And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 10!
So I decided to stop updating daily. But you've probably already noticed. It wasn't that I couldn't, it was just that it was too time consuming. I spent more time than I would have liked a day writing the story. Plus, I never intended to update daily. I'm not even sure why I ever did that repeatedly. From now on, I will probably update once every few days.
Remzal Von Enili: Drive forms? Possible. Probable? Meh. Non-Disney worlds? Of course.
Adjuster: But…this is a neglect fic? Also, I haven't decided on them all yet, but I have one or two in mind.
LordGhostStriker: I remember playing that when I was younger. :) Unfortunately, I don't recall much besides a few moments, so I don't know about my ability to write that world. I could do some research…but we'll see.
The Sith'ari: Harem? Honestly never crossed my mind. Depends on how I feel about it later on. May ask the readers what they want. If I do a pairing. Summon the unversed? No, he won't be doing that.
OmegaDelta: I have an idea, yeah. It is one I will probably go with. And I'm still deciding how to write that part, but I look forward to it. :)
plums: This is neglect, not child abuse. There is a difference. For what I am doing, child abuse is out. There are time skips this chapter and next. I don't want to go over his entire life.
ARSLOTHES: Kingdom Hearts character for pairing? I am leaning towards that if I do one, yes. But nothing is for certain.
Anyways, on with the Story!
I don't own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts or anything else, I'm just a broke college student...
Normal Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Normal Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Biju/Diety Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Biju/Diety Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Scene Change: Insert Place Here
Station of Awakening (A Few Days Later)
"Gah! This is impossible!"
Sitting in front of one another in a lotus position were Naruto and Hikari. For the past few sessions, Naruto has been working on bringing out his twilight aura. The problem was, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to make a decent amount of progress beyond what he did on the first day.
He was able to get a grip on the light and dark mixture, but he wasn't able to spread it past the middle of his chest. Whenever he tried, it was as if he suddenly hit an invisible wall and it refused to move past that point.
"I don't get it! Why isn't this working?" After a few days without making any progress, Naruto was getting seriously frustrated with the entire thing.
Hikari simply opened one eye to look at him. "These things take patience. You are currently on one of the hardest steps in your training. Once you are adept in calling upon the twilight at will, things will begin to move along easier." She reassured him.
Naruto sighed in a frustrated manner. "I know, I know…It is just annoying that I haven't been able to make any progress over the last couple days. Do you have any idea as to why I am not getting any better?" He would take any advice he could get.
"There isn't much I can tell you. The reason you are having trouble is because you are not used to using the twilight. If I had to guess as to why you are having trouble, then it would be because of how you are going about it."
Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" Was he doing this incorrectly somehow?
"Shinobi usually have some difficulty manipulating chakra into jutsu without experience. This is the reason that hand seals are used. It is a focus for their power. Are you with me so far?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I get you."
"Perhaps you are unable to manipulate the twilight because you are subconsciously likening it to chakra. Remember, they are not the same thing. While you need hand seals for chakra, you do not need them for light or dark. And by extension, twilight. It comes more naturally than that. That is the reason you were able to use it subconsciously so easily in the past. All you need to do is guide it. But be careful, especially when dealing with the dark. You must guide it, not let it guide you. Keep a clear mind or you will be controlled…Sometimes without even realizing it."
Naruto was silent. Was it true? Was he really trying to manipulate the twilight as if it was chakra on some level? It was true he needed to fight off the instinct to move his hands into seals whenever he tried to manipulate it. He would try again with her advice in mind.
"Ok. Thanks for the advice." With that, he closed his eyes again and looked in his heart for the twilight. When he found it, he ignored the instinctive reaction to direct it where to go. Instead, he cleared his mind and tried guiding where it would go.
Nothing happened at first, but eventually it began to spread out as he wanted it to. On the outside, the glow was back and it was spreading further than before. While it didn't leave his torso, it was a definite improvement.
Naruto was able to hold it for a little while before he had to let it go because of how tired he was. He smiled as he leaned back and propped himself on his hands. "You were right! It was easier that time. I still wasn't able to get it to spread all over, but it was definitely better than before." He said.
