A Serendipitous Key of Hope

Disclaimer: My imaginary lawyers tell me I do not own products owned by Disney, Masahi Kishimoto, anything from Shonen Jump, or Square Enix.

- Omakey -

Nagato flies to a mountain within a world of a deserted wasteland. He removes his armor and lands in front of someone waiting for him. "Master Xehanort!"

Nagato lands before him and says, "I've been to other worlds. I know all the things you've done, but I don't understand why."

The shaved elder looks down in shame. "Someone had to safeguard the light… from the demon I unleashed."

"Demon?" Nagato's ripple eyes stares at him.

"I'm sure you know about the boy in the mask by now… His name is Vanitas." Xehanort holds a hand up in disgrace, clenching it. "A creature of pure darkness, one of my making."

"He… He came from you?"

"He came from Yahiko." This surprises the red haired boy, who backs away in shock. "Vanitas is the darkness that was inside of your friend." He notices Nagato wants more. "It was an accident; while training with me, Yahiko succumbed to the darkness. The only way to save him was to extract it, and that formed Vanitas. In the process, I damaged his heart in the most horrific way. All I could do was leave him in the hands of Eraqus."

Nagato looks over in understanding. "I knew the boy couldn't stay with me, the one who harmed him so."

He walks up to the old master. "Yahiko has gotten allot better since then. Gotta thank Konan for that anyway." He says the last sentence to himself. "You shouldn't blame yourself for trying to save him."

"Thank you lad. You know how to ease an old man's heart."

'So that's what it was...' Nagato takes a moment to think back to when he and Konan first met Yahiko, three years ago. He was so deep in thought and zombie like. He barely spoke their names. Coming back to the present, he asks, "Why is Vanitas still free?"

The old man turns around. "Ah yes. Well, I did my best to contain him the moment he emerged, but… he escaped. He uses the Keyblade to unleash minions of darkness, and now the worlds teem with his ghastly underlings."

"I see… He's the one who summoned the Unversed from the darkness."

Xehanort walks forward as he speaks, before stopping to turn and face Nagato. "He has no control over the darkness in his heart; the Keyblade's not his to use. Lend me your strength, Nagato. Right this wrong that I have wrought."

"How would I even find him?"

"What I know is his darkness is drawn to the light, which he seeks to disrupt. It stands to reason his next target is the city of light, Radiant Garden." Nagato nods at his statement.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of Vanitas." Nagato then summons his armor and glider before flying off. He looks back with his Rinnegan at the world he left. His eyes then show him something strange, images.

There he sees Konan and Yahiko in their armor fighting a losing battle, against Vanitas. One has Konan unconscious about to die by Vanitas. The visions finally halt, causing his riding to swerve a bit. "That was… What is the Rinnegan telling me?"

Ever since he awakened these eyes he's been seeing things he never would have. He asked his temporary sensei Jiraiya what this means, and all it means is he can use chakra as well as magic. What this means, he doesn't know. He's only learned a few ninjutsu techniques. Regardless, they do help at times.

"I'll do whatever it takes to save Yahiko and Konan..."

- End Omakey -

The XXVIII Keyhole: He's The Pirate

Naruto opens his eyes when he feels the swaying force of where he's sleeping. He picks himself up and looks around, realizing he's on the pirate ship from before. "Let's see… Me, Donald and Goofy were in space and… Oh yeah! Wait, where are they?!"

"Morning dobe," says a familiar voice. Looking up at the highest point of the ship, he sees one of the men in black. From the voice, he can tell it's the same one who attacked him back in Arendelle. "Welcome to the Jolly Roger. I had a feeling you'd come here."

"Save it, Sasuke. I know that voice anywhere," Naruto replies. His former friend reveals himself, removing the hood over his head. His Mangekyou Sharingan eyes flare down upon him. "What have you done with my friends Donald and Goofy?"

"Are they really that important? More important than old friends?" he callously asks.

"You think that's going to work? I haven't given up on you yet, but I need to know where they are!"

"Instead of worrying about then, wouldn't it be right to worry about her?" He steps to the side to show him Hinata.

"Hinata!" He grits his teeth in anger while clenching his fists tightly. "So Sakura was right; it was you who kidnapped her and Elsa!"

