Hello everyone! I finally finished it! And like I promised it's very long! Now the winner of the contest was... Uh oh! Hold that thought! -Hides-

Itachi: I was sure she would be here. Have you found her yet, Kisame? Kisame?

Kisame: Hey look Itachi! People!

Itachi: Come on! We don't have time to waste. We have to find Sabrepaw. First because of the flast chapter and second because she took so long to update.

Kisame: Aww... :'( Could we at least do all the disclaimers?

Itachi: Fine. But make it quick.

Kisame: Yay! :D Alright! Sabrepaw AKA CrazyPirateMouse does not own Naruto or Kingdom Hearts.

Itachi: Are you done now?

Kisame: No! I gotta announce who won!

Itachi: Grrr....

Kisame: And the winner for naming chapter ten is.......winddragonpowers!!!! Congratulations! This chapter is dedicated to you!!! Sabrepaw will put your profile address on her profile and will make you one of her favorite authors!!!!

Itachi: All right. Can we go now? We've got to go torture her.

Kisame: Fine.

-Both walk off-

-Comes out of hiding- Well there you have it. Congratulations winddragonpowers! And now... on with the story!!!!

A Ninja and a Keybearer

Chapter 10: Wild Goose Chase

-Twilight Town-

Sakura sat in her seat with a bored expression on her face. It was dinnertime and she was waiting on her "grandfather". Her train of thought finally turned to Ansem. The man had been acting weird as of late. Like he was distracted by something. But every time she had asked, he had played it off as nothing, knowing full well that a kunoichi, such as her, was trained to see through deception.

Sakura drummed her fingers on the table and thought about how her life had suddenly turned. She had always wondered what it would be like if she had not chosen to become a shinobi and was living a normal teenage life. Now she knew.

She had spent the last week hanging out with her new friends, meeting up at the Usual Spot, as they called, which was really just a back alley filled with their little knickknacks.

Sakura smiled. It was nice to not have to worry about watching your back all the time. But still… she missed the excitement and danger of her old life; the praise and the pleasure of defeating an enemy; Even the shame of making a mistake, promising to do it right the next time.

"Dang it, Naruto. You better hurry up your little adventure because I want to go home," she muttered

'Yeah! And if you don't I'll make you EAT the dirt you stand on!!!' Inner Sakura raved.

-Somewhere in the Deep Jungle-

"Achoo!!" Naruto sneezed and grinned. "Someone's talking about me."

"Someone must be planning your death," Kiba taunted.

"SHUT UP, DOG BREATH!"

"MAKE ME, DEADLAST!!"

-Back to Twilight Town- ^^'

"Sorry to keep you waiting," said a voice coming into the room. The pink haired kunoichi turned to see Ansem walking in. "I had some business to check on."

"Liar," Sakura muttered. This guy was starting to act just like Kakashi-sensei. 'At least he's not making up stupid, unbelievable excuses. A black cat? Come on!'

"What was that?"

"Nothing, sir." Sakura sighed before asking the same question she had asked all week, starting the usual conversation. "So what were you doing?"

And he answered with the same answer as usual. "Nothing of importance really. You wouldn't really be interested in it. Y'know, grownup stuff."

"But I am interested. And back in my village, I am considered an adult."

"Yes. In your village, but this is another world. Here thirteen-year-olds are considered children. And children are too naïve to know or care about adult business."

And as usual, Sakura would glare at him. "I know a lot of things 'children' do not know, or probably ever will in this world. I was the smartest of my classmates from the academy, except maybe for Shikamaru. And for your information I am dragged into adult business. It's called missions."

"But for now you are under my care and I do not consider you as an adult, so you are not obliged to act like one. Enjoy your meal," he said, finishing the conversation with his usual smile.


"It's like he doesn't trust me!" Sakura lamented to her friends in the Usual Spot. She was currently lounged on a box and staring up at the ceiling.

"My dad does that a lot to me, too," Hayner told everyone, shaking his head as if he had the saddest life of all (as usual). Everyone ignored him.

Olette frowned. "That really sucks, Sakura."

"Hey!" Pence cried, and in a spur of inspiration, jumped up excitedly. "Maybe we can help! We can go over and spy on him and stuff. Then we can know what he's up to!"

Sakura started to panic. Ansem had specifically told her that he didn't want anyone to be in the mansion… but… this could be his punishment for keeping secrets from her. He would learn that she would find out some way or another. A smile slowly spread across her face. "Let's do it!"


Sakura jumped from branch to branch in an attempt to get to the gates before her friends could. She needed to check that it was clear and she couldn't have them seeing her at her best with inhuman (to them) strength and speed.

'One more jump,' the kunoichi thought, and indeed in one last leap she cleared the forest and stood in front of the gates. Without a second's hesitation, Sakura ran inside the old mansion and went as fast as she could go through the hallways checking for any signs of life. She sighed in relief when she didn't see anything.

Making her way to the gate at a much slower rate, Sakura saw Hayner, Pence, and Olette waiting for her. She quickly opened it up and gave the okay sign.

"Alright!" Hayner exclaimed. "Time to find out what's happening in here!!"

In the process of one second, the blonde had a face full of dirt and a rather large bump on the top of his head. "Be quiet, baka!!" Sakura hissed.

-Deep Jungle-

"How could you do such a thing!!"

Clayton held up his hands in defense. "Now, Miss Porter, as I told you I was not aiming at the gorilla."

