A Serendipitous Key of Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts or Shonen Jump.

Yusei: We apologize for the lateness of this entry.

Julia: But with finals, drill and Star Wars all around there wasn't sufficient time to focus on this.

Manabu: But now we're on a role, and as soon as this uploads we'll be working on chapter 14.

Kenshin: You think Madara would make a good Sith?

Yusei&Manabu: NO!

-Omake-

Naruto sits atop his horse, staring out at the scene before him: a gigantic, mechanical tarantula is standing overtop a railroad where a group of people are running away from. He dismounts his animal and heads towards the metal spider, slowly climbing up its structural tendril. He sees Sasuke conversing with the old man and the president, before they're both taken into a net. 'Damn it Sasuke.'

He then makes it up to the top, only to come before a woman who steals his gun. "Ah hell. Uhm... Hey, I got a message for Orochimaru. It's from his mother; she said to stop all this bull and come-" She shoots him in the chest, sending him flying off the tarantula. The mechanical spider storms onward, leaving Naruto's body laying on the ground.

The XIII Keyhole: Advice of the King of Games

"Look! A stars going out!" Up in the skies above, one of the stars colliding in space disappears.

"Wow. That's gotta be a bad omen." Two footsteps move forward along the streets. The two continue to move forward through the darkness, Donald and Goofy dressed in new clothes outside of their usual uniform. The duck man grumbles saying, "Where's that key?!"

"Hey, maybe Yugi can help us. He's supposed to be here waiting," says Goofy as they move to the Second District. Along the way, Goofy notices Pluto, who joined them, ran off on his own. "Uh, you know what I think-"

"Ah, what do you know ya big palooka?" Donald states, ignoring him knowing for sure it's just Goofy's weird ramblings.

"What do I know?" Though clueless, Goofy continues to follow Donald even as Pluto leaves. Little did they know the yellow hound would happen upon a portal of darkness.

Donald and Goofy make it to the second district, right when Naruto and Yugi leave. "So uh, where do we start?" Goofy asks the duck man.

"Yugi!" Donald shouts out. The two then traverse the town in search of the illusive star haired duelist. Though they look and look, it didn't take long for them to realize something was up. No one is around.

"Where did everyone go? Sure is spooky..." says Goofy as he and Donald continue to walk through the empty streets lit by the faint, metal moonlights.

"Please. I'm not scared-WAAAH!" Donald shoots up suddenly when someone touches his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The two turn around slowly to face the person, who ends up being a beautiful young girl with brown hair. She's dressed in a familiar school uniform. "Are you with King Mickey?"

This gives Goofy some hope. "You know the King?"

"Oh good. I was hoping to meet you guys soon. Yugi's waiting for you." She takes out a cellphone and prepares to text him, only to receive one in response. "Eh? He found the key?"

"What?!" Donald jumps off of Goofy to look into her phone. "Where is he?!"

"Whoa, calm down! I don't want this broken!" As she and the duck bicker, Goofy looks to the side when he hears something come his way. Considering the sound of its feet stomping down on the ground towards them, it's unimaginable huge. The girl then says, "Let's go," and they both take off to flee their enemy.

With Naruto, he and Yugi are now safe inside of a hotel room. He watches as all the Heartless march the streets in a militarized order. "There's gotta be someone here using the Heartless for their handiwork."

"You think that Naruto-kun?" Yugi asks Naruto, wanting to see if he can get more information about that. Strangely, Naruto notices his voice has changed from the more confident one that used to come from his lips. He's also slightly shorter, and the look in his eyes have become more childlike. They remind him of him when he was younger. "I believe so too. How many worlds have you visited before coming here?"

"Just this one place called the Kingdom of the Sun," he tells the star haired boy as he looks into his eyes. "And just like there, someone was using the Heartless to control her world."

The little one gives himself a moment to think. "Did she mention anything about someone helping her?"

"More like she spent all her power keeping away from getting help. It's as if she was afraid of whoever gave her the power to control the Heartless."

"Then it's just as Yen Sid said." Yugi takes a seat by the round table, placing fingers on the upside down golden pyramid hanging off his neck. "He told you that this group was using the Heartless right?"

"Yeah, Akatsuki."

"But, there's another group using them. They're just like Akatsuki too."

As this was going on, in the room just next to theirs the girl with Donald and Goofy begins to give the lowdown. "So, you know that there are worlds other than this one and your castle right?"

"Right!" Donald gives a hearty agreement.

"But they're supposed to be a secret!" Goofy adds, holding his hands to his mouth.

"They've been secret because they were never connected, until now. Once the Heartless came, everything changed."

"The Heartless?"

