And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 22!
Wow. Over 300 follows and 200 reviews. That is pretty awesome. Thanks guys.
I actually started to write this thing on my phone when I have time in between class. This usually happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It sucked at first, but I got over it soon enough. An actual computer is still best, of course.
I don't like this chapter very much. Just a bunch of things about it bother me. From the fights to the dialogue.
LordGhostStriker: I like the way you think.
prototype gear: The worlds are for the most part undecided right now. I only have like 3 or 4 in mind at the moment with only 1 that will be used. I do know though, that I will not be sticking with only Disney worlds. I may put 1 or 2 in, but they won't all be Disney. Once we get closer to the Kingdom Hearts story, I will probably start asking for some suggestions.
buterflypuss: Did I? I promise that it was unintentional if I did.
Drakon45: :P
Guest: I'm not saying! :P
StormDriver: Yeah, it is intentional. I think that darkness is something that is harder to control than light, so I have it this way. He is meant to have some trouble controlling it.
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
Last Updated: 1/17/19 (Removed some stuff to improve quality)
"I hope my expectations for you prove to be correct, Naruto-kun."
Play One-Winged Angel – Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX Extended
"I thought I told you to shut up!" Naruto lunged at the genin to get a cut in, but was easily dodged. Using Naruto's momentum against him, the Kusa genin grabbed his arm and hurled him towards a nearby tree. Naruto managed to regain his balance in midair and spin around so that his feet landed on the trunk of the tree.
"Naruto, wait!" Naruto ignored the calls of his friends and went back in to continue the fight.
The Kusa genin had a smile on his face as he danced around Naruto's strikes. "Come now, Naruto-kun. You're going to need to try harder than that if you want to be able to do anything to me…" He sent a kick at Naruto's midsection, sending him flying.
"Tch!" This guy was seriously tough! It was obvious that Naruto was just being toyed with. Naruto closed the distance again and went for a slice from the slide, only for it to prove to be a feint. But this was easily blocked as well.
This pattern continued for the next few minutes with Naruto not getting any closer to landing a hit. The grin on the Kusa genin's face was present throughout the entire ordeal, and it was pissing Naruto off more and more! "I must say, Naruto-kun. You really are skilled with a sword. I'm almost tempted to bring out my own blade to fight you with." Another blow sent the crimson blond flying again.
The next time that they were in close contact, the Kusa genin spent it deflecting and blocking all of Naruto's strikes as he analyzed Naruto's combat style. "I can't say I recognize your techniques. There is a nice balance of speed and power that fits your style and size. It is too refined to not have been taught to you, but I do not think it is Konoha in origin…" The genin shook his head, grin still in place. "But regardless, I do wish you would stop using your sword to fight me. I am much more interested in your jutsu and other techniques…" He caught Naruto's arm and threw him away again.
Naruto growled as he landed. He crouched low to get in close again, but was stopped when something stood in his way. He glared at who it was. "Out of the way!"
Misa glared back and hit him over the head. "No way in hell! Do you even realize that all you are doing is charging in recklessly against an unknown opponent?! Calm the heck down, you moron!"
Naruto stared at her with wide eyes. After a moment, he took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right, sorry." He stood up and they both turned to face the Kusa genin. 'I need to be more careful. I can feel the darkness receding from my thoughts, it must have influenced me a bit again…That was a really stupid thing for me to do.' He looked at Misa from the corner of his eye. "Thanks for getting me to calm down."
She smirked at him. "No problem."
Sai, Yakumo, Wataru, and Ikusa landed around them. "Have you calmed down yet, idiot?" Sai asked.
Naruto normally would have retaliated with his own remark, but knew he didn't have the right to because he was acting stupid just a moment ago. "Yeah. Sorry about that."
Ikusa grinned. "Well, now that we are all on the same page, we can kick this guy's ass!"
"Don't forget about us-ttebasa!" They turned to see Narumi and Menma landing next to them. Naruto frowned at them. His frown deepened when he saw how fatigued they were already.
"No way. You two stay out of this. You are both hurt. Just leave this to us."
Narumi glared at her older brother. "Not happening, baka-nii. We are going to stay here and help you fight this freak." Her glare morphed into a grin. "With all of us here, there is no way he will stand a chance-ttebane!"
"I'm sorry, but I have no interest in the rest of you." Before they could even react, everybody but Naruto was sent away when an identical copy of the Kusa genin appeared in the center of their group.
Naruto whirled around to face the direction they were sent in. "You guys!" Bam! A punch to his cheek floored him.
"You still have me to play with, Naruto-kun. Let my clone take care of your friends…But I would hurry. Knowing myself, I cannot guarantee their continued health for that much longer."
Naruto crouched low in preparation for another strike. "What do you want from me?" He demanded.
The Kusa genin tilted his head. "I have already told you what I wanted. I wish for you to show me that special jutsu you used in the Land of Waves."
'The twilight blast? Like hell I would use that…I shouldn't even have used it back in the Land of Waves…'
"I wonder what it will take to get you to show me…" Naruto felt chills go down his spine at the tone in the genin's voice. "…Perhaps to save the lives of your friends?"
Naruto glared. "Don't use them as blackmail!" He engaged the enemy in combat again. Naruto dodged the punch to his chest sent his way by flipping over the Kusa genin. He then whirled around and sent a slash at the exposed back.
"That's enough of that." Naruto stared wide eyed at the sight before him. The Kusa genin actually caught the blade in between his index and middle fingers! The Kusa genin's other hand quickly shot out to grab at the handle of the blade and yanked it out of Naruto's hands. Before the crimson blond could even react, another powerful kick to the chest sent him into another tree. "I grow tired of this, Naruto-kun." Crack! Naruto could only watch as his sword was shattered and dropped to the ground before his eyes. "Now let's see you fight without your blade!" This time, the Kusa genin was the one that rushed in to continue the fight.
'Shit!' Naruto rolled out of the way of the strike that came at him. Naruto sprung back up to his feet and sent a kick to the enemy. Naruto's leg was blocked and another punch came at him. Naruto raised his own arms to block the strike. Feeling the weight behind the blow, Naruto grit his teeth. 'He is really strong!' Refusing to let the pain get to him, Naruto raised a hand. "Fire!" A fireball shot out and hit the surprised genin in the chest, causing him to go stumbling back.
He raised a hand to his chest where the fireball hit, another grin slowly appearing on his face. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you, Naruto-kun? I must admit, you caught me off guard with that." He crouched low. "But do not expect it to happen again!" He thrust his hands forward. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
'Freaking snakes?!' Naruto jumped to the side to avoid the snakes that suddenly shot out of the Kusa genin's sleeves. "Fire!" More fireballs were created, only to be dodged. Deciding to change it up a bit to try and catch him off guard, Naruto thrust out his hand again. "Thunder!" A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the genin, only for him to fade away into mud. 'Wha-' Bam! The ground made its acquaintance with Naruto again due to the punch that came from his side.
