An ANBU ninja burst into Tsundae's office. "Hokage-sama! Sasuke Uchiha has left the village!"
Tsunade, who was still settling in, asked the ANBU member. "Did he have any permission to do so?"
"No he did not."
"Then I want Naruto up here now!"
"Yes, Tsunade-sama." The ANBU said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Three minutes later, Naruto entered the Hokage's office. "What's the matter, Baa-chan?"
Tsunade went straight to the point. "Sasuke has left the village." The ensuing explosion would leave half of Konoha deaf.
"WHAT!?"
Maybe three quarters.
Tsunade flicked him the forehead, forcing him down. "Listen, I would assemble a team, but I still don't know who would be the best qualified for this. I am trusting you to assemble a team for this, understand?"
"Trust me Hokage-sama, I'm not going to let Sasuke get away."
"Good, make sure that he comes back, either dead or alive."
Naruto knew exactly who to go to when he left the Hokage tower. He needed someone who was brilliant, who could calculate a thousand moves in the blink of an eye. There was only one person in all of Konoha that could do that, a certain lazy Nara.
It took some persuasion, and Shikamaru's mother to convince the boy to go. The boy sighed and agreed to go, mumbling "Troublesome" the entire way. As soon as the Nara stepped out of the house knew exactly who should go.
And now they stood here, Neji, Chouji, Kiba, Shikamaru and himself. The five boys stared at each other.
"So we after the Uchiha?" Neji asked after the briefing.
"Yes, we bring him back, dead or alive, preferably alive." Naruto said.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Kiba asked.
"You." Shikamaru said.
"We need your conscent," Naruto said, "This is a highly dangerous B-rank mission, and the chances of dying are very high."
"I'm in!" Kiba said.
"We got one."
Chouji looked a little nervous, "I-I-I'll go."
"Two."
Neji stood quietly, "I have no love for the Uchiha." Then he opened one eye and looked at the robed boy in front of him, "But I do owe someone a favor."
Naruto smiled at him, "You owe no one anything, Neji. Now let's go."
The Sound Four lowered Sasuke into a barrel-shaped container, and sealed with a lid and four paper seals. The large one with orange hair picked up the barrel and jumped into the forest, quickly followed by his three companions.
"Something tells me we've spent too much time with the sealing." The large one said.
"Well no one asked you, Fat-a$$." A red head with a flute at her side said.
"Please stop cursing, Tayuya, it's not lady-like." The large one said.
"Do I look like I F___ing care about 'lady-like'?"
The dark skinned boy with six arms spoke up, "We're being followed."
"Are you sure, Kidoumaru?" Another asked, he was short with light lavender hair and had a large growth on his back.
"Positive."
"Then we have a problem."
"Let me take them." The large one said, "It's been a while since I had good chakra."
"Fine," Kidoumaru said, "Jiroubou, take the brats, Tayuya, you and Sakon set the traps. I'll take Sasuke."
"Who made you boss?" Tayuya asked.
"Orochimaru did, idiot, now get to work with those traps."
Naruto and company were rushing through the forest, and quickly found the tracks of their target. "How far ahead are they?" Naruto asked.
"A hundred meters." Neji yelled, his Byakugan active, "Be careful, they're setting up traps."
They continued onward. Suddenly, Neji noticed something. "Wait!"
The boys stopped, landing in a small clearing. "What is it?" Naruto asked.
"Something's wrong."
"What?"
"One of them is gone."
"Gone?"
"He's not up there anymore."
"Where is he?"
As if to answer his question, a voice rang out in the forest. "Doton Kekkai: Dorou Doumu!" Suddenly, an earth dome covered them, and they knew, with a sense of increasing dread they were trapped.
Jroubou was ecstatic. One of those brats had the best tasting chakra he had ever sucked before. This was amazing. He had to get more of this.
