And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 27!
Sorry for the late update. I won't lie to you. I was lazy. That, and I got distracted by something else.
Thanksgiving will forever be one of my favorite holidays. That and my birthday (Which should be a holiday!)
The struggle of wanting to buy crap on black Friday/cyber Monday but still being too cheap to fork over the money…
My laptop actually crashed today while I was writing this. Luckily, I am in the habit of saving every once in a while, so I only lost around 500 words.
Razor Edge Gone: Thanks, I thought so too. Whenever I have him play I song, I try to have it relate to some part of the story.
LordGhostStriker: I like the sword fight better as well. The fist fights aren't my thing.
aphex97: He will at some point, yeah.
speedking535: Soon? Probably not. I will start worrying about that stuff once I get into the KH storyline.
Kairitrion Cerulean: Thanks for pointing that out. I went back and fixed it.
Justaquestion12: No planned pairings right now. And RWBY is under heavy consideration for one of the worlds.
Anonymous: I thought of that. I plan to touch upon it in the future. And in a perfect world, Kingdom Hearts 3 won't conflict with what I have in any way besides the things I have changed (You know, Naruto being a part of the universe, Hikari/Yami, and so on). If it comes down to it conflicting and it isn't much, I may go back and change around some stuff just so it fits. If it requires me having to revamp the entire story…well…
Capturinggod200: Looking back at the chapter, I see that you have a good point. I probably could have done more for those fights, but I didn't. At this point, what can Neji really do? If you take away his chakra infused strikes, can he really do much? Did I make it too easy for Menma? Perhaps. Am I going to lose any sleep over it? Nope. The Narumi fight was just me being a bit lazy, I can admit that. As for the Naruto and Samui fight, I don't really see what you mean. Naruto had that thing from the start. He got hit because he was surprised for a moment. After that? He dominated. I even stated he wasn't going all out like he did with Lee.
Jimmy Page: Hey reader, read the ANs or put two and two together. She calls herself that so she doesn't reveal she is the cat.
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
In the Stands
Boom!
The heads of everyone in the stands snapped to the kage booth as it suddenly exploded. Not wasting any time, the jōnin in the audience sprang to their feet and readied their weapons as the civilians screamed. Clang! They were just in time to block and avoid the surprise attacks that came from the enemies hidden through the stadium.
"What's going on?!" Kiba shouted as he saw the area around him just became a warzone. Konoha shinobi were suddenly fighting off attackers sporting Suna and Oto forehead protectors.
"Looks like we're under attack! Don't just sit there, fight back!" Misa responded as she and her team were the first genin team to realize what was happening.
Asuma used his chakra blades to slash at an Oto Nin that lunged at him before jumping back towards the genin. Without turning to them, he spoke up. "Suna has broken the alliance and teamed up with Oto to attack us!" He had to pause to kick away another enemy. "Stick close together and await further instructions. Do not run off on your own!" He leapt back into the fray.
"You heard the man! Let's take care of these idiots!" Ikusa jumped out of the way of an attacking Suna Nin before responding with an attack of his own.
"An invasion? Now?" Sakura asked weakly before she shook her head and glared. "I'm not going to just sit around doing nothing again!" She got to her feet and pulled out a kunai before helping out in the fight.
"This really isn't good..." Chōji mumbled quietly.
Ino glared at him. "We won't be the ones sitting around doing nothing while everyone else fights! We're helping too!" Although she said this, it was obvious that she was extremely nervous about the situation.
Unexpectedly, white feathers began to fall down throughout the arena. Kurenai was the first to notice the anomaly. "Genjutsu!" She called out before quickly forming a hand seal. "Release!" The feathers surrounding her dispersed in the immediate vicinity. The other jōnin immediately followed her example, with the genin soon doing the same. While the shinobi were able to dispel the genjutsu, the civilians in the audience were put to sleep.
"How un-youthful! Breaking an alliance in order to attack, I shall show you the error of your ways!" Gai shouted as he tore through the enemies foolish enough to get close to him. "Come! Allow me to show you the might of Konoha's sublime green beast!
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!" The small group of Oto shinobi in front of Yūgao stood no chance as they were quickly cut down. Yūgao jumped back so that she was back to back with Kushina. "Well, I'm glad we had some warning."
Kushina smirked as she shot a golden chain out and used it to fling an enemy into his comrades. "I think I have to agree with you there. Duck!" The two of them crouched low as a blade of wind shot over their heads. "That would have hurt-ttebane!" The Suna Nin stood no chance against the sudden onslaught of chains he was under.
Yūgao smirked while cutting down another attacker. "Nice one."
"Oh my. I hope I'm not late..."
"Gah!" A large group of enemy shinobi were blasted away from a serious looking Kakashi.
"Sorry, but a black cat crossed my path on the way here, so I had to take the long way around...You know how those kinds of things are, I just couldn't risk it."
Kushina glared at him while dodging other enemy. "We will be talking about this later, Kakashi-kun..."
Kakashi shivered as he cut down a lunging Oto Nin. "Of course..."
Yūgao shook her head in slight amusement. "Is Sasuke here too?"
The silver haired jōnin nodded. "I sent him to regroup with the genin in the competitor's booth. He is awaiting further instructors with them." He paused as something caught his eye. "Or he should have been..." He said dangerously.
Yūgao and Kushina followed his gaze and spotted the trio of Suna genin dash out of the stadium with another form following. "That isn't good. Isn't the redhead their jinchuriki?"
Kushina frowned as well. "You're right. We can't leave that alone." She glanced back to the battle raging in the stands. "But we can't leave this area alone. There are too many VIPs that might be targeted..."
The frown on Yūgao's face deepened as she considered her options. After a moment, she had her solution. "We can't go, but some of the genin can."
"What?!"
"Kushina, we don't have a choice. The plan is for us to stick around here, you know that. It was agreed that the genin will stay on standby until one of the jōnin issues orders. They are facing other genin, not jōnin. I'm sure they will be fine."
"Tch..." Although she hated it, Kushina knew that Yūgao was right. And they were up against a jinchuriki, so the smartest option was to counter with one of their own. "Fine. I'll leave debriefing them to you."
Yūgao nodded in agreement before turning to the other jōnin who were still fighting. "Enemy jinchuriki on the move, I'm going to send pursuit!"
Asuma nodded without looking back. "Got it!" He ducked under a kick.
Yūgao nodded before sweeping her eyes over all the available genin. "Genin! On me!" The nearby genin immediately followed the order and grouped around her while still keeping an eye out for attacks. "You are to assist in the evacuation of civilians and VIPs in the stadium! Following this, you are to move into the village to assist in evacuation in other areas! Stick together and do not engage the enemy unless there is no other option. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Yūgao nodded in satisfaction. "Then get on it! Misa, stick with me." The genin immediately moved to follow their orders with Misa staying behind. "You're to lead a team of genin that will pursue the enemy jinchuriki. You're to lead because you have the most experience leading between all the present genin."
"Understood."
Kakashi nodded to Yūgao. "I'm going to send Pakkun with the genin." He nicked a thumb on a kunai to draw blood before flashing through some hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, a small brown dog with a Konoha forehead protector appeared.
The dog quickly looked around. "I guess this isn't a time for pleasantries..." He said in a gruff voice.
