And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 20!

There is something wrong with the world when you look at your class schedule and are able to say to yourself, "Holy shit. I am on this god damn campus for over 13 hours for three days out of the week. Fuck that."

I have a small case of writers block right now. I find this part of the story hard to write, so it takes me longer to do.

prototype gear: I'm right there with you. One of my favorite parts of Naruto fanfiction to read is the chūnin exams. There is so much diversity out there between fics that it is often interesting to read.

dotJKLO: I admit, 6k words isn't the longest thing I have ever done, but it definitely isn't the shortest, either. Plus, I stated from chapter one that I will set my minimum at around 3k-4k words. And 6k isn't even that bad. At least it isn't 4k that gets updated once every two weeks. I haven't said anything concrete about pairings yet, only that I may or may not add one. If I do one, I don't think it will be anytime soon. I want to get into the Kingdom Hearts story first.

redlox2: In my head, a combat ready Corridor of Darkness is one that opens around Naruto's feet and transports him as he is enveloped in it. They have done that before in the games when Axel appears to confront Roxas near the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2, when Roxas pretends to have regained his memories. Admittedly, that was just exiting, but I am pretty sure they have done it the other way around, too. Speed it up a bit, and we're good.

SinOfDisaster: This story takes place in between Birth By Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 1. I'm setting it up so that Naruto will leave this world as Kingdom Hearts 1 begins.

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

Jutsu/Magic/Technique: Insert Jutsu Here

Uzumaki-Namikaze Household (One Week Later)

The past week has been a weird one for Naruto. In the past, he was always able to come and go in the house without being noticed with relative ease. Now however, it was as if his parents were constantly on the lookout for him and were always curious as to where he was going. It was even preventing Naruto from going to the Urahara shop. As he didn't know what brought about the sudden change in his parents, Naruto decided to be cautious about it.

Naruto was currently sleeping in his bed, dead tired from the training that Yūgao had put team 12 through the day before after the mission they had taken. By the time they were done, all Naruto had been wanting to do was walk into his room, collapse in his bed, and fall asleep. And that is exactly what he did. And he planned on continuing that for as long as he could.

"Naruto, get up!"

Or at least, that was the plan…

Naruto groaned as he rolled over. What did his mother want now? Wasn't it enough that she was constantly fidgeting while around him, therefore making him even more uncomfortable? Now she was waking him up early?

Naruto cracked an eye open as he heard someone open his door. Kushina seemed to falter for a moment when she saw that she actually had his attention. But after a moment, she seemed to gather her courage. She sent a smile his way. "Naruto, we are having breakfast together today, so would you please come down? You must be hungry, you didn't eat dinner last night."

Naruto internally sighed at the question. All that would do is create a strained atmosphere. What was the point of that? But nevertheless, Naruto nodded and pushed himself up. "I'll be down in a minute…"

She beamed at him before turning and leaving. Naruto shook his head to himself. Why was she only now so concerned about getting him to spend time with the rest of the family? Neither she nor Minato had ever put in any effort to get him to join them in the past seven years, so why now?

Deciding that he wouldn't get an answer by just sitting there, Naruto sighed again before getting to his feet. A few minutes later, he came downstairs and walked into the kitchen to see the rest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family already sitting at the table and waiting for him. Naruto only glanced over the table once before walking over to the empty seat in between Narumi and Menma and plopping down. Both of his siblings sent a grin his way while his parents also sent him smiles, although their smiles seemed to be relieved for some reason.

Naruto looked at Minato when he started speaking. "Glad you could join us this time, Naruto." He said with a grin.

Naruto shrugged. He had been avoiding these types of situations over the past week by saying that he had already eaten right when he got home. And if they came to him in the morning, then he would say that he wasn't hungry because of dinner still. But this time, he had come back later than normal and had gone straight to bed. And they all knew it, so there were no excuses that he could use.

Kushina sent a grin his way as well, but Naruto could tell that there was some worry behind her expression.

Wanting to get this over with and get out of the house as soon as possible, Naruto began to gather food onto his plate. Seeing him do this, the others followed his example. And just like Naruto had expected, there was a certain tension in the air as the all ate in silence.

While Naruto did his best to get out of there fast by only paying attention to his food, his siblings were shifting in their seats as they slowly ate. Every once in a while, they would nervously glance at Naruto before looking over to Minato and Kushina. Minato and Kushina on the other hand, seemed to be extremely nervous and at a loss of what to say to break the silence.

After a few more minutes of silence, Minato gathered his courage and broke the silence. He cleared his throat to gather their attention. He smiled at them. "Well, this is probably the first time since you all became shinobi that we have been able to eat together for breakfast like this..."

'Also the first time in seven and a half years...' Naruto thought.

"...How are you three finding the shinobi life, so far? Everything you thought it would be?" He grinned at the disgruntled looks that appeared on the faces of the younger two.

"Besides the Wave mission, we haven't done anything like a real mission!" Narumi said.