"You can have back your ice queen, but we're keeping Hinata. Both her, Jasmine and Anna are the last three we need to open the door."

Naruto rushes in at him. Only to be stopped by a hook. "Not so fast! There'll be no shenanigans on my ship!"

He then looks around, realizing the Heartless and Hook have him surrounded. His eyes flare with the same magic as Faith, with him saying, "Go ahead and try; you'll all see why I'm not even scared!"

The hatchet below him opens up, and he drops down into the ship. With the hatchet closing back up and Naruto sealed down below, Sasuke then says, "Let me know once we've reached Neverland. And make sure you keep Naruto away from the Princesses as long as possible."

As the Uchiha walks off, Hook scuffs. "Scurvy brat; he dares order me around like he's Maleficent's favorite?!"

"What ought we do Captain?" asks his first mate.

"Nothing Smee! The hold's crawling with Heartless; let them keep an eye on the brats!" speaks the captain before he turns his eyes to the sides of the ship.

"But Captain, you know who is down the-"

"SSSSH! Did you hear that Smee?!" The pirate becomes incredibly paranoid. "That incessant ticking! He's here!"

"No."

"You sure?! Did I just imagine it?!"

Down below, Naruto is in the prison cell with Donald and Goofy. The latter asks, "So they're all here? Jasmine, Anna, Elsa and Hinata?"

"Yeah! We're this close to saving them!"

"W'alright! Let's go save them!"

"Yeah."

"Of course!" This is Donald, who adds, "Except first, GET OFF ME!" Yeah, Naruto fell on both of them when the hatchet opened.

Getting up, the trio set up plans to escape. The only way out is a locked door; not a problem. "Hey, you guys alright?" All three look back to see a young boy with orange hair and a green elf outfit.

Floating off the ground. "Looking for a way out?"

"Who are you?" asks Goofy.

"I'm the answer to your prayers." They don't buy it. "Don't believe me? I'm not trapped here; I'm just waiting for someone."

"Who?" As if answering his question, a sparkling yellow pixie flies by Naruto towards the kid.

"Tinkerbell, what took ya?" The spirit reveals herself as a little fairy girl in green. "So, ya found Wendy?"

Tinkerbell nods in response, before saying other things the trio understood. "What? Other girls are there?" Naruto raises his head. "Are you crazy? There's no way I'm leaving Wendy there."

"Aha, she must be pretty jealous!" Tink kicks him in the beak before flying out the small opening.

"Come on Tink, open the door!" Naruto clears his throat to grab the boy's attention, summoning the Keyblade. He then unlocks the door. Embarrassed, he introduces himself as: "Peter Pan."

"Naruto, Donald and Goofy." Naruto identifies him and his friends.

"Okay, we're in this together; but only until I can get to Wendy." With that, the four make their exist.

As they step out from the cell, they begin to search the ship. As they do, Donald quickly recognizes something up with Peter. "Hey, how come you're floating?"

"Not floating, flying," he corrects.

"So uh, how come you can fly?" Goofy asks.

"Anyone can fly. You wanna try?" Peter stops in front of them before saying, "Hey Tink!" The golden sprite flies in front of them. "What, still haven't cooled off? Just give them some Pixie dust."

"Pixie dust?" Naruto repeats. "How does that help us?"

"Pixie dust can help grant one's wishes, most importantly flying," says the floating child. He then takes Tink and flies over them, having pixie dust spread over them. "There. Now you can fly."

Donald immediately tries it by flapping his arms, er, wings, only to hit the floor board with a thud. Tink laughs right in his face. "Very funny."

"Donald, you're a duck," Naruto begins. "How come you can't already fly?"

"I'm not that type of duck!"

Elsewhere on the ship, Hook is with Sasuke yelling his head off. Why?

"What? You're just shipping off?!" Hook shouts at Sasuke.

"Now that Naruto's here, the stage has been set. I'll take the princesses back." He then tosses an item over to Hook, who catches with his actual hand.

"What's this?"

"A Navi-G. This should lead his Gummi Ship to Hollow Bastion, once he gets it from you," says the Uchiha before he flicks his wrist.