Shaking his head, Kakashi responded. "You are to help guide a genin team that will be pursuing a Suna genin team. Just follow Sasuke's scent. He is already in pursuit." Pakkun nodded in return.
Yūgao nodded to the others before dashing over to the competitor's booth.
With the Competitors
Boom!
"The hell was that-ttebasa?!" Menma shouted as the kage booth suddenly exploded.
"I don't know, but it can't be good!" Narumi responded. "Look, we're under attack!" She pointed towards the battles suddenly breaking out around the stadium.
Shikamaru adopted a serious expression and swept his eyes across the arena. "It looks like Suna has betrayed us and teamed up with Oto to attack us." He observed. Suddenly, his eyes widened before he spun around with a kunai in hand. "And that means..." The eyes of the others widened in realization before imitating him. The sight that was in front of them made their blood run cold.
Gaara stood on the other side of the room with a crazed smile on his face as sand slowly poured out of the gourd on his back. "It's time to provide mother with blood. I wonder how much I can make you bleed before you die..." He said darkly. Temari and Kankurō stood on either side of him with nervous expressions.
"You're the only one that's going to be bleeding." A voice said. A figure jumped in between them and slid into a battle stance across from the Suna team. Surprised looks swept through the Konoha genin as they saw it was Sasuke.
He was wearing a different outfit that consisted of a black one piece version of his usual outfit and multiple small belts on his left arm. There were also similar bands around both of his legs. His left arm was also encased in bandages.
Menma smirked at him. "About time you showed up, Sasuke. Were you just waiting to make a grand entrance?"
Sasuke smirked but didn't take his eyes off of the enemy. "Something like that. Although it was ruined by these idiots deciding it would be a good idea to attack us."
Kankurō glared at him. "I've been wanting to get a chance to show you your place, Uchiha. Now is as good a time as any." He started to reach for the item on his back."
"Kankurō, we have to stick to the plan!" Temari reprimanded him before sending a nervous look to Gaara. "Gaara, we have to go."
"You aren't going anywhere!" Sasuke rushed at them with a kunai in hand, intent on getting the fit hit in. Clang!
Surprising the present genin with his appearance, a Suna jōnin easily blocked Sasuke's attack before pushing him back towards the other Konoha genin. The man was wearing the standard Suna jōnin attire, along with a turban like head piece that had a cloth attacked which draped over the left side of his face. There were also two red markings on the right side of his face.
"Baki-sensei!" Temari said in surprise.
Without turning back to them, Baki addressed the Suna team. "Go! You know the plan! Stick to it!" Kankurō and Temari nodded but sent another look to the now frowning Gaara. "Gaara, think of the prey you will be able to kill by sticking to the plan. Do you think that the low amount here is enough?"
Gaara's frown deepened before he slowly nodded and recalled his sand. "Very well..." He glanced to the others. "Let's go." The three of them quickly sped away.
"No you don't!" Sasuke snarled and moved to follow.
"You won't get in the way, brat!" Baki lunged at Sasuke. Wham! "Argh!"
"Sorry, but as you are an enemy of Konoha, it is my duty to take you out." The collected voice of Genma said as he kicked Baki away and back into the arena. "I'm not about to let you do whatever you want." Genma sped after him.
The remaining Konoha genin traded nervous glances. "What do we do now?" Narumi asked worriedly.
"You follow my orders." The group spun around to see a serious looking Yūgao and Misa standing by the railing. She quickly looked around before frowning harder. "Naruto isn't here? And where's Shino?"
Narumi and Menma's eyes widened in realization before quickly glancing to each other and around the room. "No, Nii-chan hasn't come back yet. And we didn't even realize Shino was gone." Narumi responded.
"Damn. I wanted them to help with this..." Yūgao shook her head before looking at the present genin. "No matter. I have a mission for you. Misa, Menma, Narumi, and Shikamaru. You are to catch up to Sasuke and pursue the Suna genin team to take them out of the fight. Misa is the leader of this team. This is an A-rank mission. Be warned that you are up against another jinchuriki, so it would be best to finish the fight before he can become a bigger threat. Pakkun here will show the way as needed."
"Right."
"You got it!"
"Understood."
"...Troublesome..."
Yūgao nodded. "Then get going!" They immediately sprinted out of the arena to follow their orders. Yūgao then turned to Yakumo. "Your skill set isn't as effective on a jinchuriki, so you are to group up with the other Konoha genin and help with the evacuation of civilians. After that, move on to help with the evacuation in the village."
"Understood, sensei!" Yakumo said before rushing away.
Once she was gone, Yūgao turned to a serious looking Omoi and Samui. "What will you do? I don't think Kumo had anything to do with this, so you are technically neutral still."
Samui frowned. "We are going to group up with our teammate in the infirmary and await further orders. This attack isn't cool, but it isn't our place to jump in to help without being ordered to."
Yūgao nodded in understanding. "I understand. Be careful." She then turned and rushed off to rejoin the fight.
Stadium Hallways
Boom!
Naruto stumbled a bit as the building shook. He had just finished putting all of the instruments away and was now heading back to the others. "The hell?" His eyes soon widened in realization. "The invasion!" Not wasting another moment, he dashed off.
The sight he was greeted with was one he was expecting, but still didn't want to see. Battles were raging throughout the stands as the invading shinobi attacked the Konoha forces. "Damn. There's more than I thought there would be..." He quickly looked around as he planned on where he should go. Eventually, he noticed that white feathers were falling from the sky. Knowing what it was, Naruto immediately formed the necessary hand seal. "Release!" The pulse of chakra pushed back the feathers around him. Seeing that he would be falling for the genjutsu, Naruto looked round again.
"Damn. Where do I go? I'm pretty sure standard procedure says I have to go to a jōnin to get my orders..." He paused his search when something caught his eye. The Suna genin were rushing out of the stadium and into the direction of the center of the village, Sasuke not far behind. "Well, I guess this is the chance I've been waiting for..." Naruto dashed after them.
Nearby Rooftop
Boom!
A yellow flash appeared in the center of a rooftop as the kage booth exploded. From the flash appeared a grim Minato, a scowling Raidō, and a serious looking Darui. Darui nodded to the Hokage. "Thanks for the save, Hokage-sama." He said.
Minato nodded back as A and B landed nearby. "It was nothing."
A scowled at Minato. "Can I assume that explosion wasn't your idea, Minato?" He asked darkly.
Minato shook his head. "No, it wasn't. I do believe that it was the snake's idea along with Rasa's..." Another figure landed across from them. "Isn't that right, Orochimaru?"
Orochimaru smirked and got rid of the Kazekage outfit he had on. "Indeed. Although I'm not surprised that you managed to move fast enough to avoid the blast..."
"Hokage-sama!" Several ANBU jumped onto the roof, surrounding Orochimaru and getting between him and the others.
"Do not engage!" This order from Minato made them hesitate. "Your orders are to aid in the defense of the village! Leave this to me!"
Although it was obvious they were reluctant to just leave, the ANBU glanced at one another before Body Flickering away. 'I will handle this. The help would be appreciated, but repelling the enemy forces come first…' Minato's frown deepened. "It was foolish of you to come here. You will meet your end here and now." He took off his Hokage outfit to reveal his usual blue shinobi attire. Minato glanced to A. "I'm sorry about this."
