Considering that the Re:Route stories are my main focus, everyone should expect the prequel stories to be updated every once in awhile, but hopefully that isn't to long in between.


Chapter 2: Hanzo academy

(Hanzo gym)

"Okay, I know we got off to a bit of a rocky start. You have some stranger walking into your secret hideout and that'll put you a little on edge, but…" Sora said hanging upside down by a rope from the ceiling after being tied up by the ninja girls. "Was this really necessary?"

"Girls, he's right. You don't need to-" Asuka tried pleading for Sora but was cut off when Ikaruga raised her hand.

"Asuka, I know he helped you out with those monsters you spoke about and that gives you reason to trust him, but you shouldn't have taken this boy here without consulting Kiriya-sensei first. For all we know, he's an enemy spy." Ikaruga scolded Asuka.

"I'm so sorry.." Asuka apologized with comical tears.

"Alright you punk. How did you convince Asuka to take you here?" Katsugari interrogated Sora.

"Well, it was actually her idea." Sora answered.

"Are you sure you couldn't resist giving her a good massage to convince her? Katsugari asked by fondling Asuka's chest.

"Come on Katsu! Twice in an hour?!" Asuka shirked in embarrassment.

(She's a menace to girls, no doubt.) Sora thought to himself.

"You know what? He actually doesn't seem like a bad guy at all." Hibari said.

"Thank you."

"Hibari. You should know looks can be deceiving." Yagyu advised a word of caution. "I don't like how his hair defies gravity, not even a skilled shinobi can do that."

"That's your problem with me?" Sora asked with a sweatdrop.

"Listen, I'm not here to cause any trouble, I just need a place to train for something important. So please I really need your help…...Please?" Sora pleaded which caused the shinobi girls to be silent for a moment and then huddled up in a circle.

"What should we do with him? He seems serious,but I still don't trust him." Ikaruga whispered.

"Maybe we should test him." Katsuragi suggested.

"We're not making him grope anyone."

"Not what I was thinking, but are you asking, Ikaruga?"

"Guys, I'm serious when I say we can trust him. When he saved me there was no way he could've known I was a ninja, so there's no way he's a spy and he's really nice." Asuka said.

"Obviously, he was trying to appeal to you, Asuka. Most ninjas are good at the art of deception." Yagyu added.

"But what if he really does need our help? He could be starting out his ninja carrer and really was sent here to Hanzo for training." Hibari said as the girls looked back at Sora to see that he had twisted himself in an upwards position with the rope and his arm tied to his face.

"I have no idea how this happened!" Sora said.

"I guess only a novice could let that happen." Ikaruga said.

"Ikaruga, I know you're looking out for the rest of us because you're the class rep, but I'm telling you, Sora's a nice guy. I really don't think he's here to hurt anyone." Asuka said as Ikaruga gave in.

"*Sigh* Okay, fine. We'll let him stay, but only to observe him and find out what he's really here for, because I don't think he told you everything. So he'll be your responsibility when we have to explain this to Kiriya-sensei." Ikaruga scolded.

"Alright. I just hope he won't go hard on me." Asuka said with a bit of worry.

"Soooo, does this mean this guy's in?" Katsuragi asked.

"Yes." Ikaruga answered.

"Sweet! New meat to break in!" Katsu said with excitement as the ninja girls broke the circle and walked up to Sora.

"Okay. We've decided to keep you here for observation and perhaps as well to listen to your request. Our sensei will ultimately decide what will become of you." Ikaruga said with a figure pointed at Sora.

"Great! Thank you! You won't regret this!" Sora thanked her with a smile, much to Ikaruga's surprise. "Uh...Could you get me down?"

"Oh, of course." Ikaruga said as she drew her sword and sliced the rope holding Sora up with a quick slash.

"Ahh!" Sora yelped as he face planted into the floor after being free'd and stood back up rubbing his nose. "Ow, that smarts…"(I really need to get back into shape, I had worse than a bruised nose before losing my power.) The keyblade wielder thought to himself as the scene switched to a chibi Sora, walking down a street, minding his own business when a safe suddenly crashed down on top of him, only for chibi Sora to open the door to the safe without a scratch on him.

"*Whistle!*" Chibi Sora whistled like nothing happened while the scene switched back to normal Sora, holding a small ice pack that Asuka was kind enough to give him for his bruised nose.

"So, do you want to explain your reasonings for coming to Hanzo academy?" Ikaruga questioned.

"I told you. To train." Sora answered.

"So you're a ninja? Like us?"

