Author's Note:
Ho boy, you all must be mad at me now. I keep saying "Oh don't worry my friends the last chapter will be out soon and the series will be over!" And here we are. At the end of June, 3 months passed the promised deadline. I know I've made a LOT of excuses and they are true. I just could not get into writing even though this fic made be fall in love with One Piece yet again and was making my soul burn with fire and passion!
But the big reason to why it has taken 30 days on the dot to update is because I had made it a point to have only 10 chapters. I did not realize that I would write THIS much. In fact, chapter 8 and 9 were one big chapter, but I decided to divide them in two. So how big was chapter 10 before I decided to divide it? Over 24,000 and far from finished. Ya. So I decided fuck it, I'm retarded, and I'm turning one giant ass chapter into 4; maybe more.
So without further adieu, let the show continue. Also fuck you Narutards. Pissing me off.
Pirates vs Ninjas: Battles of Love and Will Chapter X: Monkey vs Fox Part 1
Luffy and Naruto stared at one another, each with a different pair of emotions flickering in their eyes. Naruto was angry and confused. He had been confined to his apartment (with an ANBU guard) so he was unaware of what had happened. When he began to hear explosions and shouting, he tried to get out of his home; or at least get any kind of information out of the guards to know what was going on. After a few minutes, he decided to try and fight his way out using his clones to give himself enough time to out run the ANBU agents. When he launched his plan however, he discovered that there was no longer a guard posted at his doorstep nor was there any ANBU presence around his entire building. It was then that he noticed the village had grown quite once more, did he make the decision to personally go and learn what had happened.
Whatever he thought had happened, was nothing compared to what he saw before him.
In his short time as an active ninja in Konoha's roster, Naruto had only seen war once. When Suna attacked just over 3 years ago, was the first time he had ever seen what a battlefield looked like. Though he saw very little of it and he had made his battle against Gaara his top priority, what he had seen was enough to make him hate war. But now, that war was nothing in comparison to this. He had always thought that Konoha was undefeatable, that they could fight any enemy and win. That was no longer the case.
Before him lay a thousand of his fellow ninja, ranging from the most prestigious clans to the lowest ranking chunin. He saw his sensei, considered to be one of the strongest ninjas in history unconscious and bloody in the streets. A few dozen yards from him was his rival Maito Gai, also an insanely powerful ninja who had never lost a fight, was half buried in ruble unmoving. Clan leaders, Jonin, ANBU, all had been defeated. And finally, the Godaime Hokage, one of the three legendary Sennin, was lying face down at the feet of the strange teenager who had kidnapped Hinata. This was more that he could stand.
"What did you do to them?!" Naruto shrieked staring at the pirate. "Where is Hinata?!"
Luffy merely stared back without saying a word. He hadn't liked this blond kid after learning about his so called dream and what he considered friendship. At first he reminded him of Koby, but that was wrong as Coby managed to change himself and become a strong Marine, whereas Luffy doubted Naruto would ever do anything remotely like that. He then felt as if he saw someone he had once known in the face of the jinchuriki. A man that had enraged him in a way few had before. It felt like it had been several life times ago but it could not have been much longer than a year ago that Luffy had confronted that man.
That was not the kind of resemblance one wanted to have with a pirate who had sailed halfway around the known world and achieved a bounty of 300,000,000 Beri.
Naruto had grown impatient with Luffy's lack of action and decided to face him head on. He jumped at him with a war cry intended to intimidate the pirate. Luffy looked back unimpressed and jumped back from the ninja and over the Hokage monument, leading him away from the village.
"Who was that blond kid?" asked Sanji.
"No idea, but he's got to be pretty stupid to pick a fight with Luffy" said Zoro finally lying down to get some sleep.
"Mm" agreed Nami, rubbing her arm. She couldn't explain it, but she was feeling strange. There was an eerie sensation that she felt crawling under her skin, and she couldn't shake the feeling. She looked over at the cliff with the faces of men she did not know as if she could still see her captain. Something was going to happen but she didn't know what.
