A/N: So this is the very first chapter (besides the prologue). I would like to thank those who reviewed. It means a lot to me that you actually took the time out of your busy schedules to read my fic. Also if anyone has suggestions for future chapters it would be very much appreciated. Just message me or review and include your suggestion in it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from Naruto. They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter: 2/?

Special thanks to:

KCameh: Thanks for reviewing! And don't worry the plot bunnies are mauling me as I speak so several more chapters are on their way.

KuramaKitsuneRyu: Thanks so much for reviewing!

Chapter 1: Unusual Beginings

Crimson eyes glanced through a pair of binoculars. This was rediculous. He was the most feared man on the planet. He was the bloody King of Pirates! So why?! Why were bandits prowling through his territory?!

There had been rumors of a middle class bandit battleship lurking the skies to the Southeast of Kambria. His skies to be exact and he was not happy.

He turned his back on the railing only to see his first mate, Shukaku, watching him. "What" He groused "Are you looking at?" Shukaku only smirked and shrugged knowing full well that it iritated the man to no ends. "You look a bit angry is all. I was wondering if I should tell the crew you were throwing another fit." Kyuubi glared. "I don't throw fits." He stated. "Besides you should be angry about this too. It's not only my skies they're prowling they're also scorching small outskirt villages we usually prey upon. Villages that help keep you fat." The brunette rolled his eyes."One" Shukaku said "I'm not fat and two those villages are small, it's not like we can't do without them."Kyuubi sighed. "I know but-"

Before he could finish a man with white hair and a mask covering his face sauntered over to them. "I've found them captain. They're a little South of the Flying City Ludus. I suspect that's where they're headed next." Kakashi stated proudly with his nose in a his favorite orange book.

Kyuubi cursed and Shukaku narrowed his eyes saying "That's where our last shipment of Draconis gems are. If they're aiming for Ludus then you can be sure those gems will be gone after they're through with the city." Kyuubi nodded looking at him. "So are we going to let them get our loot and run away with it or are we going to do something about it?" He asked the stoic brunette. "Why are you asking me you're the captain." Shukaku replied. "Well you weren't to worried about them prowling the skies I just thought you wouldn't mind them going through your other stuff." The red head stated. "Don't be rediculous" Shukaku snapped "Those are my gems and I'll be damned if whoever it is puts their grubby little hands on them." Kyuubi's elated smile almost made him take back his words. "Then it's settled. We go to the skies around Ludus, flush out those worthless rats, and make sure they don't get your precious gems and stake claim to my airspace! Kakashi get the ship ready for launch and tell the men we'll soon be having some fun."

As the whitenette rushed off to do the captains bidding Shukaku looked past the redhead and out to the skies. 'Something isin't right. Everyone knows that the skies around Ludus belonged to Kyuubi. People would never dare prowl through his territory unless they were incredibly stupid, incredibly brave, or both. If people did they would be sure to hide their presence so they wouldn't get caught.' He shook his head. 'Maybe I'm just thinking to hard.'

He pushed away from the wall he had been leaning on and made his way to the captains quarters where he knew Kyuubi would be waiting. The ritualistic 'meeting before a raid' had always paid off and it made sure Kyuubi's men were aware of what was happening.

Meanwhile aboard the battleship Valkyrie things were hectic. Only three people stood there not knowing what to do. The one in the middle, a blonde haired blue eyed young man jumped as a shout was directed at them from behind. "Get your asses moving greenhorns we don't have all day. Blondie head below deck and start scrubbing!" A vicious looking man handed the blonde and redhead a mop, a cloth, and a bucket full of water. "You too shorty there ain't no room for ya up here." He said to the shortest and youngest of the group.

The youngest, a redhead, visibly twitched while the blonde snickered. Oh how wonderful it was to not be the shortest any more.

"And you, the one with the ponytail. You get to work in the kitchens. Get down there and they'll give ya somethin ta do."

The oldest, a brunette, sighed. He hated the fact that he would be apart from his younger companions but he knew they could take care of them selves. They had after all taken care of themselves for 10 years before he had met them. He shrugged and set off to find the kitchens. "Be good you two I don't want any more trouble than we can handle ok?" He said to them. "Don't worry Iruka we'll be good." He got in reply from the blonde.

"C'mon Gaara let's go." The blonde stated as he as well went off to find his destination. The redhead now known as Gaara followed not caring what he had to do as long as he stayed near the blonde.

