Rider World: Kuuga Part 1

There was no real lurching sensation, no off the wall feel to it, only the sudden tingle sweeping across the room as Ayame parted the window. "We've arrived," she said.

Naruto looked visibly green for a moment and he dashed to the washroom. Returning, he managed, "What was that?"

"Ah, it might have been worse for you, Naruto, since you carry Decade's power," said Teuchi. "Sorry, I didn't think to warn you."

Stepping out into the world, Naruto looked at himself as his clothing had changed from his usual orange and black to the appearance of the police force. "There's a uniform we haven't seen in a while," said Kakashi who was dressed similarly as with Sakura. Iruka on the other hand was dressed in a suit and he looked a little uncomfortable about that.

"The purpose of a visit is to blend in," said Teuchi as he fixed a cap on Sakura's head. "But these worlds are SPECIAL."

"Special how?" inquired Sakura.

"In these worlds, time has passed unevenly from your own, and as a result, can often result in meeting yourself," said Ayame. "These aren't just other worlds, but parallel ones, similar in people, place and things to our own. The disguises will help you blend in however, as long as you don't actively draw attention to yourselves."

"We'll have to split up," said Naruto. "Walking in a group causes too much attention. Iruka-sensei, want to come with me?"

Iruka nodded. "Sounds good. Sakura, Kakashi?"

"Nn. Meet back here at the stand in an hour," said Kakashi. "No jutsu unless provoked, and only use in a fight."

"Take care, you two," said Sakura as she headed in the other direction, with Kakashi on her trail.

"Decade," said the watcher as he gritted his teeth. "Damn you, Decade, your journey has begun."

"How many worlds do you continue to change and twist?" he muttered. "How many more will you cross, until calamity hits?"

"It seems so peaceful here," said Naruto as he followed Iruka towards the school. "Hey, Iruka-sensei, you think we should be going to the ninja academy?"

"I don't see why not," said Iruka. "There has to be something in the records regarding the appearance of monsters and Decade."

Naruto nodded and paused at the sight of the school. "Hey uh… does it look… different to you?"

Iruka looked over at the building and frowned. "That's odd… swingsets? Playground stuff?"

"Other worlds… this might not be a ninja academy," said Naruto. Noticing someone walking up close to the door, he pulled Iruka to the side as a young Iruka walked through it, checking a chart before blowing a whistle.

"C'mon back, break's over!" called out Iruka and kids poured into the building.

"It's… a normal school," said Iruka, bewildered at his much younger self from their hiding spot behind a couple of pillars.

"I've seen some of these before on my trip," said Naruto. "No ninja stuff. Heck, look at everything around us! I haven't seen a ninja within minutes of arrival!"

Iruka nodded. "Let's get inside, there's bound to be something we can check on."

Sakura had left Kakashi to his own thing, watching as the older ninja snuck into the fourth floor of the precinct. Checking around discretely, she did notice several familiar landmarks: Ino's flower shop, the Hyuuga Compound far over there, but it seemed to be really peaceful.

Just then, the calls of kids caught her ear as she turned the corner and found a familiar scene right out of her memory: it was her. A little her, who was being tormented by the younger girls of her graduating class!

Hiding behind a pole, she watched as Ino defended her kidlet and she let out an "Awww" as it was really adorable to see.

A tug at her leg alerted her and she looked down at a tiny Naruto. "Hey, neechan," he said. "Whatcha doing?"

Bending down, she smiled at him. "Just watching over the kids. And what are you doing?" By god, Naruto was adorable at this age!

"The others don't wanna play with me," said Naruto sadly.

"Why is that?" inquired Sakura curiously. It couldn't be the Kyuubi, could it? Not in this peaceful place?

"Daddy's the Mayor, and he doesn't want me getting hurt," said Naruto. "And the kids like to play rough and tumble."

So that was it. Naruto had family in this one. And yet he was still alone. Poor guy. Leaning down, she rubbed his head. "Hey, things will improve. All you need to do is never give up on your dream, and make friends in your own way."