As soon as the dome covered them, Naruto began to smash against the wall with his Keyblade. The wall began to crack, but after each swing, the wall seemed to heal. After two minutes of futile attempts on the wall, Naruto came back panting. "Ok, something's up."
"What gave you that idea?" Shikamaru asked, panting.
Neji had his eyes active. "He's sucking our chakra through the walls."
Naruto looked up at him. "Chakra, huh?"
Neji nodded.
Naruto smiled, "Well let's see how he takes magic."
Jiroubou scould swear he could get high on this stuff. It was just too good. A huge burst of it signaled a jutsu in use, which only made the grin on his face grow. Some people just did not understand when to give up.
Suddenly, there was noise, heat, and flame. Jiroubou was blown back by the force. Dust and smoke was everywhere. When it cleared, Jiroubou looked up to see a robed figure.
"Boom." He said.
Jiroubou laughed at him. "You fool, you have escaped, but at the price of your teammates."
Naruto laughed back, "Like I'd be that stupid?" Suddenly another Naruto appeared, surrounding him was a white aura, and in that aura were all of his friends, protected by the barrier. The Naruto behind the barrier disappeared, and the robe one in front of him began to turn a dull red. "Guys, go on ahead. I'll catch up. This won't take too long."
The ninjas behind him nodded, and went up ahead.
Naruto to Jiroubou, "Servant of Darkness, your fate is sealed." He said as Oathkeeper appeared in his hand.
"What are you? Some kind of Locksmith?"
Naruto looked up, "I'm worse luck that 13 black cats on Friday the 13th."
"Wow, I'm so scared." He said as he charged the boy. Suddenly, Jiroubou felt a pain to his chin, then his stomach, then his groin, and then he felt his arms cut by two large blades. Things suddenly began to register. He was in the air. The boy had hit him with a triple uppercut combo, and while he was in the air threw something at him to cut up his arms. Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him.
"You should be."
The Sound Four, soon to be the Sound Three, were jumping through the trees, becoming more and more aware of their followers. "What happened to those traps of yours?" Kidoumaru asked.
"I don't know! But I do know that I set those traps perfectly!" Sakon complained.
"If they were set perfectly, then they would have been killed by now."
"Well if you think you can do a better job, by all means, get you F___ing a$$ back there and deal with them yourself." Tayuya growled.
"Fine!" Kidoumaru said, "I will, but one of you has to take this piece of dead weight to Orochimaru."
"Fine, give him here." Tayuya said.
They made a quick change, and Tayuya left with Sakon.
Kidoumaru turned to face his enemies. "I'll finish your job for you."
Neji alerted them, "Antoher one has broken off from the group. He is at this moment making a large, bow-like object; I suggested we move with caution."
They moved forward, only for a large golden arrow to block their way. "You move any closer, and I'll shoot you through the heart." The invisible archer said.
"It seems we need more caution than I thought." Neji said.
"Well this stinks." Chouji said.
"Hang on, I have a plan." Shikamaru said.
Kidoumaru sat on a far off tree branch, watching the Konoha nins. They were just out of his line of fire by hiding behind a tree. They were a sneaky bunch these were, which was why he was up here, watching them. He knew that he was out of range from that shadow using guy, and he knew that the Keyblade Master wasn't there either, which was a good thing, it meant that he wouldn't have to deal with large fireballs coming at him.
Suddenly, one of the Konoha nins broke from the trees and began running forward.
Kidoumaru sent an arrow after him, only for the boy to spin, and cause the arrow to fall to the ground. The ninja renewed his assault. Kidoumaru sent another arrow. The boy spun again, throwing the arrow to the ground.
Kidoumaru looked at the other nins, they were gone. He cursed before sending another arrow at the boy who had proven himself to be a tough target.
Tayuya cursed, not surprisingly. They were still tracking them, Kidoumaru wasn't as good as he thought he was. "Sakon, I need you to take them. Keep them off my back."
"Whatever." Sakon said before falling back.
Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba, were running through the forest. A large gorge sat at their right, and the dark forest was on their left. They quickly jumped forward, trying to catch up with their prey.
Suddenly, a cry came from their left. There was a brief second, where time seemed to slow. It was one of the Sound four, a kunai drawn, charging the boys. The boy was coming at them too fast, he would not be able to stop for the cliff in time. Then it passed before Shikamaru's eyes, a dreadful moment that seemed to never end. The boy collided with Chouji, who missstepped, and began falling into the gorge's gapping mouth. Kiba tried to stop them, and grabbing Chouji's hand, tried to pull him out, only to be sucked in the black mouth himself. "Chouji!" Shikamaru called after him, and reached down into the pit, too late.
He stared into the blackness for a few long seconds, as the memory of what had just happened flashed again and again in his mind. The boy, with tears in his eyes, got up, and he looked into the forest ahead of him, one thought in his mind, "Forget Sasuke! This just got personal!" He charged into the forest, hell-bent on making someone pay for Chouji's life with blood.
Neji was panting. He couldn't keep doing this, it was just too much. That archer had just summoned a huge Spider, which now sat on a large web above him. As if that wasn't enough, the large spider had just laid a large egg sack, which would hatch into a thousand spiderlings which he would have to face. What's worse, he couldn't even get to the spider for the archer's incessant barrage of golden arrows. It was really annoying.
"Haha! You are too late now, Hyuuga. Within minutes, the mother there, will incubate the eggs to their hatching point, and you will die."
"Maybe." Neji said, "But at least I know one can always try to change their destiny, I only regret not having the chance to do so."
"How touching." The archer said, visible only to Neji's vision. The spider groaned, "Ah, soon now, only another minute."
Suddenly, as if on cue, a red blur entered the clearing, and before anyone had a chance to recognize it, it jumped into the air. For a brief second, you could see that it was Naruto, a Keyblade in each hand, before he began to spin. It hit the giant spider in the abdomen. Green blood splattered everywhere and the big spider staggered on her web before falling to the ground. It landed, shaking the ground. Suddenly the abdomen bulged, and creating a hole for escape, climbed out Naruto, his red cloak clean of green blood stains.
Naruto turned to the shocked Hyuuga, "Hey, Neji. Didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?"
Neji blinked.
Kidoumaru frowned, before firing another golden arrow at the new boy.
"Naruto!" Neji cried, alerting the boy.
Naruto saw it and jumped forward, into the arrow's path. In the air, he twisted, so the Keyblades, working in perfect harmony, came around, and hit the arrow on its head, throwing the arrow back to the archer.
Kidoumaru barely had the time to duck, and when he came back up, he was met by a double Keyblade uppercut combo. The six-armed boy went flying. Then he landed with a burning pain, as a branch came up through his chest. He gasped for air once, and then died.
Naruto landed, crouched, Keyblades at the ready. When nothing happened he relaxed and stood up. He turned to Neji, "How far up ahead are the others?"
"They left me an hour ago." Neji told him.
"Then I guess I'm going to have to kick it into high gear to catch up." Naruto said. Slowly, his robe began to turn a dark purple color, which then faded to blue. He hovered an inch above the ground, Oathkeeper disappeared, and the Kingdom Key fit naturally behind him. Naruto turned to Neji, and pointed the Keyblade at him, "Cure."
Any cuts or bruises that Neji had had were now gone.
"See ya around, Neji." Naruto said, before streaking off into the forest as a blue blur.
Chouji landed with a crunch. While in mid air, he had used the body expanding technique to create a cannon ball-like dive into the gorge. The crunch was, in fact, the rocks below him, he was perfectly fine, aided and protected by his body fat. Kiba and Sakon were not as lucky. Crack! Sakon's back broke from the fall. Kiba had Sakon to break his fall, but a few ribs cracked from the impact.