"Well, I-"

"Of course he's a ninja, Ikaruga. Maybe a beginner, but also seems to know a lot about those monsters that attacked me." Asuka spoke up for Sora before he could say he wasn't a ninja.

"Yeah. I usually go from place to place to fight the heartless." Sora explained as the ninja girls looked at him with confusion when he mentioned the heartless. "The monsters I saved Asuka from. I've been fighting them for over a year, so I'm no beginner."

"The fact you couldn't escape from a simple rope says otherwise." Yagyu commented while chewing on a squid in her mouth.

"Hey!(Why is she chewing on a squid?)" Sora thought to himself before he got himself back on track. "I used to be better. But something happened that made me lose most of my power."

"He did look a little sluggish when he was fighting." Asuka referred to his earlier scuffle with the heartless.

"What makes a shinobi lose his power?" Katsuragi asked, starching her head.

"You see, I was taking a real important test that was supposed to help me unlock a new power. But something went wrong and I wasn't able to finish the test while also losing my power." Sora summed up the results of his mark of mastery.

"I can't think of any shinobi test where failing means losing your power, that sounds scary!" Hibari said with fear in her voice.

"Calm down. The test was made special for me, I only lost my power because I was super unlucky." Sora assured Hibari that it couldn't happen to her or her friends.

"So, you're here because you failed in your duties, have you?" Ikagura questioned.

"That's...one way of putting it." Sora admitted with a sweatdrop which made Ikagura sigh as she walked over to the gym's wall.

"Clearly, you're telling the truth about your need to train. I can tell because of the fact that Asuka seems to trust you." Ikagura said.

"Thank you for understanding, Ikagura." Asuka thanked with a bow. "I promise when I say, Sora is in good hands-"

"BUT!" Ikagura raised her voice which made everyone else flinch. "He's still an intruder that you brought here without permission, Asuka. And now Kiriya-sensei will have to take strict action with you when he arrives."

"Oh man…" Asuka said with dread while Ikaurga turned her attention back to Sora.

"As for you…" Ikaugra said with a menacing tone that made Sora take a pose like a soldier waiting for orders. "I would like to see what your current skills are like right now."

"Oh man. The newbie is about to get hazed!" Katsuragi said with excitement which made the keyblade wielder worry a bit.

"Uh..What do you mean by that?" Sora asked while a hidden lever appeared out the wall next to Ikagura.

"She means this." Ikagura answered as she pulled the hidden lever and dozens of holes opened up in the floor and simple wooden puppets jumped out. "These training puppets should be more than adequate to gauge one's ability. Especially when they're good for dealing with intruders."

"You want me to fight these things?" Sora questioned as he walked over to a wooden puppet to examine it over. "What's the worst they could do? Give me splinters? I could fight these things in my sleep-" He bragged until a puppet suddenly punched Sora in the face, which he didn't take kindly.

(Music: Hand to hand)

"Oh, it's on!" Sora said as he rubbed his bruised cheek and took a few steps back before summoning his keyblade, which surprised the ninja girls at the key shaped weapon's sudden appearance.

"Yagyu, didn't you search him for any weapons?" Ikagura asked the eye patch wearing girl.

"I did. I don't know how I could've missed that." Yagyu answered as the shinobi turned their attention back to Sora as the training puppet began charging at him and threw punches at him, which was successfully blocked by his keyblade with each punch and countered with a slash that broke apart the training when struck.

"Hah! Is that all you got?" Sora gloated,until one lucky training puppet managed to tackle the keyblade wielder and knock him to the floor so another puppet would try and smash the keyblade wielder with their fist, only for Sora to roll out of the way in time.

"The training puppets are really aggressive today, Ikaruga." Asuka noted.

"Hmm, your right. Katsu, what difficulty are they on?" Ikaruga asked the blond ninja.

"I know I left them on five for Hibari after I was done with them-" Katsuragi said as she opened a hidden panel that revealed a dial which went from 1 to 10, and it was turned all the way up to 10, much to Katsuragi's panic as she quickly slammed the panel closed. "YEP! It's on five! Must be a glitch or something!"

"Hello!" Sora shouted as the ninja girls turned to see him trapped by a wooden puppet in a headlock while another was giving him a noogie. "Your robots are starting to bully me!"

"A true shinobi warrior wouldn't complain about his opponent! There's nothing you can do about it except fight!" Ikaruga said which made Sora think to himself for a moment despite the savage noogie he was receiving.

