It was all the editors fault in Narutos view. If they hadn't been so secretive, this whole thing would have never happened. Naruto would have never met the likes of Ichigo Kurosaki, and would never have to have worried about whether to bet on Gandalf or Dumbledore.
But the editors had been secretive.
It was a pretty trivial rule, at the time; no characters from the same canon may fight each other outside of the manga/anime/book/movie until said series had ended. It made sense after all. If the results of a pseudo match between Goku and Cell had been leaked before the actual chapter with the actual match had been released, the audience would have shrunk dramatically.
For the most part, everyone accepted this rule, and merely waited for indefinite amounts of time until they could finally fight some rival or another that they had never fought in manga/anime/book/movie.
That meant that Naruto wasn't allowed to fight Sasuke.
It wasn't fair! Naruto had nothing better to do but sit around all day dully acting out whatever chapter Kishimoto-sama dished out. He couldn't even see Sakura-chan or Sai because he was off learning how to become a stupid frog sage. The only one who had been nice enough to come with him was Shikamaru. And all he wanted to do was play stupid strategy games.
Bah. Frog sage, why couldn't of Kishimoto-sama thought of something cooler? Like… a Shadow sage! Or…or…or a Ramen sage! Yeah…power of ramen!
One day, for the pure fun of it, he decided to annoy Shikamaru.
It was a horribly easy task, to annoy poor old Shikamaru, but it gave Naruto much needed glee, as he eagerly stalked the ponytailed chuunin, until it was time to tackle him.
And for the tenth time in a week, Shikamaru fell to the ground, due to an idiot in an orange jumpsuit.
"Naruto!" Shikamaru groaned. "Can't you just leave me alone?"
"Never' Tebayo!' Naruto shouted gleefully.
Shikamaru struggled to stand up as Naruto refused to get off of him. It scared him, what happened to Naruto when he got bored enough. Shikamaru briefly was considering it could lead to another apocalypse when-
"Shikamaru!! Fight with me Dattebayo!!" Naruto holler, at him as he got off of Shikamaru.
Shikamaru stood up, shaking his head, and held up two fingers.
"One, It's against the rules, Two, even if it wasn't I have to go somewhere."
Narutos face fell, and he muttered rude words under his breath. He was Naruto Uzumaki! He shouldn't be put under such a case of boredom! He was the title character! Not that stupid Sasuke, who kept taking his page time.
Shikamaru began to back away slowly from the blonde haired idiot. "Well," He said tiredly, "I have to go now, as troublesome as it is to leave you behind." Shikamaru said sarcastically. Having spent the last couple of weeks with a whiny Naruto had not brightened his mood in the slightest.
Naruto immediately brightened, and to Shikamarus horror, he realized what he had just implied.
"No!" Shikamaru said frantically. "That's not what I meant! You are not coming with me!"
x.X.x
Despite Shikamaru being quite firm on the subject, he was no match for Naruto and his sexy jutsu.
So Shikamaru was forced to take Naruto to his destination.
The destination was a huge dome. There was a giant read 'X' over the entrance, but other than that, nothing gave away what the dome was for.
"Welcome" Shikamaru said tonelessly "To the blank X dome."
Naruto snickered at the name. "That's a stupid name 'Tebayo. Why do they call it that?"
At that moment, someone came over to Shikamaru. He had bobbed green hair and wore a school uniform. "Shikamaru!" He said, with a fierce glint in his eyes.
Shikamaru gave a vague nod. "Akira." Unlike Akira, he had no fiery glint of passion in his eyes.
Akira said nothing else, but walked off towards the dome, leaving Shikamaru and Naruto alone again.
"Who was that 'Tebayo?" Naruto asked curiously. He looked around to see who else was around them.
Surrounding the dome were hundreds of people. Some were dressed in 'normal' clothing (or at least, normal to Naruto) while others were dressed in the weirdest clothing Naruto had ever seen. Some looked like they had stepped out of doll house, with ultra Lolita styled dresses.
Others were dressed in what looked like bathrobes, and some seemed to be dressed in uniforms.
"Akira Toya." Shikamaru said impatiently. "He's my Go opponent."
Naruto laughed. "Go? You came all the way here to play Go?!"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Yes you troublesome idiot! I came here to play Go! So just leave me alone and find something to do." He hissed through gritted teeth. He walked towards the dome leaving Naruto all alone.