Menma immediately nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And kaa-chan is a real slave driver, too! She never lets us rest unless we have collapsed. Who the heck pushes their students that far-ttebasa?!"

An ominous smile stretched across Kushina's face. "Oh? If you aren't seeing the point of me pushing you two so far, then maybe I should push you even more until you do…"

This suggestion caused both Narumi and Menma to freeze. They both broke out into a nervous sweat. "Oh, y-you don't have to do th-that, kaa-chan…" Narumi nervously stuttered out.

Menma swallowed. "She's right…We get it, don't worry about that…"

The smile on Kushina's face brightened. "Good! I would be worried if you two weren't able to get how important training is." Naruto smirked in amusement at the sight of his siblings giving sighs of relief.

"Um…" Naruto's shifted his gaze back to Kushina. She seemed to hesitate when she saw that he was giving his attention to her, but she soon strengthened her resolve. "What about you, Naruto? How have things been going for you since you graduated from the academy?" She asked him.

Naruto shrugged. "Pretty well, I guess. Like they said, the missions are boring most of the time. But besides that, I can't really complain. Yūgao-sensei is a tough but effective teacher." He looked back at his plate. "It is pretty nice to have someone with more experience to spar with." He couldn't really stop himself from getting a shot or two in.

Both Minato and Kushina flinched when he said this. Minato however, refused to back down so easily. "Well, I know what Narumi and Menma have been learning from Kushina, but what has Yūgao been having your team work on?" He asked.

Naruto looked back at him with a neutral look. "Nothing big. She has taught us some teamwork exercises and combinations. Plus a jutsu here or there. My team has a heavy focus on playing to our strengths and working together in combat to pull off combos. We don't really work on our own unless we have to." An annoyed frown came to his face. "Not that we have had much of a chance to use these combos in actual combat."

Kushina became slightly emboldened when they actually got him to speak to them. "And what is your role in the team?" She could guess that he was some kind of combat specialist, but wanted to hear the confirmation directly from him.

Naruto looked over to her. "I'm the main combatant on our team. I feel most comfortable with mid to close range combat, especially with my sword. So while Yakumo provides long range support and Sai positions himself as needed, I'm the one that gets really close to the enemy."

Minato jumped on the chance while it was here. "Yes, I've heard multiple people praise your skills with a sword." Multiple being Yūgao and Kushina, the little that the latter saw. "That must have taken a lot of time and dedication to get to where you are now. But who taught you? I know you never came to me about it, and Kushina uses a different style."

Another flash of irritation flared through Naruto. 'I had wanted her to teach me, but she said she was too busy teaching Narumi and Menma.' But he kept his face carefully blank as he responded with a shrug. "I met someone who knew how to use a sword and was willing to teach me once they found out that I wanted to learn. I had spent the past six years learning from them. I like to think I have managed to become decent with a sword." Not a single lie was told.

Minato nodded in thought. It could happen. There were plenty of shinobi in the village who wouldn't have minded teaching a six year old how to use a sword when they had the chance.

Kushina frowned minutely in thought. While that was possible, she was still fairly sure that she has never seen the style Naruto uses before, but she hasn't seen enough of it to be able to tell for sure. Naruto may just be tweaking it a bit to fit himself better.

Menma grinned excitedly at Naruto. "You think you're only 'decent' when you use a sword? You're totally badass, Aniki!"

"He is totally what, Menma?"

Menma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at the reprimand from Kushina. "Ah, sorry. He is totally awesome with his sword." He turned back to Naruto. "You and that Aoi guy were both moving so fast when you were fighting, but you still managed to keep up!"

Narumi was nearly bouncing in her seat as she recalled the fight. "He's right, Nii-chan. You managed to fight to a draw in the first fight, and then you actually won in the second. Against a jōnin-ttebane!"

Naruto grinned a bit at them. "He may have been a jōnin, but he was still kind of weak for one. I think he was only able to get that far because of the blade he used." He gained an annoyed look. "I may have been able to outperform him in pure kenjutsu, but he still had me beat when it came to physical condition…"

Minato sent a smile his way, but it faltered a bit when Naruto didn't respond with one of his own. "Well, just by the fact that you managed to go against him for so long when it was just kenjutsu, you are definitely the best kenjutsu user out of all the genin. And you can probably beat most chūnin, too."

That praise reminded Naruto of the conversation he had with Misa the week before. "If that is true, then what do you think my chances would be if I took the chūnin exams as I am?" Minato's eyes widened at the question before a thoughtful look crossed his face.

"Absolutely not!" Before he could respond however, Kushina spoke up. He sent a surprised look at her, but she didn't notice because she had her eyes focused on Naruto. "There is no way that any of you are entering in that thing this early-ttebane!"

Naruto frowned at her. "Is it not the decision of the jōnin sensei to decide? You may be able to stop Narumi and Menma from entering, but it is up to Yūgao-sensei whether or not I am able to enter." He said.

Kushina's frown was slowly turning into a scowl. "I am your mother! I get to say what you can or cannot do-ttebane! There is no way you are already prepared for something like the chūnin exams!"