(She's right! What do I have to complain about? Ansem and Xemnas were a lot worse than this!) Sora thought to himself as he made a serious face before elbowing the puppet that was giving him a noogie and flipped over the one that had the keyblade wielder in a headlock onto the ground before being putted away like a golf ball.

"Okay, you splintry bucket of bolts. Bring it on!" The keyblade wielder dared which made the training puppets stamped towards him.

"You might not wanna watch, Hibari." Yagyu said as she held her hand to cover Hibari's eyes.

"But, Yagyu!" Hibari complained as she tried to see past Yagyu's hand to see the training puppets rush at Sora, only for him to be prepared.

"Hope I still got my skills from the realm of sleep." Sora hoped to himself as he aimed his keyblade at a training puppet's foot and tripped it , causing other puppets to trip over it before Sora followed up with an uppercut slash that launched another puppet before finishing with a downward strike that knocked down another puppet. Of course Sora wasn't finished as he eyed a nearby wall and then jumped towards it and planted his feet on it as a blue aura covered him.

"Yes!" Sora shouted in excitement as he rocketed off the wall into the air towards the gym ceiling with the most notable skill he learned in the dream realm, flowmotion. After reaching the ceiling Sora launched back towards the ground to crash through the training puppets.

"Whoa! That was pretty awesome!" Katsuragi said in excitement after watching flowmotion in action.

"You gotta admit, Ikaruga. Sora is pretty impressive, I've never seen a shinobi technique like that!" Asuka said while Ikaruga was observing Sora in action.

"Never have I either. In fact…(Was that a shinobi technique at all?) Ikaruga thought to herself as she observed Sora land after crashing through the training puppets.

"Good to know I still got the trick I picked up from Neku. But I better stop playing around. Fire!" Sora called out as he aimed his keyblade forward and shot out a fireball towards a training puppet, which caught fire as soon as the fire spell struck it, and the flames spread easily to the other puppets. "Ha! How do you like that?" He gloated in victory, which soon faded as the training puppets simply waved off the fire and glared angrily at the keyblade wielder.

"Great, now I just made them mad. Good thing I got this, thunder!" Sora said as he aimed his keyblade upwards as small bolts of thunder struck the training puppets, causing them to be stunned from the overload of electricity.

"Now I gotcha!" Sora said as he planted his feet on the wall again and jumped off with flowmotion towards the ceiling once more and held his keyblade above his head "Take this!" He shouted as he dove towards the ground with a powerful slam attack, resulting in a shockwave that blew apart the training puppets into pieces on the floor.

(Music: Traverse in trance)

"Wow! Now that was one awesome puppet ass kicking if I say so!" Katsuragi said, impressed by Sora's skills, along with the other ninja girls.

"I have to admit, he's not half bad for a boy like him." Yagyu admitted.

"Well I think Sora's a pretty great fighter, Yagyu. And I like that his sword looks like a big key." Hibari said.

"I know right? It's very unique, although I do wonder where you get something like that?" Asuka wondered to herself about Sora's keyblade. While the scarf wearing ninja was pondering to herself, Sora dismissed his weapon as Ikaruga approached him.

"I'll admit, it seems like you do have skills worth noting." Ikaruga said as Sora rubbed the back of his head.

"Really? Well I tried my best. Oh, and I'm sorry about your robots." Sora apologized.

"No need to be sorry. They'll reassemble themselves."

"Well, you put that why I-...Wait what?" Sora questioned as he turned around to see the training puppets mostly resembled as they were picking up left over part from the floor before jumping down into the holes they appeared out of. "That's something you don't see everyday. So uh, now what?"

"Since we now have an idea of your abilities, the thing we can do now is wait for Kiriya-sensei to arrive and decide what to do with you."

"Speaking of sensei, what's taking him so long to get here?" Asuka asked as Sora felt something touch his foot and looked down a small round object near him.

"Hey, did anyone drop-AH!" Sora yelped as the object exploded into smoke that blocked everyone's vision until it cleared away to reveal a middle aged man with white hair, wearing a suit.

"Sorry I'm late, ladies. Some monsters that looked like yoma thought it was a good idea to jump me." The man explained his absence.

"That's believable, Kiriya-sensei. Asuka says she was attacked by monsters too." Yagyu said, which made the arrived sensei raise an eyebrow in interest.

"Really? So there are more of them?" Kiriya questioned as he turned to Asuka. "Tell me, Asuka. How did you deal with them?"

"Actually, I didn't have to fight them at all. I had some help from a new friend over there." Asuka answered as she pointed to Sora behind Kiriya.

"Hmm, I wasn't aware of any new students coming today, either that or I missed the memo. What's your name, young man?" Kiriya asked the keyblade wielder.