Hikari nodded with a smile. "Yes. As I said, it will get easier with practice." She then paused. "It appears that it is time to end this session. You will be needing to wake up soon. It is the first day of the academy today, right?"
Naruto smiled. "Yeah. Today we start the academy. But we shouldn't be doing anything interesting. Just get our class assignments and some introductions, I bet…" He wished that he could just skip it. It seemed pointless to go and not do anything productive.
Hikari gave another smile. "Regardless, you have to go. We will continue this another time."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, see you another time. Tell Yami I said bye." Following this statement, Naruto closed his eyes to leave. They had taught him how to do it himself a while back.
Uzumaki-Namikaze Household
Naruto had just exited the Station of Awakening and was now cracking his eyes open. He cringed however when he was blinded by the sunlight. Before he could do anymore however, a sudden intruder to his room came barreling in. WHAM!
The door slammed open, causing Naruto to jump from being startled. "Nii-chan! Get up! We are starting the academy today!" Standing in his door was Narumi. She gave him all of half a second to react before she ran over to his bed and ripped the blankets off of him. "Get up!" She yelled.
"Fine! I'll get up! Just give me a second!" How did she think that her current course of action was helping anything? Hearing this, his sister nodded and ran off. Probably to get ready herself.
Sighing at her antics, Naruto got up and started to get ready for the day. He didn't feel like getting up at all, but after school he was going over to the Urahara shop for some training.
20 Minutes Later
Naruto had gotten ready to go and even had a quick bite to eat in the form of some fruit. He kept his sword sealed in a scroll he had on him. He didn't want his family to see it and start asking questions about it. When he made it to the front door, he saw that the other four members of the family were already there waiting for him.
"Hurry up, Naruto. Narumi-chan and Menma-kun want to head out early and your father even took time out of his schedule to see them off."
Naruto frowned slightly at his mother. 'What about me? It is my first day, too.' Deciding that there wasn't much point in arguing, he just sighed and nodded his head.
Academy
Naruto was standing off to the side while he watched his parents give some final well wishes to his siblings.
"Have a nice first day, kids. And stay out of trouble!" Minato said. The ending was said with a playful tone of voice. He doubted his kids would get into any trouble.
Kushina was getting slightly teary eyed. Stooping low, she hugged Narumi and Menma tightly. "Oh…my babies are growing up so fast!"
Both of them looked mortified at the open display of affection in the middle of public.
"Kaa-chan!" Menma cried.
"Get off!" Narumi added.
Naruto just watched the interaction. 'Maybe I should just give up on trying to get their attention. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. There probably isn't any use in focusing all my time on it…'
He turned away and walked into the building. Deciding that the best thing to do at the time was to find his classroom, Naruto walked over to the giant bulletin board where the homerooms were posted.
He looked through each homeroom list until he found his name. It looks like his room was nearby. Once he mentally confirmed the room he was in, he looked at who else was in his homeroom. He noted that both of his siblings were in the same room, as well as some of the clan heirs.
'Not all of them are here, though…We will probably be in the same class in a year or two, though.' That was how the academy worked. It started off with multiple classes, but as it went on, more and more people dropped out. This means that by the time graduation comes around, everyone is normally in a single class. This class is usually at least two thirds kids with at least one shinobi parent.
Deciding he had nothing better to do, Naruto walked to his classroom. "1-3. I guess this is it." He opened the door and walked in.
Looking around, he noted that people must not like getting here this early as there were only a couple people in the room. Deciding to use this chance to get the seat he wanted, Naruto walked over to the back corner of the room. He should be far enough away from the front here to be able to get away with some stuff if needed. Like naps. Those were important.
Speaking of which…Naruto checked the clock on the wall. He had no idea why Narumi and Menma insisted on being here this early. They didn't need to be here for another forty-five minutes. Deciding a productive use of his time would be to sleep, Naruto did just that.
40 Minutes Later
It was starting to get more crowded in the room. People were entering and holding conversations throughout the room. All of the chatter had managed to wake Naruto up from his short nap. He cracked one eye open to survey the room. He didn't see either of his siblings yet. Plus, if they were in the room already they probably would be bothering him…
"These people are too noisy…" Naruto muttered. He definitely wasn't expecting a response.