A scoffed while he glared at Orochimaru. "While I think that you need better security, I won't hold this against you. Although don't expect us to just jump in to help."
Minato nodded before he shifted his gaze to the multiple battles raging in the arena and then to the various clouds of smoke rising throughout the village. Minato's expression turned glacial. "You will pay for this." He said quietly.
Orochimaru looked amused at the threat. "You sound extremely confident of that, Minato. How are you so sure?"
"I'm sure of it because I'm going to be the one to kill you." Minato took out one of his iconic kunai and slid into a battle stance. "You will die here and now."
The snake sannin chuckled. "I wouldn't be too sure..."
Minato glared at him. "You really think you are strong enough to take me out?"
Irritation briefly flashed across Orochimaru's face, but it was quickly covered by another smirk. "Perhaps you are correct. I may not be able to kill you in a one on one battle." The smirk grew, sending alarms blaring in Minato's head. "But who said this was a one on one battle?" He immediately started to flash through hand seals.
'I have to stop him!' Minato rushed forward at the same moment he threw his kunai, intent on stopping whatever jutsu Orochimaru was attempting.
'Too late!' Orochimaru slammed his hands down. "Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!" Minato was forced to jump back as four coffins suddenly emerged from the roof they were standing on. His kunai embedded into one of the coffins.
'Damn! I wasn't fast enough...And those coffins...' He eyed the three on the left, recognizing them. 'This isn't good...If he's about to do what I think he is, then this just got a lot tougher...' His gaze slid to the fourth coffin. 'But I don't recognize that one...'
"Bro...That's..." Apparently B did. Minato glanced over to the Kumo natives and was surprised at what he saw. Darui was scowling and B was sporting a heavy frown as he glanced at A. The Raikage on the other hand seemed to be able to barely restraining himself from rushing in and ripping Orochimaru's head from his shoulders.
"You...How dare you..."
The smirk on Orochimaru's face just kept growing. He opened his mouth to speak, but paused as something happened to the third coffin. It suddenly crumbled away into dust and ashes. "That's a pity...I was looking forward to making the old monkey do my bidding...no matter." He snapped his fingers, and the covers slid off, revealing the contents.
The first coffin held a tall man with tan skin and long black hair. He had on dark red armor that was worn over a simple black suit with sandals. The armor was made up of numerous metal plates, forming multiple protective guards along his body. He had on a Konoha forehead protector. He had multiple cracks and fractures across his skin.
The second coffin also held a man, this time with shaggy white hair. He was wearing blue armor and had cracks in his skin as well. On his face were three red markings, one under either eye with another on his chin. He had on blue armor with a white fur collar over a black suit. Like the other man's, his was also constructed of numerous black plates. His Konoha forehead protector was styled into a happuri.
The last coffin held a tall man with a muscular build. He had a head full of long white hair and a long beard. He also had pronounced cheekbones with tear troughs under his eyes, and a prominent crease across his forehead. On his right shoulder was the kanji for "lightning." He had on a Kumo flak jacket, dark blue pants, and a rope around his waist. He wore a black Kumo forehead protector in a bandana style. Like the other two men, this one had cracks across his body.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I am unable to say for certain that I would be able to defeat you." Orochimaru said as he gestured to the men. "So I thought I should bring a little help…I even brought along an extra so our dear Raikage will have something to do…"
Lightning was beginning to spark around A's body as he stared at the third man. "You would…dare defile my father's grave? You must be dumber than your reputation says if you think I will let you live for this!" He roared.
"Kukuku…Do you not appreciate the chance of a reunion?"
A was quickly reaching the limit of his patience. He looked over to Minato. "Change of plans, Minato. Kumo will aid you. We will stand by you and help repel the invaders." He turned his head towards B and Darui. "Your orders are to regroup with our genin and then assist Konoha! Leave this to us!"
B nodded. "You got it, Bro. Make the snake regret it though."
"Although this isn't dull, I wish it didn't come to this…" The two of them quickly sped off.
Minato looked over to Raidō. "Go help the others." Raidō hesitated for a moment before reluctantly nodding and rushing off.
Orochimaru waited for them to leave before speaking. "Now that the trash is out of the way…" He formed a hand seal. "We should continue." The eyes of the three men fluttered open, showing that they had black sclerae, before the three of them stepped out of the coffins. Once they were out, the coffins faded back into the ground.
The first man groaned and rolled his shoulders. "Wow, I feel stiff! What, was I lying in a box or something?" This made Minato sweat drop.
The second man stayed silent as he took in his surroundings before his eyes landed on Minato and paused. He then looked out towards the state the village was in and narrowed. Quickly concluding what was going on, he looked behind him. "I assume this is your doing?"
Orochimaru nodded in return with a chuckle. "Guilty as charged."
"What is this? How am I here?" The third man asked.
The second man glanced at him. "We have been revived to do this man's bidding. I can only assume that we are to fight those two…" That was when the other two men noticed Minato and A for the first time.
The third man blinked. "…A…Is that you?"
A nodded. "I never thought I would be forced to fight you, father…" He looked at the other two men. "The first and second Hokage along with the third Raikage. And a sannin to top it off. I'd say we have our work cut out for us, Minato."
Minato nodded in agreement. "It seems so…Although it is an honor to meet you, I must say I wish it was under better circumstances, Hashirama-sama, Tobirama-sama…"
Hashirama blinked. "Who the heck are you?" He asked bluntly, making Minato sweat drop again.
"My name is Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage." Hashirama instantly brightened.
"Are you now? That must mean the village is doing well! That's great news!"
Tobirama scowled at his brother. "I wouldn't say that given the fact that we are in the middle of an attack. Not only that, we are on the opposite side."
Hashirama waved him off. "Meh, you worry too much! I know Hiruzen would have chosen a good successor. I'm sure this guy will be able to fight us off."
"Tch. That's naïve." Tobirama turned back to Orochimaru. "So you are using my technique to do this?" He asked.
The smirk on Orochimaru's face grew. "As a basis, yes. But I've managed to improve it since you created it…"
The frown on Tobirama's face deepened. "How so?"
"By adding one of my areas of research into it…" He raised his arms. "Here, allow me to show you what I mean…" A purplish-black aura began to come off of his body. They all stared, transfixed at the strange sight. Suddenly, the aura pulsed before shooting into each of the three revived kage.
All three of them grunted upon contact, before they hunched over and their bodies began to convulse.
"What the hell are you doing to them?!" A roared.
"Kukuku…I'm simply adding the finishing touches…"
Minato scowled at the sight, but didn't dare charge in. Something about that strange aura set him on edge.'That stuff looks like the things that the kids described after the second exam…The thing that those creatures were made up of…'
"…Gah…Listen…I can feel my mind fading…You have to defeat us! Do…Whatever you must to protect the village!" Tobirama grunted out.
Even though his world was turning black, Hashirama still forced a smile onto his face. "I know you…can do it. I don't feel like I'm at my peak, so that's…a plus…"
"Do what you must, A. I…know you can handle this." The third Raikage said.
Minato nodded at them as A responded. "Don't worry about it, we'll handle this."
"Yes, I'll protect the village until my dying breath." Minato added.
"And now…it's complete!" The auras around their bodies flared, before dying down. It was still present, but now it was only a small coating around their bodies. "Kukuku. This is undoubtedly a success."