"Oh, it's Sora, Sir! I'm guessing you're Asuka and her friends' teacher." Sora assumed.

"Kiriya-sensei, Asuka brought him here without your permission, despite the possibility he may be a spy. We've decided to let you handle him in the way you deem fit." Ikaruga reported.

"A spy you say? I'll be the judge of that." Kiriya said as he walked around Sora to inspect the keyblade wielder like a sergeant inspecting a soldier.

"Actually, about the spy thing. I'm not even-" Sora attempted to interject.

"Hold that thought for a moment. Hmm, let's see. A posture that suggests experience in battle, you clearly favor your right arm in swordplay, and your outfit is definitely designed for combat. Although I'm not sure what the purpose of such spiky hair serves." Kiriya noted as Sora felt the tips of his spiky hair at his last comment.

"Couldn't have said better myself, sensei." Yagyu agreed.

"Uh, what exactly are you trying to do with Sora?" Asuka asked.

"Hold on a moment, one more thing." Kiriya said before punching Sora in the stomach.

"Oof!" Sora groaned as he clutched his stomach in pain before falling to the floor.

"Okay, ladies, good news. Sora here is not a spy. Bad news is, he's not a shinobi at all." Kiriya confirmed as all five ninja girls stared in silence for a moment. "Hmm, 3, 2, 1…"

"...WHAAAAAAAAA?!" The ninja girls yelled all at once except Yagyu as she continued to stare in stunned silence.

"I knew there was something off about the way he fought!" Ikaruga said as Asuka went over to the downed keyblade wielder.

"I can't believe you're not a ninja! Why did you trick like that?" Asuka asked.

"Actually, I never said I was a ninja. You just kinda assumed when I was trying to tell you the whole time." Sora groaned on the ground while Asuka had a look of embarrassment on her face when she realized she jumped the gun.

"Oops.."

"Wait, why did you have to punch him to figure out if he's a ninja, sensei?" Katsuragi asked.

"I think a real ninja would've taken a punch better, like stopping it for instance." Kiriya commented.

"You couldn't do anything else?!" Sora questioned as he managed to pick himself off the ground.

(Music ends)

So, if you're not a shinobi, Sora. Who are you?" Hibari asked as Sora looked surprised at the question since he was hoping to hide the fact he was from another world.

"I...can't you tell that." Sora answered as he turned his head away from the girls.

"Why not?" Ikaruga asked, suspicious as Sora continued to remain silent.

"Don't you trust us, dude? We revealed ourselves as shinobi because of a little mistake. The least you can do is tell us about yourself." Katsuragi said.

"Don't you trust us?" Asuka asked with a sad face that made Sora feel a little guilty.

"No, it's not that. It's just...I know things that I can't tell anyone, it's dangerous if I do." Sora said.

"We're ninja, we're used to keeping secrets if that's the problem." Yagyu said.

"It's not that. I just don't know if I can tell you at all." Sora said as Kiriya stepped up.

"If keeping secrets is your biggest concern, then you need not worry, you can trust these ladies with the knowledge, if you're willing to share." Kiriya assured Sora as he leaned closer to his ear. "I know you're from another world, keyblade wielder.

"...!" Sora silently gasped in surprise at what the teacher already knows.

"The choice is up to you to tell the girls. But I guarantee you, not saying anything could seriously affect any friendship you've might've already." Kiriya whispered that made Sora think about the advice for a moment before making a decision.

"*Sigh*...You girls really will keep what I tell you a secret?" Sora asked as he faced the ninja girls once more.

"Of course. If it's really that important." Asuka assured with a smile that Sora returned.

"Okay. It all began one night when a storm appeared over my islands…" Sora began telling his tale from the very beginning. From the moment he first received the keyblade, meeting Donald and Goofy in traverse town, their journey looking for their friends throughout the worlds, and the recent mark of mastery exam where master Xehanort drained the hero of most of his powers trying to turn him into a vessel of darkness, leading to his current need to train and how he ran into Asuka in the first place. "...So I came to your world to get back my powers in any way I could." He finished explaining as the hanzo ninja starred in stunned silence.

"Well that's...um...What's the right word for this?" Ikaruga tried to put her reaction into words, however, the other girls were able to react for her.

"FREAKING AWESOME! So you're some kinda adventurer that flies around through space, right?" Kastruragi asked.

"Well I guess that's one way of putting it." Sora said.

