Chapter 7: Naruto's Misunderstanding
Kenshin and Sakura walk along a lake shore, with Sakura traveling just a few inches away from the water. She has a dispirited look on her face.
"Is something wrong, Miss Sakura?" Kenshin asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just wondering, with all of these attacks going on, if the Leaf Village is okay," Sakura confided.
"Do not worry yourself over it," Kenshin reassured her. "The Leaf Village is full of strong warriors with a great love for their home. They won't let our enemies send their village to the Shadow Realm, that they will not."
Sakura manages a smile, cheered up a little. "Yeah, you're right."
And without warning, Sakura is snatched from where she was standing by Frieza riding on a boat passing by on the lake.
"Jin-e, eat your heart out!" Frieza laughed as he floated away on the river's current. Kenshin could do nothing but stand at the shore and watch angrily as the two drift away.
"FRIEZA!!" Kenshin yelled out.
(A/N: Yeah, I decided to completely change this scene. I just couldn't figure out how I could make Kenshin, while acting in-character, just run off like Kirby and leave his own ally behind. So instead, I used that AWESOME scene at the end of Episode 6 of Rurouni Kenshin. :))
A few minutes later, Naruto and Luffy were running by on a dirt road, neither of them noticing Sakura, or rather, a figure that looked like Sakura, watching them. She had in her hands a Dark Cannon, and she takes aim at the duo. The Dark Cannon charged up and was just about to fire until…
"SPIRIT GUN!!"
…a shot of blue spiritual energy hits the Dark Cannon on the side, causing it to split in half and explode.
The Sakura figure turns to see Yusuke with his index finger extended out and smoking. Goku catches up with the spirit detective.
"Hey, what's going on…oh," Goku finished as he saw the evil glare the fake Sakura was giving them.
"So, can you sense it too?" Yusuke asked the Saiyan.
"Yeah," Goku nodded. "That's not the real Sakura."
They both get into battle stances as the fake Sakura fires a blast from her palm. They move faster than the eye can see and dodge the attack. Yusuke reappears behind her, but she turns around and backhands him in the cheek, sending him flying to a nearby tree.
"That's gonna leave a mark," Yusuke deadpanned, rubbing his cheek.
Goku comes flying at her, but she blasts him away as he got close. However, this provided Yusuke the opportunity to roundhouse kick the fake in the face. He continued his barrage, punching her with lightning fast punches and finishing the combo with an uppercut, knocking her to the ground.
Right as she gets up, Goku reappears right in front of her and delivers a devastating blow to the gut. The fake Sakura staggers backward a couple of steps before falling back, trophifying on the way down.
"Well, that takes care of that," Goku declared, dusting off his hands in satisfaction.
Meanwhile at the dirt road…
"Wait a minute, Luffy, I think I hear something," Naruto stated as he slid to a halt. He looks over and sees the others with the Sakura trophy. "Hey, it's Sakura! She's oka…". He stops, wide-eyed in disbelief as he sees the Sakura trophy dissolve.
"S-Sakura? No!" He then fixates on Sakura's "murderer". "YOU!!"
An infuriated Naruto speeds toward the Saiyan. Goku notices him just in time to see him jump high into the air, ready to come down on him.
"RASENGAN!!"
Goku quickly gets out of the way before Naruto could strike him, leaving a crater where Goku once stood.
"Naruto, what're you doing!?" Goku exclaimed.
"I'll never forgive you!" Naruto spat as red bubbling chakra began covering his body.
"How could you bastards kill Naruto's nakama like that!?" Luffy called out, catching up with Naruto.
"Hey! Wait, a minute guys, if you just let us explain…" Goku started.
"We don't wanna hear your excuses!" Naruto and Luffy both yelled in unison.
By this time, Naruto was fully covered in a red chakra shield shaped like a fox, including long fox ears. A single tail begins to sprout from the chakra shield. In addition, Naruto's eyes turned red and slitted, his nails and teeth grew and sharpened, and his whiskers became more feral. Naruto gets down on all fours.
"Hold on, guys! There's no need to go Kyuubi on us!" Yusuke pleaded.
"GEAR SECOND!!"
There attention turns to Luffy, who pumps air into his legs. Afterwards, his skin turns pink and shiny, and his sweat begins to vaporize, giving a steam-like appearance. Luffy makes a fist and puts one hand to the ground in front of him while putting the other hand on his knee.
"Well if THAT'S how you guys are going to play…" Goku said before powering up. His hair turns gold and sticks upward while his eyes turn green, becoming a Super Saiyan.
"Well if everyone else is gonna transform, I guess I should join the party too," Yusuke chuckled before powering up himself. His hair grows to waist-length and his body becomes covered with the marks of the Mazoku.
Luffy and Naruto both stretch an arm (or an Naruto's case, a chakra arm) at their opponents, but they both jump backwards, avoiding their reach. Naruto leaps after Goku and Luffy goes after Yusuke.
Naruto swipes his claws ferociously at Goku, but he continuously dodges each swing.
"Listen Naruto, this is all just a big misunder…"
And Naruto throws a jab at Goku, but it blocks with his hand. Goku then howls out in pain as the chakra surrounding Naruto's body burns his hand.
"Yowch!" Goku yelled, jumping back and taking to the air. "Oh man. As long as that chakra's surrounding him, I can't even get near him. Well, at least I'm safe up here".
As if tempting fate, the nine-tails' chakra reaches out and grabs Goku in the air and pulls him towards Naruto, where he delivers an overwhelming punch and sends him flying to a far away rock.