"I feel it too" said Robin quietly. The navigator looked up at the older woman, surprised that she had known what she had been thinking.
"Ano mina..." asked Chopper getting his crew's attention, "What do we do now?"
"We just wait for Luffy-san to take care of the straggler" answered Brook, taking another sip of his tea.
"But what about them?" continued the doctor pointing at the injured ninjas that lay in the dirt.
"What about them?"
"We can't just leave them there can we?"
The cook looked at his friend with a curious eye. "You want to look after the people that tried to kill us?" he asked.
"I know...but these people aren't bad. They had to fight us because we broke out of their prison. Their doctors are probably too afraid to come and heal them so I have to."
"I think you're a bit too forgiving" replied Sanji rubbing his sore abdomen. "Mistake or not, they were out to kill us all."
"Mmm...still" said Chopper looking up at the ninjas before bolting to them in his deer form. He began to look over them to see which had the most severe wounds and who needed his attention first.
"Oh ya ya, I suppose I shall help him then" said Brook draining his cup and returned it to his hollow skull, before walking towards his fellow Devil Fruit user.
"As will I" added Robin following her cursed brothers. "Keep an eye out for anything that seems out of the ordinary."
"In this place?" asked Nami with a cocked eyebrow.
"You know what I mean" replied the archeologist with a small coy smile, before joining the doctor and musician. Nami's eyes followed her friend as she walked and played back her words in her mind. She could not shake the feeling of dread that rest unpleasantly in her stomach. It was only then that she realized it was the same feeling she had been feeling since she first arrived here. She should be feeling relaxed and even a bit proud that she and her crew had steamrolled over their captures, but instead felt that something monstrous was creeping over the horizon. She looked back at the cliff seeing her young brave captain in her mind's eye.
'Luffy...please be careful.'
xXx
Luffy ran at breakneck speed through the forest that grew around the village of Konoha with the angry blond keeping pace with him in the trees above.
'Damn this bastard is fast!' cursed Naruto jumping from branch to branch.
'What do you think you are doing?' asked Kurama, clearly not pleased with the blond.
'What do you want fox?'
'I'll ask the questions. Why are you chasing this man?'
'Are you stupid? He just attacked ba-chan and his lackeys attacked the village!'
'Pot calls the kettle black. Once again you are jumping head first into a situation that will only end in your demise, if it weren't for me that is. This man just defeated your precious Hokage in single blow. Perhaps that trying to fight him is a foolish idea?'
'Ha! Sounds like you're afraid! Who'd of thought that the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko would be afraid of one man' Naruto mocked.
Kurama's eyes squinted as he frowned at the petty insult. 'If you saw what I saw when I looked in his eyes, you would do better by fearing him.'
Naruto ignored the demon lord's words as he had done many times before. "Don't let him trick you" warned Jiraiya several years ago. "Foxes live for trickery and their lord is the best of them all. Any kind of deal or 'advice' he has for you will only get you killed and set him free. Ignore them at all costs". The jinchuriki had done all he could to heed to those words of wisdom, but had been having more and more trouble doing so when his emotions took control. He hated Kurama, as he did with all demons. He blamed them for his suffering along with the suffering of Gaara and other jinchuriki. He had always thought that was something all jinchuriki shared...until recently.
Killer B was a jinchuriki just like him, but instead of hating his demon, he was proud of it. He acted as if he was friends with it and even trusted it to take control of his own body. He didn't even consider himself human; something that both Naruto and Gaara had been fighting to prove wasn't true; that they were as human as anyone else. He could not understand at all why Killer B was proud and even happy about being a "monster", which had been the only thing on his mind ever since their encounter at the Hokage Tower. After he defeated Luffy, he would go back and get some answers.
The two teenagers kept running through the forest until they broke through the tree line and into a large clearing. It was easily several thousands of feet squared making it the perfect arena for the two to fight. They stood several yards from one another glaring with intense gazes, Naruto more than Luffy.