"Wanna bet?" Naruto mumbled. The young ninja hadn't bought the story that Clayton had been trying to sell. Naruto knew what he had seen, and this time he wasn't alone in opinion. Donald had snorted every time the hunter had tried to convince them that he hadn't been trying to kill Terk. Even Kiba wasn't buying it, but he hadn't been there first hand, so he couldn't be sure.

But no one's disbelief could compare to that of Jane when she heard the news. The young researcher had gone ballistic.

"Please, dear! Let us try to look at this from all sides of the story," Professor Porter tried to reason. "You never know. This may be all a big misunderstanding."

Jane looked at her father and smiled. "Yes, Daddy. I'll try," she said sweetly. As she turned back to Clayton, the hard edge came back to her voice. "You are not to go near the gorillas again." The young woman was eye to eye with the older man and inches from his face.

The hunter inched backwards, not liking the close proximity. He held up his hands as if to hold her off while saying, "All because of one mishap? Come, now…" Clayton paused when he saw Jane with her hands on her hips, Sora, Donald, and Goofy with their arms crossed, Tarzan in a crouching position, and Kiba on his knees holding back Akamaru, a scowl plastered on all of their faces. It was obvious they no longer believed him.

Off to the side Naruto was gritting his teeth and had tightly balled his fists, not noticing that his nails were digging into his skin. 'Maybe if we use Rasengan on him, he'll shut up…' a dark voice repeated over and over again in his head. At first the blonde wasn't sure what it was. Was it his sub consciousness talking to him? He doubted it. This sounded like something Kyuubi would suggest, and knowing the fox, he probably was using his sub consciousness to get to him. The nine-tailed bijuu would give anything for a nice fight.

Naruto glared at the floor, hoping beyond all hope it would just swallow him up. He knew he couldn't keep control much longer, partially because he wanted to stick a Rasengan into the man. "I have to go," he managed to mutter through his teeth before running out the tent flap.

Just as he was running out, Shikamaru walked in. He stared questionably after the blonde. "What was that about?" he asked. When no one answered him, the lazy shinobi noticed the current situation. Shikamaru walked over to the professor, the one who looked less likely to attack him if he said something wrong, and asked him what was going on. Porter filled him in quickly.

Clayton forced a grin, chuckled, and started to back out of the tent. "Oh, dear. That didn't go well at all," the professor stated in a weak voice.


Clayton's smiled turned to a frown as he walked outside. "What am I doing with these imbeciles?" he mumbled to himself. "Blasted gorillas! I don't need help. I'll hunt down every last one of them myself! I'll track them down somehow! I'll stake my life on it."

With those last words, the hunter started to put his pipe in his mouth, when a cold voice called out. "Are you willing to follow up on that?"

Clayton freaked out and brought up his gun quickly. He fumbled for the trigger, scared out of his mind. A shot could be heard echoing throughout the jungle, but the bullet had hit nothing. Clayton stared as he saw two figures glaring at him from the cover of the trees.

"We just came by to see how you were doing," the taller one said. "It looks like you left our little prize run right through your fingers. Job well done."

The shorter one stared at him with those strange red eyes. "If you cannot help us, then we will not help you. Uzumaki Naruto is loose in the jungle now. I do not like picking up other people's messes. It makes me mad."

Clayton was panicking now. "Please, just give me a second chance! I'll get him, I swear!"

"How about it, Itachi?" the taller one said, turning to his companion. "If he fails, we can always kill him. Please?" Clayton gulped. Despite the light voice that man always used, the hunter would not like to meet him in a dark alley.

The short one, Itachi, sighed. "Very well, Kisame." He turned back to Clayton and spoke to him again. "Be warned. If you do not catch Uzumaki and bring him back to us alive, then I will not hesitate to let my partner have his fun. If he is dead or dying, we will kill you on the spot. I will not tolerate failure from underlings."

"Y-yes, sir!" Clayton gulped, looking at the ground.

"Oh, and one more thing. Here is some help I found in the jungle. They may prove to be useful to you." Clayton stared at the black twitching heartless in front of him. The hunter looked up to thank the man but found they were nowhere to be seen.

"Right then," he said aloud, quickly getting up. The group of heartless that had quietly shown up watched him as he looked around. Clayton grinned as he found what he was searching for: a fresh footprint that belonged to a child running into the forest. Clayton strapped his gun over shoulder and started in the direction. 'Time to start hunting.'


Sakura was annoyed. They had tried most of the rooms and they had found nothing. Of course, it didn't help that she was the only one skilled in stealth. "Don't make so much noise!" she hissed for what seemed like the millionth time. As usual, it was Hayner.

"Sorry! I stepped on a loose board," he whispered loudly, backing up a little. His head was still throbbing from earlier.

Olette studied her blueprints for the house. Taking out a red marker, she crossed a big X over the old dining room. "That leaves two more," she said quietly. "They're both upstairs."

Sakura leaned over and glanced at the paper. "I say we check out this one," she said, pointing at the library. "No one's ever in the white room and it's never off limits to anyone."

"But wouldn't that just be overlooking it? I mean, maybe he's trying to get rid of any suspicion," Pence pointed out.

The pink haired kunoichi turned her emerald gaze on him. "Yeah, that's true, but he never locks the white room, just the library."

"All right it's settled!" Hayner exclaimed, trying to get back the role of the leader. "We'll go check out the library!!" Three angry teenagers turned to him and glared, instantly shutting him up.

As it was, the library was locked. Three of the four friends cursed their bad luck, but Sakura cursed the fact that she was going to have to break something. "Stand back," she growled, a look of pure irritation on her face. She raised an arm and drew it back crying out, "Shannaro!!!!" before turning the door to splinters.