"So what were we suposed to do again?" the blonde questioned. Gaara could not supress a sigh a he replied "We are suposed to wash the deck of the crew's quarters since no one is in there right now." Leave it to Naruto to forget something told to him not five minutes ago.

Several bumps, bruises, and curses later the deck of the crew's quarters was still not fully cleaned.

Naruto sighed as he leaned against the wall closest to him."Why do we always get the grunt work?" he whined as he watched Gaara rubbing at a dirty splotch on the floor. The redhead grunted and Naruto took that as a sign that Gaara didn't know.

Right as he was about to start back up at rubbing at his own dirty spot the ship gave a lurch. A cry went up telling the crewmen to arm themselves. Naruto looked at the ceiling, worry evident in his eyes. What was going on?

Another lurch sent both Gaara and Naruto tumbling to the other side of the room. A panicked and flustered Iruka rushed into the room almost tripping on the last step of the stairs. He looked over and spotted the boys in a heap. He quickly made his way over to them as they extracted themselves from each other.

"What's going Iruka?" the Gaara asked. As far as he knew it things like this didn't happen on bandit ships. "Pirates." Iruka said "It turns out that we've been lurking through some pirates territory and he's not to happy about it. C'mon we have to get out of here and hide!"

Iruka led the way to and up the stairs. On deck everything was in chaos. Several fights had broken out, one mast had broken in two, and another had been set aflame.

Iruka rushed them to the back of the ship where some of the cargo was left on deck."Get in." He pointed to one of the boxes and opened the lid as he turned to look and make sure that no one had seen them. "But Iruka" Naruto complained "what about you?" Seeing that Iruka had not gotten in with them. "Don't worry I'll be fine." Iruka said "Besides it's you two I'm worried about." And with that he shut the lid on his two charges.

For several minutes after that all that could be heard were shouts and the occasional crash. When everything settled down it was eriely quiet. Naruto, having had enough of waiting, pushed up against the lid of the box gently not wanting to alert others to his whereabouts. The lid popped up and he worried someone had heard. Pushing the lid up ever so slightly he peeked through the crack that appeared, glancing around. Nothing moved except a part of the sail that had burned off and caught on the edge of another cargo box nearby. Feeling that he was safe he crawled out of the box helping Gaara as he went.

'Why aren't there any more sounds or people?' Naruto thought. It was unsettling being on a ship that housed more than a hundred and fifty people and not hear a single thing. He moved across the deck as Gaara motioned him over to where he was standing.

Around the corner of the captains cabin voices could be heard. Thinking it could be a shipmate of theirs they cautiously moved along side the cabin. As people came into his sights Naruto realized he did not know all the people he saw.

Standing in front of a group of his tied up shipmates was a tall red haired man. Next to him was a brunette and white haired man. Several others he did not know were standing around. To their right standing against the wall were two young men about Naruto and Gaara's age. One had long black hair and white pupil-less eyes. While the other had short black hair that stuck out in the back and onyx eyes.

Naruto looked past them to find Iruka. He was bound and gagged near the mast that had recently been in flames. He almost made a move when Gaara caught his arm and shook his head. Gaara pulled him away from the corner and the unknown crew.

"We can't do anything with so many people here it would be suicide." Gaara whispered. Furiously Naruto turned to look at him "What you just expect me to sit here until they do god knows what to Iruka?!"

"No, I expect you to think about how you're going to help him. I wanna help him too but we have to do this right otherwise we'll hurt more than help him." Gaara pointed out.

Naruto sighed. How were they gonna help Iruka? Suddenly Naruto had an idea and he couldn't wait to try it out! He turned his back to Gaara and looked up at the masts. "Hey Gaara how sturdy do you think those masts are?" he questioned. Gaara looked at him in response and groaned.

'Yay! Naruto is thinking again!' Gaara thought sarcastically.

"Well well what do we have here?" Kyuubi intoned. "Looks like we caught ourselves a few rats to me."

Shukaku snorted but said nothing knowing that Kyuubi liked to prattle when he caught his prey. "Just hurry up will you I want to get back to the ship and take a nap." He said."Oh what, need your beauty sleep? Lord knows you need it!" Kyuubi taunted. Before the irritated brunette could reply one of the boys against the wall interupted.

"I say we take all their cargo and burn the ship." Kyuubi turned to look at him. "And what do we do with them, Neji?" he asked pointing to the Valkyrie's crew. Neji shrugged and said "Let them go down with it."