A growled. "I hope you're ready to die, snake."
"You don't really think you're going to win, do you?" Minato gestured towards the battle raging in the stadium. "While you have the three revived kage and the forces you managed to sneak in, you are still extremely outnumbered. It's only a matter of time before this entire thing ends."
Orochimaru frowned. "Yes…I'm aware of that. I'm also aware of the…higher quality shinobi you have under your command…" The smirk came back. "But I have one last resource to call upon." He raised his arms again. "I would like to introduce you to one of my recent findings." Pools of the purplish-black substance formed around the roof and creatures soon emerged.
"The heartless."
"The hell are those things?" A asked gruffly.
Minato's eyes narrowed at them. 'Those are definitely the things that were described…'
"Kukuku…These are the soldiers that will aid in your death and the destruction of the village!" He swept an arm out. "Go! Feast upon the hearts of my enemies!" The creatures submerged back into the ground.
"Like hell!" Minato wanted to go off and help his people fight off the threat, but knew he was needed here. He slid back into a battle stance. "I'll end you here and now, Orochimaru!"
A quickly got into his own battle stance as lightning danced around his body. "I'm through with all the talking! You're going to regret making me your enemy!"
Orochimaru prepared himself for battle. "Today marks the day that Konoha falls!"
In the Stadium
"Yosh! That makes twenty four, my rival!" Gai shouted as he crushed the rib cage of another shinobi.
Kakashi sighed as he ducked under a lunge before returning with a strong kick to the spine, creating a sickening crack. "I don't see the point of having this contest, Gai…But I'm at twenty five." He added.
"Gah! It isn't over yet!" Gai crouched and scanned the immediate area for another target, but paused when he saw something strange. "What are these strange animals?" He asked.
Quirking an eyebrow, Kakashi glanced in the direction that Gai was looking in and tensed. "I don't think those are animals, Gai…" Numerous heartless were sprouting out of the surfaces around them. "I don't know what they are, but I'm not sure they're friendly…" A heartless jumped at him, forcing him to bend back to prevent his face from being clawed. "Nope, not friendly!"
"The heck are these things?!" Asuma shouted as he cut down a soldier heartless that had attacked him. "Some kind of summon animal?"
"These are…" Yūgao narrowed her eyes at them. "Aren't these the things that some of the genin described from the forest?"
Kushina cut a heartless down and watched as it dissolved into some strange substance. "I'm pretty sure they are. They even die in the way they described…"
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully as he ducked under a blade of wind sent at him. "Then that would mean that they are under the control of Orochimaru…" He paused for a moment as he killed a heartless. "…That makes twenty six, Gai."
"Yosh! I will not lose!" The other jōnin sighed at their behavior.
"Yo! You can't have a contest! At least not without the best!" Boom! A small explosion of lightning grabbed the attention of the jōnin. Standing in the middle of a collapsed group of Oto shinobi was Killer B. "I may be late, but Killer B is worth the wait!" He rushed at another shinobi.
"Well, it seems like Kumo has decided to aid Konoha. That's a plus in my book." Asuma commented.
In Another Part of the Stadium
"Oh man, not these things again!" Ikusa ducked under a heartless that jumped at him. "I was hoping to never see these things ever again!"
"Just shut up and keep them away from the civilians! We're almost done with the evacuation!" Wataru shouted.
"What the heck are these things?! Some weird animals the enemy is using?" Kiba asked.
Yakumo rolled her eyes. "Do they really look like some kind of animal to you? These are the things that Orochimaru has under his control…" She frowned at the heartless. Yakumo wasn't sure that genjutsu would work against them, and she wasn't willing to risk finding out while in a hostile environment.
"They keep coming! How many of them are there?" Tenten cut down another one before whirling around and launching a kunai at one that was sneaking towards the civilians. "There doesn't seem to be an end!"
A roar preceded the death of multiple heartless as an ink lion attacked. "Given the sheer number of them around the stadium, I would say that there are many more of them compared to our encounter in the forest of death…" Sai commented.
"Enough chatter! Keep killing the things!" Wataru yelled.
With Naruto
Naruto paused on a rooftop as he detected something. He frowned heavily as he looked around. "This feeling…" Suddenly, a pool of darkness opened under his feet, forcing him to jump away. Naruto scowled at what he saw. "I was right…Orochimaru has summoned the heartless to help in the invasion…" He grit his teeth. "This isn't good…This is a lot more than back in the forest…" Looking around, Naruto saw that he was surrounded by a ring of heartless.
Sighing in frustration, Naruto summoned his keyblade and slid into a battle stance. "I don't have time for this…" He rushed forwards towards the nearest heartless. "You guys are in my way!"
With the Pursuit Team
"Contact! Unknown creatures, 11 o'clock!" The four genin were in pursuit of Sasuke and Gaara, with Pakkun leading. They had been able to avoid any enemy contact up until then, but it seemed that their luck had run out. "Dispatch and then resume the mission!" Misa shouted.
"These things again? What a pain…" Menma avoided a swipe from a soldier before retaliating with a thrust of his kunai.
Shikamaru dodged out of the way of an attack and watched the heartless with sharp eyes. "What are these things?" He asked.
"These are the things that Orochimaru has under his command. I have no clue what they are, but I'm pretty sure they aren't some kind of summon animal…" Narumi answered.
Shikamaru watched as a killed heartless dissolved into some strange aura. "And what are they made out of?" He asked.
"It doesn't matter! Just help get rid of them so we can keep moving!" Pakkun shouted.
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome…Combat isn't my thing…I'll help trap them."
With Sasuke
Sasuke scowled as he cut down another heartless. "Tch. These things are annoying…"
"Uchiha!" He turned towards the voice and was only slightly surprised to see Naruto land next to him. Sasuke smirked.
"You come to get a piece of the action?"
Naruto frowned at him. "I wouldn't put it like that, but I've come to help, yeah…"
Sasuke shrugged in return. "I doubt I will need the help. I'm confident I can handle anything thrown at me."
"So you think you can handle taking on three enemy shinobi on your own? Along with these weird creatures that keep popping up? And any other enemy shinobi that pop up along the way?" Naruto's eyebrow kept climbing as he talked.
The smirk on Sasuke's face slowly fell into a scowl. "I can handle it."
Naruto shook his head. "Whatever. I'm still coming along."
"Hn. Just don't get in my way." This made Naruto roll his eyes as the two moved to continue their pursuit.
With the Pursuit Team
Pakkun halted on a rooftop as he picked up a scent. The four genin were forced to stop and wait for him to identify who it was.
Menma frowned. "What's the hold up? Shouldn't we continue with catching up to Sasuke?"
The dog summon smirked as he finished identifying the scent. "Yeah, but it isn't just Sasuke. I'm picking up your brother's scent as well. It looks like he caught up to Sasuke and the two of them are now following."
Misa smirked. "That's great. Another ally never hurts. How far behind are we?"
"Based on the scent, we can catch up in the next few minutes. And the Suna trio are a little ahead of that."
The older genin nodded. "Good, that means we can catch up to the Suna genin a little bit before they reach the center of the village. Let's keep moving!"