"Oh sure. She can yell, but I can't even make a single comment," a certain blonde grumbled. Pence and Olette ignored him for the most part, just staring at what was left of the expensive oak door.

"Why didn't you just do that before we came over?" Pence asked.

"Because," Sakura said, smoothing out her dress and dusting herself off, "I didn't want to get in trouble by breaking the house."

The inside of the room was a wonder to behold. Every wall was covered by a shelf that stretched all the way up to the ceiling and piled with books. A table was in the middle of the room with an elaborate candlestick as the only decoration. The four kids started looking everywhere. Behind books, under the table, and behind the window curtains. In the end, each place was a dead end. Sakura, Hayner, and Olette stood in the middle of the room discussing what they should do next. Pence, meanwhile, was studying a statue on one of the bookshelves.

"Hey, guys," he called out to his friends. "Did you notice that this statue, the only one in here, is facing down towards the table?" All three of them rushed over to examine it, but the dark haired boy wasn't done with his observation. "Also, I noticed that there's writing on the table. I wonder what it- Whoa!!"

At that precise moment Pence had laid his hand on the three gold insignias engraved into the wood with gold ink. In reaction to his touch, the table disappeared and the floor began to sink. He cried out again, scared to death. Thinking quickly, Sakura grabbed his hand and flung him up, sending the boy crashing into Hayner. Olette giggled helplessly as the blonde tried to get his much larger friend off of him.

"Look at this," Sakura said, ignoring the two boys. "It's like a secret lab!"

"Cool!" Olette said while joining her only female friend. "Let's check it out!" She rushed down the stairs followed closely by Sakura and stared at the two doors. "Which one?" she asked.

Sakura stared at them, trying to make a decision. "I dunno…" she mumbled.

"Why not that one?" Hayner said pointing to the door on the left. He and Pence had finally untangled themselves.

"All right," Sakura shrugged. Checking the door, she found that it was locked. 'Here we go again.' The kunoichi felt along the metal frame until she had found a weak point, and, with one strong punch, made a hole large enough for someone Pence's size to crawl through. "Let's go."


"Why did we even come here?" Sasuke grumbled. He'd much rather be back at Hollow Bastion training than looking for a girl. Even they did have a clue on the whereabouts of one of his teammates.

"Because Maleficent said this is where Kairi is," Riku told him again.

The two were walking away from the Sandlot, leaving behind them the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee beaten to a pulp. It had been quite easy actually.

-Flashback-

"You two! What are you doing in Twilight Town?"

Sasuke and Riku looked back to see three teenagers and a blob-man-thing glaring at them. "We're looking for a friend." Riku answered him.

Seifer scowled at him. "What's your name?" he growled out.

Riku, smiled at him patiently. "I'm Riku and this is Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke just stared off into space. He didn't want deal with this. The sooner they finished, the soon they'd get back. Fuu's eyes widened when she looked at him, or rather his forehead.

"Seifer," she muttered, getting her leader's attention. She pointed at Sasuke's headband. "The same."

Seifer turned his attention to the boy, who had turned his attention to Fuu, the smallest bit of confusion showing on his features.

"What did you say?" Sasuke asked.

"That headband," Seifer interrupted. "Where did you get it? Did you steal it?"

"No, it was given to me," the Uchiha said coldly.

"Riiight. I'll bet you stole it from the new girl. As annoying as she is, I will not allow theft in my town. Not while I'm leader of Twilight Town's Diciplinary Committee."

"What girl?" Sasuke asked suddenly, very much out of character. Seifer ignored the question and rushed at the raven-haired boy with a struggle weapon. Konoha's top rookie easily blocked the thrust and grabbed Seifer's shirt, pulling him closer. "What girl?" he repeated in a low voice laced with venom.

The older boy smirked. "Like you don't know. It's kinda hard to miss her, what with the pink hair and all." Sasuke glowered at him.

"What's her name?"

"Haruno Sakura. I didn't get anything else out of the smart alack."

The shinobi smirked. "That's fine with me. I only needed her name." And with that said, Sasuke let go of Seifer, dumping him on his butt, and walked away.

"Hey!" the blonde yelled. "I'm not done with you! Rai, Fuu, Vivi, you know what do you!"

"Yes, sir, Seifer!" Rai shouted. He rushed at Riku and Sasuke.

"So, which one do you want?" the Genin asked.

Riku smiled mischievously. "I'll take the leader. He's getting on my nerves, and he needs some lessons in sword fighting, too."

Sasuke held a stance similar to a certain green clad taijutsu master, with one palm held out in a beckoning gesture and the other behind his back. 'I won't even have to use ninjutsu on this guy,' he thought smugly as Rai charged him.

"Ha!" the big teenager yelled as he threw a strong punch at the young boy that would have sent him sprawling… if it had hit. He scratched his head in confusion. The kid had just been right in front of him. Where could he have gone? Sasuke reappeared right behind him and gave a strong kick at his neck. Rai fell to his knees and clutching his neck.

"Never let your opponent out of your sight," a cold voice muttered in his ear, right before a fist came towards his face, knocking him out cold.

Sasuke turned to Fuu, a smirk playing on his lips. "You're turn." Unaffected, Fuu balled her hands into fists and waited for Sasuke to make the first move.

Meanwhile, Seifer was having a hard time landing a hit on his silver haired opponent. The blonde growled in annoyance when he realized that this Riku-guy was toying with him!

Riku smirked. This was too easy! So far, all that was required of him was to move out of the way of Seifer's blows. Finally the blonde cried out in anger, "Get a weapon and fight already!!!" Riku grinned widely.