"Another jutsu without hand seals? And one of another element? I see that my interest in you was well deserved, Naruto-kun." A shake of the head. "But still, that is not what I wish to see." The grin grew. "It is obvious to me that you are reluctant to show me what I want, so I will have to use other means to…persuade you." His eyes shifted to the side. "Maybe your siblings are the key to getting you to comply?"
Naruto's entire body froze. 'Narumi. Menma.' Naruto glared at him. "Leave them out of this. I'm the one you're so interested in." The wind was starting to pick up again.
The sadistic amusement was growing in those yellow, snake-like eyes. "You're right, you are the one I am interested in the most." He shook his head. "But you are being too uncooperative. I must resort to other methods. I have always been interested in the longevity of the Uzumaki clan. It is even more interesting as they are both hold half of a bijū." A pause. "They would make wonderful test subjects."
The wind was picking up around Naruto as his eyes began to glow. "Never…I will never let that happen…" He said quietly.
The Kusa genin chuckled in response. "Oh? And do you really think you would be able to stop me? If this was all you are capable of, then I'm afraid that you should just flee now while you can. Don't worry, I will ensure that your siblings survive at least six months before their bodies give out."
Naruto growled. "Shut. Up!" He lunged at the Kusa genin with newfound speed! The taller genin seemed surprised at the new speed, for he was unable to react quickly enough to get out of the way. Wham! A punch to his face sent him hurtling away into the air. Not letting him have a chance to recover, Naruto's form blurred away in a burst of speed. The crimson blond was able to get in above the Kusa genin and delivered a kick that sent him plummeting into the ground. A plume of smoke exploded out at the point of impact.
Naruto jumped onto a branch above the impact area. "You wanted to see it so bad? Well here it is!" As he thrust both of his hands forward, a beam of energy shot out. It was identical to the one that Naruto used on the bridge in the Land of Waves. Boom! The sound of an explosion rang out.
End Music
Naruto panted a bit as he leaned forward with his hands on his knees. "I really hope I got him with that…" He muttered.
"I'm afraid your hopes will go unanswered, Naruto-kun…" Naruto whirled around to face the source of the voice. The sight before him made him grit his teeth. The bastard was just standing there! The grin on his face grew to new levels as a strange glint appeared in his eyes. "That was wonderful, Naruto-kun. It was just as I thought, you are able to use both light and darkness…"
Naruto froze.
"What?" He did not just say that, did he? How could he know about those?!
Play Orochimaru's Full Theme
"Kukuku…Did you truly believe that you would be the only person to know about those?" He chuckled again. "No, it is not that simple." The Kusa genin tilted his head as he observed Naruto. "I always thought that you would have some sort of affinity to darkness…But to learn that you can use light as well…You have me very interested, Naruto-kun."
Naruto was frozen in place as his mind raced. 'What does he mean by that? How could he expect me to have an affinity for darkness? And how does he even know about light and darkness? What else does he know?'
"Be careful, Naruto-kun. Your mind is as open as a book right now…" He tilted his head the other way. "You are obviously wondering how I know about light and darkness." The grin grew as Naruto flinched. "Well, I guess I could tell you…" The genin began walking in a circle with Naruto at the center.
"You see, I consider myself a curious person. My goal is to learn everything that there is to learn. This of course means that I need to experiment." An annoyed frown flashed across his face. "Although many experiments result in failure…" The grin quickly came back. "But I learn from those mistakes and expand my knowledge on them."
Naruto finally shook himself out of his stupor and glared. "I don't care about any of that. Your life story holds no value to me."
"Kukuku. Patience, Naruto-kun. I am getting to the part that will interest you. One of the topics of my research was of the heart." He shook his head. "I actually came upon this area of research by mistake. I had been intending to look into the synchronization between body and soul to see how well a soul could change bodies." His eyes never left Naruto. "This led me to the discovery of the heart and how it is made up of light and darkness, and of course, its uses."
Naruto's eyes went wide. 'This better not go to where I think it's going…'
"I'm not sure how much you know about the power you have been using, Naruto-kun. But allow me to touch upon the basics that my research revealed to me. Each heart is made up of light and darkness. Using some test subjects, I was able to determine that this is true for everyone. However, it also led me to another conclusion. Do you know what that is?" He paused for a moment. "I came to the conclusion that it is nearly impossible to be able to hold light and darkness in even amounts." He leaned forward. "Until I heard about you."
'Oh shit.'
"While it is true that the energy beam you shot at me had a bit more darkness than light in it, I believe that was due to your anger. But what would happen if you were in a controlled environment? I am willing to believe that you would have a much greater amount of control over the two halves." He shook his head with a sigh, but the smile never left his face. "I myself have yet been able to accomplish such a feat. I haven't even been able to use light yet."
Naruto's blood ran cold. The way he said it made it sound as if…
An amused light entered the yellow eyes again as he stopped walking. "Ah, I see you understand…" A wind was starting to pick up around the Kusa genin. "While I am unable to use light, I find darkness rather simple to call forward…" A purplish-black aura was starting to form around him.
Naruto could only stare in horror as he watched this happen. 'He…He really can control darkness…'
The aura faded. "As you saw, I am able to control the darkness to a degree, but not yet to the level I am satisfied with. As I am able to only use darkness for now, that is where I centered the next stage of my research…And what I made wonderful discoveries with it." The grin turned feral. "Allow me to show you one of them." The aura returned and he raised his arms.
Naruto stared as pools of darkness formed in multiple spots in between them. Naruto's eyes grew to new proportions when he saw what was coming out of them. "Heartless…" Naruto whispered.
From each of the pools of darkness emerged a heartless. Naruto was able to spot some of the shadow ant ones he fought as well as another kind that was standing on two legs with some kind of helmet on its head.
The Kusa genin tilted his head again. "Heartless?" A chuckle escaped his mouth. "What an interesting name, but very fitting. I think I will use that name from now on."
'What the hell does this creep think he's doing?! All he is doing is attracting the heartless to this world!' Naruto crouched again as he took in his surroundings. There were now heartless on each side of him. "Do you really think you can control them? The darkness will consume you."
"Kukuku. Thank you for worrying so much about me, Naruto-kun. But I must insist that I am being very careful." He snapped his fingers. The heartless instantly began to circle Naruto as if they were waiting for that signal. "While the darkness is a very dangerous thing, I am confident that I will be able to prevent it from consuming me."
"And if you're wrong? If it starts consuming you without you even noticing?"
"I'm willing to take the risk." He spread his arms out towards the heartless. "Just look at them. My discoveries concerning the heart has unlocked so many things for me to research! There is so much potential here!" He paused as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Although I am curious to how well the heartless perform in battle. I have yet to test it." The sadistic grin came back. "Won't you help me find out, Naruto-kun? And be sure to show me more of your abilities..." He snapped his fingers.
