Yeah. This is late. I know. But the flying monkeys took the first half of it and I had to get it away from the Wicked Witch of the West. :D (Lol! NOT REALLY!! I had writers block on some of it) But hey! It's very very long! Possibly the longest chapter I've ever written.

Disclaimer: I DON'T own Naruto OR Kingdom Hearts. Kishimoto, Disney, and Square Equinex (sp?) does. :)

A Ninja and a Keybearer

Chapter 6: The Second Time Around

Sakura strolled around, gazing at her new surroundings. That Ansem guy finally had the sense enough to let her get some fresh air. It was so stuffy in that cell!

The pink haired kunoichi just huffed and walked through the woods that led to the town. Ansem had told her that there were children her age there. Personally, Sakura really hoped so. She was tired of just looking at that Kairi girl, waiting for her to get up and talk to her.

Putting a hand over her eyes so the sun wouldn't shine through her eyes, the Konoha nin found herself walking through a hole in a brick wall. Sakura stared at the sudden change in scenery.

Where there had been giant trees before, now giant buildings stood in their place. Posters lined the walls about different upcoming events. One such poster said something about a "Struggle" coming up. 'That actually sounds a little fun,' Sakura thought. She passed by a bulletin board with odd jobs posted on it. A perfect chance to get a little extra cash. But what really caught her eye was the group standing by one of the Struggle posters.

'Two boys and one girl,' Sakura noticed. 'Like us.' The first boy was looking at the poster with his undivided attention, provided with an imaginary fight. He had dusty blonde hair that, in Sakura's opinion, looked like he'd just run it throw a high tech blow dryer. He wore camo cargo pants, a sleeveless black shirt, and an olive green vest. The boy seemed to be in charge of the group.

The second boy was a bit chubbier than the other and had spiky black hair held out of his eyes by a black and white headband. Over jeans and a white shirt, he wore a jersey with the words "Dog Street", and a blue bandana around his neck. He rolled his eyes at the first boy while eating a blue Popsicle.

The girl had brown haired that stuck out a little at the top. She wore an orange and white floral tank top and khaki capris. She giggled sweetly as she watched the antics of her two friends.

Sakura smiled at the happy group. She missed her team so much. She missed everything. Naruto's loud voice yelling out his dreams, Sasuke's quiet approval when she did something right, even Kakashi-sensei being an hour late everyday. Slowly the smile fell and her eyes drifted to the ground.

"Hey are you alright?" someone asked in front of her. Sakura instantly snapped to attention, letting any emotion that had shown on her face disappear. Looking up, she saw the same group as before, each with a worried look on their face.

"What?" was the intelligent remark that came from her mouth.

The blonde boy sighed. It was obviously him who had asked the question. "I said, are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah! Fine! I'm fine. Just a little lonely." That wasn't technically lying… right?

The boy gave her a disbelieving look and was about to say something, but the girl stepped in between them. "Hayner, don't be so mean," she said, giving the boy a glare.

Turning back to Sakura, she smiled and said, "Don't mind this bonehead. Hayner just thinks the world belongs to him." The girl giggled as she pushed the boy away. "You must be new here. My name's Olette, that's Pence, and you've already met Hayner," she said, gesturing to each in turn.

"Hello. My name's Haruno Sakura. And I guess you could say I'm new here. I've been living in that big mansion for some time," she said, remembering how Ansem had told her about the other worlds and how they needed to be kept a secret.

That instantly got Pence's interest, momentarily forgetting his ice cream. "Really? We all thought it was abandoned!"

The kunoichi just nodded and said, "Well, tell you the truth it mostly is. I'm living there with… my grandfather. But he doesn't really like company, and only just now let me go out." Which was true. Ansem himself had told her he didn't want anyone coming there. Sakura inwardly sighed with relief when she saw the curious gleam in Pence's eyes disappear.

"But anyways," she said quickly, trying to change the subject, "what's this about a Struggle?"

Hayner grinned. "It's only the most popular sport around! Every year, we hold a competition among the finalists. The preliminaries are tomorrow, and I'm entering," he said proudly, jabbing a finger at his chest.