"Fine. You asked for it," he said as he picked one of the struggle weapons off of a nearby rack. Riku made a show of checking each one and deciding which would help him best. He chuckled when he saw Seifer steaming with impatience.

"Would you just get something?!"

Riku sighed dramatically. "I guess this one will have to do," he said as he grabbed a struggle sword used mostly for attack. He wouldn't need to defend as much if this was all the talent the blonde idiot showed.

Seifer watched as Riku shifted his weight to one foot and stared at him lazily. "What?" the blonde demanded. To him it seemed like the silver haired teenager was insulting him by not putting up his guard, which was, in fact, what he intended.

"Just waiting on you." Riku grinned cheekily. "You sure do take awhile."

"That's it!!!" Seifer screeched. "I was gonna take it easy on you, but I just changed my mind!"

"Good. That means this will get slightly interesting."

Enraged, Seifer charged. He'd had enough of this stranger's tough talk. Riku sidestepped right before his blonde opponent hit the spot he'd been standing in and hit him on the back. Seifer fell to the ground with the blow. Riku smirked at him when he got back up to his feet. "You may be the best swordsman here, but you've never seen real skill."

With those words said, Riku began to lay Seifer with an onslaught of combos. The leader of the Twilight Town's Disciplinary Committee didn't stand a chance. In less than a minute he was down and out cold. "That wasn't the least bit fun," Riku muttered.

Turning he saw that Sasuke was up against Fuu. Unlike her hothead-idiot partner, she was quick and agile. She attacked with strategy and blocked persistently, but even her fancy footwork was no match for Konoha's number one rookie.

Sasuke smirked. "I have to admit, you do have some skill," the Genin complemented her. Fuu pretended like she hadn't heard and just dodged the punch he had sent at her. She was already tiring, seeing as she lacked the endurance of a ninja.

Sasuke bluffed a swing to the right and waited for her to dodge. As soon as she had, he tripped her, making her fall to the ground hard.

Fuu wouldn't have normally taken the fall so hard, but she was tired and figured she was going to lose anyways. What was the point of getting up? And even if Seifer got mad at her for forfeiting, what was he gonna do about it?

Sasuke turned to Vivi and glared. The little boy was scared. He had seen how easily these two had taken out his comrades, all of whom were much better fighters than he was. "She lives at the old mansion," he told them in defeat.

"Who?" Riku asked.

"Your friend Sakura. She lives at the old mansion past the woods. She's never told anyone, but I've followed her there. She's very fast, just like you," said Vivi, pointing to Sasuke.

Sasuke acknowledged this information with a slight nod, showing that it was exactly who he thought it was. "Where is the old mansion?" Riku asked.

Vivi brought them to the end of Twilight Town and pointed the way to the old abandoned mansion. "It's just past the woods," he told them again before running off to check on his friends.


Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran outside of the tent to investigate the sudden gun shot and possibly find Naruto… again.

From across the camp, the three friends saw a gorilla, the same female that had been there when Tarzan had talked to Kerchak. But what was more surprising was the fact that she was surrounded by monkey shaped heartless. Sora cried out and immediately charged into battle, Donald and Goofy close behind him. A few good attacks finished them off quickly.

Kala looked at her saviors and motioned for them to follow her before running off through the jungle.

Kiba and Akamaru ran out of the tent followed closely by Shikamaru and Tarzan. "What happened?" the Inuzuka asked quickly.

"There was a gorilla surrounded by heartless! We just saved her, but she ran off that way!" Sora said, pointing in the direction Kala had gone. "I think she wanted us to follow her!"

"What about Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. "We need to find him before he gets into trouble… again."

Akamaru barked suddenly. "He went that way," Kiba translated, pointing in the opposite direction. "Come on we need to go get him, like Shikamaru said."

"Yeah, but what if the gorilla gets hurt. We need to follow her, too." Goofy pointed out.

"Man, you guys are troublesome," the lazy ninja said. "It's a simple matter of splitting up. Kiba and I will follow Naruto's trail seeing as he left a while ago and we're faster than all of you. Not to mention we can sniff out his trail. Tarzan, you go with them and follow the gorilla and see what she wanted you to do. Okay?" Tarzan nodded to show he understood before rushing off after Kala, Sora, Donald, and Goofy close behind him.

"Come on, Lazy! Let's go," Kiba yelled while Akamaru barked in agreement.

"What a drag," Shikamaru grumbled.


Sora was the first to run into the bamboo thicket. Kala was in the middle of the thicket waiting for them. Tarzan ran up to her and gave her gorilla hug.

"Is everything okay?" he asked his mother.

"Tarzan! Thank goodness. The family's in danger! One of the-" a twig snapping interrupted her in the middle of her sentence. "What was that?" Kala asked fearfully.

"It may be Sabor. I hear she's still sneaking around somewhere. Just go. We'll catch up. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay. I'll be at the cliffs near the nesting ground. Meet me there," she said before she ran off.

Sora had started run after her when Tarzan grunted out, "No."

"What is it?" Donald asked him.

"Danger," the ape-man replied.

Everyone immediately brought out their weapons and stood on guard.

A low growling could be heard in the bushes and just a minute later a leopard leaped out of the thicket. Tarzan stared deep into the eyes of Sabor, willing her to charge.

Sora and the others jumped at the sound of snarling roar, but it was not the big cat that had uttered the sound. On the contrary, it was Tarzan himself. Sabor hesitated for a moment, spooked by his sudden snarl, but a moment afterwards and she lunged at the group, ready to for the kill.