With Naruto and Sasuke
Naruto and Sasuke were still chasing after the Suna team. The only reason they still hadn't caught up was because they were attacked by the heartless every few minutes. The Uchiha growled as he killed another heartless. "These things just keep coming!"
"Nii-chan, Sasuke!" The two of them looked over and saw Narumi, Menma, Misa, Shikamaru, and some dog land nearby.
Menma grinned. "We finally caught up."
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at them. "You guys the reinforcements?" He asked. Misa nodded in return.
"Yeah, we are. Orders from Yūgao-sensei say that we are to catch up to the Suna trio and then take them out of the fight. Gaara is the biggest threat though." Naruto nodded.
"That goes nicely with what we had planned." He spun around and cut down the last heartless. "Shall we keep moving?"
Pakkun nodded. "We should be able to catch up in a couple minutes. They have been slowing down for some reason."
Naruto frowned when he heard this. "Why would they be doing that?"
"No clue. But we'll find out when we catch up. Let's get a move on, people!"
With the Sand Trio
"Gah!" Gaara gripped his head as pain pulsed through it, forcing him to stop on a rooftop.
Kankurō and Temari could do nothing but watch with thinly disguised fear as Gaara seemed to have some mental struggle. Kankurō cleared his throat before speaking up. "G-Gaara…You alright?" He asked.
"Guh! Shut up!" The two older siblings flinched back at the command.
Kankurō leaned closer to Temari. "What do we do? He's gonna lose it any second now. We aren't in the specified location yet…" Temari could only shake her head to show she wasn't sure.
"M…Mother grows tired of waiting…Blood…She wants blood, now!" Gaara shouted.
Temari took a hesitant step closer to him. "Y-You can get all the…blood you want if you keep moving, Gaara. Just stick to the plan, there will be plenty of people for…you to kill."
"No! No more waiting! I will give mother blood now!" Sand was starting to seep out of the gourd on his back.
"Hey, insane guy with the blood fetish! You aren't going anywhere!" Kankurō and Temari whirled around as a group of Konoha genin landed in front of them.
Kankurō scowled as he reached for the object on his back. "This isn't good…" He looked at Temari and Gaara. "You two keep moving! I'll hold them off as long as I can!"
Temari glanced at him. "You really think you can hold off this many of them? On your own?"
"I don't have a choice, do I? Just get going!"
"You won't be going anywhere!" Misa stepped forward. "I'm giving you three one chance to surrender and give yourselves in. Refuse and you will be beaten into submission."
Temari opened her mouth, but was interrupted. "Uzumaki…Namikaze…I will give mother your blood…" She turned her nervous eyes to Gaara.
Menma quirked an eyebrow and glanced to his siblings. "Is he talking to me?" He pointed to Narumi. "Or to you?" His finger turned to Naruto. "Or to you?"
"Mother…Mother has been wanting your blood…Ever since our first encounter…And watching you fight has made her want it more…I shall give her your blood!" Sand gushed out of the gourd and shot at the group.
"Scatter!" The group separated to avoid the attack.
"You will not get away!" The sand changed directions and chased after Naruto.
'Of course he is fixated on me…But I can use this…'
"Gaara, we don't have time for this!"
"Shut up! I will kill him!"
Naruto smirked at Gaara. "You think so, huh?" He turned away. "Then you better get moving! I won't just sit still!" He shot off towards the nearby training ground. 'The edge of the village is too far. The best I can do is take him to a nearby training ground where it should be deserted.'
"You will not get away!" Gaara rushed after him.
"Gaara! Damn!" Kankurō and Temari moved to follow after him, but were cut off by the rest of the Konoha genin.
"Not so fast. You still have us to get by." Misa said before glancing to the others. "Narumi, Menma, and Sasuke. You guys follow Naruto and back him up. Take Pakkun with you." She got into a battle stance. "Shikamaru and I got this." They nodded and rushed off.
"Dammit…" Kankurō grabbed the object on his back and quickly took off the bindings, revealing a puppet. It was a humanoid puppet with three eyes, four arms, jagged teeth, and spiky brown hair. It had on a tattered grey cloak. "The plan has gone to shit…"
"It was shit from the start." Misa slid into a battle stance before looking over to Shikamaru. "You ready for this, lazy ass?"
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome. This entire thing sucks…"
"Ha, it does, yeah." Misa prepared herself as she eyed Kankurō. "I wanna be the one to punch in makeup boy's face." Kankurō growled at the remark.
"If it is alright with you, Misa-san, I would like to be the one who fights him…" The four of them turned to the newcomer.
Misa quirked an eyebrow. "You do?"
Shino nodded. "Yes. As I was the one who was scheduled to fight him, I was disappointed that we were interrupted before it happened. I would like to use this chance to do so."
The older genin eyed him for a moment before standing up from her battle stance with a shrug. "Whatever, it doesn't matter in the end to me. But do be sure to give him a hit from me."
Shino nodded again. "Very well, you have my thanks."
Misa nodded and saluted the two Konoha genin. "Well, boys, I'm off to join the fight with the crazy jinchuriki. Have fun!" She spun around and dashed after the other group.
With the Others
"You can run, but you will die like the prey you are!" Naruto ducked as another bullet of sand shot over his head.
'This guy is completely nuts! I think he's becoming less stable by the minute!' Naruto chanced a glance behind him and was met with the crazed eyes of Gaara. 'And why is he so fixated on me?' Looking back at where he was going, Naruto noted his location. 'Almost there…' He could see the edge of the training grounds just ahead of him. 'Made it!' The moment he entered the wooded training ground, Naruto ducked behind a tree and out of sight.
Seeing that he lost sight of his prey, Gaara came to a stop in a clearing with a river running through it surrounded by trees. He growled as he looked around. "Hide all you want, it will only prolong the inevitable!"
'Yeah, well, I think we will have to disagree there…' Naruto peaked around the tree he was hiding behind. 'Now then, how am I going to do this?'
The choice was taken from him as multiple kunai and shuriken suddenly shot out of the foliage and straight at Gaara. The suna genin raised a hand to beckon a wall of sand to block it. While Gaara was blocking the sand, Sasuke appeared above him with his hands going through hand seals. "Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire!" Numerous fireballs shot at Gaara.
Seeing the attack coming and knowing that there were too many for him to effectively block, Gaara leapt out of the way and onto a nearby branch. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He was forced to jump back into the air to dodge the blast of wind that came rushing at him. He turned his back to Naruto as he did so.
'Now!' Naruto jumped out from behind his cover and thrust his hand forward. "Fira!" Gaara turned his head around with wide eyes as the large fireball shot at him. Boom!
The explosion from the fireball impacted Gaara and pushed him into a nearby tree. The Konoha genin grouped together on a nearby branch as they waited to see the result. "Did we get him?" Menma asked.
Naruto shook his head and tried to see through the smoke. "Doubt it. That would be too easy."
"Die!" A large sand claw shot out of the smoke and at the group.
"Told you!" The four of them jumped out of the way as the claw destroyed the branch they were on. The claw soon retracted as the smoke started to clear. What they saw wasn't what they were expecting to see. Gaara was standing there, but he seemed to be deformed somehow.
Sand was covering part of his body one of his eyes turned black with a yellow pupil. Gaara's entire left arm was covered in it, forming the claw that had just attacked them and he even had a tail. He had a crazed look on his face as he snarled at them. Spotting something about the part of him that wasn't covered in sand, Naruto frowned.