"So you really have been fighting those monsters that attacked me for awhile, huh?" Asuka asked as Sora nodded affirmatively. "Then Sensei, we could use his help. We have no idea on how to fight those things."

"I couldn't agree more, Asuka. But unfortunately, there are some problems." Kiriya said as the ninja girls looked in confusion. "For one, Sora is not a shinobi."

"Does that mean he can't stay?" Yagyu asked.

"Aw, but I don't want Sora to leave. I wanna know if there's fluffy bunny aliens out there." Hibari said.

"There's nothing like that out there, Hibari. Then again I haven't seen any aliens at all out there yet." Sora said.

"Settle down. I have a solution to both Sora's and our own problem. We need to deal with these heartless, and Sora needs to train. So I recommend we train him as an honorary shinobi." Kiriya suggested, which was a surprise to everyone else in the room.

"Whoa, wait wha?" Katsuragi stuttered in confusion.

"But, Kiriya-sensei! Train this clown of a boy to be a shinobi?" Ikaruga questioned as Sora looked with a face that said "What did I do?" at her. "Are we even allowed to do that?"

"Quite frankly...I don't know,but let's do it anyway." Kiriya answered which made everyone sweatdropped.

"Is he always like this?" Sora asked.

"Sometimes." Asuka answered.

So, sensei. How do we train someone who has no history with shinobi at all? The rest of us have been training since childhood, unlike him." Yagyu asked.

"Sir, she kinda has a point. And I'm guessing you don't have become a ninja for dummies book lying around." Sora said.

"No, but I couldn't help but notice that Sora seems to be very adaptable to his surroundings under certain circumstances. In other words, you seem to learn more from experience then training." Kiriya explained.

"What does that mean?" Hibari asked.

"I think I know what he means. Usually I learn new stuff after a huge fight. One minute I'm fighting a big heartless, the next I'm tossing bigger fire spells." Sora explained the process of how he learns new abilities.

"Exactly. You seem to learn from battling opponents and learning a similar skill set to your own. "So maybe sparring with one of the girls here will set you on the right path." Kiriya said, much to Sora's confusion.

"Say wha?"

"Ikaruga!"

"Yes, Sensei!" Ikaruga responded like a soldier at roll call.

"It's time for a sparring session, your opponent today will be Sora, and do not go easy on him." Kiriya said.

"I had no intentions of doing so." Ikaruga said as she took out a very long katana in a sheath.

"Wait. What's going on?" Sora questioned.

"I think you're gonna fight Ikaruga." Asuka answered.

"I already got that. But is your teacher sure about this?"

"You have a problem with that because I am a woman?" Ikagura asked.

"No, it's not that. It's just the last time I've fought someone with a sword that long, I nearly got turned into mince meat." Sora referred to his encounters with the one winged angel, Sephiroth.

(Music:Ikaruga's theme~Estival versus ver~)

"Good, then you have the experience." Ikaruga said as she suddenly drew her sword and rushed at Sora with blinding speed as the keyblade wielder's reflexes automatically summoned his keyblade in time to block against the ninja girl's attack.

"Whoa! A little warning next time!" Sora said as he pushed his keyblade back against Ikagura's sword.

"Stop your whining!" Ikaruga responded as she then twisted away and then knocked Sora away with a heavy slash, luckily for the keyblade wielder, he was able to recover in midair.

"They just started and Ikaruga is already getting a little rough with him, don't you think so?" Asuka asked with concern as she and the other girls watched the match.

"What did you expect? Sensei told her not to go easy." Yagyu said while Sora continued to fend Ikaruga's attacks and parried each of her sword swings until Ikaruga thrusted her sword forward into the handle of Sora's keyblade and twisted the sword to knock the keyblade out of Sora's grip and into the air.

"Wha?" Sora questioned before Ikaruga quickly sheathed her sword and thrusted the palm of her hand into Sora's chest with enough force to knock him and back sent rolling across the floor and then caught his keyblade in midair.

"You leave a lot of openings in your attacks, and that easily allows your opponent to disarm you and take your weapon." Ikaruga scolded while Sora ignored her and instead held his hand out before the keyblade vanished from the ninja's grasp in a flash of light. "What?!"

"Looking for this?" Sora asked as the keyblade reappeared in his hand and he charged forward and engaged Ikaruga once more as they parried each other's attacks again.

"How did he do that? Ikaruga took his weapon but he got back somehow!" Hibari said as Sora performed a spinning slash that knocked Ikaruga back before she countered with a heavy swipe of her sword that Sora guarded against.

"I think I might've underestimated you...You're stronger then look!" Ikaruga said as she and Sora continued to push their weapons against each other.