Sora immediately brought his keyblade up to block the big cat, and just in time, too. Sabor jumped back and stalked around the group before lunging at Goofy who repelled the attack with his shield. Sensing she was losing, the cat jumped into the thicket. "Wait for it," Sora muttered.

Sabor jumped out with a snarl! "THUNDER!!" Donald shouted, sending a group of lightning bolts around the leopard. She paused for a moment to shake off the pain, but that was all Tarzan needed. Racing toward her on his knuckles, the ape-man raised up the arm that held his spear and ran her through. Sabor staggered for a second before finally collapsing to the ground, dead.


Terk ran through the forest. He was after her! He wanted to finish her off for good! The gorilla knew that if she found Tarzan, he would stop the threat. He would save her. He had been hanging around with the humans for a while now and she hoped he'd be there now.

Terk hesitated when she saw that the camp was swarming with heartless, but the sound of footsteps behind her urged her to run through. They were less of a threat than he was.

Jane gasped as something barreled its way through the tent flap and next thing she knew she was sitting on the ground staring up at a gorilla. She almost cried with delight, but when she saw the fear and distress in its face she felt her joy dissipate.

There was the sound of boots crunching the dirt beneath just outside the tent. Jane held the gorilla close as she stared up in horror as the threat walked in.


Naruto lay in the tree and listened to the sounds of nature while blowing off some steam. He couldn't believe that Clayton would just stand there and lie like that. He was pretty sure that the next he saw he wouldn't be able to control himself and wind up actually hurting him, if not worse.

He sighed and stared at the clouds. Shikamaru was right. Cloud watching was calming... not that he'd admit that or anything.

The animals suddenly became quiet. If Naruto had been a normal civilian he more than likely wouldn't have noticed that small detail, but being trained as a ninja did help put him on alert. The blonde shinobi stayed very still, trying to blend in with his surroundings as best as he could.

"Stupid girl. You should have just let me go find the gorillas. But you didn't. And now look at you. Completely helpless. It figures I guess. However, I may be able to use you to blackmail your little ape friend." Naruto chanced a peek over the edge of the branch to see Clayton marching along the floor muttering to himself, but what really caught the Genin's attention was seeing Jane draped over the hunter's shoulder like a rag doll.

"Why that no good, two timing son of a…" Naruto growled. He didn't think he'd be able to hold back now. He hated traitors. Clayton paused a moment, having heard the sound.

"Is that you, sir?" the man called out. "I haven't found the blonde idiot yet, but-but I will! In fact, I working on it right now!" Clayton gave out a fake smile. "P-please don't hurt me!"

Naruto jumped down from the tree and glowered at the hunter. "I don't think you'll have to worry about anyone hurting you once I show you real pain," he said in a low voice, cold enough to send chills down Clayton's back. Although he was glad it wasn't his strange employers, he wasn't sure if he wanted to face this new threat, small as it seemed. Naruto continued. "Hand over Jane and you might be able to escape with what's left of your life."

Clayton scowled. No boy should speak to his elders and betters like that, no matter how dangerous they were. "Now listen here. I've had just about enough of this!" And with that said a he set Jane down and quickly brought his gun to Naruto's head. "Be still and maybe I'll let you live," although a small voice reminded him that Naruto was wanted alive.

Before the boy could even reply, Clayton brought the butt of his gun to the back of Naruto's scull and the shinobi knew no more.


Looking out from her jungle prison, Jane hugged her knees tight and looked over at the sprawled figure of Naruto on the ground. "Tarzan," she managed to utter out, hoping beyond all hope he'd come and save her.


Sora ran through the bamboo forest, followed closely by his companions. Suddenly, Tarzan stopped. Everyone looked back at him, somewhat confused by his sudden halt.

"Something wrong," he said. And without any warning, he darted back towards the camp.

Tarzan immediately ran to the tent and threw the flap aside to find the professor sitting on the ground crying.

"Where's Jane?" he asked, his voice almost rising to a shout.

"She's gone," was all he said.

At that moment Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran in. "What happened?" Sora demanded.

Goofy, being as kindhearted as he was, helped the old man to his feet and sat him down on the couch. He quickly got a cup of tea and offered it to Porter, who took it gratefully. After a couple of quick sips, the man had calmed down enough to speak clearly. "I was studying some plants on the far side of the camp and on my way back I heard a scream. Naturally, I ran to see what it was, but by the time I'd gotten there, Jane…" at this point Professor Porter started sobbing. Goofy patted his on the back and looked up at his friends.

"We gotta do somethin' about this," he said.

Sora and Donald nodded in agreement. "We gotta find Jane!" the magician exclaimed.

"Something coming," Tarzan suddenly said, grabbing everyone's attention.

"What's wrong, Tarzan?" Sora asked.

"Jane, danger."

"But where is she?" Donald asked, a bit annoyed. "We can't help her unless we know her location!"

Tarzan closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest. He listened to the chattering birds who were discussing their latest chicks. He listened to the hippos making small talk about the weather. But when he listened to monkeys, he realized they were talking about the human and gorilla near the Sky Box.

Opening his eyes, Tarzan turned to the group and said confidently, "Jane near tree house. Terk, too."

Sora looked at his friends. "Sounds like trouble. Let's go." And with that said, all four ran out of the tent and headed for certain danger.


Kiba and Akamaru bent their heads to the ground, sniffing. "Did you find it, yet?" Shikamaru asked from up in the tree, so as not to get in the way of the trackers.

Kiba growled. "No," he replied curtly. They had lost Naruto's scent not too long ago, and now they were struggling to retrace.

Shikamaru yawned before saying, "He must have realized that we would come looking for him and decided to mask his scent. He is pretty good at stealth, you know." Kiba just grunted in agreement. Akamaru suddenly started howling.