End Music. Switch to Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix – Deep End
'Incoming!' Naruto was forced to jump onto a branch above him in order to avoid all of the heartless that suddenly lunged at him. He quickly pulled out some kunai and launched them at the closest heartless. He struck one, causing it to dissolve into darkness as a heart was released, but the other melted into the ground.
Naruto rolled to the side as another soldier tried to flank him. "Fire!" The fireball managed to strike the soldier, dispelling it. "Gah!" He swore internally when he felt claws dig into his back.
Naruto whirled around and delivered a kick to the offending heartless. Three other shadow ants jumped at him from each side, forcing Naruto to quickly do a handstand and swirl around with his legs outstretched, kicking them away.
While he was still in this position, a soldier came at him from his front with its claw outstretched and Naruto pushed off from the ground with his hands to get out of the way. Back flipping onto a tree trunk that he stuck to with chakra, Naruto thrust both his hands out. "Thunder!" He had no time to celebrate the demise of more heartless as another grew from the tree to swipe at him.
A little ways away, the Kusa genin watched the scene with his arms crossed. "Kukuku. It would seem that Naruto-kun may have some experience fighting them in the past. He has yet to be completely caught off guard by any of them." His gaze shifted to where the other group of genin were fighting his clone. "I wonder how people who have never seen them before would fare..." With the grin still present, he snapped his fingers and more heartless formed around him. He pointed at the other group. "Go on."
With The Others
Sai grunted as he was kicked in the side again. Rolling to his feet, he raised his tantō to meet his attacker, only to meet nothing but air.
"Come now. This can't be all of you can do." A blow to the back of his head sent Sai stumbling forward into the ground.
Sai struggled for a moment to push himself to his feet. 'We are severely outclassed. We should retreat as soon as possible.' Glancing around, Sai saw the others also having some difficulty standing.
"Oh? It would seem that the original has decided to give you someone else to play with. Do try to perform better than you did with me." The clone then dissolved into a pile of mud.
"Sai, look out!" Heeding the warning, Sai dove to the side. He was just fast enough to dodge the claw that slashed at where his head was a moment ago. Sai jumped back to where the others were standing back to back in a circle as more of the creatures appeared.
"Any idea what these things are?" Misa asked.
Yakumo shook her head. "I have no idea. I have never seen them before." The others voiced similar thoughts.
"We can figure that out later! Here they come!"
Back With Naruto
"Thunder!" Naruto was panting as he destroyed another heartless. 'I'm not sure how much longer I will last...' He tensed as he saw more heartless come closer. But when they didn't attack, he grew confused.
"You have been providing me with a wonderful performance, Naruto-kun." Naruto spun around to glare at the Kusa genin who had appeared behind him. "But I am afraid that I must be on my way now. I am sure that by his point, other parties have noticed my presence."
Naruto glared harder. "What was the point of you coming here? Why would you do whatever it is you did to Uchiha and then push me until you were satisfied?"
"Kukuku. I have already told you the reason why I pushed you as I did. And I met with Sasuke-kun to share something with him that he might find interesting." He shook his head. "It is truly a pity. I would have loved to extend the same courtesy to you as I did to him, but that would probably ruin the whole point of being able to use both light and darkness." The Kusa genin began to melt into the ground.
"Wait!" Naruto tried to rush forward to stop him, but was stopped by a few heartless jumping in his way. "Out of the way!"
The genin chuckled. "Should you really be so concerned about me when your friends are in trouble, Naruto-kun? Not everyone is as prepared to fight heartless as you are..."
"What?!" Naruto's head snapped around. He froze when he saw that the others were trying to hold off the swarm of heartless around them. But it was obvious that they were fighting a losing battle.
"But of course, you will first need to get past your own enemies." The Kusa genin chuckled. "Goodbye, Naruto-kun. I do look forward to meeting you again in the future." And with those final words, he was gone.
"Damn it!" Naruto cut down another heartless with a kunai. "I don't have time for any of you!" His anger with the entire situation was growing. From the initial stupidity he showed, to the enemy getting away, it all piled up. "I said..." An aura picked up around Naruto as his eyes glowed two different colors. "Get. Lost!" Boom! The rest of the heartless attacking him were wiped out with that attack.
Naruto took a moment to try and catch his breath. "Gyah!" He froze when he heard that shout of pain.
"You guys!" Naruto sped off towards the others. They would be overrun at any moment! He pushed himself to his fastest speeds in order to get to them in time. "Shit!" He cursed when he saw that they were backed against a tree and too fatigued to defend any longer. His heart froze when he saw that the heartless all crouched to attack together.
'I need to do something, now!' They were going to be torn apart with that number of heartless attacking! 'I don't have a choice anymore!'
With The Others
"Any of you have any ideas?" Misa asked the others tiredly, only to slump when she only got negatives in return. She narrowed her eyes when she saw the creatures crouch again. "Well, then I guess we need to call out a miracle..." She tensed as the creatures jumped at them. Knowing that they wouldn't be able to stop this attack, she closed her eyes.
"Shadowbreaker!"
Her eyes snapped back open as she heard that shout. But she was unable to see anything when her vision was drowned in a sea of purplish-black aura, destroying most of the enemies, before a second silvery-white slash followed it and destroyed the rest. Her mouth dropped a bit when she saw who was in the center of the two slashes.
End Music
"Naruto?" She asked weakly.
Naruto stood in front of them with his gripping some strange weapon. It kind of looked like a key...
It had a checkered handle that went from black to white and had a black guard. The blade was a silvery-white color that came into a pointed tip before it suddenly changed direction back down. They key part of it was made up of black and white spikes. The keychain was silver and ended in an x shaped emblem. On the guard was a silver heart that had a crown on top of it.
After glaring around for a minute to see if any other heartless would appear, Naruto released a deep breath and slumped. After a moment, he turned to the rest of them. "You guys alright?" He asked.
Misa nodded numbly as she stared at the blade. She was at a complete loss at what to say. Menma was the first to recover. "That was awesome, Aniki!" He bounced over to Naruto. "You totally just destroyed all of those things like it was nothing-ttebasa!"
Narumi was quick to join her siblings. "He's right, nii-chan! I can't believe how easy you made it look to get rid of those things!"
An uncomfortable look crossed Naruto's face as he scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, I guess...but I'm pretty sure I just got lucky against those things."
"But what were they?" They looked over to Yakumo as she walked up to join them. "They didn't even look like any animals I've ever seen. And whenever we did manage to kill one, it would just dissolve into that dark stuff."
'Better think fast, Naruto. There is no way you are gonna explain the concepts of heartless to them. And forget about light and darkness.' Naruto thought to himself. "I have no clue. I'm just glad they are gone." By now, the others had joined them.