"I know. How are we supposed to sleep with this?" Replied a voice to his right. Looking to the owner of the voice, Naruto saw another boy sitting there. He was wearing a grey t-shirt with a pair of shorts that were a darker grey. His shirt had some sort of wave like symbol on the front. His hair was also done into a spiky ponytail. "Troublesome…" He muttered.
'A Nara…' No question about it.
Another boy was sitting next to him. This boy was on the bigger side of the scale. He had spiky brown hair and black eyes. He wore a green shirt with tan shorts. He was currently munching on a bag of chips. "Don't be like that, Shikamaru. They are just excited for their first day of the academy." The boy said.
The now named Shikamaru didn't even bother to opens his eyes in order to respond. "So? It is our first day as well, Chōji. Yet you don't see us being obnoxious about it."
Chōji only smiled at his friend's attitude. It was at this point that he decided to introduce themselves to Naruto. "Hi there. I'm Chōji Akimichi and the lazy guy here is Shikamaru Nara." He said with a smile.
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome…" He opened one eye to look at Naruto. "Sorry for intruding. You had the same idea I did on how to pass the time. And it is better to sleep back here than anywhere else in the room."
Naruto quirked a small smile at this. "No problem. I'm Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. When I got here, it was still relatively quiet." He gestured to the noisy room. "None of these people were here yet and it was easy to nap."
Shikamaru smirked. "I bet. I kind of wish they would just leave so we could go back to sleep."
Naruto and Chōji couldn't help but grin at this. Naruto opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a voice. "There you are!" The three of them looked over to see the other two Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings standing nearby. Narumi walked up to them. "Where did you go, nii-chan? We should have come here together!" She insisted.
Naruto frowned slightly. "You two were busy so I decided to come here early. When I got here and there weren't many people here, I decided to take a nap to pass the time." He responded.
Menma opened his mouth to respond, but before he could the door opened and the chūnin instructor entered. He was an average looking man who appeared to be in his mid to late twenties. He had shoulder length brown hair and the typical chūnin attire.
"Ok, class is starting. Find a seat or get out!" The man called. The two younger Uzumaki-Namikazes were forced to find seats on the other side of the room because they had waited so long to find some.
"Welcome to the academy. For the next six years, this will be where you come every day, Monday to Friday. The only way around this is by proving you are advanced enough to graduate early." There were some excited murmurs running through the room. "But don't get ahead of yourselves. Most of you will be lucky just to graduate at all in six years." He smirked when he saw some of them falter. "This isn't something to joke around with. The shinobi life is a serious one. And you won't be able to truly appreciate that fact until you are out there in the field."
It was true, Naruto thought. Fresh genin hardly ever realized just what they had gotten themselves into right off the bat. Upper year academy students even less so. And don't even bring up how serious first year students take things.
"Not much is going on today." The teacher continued. "We will take roll, go over some general rules, give out some information, and then let you go. It may suck, but if you didn't show up then you would have automatically been dropped out."
'That was close…' Naruto narrowly dodged a bullet there. Looking to the side, he can see similar thoughts running through Shikamaru's mind by the expression on his face.
The man opened his mouth to speak again. "Now then, let's start with the roll call…"
After School
Naruto was walking out of the building with Shikamaru and Chōji. They were a little behind in leaving compared to the others because someone from class asked them if they knew where the offices were. They couldn't ask the teacher as he had Body Flickered away too quickly. Naruto sighed. "What a waste of a day. I could have been doing something else with that time. Something productive."
Shikamaru lazily nodded his head. "Yeah, I had other things that I would have rather been doing."
Chōji smiled slightly at him. "Like sleeping and watching clouds?"
"…Troublesome…" But he didn't deny it.
Naruto smiled at the exchange. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted again. "Hey, you three!" They turned to see who had spoken.
Standing a little behind them was a group of kids who looked a year or two older than them, two boys and a girl.
The first boy had sandy colored hair and green eyes. He wore a dark green jacket that was left unzipped, leaving his black t-shirt visible. He also wore a pair of dark blue pants and shinobi sandals.