"Friends? A dream?" inquired the kidlet.

"Uh-huh," said Sakura with a smile. "Never give up on your dream. What's your dream?"

"My dream…my dream is to become the mayor of Konoha!" exclaimed Naruto eagerly. "And people will be able to play with me all the time!"

Sakura giggled. "It's a nice dream."

"You're nice, neechan," said Naruto. He looked by her and waved. "Mama!"

"There you are," said Uzumaki Kushina as she scooped up her boy. "Who's been a good boy?"

"Heee!" exclaimed Naruto, trading cheek rubs. "Mama, this is neechan, she told me to never give up on dreams!"

"Well it's nice to see that the young are so good to our children!" exclaimed Kushina with a smile. "What's your name, dear?"

"Oh, it's uh, Hinata. Hinata Haruno," said Sakura, trying to avoid her gaze.

"Well then, Hinata-chan, you simply must come visit Naruto more often," said Kushina with a smile. "Come along now, kiddo, your daddy's waiting."

"Kay. Bye bye, neechan!"

"Bye… Naruto," said Sakura, waving at him as the pair left.

"Darn it, that's number nine," said Anko as she took photographs of the crime scene. "Where are these devils coming from?"

"Beats me," remarked Inochi. "But whoever they are, whatever these are, they're coming and fast."

"Tch. I want to know who's beating these things down though." said Anko as she took more photographs.

"Who knows. Reports said that Number Nine here tore through the residential district before it was stopped. Crazy thing too, look at this." And reaching down with a gloved hand, the CSI picked up a kunai. "This was in his body."

"Ain't that a ninja tool?" inquired Anko of her partner.

"More than likely. But what would ninja be doing here? For that matter, why do they exist? Or is it some punk playing hero?" Inochi sighed. "Let's get this carcass down to the lab."

Kakashi wound his way through the police station, noting the reports. People didn't seem to notice that he was completely out of place, even with his hair matted under the hat.

Coming into a briefing room, a woman who he identified as Hana Inuzaki pointed at a whiteboard. "There's been nine of these creatures so far, and only…" She looked up at him. "You're late."

"Ah, I got lost on the road of life," said Kakashi.

"Whatever. Sit down and open the casefile. We've got a lot to review." Turning back to the list, she wrote down several statistics and names of the creatures. "So far there have been nine of these creatures, but this is our first casualty in the nine types. This is the first Unidentified Life Form that we've managed to find dead."

Kakashi nodded, though his expression under the mask was troubled. Someone killed it?

"There was also this found at the scene." And Hana placed a bag with a kunai in it. Eyebrows were raised and Kakashi made no visible hint of surprise. Ninja stuff, here? Already? He had seen no sign of ninja unless…

He frowned. There was someone else playing hero.

"Autopsies of the creature revealed that it's on the verge of breakdown for some apparent reason. But we can assume that we'll be calling it number nine: Kyuubi."

Murmurs went through the assembled officers and detectives, and Kakashi sighed under his mask. Seems like wherever he went, the nine tails stared him in the face.

Iruka was pretty good at skulking around, but his outfit was a little restrictive. As time went on though, he managed to get the files of several key members of the Rookie Nine and looked them over, as well as class schedules. Most of the kids were too young to be able to be ninja, and the rest were just getting started in Konoha Elementary.

"Excuse me, sensei?" inquired a young woman, one of his fellow teachers. "You're needed to take over Iruka-sensei's class."

What an odd statement. "Ah, of course," said Iruka as he got up and headed for the class.

Opening it up, he noticed it was the class with Gai's team. Straightening his collar, he rounded to the front. "All right class, settle down," he said, opening the book on the front and noticing that it was an Elementary Mathematics book.

Oh boy. Here we go. "All right, who can tell me where we first left off? Anyone?"

A hand shot up. "Yes, Lee?"