Misa looked at him. "Thanks to you. We were about to be toast." She grinned at him. "You were just in time with that attack." A curious look appeared on her face. "...But...What exactly was it? You shot some stuff out of your weapon and it completely destroyed them." She frowned in thought. "And on that subject, what the heck is that you're holding?"
Naruto groaned internally. He really did not want to talk about this. He held up his keyblade. "This is just something that came into my possession a while ago. It is some kind of blade, but designed to be a key. It is extremely effective despite its shape. When that freak destroyed my sword, I had to use this." No lies were told.
Misa raised an eyebrow. "Ok, and that stuff you shot out of it as you attacked?"
He had to think carefully before he responded. "I'm...not sure what to tell you. I just acted on instinct." Which was partially true...
Wataru was the next person to speak. "Where did it even come from? I know you had your black sword on you at all times, but what about this thing?"
'No getting around this one...' With a sigh, Naruto dismissed his keyblade, causing the others to gasp in surprise when it suddenly vanished in a flash of silvery-white and purplish-black. "I found out that I can summon it and dismiss it if I try. I'm not sure how that works. I would really appreciate it if you guys would keep this to yourselves. I don't want people to know I have it." He was relieved to see them nod.
Narumi was bouncing up and down out of excitement. "That is so cool-ttebane! I want one of those!"
This reaction made Naruto sweat drop. 'That's not the reaction I was expecting...' Before they could question him any further, Naruto turned to Yakumo. "What happened to team 7?" He asked her.
The others quickly adopted serious faces when this was brought up. "Sakura-san is with Sasuke-san in a clearing near here. I have no idea where Saito-san is." She said.
Naruto frowned. "Ok. I think we should go meet up with Haruno and Uchiha. Narumi, Menma, can you send out Shadow Clones to the nearby area to try and find Saito?"
"Sure thing."
"You got it."
"Cool." Naruto cast a sad look at the shattered remains of his sword. With a sigh, he picked it up before sealing it and the sheath away before turning back to the others. "Let's get going." And with that, they left the area.
Clearing
When they got to the clearing, they were treated with the sight of Sakura whirling around to see who had appeared. The pink haired girl let out of sigh of relief when she saw it was them. "Thank kami you're here! You have to help Sasuke-kun! I have no idea what that freak did to him!"
Naruto sighed and walked over to the downed Uchiha. Sakura had laid him down under the cover of a hollowed out tree. Although Naruto could not see any obvious wounds, the Uchiha looked to be in a great amount of pain. There was even a layer of sweat on his forehead. "He was fine until that guy bit him, right?"
Sakura nodded tearfully. "Yes. At first it seemed like Sasuke-kun was winning the fight, but then that other genin just stood back up like it was nothing before biting him."
Naruto scowled and crouched down next to Sasuke. Looking closer, Naruto was able to spot some kind of strange mark on the side of Sasuke's neck. A growl nearly escaped his throat when he detected faint traces of darkness coming from it.
'I don't think I can do anything about this. I can already tell this is pretty up there in complexity, and I'm not sure that simply injecting light will counter it. That isn't something I would like to test on him.' Naruto looked to Sakura. "The best thing we can do for now is protect him and hope it blows over."
She seemed to tear up a bit more before nodding. "Right...Did you find Saito?"
Naruto shifted his gaze to his siblings. Menma shook his head. "None of my clones have popped, so no luck with me."
Narumi nodded. "Same her-" She paused for a moment before looking off to the side. "One of my clones found him. He's unconscious, but fine. Another clone is bringing him here now." Hearing that small piece of good news sent a rush of relief through Sakura.
The Haruno hung her head. "I feel so useless. I wasn't able to do anything the entire time. I couldn't help Saito when he was blown away, and I couldn't even move out of fear when that genin appeared..."
Narumi slung an arm around her shoulder. "Don't think about it too much, you guys were caught off guard. And that genin was on a whole other level. None of us were even able to touch him."
"That doesn't matter! I should have been able to do more than just standing there like some kind of dead weight!" Sakura shook her head. "It won't happen again! I will stand and fight next time!"
This declaration made the red headed female grin. "That sounds like an awesome plan. If you need a training partner, just tell me! I'd be happy to help!"
The group turned when an identical copy of Narumi landed in the clearing carrying a knocked out Saito. The original nodded to the clone. "Put him down next to Sasuke." While that was happening, Narumi turned to the others. "So what's the plan from here?" She asked.
This set some of the others on guard. They were in the middle of the chūnin exams and they were meant to be enemies right now.
"Is anyone opposed to the idea of all of us working together?" Wataru asked.
Yakumo quirked an eyebrow. "All of us working together? That would mean that we would need to gather a total of four scrolls."
"Three." All eyes went to Narumi as she grinned. She reached into her pouch and pulled out two scrolls. "We already have both of them."
Some jaws dropped at this. "How did you already get both of them? It's only the first day!" Misa questioned.
"We just spammed clones until we found another team. After that, we ambushed them and took their scroll." Menma's grin mirrored his sister's. "Lucky for us, they had an earth scroll while we had a heaven scroll."
Sai tilted his head. "Then why would you be willing to help us? And why give out such sensitive information when we can betray you?"
"Because we're friends!" Sai blinked at the response that Menma gave him.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I think it would be a good idea for all of us to work together. We should set up base here and wait for Uchiha and Saito to wake up before heading for the tower to cut off any other teams." He looked around. "Everyone fine with that plan?" No objections were made. "Cool. Then let's decide the order of the night shift."
Hokage's Office
"What the hell do you mean Orochimaru is in the village?" Minato was glaring at the chūnin in front of him. But his anger was not directed at the chūnin, but instead at the fact that the snake traitor managed to sneak into the village.
"Sir, Anko Mitarashi has confirmed it upon seeing the remains of three Kusa genin. She instructed us to immediately inform you while she went in pursuit." Minato swore under his breath.
"Does that mean that bastard is in that forest with the genin?!" A furious Tsunade asked. The chūnin swallowed before shakily nodding his head. Tsunade whirled around to face Minato. "Anko won't be able to handle that! Let me go after him!"
Minato's mind races as he thought over his choices. He could only count himself as lucky that Kushina wasn't there because she was at the tower with the other jōnin who had a squad. "Go. But your main mission is to make sure that this doesn't get any worse. Do not go out of your way to pursue him." Tsunade nodded before speeding out of the room.
Forest of Death (The Next Day)
It was now early in the morning and the only person who was awake was Naruto. He was sitting on a log in the clearing while everybody else was sleeping in the hollowed out tree. His mind was going over the battle with the Kusa genin. He couldn't get over the fact that the guy had been able to use darkness and summon heartless. But even worse than that...