The girl had shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a simple blue t-shirt with the leaf symbol on it. Her shorts were black and she wore shinobi sandals as well.
The last boy was a head taller than his two friends. He had tan skin and had black hair that was very messy. It nearly obscured his hazel eyes. He wore a long sleeve black shirt with dark blue pants. He too had on shinobi sandals.
It was the girl that called out to them. "You guys are first years?" She asked them. When she saw their nods, she smiled and continued. "That's cool. I'm Misa. This is Wataru," She gestured to the tall boy. "…and Ikusa." She gestured to the other boy. The both of them nodded upon being introduced. "How did you find your first day?" She asked them.
The three new students traded glances. It was Naruto who spoke up. "It was pretty boring as there wasn't anything to do. But that was because it was only the first day. I'm hoping it will begin to pick up soon…"
Misa gave a sympathetic smile. "Oh yeah. I forgot that the first day of the academy is like that for new students. It was pretty boring. We are third years. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, ok?"
Shikamaru spoke up. "Why would you be willing to help out the new kids?" He asked. His eyes were slightly sharper than they were before.
Misa looked surprised at this question. "Well…on my first day on older student stopped to help me when I was really lost. If it wasn't for them, I would have been in big trouble." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I thought, why not help out the new kids if they needed it like I was? I know I was happy it happened."
Naruto and Chōji smiled at this. Shikamaru nodded after a moment of thought. "Makes sense…" He said.
The three older students smiled. "Well," Ikusa began. "…just look for us if you do need anything. We won't mind helping you guys out if you need it. And unlike some of the other kids, we don't deny friendship just because you're younger. I mean, what if we were in the chūnin exams together? I would rather know you won't stab me in the back, regardless of being from the same village." After seeing their nods, they exchanged farewells and parted ways.
Chōji smiled. "That was nice of them." He commented.
Shikamaru shrugged. "I don't know if I would have done the same thing. It seems really troublesome."
Naruto chuckled lightly. "You know, I think I'm starting to see a pattern with you."
"Tch." Was the eloquent response he got back.
They had now exited the building and had walked into the courtyard. Looking around, Naruto saw a small group of redheads and a blond nearby. "Well, I see my family over there. See you guys tomorrow."
"Bye."
"See ya."
Naruto walked over to his family. This was it. He hesitated a moment to judge the moods of his parents. His mother was fussing over his siblings and asking how their day was. His father simply stood back with an amused smile. "Um. Kaa-chan? Tou-chan?" They turned their attention to him. "I was wondering if…now that I have started the academy…would you be willing to start my training?" He asked with a hopeful expression.
His siblings seemed excited at the prospect. The three of them looked to their parents. Minato and Kushina exchanged a glance before looking back to Naruto with apologetic smiles. Naruto's expression fell. He knew that smile. "Sorry, Naruto…" His father began. "…But we are still busy training your siblings. Plus, you are only a first year. You still don't need it that badly yet. Maybe another time…"
'I'm starting to wonder when that time is…' Naruto thought inwardly. He forced on a smile. "I got it. That makes sense." His parents seemed to buy it but his siblings were a little more suspicious. "I've got plans to meet up a friend now. Is it ok to go?" He asked.
His mother nodded. "Yes, that is fine. Stay out of trouble." She always told him that. As if she expected him to get into trouble at some point.
Narumi frowned. They were going out for ramen to celebrate. Naruto knew that. Didn't he want to come? She wanted to ask him, but refrained from doing so.
Naruto turned to leave. "Ok. I will see you guys back at the house." With that, he walked off.
Urahara Shop
Naruto walked into the candy store. If he could, he would have skipped out on this. But there were three facts that made him come.
Urahara was willing to train him when he didn't have to.
He didn't really want to be around the Uzumaki-Namikazes at the moment.
He knew that Urahara really would torment him if he skipped out on training or work. Either by overworking him the next time, or by endlessly annoying him. Or the most likely choice: a mixture of the two.
Sighing again, Naruto proceeded to the back in order to find the owner. He found him looking over a document in the next room.