Naruto no longer held back the scowl that was wanting to form on his face. "You have no idea of what my limits are. You have not even seen me fight except for a few glimpses during the Wave mission. My team and I are ready for this. We may be rookies, but I know we can handle it."

Kushina opened her mouth to speak again, but stopped when Minato placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, ready to ask him why he was stopping her, but paused when she saw the serious look on his face. He was not even looking at her, he was looking at Naruto.

"The chūnin exams are no joke, Naruto. They are a serious event where people die. If you were to enter, you would be facing against other teams that have been doing this a lot longer than you have. And not all of them will be from Konoha. You would have to fight against teams from other villages that would have less reservation when it comes to killing someone from Konoha." He said seriously.

Naruto looked over to him. "While that is true, the three of us, as well as my team, have gone against opponents tougher than some genin. Aoi Rokushō was a jōnin from Ame, the Konjiki brothers were at least low-jōnin, and Haku was at least chūnin. All five of us have the combat skills, and I know that we have the teamwork down."

Minato shook his head. "There is more to it than just combat and teamwork. You need to have the right mindset and set of values to be an effective chūnin. They test for these things in the exams. You need to take this seriously."

"I know that. Don't you think that we have already seen firsthand about how serious things are on that Wave mission? That was an A-rank mission that we managed to complete. All we need now is some more experience running missions that have us go to other places and work in certain scenarios. Just a little in order to better round out our experience."

Minato was silent as he mulled over Naruto's words. He looked at his other two children. Both of them were sending determined gazes his way. After a minute, Minato sighed. "I cannot say I think it is okay to deny you entry just because you are rookies…" He began. Kushina sent him a wide eyed look while grins started to form on Narumi and Menma's faces. Naruto however, kept a steady gaze on Minato. "…But as you said, the final decision is up to your jōnin sensei. If you get their approval, then it means that they think you are ready for it." He looked at Kushina. "There is still some time before the nominations for the exam are submitted. Until that time, the best thing to do would be to test your team yourself and see if they are ready. Try to keep it unbiased."

Kushina seemed like she wanted to argue, but then stopped as she sighed and nodded. "You're right. I shouldn't stop them just because I don't want them to enter, I should judge them based on their teamwork and skills."

Naruto sighed silently to himself. That was a battle in and of itself. He got to his feet and brought his plate to the sink. "I should get going. I was supposed to meet someone before I head to team training today." And with that, he quickly left.

Minato suppressed the sigh that wanted to escape. 'That hadn't gone like I wanted it to…'

Urahara Shop

Naruto walked into the candy store, the breakfast still on his mind. He didn't really need to be anywhere, but he wanted to get out of the house. 'Really, why are they paying so much attention to things I do now? What changed? At this point, all it is doing is making it harder for me to go where I want, when I want.' He glanced around. Like usual, there was nobody there.

He headed to the back and walked into the tea room. As he expected, Urahara was there. But he was fiddling with some strange device. Yoruichi was lounging in a nearby cushion. Knowing better than to let his curiosity get the better of him, Naruto didn't even bother to ask about what Urahara was working on. "Morning." He said as he sat on a cushion across from the bucket hat wearing man.

Yoruichi cracked an eye at him. "Morning, Naruto-kun." The cat said.

Urahara looked up at him with a grin. "Ah, Naruto-kun, you have returned! I must say, it has been a while. You don't normally go a week without dropping by…"

Naruto shrugged with a small frown. "Sorry about that…My parents told me I can't just sleep elsewhere without telling them, and training has left me too tired to come here after it. So I came here before it this time."

Urahara and Yoruichi stared at him. The silence was eventually broken by Urahara. "Your…parents told you that you can't just sleep someplace else without telling them…" He repeated.

Naruto raised a morbidly amused eyebrow. "Yeah. I was told that they were worried after I disappeared for two days without coming back like I did a week ago when I slept here."

Yoruichi looked him in the eye. "They noticed you were gone…and got worried?"

Urahara frowned minutely as he fanned himself. "They have never noticed when you weren't there before, right?" He didn't really like the way that sounded, but it was true…

Naruto nodded with a frown of his own. "Yeah, this was the first time they had ever noticed." He shook his head. "And that's not all. Both of them have been acting strange this past week."

Yoruichi tilted his head. "Strange how?" The cat asked.

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he thought about how best to phrase this. "It is like…they are constantly walking on eggshells around me. They shift nervously a bit and shoot me glances when they think I won't notice." He thought back to the end of their trip to Wave. "At first, it was just one of them, but the other soon started to do it, too…"

Naruto didn't notice, but Urahara's eyes narrowed minutely. "Is that so…" He mused.

Naruto nodded. "And they keep trying to get me to spend time with the rest of them." And uneasy look crossed his face. "That isn't really a problem…but it gets so awkward. It seems that just me being there makes them at a loss of what to say."

"Is it safe to assume that something like that happened this morning, causing you to be here this early?" Yoruichi asked him.

