Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto Masashi, not I. The characters of Kingdom Hearts II are owned by SquareEnix, not I. (Man, the Japanese have all the luck.)

The Mysterious Girl…I Mean Boy

On the way to Tazuna's house, Tazuna explained to Sora, Donald, and Goofy why Gato wanted him dead. Because of Gato's control of the island, it's in a poor. Once the bridge is complete the economy of the island will improve and Gato will lose power. As much as Sora, Donald, and Goofy wanted to continue looking for Riku and the king, they didn't want to abandon Tazuna. Not to mention Kakashi and his students didn't know much about the Heartless. So Sora agreed to help protect Tazuna until his bridge was complete.

Once they reached Tazuna's house, they were greeted by Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami. Then Tsunami called her 8-year-old son, Inari into the room.

"Grandpa!" Inari exclaimed excitedly. He was so glad that his grandfather made it home safely. Then he noticed the strange group of people with his grandfather.

"Who are these people?" asked Inari.

"These are my bodyguards." explained Tazuna. Then he introduced them one by one. "This is Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Sora, Donald, and Goofy."

"You should all leave right now." said Inari.

"Inari! You should be grateful. These people helped your grandfather get here safely." Tsunami scolded her son.

"But these people are gonna die! No one can stand up to Gato!" argued Inari.

"Hey, don't say that." said Sora. "We'll protect your grandfather and defeat Gato."

"Yeah, what he said." said Naruto.

'This kid's as bad as Naruto.' thought Kakashi.

"You're all just wasting your time." said Inari as stomped out of the room.

"What's his problem?" asked Sora. Tsunami then got a sad look in her eyes. Meanwhile Sakura was looking at a photo on the wall.

"Hey, it looks like someone was ripped out of the picture. Why is that?" she asked.

"The person originally there was my late husband, Kaiza." said Tsunami sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry." said Sakura.

"That all right" said Tazuna. "Kaiza's death is the reason Inari is the way is."

"What happened?" asked Sora. Then Tazuna told them all the story of how Kaiza came into the family, along with how he stood up to Gato and was killed for it.

Goofy got all teary eyed. "Grash that was so sad." he sobbed. Meanwhile Donald was crying his eyes out. Sora wiped away a single tear. He was beginning to feel sad for Inari. "Don't worry," he said to Tazuna. "We'll protect you and beat Gato…for Kaiza."

Later, Sakura, Sora, and Goofy guarded Tazuna while he was working on the bridge, while Kakashi trained Naruto and Sasuke, and Donald also tried to teach them how to use magic, mainly because Naruto wanted to learn.

Over the course of the next few days, both groups had to deal the constant barrage of Heartless, but so far it was nothing they couldn't handle. Sasuke and Kakashi started to get the hang of using magic, while Naruto still struggled with it.

"FIRE!" shouted Naruto, but nothing happened.

"No, it's done like this you dobe." said Sasuke. "FIRE!" With the spell Sasuke was able to burn a log that they were practicing on. But it got a little out of control and Kakashi had to use a water jutsu to put it out. But, Naruto didn't give up. He continued practicing his jutsu and magic late into the night.

One morning, Sora asked, "Hey, where's Naruto?"

"I think he was out all night training again." said Kakashi. "If he's not careful, he could kill himself."

"He shouldn't be out there alone, especially with the Heartless on the prowl." said Sora. Then he went out to look for Naruto.

Meanwhile, Naruto was asleep on the forest floor, until someone shook him awake. He opened his eyes to see what looked like a girl with long black hair and hazel eyes wearing a pink kimono. "What are you doing out here?" the girl asked him.

"I'm training to become stronger." said Naruto.

"It's dangerous to sleep on the forest floor all night, especially with those strange creatures running about." said the girl.

"I can handle a few Heartless." said Naruto.

"Oh, so that's what they're called." said the girl as she began to pick some nearby herbs. "Oh, here let me help you out." said Naruto. He then began picking herbs.

Sora looked through the forest for Naruto until he came upon Naruto and the girl picking herbs. "There you are Naruto, I've been looking every where for you." said Sora. "Come on, let's head back."

"Sorry, I gotta go, sister." said Naruto to the girl.

"That's all right, I have to go too." said the as she picked up her basket of herbs. As she walked away she turned to Sora and Naruto and said, "Oh, by the way, I'm a guy."

"WHAT!" exclaimed Sora and Naruto.

'It can't be! He's prettier than Sakura!' thought Naruto.

'How in the world can a guy be prettier than Kairi?' thought Sora.

As the boy walked away, Sora and Naruto headed back towards Tazuna's house feeling completely weirded out.