Upon hearing the door open, the man looked up. Instantly, a smile was on his face. It made Naruto groan just from the sight.
"Naruto-kun! Welcome! Glad to see you could make it. Just give me a moment and we can continue to the training ground."
Naruto tilted his head in thought. "Who will man the store?" He hadn't seen anyone else around, so who would do it?
Urahara simply covered his smile with his fan. "Oh, I'm sure Yoruichi will do it or something."
Naruto just stared at him. "Yoruichi will do it." A nod. "The cat." Another nod. Naruto opened his mouth to speak but paused. After a moment, he closed his mouth again and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Whatever…"
Urahara chuckled in that infuriating way of his. "You should have more trust in me." It was then that he noticed the slightly sullen expression on his student's face. "Is something the matter?" He asked.
Naruto paused to think, debating on telling him what was really bothering him. In the end, all he said was "I just don't feel like dealing with you right now. This will feel like it is taking forever."
Urahara wasn't quite fooled. But he decided not to pry and played along. "Oh, don't you worry, Naruto-kun. Pretty soon you will truly see how charming my personality is and you will strive to be more like me. Plus, when you are working hard, time will seem to fly by. One moment, you are still beginning, the next two years have gone by."
Naruto snorted. "If it gets to the point where I want to be like you, then something is extremely wrong." And what was that about time flying by? Any second spent with this man feels like an hour.
Station of Awakening (2 Years Later)
"There we go! It's stable!" In the black abyss that was the Station of Awakening, a voice cried out. The voice belonged to one Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. Over the last two years, Naruto has succeeded in calling upon his twilight aura and is even capable of holding it for an extended period of time while it is spread throughout his body. In total, it took him the majority of two months to learn.
Following this, Hikari and Yami taught him how to separate the light and dark components. This was a new challenge as he had grown used to calling upon the twilight mixture. He started with Yami and the dark, as she wanted to "teach" him for a while. Her methods were radically different from Hikari as she had decided to randomly strike him while he was meditating to hone his awareness. It worked to marginal success. All she really caused him to do was to never go completely vacant while meditating.
Hikari followed this up by teaching him how to harness the light. It was a welcome change. This took Naruto some time as well, but it was due to the fact that it felt completely different to harness the light compared to the dark. This entire process of splitting took about four months.
To make sure he still remembered how to use the combined twilight, Hikari and Yami then taught Naruto how to use it to attack and defend. He hasn't yet been able to make anything too complex, but he has managed to create blasts of twilight, light and darkness. They were simply projectiles from his hands that he attacked with. His barriers still needed work. A lot of work. He couldn't quite manage to keep them stable. The rest of the first year and part of the second year was taken in this manner.
Once Naruto had finished this portion of the training, Hikari decided it would be a good idea to learn how to use a spell or two. She taught him the most basic fire spell. Naruto has had little luck mastering it, as all he can so far create is a small flame that doesn't go past ten feet when used. But there is progress, if slight.
At this point, Yami decided she wanted to teach him something too. That was what Naruto was currently working on. A Corridor of Darkness.
"Stable? You call that thing stable? Not only is it flickering, it is also half as big as it should be!" Yami's voice rang out.
It was true. Naruto's corridor would never fit an adult. Plus, that adult would need to be extremely brave to step into something that looked like it would die out at any moment.
Naruto frowned slightly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I was able to form it at least…" This was the first time he got this far. All the other corridors before now never fully formed. "And it is big enough for me to fit! That is all that matters for now. I'm sure I will improve with time." He sighed. "I have so much trouble utilizing just darkness. I don't fear it, I know that would lead to my doom, and I know how to control it, but it is so much harder to do compared to twilight or light.
Yami nodded. "Darkness isn't normally used in conjunction with light. It may lead to problems. It is possible, but harder to do. It is especially harder for you because your first instinct is to mix the light in, so you falter. And unlike light, if you falter with darkness, it could lead to it consuming you." She explained. She looked back to his portal. "I forbid you from entering that thing until it is fully stable. So try again."