Sakura brightened immediately. "That does sound like fun! I think I'll enter!"

Olette and Pence looked at each other and exchanged glances. "Um…" the brown haired girl started, but was cut off by Hayner's laughing.

"You? A girl? Enter the struggle match? Ha!" By that time, the dusty blonde was rolling on the ground laughing. This only made Sakura's temper rise.

"And what, pray tell, is wrong with a girl fighting?" she snapped.

Pence answered her. "Well, first off, they think that girls don't fight that good, which is mostly true around here. And just looking at you… well let's just say you don't look like the fighting type," he said, glancing at Sakura's short pink hair for a moment.

The Konoha nin tried to calm herself down and consider the reasons they said what they did. 'I'll admit. I used to spend much more time on my looks than my jutsus. And they probably think I'm some kind of girly girl,'

'Like that pig, Ino!!' Inner Sakura yelled.

'And I am a worse fighter than my teammates.' She countered.

'But I bet I could beat ALL of their butts!! Shannaro!!'

Putting on a fake smile, Sakura turned to Hayner. "Then how about a match, you and me, to show you I can fight as well as any boy."

The blonde only smirked. "You're on!"


The Heartless armor floated for a moment, then the arms and legs rotated into place closely followed by the quickly spinning head. It stood there for a moment, seeming to wait on its opponents. But just as the group was getting ready for a quick attack, it stomped its foot, almost impatiently it seemed, sending shocking waves through the ground, knocking everyone down.

Naruto, being most short tempered, jumped to his feet and charged it, but just as he was closing in for a solid kick, the heartless spun in a circle, flailing its arms, hitting anything in its path. And unfortunately for the young ninja, that's just where he was. Goofy and Donald followed the blonde's flight down to the ground.

Sora meanwhile waited until the heartless stopped spinning and started a string of well-aimed hits with his keyblade. When the heartless went to try and stomp on the keyblade master, the spiky haired boy just jumped higher and aimed for the head. "Take that!" he yelled when the armor took a step back and reached for its head.

Hearing a groan behind him, Sora saw Naruto dragging himself to his feet. 'Huh! This guy's got guts!' he silently complimented.

Donald snickered as he watched the blonde stumble a couple times, dizzy. Finally he relented and yelled out, "HEAL!"

Naruto just looked in awe as little leaves floated around him, giving the same feeling he felt when Kyuubi healed him, only this felt more… gentle. The look of awe was replaced with one of annoyance. "WHY COULDN'T YAH DO THAT BEFORE!!" he yelled.

"Ungrateful brat," the duck wizard muttered under his breath. "C'mon Goofy!"

"Okay, Donald!" the captain of the guard said, saluting. The duck and dog ran together, step for step, weapons in hand. Goofy held the shield to his face and charged the big heartless, ramming into its leg, shattering it to pieces. Donald brought his staff up and quacked, "THUNDER!" Sending blasting lighting bolts at one of the arms.

With one leg and one arm, the heartless seemed unable to fight. But any who thought that were sorely mistaken. The armored head flew off the shoulders and spun around the whole body, knocking its opponents to the ground, following shortly after with a large jumping stomp.

Getting back up Naruto growled. This was getting annoying. "He's dead, believe it," he muttered, bringing up a familiar hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Instantly, ten Narutos filled up the empty space around him.

"Alright guys," Sora said, a wave of command emitting from his voice. "Let's bring this guy down! Naruto, you and your clones go on either side and try to get him the air again. One of his arms are missing so it should be easier."

"Hai!" the shinobi saluted.

Sora continued. "Donald you blast him with your lightning to make him lose control for a couple minutes."

"Alright," the duck quacked.

"Goofy, you fly your shield like a boomerang and try to take out the arm or leg."

"Okie dokie, Sora!" he grinned.

The keybearer smirked. "As for me, I'm gonna go for the head. Ready!" he yelled. "Go!"

Naruto, whose job was first, ran at him from all angles, allowing no escape. When the heartless tried to swat its annoying opponent, the clones jump back to avoid getting hit. "Now!" The real Naruto yelled. All ten clones rushed the armor heartless, tripping the leg, and then sending him flying upwards with a good kick to the bottom.

