…… Yes, I know what you're thinking……That I'm a horrible authoress and should be punished…..

All readers: You betcha! (Takes out assorted weapons)

Me: Uhm….. It wouldn't help to apologize now, would it?

Readers: Nope. You're in to deep to dig yourself out.

Me: Well, what if I were to promise to get the next chapter up extra fast?

Readers: That may help, but most likely not. (Begin to advance)

Me: Crap…. Well, what if I were to offer Sasuke as a sacrifice?

Readers: SASUKE, OMGILOVEHIM! (Takes Sasuke and mauls him)

Sasuke: Whhhyyyyyy?

Me: Thanks for that one, Sasuke! I hope all you people like this! Remember guys, I don't own anything! D

Naruto's Dive to the Heart

Naruto woke with a start. His blue eyes snapping open, he sat up, "Sakura!" he cried, looking around frantically, "Sasuke!" he called their names, but got no reply. He stood up. Looking around, he nearly fell backwards. It seems as if he were surrounded by an endless void. The only place that wasn't completely black was the thing that appeared to be a platform beneath him. His eyes wandering a little farther along the platform, he found it to be a mosaic of some sort. In the center was a woman dressed in a blue and yellow dress. She was surrounded by seven tiny men and appeared to be sleeping.

So much to do…so little time…. A strange voice echoed through Naruto's head.

"Wh- who's there?" Naruto asked, looking around.

Take your time. Don't be afraid. The door is still shut.

"Door? You mean like Sakura's door?"

Now, step forward, the voice coaxed, can you do it?

Naruto obeyed, but he wasn't exactly sure why. It felt as if his feet had decided to move by themselves.

Suddenly, in a flash of bright light, three platforms appeared before him, each bearing a different object: A sword, a shield, and a staff.

If you give it form…it will give you strength. Choose well.

"Choose well?" Naruto walked up to the platforms, examining them all carefully. After some consideration, he reached out and grasped the hilt of the golden sword. Pulling it towards him, he watched as his reflection look back at him on the blade.

The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction, the voice said, is this the power you seek?

Naruto smiled, "Believe it! I'm gonna be the next Hokage some day! I need strength!"

Your path is set.

The sword disappeared from Naruto's hands.

Now, what will you give up in exchange?

"Give up, eh?" He asked. He began walking around the platforms, observing the remaining weapons. Finally deciding on the shield, "I was never a big fan of shields," He said to no one in particular. He took it in his hands and was looking over the design on the front, when the voice came back.

The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. You give up this power?

"Okay, I guess," Naruto said. And with that, the shield disappeared as well.

You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the guardian…. Is this the form you choose?

"Believe it!" Naruto answered, throwing his fist in the air.

All of a sudden, the platform began to shake beneath his feet. He stood fast and reached for a weapon only to find that they were gone, "Huh?" Naruto asked in shock. The stones that had held the three weapons collapsed into the platform, becoming piles of rubble. The mosaic glass began to chip away piece-by-piece and fall into the dark abyss below him. Naruto ran from the expanding hole, but the glass gave in beneath him. His foot sunk down, dragging the rest of his body with it, "Wha--!" he shouted, looking around in confusion, "Aaaauugh!" He shouted as he fell down into more darkness.

He spiraled downward until another mosaic-like platform came into view, "Woah!" He did a small flip and landed on his feet near the edge of the platform. He looked over this one. This platform was purple and there was a different girl in the center: She had brown hair and wore a beautiful light blue gown.

"Wow…" he said, taking a few steps towards the center. He stopped when the sword suddenly appeared in his hands with a flash.

You gained the power to fight, the voice was back again.

"Hmmm," Naruto slashed the sword through the air. Despite it being his first time wielding a sword, he felt that it was easy to handle," Hey, this isn't so hard!" He slashed through a few more times, "YAH!" he cried, swinging it around him.

All right! You've got it, the voice praised, Use this power to protect yourself and others.