'I was completely toyed with right from the start!' The Kusa genin had been whole leagues ahead of Naruto in strength. And to top it off, Naruto had let his emotions cloud his judgement for a while. He had rushed in like an idiot and acted recklessly until the others snapped him out of it. With a sigh, Naruto moved his mind to the next subject that was bothering him.
That guy was able to use darkness.
'This is a serious problem. If he can use darkness and summon the heartless, then things are going to pick up quickly. I have no idea how long he has been able to summon heartless, but he will start to attract more and more to this world…' Naruto scowled. 'The world is in danger now. The heartless are aware of it.' He wished he was able to talk to Hikari and Yami, but he didn't want to risk entering the Station of Awakening in such a dangerous environment. There was a chance they could be attacked at any moment. Suddenly, Naruto shifted his gaze to the side as he detected some presences. 'I jinxed that.'
"You obviously noticed us. You are pretty aware of your surroundings, that's good." Naruto watched as those three Oto genin from before the first chūnin exams walked into the clearing. "But I should get to the point of why we are here." The one with bandages was the one who was speaking. "You mind waking up the Uchiha? We would like to fight him."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry to say this, but you have wasted your time. Uchiha is currently resting." He looked at each of them. "You're pretty brave to attack us with such few numbers, aren't you?" He looked up into the trees. "Or are you guys working with them?"
Standing in the trees above them were six boys. It was obvious that they were two separate teams as there were two sets of matching outfits being used between them. One team was wearing black and grey jumpsuits, had an oxygen tank on their legs, and kasa hats. The other team was also wearing jumpsuits, but yellow, and each of them had rebreathers over their mouths along with bandages wrapped around their eyes. All six of them had Ame forehead protectors.
One of the ones without the rebreather smirked. "They proposed an interesting suggestion. One that we were willing to agree to." He studied Naruto. "You are Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, correct?" Naruto nodded. "Good. You see, we heard about what you did to Aoi Rokushō." The smirk turned into a glare. "We wanted to see how tough the genin who managed to beat him is."
"I think he just underestimated me, really." Naruto said with a shrug.
"That may be so, but we are still curious."
"Enough of this!" The Oto genin with the kanji on his shirt yelled. "Let's just kill them already!"
The bandaged Oto genin glared at him. "Enough, Zaku. Do not simply go rushing in without a plan. They still outnumber us a bit."
The boy named Zaku glared back. "Like hell that matters. The pink haired girl is totally weak and a lot of them are injured! It's easy pickings, Dosu!"
Naruto smirked. "Are you so sure about that?"
"What?" Zaku growled.
"Look down." The boy did so and was startled to see black snakes circling around him.
"What the hell?!" He was about to jump away, but before he could, the snakes lunged at him and constricted around him. His teammates managed to move out of the way in time.
"You should always be aware of your surroundings, as your teammate said." A voice said. They turned to see Sai standing there.
Naruto nodded at him. "Nice one."
One of the Ame genin titled his head. "Were you not sleeping with the others?"
"Oh he was." The Ame genin teams whirled around to see where the voice came from. They were surprised to see Misa and her team standing there along with Narumi and Menma. "We were all asleep. Naruto woke us up."
Zaku growled more as he tried to free himself from the ink snakes. "When did he do that?! He was standing here the entire time!"
The crimson blond shrugged. "Clones are pretty useful."
"It's your own fault for getting caught so easily." The female Oto genin said.
"Shut up, Kin!" He struggled some more. "Why won't the freaking things come off?!"
"I suggest you stop struggling. They will only tighten their hold on you if you do not." Sai advised. Zaku ignored him and continued to struggle, only to scream in pain a moment later when the hold tightened. "You really are stupid."
Acting quickly, Dosu used a kunai to cut the snakes off of Zaku, forcing them to revert to puddles of ink. "Enough, stick to the plan." Seething with rage, Zaku nodded.
Menma snorted. "Why don't you guys just give up now? It will save us all some time."
"Nah, this is a lot more fun." Wham! Menma was caught off guard by the sudden punch to the side of his face that came from one of the Ame genin wearing a jumpsuit. Menma back flipped away and looked back to see his attacker.
"What? But you were…" He looked back at the group of Ame genin, only to see that the three jumpsuit wearing ones dissolve into water. "Great. Clones…"
"Indeed." Numerous clones formed all around them. "Now you are the ones who are outnumbered."
Narumi smirked. "Oh yeah? I wouldn't be so sure…" She formed a hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Clones of her popped into existence. Menma quickly followed her lead. "This evens things up a bit, doesn't it?" And without any further words, she and Menma attacked the enemy.
"I guess that means you three are left for us!" Ikusa said as he and his team attacked the other Ame team.
"Tch! Just get out of the way! We only want the other guy!" One of the Ame genin said.
Misa smirked. "Now, now. It isn't very fair of you to gang up on him, is it? Plus if you really want to get to him so badly, then just get through us!"
Kin smirked at Naruto and Sai. "And what about you two? Are you planning to fight the three of us by yourselves? Just get out of the way. We only want to fight the Uchiha."
Naruto frowned at them. "Why do you want to fight the Uchiha so much? Is there a reason you are specifically targeting him?"
Zaku smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know? If you wanna figure out the reason so much, just beat it out of us!" He thrust his hands forward, causing a blast of wind to be sent at them.
"Move!" Naruto and Sai both dove to the sides to get out of the way. 'Wind release?! And no hand seals?!' After the blast of air passed him, Naruto thrust his own hand forward. "Fire!" 'I don't have my sword anymore and I don't want to reveal my keyblade to anyone else. Magic and normal combat it is!'
"Shit!" Zaku although caught off guard, was able to jump out of the way of the fireball.
"Careful! He still has techniques he can use without his sword!" Dosu shouted as he rushed forward to meet Naruto. He brought his arm forward in a punch.
Naruto's first instinct was to block the punch and counter it, but he instead chose to dodge to the side before kicking him away.
The bandage wearing Oto genin spun around and got into a battle stance. "Oh? You know the proper way to avoid my attack?"
Naruto smirked. "I remember what you did back before the first test. I'm not sure how you did it, but I know that I need to keep at least some distance between myself and your arm."
"Hmm. Good deduction. But that won't be enough!" This statement was punctuated by Kin tossing senbon at them from the side. While Naruto dodged them, Sai deflected the ones aimed at him with his tantō.
Dosu used this opportunity to get in close to Naruto again to get a hit in. Naruto was only able to move out of the way at the last second because of the onslaught of senbon.
A wave of nausea coursed through Naruto was he dodged that time. 'I let him get too close…I feel like crap.' Ignoring the feeling that he was about to throw up, Naruto sent a counter at Dosu's chest.
"Gah!" Dosu stumbled back from the blow, but Naruto wasn't going to give him time to recover. He rushed in to follow and sent more strikes at the Oto genin. Dosu was eventually able to break away and gain some distance, only to be assaulted by an ink lion.