"Wait, you think I'm just gonna give it to him?" His response is utter silence. "You think he's stronger than me?!"

"Make sure he knows where we've gone. Also, you've got your own problem right now." Sasuke turns to the door just as Smee rushes in.

"Captain! We got a problem! The prisoners have escaped! What's worse, Peter Pan's with them!" Sasuke looks to the side as he listens in, as if expecting it all.

"Blast that Peter Pan! He's probably here for the dud!" As the pirate captain slashes his hook across the air, the Uchiha walks over to the cabin areas. "Where are you going?!"

"I just told you everything I'm doing. I'm taking the girls." He then exits the room.

The irritated captain growls under his teeth. "That blasted scallywag… I'll send him to the blimey deep along with Peter Pan and that Keyblade brat!"

Back to Action…

Peter enters into a locked room while searching. As he does, he calls out. "Hello?"

"Peter? Peter Pan?" He looks up when he hears the familiar voice. Checking the ceiling he spots a metal netting that leads to another room above them, where a young girl in a bright blue dress sees them.

"Wendy!"

"Thank goodness! The pirates were just here; they might come back! Please hurry!"

"Don't worry Wendy; we'll get you out of there!" says Peter as he flies up to the net.

Naruto goes up to the door and asks, "Is there another girl in there with you Wendy?"

"Um..." Wendy looks over to the side to see a beautiful blond woman resting. Wendy goes over to her, tapping the woman's shoulder. She groans in her sleep. "Oh good. Are you okay?"

The blond opens her eyes, revealed to finally be Elsa. "I saw darkness for so long..."

Naruto flinches recognizing the voice. "Elsa?"

"Naruto?" Elsa rises up quickly. "Naruto, is that you?!"

"I'm here, right under this floor! Just stand back!" he tells her, using a Fira to blow a hole in the floor. Peter flies upward to Wendy.

Naruto, Donald and Goofy follow along. Up on the upper level, Naruto and Elsa meet face to face. The ice queen stands up and hugs the blond swordsman. "You're here, you saved me again..."

"Elsa..." he whispers, hugging her back. Donald and Goofy look to the side sheepishly.

Tinkerbell flies over to Peter, who groans at her annoyance. "Not now Tink!" Upset, the pixie flies away. "Alright, a deal's a deal. I'm getting Wendy out of here."

Taking her in his arms, Peter flies down the hole to escape. Though a little pissed he left, Naruto has a job to do. "Elsa, where are the others? Anna, Hinata and Jasmine should be on this ship."

"They were..." Elsa looks down ashamed. "I tried to stop him, but Sasuke looked at me with these red eyes and I fell unconscious."

"How did you even get here?"

"Naruto, we'll get to that later!" shouts Donald. "Let's go!"

"Right!" Naruto goes over to the door and uses Mahou Rasengan to bust it down. On the other side are Pirate Heartless and Barrel Spiders, barrel versions of the spiders from Agrabah. They rush in to attack, but Naruto and Donald hit them with Blizzaga. The attack holds them off, but doesn't stop them. "These guys are strong. Let's go all-" Before he could finish, a wave of ice magic shoots out from behind him and freezes them solid.

The trio turn around to see Elsa holding her hands out. "Got em."

"Whoa, that's cool!" Naruto jokes.

"Thanks. I've been working with Sakura to get a better hold on my powers with your advice," she says before stepping forward. Her high heels change into shoes for better mobility. "Let's go save Anna."

"Right!" Naruto says before the four of them go forward. As they do, Naruto changes his Keyblade with the chain from Agrabah. This turns his sword into a golden and blue Keyblade with a design similar to a lamp.

As they move, eventually they come to a latter. Donald goes first, then Naruto and finally Goofy and Elsa. This brings them to the captain's quarters. Goofy comes to the door and opens up, where they finally see the outside. Instead of space, they're now in another world out at sea.

Stepping out and heading to the deck of the ship, Donald asks, "Where are we?"

"This sea doesn't look very familiar to me." Elsa looks out starboard. "Right… What now?"

"We find Sasuke," says Naruto, with a confident and determined flare in his eyes. "He knows where the girls are, so he's the one we find."