Naruto nodded with a small sigh. "Yeah. I came home later than I normally do yesterday because of training, and that caused me to go straight to bed without grabbing any dinner. They knew this, and had me join the rest of them for breakfast." A conflicted look crossed his face. "And like I said, it was awkward. We just sat there in silence for a bit before the topic of what we thought of being shinobi was brought up. That turned into my skill level, which turned into me hedging around the topic of who taught me how to use a sword, which turned into the upcoming chūnin exams, which then turned into an argument on whether or not we were ready for it."

Urahara grinned. "Oh, you're ready for it. I don't know about your two teammates or your siblings, but you are definitely ready for it."

Naruto smiled back. "Thanks. That's what I thought. But I couldn't exactly have them come to you to verify that, could I?"

Urahara just grinned some more. "You could…but that may lead to some issues…"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes, and those issues are what I was trying to avoid." He shook his head. "But anyways, one thing led to another, and it was decided that if our jōnin senseis thought we were ready, then we would enter. But by then, the atmosphere was strained, and I just wanted to get out of there."

"So you came here." Yoruichi inferred.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I came here." He sighed in a frustrated manner. "I don't know how I should react to this. On the one hand, they are finally trying paying attention to me…but on the other hand, I am kind of past the point of actively wanting it…And I don't really know if I am ready to open up to them right now."

Yoruichi sent him a sympathetic look. "I understand. It may be difficult, but I am sure you will get past this. But this is something you will need to decide. Do you push them away? Or do you accept them and try to form bonds with them? But you must think through this carefully."

Urahara nodded in agreement. "And remember, whatever happens, you can always come here if you need to take a break from other people or need to relieve some stress." His smile turned into that annoying thing again. "If you ever need some stress relief, I'm always here to kick your butt in a spar…Soifon too, when she is around."

Naruto huffed. "Thank you so much for such reassuring words, Urahara."

"No problem, Naruto-kun! I know how emo you can be someti-" Wham! Yoruichi rolled his eyes with a fond smile on his face.

Urahara never knows when to stop talking.

Training Ground 12 (Month and a Half Later)

"Come on, you three! That can't be the limit your limit! I have friends who can last nearly four times as long!"

'Because they're freaking ANBU-ttebayo!' Naruto groaned as he and his teammates attempted to push themselves to their feet. As usual, Yūgao had been a real sadist in their training. She never seemed to be satisfied unless they had collapsed and were on the verge of puking. 'I'm sure of it! She is trying to get us to do the ANBU training regime!'

A month and a half has passed since that tense breakfast with the rest of his family. And since then, Naruto has done his best to avoid any and all contact with his parents. He knew that he was being a coward, but he just didn't want to be around them and face them after going seven years of not doing so.

Naruto turned his attention back to Yūgao when she began to speak again. "Come on, don't you three want a mission? It is about time we went and got one." Naruto sighed and put in the final strength needed to stand up. The missions were another thing. They no longer did nonstop D-rank missions, although they were still there. They now ran the occasional C-rank as well. Thankfully, none of them ever got bumped in rank.

"What are…we going to be…doing today, Yūgao-sensei?" Yakumo asked in between pants.

Yūgao looked thoughtful as she considered the question. "Hmm…Maybe a short courier mission to one of the outposts? Or maybe a supply run?" She shrugged as a grin came to her face. "Who knows? Only one way to find out!" She said as she turned and pointed towards the direction the Hokage tower was in. Naruto and Yakumo sighed and even Sai seemed a little disgruntled.

They made to follow Yūgao when she started to walk away, but came to a stop when Yūgao suddenly stopped walking while gazing at the sky. Naruto followed her line of sight and raised an eyebrow when he spotted a bird circling nearby. 'She is being summoned…' Naruto thought to himself.

Yūgao turned back to the three of them with an apologetic smile on her face. "Sorry, but it looks like we won't be getting a mission today, after all. The three of you have the rest of the day off, so spend it how you like!" And with that, she disappeared in a leaf Body Flicker.

They just stared at the spot she disappeared in for a minute. The silence was eventually broken by Yakumo. "What do you think that was about?" She asked her two teammates.

Naruto shrugged. "No idea…"

Sai tilted his head. "She was summoned by the Hokage. So she may have been requested for a specific mission. Or there may be some general mission that requires her attendance." He said.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. 'I wonder if it is the chūnin exams…' Deciding there was no point in just standing around, Naruto turned towards the exit of the training ground. "If we have free time, then I want to use it to meet up with someone." He had been wanting to try and get another spar in with Soifon, but she hardly ever seemed to be around. Because of this, he had taken to dropping by the Urahara shop in the past couple days to see if she was there. Urahara had recently given him the tip that she would probably be stopping by sometime today or tomorrow. Naruto waved at them. "See ya later." And with that, he left.