"You bastard!" shouted Naruto first, "I'll make you pay for all that you've done! First your men attack Gaara and Sasuke, then you kidnap Hinata, now to attack the village and hurt ba-chan! I'll never forgive you!"
"I didn't kidnap her, she helped me" Luffy responded honestly.
"Liar! Hinata would never help someone like you! Never!"
"How would you know? She told me that you two never hang out."
'He's got you there' said Kurama smirking at Luffy. 'Speaking of which, why don't you spend time with that little vixen? She's rather cute and is honestly the only human that actually likes you, for some reason. She fancies you as well, why she would is beyond me.'
"U-Urusai!" Naruto shouted at both of them, "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done, dattebayo!"
The pirate looked at his younger opponent unimpressed. "If you think you can beat me then you're dumber than you look. I don't care what kind of magic tricks you have, they aren't gonna work on me" he said snorting.
"Just you watch!" Naruto shouted back making his trademark hand seal. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Around the blond erupted a ball of smoke revealing half a dozen clones of him all eager to fight. Naruto was used to having others reacting to his jutsu in disbelief (due to its infamous status), but the reaction he received from Luffy was different.
"NANI!? Kage?!" the pirate shouted with eyes wide. "You can use the same powers as Moria?!"
Naruto blinked at Luffy not knowing who or what he was referring to. But it didn't really matter to him. He was going to beat him and that would be the end of it. "Let's get him!" he shouted, rushing Luffy with his clones right behind him. Luffy finally snapped back to reality and prepared himself to face the blond ninja. The clones began to throw punches, but were far too slow to hit the captain. He bobbed and weaved with ease, evading the attacks as if he could already see them coming. It was almost as if Luffy was dancing, tucking and leaning somewhat gracefully not letting a single blow land on him.
Seeing what the blond could do and that his "shadow clones" were not really shadow clones (as he knew them), Luffy decided to fight back. He threw a fast right hook at one of the clone hitting it square in the face and dispelling it. He then grabbed two more clones by their collars and slammed their heads together dispelling them as well. Another pair of clones tried to punch him but Luffy dodged them by throwing himself backwards so that he landed on his hands, following up with two powerful kicks into their faces. Using the momentum of his attack, Luffy swung his upper body so that he delivered a devastating head butt into the last shadow clone which dispelled allowing the pirate's head to crash into that of the real Naruto.
The ninja shouted in pain as he flew backwards and crashed onto his back.
'Hmmm. I see' said Kurama scratching his furry chin with one of his claws. 'He doesn't have a refined fighting style like Karate or Kung Fu, but what he does have is a great deal of experience fighting. I wonder how many years has he spent fighting and training. He can't be much older than you, but his eyes say he's done and seen many things. This fight won't go well for you Kit.'
"U-Urusai" grunted Naruto, trying to blink away the stars. "I'm just getting started. Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"
Again the jinchuriki created clones to fight, this time summoning a hundred of them which all immediately began to charge at the black haired young man. Luffy looked at the advancing clones with a cocked eyebrow. "Nanda? That's all he can do? For a second there I thought he could do Moria's moves and stuff. I guess that's just his ninja trick. I was hoping it was gonna be something cooler" he said with a sigh of disappointment. Nevertheless, the pirate raised his arms and began to punch the air before him, increasing the speed with every punch he threw. "Gomu Gomu no...Gatling!"
His arms began to stretch as he unleashed his barrage of punches at the clones. They could not react to the attack fast enough, thus allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by the bombardment. The punches of the rubber man crashed into them like a giant wave crashing onto the banks of the sea, knocking them back and reducing them to smoke once more. One of Luffy's punches found its mark landing on the nose of the real Naruto with an audible crunch and a cry of pain. The blond shouted in both agony and confusion as his hands flew up to his nose which was most certainly broken and bleeding profusely.
"How did he do that?!" Naruto cried clutching his face, his head spinning like a top. "His punches hurt way more than Sakura-chan's!"