"I think he has sand armor on." When he got confused looks in return, he pointed. "Look, you can see cracks in his skin with sand falling off of him. I think he has a layer of sand on him."
Getting a better look with his Sharingan, Sasuke nodded his head. "Yeah, I can see the layer of sand from here. His entire body is covered in it."
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"
Naruto glanced at the others. "Any ideas?"
"How about me killing you?!"
"Move!" They scattered as Gaara rushed at him. "Don't get in close! Remember what he did to the guy caught in his sand back in the preliminaries!" Heeding his warning, they stuck to ranged attacks. The next few minutes were spent with them raining down attacks on Gaara with him either batting the attacks away or avoiding them entirely.
"It won't work!" Gaara simply batted away the hail of attacks before lunging at them.
'He's right…These aren't strong enough…' Naruto glanced at the others before an idea came to him. "Narumi! Uchiha! We need more firepower!" They looked at each other and instantly caught on to what he wanted. Seeing that they understood, Naruto rushed at Gaara and jumped over him to avoid the swipe he made. "You're too slow-ttebayo!"
Gaara growled at him and turned towards him. "Thunder!" A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck Gaara, but it didn't do any visible damage.
"Is that it? Is this the extent of your power? Mother is disappointed…"
Naruto smirked at him. "Well, maybe a small bolt of lightning can't do it, but I bet an inferno can."
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball!"
Knowing that he couldn't move out of the way of the giant inferno speeding towards him, Gaara quickly summoned a cocoon of sand for protection. Boom! Gaara and his cocoon was sent flying.
'That isn't going to be enough!' Naruto looked over to Menma. "Menma! I need some water!"
Menma smirked. "You got it!" He quickly flashed through some hand seals. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!" A large amount of water rose out of the river and formed a dragon. Once he got the shape right, Menma launched the dragon at the spot where Gaara was.
Nodding his head, Naruto thrust his hand forward. "Thundara!" A larger bolt of lightning struck the water dragon, charging it with electricity. The thunder dragon rushed at Gaara. Boom!
The Konoha genin regrouped as they waited for the smoke to clear. "Did that get him?" Menma asked. Nobody responded.
'He's tough, sure, but he can't handle all of us at once. We will just keep on nailing him with heavy hitting attacks until he goes down…' Naruto thought to himself.
"Gah! It hurts! It hurts!"
"I guess it did…"
The smoke slowly cleared to show Gaara standing in a crater, but he wasn't paying any attention to him. He was focused entirely on the blood that was coating his palm. He was bleeding from his head with some blood dripping down his face. "It's my blood! You hurt me! I'll end you!" The sand around him was rising and spiraling around his body.
Naruto frowned as he felt something shift in Gaara. He quickly identified what it was and his eyes widened in alarm. 'Oh shi-'
Boom! An explosion of darkness expelled from Gaara, making them brace themselves or else be pushed back from the force. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll. Kill. You!" A sphere of darkness formed around Gaara, shielding his entire body from view.
'He's snapped! The darkness is going out of control!'
"What the hell happened?!" They turned to see Misa landing on a branch next to them. She was giving the rampaging darkness an apprehensive look.
"The kid's gone off the deep end! I don't know what this stuff is, but it's clear that he isn't in control of it!" Pakkun yelled back over the wind.
They watched as the sphere of darkness slowly grew in size. As it grew, heartless started to appear in the surrounding area. The sphere kept on growing in size, destroying everything it made contact with. Entire trees were destroyed and swallowed up by the darkness as time went on. The sphere soon towered over the trees and they were forced to move away to keep their distance.
"What do we do?!" Narumi yelled.
"No idea!" Menma yelled back.
Feeling a sudden spike in the darkness, Naruto yelled to the others. "Get down!" Not questioning it, they dove to the ground. BOOM! The darkness exploded out, uprooting trees with the shockwave.
"What the hell?!"
Play Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix – Shrouding Dark Cloud
"GRAH!" Standing in the center of where the sphere used to be was a giant purplish-black tanuki. It had a jagged, concave mouth with no tongue, and eyes that were entirely yellow. On its forehead was what Naruto recognized to be the heartless emblem.
"Is…Is that the one tailed bijū?" Narumi asked weakly. "Did he release it?"
"I don't know…Something about it feels…off…" Menma responded.
"It looks like those things we've been fighting…" Sasuke commented.
Naruto looked around and scowled. "Speaking of which, it looks like their attracted to this thing…" The others looked around and tensed when they saw the entire area was now crawling with heartless.
"Tch…This entire situation just went from bad to worse…" Misa said. "How are we supposed to fight that thing?" Menma and Narumi glanced at each other. After a moment they nodded and jumped away from the others. "What are you two doing?!"
"Best way to fight something that big is with something just as big-ttebane!" Narumi shouted. Before any further questions could be asked, they were both shrouded in a surge of red chakra.
Naruto instantly recognized the chakra, having seen it before. 'That's the Kyūbi's chakra! They can bring it out at will now?'
The two younger siblings both bit their thumbs before flashing through hand seals and slamming their hands on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" Poof! Narumi and Menma were shrouded in two giant plumes of smoke that rivaled the one tailed heartless in size.
"What have you called me for, brat? It better not be something stupid…" A loud voice boomed from the smoke.
"Don't be like that, Gamabunta-san. I'm sure that we were summoned for a good reason…" A more timid sounding voice responded.
Misa swallowed nervously. "Holy crap…" Sasuke nodded numbly in agreement. As the smoke cleared, they were able to get a look at what Narumi and Menma summoned.
Narumi had summoned a giant, rusty red toad with a scar over his left eye that had on a blue happi vest. On his hip was a massive dosu blade. The toad was loftily holding a pipe as he took in his surroundings.
Menma was standing on a giant white slug that had three blue streaks that ran down the middle and side of her body.
The toad's eyes landed on Shikaku and he paused. He frowned in confusion. "What the hell am I looking at? Some bastardized version of Shukaku?" He asked. His eyes flickered up to Narumi. "Brat, what have you pulled me into?"
Narumi rubbed the back of her head sheepishly before she pointed at the one tail. "Hey, Gamabunta-san…I was kind of hoping that you would help me fight this guy…"
"And why the hell would I do that?"
This question made Narumi gape for a moment before she started gesturing wildly. "Why wouldn't you?! Please! I would really appreciate it-ttebane!"
Gamabunta shook his head, making Narumi stumble. "I'm not hearing any reason why I should."
"Gamabunta-san, why aren't you willing to help? It is obvious they could use a hand…" The slug said, causing Gamabunta to wave her off.
"You can do whatever you want, Katsuyu. But I don't see a reason to fight something that obviously has some kind of relationship to Shukaku."
"Are you forgetting that Minato-san, Jiraiya-san, and Tsunade-sama requested us to assist however we can if we were called during the invasion?" Gamabunta froze. "I'm sure that this is what they were talking about…at least to some extent."
