Chapter 4: Donald Goofy!

'I like to think I'm strong. I like to believe in myself. I like to believe in my own abilities. Even though I'm tired of them taunting me because in the end I fail'

Naruto reminisced silently into the night about earlier this morning. He chuckled lightly at the thought. Since when had he become so understanding about himself? Every time a person asked him about his abilities and the "smile" he would respond with a "I'm Uzumaki Naruto-Future Hokage and the worlds strongest ninja"

He couldn't say that here.

"Whats wrong?"

Naruto glanced sideways, his eyes capturing Maria. The one person who had repeatedly helped him despite her own needs and in his mind she was the nicest person, besides Iruka, he had ever met. Yawning as he let his feet dangle off his bed side before plopping onto them and tripped, Maria who had been silently watching the boy pulled his arm before he could hit the floor. Shutting her yes sharply as Naruto's knees landed on each side of her waist, planting them into a compromising position They sat there for what felt like hours, staring into each others eyes, each mingling with their own thoughts and musings, Maria unconsciously reached out and stroked his cheeks. And gave him a sad smile when he visibly flinched.

"Sorry" She whispered.

"Don't be"

"Am i interrupting something...?"

Coughing slightly as Naruto rolled off of Maria, who turned glared at Albel in an attempt to ignore his arrogant smirk as he seated himself on the blue couch, his Katana clutched tightly while sheathed into his mechanic hand. He yawned loudly. It was early in the morning, or late in the night, which ever you preferred. There wasn't a sun to signal the time, instead they were surrounded by bits of stars. Of course they had managed to travel million of miles away for Ecidoor 2 and find themselves in a sea of mysteriousness. Along the way Naruto had picked up various of skills in combat and began reading on how to unlock the secrets of the keyblade. According to a shrouded man they had to find a man by the name of "Merlin" and that their encounter would be soon.

"That buffoon Cliff has stumbled on some planet, we'll be embarking on it soon, so get ready"

"Whats it called?" Mari a questioned, a tint of red still on her cheeks.

"Hollow Bastion-As the Radar calls it" Albel studied the two for a second before de-rooting himself from his seating. "You two should get some rest, I'll inform you when we land"

Naruto nodded, waiting for Albel to let the automatic sliding door seal, he turned to Maria and cracked her a fox grin. Chuckling lightly as she perched herself next to the blond. Letting out a comfortable sigh, fingering the sealed trigger on her Dragoon Laser before allowing her head to fall on the blonds shoulder. Maria and Naruto had allowed each other to become quite comfortable with one another. Both had problems with being around humanity, since the only people they had come to trust were extremely limited, never had they felt "love" so in silent agreement, they found trust and mutual love within themselves for the other.

The rigorous training that Albel and Maria shoved Naruto through was paying off, fortunately they had figured out that his in-famous skill "Kage Bunshin" could dramatically decrease their training time, While the real Naruto was off learning about traveling worlds and dimensions, their were at least a hundred Naruto's training with Albel and Cliff. By the end of the week he had accumulated mass knowledge of martial arts and sword techniques. Maria and him spent most of their hours reading about old folklore and legends of how the key was made, unfortunately the only book that they had leading to any kind of clue was the first they finished. It was resolved in riddles. But what really preoccupied the mind of the blond was the man that had given it to him...

"Quit running, Idiot"

"I'm NOT running! Just making a tactful retreat."

Cursing mentally, Naruto flipped over the high rail, working quickly to land in a roll, barely dodging the kunai and shurikins by a hairs length. His left hand quickly stretched out as he slid on his heel to gain momentum as he launched the Wishmaker, 'Raid' . A rippling gold blur tore the ground as it spun towards the enemy, There was an abundance of Chakra that had been forced back for so long...

The man reached a stop, his cold blue eyes piercing into Naruto's enfrenzied red orbs. There was a moment that seemed like time had slown down, The Wishmaker still following its headlong collision with the foe. Naruto grinned as a manic anger erupted through his body, causing him to rush on all fours towards the foe. The man pulled his other arm from the coat, forming a series of complicated hand seals, causing the blond to stop momentairly. The 'Raid' skill quickly reflected by an enteruption of blue chakra then the man whispered.

"Shiki fuujin"

He awoke like many times before, gasping for air and in pain, the keyblade at his side again, he quickly grasped its handle and pushed his back against the moist wall, he was in an ally...

"Quit moving, kid. Your wounds aren't light on your body, and the Kyuubi is still recovering"

"Ky-Kyuubi..?" Wait, how did this man know about the Demon Fox? His head throbbed, and again he ended up on the floor. "H-How do you Know about-" When he finally did get a good look at the man, he silently realized that his cloak was similar to that of Akatsuki...Red clouds painted on the side and not to mention the straw hat clipped with two bells, bouncing merrily off of each other. The man approached.

"Don't talk" Naruto winced as his chin was lifted roughly and a cooling liquid poured down his throat, Complying with the mans request he silently drunk it. A few minutes later the pain he was feeling had disappeared. "Your female companion should have tracked you by now and is probably on her way."

"Who are you?"

"Who I am isn't important, But who you are; is" Where had he heard this before...? "I noticed you couldn't Summon Oblivion, must mean that the other fool got his hands on it-"

"How do you know about Ob-"

"Shut up, idiot, I'm trying to think" Naruto didn't find it in him to argue, so selecting a few choice of colorful words and a certain finger to finish off his verbal rampage, he quickly thought 'Oblivion' nothing came. "Hm, well, looks like my time is up, I've got to get back to business" The man reached into his robes and extracted a blue hardcover book, tossing it towards the blond, Naruto for a second got a view of his face, and in that second the man disappeared.