Naruto blinked in confusion. "Shikamaru!! Wait up 'Tebayo!" He hollered frantically, and ran after the chuunin. Unfortunately, He couldn't catch sight of Shikamaru anywhere.
The dome on the inside was a lot different. It was separated into several slightly smaller, but still quite large stadiums. Some had hundreds of tables with board games on them. Others had more of a gladiator esque feel to them. Naruto walked to the stadium where two people were fighting.
One had a dark green bandana on his head, and three swords. One in each hand, and the other in his mouth.
The other was also a swordsman, and had long orange hair in a ponytail. He also had an 'X' shaped scar on one side of his face. He had one sword.
The stadium was clearly split, one half chanting the word 'Zoro' the other 'Kenshin'. From what Naruto could see, neither had any deep cuts, and while the orange haired one was faster, the one with the green bandana seemed to be a lot stronger.
"Place your bets!" Squawked some guy. "Place you bets! You! Blondie! Have you placed your bet yet?"
Naruto turned around to see who was addressing him. His jaw dropped. He found himself face to face with a guy who appeared to have stitches for a mouth. He wore some weird hat and an Akatsuki cloak. It was Kakuzu.
Kakuzu widened his green eyes when he realized the 'Blondie' was Naruto. "Uzumaki!" He said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Naruto shrugged, as his muscles involuntarily tensed up. In the real world the Akatsuki weren't evil. Just shady. But that didn't stop Naruto from getting an adrenaline rush every time he saw them.
"I have no idea Dattebayo." Naruto said truthfully. Kakuzu laughed at the statement.
"Lemme guess, Shikamaru-chan dragged ya here?" Kakuzu said with a chortle. One of the oddest sounds in the world, was hearing Kakuzu laugh. It had to do with the fact that most of Kakuzus body was horribly mismatched due to the whole immortality thing.
Naruto gave a vague nod. The way Kakuzu said it, you would think he and Shikamaru were rather close.
"KAKUZU!!" A high voice screeched in the distance. A girl with short orange hair grabbed the Akatsuki by the collar. "What are you doing?" She hissed.
Kakuzu widened his eyes. "S-sorry Nami-san! I was just talking to Naruto, he's in my-"
"I DON'T CARE!! Just get back to work!!" She screeched letting go of Kakuzu. She gave him a death ray glare and walked away.
Kakuzu paled a bit out of fear and immediately went back to work. He paused and motioned for Naruto to follow him.
Between 'Place your bets!' Kakuzu explained to Naruto what the dome was.
Essentially, it was a place for characters to other characters from a different story. It was a great way for characters to blow off steam and answer the age old question 'Who would win in a fight?'
Of course, it wasn't just anime and manga characters that fought each other. People came far and wide to watch the annual 'Lucky verses the Rabbit' battle Sometimes they even tag teamed with Tony the tiger and Cap'n Crunch.
And of course, everyone had a rank. There was a huge board that showed the strongest and the weakest, battlers. Your score was computed on how many times you lost, how many hits you got in, how strong your opponent was, etc, etc.
This particular stadium was 'anime only' characters, but there was a merger stadium where battlers could cross genres. Of course, killing each other wasn't the only way to fight in the dome. Shougi, Go, rock paper scissors, you name it, there was a section for it.
Naruto listened to this like a little boy who had been told he had just been named Hokage.
"You gotta let me fight the strongest one!!" Naruto yelled out in excitement.
Kakuzu sighed. "Naruto look…Place your bets!!...I know this is exciting…Bets!!...but it's not that easy…You there! How much?...even if you could, no one knows who the top battler is…Ten thousand on Rurouni? Got it! Name please…"
The top battler was an astounding five hundred and thirty two thousand points ahead of the second best battler. The name merely read
Kugox
In big bold letters. There was no picture, or explanation of origin in any pamphlet that was usually issued out about the battlers. He was simply a mystery. A popular the theory was that he originated from the kingdom hearts game, but it was highly unlikely since none of the kingdom heart battlers had ever made it into the top two hundred, let alone the top battler position. Besides, the position had been held by Kugox much longer then kingdom hearts had been around.
Naruto was disappointed, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. He decided he would have to merely fight the second best battler. If he won, then this 'Kugox' would HAVE to notice him.
"Who's the second best battler 'Tebayo?" Naruto asked eagerly.
Kakuzu sighed. "I highly doubt he would fight you Naruto. He only fights the guys in the top twenty. Even then he's pretty picky."