"What, you've never heard of them? They're the monsters we were just running away from." She then goes on to explain the concept of what the Heartless are, being creatures made from the darkness of one's heart, and their infatuation with the hearts of worlds. Her words become heavier as she continues. "They even destroyed our world. Yugi and I lost our friends, family, everything. All because of those little black freaks."

"Where do they come from?" asks Donald.

"I don't know. They just showed up; hopefully, Ansem might know something."

"Ansem?" Goofy repeats the name.

"He was a scientist studying the Heartless. He kept a record of all his findings in a report, but its pages are scattered everywhere. We thought it might know something to stop them, but we have to protect this town from the Heartless."

"Oh! Maybe the King realized that and decided to go look for them!" he realizes. "We gotta find him quick!"

"Wait!" Donald flails his arm about, stopping Goofy's enthusiasm. "First we need to find that key! It's gotta be in this town!"

"You mean the Keyblade?"

As Donald and Goofy explain to her their business being in town, Yugi continues with his explanation to Naruto. "This group is led by an evil fairy called Maleficent. She wants to cause the worlds to fall into darkness so she can rule them. She was the one who destroyed our world."

"Yeesh. What do we do about her?"

"We'll have to find her world and stop her plan at the source."

"Right, but first Akatsuki. They're kidnapping girls for their plans to destroy the worlds." At this, Naruto sighs. He's starting to now understand the weight of all he has to go through. "You know, I'm beginning to wonder why all this is happening to me. I didn't ask for all this!"

Yugi shrugs at his response. "Of course not; the Keyblade chose you. It's all a part of fate I guess."

Of course, at his reply Naruto snaps into action. He has no interest in hearing anything concerning fate or what Neji told him before. "Oh no, don't you start. I told Yensei a bunch of times I don't believe in destiny or fate. Life is only meaningful when you reach out to do something with your own hands, not because someone says so."

"Yeah, that's true... But, just to let you know, there are times where you can't run away from something you're destined to do." Naruto looks aside at his response.

"Yensei said the same thing too." The Keybearer then begins to think about it, intimately.

At that moment, Soldiers appear in the room surrounding them. Yugi gets up, saying, "These guys are really persistent today!"

"Comes with the sword," says Naruto before he summons his Keyblade. He grabs the star haired teen and together jump out the window.

"What's that noise?" Donald checks behind a door, seeing the Heartless jump out the window after the two. "What was that?! Come on Goofy!"

"Okay Donald!" The two animals run out the door, leaving the girl behind to reach for them.

Outside, Naruto continues to run ignoring the Heartless chasing him, before making it to the second district. "So, how were you able to fight back against them?"

"The other me can call forth the spirits of Duel Monsters using the powers of darkness," says Yugi before they stop. More Heartless pop up in front of them, Shadows and Soldiers. "There must be someone controlling them in the Third District."

"Duel what?" Naruto is more into what the heck he just said.

Yugi breaks free of him and steps in front of him, holding his hands underneath his pendant. "With the Millennium Puzzle and the other me, we can take care of ourselves. I leave the bad guys to you Naruto-kun. Let's go, other me!"

A light shines from the Eye of Wudjat, which appears on his forehead. He now stands slightly taller, his hair returning to the style from before, and a more confident look in his eyes. "Got it, partner!"

"Wait, did your testicles just drop or something?" Naruto asks, being even more surprised by this.

This new Yugi turns around to face him. "Two hearts reside within this body. Nice to meet you, Naruto."

Naruto takes a step back, noticing he dropped the honorific 'kun'. That's all the proof he needs of Yugi being two people. Yugi raises a card and reveals it. "Come forth, Black Magician Girl!" His new monster turns out to be an extremely beautiful blond woman dressed in a magician outfit that, well, leads little to the imagination. The Keybearer can barely contain his redness.

Until he realizes he's getting an opening. "Good luck Yugi!" He draws the Keyblade and cuts through the two Heartless in his path. He then looks back while running at Yugi.

"Eradicate all the enemies before you; Black Burning!" Raising her staff, she releases a blast of dark energy that burns away the Heartless before her. She then twirls and winks.

Back with Naruto, he makes it to the third district. Looking around it seems quiet to him. But, he knows better than to let his guard down despite the presence of silence. The boy knows full well that just because he doesn't see anything doesn't mean nothing sees him.

"Hey, look who it is!" Naruto flinches, recognizing that voice. It's the same one who attacked and stole Gaara's biju from him. He quickly turns around and faces his opponent, who reveals to be Deidara. The bishonen bomber of Akatsuki now stands before him still dressed in the red cloud cloaks. "It's about time you showed up."