'Interesting' commented Kurama leaning forward in his cage. 'I remember that he possessed strange abilities from when he displayed them a few days ago, but I didn't even stop to think of its combat capabilities. He must be able to stretch his body at will and can do so without chakra. That must mean that he can use it as much as he likes unlike those silly jutsu. Just think of the limitless possibilities for attacks he can create. Furthermore, a body made of rubber cannot be harmed from physical attack such as punches, kicks, clubs, and so forth. I never thought I'd see the day; you've met your match stride for stride Kit. This fight is already lost.'
"Like hell! I'm never going to give up! I haven't lost yet!" Naruto shouted back forming his hand seal once again.
'Most battles are won before the sword is drawn'
"TajūKage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)" A small explosion like sound crashed over the clearing and a massive plume of smoke flooded the area leaving Luffy alone in the centre. He tightened his fists and looked around him to see what else the blond had in store. But to his disappointment, it was just a massive wave of clones surrounding him.
"Ok, you don't have the same powers as Moria, but you're just as annoying as he was" he said bitterly, cracking his knuckles.
"Get him!" shouted one of the clones, causing the rest of them to roar in agreement and charge the pirate once again.
Luffy gritted his teeth not happy with the way Naruto was fighting him, but knew that it was just a chore rather than a serious fight. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" he shouted unleashing another barrage of punching into part of the large crowd of clones and destroying a good chunk of them. He then spun his body around to face the wave that was charging behind him. "Gomu Gomu no Muchi! (Whip)" he shouted kicking the air, making his left leg extend over a hundred feet and crashing into another large portion of clones.
'And as per usual you just burn my chakra without thinking' said Kurama resting his head on his paw. 'While that sometimes works, this kid has got serious stamina and will not burn out before you will. He is your perfect match.'
"Oh ya? Watch this!" Naruto shot back. "TajūKage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He summoned more clones and using the remainders of the second wave, charged at Luffy with a large number of them jumping into the air to completely surround him. Many of the clones began creating Rasengan to maximize the damage of his attack. "Uzumaki Naruto Nisen Rendan! (Uzumaki Naruto Two Thousand Combo)"
Luffy looked up at the wave of clones above and around him, making him grit his teeth. Just how many of these damn clones was he going to make? The pirate then took a breath inflating himself. "Gomu Gomu no Fusen (Balloon)" he said. He then exhaled the built up air onto the ground bellow him, launching himself high into the air. He began to twist his body rapidly so that he became a tightly wound ball of rubber. He waited just a few seconds so that the clones entered his range, and then unleashed his payload.
"Gomu Gomu no…HANABI! (Fireworks)" Luffy roared releasing his arms and legs into a mass of punches and kicks. They collided with the clones mowing the entire wave down. The real Naruto cried out in pain as he felt one of Luffy's kicks crush his chest and sent him flying backwards. He crashed into the dirt bouncing twice before landing on his stomach. Luffy landed on his feet looking at the ninja as he exhaled out of his nostrils.
"K…Kuso…" groaned Naruto, having trouble catching his breath.
'Please do something else' said Kurama half begging.
"Will you ever shut up?" the blond hissed back.
'Oh ho ho ho' laughed the fox demon, knowing just how hypocritical that comment was.
Once again the jinchuriki created clones to surround himself, which made Luffy frown in annoyance. He reached backwards with his left arm and threw his hand at the clones aiming for one in particular. He grabbed the clone by the collar and reeled him in forcefully. As the clone came flying in, Luffy reeled his right fist back and landed a devastating punch square in the ninja's face. Naruto flipped backwards from the force of the blow before crashing onto his back, blood flowing from his nose and mouth.
"No way…' he wheezed in pain as the other clones dispelled, "How did you know I was the real one? No one's been able to do that before..."
Luffy looked down at his foe and began to pick his nose. "I've already fought two guys that used powers like yours. And you are way more annoying."
Naruto gritted his teeth in anger, both from the words of his opponent and the fit of laughter that was echoing in his head, courteously of a certain demon lord. He forced himself to his feet and put some distance between himself and Luffy before creating another clone.
"Can't you do anything else?" asked Luffy both bored and annoyed.
'HA HA HA! Even he's pissed!' Kurama howled with laughter.
