Sorry for the wait. I've been really busy lately.

(Should have put this up earlier. Sorry! ') Disclaimer: I DON'T own Naruto OR Kingdom Hearts. Kishimoto and Square Equinex (sp?) does. :D

I also want to thank all my reviewers and readers! This is close to being my most popular story. Thanks for reading this!! You make me feel happy! 3

A Ninja and a Keybearer

Chapter 5: The Heartless Boss

"THE KEY!!" the duck and the dog shouted in union.

Naruto hastily pulled a kunai out, ready for anything, and asked in a threatening voice "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The duck got up first, seeing as he was on the top of the pile, and turned to the blonde, obviously annoyed. "Who're you to talk to us that way, you…" the rest of what he said wasn't comprehendible due to the fact that whatever the duck said was a mix of quacking and yelling… but mostly quacking.

The dog… thing got up and looked down at Naruto, seeing as he was very tall. "Ayuck… sorry 'bout that. The name's Goofy, captain of the royal guard and this is Donald Duck, the royal magician," he said holding down a now smoldering duck. "Nice tah meetcha!"

Naruto fell to the ground, completely surprised. Okay, maybe he wasn't ready for anything. "Magic?" he sputtered out. By that time, Sora had snapped out of his daze and gotten up. He smiled at Donald and Goofy and pointed to himself. "My name's Sora and this is-!"

"Uzumaki Naruto," the blonde finished.

Goofy scratched his head. "That's a funny name… Uzumaki."

Naruto fumed at this, along with Donald. "No, you idiot! That's his last name!! Just look at the way he's dressed!" At this both Naruto and Goofy looked at his orange jacket and pants.

"What's wrong with my clothes!!" he yelled.

Donald just rolled his eyes. "He's obviously from another world. Probably a ninja, if the knife says anything."

Naruto looked at the kunai he was still clutching and glared at the duck. "Kunai," he said flatly. 'The stupid jerk's got that same I'm-smarter-than-you -idiot attitude as Sasuke!'

Sora, feeling the tension in the air quickly broke it. "Yeah, well, as you can see, I'm the keybearer. Naruto here is the container of-," he broke off suddenly when he saw Naruto's pleading blue eyes. The Kyuubi host didn't want to share his secret just yet.

"Container of what?" Donald asked impatiently, eyeing the blonde with suspicion.

"… Of great skill!" Sora finished quickly, adding a grin he hoped was convincing.

The magician paused and glared at Naruto uncertainly. "Whatever," he muttered out. He'd have to keep an eye on the blonde brat. Something about him just wasn't right.

Naruto on the other hand, mentally sighed. 'The duck took the bait.' But before anything else could be said, a series of large walls rose around them, blocking off any possible exit.

The group looked around in confusion. What was going on? It wasn't until a moment later that Naruto, with his heightened senses (due to ninja training and being the host of the Kyuubi) felt the unease you get right before a battle, followed closely by everyone else. Everyone quickly pulled out their weapon. Sora held up the keyblade, a staff appeared in Donald's hand in a flash of light, Goofy took off the shield that was strapped to his back, and Naruto took out a kunai and got is chakra ready to put into hand seals lest he'd need to create jutsus.

No one was disappointed with their assumptions, for at that exact moment, a large heartless, made fully of armor that wasn't necessarily attached to it, jumped in front of them, making the ground quake underneath their feet.

They'd found the heartless boss.


Sasuke followed Maleficent down the hallway. He gazed at the dark walls and his fingers twitched towards the bag at his waist that held his ninja tools in anxiety. Although he'd never admit it, this place gave him the creeps.

Looking back, he noticed that the boy with silver hair, Riku, only showed a slight hint on his face that he was nervous at all. 'Either this guy's really good at hiding his emotions,' the Uchiha thought, 'or he's used to it.'

With nothing better to do, and to sooth his nerves, Sasuke thought back to his last night in Konoha.