"Okay!" He answered when a black liquid-looking hole appeared in front of him. Out of it rose a small bug-like creature. It was composed like a shadow; completely black, save its large yellow eyes that had an eerie glow to them. It slunk over to Naruto's feet, its antenna searching all over the place until it made a dive at him. He quickly dodged it.

There will be times when you have to fight, the voice said, Keep your light burning strong.

"Right," Naruto grinned slyly before leaping at the creature and bringing his sword down over it, slicing it in two. The shadow made a hissing sound before melting into smoke, its wispy remains curling around his blade, "Hah!" Naruto shouted, triumphantly.

Behind you!

Naruto whipped around just in time to find another shadow lunge at him. He jumped out of the way, readying his sword. The shadow melted into the floor as several more emerged from dark pools in front if Naruto, "Come on! I can take you guys!" Naruto jumped at them, slicing and hacking with his sword until they all were but curls of black smoke rising up into the black void above.

"YEAH!" Naruto gave a whoop, jumping up into the air. When he returned to the ground, he crashed through the purple mosaic, "Not again!" he yelled, plunging through the void yet again.

Naruto landed on the next platform down. It was a deep shade of pink with blue weaving through it and had the profiles of three women who appeared to be princesses inside hearts. He looked up only to see a door on the side opposite him.

He ran over to it and examined it. It had an uncanny resemblance to Sakura's door. He scanned the front of the door, looking for a handle to pull it open with. He had no luck.

Grabbing an outcropping in the door, he pulled back as hard as he could, finally giving up after the door still refused to budge, "Why won't it open?" He demanded.

He backed up from the door and stared it down. The door remained shut in front of him.

"Stop mocking me!" Naruto yelled at it angrily. His face changed from anger to confusion as a white light traveled down the center of the door, as if it were a laser cutting it in half. Suddenly, the door swung open and Naruto was sucked inside, "Augh!" he shouted as blinding light consumed him.

Hold on, the voice said as the light began to dissipate, the door won't open just yet. First, tell me more about yourself.

It revealed an all-to-familiar training ground where three of the most unusual people were gathered. In fact, one of them had died and another, Naruto hadn't seen for quite a while.

"Hmmmmmm……"Naruto folded his arms and resolved to walk up to the most familiar one. A boy that practically worshiped him, the one and only, Konohamaru

"Hey, Konohamaru," Naruto said, approaching the boy who was practicing his aim with shuriken on a nearby stump.

Konohamaru looked up, "Oh, hey, Boss!" he said happily, "Say, could you tell me something?" he asked.

"Uh, okay, sure," Naruto said, "Shoot."

"What are you afraid of?"

"…" Naruto thought for a second. There were plenty of things he was scared of. Not that he would ever tell him of course, but everyone was afraid of something. Naruto just smiled and bent down, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but….I'm scared of growing old and decrepit. What kind of Hokage is old and whiny?"

Konohamaru nearly burst out laughing, "Getting old?" he asked, "How scary can that be? Pretty lame, Boss!" he said.

"Hey, you were the one who asked in the first place," he snapped, "That just shows that I'm not afraid of anything that someone else would think scary!" he crossed his arms and began to walk away.

"Whatever you say, Boss," Konohamaru replied and returned to his target practice.

Naruto approached the next closest person. It was Inari, a young boy who Naruto had met in the land of waves and certainly made him think. He was sitting on the riverbank, obviously in deep thought.

"Hi, Inari!" Naruto said happily, sitting down next to him, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hi, Naruto," Inari said, "I'm just thinking," he paused, "say. Do you think you could answer me something?"

Naruto frowned slightly. Another question! How long was this going to go on? "Uh, sure," he replied.

"Before you die, would you rather see new places, or broaden your horizons?" he asked.

"What's the difference?" Naruto asked.

"…" Inari paused, "You know, I really have no idea."

"Well, I guess that I'd say to see new places, because I understand what that one means," Naruto replied, "That all?"