"Sensei, we were working into times tables," chirped Lee. "Up to the 20s!"

"Alright, we'll be reviewing 20 to 40 today," said Iruka and the class groaned.

After the class dismissed, the same teacher smiled at him and Iruka realized belatedly that the teacher was a very young Kurenai. He hadn't recognized her at first since she was out of her wrap-like dress. "You did very good, sensei," she said. "Quite good for a substitute."

"I've had experience teaching children, though keeping some of the more boisterous members down was a little harder than expected," said Iruka.

Kurenai nodded. "Maybe afterwards we can get together. Oh, sensei, I forgot to ask your name."

Iruka thought fast and came up with one of his aliases while on an undercover mission. "Tsukasa. Tsukasa Hikari."

Somewhere, the first Decade and a girl named Natsumi Hikari sneezed.

"Hikari-sensei then," said Kurenai.

"Ah, please, just Tsukasa is fine."

Kurenai smiled and nodded. "Tsukasa-san, then."

Iruka laughed. "Close enough. Let's go get that meal."

"You seem in a good mood, Iruka-sensei," said Sakura as she watched Iruka walk in later that night, undoing his tie. "Find anything interesting?"

"I did," said Iruka. "We're looking at a world at least several years before our own time. I spent the afternoon teaching a group of kids that had Team Gai in it. First years as well. And then spent time with the teachers which by the way, consists of most of the Jounin sensei, save for Kakashi."

"There's a reason for that," said Kakashi, coming in through the window, reading his book. "My younger self works in the police department. What did you find, Sakura?"

"The leader of the town is the Fourth, a one Minato Uzumaki. Apparently he took his wife's name and that's Naruto's dad in this world." Both men jerked in surprise. "Obviously, we're not telling Naruto THAT."

"The hints and signs are there, but we should keep it from him for now," said Kakashi, nodding. "Where's Naruto?"

"Out scouting. I contacted him about the creatures and the corpse that was in autopsy in the police station. He's looking for trouble."

Naruto perched atop the roof, looking down in Konoha's red light district. Nothing, just the usual call girls, drunks and what not. He sighed. "Man, I thought being Decade was going to be full of adventure. Instead it's the same old…"

A chill went up his spine as he got up and looked over towards a building. There was an uneasy sensation, like when the Fangire attacked. Getting up, he grinned. "Looks like I spoke too soon!"

Taking off across the rooftops, he bounded to a catwalk and peered into the warehouse where the sound of growling could be heard. Creeping in, he looked over and blinked at the sight of a vaguely ox-like creature. But what really got him was the seven tails that were shimmering with light. "A Bijuu? Here?"

Suddenly, kunai flew out of nowhere and thunked into the ground where the Ox had been, as a form he couldn't quite make out engaged. It was lighter on it's feet than the Ox, but the Ox had startling agility for it's worth. Letting out a bellow, it charged the attacker who dodged in a very ninja-like way.

Keying in his radio, Naruto spoke, "There's a tailed beast down here fighting someone. It's too gloomy to make it out. Should I engage?"

"Wait for it Naruto," ordered Kakashi. "Let's see what this world can do first."

More kunai on razor wire lanced out and slashed into the Ox, causing it to stumble and bellow angrily. The wounds closed back and the owner of the weapons snapped. "Damn you, you just had to have regeneration powers!"

"Iruka, what are you doing?" demanded a female voice and Naruto looked over the edge. "You need to finish it up."

"Anko, I'm trying," exclaimed Iruka and Naruto blinked. "We got lucky last time!"

"Pay attention!" exclaimed Anko and Iruka turned, only to get knocked backwards by the bull and holding his stomach. Running up to him, she groaned. "What now?"

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, looks like we don't have that option." And Naruto leaped over the railing and landed directly onto the Ox Bijuu, grabbing it by the horns. "Whoa! Whoa! Stop bucking you damn thing!"