-Flashback-

He couldn't sleep. He lay in his bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. Maybe it was the anxiousness he got from the coming storm, after all, anyone with half a brain could see that this was going to be a bad one.

Sasuke watched as the rain started falling outside his window, faster and faster as time went by. It was times like this that brought those painful memories back. Running into the house only to find his mother and father dead and Itachi standing over them. It pained his heart every time he thought about it, but he couldn't push the unbidden memories out of his head. He saw his aunt and uncle, cruelly slaughtered by the one he had once called brother.

Eventually a crack of lightning lit up the night sky, illuminating everything in the house. It was at that moment that he saw him. It just a slight movement for just a second, but Sasuke still saw it. There was a man in his hallway. 'He must of snuck in while I was thinking!' the Uchiha thought bitterly.

Silently, he stepped out of the bed and grabbed a kunai. Unless he had a good reason, this intruder wouldn't live to see the next sunrise. Slowly, silently, like a tiger going in for the kill. Then suddenly…

CREAK!!

Sasuke mentally slapped himself for forgetting about the squeaky step right in front of his doorway. 'Dang! Gonna have to rely on my speed for this one,' the last Uchiha thought as the stranger turned toward the noise.

Lightning flashed again, allowing him to get a quick look at the stranger. He had shoulder length silver hair and aquamarine eyes. Sasuke ran quickly towards him, grabbed the intruder's hands, pulled them behind his back, and held a kunai to his throat. "What are you doing in my house?" Sasuke whispered dangerously.

His captive just smirked, ticking the Uchiha slightly. "You really are good. But of course, he told me that much." In a flash, an odd looking sword appeared in the boy's (after all, he looked to be just a few years older than Sasuke himself) hand. The blade looked like a red wing that would belong to a bat, while the hilt was black and pointed at the end. All in all, it looked very weird to Sasuke.

The boy flicked the sword so it was held against his opponent's throat and grabbed the wrist with the keyblade, giving another smirk as they switched positions. Sasuke could feel a vein throbbing as he saw that smirk again. Was this how Naruto felt?

"I'm only going to say this once," the boy whispered in his ear. "A man by the name of Orochimaru has joined Lady Maleficent, a very powerful spell caster." A flash in Sasuke's onyx eyes was all that showed of the recognition of the man's name. Of course he remembered Orochimaru. His neck suddenly started itching where the curse was at the sound of that name.

The boy continued. "She, along with others, controls the darkness. When he joined her, Orochimaru told my lady that he knew someone that could help them even further reach their goal to control the heartless. He said that it was a young ninja by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. I was sent by Maleficent to bring you a message. If you wish to become stronger, fall to the darkness. To do so, you must join us."

The boy went on further to explain to the Uchiha about using the portals. Though he showed no emotion on his face, Sasuke held on to every word. This woman promised him power. Maybe enough to defeat Itachi! He knew he'd probably have to deal with Orochimaru, but still… strength! He could outsmart that snake, anyways. After all, he was known as a prodigy, the rookie of the year, and the only one to survive the Uchiha Massacre, although a tiny voice in the back of his mind reminded him that his brother had let him live.

Maybe he should go with this strange boy.

The said boy smirked again when he realized that his words were sinking in. "I will let you decide whether to except or not. If you do, use the portal to go to Hollow Bastion, Maleficent's home." As he turned to go, he stopped and gave Sasuke a half look over his shoulder. "You know, you remind me a lot like myself."

-End Flashback-

Sasuke could have gone for awhile, just thinking about that storm. Taking the boy's advice and starting to pack, walking out of his house just before Sakura entered to check in on him, running into that guy who had made him that peculiar offer, Sakura being kidnapped, running into to Naruto, and ending up here.

But before he could brood on these thoughts, Maleficent stopped. "We're here," she said in that cool uncaring voice, just before opening a door that led to a dark room. Inside, Sasuke could barely see the silhouettes of quite a few people. The Uchiha was suddenly wondering if this was such a good idea.