Donald, seeing the blonde finish his part, brought his mage staff up and quacked out, "THUNDER!" Lightning bolts rained on the heartless, making it smoke, seemingly numbing it.

With a mighty swing, Goofy let his shield fly, hitting the arm, flying by, and hitting it again on the way back, destroying it.

Sora, seeing his chance as the heartless fell, jumped up, keyblade ready to strike, and, putting all his strength into that one swing, hit the heartless in the head, cracking over the helmet.

The now dead heartless fell to ground in front of four panting fighters. What was left of the armor dissolved, leaving nothing behind, but a freaked out Naruto. "Wha- what the heck was that!?"

"You four just killed the boss," a monotone voice said from above. The group looked up to see Leon and Yuffie watching them.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Sora asked.

"Now you guys have to travel to different worlds and lock them so the heartless can no longer get in and destroy them," Yuffie said, giggling.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down.

"Not you," Leon stated, matter-of-factly.

"What?"

The brown haired man just sighed. "I think you probably know why. If the heartless ever got a hold of you, or that thing to be more precise, you could be a danger to us all."

Naruto's eyes went downcast. "I knew it," he mumbled. "Everyone always judges me because of him."

Sora rushed forward. "Wait a minute, Naruto! Maybe we can-!" but by the time he reached to the spot, the blonde ninja was gone.

Donald turned to Leon. "So what is this thing that's apparently so dangerous about the blondie?"

The gunblade wielder just turned and looked at him. "I think that's something you should ask him." And with that he started walking away, Yuffie close on his heels. "Sora," Leon said over his shoulder. "Go with them. They too have been looking for the wielder of the keyblade. You'll need them to accomplish your destiny."

Yuffie looked back to make sure Sora and the others were out of earshot, then turned to Leon. "You could have been nicer you know," she lectured.

"I know," he said. "But better to hear the truth like it is than some feel-good lie." The kunoichi sighed in response to her friend.

Sora looked at the ground. He was not in a happy mood. First, he gets separated from his home. Second, he loses his best friends. And third, he couldn't keep his promise to Naruto about letting him come along.

Goofy saw him frowning. "What's wrong, Sora?" he asked, genuine concern showing in his eyes.

"… Riku… and Kairi… What if I never see them again?"

Donald smiled. "Of course we'll find them, too!"

His tall companion leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Really?"

The duck rolled his eyes and leaned over, whispering, "Who knows. But we need him to find the king." In a louder voice he spoke to the keyblade master. "But you can't come along looking like that," he said, referring to Sora's downcast face. "No frowning! No sad faces! This boat runs on happy faces!"

"Yeah! You gotta look funny! Like us!" Goofy inputted, earning a shove from Donald.

Sora sighed, leaned his head down… and came up with one of the strangest looking smiles ever. "Cheeeeeese!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ahyuck! That's one silly face!"

And with that, everyone burst into fits of laughter.

"Alright," Donald said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I say we freshen up a little bit at the hotel before we start traveling."

"Okay, Donald," Goofy smiled.

Sora yawned. "No objections here."

The trio departed together, getting ready for the great adventure that was sure to come their way. Little did they know, they were being watched.


A number shadowy figures stood around a table with the current scene happening in the middle of it.

"That little squirt took down the giant heartless!" one shadow exclaimed.

"Such is the power of the keyblade. The child's strength is not his own," another explained.

"Turn him into a heartless! That will settle things quick enough," a third said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

A fourth growled out his complaint. "Those two are the kings lackeys! A couple of bilge rats by the look of them!" This earned a cackle from the shadow next to him.

"You're no prize, yourself."

"SHUT UP YOU-!"

"Enough!" said an upcoming figure. "The blade has chosen him. Will he conquer the darkness… or will it devour him?" A pale light shined on the figure, revealing it to be Maleficent. "Either way, he could be quite useful."

The shadow who had spoke second piped up. "What I want to know is what sort of power that blonde brat holds that could be so dangerous?"

"Yeah, you're right! Even that Leon guy forbade him to go!" the third figure exclaimed.