"A lot of people say that about me." Sora said as Ikaruga broke the lock and made another swipe at the keyblade wielder, only to miss when he jumped high into the air and onto the bleachers and sat down on the seats with his keyblade slung over his shoulder. "People also say I got a big mouth on me, but I think that's my charm talking to them."

"I think maybe they had a point." Ikaruga said as she jumped up towards the bleachers where Sora sat and dove down with her sword aimed at the keyblade wielder, only to miss when he jumped over the attack and landed back on the gym floor with Ikaruga quickly following after him while Sora's back was turned.

"You're open!" Ikaruga said as she made another sword slash at Sora, only to miss yet again when he back flipped over the attack, much to the ninja's surprise. "What?"

"I think you mean you're open!" Sora said as he performed a heavy downward slash that Ikaruga tried to step away from, only for the keyblade to tug her gym shirt at the last moment and ripped Ikaruga's shirt off as she pulled away as the rest of the hazno girls, including Sora had their eyes bulging out as Ikaruga had her bra exposed.

"This is gonna get on Ikaruga's bad side." Yagyu commented while Katsugari was nodding in approval.

"I say Sora just got on my good side. Great minds think alike!." Katsu said.

"Oh man! I'm so sorry!" Sora apologized, hoping that Ikaruga wasn't furious, but the girl remained quite calm, which was also a bad sign for Sora. "Please say something…"

"I thought you said no problem with your opponent being a woman, yet you're still thinking of me as one, if so…" Ikaruga said as she suddenly had a scroll in her hand. "Then you're gonna have a bad time."

"So does that mean you're mad after all?"

"Shinobi transformation!" Ikaruga announced as she held the scroll up above her head and it suddenly glowed and opened up as it unraveled itself before Sora noticed Ikaruga's clothes began disappearing as he looked away but then looked back to see the ninja girl was now wearing a new outfit that was of a white gold trimmed jacket and skirt with armband of the Hanzo school symbol on her left upper arm. After witnessing the transformation, the scene paused as Sora towards the screen and the top of his head popped off like a lid and his brain landed in his hand.

"My mind, totally blown!" Sora commented as the scene resumed and he faced Ikaruga again.

"If I'm gonna get you to take me seriously, then I'll have to stop holding back on you!" Ikaruga said as she flashed her sword.

"Actually, I was taking you seriously from the start. Now we're just taking it to round two!" Sora said as he held his keyblade with both hands as rushed at Ikaruga, who had her sword braced back as blue flames covered the weapon.

"Secret ninja art:Oukansen!" Ikaruga announced as she swung her sword and shot out blue flames in the shape of a phoenix that was flying at Sora that made the keyblade wielder stop in place.

"Say what?" Sora said as he watched the phoenix crash into him and caused a large explosion upon contact, causing the hanzo students to flitch as the dust from the explosion cleared away to reveal Sora on his back,defeated.

(Music ends)

"That's the match! Ikaruga wins!" Kiriya announced as Asuka quickly ran over to Sora with the other's following behind.

"Sora! Are you alright?" Asuka asked as she held Sora up while he held his head.

"Yep, cheeky! Except maybe for a concussion from the explosion." Sora said.

"I apologize, but I did warn you I would hold back." Ikaruga said as she placed her sword in it's sheath.

"Yeah, you did. You got me good." Sora said accepting his defeat, much to Ikaruga and the other's surprise.

"You're handling this kinda well. You sure you don't mind losing?" Asuka asked.

"I kinda figured I would after she transformed, especially since I'm not at a hundred percent right now."

"Quite an honorable way of thinking there, you're showing promise already." Kiriya said as he walked up to the keyblade wielder as he picked himself off the floor.

"I'm just glad you were able to take me on, sir. Trust me, I'll catch up with the girls in no time!" Sora promised as Kiriya smiled.

"Good to hear that you have motivation. Now go get some rest back upstairs, the girls will finish up today's drills down here." Kiriya said.

"You got it, think I need it." Sora agreed as he began to walk to the other side of the gym.

"I have to admit, he's quite the opponent, normal people would've been defeated before I could transform." Ikaruga acknowledged Sora's strength.

"I think he was telling the truth about being weakened, I could tell he was fighting you with only a fraction of his real power." Yagyu noted.

"I agree, if he was at full power, Sora would have defeated me for sure." Ikaruga agreed as Sora found the gym doors and exited the room, only for the keyblade wielder to poke his head out the door right away

"Hey, this is the broom closet, where's the stairs?" Sora asked as the hanzo girls and Kiriya sweatdropped.