Kiba rolled over, trying his best not to squash Akamaru, and sprawled out onto the floor. Sakon groaned, "Oh, that F___ing hurt!" He said as he slowly began to get up. Kiba looked at him, shocked that he was even thinking about getting up. "Oh, you're going to pay for that, Dog boy."
Kiba began to get up. He stood on his legs, teetering crazily. When Sakon punched him in the gut. As soon as he did though, he heard a cry behind him, "Nikudan Sensha!" A huge rolling ball of green came flying at him.
Sakon dogged, barely escaping with his life. Only for another call to go out, "Gatsuuga!" Two spinning forms came flying at the him, and made contact, ripping flesh before sending the boy to the ground.
The attack stopped, and Kiba, and Akamaru transformed as Kiba, and Chouji all stood, waiting for the next attack.
Sakon laughed. "What do you know, an actual challenge."
"Challenge nothing!" Kiba said, "We're kicking your butt."
"Yes," Sakon said as he stood up, "But for how long?" It was then that the growth on Sakon's back began to move, it angled upwards, and revealed a face. The growth moved forward, bringing a torso from some hidden fold in Sakon's back. "I'd like to introduce you to my twin brother, Ukon."
Shikamaru glared at the redhead in front of him, a kunai in his mouth.
"So what are you going to do, huh, A$$h013?"
Shikamaru only glared.
"What, no quick remark?"
He didn't say anything.
"What's the matter with you? Deaf?"
Shikamaru just charged her.
"Man, you guys are pathetic." Sakon said, as he held Kiba's hands.
"I know what you mean." Ukon said back, holding Chouji's hands.
Akamaru lay in a corner, unconscious. Kiba had several bruises and broken bones, while Chouji had his own fair share of scratches.
"We could have killed you both ages ago." Sakon said.
"You'll wish you had!" a voice cried above them. All four of the combatants looked up, a blue blur was falling down to them, with grey spheres flying from it. The spheres hit Sakon and Ukon, sucking chakra from them.
The blur landed, revealing Naruto, his Keyblade held out like a gun. "Back up!" He cried to his teammates, Kiba and Chouji complied. "Firaga!" A fireball leaped from the tip of the Keyblade, a quickly burnt the brothers to a crisp.
"Good job guys." Naruto told them, before healing them up with two quick Cures. Naruto looked up the Chasm wall, and smiled. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" he cried, summoning a large eagle. "Washi (eagle), we need to get up that cliff."
The eagle bowed, "At once, Naruto-san."
Shikamaru had her.
She was trapped in his shadow.
She was going to pay for Chouji's life
He leaned forward, as did she. He opened his mouth, and the Kunai fell into his waiting hand. He leaned back, as did she. He prepared to throw the Kunai, while she prepared air. Then he threw it, a bloodlust in his eyes. "CHOUJI!" He yelled in remembrance for his friend.
The kunai caught her in the throat. Shikamaru's shadow released her, and the body fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
Then he began to pant. He had done way too much to day. He jumped down to the barrel that held Sasuke, only to see a tall, thin, and pale teenager. Without a word, he picked up the barrel and left.
Shikamaru sat down, and looked up to the sky, and fell asleep like that, watching the clouds. A minute later, Washi flew into the clearing, "There's Shikamaru!" Chouji yelled.
"Yeah, but where is Sasuke?"
Naruto had the bird land, so the passengers could get down. After checking the sleeping boy over for injuries, he turned to the Eagle, "Washi, what do you see?"
The Eagle looked out "I see a tall, thin boy. He is carrying a large burden on his back."
"That's him, thanks, you may go now." Naruto said.
Washi nodded and then disappeared. Naruto looked out into the forest, "I need someone to come with me." Naruto said.
"I'll go." Kiba said.
"Then try to keep up."
Kimimaro broke from the forest, and was running across a large plain. Suddenly, two mini tornados came flying at him. He barely stopped in time to dodge the twin drills. When they stopped, they revealed two boys, apparently twins, identical, Kimimaro would say.