"I can answer that," someone said from the back of the room. Turning, everyone saw a pale man with long black hair. He was dressed in a cream colored tunic tied with a big purple bow that looked like a pretzel.

Maleficent smirked. "This is Orochimaru," she said, introducing the man. "He just so happens to come from the same world the boy comes from. If anyone would know anything, I'm sure he would." The woman turned to Orochimaru. "Would you care to enlighten us?"

The former Sannin got up from leaning against the wall and walked to the table. Opening his eyes, everyone could see that they strangely resembled that of a snake's, amber with slitted pupils. "As Maleficent has told you," he started, "I come from the same world as the brat. In fact I used to live in the same village. But I left years ago. It was too weak for my liking.

"But back on subject. Twelve or thirteen years ago, a nine tailed fox; the Kyuubi as he's known in our world, attacked that village. He caused much destruction to everything, even with the many ninjas fighting him. And to make a long story short, everyone was defeated. But then the Yondaime Hokage, the fourth of our village leaders, took a newborn babe and sealed the Kyuubi into it.

"The fox now resides in a seal on Uzumaki Naruto's stomach. Although it's really not supposed to happen, I believe that the seal is weakening. In fact I saw it. When the boy's emotions get out of control, a bit of the fox's chakra leaks out. And even with just a little of this demonic chakra, his strength becomes incredible, as well as his speed. He is able to stand through almost any attacks without so much as whimpering in pain. I was barely able to survive with my life. And from a mere child! Such is the power of the Kyuubi."

Everyone was quiet, thinking over what they had just heard. Maleficent spoke up. "Then, if we were to capture this boy and turn him into a heartless…"

"We'd have unimaginable power," Orochimaru finished. "In fact, it might even help with destroying this keybearer you fear so much." The snake Sannin only smirked when he saw the dangerous gleam in his mistress's eyes. She wouldn't kill him. I was too valuable right now to be thrown away like that. Orochimaru chuckled evilly, soon joined with the rest, until the whole room was filled with evil laughter.

A knock on the door quieted everyone immediately. Without even turning to see who it was, Maleficent said in a commanding voice, "Enter!" The door creaked open to find two boys walking in. Riku walked in first, confident as always about what he was doing.

Orochimaru's eyes lit up excitedly when he saw the second boy. He grinned and with a voice that could have chilled anyone, said, "Nice to see you again, Sasuke."

The raven haired boy flinched at the voice, and, finding Orochimaru in the room tried to back out. He was wrong. Meeting up with the Snake Sannin was too much for him. He would have ran, only Riku had grabbed his wrist the moment he tried to leave.

"Come on, Sasuke," he said, dragging the younger boy behind him.

"You don't understand! He tried kill Sakura and me!" Sasuke tried to reason. Unconsciously, his hand reached for the seal on his neck that this very same man had given him.

Orochimaru just chuckled. "Oh Sasuke. You don't understand. I was seeing how strong you are. And you passed. I'd say give you a few years under my guidance and you might be able to beat Itachi one day."

No one in the room knew what the man was talking about, except Sasuke. A familiar fire burned in his eyes at the mention of his older brother. Maybe he should go with this man after this whole ordeal was over. He was promising him power! A chance to beat the man who had slaughtered his family. He might just take up Orochimaru's offer.


In a much happy part of the universe, a pink haired kunoichi faced off with a dirty blonde teenager. Both were in an arena that the others had called the sandlot. In one hand Hayner held a struggle sword, ready to face off his female opponent. Sakura just crouched low to the ground, one hand out, ready to reach for her ninja tools.

Anyone not participating was on the sidelines. Almost all of them were cheering for Hayner. This didn't anger Sakura though. After all, she was stranger here.

What did anger though were the four people on the sidelines. They weren't cheering for anyone. In fact, they were doing the exact opposite.

'I'll have to teach these guys a lesson when I'm done,' she thought.

'They won't know what hit them! Cha!!' Inner Sakura yelled.

All in all it was a pretty easy match for her. When Hayner attacked, she hit him the same she would have Naruto. A good bonk to the head that sent him sprawling, although she didn't hit quite as hard with Hayner.