"Decapitating Air Waves!" Naruto jumped out of the way as another blast of air struck where he was just standing.
'That guy is obviously a long range fighter. Let's see how he does when I get in close!' Naruto rushed at Zaku. The Oto genin's eyes widened at the sight of his opponent rushing him. He quickly threw his arms up to shoot more blasts of air at Naruto, but each one of them was dodged. "Thunder!" Not expecting something other than a fireball, Zaku didn't was too surprised to dodge the bolt of lightning that stuck him.
Naruto used this chance to land some more chakra powered attacks. His final punch sent Zaku into the tree behind him. Naruto panted a bit as Zaku slowly pushed himself up to his feet. 'He is weak, but stubborn. He doesn't want to stay down.' Jingle! He then ducked as another volley of senbon came at his head. 'What's the point of attaching the bells?'
Naruto deflected the next wave of senbon with a kunai. As he did so, he noticed that these didn't have bells. After he deflected them all, he threw the kunai at Kin, making her dodge. When she looked back at him, she was shocked to see that he was already upon her. Wham!
She flipped back after receiving the punch to her face. "Just give it up. Neither you nor the other one are able to keep up with me. The only one who could is currently being mauled by lions."
"Heh. We don't need to keep up with you." Naruto raised an eyebrow at that admission. "You already have fallen for my trap!" Jingle!
Suddenly, Naruto's entire world distorted around him. Objects were blending into one another as he found it harder to stand. His confusion only grew as he watched as his opponent seemed to multiply. "What the?"
Kin smirked at him. "Did you really think that we would attack you directly without as much as a plan?" She shook her head. "You really were stupid to not even question the bells." She turned to Zaku. "Finish him."
Zaku smirked maliciously. "With pleasure." He raised a palm. "Decapitating Air Waves!"
"Kya!" Naruto smirked when Kin was the one that was shot instead. She was sent flying into a tree before falling back to the ground. She didn't get back up.
Zaku blinked in shock. "What?! How did you switch places with her while under the genjutsu?!"
"Sai was right. You aren't the smartest person in the world…" Zaku's head snapped around to see Yakumo standing behind him.
"What the hell did you do, bitch?!" Zaku snarled.
Yakumo smirked at him. "It was stupid of you guys to try to use a genjutsu against us. There isn't a genin out there who can do genjutsu better than I can." She shook her head. "Naruto never switched places with her, you were pointing at her from the beginning. I placed a genjutsu that would distort your perception until she and Naruto switched places in your eyes." Zaku could only stare in shock at this.
"Thanks for the save…" Naruto said.
Yakumo rolled her eyes. "As if you didn't have another plan. There is no way you were finished just like that." Naruto's response was to smirk. Poof!
"Well, I may have had an idea or two…" Zaku tensed when he felt the cold steel against his throat. Looking back, he saw that Naruto was standing behind him with a kunai. "I may not be able to create as many as Narumi and Menma, but I still can use Shadow Clones well enough to trick some idiots."
"Gah!" They looked over to see the last of the Ame genins get slammed into the ground by Narumi.
"And that's the end-ttebane!" Narumi said with a grin.
Naruto smirked and looked over to Sai's fight with Dosu. His smirk grew when he saw a ragged Dosu panting as he looked between the last ink lion and Sai. "Hey, Oto genin!" Dosu shifted his eye over to him and it widened when he saw the condition of his teammates. "About time you guys give it up, don't you think?" Dosu looked between Naruto and the other Konoha genin. But before he could say anything, Naruto's attention was drawn by something else.
Whoosh!
A pulse of killing intent rushed through the clearing, making everyone freeze. Naruto scowled when he detected the darkness interlaced with it. They all turned to the hollowed tree to see the source. Standing there with an ominous grin was Sasuke. Sakura, who had been guarding her teammates, was standing nearby with a conflicted and confused look on her face.
Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw the strange markings that seemed to be originating from his neck. 'That thing on his neck is going to be a bigger problem than I thought…' Naruto shoved away Zaku and turned to Sasuke. "Uchiha, you alright?"
The grin on Sasuke's face only grew. "I feel great." He lifted his hands and looked at them. "I can feel the power coursing through me!"
Naruto's eyes narrowed further. 'He's unstable.'
Sasuke looked around. "These guys are enemies?" He asked.
Menma grinned at him. "Yeah, but don't worry! We kicked their asses!"
Sasuke smirked. "But it looks like one or two of them is still able to fight…" He turned to Dosu. "I will use you to test out my new power." Dosu jumped a bit at that declaration.
The Oto genin quickly looked around again. "My team will leave peacefully. We will leave our scroll with you if you agree to let us go." He declared.
"What?!" Zaku yelled. "What are you so afraid of?! There is no way I'm just going to turn and run away like a coward!"
"Don't be an idiot! Look around! We are outnumbered and outclassed! We should retreat while we can!" Zaku looked around. After a moment, he scowled and reluctantly nodded.
Sasuke took a step forward, but Naruto cut him off before he could say anything. "Leave the scroll and go. The same goes for you Ame teams." Dosu hastily nodded before reaching into his ouch and pulling out a heaven scroll.
Sasuke growled. "No. We aren't just letting them leave."
Naruto turned and glared at him. "Yes, we are. There is no point to taking this any further if we can get what we want." He saw out of the corner of his eye that Dosu abandoned their scroll and had just left the clearing carrying Kin while Zaku followed. The Ame teams soon followed their lead.
"I will test my new power on them!"
"Like hell you will! That power isn't even yours! It is a fake power given to you by a creep and it is messing with your head!"
Sasuke scowled. "It doesn't matter. I have it now." A purplish-black aura was starting to grow around him, making those that saw it before tense.
Naruto's eyes widened a bit. 'This is really bad.'
"If you aren't going to let me fight them…" Sasuke sped towards Naruto! "Then I will just have to test my power on you instead!"
Naruto quickly got into a battle stance. When Sasuke was close enough, the Uchiha threw a punch that Naruto blocked with his forearm. "I don't want to fight you, Uchiha." Naruto said.
"That's too bad, because I want to fight you!" Sasuke sent a kick at Naruto's head. The crimson blond ducked under the kick before trying to knock Sasuke off of his feet with a kick to his legs.
The Uchiha jumped high into the air and went through hand seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" He breathed out a fireball that was launched towards Naruto.
Seeing this coming, Naruto jumped out of the way before thrusting a hand forward. "Thunder!" Because he was in the air, Sasuke was unable to maneuver out of the way. He was struck by the lightning, but was quick enough to recover and land on his feet. The moment his feet touched the ground, he rocketed forward at Naruto again.
Naruto rushed to meet him before matching Sasuke's punch with his own. Sasuke was scowling by this point. "Why are you able to match me still?! I should be able to overpower you!"