Streets of Konoha

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha on his way to the Urahara shop. His mind was on the sudden departure of Yūgao. 'While it could be a mission, they would probably have preferred to use some unassigned jōnin before having one that was with a genin team…The more probable solution was that it is some meeting she needs to go to. And that would mean…the chūnin exams.'

"Hey! Let him go!" Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by a shout coming from around the corner up ahead. Deciding to see what the problem was, Naruto hopped onto a nearby rooftop and walked over to the edge so he could see without being immediately spotted. What he saw made him narrow his eyes.

There were nine people within Naruto's line of sight, but he could faintly detect some other people hiding nearby. It seemed that there was a fight on the verge of breaking out. Narumi, Menma, Saito, and Sakura were on one side with a couple of kids behind them.

The first kid was a girl that had orange hair tied up into two large ponytails. She wore a red tank-top over a pink t-shirt that was layered at the bottom. Her pants were grey and she wore traditional shinobi sandals.

The boy next to her had short brown hair and dark eyes that were behind circular glasses. Naruto grimaced at the drip of snot hanging from his nose, but tried to ignore it. He wore a simple blue shirt that was zipped up, a pair of brown pants, and sandals.

Naruto shifted his gaze to the third kid. He had short spiky brown hair and black eyes. There was also a small chip in one of his teeth. He wore a yellow shirt with the Konoha leaf in red, grey shorts, and a long blue scarf.

Naruto was fairly sure that he recognized the last kid as the grandson of the late Third Hokage. But that wasn't what made Naruto narrow his eyes, it was the situation the boy was in. He was being held up by the front of his shirt by a shinobi that Naruto didn't recognize. If not for the situation, Naruto would have been extremely amused by the appearance of the boy.

He wore a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also wore a black hood that completely covered his head, and had cat-like ears along with his forehead protector. He had a triangular face paint design in purple. There was something large on his back that was wrapped in bandages. Judging by his looks, Naruto guessed that the boy was a little older than himself.

Behind him, with an annoyed look on her face, was another shinobi that Naruto didn't recognize.

She had teal eyes and sandy blond hair that she had in four ponytails. She wore a single light purple-colored, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. She had fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, along with a forehead protector around her neck. On her back was a large fan. She looked a little older than Naruto as well.

Naruto looked at their forehead protectors and frowned in thought. 'Suna shinobi…Probably genin here for the chūnin exams. Don't they know how to act in another village?' Naruto tuned back in when the unknown boy spoke up.

"Hey, you brat. That hurt. Why aren't you watching where you are going?" He growled.

Menma took a step forward. "It was an accident, so why don't you let him go, asshole?!"

Saito nodded in agreement with his friend. "He's right. If you put him down now, we can still just walk away without this escalating."

The cat-boy smirked at them. "He ran into me, so I should be the one to decide how this turns out."

The girl behind him sighed in annoyance. "You should stop. We could get in trouble for this…"

The boy shot her an amused look. "You worry too much! They're just a bunch of genin, rookies by the looks of it."

The girl huffed and crossed her arms. "Whatever, remember that I won't be the one to bail you out later."

The boy laughed. "Don't worry, I'll remember. Ouch!" He glared at the boy in his hands who had just kicked him in the side. "You will regret that!" He brought his other hand forward in a fist to strike him. Naruto decided now was the best time to act.

In a blur of movement, Naruto appeared next to the unknown boy with one hand around his wrist and the other holding his blade to his neck. The unknown may not have been going as fast as he could, but he was still really slow… "Not as much as you will if you move another inch." Naruto said. That did the trick of causing the boy to freeze. The girl behind him stared on with wide eyes.

"Nii-chan!"

"Aniki!"

"Naruto!"

"So cool!" The last one caused Naruto to sweat drop a bit. Really now, this wasn't the time for some academy students to be amazed by that. Especially because one of the ones who said it was the one who was about to be hit.

Naruto glared at the boy who he had his sword pressed against. "Drop him. Now." The boy complied. The kid immediately scampered back off to his friends. Seeing that he had released the boy, Naruto released the unknown and stepped back. He sheathed his blade as he did so. Naruto looked between the two foreign shinobi. "Judging by your forehead protectors, you two are from Suna. You are here for the chūnin exams, right?"

The girl had a small blush on her face as she nodded. "Yeah, that's right. We are participating."

Naruto nodded. "That's fine and all, but you should know that isn't how you act in another village. Even if we are allies, that was too much." He shifted his gaze to the tree nearby. "Plus, I don't think that your teammate appreciated it all that much…" The both of them froze when he said this, a look of fear crossing their features. Before anymore could be said, a swirl of sand appeared nearby, with someone standing in it.

It was another boy that appeared. Just by looking at him, Naruto could tell that he was a bit on the shorter side. He had fair skin and short, spiky red hair, and pale blue-green eyes. There also seemed to be some black ring going around his eyes. On his forehead, in a color that made it look a lot like blood, was the kanji for "love." He had on a black full body suit with t-shirt-like sleeves, ¾ length legs, and an open neck. He also wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and left side of his hips, and a wide leather band system the left shoulder and right hip. On his back was a large gourd with a black Suna forehead protector on it.