Luffy and Yusuke, meanwhile, a trading blow for blow in a supersonic fistfight. Yusuke manages to punch Luffy backward a few feet, but it is only then when he notices that Luffy's rubber body was easily absorbing his attacks.
"Listen, you dumbass! That was fake Sakura we killed!" Yusuke once again tried to reason.
"You're not going to get away with this! I'm going to kick your ass!" Luffy obviously not hearing a word Yusuke said. "GUM GUM JET PISTOL!!"
The punch knocks Yusuke down and back at least fifty feet. Yusuke tries to stand up, only to get hit by another sound-barrier breaking punch. Luffy continues this barrage of attacks until Yusuke's had enough.
"THAT'S IT!! NO MORE MR. NICE SPIRIT DETECTIVE!!" Yusuke declared, getting back on his feet and taking aim.
Luffy stretches his arms far back, preparing for his…
"GUM GUM JET BAZOO…"
"SPIRIT GUN!!"
Yusuke blasts Luffy with a very huge concentration of spiritual energy, pushing him back and forcing him to travel along its path.
As for Goku, he rises up and cups his hands to the side, gathering his ki.
"KAMEHAME…"
Naruto emits a wave of chakra and directs it towards Goku, but he teleports right before it hits him. Goku then suddenly reappears right in front of Naruto.
"…HA!!"
Naruto gets blown back by the stream of energy. The Kamehameha and the Spirit Gun, along with Naruto and Luffy, collide and explode in a grand fanfare. When the smoke clears, Naruto and Luffy lay on the ground as trophies.
Relieved, Goku and Yusuke both revert back to their normal forms. "Glad that's over," Goku panted.
"So, if we revive them, do you think they'll listen this time, or will we have to go for Round 2?" Yusuke asked the Saiyan.
Before he can answer, something comes out of the nearby bushes. It was Itachi driving the Cargo he stole from Marik. He passes in front of the two fighters, and Goku spots a familiar trophy in the vehicle.
"Chi-Chi!" he gasped.
"I think I saw Krillin on there too," Yusuke added.
"And Krillin too," Goku revised.
Itachi u-turns and grabs Naruto and Luffy with the mechanical arm attached to the Cargo.
"Hey! Come back here!" Yusuke shouted.
"It seems I have secured two more trophies. And one of them is the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki. I must thank you for doing Akatsuki's work for us," Itachi commended.
"You're not even worth looking down upon," said a voice.
Itachi turns his head and sees Kenshin standing on top of the mechanical arm. Then, something extremely rare happens; Itachi actually gasps in surprise! He didn't sense Kenshin AT ALL until he spoke.
"HITEN MITSURUGI STYLE: RYU TSUI SEN!!"
Kenshin smashes the mechanical arm with his reverse-blade sword, releasing the two trophies. The wandering samurai jumps into action and revives both characters in mid-air. They all land on their feet just as Itachi u-turns again and heads straight for them.
"You're not getting away this time, Itachi!" Naruto bellowed. He throws a kunai at the Cargo just as it passes by again. A few seconds later, the Cargo breaks down.
"We must hasten if we're going to catch up with him," Kenshin informed them all.
And the five heroes, now uniting, collectively run after the slowing vehicle. They finally catch up to it at the entrance to a cave. The Cargo is abandoned, with no driver or trophy in sight.
"Well, I can definitely sense that Itachi went inside this cave," Goku told the others.
"And no doubt, they'll be a welcoming committee waiting for us inside," Yusuke reasoned.
"So what are we waiting for!?" Naruto yelled impatiently. "I'll kick anyone's ass who tries to get in my way! And then I'll beat Itachi down until he tells me where Sasuke is!"
With that, the heroes entered the cave. They run into some opposition, as well as a couple of traps and some pools of water (which they helped Luffy cross), but it was nothing they couldn't handle. Just when it seemed to them that the cave would never end, they reach the other side, and noticed a strange castle in the horizon.
"Well, that must be where Itachi is hiding," Kenshin guessed.
"So what do you guys think he's planning with the whole 'Grand Theft Trophy' thing going on?" Yusuke asked his allies.
"Only one way to find out," Goku determined, advancing towards the castle. The others follow suit.
Meanwhile, in a dark room full of monitors, a mysterious figure, a handsome, college-aged guy with brown hair and reddish-brown eyes and wearing fairly formal clothes, along with a monstrous-looking winged creature standing over his shoulders, stood next to the screen in front of them until the static is replaced by an image of Frieza.
"What do you want now, human?" Frieza asked, obviously annoyed.
"It seems someone stole all of trophies Marik collected," the figure imparted.
"Ha! That fool! I knew he would mess things up somehow!" Frieza complained.
"Anyway, I need you and your minions to go and recollect the trophies that were stolen," the figure ordered. "I'm sending the coordinates to your scouter now."
"And why can't you take care of it from there?" the galactic overlord protested.
"Because I don't know what that guy's name is," the figure explained.
The winged creature behind him laughs, amused. "You know, it's never too late to make the deal," he offered.
"No thanks," the figure declined. "And besides," he directed at Frieza, "someone's going have to bring those trophies back here anyway, and since you're not far from where he is right now…"
"Okay, okay, I'm going!" Frieza reluctantly agreed. Frieza walks away with his henchmen in tow as the figure ends the transmission. He then smiles evilly.
"Fool! I will soon become the GOD of a new world!" Light Yagami declared to himself as Ryuk cackles from being kept entertained.
A/N: What a twist! Now Itachi has both the heroes and the villains on his trail. What will happen in the confrontation at Itachi's hideout? Find out this and more on the next chapter of the Shadow Realm Emissary!