Gamabunta scowled. "I still don't see why I-" Boom! Without any warning, the one tail shot at Gamabunta, forcing the giant toad to jump back to avoid the strike. The giant claw of sand caused tremors in the ground as it missed and impacted the surrounding area. Gamabunta slowly looked down to his coat and saw that it was partially torn. "…Alright, you'll pay for that. You have yourself an ally, brat. I hope you can hang on!" Gamabunta slowly drew his sword as he prepared himself for battle. Narumi sighed in relief.
The one tail growled at him and crouched low in preparation for attack. Just as it was about to pounce, a shout was heard. "Please don't forget about me!" The bijū had to jump out of the way to avoid the acid spray that Katsuyu shot at it.
The bijū growled at the two of them as it decided on its next move. An explosion heard in the distance drew its attention back to the village briefly. After a moment, it was shrouded in a cloud of darkness. "What the hell?!" Gamabunta shouted.
Naruto frowned. 'What the hell is it doing?'
The cloud of darkness split into three parts, each as big as the original. When it cleared, they were shocked to see that there were now two additional bijū present. There was the original purplish-black one, but it had created two pitch black clones.
"It can clone itself?" Misa asked.
"Well, I guess this means it's going to be a one on one fight, eh?" Gamabunta crouched. "Well then, let's do it!" He lunged at the nearest clone.
Menma looked down at Katsuyu. "You think you can handle one of the other ones?"
Katsuyu nodded. "I believe so…but what about the last?" She got a smirk in return.
"Leave it to the others, I'm sure they can figure something out. And please try to keep the fight away from the rest of the village, if you can. We're in one of the bigger training grounds, but it will still be hard to keep something like this contained."
"Right…" The closer clone lunged at them. "Please hold on!"
"Grah…" Seeing that the two summoning animals were busy with its clones, the bijū turned back towards where it detected a large amount of hearts gathered.
Naruto's eyes widened in alarm. "It's heading for the village! We can't let it get close!"
Sasuke scowled at him. "And how do you propose we do that?"
Misa growled. "We aren't just giving up! We're going to hit it with everything we've got!" She quickly took out a kunai that had an explosive tag attached and threw it at the one tail. Boom! Seeing that the bijū didn't even seem to halt its movement for a moment made her dread grow. "I hope 'everything' is enough…"
"I'll make it enough!" Sasuke rushed at towards the nearest tree and ran up it. Once he was at the top, he flashed through some hand seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball!" He launched a massive fireball at the bijū.
Detecting the oncoming attack, the one tail turned and raised a hand to block it. "Grah!" It retaliated by making a swipe at the tree that Sasuke was in.
Eyes widening in alarm, Sasuke leapt out of the tree. Once he was back on the ground, he turned his head towards the others with a smirk. "See? It wouldn't have blocked that if it wouldn't have done any damage. We just need to keep hitting it with big attacks."
"Well, that's a better plan than nothing…" Naruto summoned his keyblade. "I guess that's all we can do!" He leapt in the air. "Fira! Thundara!" Although the fireball was blocked, the second spell made contact. The bijū roared in agitation and turned its attention to Naruto. "Come on! Over here!"
Using the distraction, Misa sped around until she was behind the bijū. "You seem to think that one was nothing…How do you deal with a bunch?" She took out multiple explosive kunai and launched them at the bijū.
"GRAH!"
"Oh shit!" Misa dove out of the tree she was in as it was crushed.
"Hey jackass, I'm still here!" As soon as the bijū had looked away, Naruto had jumped onto its back and ran up towards its head. "I wonder if you can get headaches? Shadowbreaker!" Naruto attacked the head of the bijū once he was close enough. This injured and angered the bijū enough to start shaking its head back and forth violently in an attempt to get rid of him.
"They aren't the only ones here! Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire!" Naruto immediately jumped off the bijū. Boom!
"Grah!" The bijū stumbled as Sasuke's attack landed. Once it regained its balance, it roared again before raising its arms above its head. An orb of darkness started to form in the gap between its claws.
"What's it doing now?!"
"I don't know, but I don't want it to hit me!"
The one tail thrust the orb forward, and the darkness exploded out into numerous blasts. "Move out of the way!" Boom! The three of them leapt out of the way of the shots, but they had to move again to keep avoiding the blasts.
Naruto jumped into a tree to avoid one of the blasts, but he quickly had to leap out of the way as another homed in on his location. 'How many are there?!'
"Argh!" Naruto's head snapped around at the cry of pain.
"Uchiha!" Sasuke had been hit as a blast hit him from behind, leaving him open for another. "Shit!" Naruto rushed at Sasuke, and barely managed to get in between him and the oncoming attack. 'No time to grab him and move! This better work!'
"Naruto! Uchiha!" Naruto ignored Misa quickly brought his keyblade forward to meet the oncoming attack head on.
"Gah!" Naruto was forced back a couple feet as his keyblade collided with the darkness blast, but he didn't relent. "Try your own attack!" Taking careful aim, Naruto swung his keyblade and launched the attack back at the bijū. Boom!
"Grah!" It did the trick and interrupted the bijū from its continuous barrage of darkness blasts.
Naruto sighed in relief before glancing back to Sasuke. "You alright?" Sasuke clutched his shoulder and stiffly nodded. "Good, because this thing is still good to go…" The one tail was quickly recovering from the attack and was gearing up to continue.
Misa landed next to them. "This isn't working quickly enough. We are doing damage, but not enough. We're going to tire out before it's finished." She glanced at the two of them. "Any ideas?" Naruto frowned.
"I think I did more damage to it when I attacked its head. I think that's our best bet."
Sasuke scowled again. "And how are we supposed to get up there? It takes too long to run up the body, and even then it will shake us off right away…"
Naruto's frown deepened as he considered his options. "I have an idea…" He said slowly. He would have liked to hold off on this a little longer, but desperate times call for desperate measures. "I'll summon some help." This declaration made the other two blink.
Misa smirked. "You have signed a summoning contract? That's pretty useful." She crouched low. "Then get to it!" She and Sasuke shot back into battle.
"Right!" Naruto jumped back onto a branch. "Well, I guess it's time for a field test." He reached towards the container he had on his leg and opened it. From it, he withdrew a card. Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated. A twilight aura slowly appeared around him.
Flashback: Station of Awakening (During the Month)
"Do you understand how it works?"
"Yeah, I think I've got it…" Naruto was staring at the card he held in his hand. "So, they are made from my heart?" He asked.
Yami sighed and rolled her eyes. "These cards are synthesized using your heart as a catalyst. This means that only you can use them. All you need to do is pour some twilight into them and you're good to go."
"Right…And they look like this because…?"
"That's just how it is! Now are you gonna try it out or not?!"
"I got it, I got it…Just give me a second…" Naruto closed his eyes. A twilight aura slowly built over his body. Feeling he was ready, he snapped his eyes back open.
End Flashback
Naruto opened his eyes and held the card out. "Summon: Ryu Dragon!" There was a bright flash, forcing Naruto to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he smiled at the creature in front of him.
Flying in front of him was a quadruped dragon that was as bigger than he was. Its feet were tipped into claws and it had a beak for a mouth. Its tail had flame-like protrusions coming off of it and it had two horns on its head. The majority of the dragon was green, but there was also red, yellow, and purple on it.
"Kyu…" It rumbled.
