands raised threateningly, but the teacher holding his cat appeared before Naruto.

"Congratulations, Mr. Uzumaki," he said, "You are accepted into Duel Academy."

"YEAH!" Naruto cried in victory, doing a complete backflip in joy.

As he returned his cards to his deck and removed his duel disk, the shinobi scanned the crowd and his eyes landed on the girl from earlier and, using two fingers of one hand, pointed to his own eyes then pointed at her.

Alexis smirked and nodded, a razor-thin smirk finding its way to her features, recalling what he said about having to face her sometime.

Challenge issued and accepted, no words spoken nor needed.

As he headed to the stands, Naruto froze as he remembered something that had slipped his mind due to how busy he'd been. There were three people that had gotten caught up in that darkness that had sent him to this world. Just WHERE were the Peacock and the Whore?

"Hello...Dope."

Naruto scowled as he turned. There was only one guy who called him that. As he did so, speak of the devil...there they were: Sasuke and Sakura. And Sakura was positivly beaming.

What caught his attention however, were the duel disks on their arms as well as the colored jackests they wore. Sasuke's was blue, while Sakura's was yellow.

The blond's eyes widened, so these two had gone through the qualifying duel, too? All of the original Squad Seven was going to be part of Duel Academy?

"So the whole gang's here, eh? I'm surprised you didn't try putting a chidori in me first thing because Madara said it'll bring back the dead." Naruto spat at Sasuke, tensing for a fight.

"What are you talking about, Dope? I'm going to get stronger, then find my btother and avinge my clan. And I'll do it without Orochimaru's help." Sasuke said.

Stunned, Naruto racked his brain for an answer. Sasuke was talking like he had back before he'd defected. What was he trying to pull? It was as if anything before his reunion with Itachi were he'd been beaten sensless and placed into that Tsukuyomi-induced coma (and from there, his choice to go traitor) had been eraced from his mind.

"Sasuke...What's the last thing you remember?" Sakura asked happily.

Rolling his eyes (or were they still really Itachi's?) eyes, the Uchiha answered her, "The Sand-Sound invasion during the Chunin exams."

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Naruto muttered.