"Yes, he's quite a lecherous codfish isn't he?" The group turn around and spot Captain Hook. As the wind blows, the large feather on his hat dances wildly. "If ye be searching for that scurvy little picaroon he ran off with the girls without even saying goodbye. A bit Amber alert don't you think?"

"Run off where? Tell me, where did he go?!" Naruto demands in a serious voice, summoning the Keyblade for extra insinuation. Donald and Goofy prepare their weapons while Elsa starts to summon icicles.

"To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resides. But, you won't be going there. Or, you can't go there, not without this." Hook holds up the Gummi block.

Goofy sees it and says, "That's a Gummi block!"

"Not just any, but a Navi-G piece. With it, you could locate and travel to Hollow Bastion. But, none of you will be leaving this ship alive." Hook pockets the block before stepping aside, revealing Smee holding one of those cases to hold candles. As Hook takes it and holds it to their view, it shows Tinkerbell trapped inside. As the original trio gasp, Hook continues with, "Unless you intend on leaving this little pixie behind. Now, I'm possible you land lubbers can see it my way, savvy?"

With a defeated look in their faces, they each drop their weapons. Except for Naruto, who has the Keyblade vanish. The Heartless pop up before them, a Pirate grabbing Naruto and throwing him to the floor. "Naruto," Elsa calls out.

"Hand over the Keyblade, and I'll spare your lives," says the one armed captain. He hands the case over to Smee and points a pistol to her. "Be glad I am merciful, unlike the Heartless. Now what'll it be, the key or the plank?"

Naruto growls under his breath, thinking of a way out of this. As he does, his ears pick up a ticking. "What's that noise?"

This raises Hook's flags, who looks overboard. There he sees to his horror, a green crocodile three times the size of an average one, with a ticking sound coming directly from it. He then completely flips out. "It's him! It's the crocodile that took me hand!"

"Oh, that's what happened to you," says Naruto.

"Oh Smee, he's after me other hand! I can't stay here!" Hook rushes to his captain's quarters. "Smee, take care of this!"

"Uh, okay." Smee turns to the Heartless and nods, giving them the signal. The pirates then grab Naruto and push him over to the plank.

"We can't let this happen!" Donald says, but is hesitant because Tink is still in danger.

As Naruto edges near the end, the crocodile moves in position. He closes his eyes to think. 'Come on, think! The moment I use magic or the Keyblade he'll shoot Tink… What can I do?'

"Fly Naruto! Just believe, and you can do it!" He opens his eyes briefly in shock, hearing Peter Pan's voice.

'Believe… Fine, I believe in you.' He closes his eyes and jumps back. As Elsa's heart stops at that very moment, Naruto descends quickly towards the croc. And then, out of nowhere, he flies out of its gaping maw.

Everyone watches in shock seeing Naruto fly, even Smee who's too shocked to even shoot Tink at this moment. This gives such an opening allowing someone to snatch her away. The surprised first mate sees Peter Pan with Tinkerbell, setting the pixie free. "Uh oh. G-Get em!"

As the pirate runs off, more Heartless pop up. Naruto turns over to Peter, thanking him. "Hey, no problem. You didn't think I'd leave you and Tink behind right?"

The two share a brief smile, before turning their eyes to the Heartless. Goofy spins like a tornado knocking them away with his shield, before he, Donald and Elsa regroup with the two boys. Elsa once more hugs the blond, asking, "How did you do that?"

"It was happy thoughts! Donald failed earlier because you need happy thoughts and pixie dust to fly!" Donald and Goofy look to eachother, before closing their eyes to concentrate as well. And within seconds, they're all flying with ease. "Tink, please give some to Elsa!"

Tinkerbell gives pixie dust to Elsa, granting her the power of flight as well, and together all five of them face the Heartless. They charge in to take on the crew of Pirates, Air Pirates, Shadows and Soldiers. "Remember, happy thoughts."

Naruto draws the Keyblade and tackles a Pirate Heartless, smashing through a barrel. He then jumps in the air taking flight, slashing the arm of an Air Pirate. As he does he grabs it and throws the guy into another flying Heartless.