"Don't you worry" growled the ninja holding up his right hand. "I'm just getting started." The clone beside him began to wave his hands around Naruto's hand summoning blue chakra. Luffy watched him curiously as he was unsure of what he was doing, given that it was finally not another wave of clones. The shadow clone finished molding the chakra before turning back into smoke allowing the original to hold up his attack. "Eat this...Rasengan!"
Naruto ran at Luffy and trusted the Rasengan at him, to which the pirate merely sidestepped and let the ninja pass him.
'Oh for the love of...pin him down or something!' shouted Kurama, completely embarrassed by what his host was doing.
'You think I'm that stupid?'
'Hmm, let me think about it for a sec-YES!'
'Then watch this!'
Naruto turned around to face Luffy again, just as a small explosion erupted under the pirate captain's feet. He looked down to see four clones appear and grab each of his limbs, holding him fast.
'What do you think of that you old fox?' said Naruto arrogantly.
'The old disguising the clone as a rock trick' yawned the Kyuubi. 'Well let's see what your little ball can do against him.'
Naruto charged Luffy again who was trying to shake the clones off him. But he wasn't able to do it in time as Naruto thrust the Rasengan right into the pirate's gut. The ball of blue chakra began to grind into Luffy's abs ripping through his red shirt as if it were paper. Both of them felt the attack dig into Luffy's skin making them both shout; Luffy for fear of what would happen and Naruto for finally landing a hit. But neither one of them expected what happened next. Luffy's skin began to twist with the rotation of the Rasengan and gave way to the attack the same way a screw would bore into a plank of wood. Naruto's arm was pulled into Luffy's body and only stopped when the Rasengan lost power and faded away.
The two of them looked at one another confused at what had happened. But neither of them had the time to ask the necessary question when Luffy's body began to twist back to its normal state. However, it did so with such force that it spun the jinchuriki around like a top. Luffy braced himself by digging in heels as the clones that were holding onto him had dispelled just as Naruto had begun spinning. He was spinning so fast in fact, that there was a loud audible crack as his shoulder dislocated violently before finally being thrown away. The blond crash to the ground clutching his should and screaming in pain, not understanding what had just happened. Luffy was also confused as he rested his hands on his now exposed gut.
"What was that? That was like a cannonball" he said blinking.
On the ground Naruto continued to wither in pain still utterly confused. Fortunately for him, he had his own commentator giving him play by play commentary.
'Well that I wasn't expecting' Kurama admitted. 'It would seem that the boy's body is more resilient than I thought. You've lost Kit. Better hold your tail between yours legs and keep your mouth shut if you want to live.'
Naruto was in too much pain to retaliate but he did know that things were not going well for him. He had only one chance to win this fight but he would have to work fast. He forced himself to his feet and glared at his opponent knowing that he was far stronger than he had thought. He had to use that attack. If hitting him with punches, kicks, and blunt attacks like the Rasengan couldn't hurt him, then he would cut him. Naruto didn't like the idea of killing people, but he didn't have much of a choice here. He had to use the Rasenshuriken.
He tried moving his arm but felt pain shoot through his entire body. He just needed to get his hands together to form the Kage no Bushin or else he would be defeated. Unfortunately for him Luffy noticed what he was doing and immediately dashed at him. He jumped onto Naruto with his legs wrapping around his waist and his arms coiling around the ninja's arms like snakes. Naruto shouted in pain as Luffy forced his injured arm upward and nearly fell backward from the new amount of weight he was carrying.
"If I hold you like this you can't make any more of those clones" said Luffy grinning.
'A simpleton he may be, but he is no idiot when it comes to combat. You've lost Kit' said Kurama amused.
"Shut up!" Naruto shouted at both of them. "I'm not going to lose! You attacked us, nearly killed my friends, kidnapped Hinata, and attacked ba-chan...I'm not gonna let you win!"
The captain frowned at him. "But I didn't kidnap her and you guys are trying to arrest us. We're pirates. We don't want to get arrested."