"So, this is Naruto Uzumaki?" Another voice speaks up, this being much more carefree and cool. Naruto's eyes shift to the man in an orange, spiral mask. "He doesn't look like much."

"Tobi, take this seriously. He's a Jinchuuriki." Deidara holds his hands up, as portals of darkness form underneath them.

"What are you talking about? Didn't that guy who stole Kurama give him to you guys? And why are you traveling to other worlds in the first place?!" Naruto swings the Keyblade, aiming it at his face.

"Kurama? Who the heck is that?"

Naruto pauses, before remembering they don't know that the Bijus have names. "... Right, sorry. That guy in the black coat took the Kyubi, so why are you still after me?"

"Don't play around. You're alive! The Kyubi can't get extracted without you dying."

As this conversation progresses, up above him Goofy and Donald look down and see him. The duck asks, "Who's that?"

Goofy quickly turns around however when he hears something. There, blocking their path, two Soldier Heartless stand creeping closer. "Gawrsh, are these the Heartless guys?"

"Phew. They don't look so tough!" Donald draws his scepter as Goofy takes out his shield. "Let's go get 'em Goofy!"

Seconds after that, the Soldiers flip forward and kick both Goofy and Donald down off the ledge. Naruto looks up hearing their screams, before running forward. They hit him hard, trapping the poor boy under their imaginary pounds. Groaning, the two animals come two after the stars cease their whirlpool, before realizing who they're on and what he's holding. "The key!"

"Who are these weirdoes?" Tobi questions when he sees them.

Deidara does not give a pig's knuckle. "Who cares? Let's get rid of them so I can curse again!"

Though that sentence gets his attention, Naruto forces himself to focus on the Heartless popping up fresh around them. Pillars rise up as well blocking their path, leaving the newly dubbed trio trapped in the third district. Donald and Goofy get up off of him, and focus their attention around at the Heartless; Naruto rises as well and gets into a sword stance.

"Well, this is an uncomfortable situation," says Goofy.

"Don't worry about it," Naruto says with reassurance. "They can't beat me with numbers."

"Phlah! We're no slouches to fighting either!" Donald adds.

Deidara and Tobi back away, leaving the Heartless to attack. Naruto jumps forward and delivers a flying side kick to the first Soldier, before gyrating in the air to slash away the two beside it. He then grabs the left leg of the one he kicked and tosses it at another Soldier that came at him from behind. That's when he gets a look at Donald and Goofy, the former of whom launches a Fira spell to completely obliterate a Soldier while the latter charges in haplessly and pummels through a throng of the monsters like a fine game of bowling. He grins watching them hit the ground splattered like broken toys.

"Guess we need to act after all." With that, Deidara prepares to move in to attack Naruto, who knocks down one Heartless in a single strike to the head. "Coming at ya boy!"

"What?" He sees little clay birds come at him, enveloping him in an explosion.

"Oh no! He got hit!" Goofy shouts out in shock.

The smoke clears away, to reveal Naruto standing tall surrounded by rings of fire. "Phew. That was close. Thankfully I used Fire to spin around me and soften the blow."

"Let's see you try that again!" A clay snake shoots itself out and attacks him this time on its creator's command. Naruto's response this time is to throw the Keyblade in a Strike Raid, cutting it in half so he can run in at Deidara. "Oh balls!"

Naruto drop kicks him, sending the androgynous artist sliding across the cemented street. "Hey, how about you stop hiding behind freaks like a coward and come fight me yourself?"

Tobi snickers off on the side lines. "I'll kill you Tobi!" He then throws a smokebomb to the ground, aiding in his escape with said chuckles. "This isn't over brat! I'm coming for you! In the meantime..."

As if on cue, after seeing the last Soldier fall to Donald and Goofy, giant armor appears from the skies and hits the ground, before collecting together Power Rangers style into one massive formation. The helmet is the last to fall, hitting down on its body before it begins to move. The arms and top float independently from one another, in total Rayman fashion, before the colorful Heartless moves forwards. Its metal feet clink and clank on the ground.

The Heartless shoots its arms out to rocket punch Naruto, who was in no way possible prepared for it, sending him sliding over to the animals. "Ugh. That one really smarts."

"You okay?" asks Donald as he and Goofy regroup next to him.

"Yeah, I'll manage." As Naruto recovers, he sees the Guard Armor sending its feet over to trample them. "Uh oh."

"Force!" Donald uses a gravity spell that repels the metal boots. "Let's not focus on the limbs! The main body's the one to go after!"

"Or..." Naruto then gets an idea. "Maybe we SHOULD focus on the limbs! Without them it has no way of fighting back."