The boy next to Neji nodded and Shukaku snorted. "Of corse you would suggest something like that."

"Alright then it's settled!" Kyuubi shouted, standing up straight from the crouching position he had been in. "We take the cargo and burn the ship in warning to others like them. No one sails through my skies preying on my towns! Get to work men!"

As the Pirate King's crew set to work there was a crash and the last thing Kyuubi saw before he felt the pain was blue eyes and blonde hair. There was a thud as two bodies crashed to the deck one bleeding. Pissed at having been caught off guard Kyuubi shoved at whoever had landed on him sending the blonde rolling across the deck. He stood up just in time to catch the blonde trying to stab at him again with a short dagger. As the blonde struggled the redhead pressed a hand to his bleeding right side. It wasn't a very deep cut but he shouldn't have even got it in the first place! He quickly tore the dagger out of the boys hand and threw it at Kakashi who deftly caught it between his fingers.

"Who are you and how dare you strike out at me?!" He snarled at the boy in front of him. The blonde only glared back in response before kicking his leg out in hopes of dislodging himself from Kyuubi's hold on him. Kyuubi, now ready for anything, caught his leg and squeezed drawing a pain-filled gasp from the boy."I asked who you are." he said squeezing tighter. Naruto flinched and replied "Does it matter. You're holding one of my dear friends over there and I will get him back. Names aren't important."

With that said he pulled all of his weight into the kick he aimed at Kyuubi's stomach. The blow connected solidly and forced the redhead to let go. Naruto then decided that if he was going to fight this unknown person he would do it right.

"Hey flame head I challenge you to a duel! If I win you leave and never bother us again." he said. Everyone on deck seemed to stop breathing before the unknown crew burst into laughter. Naruto looked around confused. Had he said something stupid?

From behind him he heard gaara say to him "Naruto that was a stupid move. Do you know who that is?" He asked. Naruto turned to look at him and shook his head. Gaara nodded. "I thought so. Naruto that is Kyuubi the King of Pirates. You have no hope of winning."

Naruto's jaw dropped. The King of Pirates. He had just challenged the King of Pirates to a duel?! Naruto turned to look at the red-haired man standing before him. This was the King of Pirates? Oh god he was doomed!

The aformentioned King of Pirates chuckled at the look on the boys face.

"So you challenge me to a duel huh? Alright then have it your way. So the deal was if you win I leave and never bother you again right? I can do that but if I win then I get to do what the hell ever I want to!" He, by then, had a malicious smirk gracing his face. If this kid wanted a fight he was going to get a fight.

He dropped everything but his sword and stood straight waiting for the boy across from him to get ready.Naruto figited under the scrutiny of two crews and a Pirate King.

"Well what are you waiting for hurry up and get your sword so we can get started!" Kyuubi said impatiently. He hated to be kept waiting.

"Um you see that's the thing. I don't have a sword." Naruto mumbled. Kyuubi stared at him before bursting out with laughter.

"You challenged me, ME, to a duel and you have no sword?! How stupid can one get?" He only shook his head and turned to Kakashi. "Let him borrow your sword will you? I want to get this over with so I can go home."

Naruto twitched as Kakashi walked over to him, sword in hand. As Kakashi handed his sword to him, Naruto heard the whitenette utter what sounded like a small prayer for him. Naruto gulped and took the sword in hand. He turned to look at Gaara for support but saw both him and Iruka looking at him with worry. Around Iruka's wrists were what looked to be rope burns.

Pissed at the mistreatment of his friend by the Pirate King's crew Naruto turned back to the redhead strengthening his resolve. They had hurt Iruka and they would pay.

Steeling himself he unsheathed his borrowed sword in a fluid motion.

"Very well then" he said tossing the sheath aside ignoring the indignant cry from Kakashi. "Let's get started then shall we?"

With that said he rushed the King of Pirates.

It would turn out to be the most memorable day of his life.

Sora: Finaly done! It took me one day but I finaly got chapter 1 done! My shoulders ache now. I think I'm going to go to bed now. It's like 12:30 right now so everyone have a good night! Please review! You may not think it but it overinflates my ego when you do!

PS: Again if anyone has any suggestions for future chapters let me know and if I like the idea enough I'll include it in the story with an honorable mention of the person who gave it to me. I'll also write a oneshot for them as thanks for the help. But it has to be about something I know about or I won't be able to write it!

Again have a good night! Don't let the plot bunnies bite!