Donald jumps up in the air avoiding a Soldier flipping towards him. He flies over in and stomps on its helmet, shutting its eyes. He then hits it with Thundara before using Magnet to repel it towards a group of Shadows. "Alright!"

"Come on!" Goofy charges in raising his shield, bashing through a group of Soldiers like a bowling ball. He then jumps on top of a Pirate avoiding its blade and striking the Heartless in the head. With it disoriented, Goofy makes a powerful swing and shield uppercuts the Heartless into the air.

Where Elsa's ice blast sends it flying before solidifying it in ice; she summons a pile of snow to bombard a Shadow coming after her and the others beside it. She then summons a rapier made of ice and swings like an amateur at a guarding Pirate. It deflects her strike and knocks her back, causing her to cry out. As the pirate attacks, it slips on the ice she made, allowing her to recover enough and send icicles to impale and destroy it.

Peter Pan easily dodges attacks from the Heartless, moving behind them so they'd fall into the sea. When an Air Pirate attacks him from above, he dives down and spirals around it, before rapidly stabbing the monster while giving his trademark call. Riddled with holes, it explodes into nothing.

Their combined efforts manage to eventually eradicate the Heartless menace. This leaves Naruto and his friends victorious. "We did it! We beat the pirates!"

"Not yet. Hook's still around," says Peter. He then sneaks over to the captain's quarters with Naruto as everyone else lands on the ship. The kid smiles before knocking.

"Is that you Smee? Did you get rid of them?"

Mocking his first mate, Peter says, "Awe captain! They walked the plank, every last one of them!"

Sensing the threat is gone, Hook comes out searching for proof. Peter then sneaks in behind him and gives him a Thousand Years of Death with his trusty sword. Obviously, Hook launches a bit. "ARGH! Blast you Peter Pan!"

"You tried to make my buddy walk the plank? Now it's your turn you codfish!" Hook draws his blade and swings, forcing the two to jump away. Peter floats in the air while Naruto skids across the deck.

"I'll make you pay for the constant humiliation and suffering I've gone through!" Hook raises his hook arm and scrapes down the wall. A Battleship Heartless then rises from the seas, hovering over them. The Heartless unleashes a horde of missiles upon the five heroes, who run away to avoid it.

"No fair, bad form!" complains Peter, easily avoiding the missiles.

"No see, you're the ones with bad form! Ganging up against a single opponent is bad form, especially when you can fly all willy nilly like you own the skies!"

Peter stops for a moment before descending. "You're right Hook. This will be one on one, you and me. And I won't even need to fly!" The kid then turns to the others. "You guys take care of his buddy."

"You sure?" Naruto asks him. "If you lose, I'm coming back to finish your job for ya." He then turns over to his friends flying in to attack the Heartless ship.

Peter jumps in at Hook and slashes at him, starting a swashbuckling clashing of steel between the two. Hook expertly slashes at the child, nicking off a few pieces of clothing. "You swear?"

"I swear! It ain't good form to lie!" Peter steps aside to dodge a stab aimed for his heart, and grabs his arm to divert the hook slash with a spin. Now behind Hook, he kicks him in the butt. The enraged captain slashes at him, narrowly nicking his cheek.

Naruto and the others fly in random directions avoiding the fire shot off by the Heartless Battleship. Elsa sends a wave of ice to block the shots, before she and Donald shoot snowballs to plug up the cannon ports. Goofy flies up and bashes the skull of the pilot Heartless running the ship. Naruto then slices through the main mass, causing it to lose balance. He then sees the ship fly past him, smoking and trying to stay together.

"Elsa, Donald, together!" The three of them combine their ice magic to unleash a powerful Blizzaga spell that freezes it over. Naruto then flies in and slices through, shattering the Heartless and unleashing the heart.

Naruto then turns over to the ship seeing Peter Pan and Hook still fighting up on the main mass under the sails. Hook hooks away his small sword, disarming Peter and leaving him at the mercy of his sword. "Time to die, Pan."

Naruto prepares to fly in and help him, but that's when Peter grabs the Skull and Crossbones and wrap it around Hook, blinding him. He then steals his sword and regains the advantage. "Not so fast, Hook."