"If you didn't kidnap her then why did she help you?!"
"I said because she wanted too! And why are you so mad that your friend that betrayed you was beaten by my crew? X-ray told me all about that, how he betrayed you for power" asked Luffy.
Naruto gritted his teeth. "Because Sasuke is my friend! You're mad that your friends got attacked, why can't I be mad for mine?"
"He doesn't sound like a friend to me" the pirate said, "Friends don't stab one another in the back."
"Urusai! Sasuke didn't do it because he wanted to. He was forced by Orochimaru and his traitorous brother who killed all of his clan. That's why he acted the way he did! He had to get power to beat Itachi and avenge his family!" defended Naruto, purposely forgetting that Sasuke had already killed his brother and had joined Akatsuki. "He's angry and alone and as his friend I need to be there for him!"
Naruto continued to shout his reasoning, but Luffy was no longer listening. His head hung forward so that he was no longer looking at the blond ninja. His words echoed in his head, making him grit his teeth in anger and tighten his grip on the boy.
"Urusei!" he shouted, head-butting Naruto to drive his message and pressed his forehead onto his. The ninja shouted in pain and was about to yell back when he opened his eyes and saw the glaring eyes of the young pirate captain staring into his own, filled with rage. "Friends don't betray one another!" Luffy shouted, making Naruto swallow and his eyes widen.
"Hinata told me about what happened three years ago, about how you tried to rescue him but he fought back! She told me about how her cousin and her friends, your friends, nearly died trying to rescue him. But instead of him coming back with you, he fought and nearly killed you. Tell me...IS THAT SOMETHING A FRIEND WOULD DO?!"
Naruto stared at Luffy with a lump in his throat and pupils shaking. From inside his soul, Kurama watched what was happening before him without saying a word. He wanted to laugh in his host's face about how once again Luffy was able to read him like an open book, but instead chose to stay silent. He could feel that the words the young pirate spoke were reaching the jinchuriki and affecting him more than he would admit aloud. Ever since both of them had nearly died from the battle against Sasuke, Kurama had expected that Naruto would want to seek revenge and finally stop trying to live in a fantasy. But to his dismay, Naruto chose to be even more of the fool, going as far as wearing the title with pride. Kurama had always wondered why he had been fated to be with such an incompetent brat and when, if ever, would said brat wake up and become a man. Perhaps now was when fate would play into his hands.
"I know what it's like, to have a friend leave" he continued. "I know what it's like to have a fight with a friend so intensely that you have to say goodbye to them. But I also know that you can't just welcome a friend back after he does something so selfish like that. Tell me, would he apologise for doing what he did? Would he really be sorry for turning his back on his friends?"
"Do whatever you want with Merry. We're getting a new ship and sailing on. See ya, Usopp. It's been fun."
"Answer me!" shouted Luffy angrily.
Naruto managed to swallow the lump in his throat and speak up. "I...I don't know!" he said which caught Kurama's attention. Normally he would just defend Sasuke blindly, but now he was unsure. Were the pirate's words finally waking him up? "Sasuke has always focused on getting revenge and he was willing to do anything to get it. I understand having an ambition that's so important you'll do anything to achieve it. I'm going to become Hokage and I'm doing everything I can to become the next one. If I can bring him back home and make Team 7 whole again, then that will get me one step closer to accomplishing my dream."
While the blonds' words were honest, they only made Luffy angrier.
"YOU THINK DREAMS ARE WORTH THAT LITTLE!" he screamed, pressing his head even more into Naruto making the ninja jump back in fear.
"The Lost city of Gold!? The Emerald city!? The great Treasure of "One Piece"!? The fools who go looking for their "dream treasure" cannot notice what's in front of them! In this era of the sea the ones that do not have real strength... are the ones that are killed by their own imaginations!"
Luffy gritted his teeth and tightened his grip once again remembering Bellamy's words back in Jaya. It was only now that he realized who Naruto reminded him off: the man that dared to laugh and spit on the dreams of all pirates in the Golden Era of piracy. Those words were a direct insult to himself, his crew, Shanks, even Coby.