Naruto nodded. It wasn't like he was eager to test it, anyways. He willed away the current corridor and closed his eyes. He looked inside his heart for the darkness. Separating it from the light once he found it, he pulled on it and focused. He willed it to form a corridor to travel with. A hum of approval from Yami was the cue to open his eyes.
He grinned at what he saw. Before him, was another Corridor of Darkness. But unlike the last, this one looked stable. It was however, still smaller than it should be.
Yami smirked and snapped her fingers. The station changed back into the location it had been when Naruto had unlocked his keyblade. They were currently standing in the middle of a grassy field. "Now test it out." She ordered simply.
Naruto's head snapped around to her. "What?" He was not excited to try it out.
"You heard me."
"But…"
"Do it."
Naruto contemplated arguing further, but decided it wasn't worth it. Sighing, he walked over to the corridor. "Put your hood on first. Your resistance isn't that high, yet. It will eventually get there, but for now it isn't." Naruto frowned at this reminder. Another thing that could go wrong…
Deciding it would be best to simply go for it, Naruto put on his hood and stepped through.
Instantly, he felt the environment shift. When nothing happened, he cracked open a blue eye. The other quickly followed to observe the new surroundings.
He was in one of the most disorienting places he has ever seen. It was like a giant tunnel made up of swirling colors. Even the floor and ceiling were like that. It was slightly difficult to look at if you weren't expecting it. Shaking his head, Naruto looked around. There wasn't anything there. Looking back, Naruto noted his exit was gone.
It was at this point that Naruto noticed how tired he was getting. It was draining him just standing there! Already his breath was getting slightly labored as if he had ran for a bit. Wanting to get out, Naruto closed his eyes and pictured the training ground. He tried about one hundred feet from where he started. Another portal opened in front of him and he stepped through.
He reappeared in the clearing and fell to his hands and knees, panting for breath. He heard an annoyed grunt.
"That's it?"
Looking up, he was surprised at what he saw. He was barely ten feet from where he started! "But…I…" He tried to find the words.
"I guess it took too much of you to try that. I bet you tried to go further, but couldn't manage. It must be too much on such a young body to use this method of travel and not expect there to be a big strain on you…" Towards the end, Yami sounded more like she was thinking to herself than talking to Naruto.
Eventually, Yami came out of her thoughts and looked at him. "Whatever. You suck at it now, but it should get easier as your immunity to darkness grows and your body's limit raises." She judged.
Naruto just nodded. He was looking forward to getting to that point.
Yami continued. "Also, your current clothes will protect you from the darkness in the corridor. As you don't wear them outside the Station of Awakening, you cannot yet use it when you are not here. Hikari and I can protect you from here for a limited time though if you were in normal clothes."
He frowned. He needs to learn the enchantments for his clothes then. Using the corridor to get around would be extremely useful. Once he gained the stamina for it.
Yami looked up for a moment. "You can go now. It is only the middle of the day. You have to meet Urahara, right?" She asked.
Naruto grimaced. It was his shift at the store. He didn't hate the work. He just disliked it when Urahara decided Naruto needed more excitement in his life. It especially sucked when he had some new invention that needed testing. What kind of candy store owner even invented stuff?
"Yeah. Plus, Narumi will probably try and drag me out to spend more time with her and Menma. I'm not against it, I just have other things to do." He had decided a while ago to quit hoping his parents would train him. He groaned. "Why can't things just go smoothly?"
Yami smirked at his obvious reluctance. "Hey there, buck up. Pretty soon, time will fly and it will be time for your graduation."
Naruto shot her a dirty look. As if time could really fly by that quickly.
There we go! All done with Chapter 10!
I did not want to put in all of the next six years. So time skip! I will probably just refer back to things as needed.
The Corridor of Darkness is something I want Naruto to have the ability to use. But I didn't want him to be a master of the thing yet and go anywhere he wanted with ease. That means other worlds are still out.
Like I said before, I doubt I will be posting on a daily chapter anymore. It is just too time consuming. Props to the people who do that though.
Honestly, that ending was more to extend the chapter. It was too short for where I wanted to cut it off.
Cannon starts next chapter! Probably. I might think of a thing or three I want to put in between. But soon!
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!
Until next time,
Kog6943