"What is it, boy?" Kiba asked excitedly. The little barked at him. The Inuzuka hollered in delight. "We found it!"

"Lead the way," his companion told him. And without any further prompting, the dog boy ran in the direction of the tree house, followed closely by his genius friend.


Tarzan ran ahead of the group, showing them the quickest and easiest ways through the jungle. He had no time to waste. The only human girl he had ever met- and perhaps even loved (if the Professor had explained the emotion, that even now pulsed in his very soul, correctly)- was in danger.

Tarzan jumped down from another tree and was prepared to leap onto the next when he heard Sora yelling after him. "Tarzan! Wait up!" Looking back, he realized that his new friends were way behind him.

"Tarzan?" came a weak voice. "Tarzan!" The ape-man turned and saw Jane, sitting on the ground and shivering.

"Jane!" He ran to her and reached through the branches concealing her from him. She grabbed onto his arms and a look of complete trust and tranquility appeared on her face. If Tarzan was here, she'd be safe.

"Tarzan," Goofy called out. "Where'd yah go?"

"Here!" he yelled back.

The trio raced down to find their friend near the caged girl and, much to their surprise, a certain orange clad ninja.

"Naruto!" Goofy said, smiling. The blonde stirred from unconsciousness. He sat up groggily and looked at the people in front of him with blurry eyes.

"Sora?" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Man what a headache!

"Yeah! We're here! What happened though are you two okay?"

Jane shivered and pressed herself as close as she could get to Tarzan. "Clayton came to the tent, and… that's the last thing I remember! I know that Terk ran to safety, probably to find you."

"Hey! You guys!" someone yelled. The group looked up and saw Kiba and Akamaru leaping from branch to branch, Shikamaru not far behind them, headed straight in their direction. "Is Naruto there? We caught his scent!"

"Yeah, the idiot's right here!" Donald quacked at them.

"HEY!" the said idiot yelled at him.

Shikamaru looked at him through lazy eyes. "Looks like you're well. We got kinda worried when Akamaru smelled that hunter."

"Clayton?" Sora asked.

Naruto nodded. "He knocked me out when I tried to stop him from taking Jane."

The birds squawked out a warning overhead. Tarzan listened intently and his friends couldn't help but notice the worry etching itself on his face.

"What is it, Tarzan?" Jane asked quietly.

"Gorillas trapped." He listened again. "Man with fire stick."

"Clayton," Naruto said narrowing his eyes.

"We have to help the gorillas!" Sora said dramatically, cutting through the branches and vines imprisoning Jane and Naruto. Immediately the girl embraced her jungle warrior.

"Let's go kick some butt," Kiba said, grinning in excitement.


Clayton smirked as the heartless herded the last gorilla into the corner. About fifteen of the beasts stared at him in fear as the ape-like heartless danced in delight. This was just too easy! He didn't need any help from anyone! Even though he was kinda lent the heartless. But keeping that out of his mind, he brought up his gun and nearly laughed when the gorillas scattered. He pointed it at a female gorilla that just stood there staring at him. Kala froze with fear. She was sure she was going to die.

And ear piercing roar echoed in front of her, momentarily starling the hunter. Kala looked up at Kerchak who was chasing away the heartless. No one threatened his family without a fight. He snorted at his mate making sure she ran away before continuing his pursuit of the heartless. Clayton growled and cocked his rifle aiming at Kerchak. "No!" Sora yelled out.

The hunter lowered his gun and stared at the boy. An entourage of his friends ran up behind him. Clayton just stared at them.

"Drop the gun, Clayton!" Naruto yelled.

"Clayton?" Sora asked when the hunter didn't respond.

"Not Clayton," Tarzan grunted beside him.

"What did he say?" Kiba asked.

Tarzan grunted something in gorilla. Sora recognized it as the word from the tree house. "Not Clayton!" he said in English.

"I don't care who he is!" Donald shouted. "THUNDER!" Clayton staggered back as the lighting bolts struck home.

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba yelled, forming the two whirlwinds with Akamaru and heading straight for the man. The hunter tried to move, but found that his legs were frozen still.

"Kagemane no Jutsu: success," Shikamaru said, smirking at the man's distress. Naruto rushed at Clayton and gave him quite a few good punches.

"That one's for Terk! That's for Jane! And this is for you!" the shinobi yelled. Sora leapt into the air and brought his keyblade down for a final blow.

Clayton staggered back and glared at his opponents. He wasn't finished yet. He brought his gun down and immediately everyone was on guard. "Hmph," the hunter grunted as he brought his gun back up. Everyone stared in horror as the wall behind him exploded and the ground shook beneath them, but when they looked around for an opponent, they saw none.

"Where is it?" Donald asked irritably. Tarzan stood there for a moment gritting his teeth before charging, but before he was even five feet in front of Clayton, something threw him back to the ground.

"Tarzan!" Kiba asked worriedly.

Shikamaru scowled. "What was that?"

The group turned their attention back to the hunter to see he was riding an invisible mount. "Shika! Can you use Kagemane on that guy?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru shook his head. "No. I can't if I can't see it. There's no shadow."

"Looks like we'll have to guess then," Kiba said with a daredevil grin. "Come on Akamaru!" The two started spinning again and hit right below Clayton, hitting whatever it was he was riding. Startled, the mount momentarily lost its invisibility, revealing itself to be a large chameleon like heartless.