"G-Gaara…" The girl stuttered out.

"Kankurō, Temari…" They each flinched as he said their names. "You're embarrassments to our village."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'That's a little harsh…' He looked at the other two. 'And why do they seem to be afraid of him?' That was when he felt it.

Darkness.

'What the hell?! What is up with this guy?! How could he have so much darkness? He is obviously covered in it! That amount must be warping his mind!' Naruto thought with wide eyes. But he schooled his expression when Gaara turned back to him.

"I apologize for them. I will make sure that they stay out of the way from now on…" Naruto nodded.

Kankurō tried to speak. "Listen, G-Gaara…"

Gaara turned to him. "Shut up or I'll kill you." Kankurō froze and started to break out into a nervous sweat.

Naruto narrowed his eyes a bit. 'What the hell is up with this guy?' He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It didn't turn into a fight, so everything is fine." He looked back over to the tree. "That means you can come down now, Uchiha."

The others looked back at the tree and were surprised to see Sasuke sitting in a branch. He was frowning at Naruto, but jumped down next to the crimson blond after a moment.

Gaara never even turned to look at the tree. His focus was solely on Naruto. "What is your name?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. And you three are Temari, Kankurō, and Gaara, correct?"

Gaara nodded before looking at Sasuke. "And you? What is your name?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Gaara looked back to Naruto. "Will you be participating in the chūnin exams?"

Naruto shrugged. "The Konoha genin have yet to be notified on whether or not they have been put forward as participants. We should be learning within the next few days."

Gaara nodded again. But a smile that set Naruto on edge soon formed on his face. "I hope you participate, Mother wants your blood."

'Well that isn't creepy at all…' Naruto thought to himself.

Gaara turned back to his siblings. "We're leaving." The other two nodded nervously and followed after him as he walked off.

They remained silent for a minute before Naruto sighed and turned back to the others. "How the heck did you get in a situation like that?" He asked.

Menma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Aniki. We were running around without looking where we were going and Konohamaru bumped into him." He gestured towards the direction the three Suna shinobi walked in. "You saw the result of that."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I did." He looked at the three academy students. "You all right?" He asked.

They nodded with stars in their eyes. They ran up to him and surrounded him. "You were so cool back there!" The girl said. The boys nodding in agreement.

Naruto sweat dropped a bit again. "Thanks, I guess…" He sent a grin at them. "I'm Naruto. Who are you three?"

They got their own grins as they jumped back together. "Who are we?" Konohamaru asked. "I guess we will have to tell you!" They struck a pose.

The girl was the first to speak up. "I'm the hottest girl in the academy. Moegi!" She struck another pose. This caused Naruto to sweat drop.

The boy with the constant snot spoke next. "I love math. Udon!" He also moved into another pose.

'What kind of into is that?'

Konohamaru was the last to speak. "And I'm the best shinobi in the village. Konohamaru!" Another pose was made.

'I seriously doubt that…'

"And together, we're the Konohamaru shinobi squad!" What was with these poses…?

Naruto just stared at them for a minute. Eventually, he realized they were waiting for him to respond. He gave them an uneasy grin. "W-wow…you really blew me away with how amazing that was…" 'How amazingly stupid…'

The three academy students grinned up at him before turning to one another. "I knew it was cool!" Konohamaru said.

The other two nodded in agreement. "We should have never doubted you, Konohamaru!" Moegi said.

Not wanting to stay there any longer with the weird kids, Naruto turned towards the rooftop he had come from. Plus, he needed to figure out what was going on with all that darkness… "Well, it's been fun, but I gotta go!" And with that, he jumped away.

"Ah wait! Oyabun!"

'Like hell I'm gonna stick around any longer. Especially if you three are going to call me that…' He glanced back at the tree. 'Those others never showed themselves, but it looks as if they were merely observing…'

"So? What do you think?"

"Can't say for certain. Too early to tell. But the biggest threats seem to be the redhead from Suna and the kid that had blond and crimson hair from Konoha. We may also need to watch out for the Uchiha, I nearly didn't notice him."

"Tch. I don't see why he is so interested…I mean, the brat doesn't seem li-"

"That isn't our call to make. We do as we are told. Nothing more. Or do you want to go and ask him what his motives are?"

"…"

"That's what I thought."

Urahara Shop

Naruto walked into the Urahara shop at a brisk pace. His mind was still on the encounter with Gaara he just had.

"Ah, Naruto-kun." He looked up and blinked when he saw Soifon sitting behind the register with a magazine in her hand. After a moment, she frowned at him. "Something on your mind?" She asked him.

Naruto hesitated. Should he tell her? He wasn't fully comfortable about telling her about his abilities just yet. He hasn't interacted with her much, but he would trust Urahara's judgement on whether or not she could be trusted. But first, Naruto needed to both head in the back and talk to Urahara, and go to the Station of Awakening to talk to Hikari and Yami. He shrugged at her. "I just need to do something really quick before I get back to you on that." He said.