Hayner sat up, dazed. Holding his head he looked up. "Wow! Where'd you learn to fight?"

Sakura shrugged. "I had someone teach me."

Hayner was grinning and wincing at the same time, Olette was checking his head, and Pence was laughing. Sakura smiled at the picture. Just like them. But then something appeared behind her. Something that Hayner and the group obviously didn't like because all the happiness melted.

Turning around Sakura saw a boy in his late teens smirking at them. He was dressed in a mid drift shirt, brown pants, boots, a sleeveless white coat, and a beanie over his blonde hair. Behind him was a petite girl and a large muscular boy.

The girl had on a navy blue sleeveless shirt and khaki capris. Her silver blue hair covered her right eye from view. She looked very quiet. The boy was wearing two blue and white wristbands, black sweats, and a tight orange sleeveless shirt that showed off his large muscles. A bit a goatee was starting to grow and he wore a confident grin.

"Thanks for the show, Hayner," the first boy said, sneering.

"What do you want, Seifer?" Hayner growled out.

"Who's your friend?" Seifer asked, motioning towards Sakura.

Stepping forward she said, "Haruno Sakura. Who's this jerk, Olette?" This earned a few snickers from Hayner's group.

Olette, still smiling, pointed to Seifer's group in turn. "This is Twilight Town's Disciplinary Committee. Seifer's the leader. The girl's Fuu, and the boy's Rai."

"They also have another guy that hangs out with them named Vivi," Hayner inputted. "By the way, where is he?"

"Dunno," Fuu murmured.

"He's been gone all day, y'know?" Rai said.

Seifer sighed. "He went for a walk. Who knows what he's doing. He's a strange one." The head of the disciplinary committee shook his head. "But back on subject. You! Haruno was it? Where'd you come from."

Sakura just put her hands on her hips and stared at the boy square in the eye. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because as head of Twilight Town's Disciplinary Committee, it's my job to know," he stated matter of factly. "Now tell us the truth."

"Well if you must know," she said mockingly, "I came from far away. In a land you would never be able to live in. With ninjas and a magic power called chakra." 'There you go, jerk! There's the truth.'

Everyone but Seifer's group burst out in fits of laughter. Sakura only smirked at them.

"Fine, don't tell us anything. But just know, we aren't gonna let this go," the blonde boy said, walking away with his followers on his heels.

Rai turned around, "We'll be watching you, y'know!"


Sora, Donald and Goofy waved their last goodbyes to Leon, Yuffie, and the others of Traverse Town. Only one person hadn't shown up to wish them a good journey. Naruto.

"Gawrsh," Goofy said, "I sure hope he's alright. He looked pretty upset when he ran away."

"I'm sure Naruto'll be fine, as long as he doesn't run into another big heartless. I really wish that he could have come with us," Sora sighed.

"Aw, phooey!" Donald said, rolling his eyes. "Leon will find that wanna-be-ninja soon enough. Let's go."

"Y'know," Sora said, scratching his head, "it's almost feels like he's watching us." Seeing Goofy and Donald ahead of him, the keyblade master ran after them.

Inside the gummi ship, the trio settled into the seats. They had put their weapons in the back, to take up less room. "Okay," Donald said, turning around to face Sora. "We have a few basic rules about visiting other worlds. The first..." He was cut off by a loud voice in the back of the room yelling,

"Alright! I'm ready for adventure! Believe it!!"

The pairs of heads looked in the direction of the voice and together all three of them uttered out, "Naruto?"


So how was that? I loved the fight with Naruto and the the gang against the heartless. Better than last time, neh?

Also If you have any more suggestions of where some of the Naruto gang should show up, feel free to say so. So far I have one suggestion.

One more thing. I've learned a little more Japanese, so I'm going to try and lean towards the Jap version a little more, see how I fare. When and if I have time, I'll go back and edit the other chapters.

Naruto has stowed away!! But how? Didn't he run away? But before the group can ponder this, a new world has shown up. In a world where right is wrong and wrong is right, nothing is as it seems. Especially when Naruto meets a familiar face.

NEXT TIME: Wonderland