Shikamaru started giving out instructions. "Naruto, Kiba. Distract that thing." Both boys did as they were told; Naruto creating clones to jump and punch the heartless and Kiba and Akamaru running in and out of each other, zig zagging to confuse it. "Tarzan. Run at it from the side and attack it with your spear. Try to hit the soft spots." The jungle warrior rushed at the monster and started stabbing it, trying to find a weak spot. "Sora. I want you and Naruto to reach up and attack Clayton with your blades." The real Naruto, who had been holding back, awaiting further instructions, reached behind his back and grabbed his nodachi, creating another clone and leaping off its back. Sora clutched his keyblade and ran at the heartless, jumping off the bumps on his shoulders and legs. Both the weapon users yelled their own battle cry and they started slicing at Clayton, who shot at them in turn.

The heartless swiped its claws at the little annoying creatures running around him. It was getting very annoyed. Finally it reared up, knocking Naruto, Sora, and Clayton off its back and slamming down into the ground. Some of the clones dispersed and Kiba and Akamaru were thrown back a little. Tarzan jumped at the last moment and stuck his spear up just as the heartless came back down.

Naruto and Sora backed off to the rest of the group. Clayton stumbled back, holding his side. He glowered and brought his gun up again, but suddenly heard a stopping behind him. Looking up in horror, he realized that the big heartless was falling… right on top of him. "Nooo!" he cried out before being crushed.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and put away their weapons. "Tarzan!" someone called out. The group turned to see Jane running to them followed closely by her father. "You're okay!" She rushed up and gave him a hug.

"Is it safe?" Terk asked as she crawled out from her hiding place.

"Yes," Tarzan said, still holding Jane.

At hearing his words, the rest of the gorillas cautiously came out and surrounded their heroes, but made room when Kerchak, followed by Kala, walked up to Tarzan.

"Will you let them go now?" Tarzan asked him.

Kerchak didn't answer by grabbed Sora by his jacket and flung him up onto a ledge covered in vines. The keyblade bearer groaned in pain from landing face first in the dirt. "Wahoohoohoo!!!" someone yelled and suddenly Sora felt two weights fall right on top of him.

"Gawrsh, Sora. Are you okay?" Goofy asked him, the boy just wheezed.

Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru leapt up into the ledge, not needing any help getting there. "He looks fine to me," the lazy shinobi said dismissively. Kiba and Naruto stared at Sora, who seemed to be twitching a little.

Tarzan scaled up the vines with Jane and her father and let them go before looking down at his family.

"You did well, Tarzan," Kerchak said before walking off. Kala smiled warmly at her son before following her mate.

"Thank you… Father," Tarzan said quietly. The big silverback didn't stop, but Tarzan could feel the smile on his face as he walked away.

Climbing up to the top, the ape-man found his new friends in a big pile. He shook his head, took Jane by the hand and led her to the other edge. In the distance, a large waterfall roared and the sound of the jungle echoed it. Sora got up and walked over to the two and took in the breath-taking scene. The rest of the entourage followed him over. "Tarzan home," the jungle warrior told them. No spoke, for fear of shattering the tranquility.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Naruto asked when Tarzan started to walk away. The jungle warrior turned to him and grunted in gorilla, the same word from the tree house, before walking into a cave.

"Come on," Sora said, making a motion with his hand, "Let's follow him."


Water dripped from the roof of the cave. The group splashed through the little puddles of water as they followed Tarzan through the different caverns.

Finally, he led everyone into a crevice. Sora looked around in amazement as he saw blue glowing butterflies lining the walls. The jungle warrior grunted in gorilla again.

"This is your home?" Kiba asked.

Sora looked around, searching for his lost friends. Finding nothing, he turned to his ape friend. "But that means…" Tarzan held up his hand and brought it to his ear, listening to something.

"Huh?" Goofy asked. Everyone was quiet. In the silence, a roaring sound could be heard.

"The waterfalls," Jane realized.

"Oh my!," Porter said, catching on. "They're echoing all the way here."

Tarzan spoke the word in gorilla again, but this time, he continued in English. "Friends there. See friends.

Jane thought for a moment and suddenly her face brightened. "Now I get it!" She repeated the gorilla word and translated. "It means heart."

Shikamaru smiled and shook his head. "Friends in our heart."

"Heart," Tarzan repeated, putting it to memory.

"Oh…" Sora said, looking at the ground. "That's what it meant."

The jungle warrior looked at the boy and smiled. "Friends," he said, motioning at everyone in the cave. Sora looked around and saw Donald and Goofy, both smiling their own goofy smile at him; Naruto, grinning widely and rubbing his nose; Shikamaru, yawning and muttering about how troublesome it was when you don't understand something; Kiba and Akamaru, showing feral smiles, but in a warm and friendly way; Professor Porter with Jane leaning on his shoulder. "Friends," Tarzan repeated. "Same heart." He looked down and continued. "Clayton lose heart." Sora nodded in understanding. "No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

Naruto looked at the ground and was quiet for a very long time. What Tarzan had said was a warning. The friends you had needed to be cherished. If he wanted to find his teammates, not to mention anyone else from Konoha out there, he needed to keep trying. The shinobi grinned and proclaimed loudly, "I'll never give up, dattebayo! That's my ninja way and I will follow it! Believe it!"

Sora smiled at his loud friend and turned to Donald. Immediately his smile turned into a sheepish frown. "Sorry about what I said," he told the magician, rubbing the back of his head.

Donald looked down and then back up. "I'm sorry, too," he finally said.

Goofy chuckled and grabbed both of them into a hug. "Yeah!" he exclaimed. "All for one, huh?"