Everyone tensed as the giant heartless drew closer to the small group of four. Then, suddenly without warning, it attacked. Naruto brought his kunai up to guard, while his new comrades did likewise.

Sora rushed the heartless, keyblade in hand, and did a series of hits and strikes. It was obvious that Sora was no stranger when it came to swordplay. Goofy threw his shield like a discus, leaving deep scratches against the heartless' armor before returning to its owner. A sudden shout at his side took Naruto's attention to the other two fighters. "THUNDER!!" Just seconds after, lightning bolts rained down on their opponent.

It was at the moment that the blonde noticed something. Something very important. "HEY! I WANNA FIGHT, TOO!!" He made a familiar hand seal and cried out, "Kage Bunshin Jutsu!!" Four Narutos appeared and looked at the original expectantly, waiting for an order. "All right everyone! Basic procedure! Here we go!"

Two of the Naruto ran around to the other side of the heartless and ran for his legs, while the other two did the same on the opposite side, trying to kick their opponent in the air. The original Naruto jumped onto one of the clone's back and was airborne.

Donald and Goofy were speechless at the performance, but Sora, who had seen it already, hit the heartless again and again at his arm. If he could just get rid of the limbs, then it would be all the more easier to get to the head and finish it off. He looked up quickly to see Naruto coming down fast with his leg extended and a cocky grin plastered on his face.

Sora then noticed something that was different than last time he saw this move. The opponent wasn't in the air heading towards Naruto's expected kick and the clones had been hit when the big heartless swung his arms, making them disappear into puffs of smoke. Looking back up, Sora noticed that the blonde's smile was gone and replaced with a look on his face that just said, 'Oh crap' all over it. But unfortunately for the shinobi, he was falling too fast to change course and get out of the way.

Foot met head with a sickening bang. Naruto fell to the ground clutching his leg in pain, screaming out curses, which would have extremely comical if they weren't in the middle of a battle.

Naruto hissed in pain. "Stupid metal jerk, stupid armor, stupid kidnapper, stupid Sasuke! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he muttered.

"Yes. We have already established that everything besides me is stupid, especially you. Now will you just get up and fight, wimp?" a familiar voice growled in the back of his mind.

"Stupid fox," the ninja said, a little louder than before. Donald, being a bit closer to the blonde than anyone else, heard his peculiar statement, but shrugged it off for the moment. He had the other pressing matters.

With a little bit of Kyuubi's healing power, Naruto stood up. He was mad. Very mad. He grabbed a kunai out of his pouch and attached an exploding note to it. "Sora! Get out of the way!" he yelled.

Sora, seeing the boy wrap a piece of paper around his kunai, quickly complied. The blonde ninja threw the knife and hopped back. Donald and Goofy, seeing Sora jump away, followed his example, just seconds before the heartless blew apart, its armor in different parts of the battlefield.

"That was awesome Naruto!" Sora exclaimed. The blonde just grinned and rubbed his finger under his nose in response.

But the victory was short lived. As Sora, Donald, and Naruto started walking away, Goofy took a quick glance back to see all the damage. And that was when he saw it.

"Uh, guys?" he said tentatively, "We have a problem." The trio turned back to see what Goofy wanted and froze. The heartless had started to reassemble itself.

Sora looked at it with shock and weariness. Donald scowled, and Naruto voiced everyone's thoughts. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!"


Meh... This was easily one of the longest chapters I've ever written. But I will write even longer one!! Is determined

How was the battle scene, Lithius? I know it's not as good as yours are, but I don't usually write that many.

Fighting the heartless again? How much better can things get for Naruto? Sakura's having an okay time... if you count being bullied by Twilight Town's "defenders". Don't even mention Sasuke! First that stupid silver haired kid comes to get him, then he meets up with Maleficent, NOW he's got to deal with Orochimaru!!

NEXT TIME: The Second Time Around