"What are you doing, officer?" demanded Anko as Naruto was pitched to the ground in front of them with a groan. "This is dangerous!"

"You're telling me," groaned Naruto as he crawled to his feet. "Damn." Pulling out the DecaDriver, he strapped it on and pulled a card out of the case.

"What… is that?" inquired Anko. Iruka just stared, wide eyed as Naruto held it out in front of him.

The Ox Bijuu recoiled and in a deep growling voice, proclaimed, "Damn you… DECADE!"

"Henshin," said Naruto in reply as he pulled his DecaDriver open.

"KAMEN RIDE: D-D-D-DECADE!"

The bull charged but the magenta colored cards blasted him backwards as they formed the crown. Grabbing the RideBooker, Decade put another card in. "Attack Ride: BLAST!"

Rapid fire shots slammed into the Ox Bijuu who staggered backwards in pain. "It's not that tough, is it," remarked Decade as he rushed in, trading blows and transforming his weapon into a sword.

"What… what is this guy?" breathed Anko as Decade blasted the Ox Bijuu once again.

"… Decade," said Iruka. "The destroyer."

Kicking the Bijuu backwards, Decade pulled out a gold card. "I'll finish this right here and now!"

"Final Attack Ride: D-D-D-DECADE!" A line of holographic cards appeared between him and the demon, and Decade crouched, ready to spring into a kick when Iruka tackled him around the middle. "H-hey! What gives?"

"You can't!" exclaimed Iruka, wrestling Decade away as his attack ride vanished. "You can't, not until I find out what it wants!"

"What… the heck man, just a few minutes ago you were trying to kill this thing! Look it's getting away!"

The Ox Bijuu leaped into a crack in the darkness and vanished and Decade groaned. "Look what happened! Now mind explaining why the fuck you wanted me to not kill it?"

"It started three months ago.

"I was just a teacher accompanying my students to the museum because a new exhibit was being shown. That's when I met Anko, or re-met her anyhow. She and I were friends as kids, and she had left to take photographs of the world. Eventually she became a CSI, to pay her way through that.

"In any case, while we were there, there was a brazen theft that took place in the center. In the middle of it, I knocked over a statue of a ten-tailed beast, and released the Bijuu. I don't remember what happened after that, only that Anko found me, with my arms covered in blood. I had savagely torn something apart, the corpse resembling an animal.

"After extensive research, it seems that the Bijuu had infused me with the power to become a vessel, as long as I find out what they need, and become the Ten Tails, the Jyubi. But recently, they hadn't come out as often as they should. I've satisfied one through six and eight, but seven is still out there… and nine. Nine just wanted to die. So, I took it apart."

"And now?" inquired Kakashi.

"And now, I need to find seven, since all it seems all I can do is fight it. It wants to fight, I don't know why." Iruka rubbed his head. "And then I saw him."

"Naruto," said Sakura.

"Yes, Decade. There was a man who came by, and told me that he was a destroyer."

"Wait, was this man in a trenchcoat with a blindfold?" said Naruto and the younger Iruka nodded. "Sasuke…"

"Why would he be here to tell him that?" inquired Sakura. "It doesn't make much sense."

"It could be," said Teuchi, serving up a coffee to each of them. "That it could be another Sasuke, one who follows the Prophet's line of thinking."

"The Prophet?" inquired the elder Iruka.

"Narutaki. A fierce opponent to anything created by Decade," explained Ayame. "For years, he's been trying to prevent Decade or anything associated with him from journeying. He even reformed Dai-Shocker into Super Shocker."

"A statue, vessel for the Jyubi… and yet…" mused Kakashi.

"Something the matter, Kakashi-sensei?" inquired Naruto.

"A power that exceeds the tailed beasts… Naruto…" He looked up and then looked at Iruka. "He could be Kuuga."

"Kuuga?" inquired Iruka, unsure of where this was going as Naruto pulled a card that was blanked out.

"The first of the Kamen Riders sealed away…"