"Hey!" Naruto yelled. "I want in on the hug! Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Three more Narutos appeared and they grabbed the remaining people and brought them into the hug shared by Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Let go of me, idiot!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru barked in amusement.

"Make me, Dog breath!!" Naruto yelled back.

"Can't you think of any other name to insult me with?"

"What if I can't, Dog breath? Huh? Are you gonna bite me?"

"Don't tempt me," Kiba growled.

Naruto put his hands to his face and started to moan and feign fear. "Oooh!! I'm so scared! OW!! Why'd ya bite me?"

"Because you wouldn't shut up."

Everyone laughed as the two continued to bicker, except Shikamaru who looked to sky and muttered out, "What a drag."

Sora chuckled as he watched their antics, but suddenly his mind was brought to other things. The keyblade had started to tug again, much like it had in Wonderland. He stared at it for a moment before looking up at the colony of butterflies. Some of them started to fly around the room until they reveal, right in the middle of them all, the keyhole to the Deep Jungle. Sora held up the keyblade and a beam of light shot out at the keyhole. A clicking sound was heard and the hole disappeared.

"Looks like we found another one," the keyblade master said.

Suddenly, something fell from where the hole had been. "A gummi!" Donald said, excitedly.

Goofy looked at it and frowned. "But it's sure not the king's," he replied sadly.

The two comrades were downcast when they realized they were not any closer to finding their friend.

"Hey, you two," Naruto said, putting a hand on both of their shoulders. "We'll find the king, Riku and Kairi, and Sasuke and Sakura, dattebayo!" When the two didn't cheer up, Naruto pointed at his headband. "I swear on the symbol of the Leaf Village that I will not stop until I find all of our precious people! And you better believe it!"

Sora walked over. "He's right. As long as we stick together, there's nothing we won't accomplish!"

"Yah know something," Goofy said, the beginnings of a smile showing on his face. "I think yer right! What do ya say, Donald?"

The magician sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Well someone's gotta keep you guys in line." The four laughed and all sadness was forgotten.

Tarzan walked up to Sora. "Sora, Tarzan, friends," he said.

Sora nodded. "Friends," he repeated.


The friends would never know it, but they were being watched once again by the strange group of shadowy people.

"What drew the heartless to that world?" one of the asked.

"The hunter lured them there," Maleficent said from her throne. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. And perhaps the two strangers there as well."

"At least they were smart enough not to mess with the heartless," one of them said, scornfully.

"They seemed to know the little blonde brat," another contributed. "Do you know them, Orochimaru?"

The snake Sannin simply smirked. "Indeed I do," he replied. "And even if the hunter did escape the Heartless's grasp, Itachi and Kisame will not allow him to live. Their group, Akatsuki, does not approve of failure."

One of the shadows chuckled. "I'll bet he'll wish he'd been eaten up by the heartless!"

"Such is the fate of a weak-hearted fool," the first shadow said. "But the boy found another keyhole!"

"Fear not," Maleficent told them. "He still remains blissfully unaware of other plan."

"Yes," a feminine voice chortled. "The princesses."

Maleficent nodded. "If we continue to find them, then our goal will be well within reach."


Clayton pulled himself from out from underneath the heartless. He was tired and weak, but he was free. He laughed to himself. "They couldn't defeat me! Ha ha! I'm too tough to beat!"

"Are you so sure of that," a chilling voice replied. Clayton looked up into the face of Kisame. Looking over, he saw Itachi glaring at him.

"You failed to capture Uzumaki Naruto," the young informed him.

The hunter started groveling at the ground. "I'm sorry! I'll do better next time! I swear!"

"There will be no next time," Itachi said coldly. "Our target has already left this world and is flying through space."

"World?" Clayton asked, completely confused.

The Uchiha looked at him in disgust. "Kisame."

"Yes?" the shark man said, anticipating how this was going to end.

"Have as much fun as you want," he finished before walking off.

Kisame turned back to Clayton with a grin showing all of his pointed teeth. "I believe I will. Please don't die to quickly."

Clayton's cries could be heard throughout the jungle.


The gummi block glinted in the light as Goofy held it up. "The gummi that came out of that keyhole…" Shikamaru started, "it's not like the others. Do you know what it's used for?"

"I dunno," the knight said.

"Maybe Leon'll know," Sora said.

"Who's Leon?" Kiba whispered to Naruto.

"He's a total jerk that judges other people and thinks his word is law," the blonde replied.

Donald thought about it. "Hmmm… he might. Back to Traverse Town, then?" And without further ado, started to fly the ship towards the small town where they had met.

Sora looked at the duck magician and to the controls before back to the magician. "I wanna pilot!" he whined.

"No," Donald said flatly. There was no way he was flying again. Sora started to push the duck out of his chair in attempt to gain control. "Hey! Stop it!" he quacked.

The brunette crossed his arms and pouted saying, "Oh come on! I'm the Keyblade master!"

Donald glared daggers at him. "I don't care who you are! No!" Sora started push again and tried to grab a joystick.

Shikamaru rubbed his temples. "Here we go again. How troublesome."


Yes! It's done!!! Finished!!! I am so happy!! Now I gotta start on the next chappie. maybe tomorrow. I'm gonna to Traverse Town and drop off Shikamaru and Kiba then head over to the Colosium. Just a heads up.

Sakura is finally able to explore the mansion, but will the arrival of Sasuke ruin her fun? And just who is this Riku guy? As for Ansem... let's just say he's upset. meanwhile, Naruto and the gang are heading back to Traverse Town to have a talk with Leon. What will happen when Naruto and him meet up? and what's this about a visitor? NEXT TIME: Town Trouble!