She raised an eyebrow before nodding and gesturing towards the door that led deeper into the building. "Ok, don't let me stop you."

Naruto nodded and continued on his way. He quickly entered the tea room and found Urahara sitting there again. Urahara raised an eyebrow at Naruto's rushed manner. "What's with the rush, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head as he sat down on a cushion. "Give me a minute. I need to talk to Hikari and Yami before I tell you." Urahara frowned behind his fan but nodded. Naruto closed his eyes.

Station of Awakening

When Naruto opened his eyes again, he was standing in the middle of the Station of Awakening. Hikari and Yami were already in front of him, serious looks on their faces. Naruto nodded at them. "Judging by your expressions, you felt it, too?" He asked them.

Yami snorted. "Of course we did. There was a lot of darkness around that kid. And it was totally uncontrolled, too." She shook her head. "That kid is dangerous. And not just to other people, but to himself."

Naruto frowned. "But what caused it? You said it yourself, it was completely out of control. I don't even think he was aware of it."

Hikari frowned in thought. "If we had to guess…it was probably a bijū." She said.

Naruto's eyes widened. "A bijū? You mean that…"

Yami nodded. "That kid is probably a jinchuriki. And an unstable one, too. The seal he has must be pretty weak, allowing the darkness from the bijū to influence him."

Naruto scowled. "Are you kidding?" He sighed in frustration. "What am I supposed to do about that? If we have an unstable jinchuriki, then he could go off at any moment and hurt everyone around him, right?" He thought back to the fear that Kankurō and Temari showed him. "In fact, I think it has already happened in the past…"

Hikari shook her head. "There is nothing you can do right now. The best course of action is to wait until you have the chance to completely lock the seal."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

Yami rolled her eyes. "Well, what did you think would need to happen? It is obvious that with that amount of darkness, not just anyone would be able to get close to him and seal it." She shook her head. "Nope. The best option would be for you to use your keyblade to lock away the bijū and darkness. Like what you have."

Naruto frowned, but slowly nodded. "I guess you're right…" He sighed again. "Dammit…why can't crap ever be easy?"

"Because then it wouldn't be your life."

Naruto just glared at Yami for that remark.

Urahara Shop

Naruto opened his again to the sight of both Urahara and Soifon sitting in the room and waiting for him to return to consciousness. Naruto sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that…"

Urahara waved him off. "Don't worry about it. It must have been pretty serious if you were acting like that…" Naruto nodded. "Are you willing to share what happened?" Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but paused as he looked over to Soifon. Urahara blinked at him before following his line of sight. An amused smile appeared on his face, which was quickly covered by his fan. "Don't worry about Soifon. I trust her with my life. In fact, there isn't anybody in any world that I trust more."

Naruto looked back at him with a raised eyebrow, but soon nodded his head. "Right, here's what happened…"

One Retelling Later

After giving Soifon a brief summary of light, darkness, his abilities, and the different worlds, Naruto told them what happened when he met the sand trio.

Urahara had a thoughtful look on his face as he fanned himself. "So this Gaara…you're saying that he is a jinchuriki? And that the bijū is corrupting him with darkness?" He asked in clarification.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. The seal on Gaara is very poorly done, making it possible for the bijū to influence him like that." Naruto shook his head. "I wouldn't be surprised if within the next couple months, the darkness completely consumes Gaara. I have no idea how he has managed to last this long."

Soifon frowned. "But you can fix it, right? You are able to completely lock away the bijū and darkness."

Naruto nodded tiredly. For some reason, Soifon had been quick on the uptake and hadn't even needed to ask any questions or clarify on anything. "You're right, I can do that. The only problem is getting close enough to do it. Based on what I saw, Gaara actually thinks that the bijū is his mother…"

Urahara frowned as well. "Yes, that does sound troublesome. You are going to need to get close to Gaara, but he won't be that willing, meaning you will have to defeat him first…"

Naruto scowled. "And that isn't the end of the annoyances…I need to lock the darkness and bijū away with my keyblade…meaning that I need to bring it out. If I don't want it to be exposed to other people, then I will need to be alone with Gaara when I do it. And I will probably need to knock him out so he doesn't know about it, either…"

They sat in silence for a few minutes. After a while, the silence was broken by Urahara as a wide grin stretch across his face. "Well, no point worrying about all that right now!"

Naruto shot him a look. "Well, when should I worry about it, then?"

Urahara shrugged. "I don't know. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Naruto really wanted to punch that grin off his face…

Soifon nodded. "Sounds good to me." What was with these people? Were these really the responsible adults that Naruto had around him? Soifon stood up and sent Naruto a grin. "So, I hear you have been wanting another spar?"

Naruto blinked at her. A grin of his own soon formed on his face. "Yeah, I have been meaning to get a rematch with you…"

Soifon smirked. "Sounds fun. Plus, this time I want to see your abilities when you actually control them, not when you let them go out of control like some kind of amateur."