"Oh, good idea," Goofy says, chuckling in agreement. He sees the arms coming in at them, and raises his shield to block them. "Now!"

"Wind!" Donald casts Aero to send the arms skyward.

"Fire!" Naruto's spell does double damage in conjunction with Donald's, setting the arms ablaze. He then throws his Keyblade into the wildfire hurricane, which spirals in the twister slicing up the arms. They explode soon after.

The Guard Armor sees it's in trouble, and flips in the air to divebomb them. Goofy spins like a tornado and manages to send it flying, before both Donald and Naruto fire Blizzard spells to freeze them. And then, acting fast, Naruto leaps up and slices through them. As they explode, he turns his eyes down to the main body. The Keybearer comes down at it, slashing once before going in for a second. Though his horizontal strike only allows it to spin and send him flying back.

"This won't be easy. If I could stop it from spinning..." The Guard Armor begins spinning, coming in to slam them again. "Here it comes."

"If it comes down to it, I'll just do this!" Donald sends a spray ice along the ground, causing it to slip and slide past them. "Huh? It worked?!"

"Hey, dog guy! Can you do that spin thing, but throw me at it?"

"Oh, sure!" Goofy does his tornado move while gripped onto Naruto, and throws him at a great speed. The blond swordsman jabs his Keyblade into the ground and pivots around it, sliding across the ground in a Sliding Dash to knock the Heartless upward and off its friction. He then stops himself to jump back up at the Heartless, spinning his Keyblade in his hands like a windmill and knocking it further skyward before making one final slash. Upon landing, Naruto looks up to see the Heartless shaking and twitching about. Its helmet falls, and a blue heart flies up high into the sky. It then fades away.

Naruto gives a sigh of relief. "What a hassle. My combat moves are nowhere near the same levels as my magic."

"That was great!" says Goofy before patting him on the back.

"So, who are you guys?" Naruto asks them.

"We were sent to find you," Donald tells him.

"Wait, you were looking for me?"

"They've also been searching for the wielder of the Keyblade, and came here looking for you thanks to Chip and Dale," says Yugi and he and the girl from before come in to see to them.

"Oh, the girl from before!" Goofy states.

"My name is Masaki Anzu."

"So you guys are the ones they went to look for... I guess you end up meeting the strangest people. But, do you guys really think we can go to other worlds together, and stop Akatsuki?"

"Of course!" Donald tells him. That's when Goofy brings him in for a huddle.

"Are ya sure?"

"Eh, who knows? But we need him regardless to help us find the king."

Yugi then takes this time to say, "Naruto, go with them. Especially if you wanna defeat Akatsuki. Your combination together was well done just now, and you won't be able to stop either them or Maleficent by yourself."

"Good point..." Naruto immediately throws away any cons to working together with a talking duck and dog and smiles. "But, if we're gonna work together then you can't go around eating my ramen."

"Don't know what that is," Donald replies. Like he would try anything he's not familiar with.

"Alright then, I'll go with you guys."

"Names Goofy."

"Donald Duck."

"And I'm Uzumaki Naruto, or Naruto as everyone calls me." They place their hands together.

"All for one and one for all!" At once, they raise their hands high up in the air.

…

As Naruto, Donald and Goofy celebrate their victory against the Heartless, their images appear on a frame before a circle of villainous eyes. The first one speaks, "Did you see how that little guy took down that Heartless? Who'd have thought he'd have it in him!"

"He is far stronger than he looks," speaks a second voice with unparalleled wisdom. "Such is the power of one with the Keyblade."

"If he's that much of a problem then let's just turn him into a Heartless!" The third voice laughs after speaking, being a female but haggard one. "That'll settle all our problems quickly."

"We can't." A fourth person adds this in. "If he's that skilled then he must already understand how to protect his heart from darkness. He must have been the one who stopped Yzma from granting us a world of darkness."

"And the brat's friends are the king's lackeys!" A fifth voice begins talking now. "Swaggle me eyes! They're all bilge rats by the looks of 'em!"

"You're no prize yourself." A sixth person laughs while pointing at the last guy.

"Shut up!"

"Enough of this pointless peanut gallery!" A final voice comes in, glaring at all six villains before her. "The Keyblade's chosen one has finally appeared from his world and wishes to challenge the forces of darkness. Will he be the champion of light that conquers the shadows, or will the darkness swallow him? Either way he could prove quite useful in drawing out the targets, and exterminate the competition."

One last person enters the room, a yellow, slit iris eye taking great notice of Naruto in the podium. 'So, it's true after all.'

Yusei: That ends this chapter.

Takeshi: Next time, Naruto and the others head to a new world in pursuit of Akatsuki.

Luna: Also, the omake continues on from there.