"Naruto!"

"huh-Maria?"

A female figure turned into the ally and made he way next to the blond, quickly placed her hand on his forehead as if expecting to find a fever there, she sighed in relief. Smiling lightly at the blond, she let herself fall backwards into the wall next to her companion.

"The Diplo should pick us up soon" Naruto nodded as he carefully placed the book on his lap, earning a curious glance from Maria. "Whats that?"

Naruto shrugged. "That man in the coat who we found helping Donald and Goofy gave it to me" Maria 'oh'ed'.

A static message form the females ear piece broke the silence as she quickly lifted her hand to press a small button on the communicator. "Maria speaking" She nodded curtly as the static cleared and quickly stood up, extending a hand after she finished dusting herself, Naruto took it. A beam of white light appeared and quickly the two stepped into them. Naruto following after Maria, he glanced down towards the gigantic wooden doors that held the sign "Traverse Town" A certain pull in his chest, his heart, seemed to throb as they left and a back feeling told him that he would never see this place again.

"See ya' Donald, Goofy"

"Anti-Fed Ship Diplo has locked coordinates for transportation to Hollow Bastion, Please meet at the south Exit"

As Sharp click ended the message, causing the two sleeping teens to awake. Maria silently used Naruto's chest to adjust herself, never noticing she had fallen asleep on him, and likewise him on her. They both quickly brushed their teeth and found their way by running down the long hallways of the ship, almost knocking Cliff over who was also jogging towards the southern exit, he gave a quick 'hello' and entered the sliding door. As the Ships communicator explained to the other crew of Maria, Cliff, and Naruto leaving the ship, The blond questioned.

"I thought Albel was comin'..."

"Nah, he's asleep and its well deserved, your clones are hell to handle"

Naruto nodded as he stepped into the transporter and felt weightlessness and lightheaded, as the comforting feel of ground touched his sandaled feet, he never liked being transported, he glanced around. Not a second later Maria and Cliff appeared. Glancing at Maria's hand, he noticed that she had brought the blue book, not bothering to question why he lifted his arms and yawned. The feel of sunlight and warmth that hit his body was refreshing. It was a sensation that reminded him of Konoha. Maria quickly snapped him back to reality, reminding him that they needed to find Merlin.

"Merlin, you said?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the old man that had spoke to him, he carried a metal spear on his shoulder, well toned and smelled roughly of booze and cigarettes. He had a 5 o'clock beard growing in, and a wheat stick slipping the side of his lips. The man brushed his white T off, and slipped a hand into his pocket and extracted a paper. The blue pants straightening themselves up.

"Yeah, Merlin, you know where I can find him, old man?"

There was a visible twitch. "I'm not that old, shrimp"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP!" Maria and Cliff sighed, dumbfounded. Typical Naruto. Cliff placed a hand on the blonds shoulder, momentarily silencing him as he spoke.

"A man we encountered back in Traverse Town told us to seek a man by the name of "Merlin" for information on the keyblade, well, he said it in a note inside this book we found-" Cliff received the book from Maria, which he showed the blond man, who nodded silently, studying it intently. "and he said Merlin and a few others that knew him, would be able to help us"

"So who has the keyblade" The country accent rolling off the mans tongue. Cliff pointed at the angry blond. "Ah, well, Why didn't you say so! Follow me, And by the way, I'm Cid, the mechanic around 'ere. Pleasure to meetchu lot"

"I'm not a Shrimp, old hag"

Cid sweat dropped, deciding not to pursue it he gave the froup a quick tour of the town, as they neared an exit with a stack of stairs leading towards a rather large hut in the corner. It had a sign hanging on it with words that Naruto and the rest couldn't comprehend, even Maria's scanner didn't pick it up. Shrugging it off the lot made their way down the stairs and a split second before they entered the hut a black shadow formed itself underneath the group.

"Quick, Jump away"

Not needing a second warning, the four quickly landed in a box formation around the shadow, and out reached a black hand, soon another, then another, in till a multitude of black shadows erupted from the ground.

"Heartless!"

The door to the hut slammed open and out ran three figures, quickly they settled themselves across from Naruto, Cid quickly grabbed his spear from his shoulder, as he began to spin it into the air, gaining enough momentum to slap away the oncoming shadows, he let the spin come to a stop-just for a second as Naruto passed underneath the spear and summoned the Wishmaker, parrying the attacks of the shadows, then slaying them.

"Well I'll be! If it isn't Naruto and Maria!" Naruto glanced up and laughed at his luck.

"Donald! Goofy!"

Well, Thats this chapter, sorry if its a little dull, I'll be working on the fifth and sixth tonight, they should be up by tomorrow. If not, Ah well.

Alright, I know its Oblivion and Oathkeeper, not Wishmaker, but as the story progresses you'll understand why I gave 'em to Naruto.

Hikaru: Thank you for the compliment, and as for your question. I'll answer some of it now, though i PMed you the answer. Naruto is in an alternate universe inside of a dream of his. The Two alternates are coming together and becoming one. The ship is part of the other universe that he's on. It'll become clear over the next two chapters.

Everyone else who Reviewed and waited long for me to actually write this chapter, thank you very much. It means a lot. If there are any mistakes in the spelling of character names, Forgive me. I'll have the next few chapters up, Again Thank you for reviewing. Any one who's reading this for the First time, thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Ocean, nor any Disney characters.