Naruto grabbed his arm and flipped Sasuke onto the ground. The Uchiha hit it with a thud before quickly rolling to the side to avoid the follow up kick. "Like I said, idiot. You won't be able to get anywhere with power like that!"
This response made Sasuke scowl even harder. "Shut up! I will become the strongest! And I will use this power as a stepping stone to do it!"
"Sasuke snap out of it!"
"What the hell do you think you are doing, idiot?!"
Sasuke ignored the others as he rushed back at Naruto. They traded blows for a bit before another form suddenly joined in the fight. "Stop being an idiot!" Misa yelled as she tried to get a hold of Sasuke.
"You won't get in my way, either!" Sasuke dodge her and sent a kick at her back, causing her to stumble to the ground before rolling back to her feet. Sasuke looked around. The others had snapped out of their surprise and were surrounding him. "All of you are against me?"
Narumi glared at him. "We aren't against you. You just aren't thinking straight!"
"Shut up! I am thinking perfectly fine!" The aura around him was growing. "You are the ones who should just move!"
"So you could do what? Attack a fellow Konoha genin?" Wataru asked.
"So I can test my power!"
"Shut the hell up-ttebayo! Listen to yourself, Uchiha! You are willing to fight against allies just to test your power? You sound like a traitor! How far are you willing to go? Will you try to kill us to test yourself?!" Naruto yelled at him.
This made Sasuke freeze. 'Kill them just to test myself…? No. No. No! That's…That's what he did…' But the power was so intoxicating…'No! I won't do it!' But the power…
Sasuke clutched his head in pain as the markings on his body flashed red. Naruto realized what was going on instantly. "Fight it, Uchiha! Don't let it tempt you! Don't give into the hatred!" Sasuke must have been fighting against the influence of the darkness and the mark!
"Gah!" Sasuke fell to his knees has the pain increased. It hurt so much! And the voices wouldn't go away! Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him.
"Fight it, Sasuke-kun. You are better than this. Don't let it control you!" Sakura whispered to him.
Bit by bit, the marks on his body receded until they all returned to his neck. Sasuke was left panting and dripping sweat. He shakily looked up at the others. "I'm…That…"
Naruto shook his head. "Don't worry about it. You alright?" He asked as he walked up to them.
Sasuke nodded before shakily getting to his feet with Sakura's help. "I'm fine…"
Ikusa walked up to them and smirked. "That's good. I wasn't sure how that was going to turn out." Sasuke remained silent. How was he supposed to respond to that?
Seeing the uncomfortable look on Sasuke's face, Misa spoke up. "Anyways, we should get to the tower." She held up her hands, showing that she had multiple scrolls in them. "Lucky enough for us, this let us each get the scroll we needed." She passed them out to each team and smirked. "What a coincidence, huh?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. I just want to get out of here." He blinked when he heard a yawn come from nearby. They all turned to see a tired looking Saito stepping over to them.
"Man that was a good nap…" He said. He stopped when he saw the looks that everybody was giving him. "What?"
The Tower (Later)
After traveling for a while, the four teams managed to reach the tower. Menma looked at each of the other teams. "Well, it was fun while it lasted."
Naruto snorted. "I don't call getting attacked by an overpowered enemy, monsters, multiple other teams, and each other a fun time."
"You know what I meant."
"No, I really don't." Naruto led the way as they walked through the large doors. They entered a large room where the only thing was a giant scroll on the wall with some writing on it.
Sakura walked up to the writing and read it. "…When heaven and earth are opened together…" She tilted her head. "I think this means we need to open our scrolls together…"
Saito walked up to her. "You sure about that? The rules were pretty clear that we shouldn't…"
"But we got them both and made it to the tower. I think we can open them now…" Wataru said as he joined them. A small debate soon started on whether or not they should open the scrolls.
Taking the chance, Naruto stepped towards the back, where he wasn't in the direct line of sight of the other teams. He raised a finger to his lips when Yakumo and Sai looked at him. After they both nodded, he concentrated on forming a small Corridor of Darkness. It soon opened and their scroll fell out of it. 'That would have been bad if I wasn't able to open the other end directly under the scroll…' After he obtained the scroll, he spoke up so the other teams could hear him. "I think we should open them."
"You see? Nii-chan agrees!"
"Fine, but I'm holding it to you if we fail…" Eight of them lined up. Two from each team.
Naruto looked around. "On three?" He asked. He got nods in return. "Ok. One. Two. Three!" They opened the scrolls, only for smoke to start coming out of them. Because he was the one that dealt with scrolls the most out of them, Naruto realized what was happening first. "Throw them away!" He tossed his scroll with the others immediately following. Poof!
Four expulsions of smoke were created from the scrolls. When the smoke cleared, they were able to see who had appeared.
"Yūgao-sensei!"
"Kaa-chan!"
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Iruka-sensei!"
Three chūnin and a jōnin blinked in surprise at seeing the teams together. Kakashi cast a quick glance around before giving an eye smile. "Mah, I didn't really expect to actually get summoned."
Yūgao nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. But it wasn't that big of surprise, really…"
Yakumo frowned a bit. "Why did three of our teams have their jōnin leaders summoned but the other didn't?"
This question got Iruka to smile at her. "Good question. It's because we never really accounted for more than one team showing up at once. If that did happen, then the team that opened the scroll first would have the chūnin on duty summoned, while the other would have their sensei appear. The scroll read the chakra of the one opening it, making it possible." He grinned widely. "But enough about that! You all have managed to pass the second stage of the chūnin exams! And in a timely manner! Congratulations!"
Menma puffed up his chest. "It hasn't even been a full day since this thing started, we must be one of the earlier teams, if not the earliest."
Kushina grinned at him. "There is only one team that managed to get here before you guys." This seemed to make Menma deflate a bit.
"We weren't first?"
"Nope. The team from Suna was."
'That isn't really a surprise…' Naruto thought to himself. He looked back to Iruka when the chūnin cleared his throat.
"Now listen up! I'm now going to explain to you the importance of the message on the wall! You see, heaven re-"
"No thanks."
"I'd rather skip this bit."
"I want to sleep." The vein in Iruka's head became increasingly pronounced as these comments went on. He opened his mouth to yell at them, but was cut off.
"Sasuke, why are you holding your neck like that?" They turned to Kakashi to see him looking intently at Sasuke, who froze in place.
The genin looked uneasily between Sasuke and Kakashi. When it was clear that no one was going to speak, Misa did. "We were attacked in the forest by someone who was way too strong to be a genin. He did something to Uchiha."
This sent alarms blaring through each of the adults in the room. Kakashi instantly strode up to Sasuke before tugging his hand away from his neck. When he saw what was there, he swore silently. Kakashi looked back up to the others. "We need to take them to see sensei. Now."
Yūgao frowned. "What happened?" She asked.