Naruto grinned at it. "Hey, Ryu. I hope you're ready for a fight." The dragon nodded excitedly. "Great, now here we go!" Naruto jumped onto the back of the dragon. Whoosh! The dream eater shot off towards the bijū. "I need to get in close to the head!" Nodding in affirmation, the dragon directed its course to the head of the bijū.
"Grah!" The bijū seemed to notice their approach, because it stopped trying to hit Sasuke and Misa and turned towards Naruto. A claw made a swipe at them.
"Dodge it!" Ryu did a barrel roll to avoid the attack, never slowing down. "Nice one, now fireball!" Ryu opened its beak and fire shot out of it. The bijū roared as the attack landed. "Keep it up!" Once they were close enough, Naruto leapt off the bijū. "Ars Arcanum!" Naruto gripped his keyblade tightly with both hands and flew into a flurry of rapid strikes.
"Grah!" The bijū roared again and before slashing its claw at Naruto, making his eyes widen.
'Oh crap. Can't move out of the way!' Whoosh! Ryu grabbed him and flew out of the way at the last moment. Naruto grinned at the dragon. "Thanks for the save!" He paused when he saw the one tail open its jaw and begin to gather darkness. A sense of panic rose in him as he detected how much darkness is being gathered. 'Is it trying to blow up the entire village?!' That much darkness was easily enough to kill everyone in the village!
"Ryu, get in there, now! We have to stop it!"
"Kyu!" Ryu dove back in towards the bijū. As they dove, Naruto tensed in preparation. "Here we go! We take this thing down here and now!" Once they were close enough, Naruto jumped off the back of Ryu. "Decussation!"
Naruto and Ryu both disappeared, only to reappear on either side of the bijū. They both attacked before disappearing again. They reappeared in different locations, only to attack and disappear again.
On a nearby tree branch, Misa and Sasuke could only stare in shock. "Whoa…They're moving so fast that I can't even keep up…" Misa said quietly.
Sasuke frowned with his sharingan active. "That isn't speed. They're actually managing to teleport repeatedly to attack…"
"Grah!" The one tail stopped gathering darkness in the face of the immediate threat, but no matter how much it tried to hit the attackers, it wasn't able to.
Suddenly, Naruto and Ryu appeared in front of the bijū. Naruto was standing on the back of the dragon with his keyblade pointed at the bijū. "One last attack!" The twilight aura appeared around him again as he channeled the power to the top of his keyblade. "Twilight Blast!" Boom! The blast of twilight shot out of his keyblade and landed a direct hit on the bijū.
"GRAH!" They were forced to cover their eyes from the explosion. When the light died down, they were greeted with the sight of the one tail fading away.
End Music
"Hey, what gives? Is that all you've got?" Naruto turned and saw that the two clones were fading away as well. He turned back to the original and narrowed his eyes.
'Where is he? Was he completely swallowed?' Naruto raked his eyes over the fading bijū. Eventually, he spotted what he was looking for. 'There!' In the center of the bijū was Gaara. He looked to be unconscious. Just as Naruto spotted him, the rest of the bijū faded, making the redhead fall. "Catch him, Ryu!" Ryu shot toward the falling redhead and was able to catch him before he hit the ground. The dragon flew down and set him on the ground..
Naruto looked over in the direction of Misa and Sasuke. 'If I'm gonna do this, now's the time!' "Get me above him a bit." The dragon complied and started to gain a few feet of altitude. Once he was high enough, Naruto pointed his keyblade down at Gaara. 'Just picture a lock with the bijū behind it…' The tip of his keyblade flashed before a light shot out of it and hit Gaara. Naruto thought he heard the sound of something locking as the light faded. He sighed in relief. 'Glad that's over with…'
"Naruto!" He turned towards the voice and was greeted with the sight of Misa, Sasuke, and Pakkun rushing into the clearing.
Naruto smirked at them as Ryu landed. "Hey guys. I guess we survived, huh?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and Misa snorted. "I guess we got lucky." She eyed the dragon he was riding. "Who's your friend?" Naruto grinned and pet the dragon on the head.
"This is Ryu." Misa opened her mouth, but was interrupted.
"You guys!" The three of them turned to see Narumi and Menma approaching. Narumi had a huge grin on her face. "We did it-ttebane! We won and protected the village an-is that a dragon?" Menma could only gape at the Dream Eater.
Naruto smirked again. "Yep, this is Ryu."
"Kyu!"
"That's awesome-ttebane!" Narumi ran forward to ogle the dragon. "He's so cute!"
"You see a dragon and you think cute?" Menma asked quietly. Narumi spun around to face him.
"Of course! Just look at him-ttebane! He's adorable!"
Naruto sweat dropped. "Right…" He shook his head. "Anyways, we finished our mission."
Narumi gasped. "That's right! We had an A-rank mission! And we completed it!" She looked around. "Where's the guy we were fighting?"
"Right over there."
Misa nodded. "Good. Let's grab him and bring him in. There's still an invasion going on, we aren't done yet!"
"Right!" Menma moved to grab Gaara.
Boom! Out of nowhere, the ground started to shake violently.
"What the hell?!" They looked around for the source, but were unable to find anything. Feeling something above them, Naruto's head snapped up. What he saw made his blood run cold.
High in the air was a giant orb of darkness. It was as big as one of the faces of the Hokage monument. It was pulsating and growing increasingly unstable by the second.
'Oh no…' He was so stupid to think that all that darkness would just disappear without any consequences!
"What the hell is that thing-ttebasa?!"
"I don't know, but there's no way it is good news!" The orb condensed. "Get down!"
BOOM!
An earsplitting explosion rang out through the village. Following the explosion, particles of darkness were spread far and wide throughout the village and past its borders. Looking around, Naruto saw that his fears were confirmed.
The darkness was attracting heartless.
There we go! All done with Chapter 27!
Who would win in a fight between Minato and Orochimaru? I want to say Minato, but I don't know off the top of my head what I could back that claim up with.
I didn't bother to put of the barrier that Orochimaru used when he fought Sarutobi in canon. My reasoning was that what would the point be when Minato would just be able to use the Flying Thunder God to get out? And I didn't forget about the sound four.
Did Orochimaru revive Hashirama in a weakened state? Cuz I can't see Sarutobi fighting him equally when he was at full power. I'm planning this based on the assumption that he was weakened.
I will call the Fourth Raikage "A" and the Third Raikage "the Third Raikage."
Fair warning to you, I don't really plan to go over all the fights. I'm only sticking to the ones Naruto is in or personally sees. You may hate me for it, but that's how I've been doing it. I may provide some scenes from the fights, or do the entire thing if it is really important, but other than that? Nope.
I kept Kingdom Hearts boss fights in my mind as I wrote that last fight.
Yes, people! Naruto can summon Dream Eaters! Props to the people who guessed it correctly. Gigantic thanks to Coral the Leviathan for letting me use his summoning idea. The thing about using cards to summon Dream Eaters comes from his Second Chance as a Pirate series. Go check it out!
It isn't over yet!
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!
Until next time,
Kog6943
"He…He really went in for the kill…"
"Where the heck am I? And why is the moon broken?!"
"Does that lady have dog ears?"
"Get out! We don't serve animals here!"
"Dust? How can dust do anything?"
"Don't mind if I do…"
"Whoa, you are one ugly dog."
"You have some…interesting abilities…"
"Do you not have anywhere to go? Would you like to come with me?"