"That's as far as you'll go." One of them said.
"And I'll make sure of it." A voice said behind him.
Kimimaro turend, and there in front of him stood a robed boy. The robe was a light yellow, and in his right he held a key-shaped sword, and in his left hand…
Kimimaro did a double-take. Another key-shaped sword, this one black, was hovering an inch from his hand.
"Let's see what you've got."
Shikamaru stirred. He was awake. He didn't want to be. He wanted to sleep his life away. He wanted to die. He wanted to be with his friend again. He could still hear the incessant munching that followed the boy as long as he had a bag of chips near him.
"Hey, Shika, want one?" A way-too-familiar voice said.
Shikamaru shot up, eyes wide. Searching for the source of the voice, in a couple of seconds, he located Chouji, eating.
"So you want one or not?" The Akimichi asked.
Shikamaru smiled, then laid down. "Nah, I'll just take a nap."
"Man, Shika, you are so lazy."
"So sue me." Shikamaru said as he laid back down.
"I would, but you're not allowed to eat in court."
Kimimaro cursed.
This boy had proven quiet the challenge. Every time he attacked the robed boy, the black Keyblade stopped the bone sword Kimimaro was using, and then Naruto would use his free arm to counter attack, each time sending himself into the air, making him harder to hit.
As if that wasn't bad, Kiba and Akamaru were attacking at every available opportunity, clawing and in some cases, biting the tall, pale kid.
Kimimaro cursed again, the black Keyblade had put up an unstoppable defense. He ducked under another swipe from the Kingdom Key.
"You know," Naruto said, "You're good at this."
Kimimaro didn't say anything, but kept up his assault.
"It looks like I'll have to step it up then." Naruto said before jumping into the air. Suddenly, a powerful wind began to gather around him. He hovered there in the air, as the wind became more and more powerful. Suddenly, Kimimaro felt himself being sucked from the ground. He looked at his feet, and realized that the force of the wind was sucking him towards the robed boy. "Kiba, Akamaru, Run!" Naruto yelled, and both of the feral-looking boys did just that.
Kimimaro yelled as a grinding pain hit him, which only increase as the wind around Naruto increased.
As the power of the wind reached its apex, Naruto yelled, "Disaster!" The wind ball around him exploded outward, and Kimimaro went flying up into the sky, while Naruto fell back to earth. When Naruto landed, he launched himself into the air with a Jetaga, which sent him on a head-on collision course with Kimimaro. They met in the air, Naruot launching a flurry of hits that sent both him and the Kaguya higher into the air. "Master Slash!" Naruto cried, holding both Keyblades, poised for a finishing move that brought both Keyblades across each other, creating a 'X' shaped slash.
Kimimaro went flying to the ground. Where Kiba and Akamaru were waiting to drill into the boy's stomach with a Gatsuuga.
He woke.
He was in darkness. The darkness he had feared so long was now surrounding him.
It strengthened him.
He sat there, feeling the darkness surround him, felling it coursing through his veins, feeling a power that he had never felt before.
It was then that he realized something that both frightened him, and thrilled him.
He liked this darkness.
Kimimaro fell for the last time.
The pain the Keyblades had against his heart was too much for him. When he landed he didn't want to get up. He breathed his last there.
Kiba was panting, much Akamaru, complete with his tongue hanging out. He had used to much Chakra for the day.
Naruto stood, his yellow robe flowing, Oblivion and the Kingdom Key in his hands. He was smiling. Mission success. "Alright, thanks Kiba for coming along."
"No-" He gasped, "-problem."
Naruto cracked his neck, and turned to the barrel, ready to lug it back home.
He stopped.
Standing on top of the barrel was Sasuke. He was wearing a dark blue body suit with a black heart outlined in red on his chest.
The outfit scared Naruto.
What Sasuke said next scared him more.
"So you think your Keyblade is so great, huh? Well I have my own power, the power of Darkness."
Next chapter, the Valley of the End.