"Well, he certainly can't beat you in the brains department, Ikaruga." Katsuragi said.


(Hanzo ninja room)

"Ow ow ow ow ow…." Sora groaned in pain as he put a bag of ice on his head from Ikaruga's phoenix attack even after he already casted cure on himself but the pain still ached. "Man, if Ikaruga is that strong, I hate to see if she actually got mad for the shirt thing." He said to himself as then heard the doors slide open and saw the hanzo girls had arrived and had changed out of their gym clothes and into school uniforms that had matching white shirts and blue skirts.

"Hi, Sora! Are you doing alright?" Hibari asked as she and the ninja girls sat around the table at the center of the room where Sora joined them.

"I'm doing fine, sore, but at least I'm not on fire." Sora said as he sat down with the girls.

"Here, maybe these will help perk you up." Asuka said as she placed a box on the table and opened it up to reveal sushi rolls inside.

"What are those?"

"Sweet! Futomaki rolls!" Katsuragi cheered as she snached a roll out of the box and the other girls followed suit.

"Asuka's futomaki rolls are the best!" Hibari said as she took a bite out of the sushi roll.

"A welcome treat after workout." Ikaruga commented as she took a roll as well.

"Here, Sora. This will really help you feel better." Asuka suggested as she offered Sora a futomaki roll that the keyblade wielder kindly accepted.

"If you say so…" Sora said before taking a test bite out of the roll and his eyes lit up in response at the delicious taste as they then popped out of his head cartoonishly before Sora picked them up and put them back in his head. "Whoa! These are great! You made them yourself, Asuka?"

"Sure did! My parents own a sushi restaurant, other than my grandfather founding the school." Asuka said as she took a bite out her sushi roll while Sora stopped eating his own.

"Wait, your grandfather made the school?"

"Indeed, Asuka is the granddaughter of the great ninja Hanzo." Yagyu explained as she chewed on her futomaki roll the same way she did with the squid.

"Does everyone at the school know that?" Sora asked.

"No, the public school itself is a cover for the training facility here. You're looking at the only ones aware of Hanzo academy's true nature." Ikaruga said.

"But, there's other ninjas, right? Not just yourselves? AHH! Sora shouted as a familiar explosion of smoke filled the room and Kiriya appeared out of it.

"Indeed there are. We're actually familiar with the students of the other schools, but despite the fact that we have mutual agreements with the other ninja, I've decided to keep your arrival a secret for now, Sora." Kiriya said.

"How come, Kiriya-sensei?" Hibari asked.

"Think about it, all of you have family ties to the shinobi world in one way or another, but Sora is probably the first outsider we've taken on to be trained in our ways, and considering he isn't even a normal civilian, but a chosen wielder of the keyblade. I'm not the only one who knows about it."

"You mean the other ninjas might know?" Sora asked as Kiriya nodded in confirmation.

"So, there's others like yourself, Sora?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, at least four others. Their off training, like me."

"Speaking of, could I inspect your weapon? I would've liked to get a closer look at it before you managed to get it back during our spar." Ikaruga requested, which agreed with a nod before holding out his hand and the keyblade appeared in a flash of light and offered the weapon to the ninja girl who took by the handle and took a closer look at the weapon before it quickly vanished and returned to Sora's hand. "Just how do you get it to return to you? A spell?"

"Not really, the keyblade chooses who gets to use it. It comes back when someone who isn't chosen has it."

"So one must be worthy in order to wield it." Yaguu said which Sora nodded to.

"I guess with all the acting of being miss perfect, Ikagura isn't completely perfect." Katsuragi teased as Ikaruga buttons seemed to be pushed.

"I-I don't see you trying to be perfect! It's harder than it looks!" Ikaruga said which caused everyone else at the table to laugh while Kiriya smiled.

(There's no doubt about it, Sora can be trusted. He'll meet the others soon enough when he's ready.) So, Sora. Seems like you're already getting along with your new roommates." Kiriya said.

"Yeah, I sure do-wait, roommates?" Sora asked, confused.

"Yes, you clearly need a place to stay and there's plenty of room in the dorms."

"Whoa! What?! I can't stay in a place where I'm the only guy!" Sora objected.

"K-Kiriya-sensei! Sora might have a point! We're not used to having a boy stay with us!" Asuka agreed.

"What's the matter, Asuka? Worried he might get a look at your rockin bod when you're dry brushing?" Katsuragi teased as Asuka's face grew bright red.