Naruto was oblivious to it. "I don't care!! I'll fight him! Or I'll just get to the top twenty! How long does it take?"
Kakuzu paused for a moment and did some math in his head. "If you didn't lose a single battle, and you didn't get hit once…about four months."
Naruto groaned. Four months? No way! And not getting hit once…that was just impossible! Even impossible for the great Naruto Uzumaki! And nothing was impossible for the great Naruto!
He stalked away, claiming that he was going to buy some ramen. In reality, he decided he would hunt down this second best battler and challenge him to a battle. He looked up at the score board one more time. The second best battler was
Ichigo Kurosaki
What a stupid name! It reminded him of strawberries…
Kakuzu might not have been able to read minds, but he had a pretty good guess on what the Kyuubi host was planning. "He's usually hanging around the graveyard." He hollered at Naruto.
The Graveyard was in fact, not an actual graveyard, but a restaurant installed right in between the stadium to literary battlers and the stadium devoted to quiz shows.
Naruto walked in and found himself in some sort of futuristic (by his standards) setting, with blaring music. He walked up to the hostess and took a deep breath.
"I'M LOOKING FOR ICHIGO KUROSAKI!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. As it turned out, the music was not as loud as Naruto had first thought, and everyone in the restaurant heard him.
Some of the younger kids laughed at him. One old lady sighed and buried her face, and one old man grumbled about the old days.
The hostess turned a deep red from embarrassment. "He is not taking challenges today."
Naruto didn't care. "WELL!" He hollered, before half the restaurant shushed him.
"Well" He said slightly more quiet. "He's going to accept MY challenge 'Dattebayo."
"What now?" A voice said in obvious annoyance.
Naruto whirled around and came face to shoulder with a tall teenager with orange spiky hair. (Was orange a trend or something?)
"First that Gon kid, then the Luffy kid, and now you?" He said in annoyance. "Can't a guy get some peace?"
"You…you're Ichigo!?" Naruto asked in excitement.
The teen nodded and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, pretty much."
Naruto grinned maniacally, and poked Ichigo in the forehead. "I challenge you 'Tebayo!!" He said enthusiastically.
Ichigo barely reacted. "Yeah, get in line."
Naruto shook his head. He was getting mad now. "Your gonna fight me! Got that!"
"What's your rank shorty?" Ichigo said irritably. He had had a long day and wasn't in the mood to battle another hotshot.
Naruto paused for a moment. "Errr…well….I don't actually have a rank. See this is my first time here and-"
Ichigo sweat dropped and sighed. "Fine."
Naruto blinked. "Fine what?"
"Fine, I'll fight you."
Naruto leaped up and punched the air. "YESSSS!! This is great!! When can we fight? How about now 'Tebayo" He said rapidly not bothering to contain his excitement.
"Tomorrow. Twelve am." Ichigo said simply before walking towards a table with a menu in arm. "But right now, I'm hungry. Go away."
Naruto grinned and made a good guy pose. "You can count on me!" He said eagerly, and rushed out of the door in a blaze of happiness.
The hostess frowned as she got Ichigo his food. "Isn't that the time you have that rematch with Hiei?" She said worriedly.
Ichigo nodded, and took a sip from his cup. "Yeah, I can't stand another battle with that eye guy. Besides, I recognized that kid. He's the leading character from his own manga series. It's even named after him. Chances are, this battles gonna be good."
The hostess gave a dazzling smile and retreated back to the kitchen.
x.X.x
On the way home, Naruto could barely contain his happiness from Shikamaru. He kept talking, and talking, and just when Shikamaru thought he might collapse from lack of oxygen, he talked for another half hour. After a long time, Naruto finally became sensitive enough to ask how Shikamaru did in his Go game.
Shikamaru shrugged. "Lost by a point, but it was a pretty close game, we're having a rematch tomorrow."
Naruto nodded eagerly, since he didn't want to come to the stadium alone. Not that he was afraid or anything, he just had no idea how to get to the dome without Shikamarus' instructions.
Naruto and Shikamaru made it back to the apartment where they had been staying. It smelled horribly of frogs, but for once, it was totally quiet. For once both Naruto and Shikamaru went to sleep at the exact time they should, and for the first time since they had gotten here, they slept peacefully.
Tomorrow would be a new day. One filled with battles of strength and mind. Unfortunately, little did Naruto know what he was getting himself into…
To be Continued