Her smirk grew when she heard him groan.

Hokage Office (Same Time)

Minato looked around at the assortment of shinobi in front of him. He had called the meeting together a while ago, but they were still waiting for everyone to arrive.

But it wasn't a surprise, really.

"I can't believe you actually tried to be late when you had left your team right away-ttebane!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry won't cut it!" That was all the warning they had before Kakashi Hatake was flung through the open door and onto the floor. The other shinobi in the room had already moved out of the way when they heard the yelling. An angry habanero soon followed him into the room. She looked at her husband. "Sorry I'm late. I went to get him to make sure he showed up on time."

Minato just waved her off with an amused smile on his face. "Don't worry about it. But now that you're here, we can start this meeting."

Kakashi pushed himself onto his feet and walked over to the wall that the other jōnin senseis were at, Kushina a step behind him.

Minato looked around one more time. "I'm sure many of you have already guessed, but this meeting is about the chūnin exams." Murmurs swept throughout the room at that confirmation, but soon stopped as Minato continued speaking. "As I'm sure you all know, we are hosting the next chūnin exams. And they are slated to begin in about a week." He looked around at the shinobi in front of him. "I don't think I need to tell you how important it is that this goes well, especially with all of the foreign dignitaries coming to see it." He was silent for the next few moments. "I will now ask those in charge of the genin if they feel that their teams are ready."

He motioned towards the empty space in front of him. "Let's start with new genin teams. Please step forward and state whether or not your team will be participating." Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Kushina, and Yūgao stepped forward. "Starting from the lowest numbered team, team 7."

Kakashi nodded and stepped forward. "I, Kakashi Hatake, jōnin sensei of team 7, nominate my team for the chūnin exams." Kakashi stepped back as whispers broke out again.

Minato nodded and noted it on a paper he had in front of him. "Team 8." There was silence as they waited for the next team.

Kurenai stepped forward. "I, Kurenai Yūhi, jōnin sensei of team 8, nominate my team for the chūnin exams." More whispers as Kurenai stepped back.

Minato raised an eyebrow. 'I can already see a trend forming…' He motioned towards Asuma. "Team 10."

Asuma stepped forward. "I, Asuma Sarutobi, jōnin sensei of team 10, nominate my team for the chūnin exams." And with that, he stepped back. Off to the side, Iruka's hand was balled into a fist.

Minato looked at his wife. "Team 11." This was it. Kushina did as he requested and started to test Narumi and Menma over the past month and a half, but he didn't know whether or not she would allow them to enter. He knew she was still against it, but he had faith she would be fair about it.

Kushina stepped forward with a conflicted look on her face. "I, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze, jōnin sensei of team 11…" She paused and seemed to be fighting with herself. After a moment, she sighed as her shoulders slumped. "…nominate my team for the chūnin exams."

Minato smiled at her. He knew how much she must have hated to say that, but she still did it. He looked over to Yūgao. "Team 12."

Yūgao stepped forward as Kushina stepped back. "I, Yūgao Uzuki, jōnin sensei of team 12, nominate my team for the chūnin exams." Kushina seemed to slump her shoulder even more at that as Yūgao stepped back.

"Wait a moment!" Everyone looked over to Iruka. "You can't be serious! Five rookie teams entering the chūnin exams? That's too much. There is no way they are ready!" He said.

Minato sent his wife a look. She sighed and nodded before turning to Iruka. "Iruka-kun…" She began, getting his attention. "They are ready."

Iruka shook his head. "They only became genin a little ago, they can't already be ready for this."

Kushina sighed again. "I would normally agree with you…but not this time. I tested my team viciously over the past month and a half, and they have showed me that they are ready for this. I am sure the others have done the same."

Yūgao nodded. "I haven't told my team this, but I have been having them do high-chūnin to low-jōnin training exercises." Shock spread throughout the room at this. "They hate me for it, but they always manage to complete the exercises."

Kakashi joined in. "Well…I haven't had my team do anything quite that tough…but I'm sure they are also ready for this." He said. Asuma and Kurenai nodded in agreement.

Iruka looked helplessly between the five of them. After a minute, his shoulder slumped and he nodded. "I'm sorry, you're right. I should trust your judgement more."

Minato nodded. "Well then, teams 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12 will be entering. I will now ask the older genin team leaders…"

There we go! All done with Chapter 20!

For some inexplicable reason, I cannot spell exercise. I keep on putting "excersize" or "excersise." In my head, there is a c after the x. I have done this in every chapter where I have the word, but still cannot remember the correct spelling.

I have noticed I do this, but I haven't cared. I switch between "kenjutsu," "sword skills," "sword battle," and so on…I don't really stick with one way to say it and use whatever I feel like using at the time. Should I pick one and stick with it from now on? Or does nobody really care?

The reason that Naruto was able to detect the darkness around Gaara and not the one around his parents was because of how obvious and potent it was. There was nothing hiding it and it was absolutely covering Gaara.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!

Until next time,

Kog6943