Inari rolled his eyes, "Yeah."

Naruto stood up, "See you later then!" he called over his shoulder as he wandered up to the final person, Haku.

"Haku?" Naruto asked out loud, "I thought you were dead."

Haku turned and smiled at him, "Naruto. Fancy meeting you here," he said, "Tell me, Naruto, is there something important to you?"

Naruto sighed, "I thought that I already told you!" he said, "I want to be number one in my village! I want to become the next Hokage!" he said, "Believe it!"

Haku smiled again, "That's a good dream. Don't let go if it," he said.

"Why would I do that?" Naruto asked, turning around and closing his eyes. When he looked back, though, Haku was gone, along with the training ground and everyone else who was there. In its place, Naruto found that he was standing on another platform.

"This place again?" Naruto asked impatiently and examined the new platform. This one was a reddish color and depicted another girl who appeared to be sleeping. She was gently clutching a rose on her chest while a ring of black and green thorns wove around her picture. She almost looked pained. Naruto looked up and around the platform and spotted suddenly a pillar of light shining down. Naruto's face lit up, "A way out of here?" he thought excitedly as he ran through it. When he approached it and looked up, however, there was nothing. Just the random pillar of light that stood before him, "Darn it!" Naruto hissed and stomped his foot.

Suddenly, a few black pools appeared in front of him, "Oh no, more of these things?" he asked, backing up. He put his hand out and thought of the sword that he had used before. In a bright flash it was there in his outstretched hand, "Alright!" Naruto said, "I think I'm getting the hang of this sword business!" He readied himself for the oncoming shadows and sliced through them, reducing them to smoke once again. Before long, they were all gone, "Woo! I did it!" Naruto cheered.

The pillar of light began to shift across the platform and over to the edge. It kept traveling upwards to where another platform stood in the distance. In the path behind it, the light left a staircase of colorful stained glass. When the light finally reached the top, it stood now in the middle of the higher platform.

Naruto turned around and noticed the staircase, "Hey!" he said, "Look at that!" he curiously approached the stairs. He walked up them to the next platform where the light pillar stood. Hopefully he would get out of here soon. This place gave him the creeps.

He reached the top of the staircase and approached the light pillar again. The voice returned again to his head.

The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes, it echoed.

Naruto turned around to see his own shadow stretched across the platform. It suddenly began to lift off of the ground and take a new form. It resembled one of the small bug creatures, but it was much bigger and stood on two legs with two very long arms. On its stomach was a heart-shaped hole, like it had been cut out of it. It was heartless.

"AHH!" Naruto cried in horror and began to run in the opposite direction, nearly falling off the edge of the platform. He turned back around to see the large creature looming before him.

But don't be afraid. And don't forget…

Naruto closed his eyes and prayed for the sword to return, which it did. He opened his eyes and faced the monster, "You'll regret ever crossing me!" He yelled before charging at it.

After Naruto finally defeated the giant shadow, he sat down in exhaustion. That battle took a lot more strength and energy than the little ones did. Underneath him, a large black hole appeared. It was similar to the pools that the creatures rose out of. Naruto looked around and noticed that his line of sight was nearing the ground. He cried out and stood up, but continued to sink into the dark pool. He tried to escape, but struggling only made him sink faster.

But don't be afraid, the voice repeated, you hold the mightiest weapon of them all.

"Noo!" Naruto reached his hand out, just as the pool engulfed him. He was blinded, but the voice still spoke in his head.

So don't forget: You are the one who will open the door.

That was the last thing Naruto heard before he stopped struggling and blacked out completely, falling into a deep sleep once again.

Well, hopefully you guys liked that one! Leave me comments with your thoughts! But, please don't flame me!

Readers: Flames? Good idea! (set torches on fire)

Me: Uhhh….Look over at Sasuke! (points behind the readers where Sasuke is getting up, looking dead)

Sasuke: Hunh? (eyes widen) Not again!

Readers: Sasukeee! (go to get him again)