"You talk about this dream as if it's all you live for, but I can see in your eyes that you don't have any resolve for it! Stop talking about dreams that you think it's ok to betray your nakama to achieve! Nakama don't try to kill each other and leave them for dead just so that they can accomplish their dream! They fight side by side to do it together and always have each other's backs!"
"I'M SORRY! I'm sorry for my stubbornness! I was wrong! Even though I was stubborn until now...even though I said I was leaving the crew...I want to change all that, but I can't! I can't so I beg of you! Please take me back with you guys! Just one more time...let me be your nakama!"
"Did you even ask what the others felt? Your friends that nearly died trying to rescue him?"
"Is leaving the crew such an easy thing to do?!"
"Even X-ray girl doesn't think that he's sorry for what he did. If that's the kind of person that you consider a friend, a nakama, then you are never going to accomplish your dream!"
"To true friendship, how long you've known each other means nothing."
"So before you continue to chase this dream of being Hokage, ask yourself why are you trying to accomplish it and who are you going to accomplish it with? Because from where I'm standing, you don't have a dream. All you have is a lie that only you believe in and don't care about yourself or the people who care for you! And people who laugh at dreams and live their lives completely hollow, are the worst kind of people in the world! Gomu Gomu no...!"
Luffy threw his head back making it stretch 50 feet before letting it hang there for a few moments.
"This 'New Era' they talk about is SHIT. The age where pirates dream is over?! Eh?! Oi! PEOPLE'S DREAMS...NEVER END!"
He lifted his head so that he could look into the ninja's eyes one last time, allowing him to see the fear and confusion that were born from not only his words, but the final blow he was about to land.
"KANE! (Bell)" he shouted bringing his head back.
"Inherited Will, the Destiny of the Age, and the Dreams of its People. These are things that will not be stopped. As long as people continue to pursue the meaning of freedom, these things will never cease to be!"
Luffy's rubber head crashed into Naruto's making it snap back in the blink of an eye. Blood from the jinchuriki's nose, mouth, and forehead flew into the air, along with his forehead protector, smashed into over a dozen pieces. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his brain bounced around in his skull. Luffy unwrapped his limbs from Naruto's body, letting him fly backwards and crash into a heap after doing a couple back flips; the broken pieces of the forehead protector landing in front of him. The straw-hat wearing pirate landed on his feet and looked at his defeated opponent one last time and spoke the sagest words he would most likely ever hear.
"I don't want to be the Pirate King to conquer stuff or rule the world. I just think that the guy with the most freedom in the whole ocean is the Pirate King so that is who I'm gonna be. But what's the point of being free if you're alone? Think about that" he said before turning around and headed back to the village.
Kurama watched him leave and took a deep breath. 'I've waited a long time to hear words like that spoken with true conviction' he said calmly. 'Listen Kit, I know you will try to deny it, but I felt how deep those words cut into your very soul. The words that you were always too afraid to listen to have finally been etched into your mind. Remember them and remember this fight, for you have been defeated by the kind of a man that has not existed in this world for centuries. Be grateful he's letting you live.'
The fox demon's words were undoubtedly true as well were the words spoken by Luffy, but that did not mean that Naruto had finally harkened them and understood their meanings. He moved his hands across the dirt aimlessly until he felt a sharp pain in one of his finger tips. He gently wrapped his fingers around it and could feel that it was a jagged piece of metal. Even without opening his eyes he knew what it was. He managed to lift his bloody head just enough to confirm that in his hand were the shatter remains of the forehead protect given to him by Iruka. The forehead protector that proved that he had graduated from Ninja Academy, that he had become a ninja of the Leaf, and that he was on his way to becoming the Hokage.
And now it was shattered. Shattered by the man who now laughed at his dream.
"I won't…" he growled tightening his grip on the shard feeling it cut into his hand. Slowly, red chakra began to ooze from his body and made his blue eyes turn to a demonic crimson. "I won't forgive you for this…"
Next chapter: Monkey vs Fox Part 2