"D-Don't say that out loud!" Asuka said as she squirmed underneath the table out of embarrassment while Sora had no idea what dry brushing was.

"What are they talking about?" Sora asked Kiriya.

"For Asuka's sake, maybe you shouldn't know."


(Later in the afternoon)

"Whew, I'm beat.." Sora said while he twirled his arm from training with the wooden puppets all day while the hanzo girls spared against each other until school hours ended and Kiriya told them to rest up for the next day. Now the keyblade wielder was walking out of the old school house with Asuka and her friends to prepare for tomorrow.

"You were really working hard, Sora. No matter how many times you beat the dummies, you wanted them set back up again." Asuka stated.

"You really need training, do you. In fact, it seems like you're on a time limit." Ikaruga noted.

"I'm not, I just think the sooner I get my power back, the better. Trust me, there are some real bad people I'm gonna need the training for." Sora said, mostly thinking of organization Xlll and most likely Maleficent if she ever decided to gather heartless for her cause.

"It sounds like some scary people are after you." Hibari said.

"Yeah, you could say that again. Hopefully for now, I don't have to worry about them for a bit." Sora said, hoping for the best. However, Sora's wish went unheard for someone was watching him. On top of the old school building was an mysterious figure with no identifiable features, save for the black coat they were wearing that completely hid their face under the hood.

"Hmm?" Sora said to himself as he looked up towards the old school rooftop and saw nothing above, but he couldn't help but feel like someone was just watching him which Asuka noticed.

"Is something wrong, Sora?" Asuka asked.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just had a weird feeling. Maybe I'm just tired."

"I guess we'll get you settled in our dorm and have you rest up for tomorrow's training. Kiriya placed trust in watching over you, so any sloppiness reflects poorly on the rest of us." Ikaruga said while Katsuragi made a quick slide over next to Sora.

"In case you're interested at all, we all sleep in the same room. So if you and Asuka wanna have fun together, it'll be real easy." Katsuragi suggested while the keyblade wielder remained oblivious.

"Do what together exactly?" Sora asked while Ikaruga grabbed Katsuragi by the ear

"Owowowowowow!"

"Katsu, don't give the first boy that will be staying any ideas that you might do." Ikaruga scolded while she pinched the blonde ninja girl's ear harder.

"Katsu! What are you saying to him?" Asuka said while Sora turned to Yagyu, hoping to talk to someone who made sense.

"Is it always like this?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty normal for us. And don't listen to much of what Katsuragi has to say, she's a pervert." Yagyu answered.

"Well, don't worry about me then. You can trust me not to do anything."

"The fact that you're a boy means I can't trust you. So peek on Hibari and I will kill you." Yagyu threatened as her uncovered seemingly glowed red while Sora gulped in worry.

"Uh, yeah. Got that…"


(Nearby…)

As Sora and the Hanzo ninja girls left the school grounds, the black coated figure had quickly moved from the old school house building to a rooftop that overlooked the entire campus of Hanzo academy so the keyblade wielder couldn't sense him again. As the figure looked down at the group leaving the school grounds, a dark portal opened up behind him which was known as a corridor of darkness, while a second black coated figure emerged from the portal and walked up next to the first figure.

"He seems to have only a vague idea of our presence in this world." The first figure said.

"Even if he knew, he does not have any power to stop us. Not in his weakened state." The second figure said in a nearby emotionless voice.

"Should we destroy him now while he still has no power?"

"No. Our original self believes Sora could be of use to us. If not to be the final vessel, then perhaps he can lead us to the one worthy of taking his place."

"Number.i?" The first figure asked.

"Yes, if Sora proves to be more trouble than he's worth, then we will extract number.i's heart from him when he least expects it. The organization's fourteenth member may be gone physically, but it still returned to where it came from." The second figure said.

"Then for now, I'll stick to the plan we have for this world, and when the time comes, I'll test his power."

"Good. But not to destroy him since we'll need his, or the puppet's heart." The second figure said before vanishing into a dark corridor, leaving the first figure on his own again as he stared out at the sunset.

"This world has been connected…"


Journal update

Kiriya: The shinobi instructor of the Hanzo ninja squad. Kiriya comes from a long line of elite shinobi, but decided to become a teacher instead where he had an impact on his views with the death of a certain student.

Organization Xlll: The followers of master Xehanort and vessels of his heart. In the past, Sora and his friends defeated the previous Organization when they created their own kingdom hearts from the hearts of people. Now,new members have assembled so Xehanort can forge the legendary X-blade and open the true kingdom hearts for the control of all worlds.