Although you couldn't see his face, you could still detect the scowl Kakashi had. "The snake traitor has given Sasuke the mark." This response made Naruto blink while the people above genin gasped.
'Snake traitor? Why does that sound fami…Oh shit.' Naruto paled a bit. "That was Orochimaru we were fighting?" He asked quietly. This made some of the other genin pale.
Kushina's head snapped around to him. "What?! You fought against that monster-ttebane?!" She was about to rush up to him to check him over, but was stopped by Yūgao placing a hand on her shoulder.
"They are obviously fine. We need to take them to Hokage-sama." The purple haired woman said. Kushina frowned, but nodded reluctantly after a moment. Seeing this, Yūgao turned to the genin. "Follow us. Hokage-sama is in the tower now. We will lead you there."
Tower Office
Minato scowled as he listened to the report that the four genin teams in front of him were giving. After Tsunade had went off to catch up to Anko, she had managed to get there just in time to save Anko from getting killed, but Orochimaru managed to get away. Based on what Orochimaru said before he left, it was safe to assume that Sasuke had received the curse mark, but he had held hope that it didn't happen.
The Hokage nodded when he heard that Orochimaru had bit into Sasuke's neck and gave him the mark. "We will get that sealed away after this, Sasuke. What happened after that?"
Wataru stepped forward. "It was at that point that both my team and team 7 arrived. We witnessed Sasuke collapse, before engaging the enemy in battle." He wouldn't rat Naruto out about just jumping in there unless asked.
This made Minato frown a bit. "I do not know if that was the wisest decision. But given the circumstances, you might not have known who you were up against. Did he fight you all at once?"
Wataru shook his head. "No, sir. He seemed interested in Naruto for some reason and focused on him while he had a clone keep the rest of us busy." Both Minato and Kushina jolted while Yūgao frowned.
Kushina was instantly in front of Naruto and tilting his head around to get a look at his neck. "What did that monster do to you?! Did he bite you?! Do you also have a mark?! I'll gut that stupid snake-ttebane!" Minato was extremely tempted to go over and join her in her examination.
All of the physical handling was annoying Naruto, so he pulled her hands off of himself and stepped back with a frown. "No, he didn't give me a mark." Kushina and Minato let out breaths of relief.
"But why was he so interested in you?" Yūgao asked him.
Naruto shrugged. "No idea. He said something about being curious of what I was able to do."
Hearing that response made the adults frown. "Right…I want you to be careful, Naruto. Orochimaru isn't someone you want to have interested in you."
"I figured that…" Naruto muttered.
Nodding, Minato gestured for them to continue. "Sorry, we are getting off track. You all fought Orochimaru. What happened next?"
Naruto nodded. "He was beating us easily. But after a while, it seemed like his curiosity was taken care of. So he decided to test out…one of his experiments…"
This made the adults tense. "What was it?" Minato asked.
"They were these…strange creatures. He just summoned them and they formed out of the ground in pools of some weird dark stuff…" Narumi said. "They followed all of his orders."
"Were they summons?" Kushina asked with a frown. "No wait. Orochimaru is a summoner for the snake contract."
Ikusa frowned. "I'm pretty sure they weren't summon animals. Or if they were, I've never heard of anything like them."
"Every time they were killed, they would dissolve back into the dark stuff." Menma added. "And they were able to melt into the ground to travel quickly."
Naruto spoke back up. "There were a lot of them. While he let them fight us, Orochimaru fled."
Misa scowled. "The stupid coward."
Minato was silent as he thought. "Then I assume you defeated all of them?" Nods all around. "Very well. I thank you for telling me all of this. I must commend you on pulling through this despite the situation. Orochimaru is an opponent that many people are too scared to face. You all have until the next phase of the chūnin exams begins to rest. So about a little less than four days. Until then, you can spend your time in the tower however you like. Each team has a room to rest in, there is a cafeteria, and there is even a gym and theatre area." He looked to Sasuke. "Sasuke, please stay behind so we can get that mark taken care of. The rest of you are dismissed."
The genins, Yūgao, and Kushina filed out of the room. Once in the hall, Yūgao turned to her team with a grin. "Well, I have to say. You guys have had a heck of a time in there."
Naruto slumped. "Tell me about it. I just want to go and sleep." He still needed to talk to Hikari and Yami.
His sensei grinned. "Well, don't let me keep you. Go take your nap."
Naruto nodded and turned away. Kushina looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself. The others said their goodbyes as Naruto walked off.
Station of Awakening
Naruto opened his eyes to see Hikari and Yami standing in front of him. He decided to get right to it. "Orochimaru is able to use darkness and control the heartless."
Yami scowled. "Yeah, he is. That is really bad."
A snort escaped from Naruto. "That's an understatement. If the masses of heartless aren't aware of this world yet, they will be soon. How long do you think until they start showing up around the world without being called?"
Hikari shook her head. "We can't say. We were lucky to not have them be very active on this world until now. They could start appearing any time now. But they will definitely come sooner the more that man uses them."
"Crap." Naruto said to himself quietly. "Any ideas to stop the world from getting consumed?"
"You already know the solution."
With a sigh, Naruto nodded his head. "I need to find the keyhole of the world and lock it." A frown formed. "But that could be anywhere! And it's not like they will just let me leave to go look for it! Plus, there is no way I would know what to tell them!"
Hikari sighed as well. "Yes, that does pose a problem. I think you should talk to Urahara when you can to see if you can try to get him to help. Maybe have him keep an ear out for places with high heartless activity."
"Yeah, I guess that's the only thing I can really do for now…" Naruto paused for a moment. "And that bastard broke my sword! I've had that since you gave it to me when I was six-ttebayo! I had to use my keyblade back there!" Naruto blinked and looked at Yami. "What are the chances of me getting another one?" He asked.
"Not gonna happen. You were lucky I provided you with that one. If you wanna use a sword so bad, go get your own." Hikari nodded in agreement.
"Damn it…"
There we go! All done with Chapter 22!
If you are going to bitch and moan about Orochimaru having control over darkness and the heartless, then get the fuck out. You can not tell me that motherfucking Clayton from Tarzan can do that but Orochimaru can't. If you even tried to reason that then I would mark you off as someone to completely disregard for the rest of eternity.
Giving Naruto the curse mark isn't that cliché...right?
...
...
...right?
I admit. It may have crossed my mind. And it may have been planned. I was completely caught off guard by the negative responses to that possibility. I didn't think it was a bad idea...Ok, so it was a bit cliché, but it wasn't horrible! But anyways, no big loss. I just changed the plan a bit to fit this. You see! I take what you guys say into consideration!
As you saw, I plan on including some attacks from the Deck Commands. I know some people have been asking me about sword techniques. I don't really have any idea what that would entail, but this is my interpretation. Shadowbreaker is from Dream Drop Distance.
The two Ame teams were teams Oboro and Shigure.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!
Until next time,
Kog6943