"Oh, good form chap," says Hook as he looks at him. He then nervously cowers away. "Now, isn't this the part where you let me go? You wouldn't kill the jolly old Captain Hook would you?"

Peter contemplates it. The sword gets closer to him as he thinks, before he throws it in the water. "Get out of here, and never come back to Neverland again."

With his victory declared, he turns to the others. "We won!"

"Alright Pete!" Naruto flies down next to them. He's just ready to congratulate his victory, when he sees Hook standing back up. That same flash enters his sights, before he draws the Keyblade and knocks his swiping hook arm up. He then bashes Hook seven times with his sword, before giving him five more wild strikes. The thirteenth and final attack knocks him overboard.

Hook raises his head from the sea, and pales seeing the crocodile. It licks its crocodilian lips before lunging at him like dinner. The defeated pirate swims off like a coward, screaming out his first mate's name, in the most hilarious of ways.

Naruto looks over with a sigh as Hook takes off, looking down at his sword which still shines from that last move he did. 'That… That was Last Arcanum… I actually pulled it off!' "Yes!"

"Naruto, what was that?" asks Elsa with worry.

"Just learned how to do a very cool move," says Naruto before looking down. He then spots the Navi-G piece he knocked out of Hook's clothes and picks it up. "Sasuke isn't here anymore, so neither should we. Let's get off this ship."

As the others agree with him, Tinkerbell flies over to Pan. "What's that Tink? Something wrong with Big Ben?"

Elsewhere…

Sasuke looks down at the three princesses he brought with him. Maleficent chuckles as she approaches, Heartless appearing to take the girls away. "We've done it. Now to prepare for the final battle."

"It was foolish of you to bring them here without a vessel. Relying too much on the darkness can cost you your heart," she warns him.

"I'll be fine." Sasuke places a hand to his heart. "My heart won't succumb until I've learned the truth of my clan, and defeating Naruto will bring me that much closer."

"Oh?" This is something she doesn't know a thing about. "And how so?"

"Itachi has some sort of connection to this Kingdom Hearts, and defeating Naruto will prove I'm strong enough to kill him." Sasuke draws out the dark sword he's been carrying this whole time, swiping the air with it. A dark chill erupts from its core as he does. "If not, I can still use Kingdom Hearts for my answer; what is the Mangekyou Sharingan, and what does it have to do with that Dark Seeker? Why?"

"So many questions you may never find an answer to," Maleficent tells him. "You should focus on your duel with the Keyblade. To that end, I shall help you." She holds her scepter to him, unleashing darkness in him. "By unlocking the untapped potential inside of you!"

The Uchiha feels himself become empowered. His Mangekyou appears as he prepares himself. He then looks back feeling something. "What's that?"

"A castaway. Though his world perished, his heart did not. He will be here shortly to take back his friend, but that is where you come in hand; his darkness is no match for yours." Maleficent smirks before laughing.

Back to Action…

Naruto, Peter Pan and the others have flown all the way to London. There they see Wendy on Big Ben waving to them. Elsa reaches Wendy and asks, "How did you get all the way here?"

"I can fly too," she tells them.

Naruto looks over at the clocktower. "So, what's wrong with it Tink?" The cute little sprite takes him over to one side of the tower, where he sees three clocks at midnight. Tinkerbell then stops him in front of the fourth, revealing it's instead at 9 o'clock. "Wait, that's not right."

Taking out the Keyblade he smacks the clock hand raising it up to 10 o'clock. He repeats until it's 11, and then finally 12 midnight. The clocktower bell resounds throughout all of London, and light appears by the four on the clock. It takes the shape of a Keyhole, which is where Naruto realizes the truth of Tink bringing them here.

He fires a beam from the key and locks it, protecting the world. "All done. We're coming for you, Maleficent! And, Sasuke!"

Kenshin: Huh. It's rare we do two in a month.

Kei: That was a short arc.

Claire: The next arc is much more important, because like Agrabah it's a 3 parters.

Kei: You mean?

Yusei: Yes. We're finally going to Hollow Bastion! After a quick stop to Traverse Town, the gang heads over to Hollow Bastion for Naruto's awaited duel with Sasuke.